Tag: local ingredients

KITCHEN COPY:FRESH CRANBERRIES
By Categories: Berries, Cooking Methods, Featured, Holiday, Kitchen Copy, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal Tags: , , , , , ,

I’ve been told that men tend to gain a lot of weight in their thirties. I keep hoping that will happen to me. I could stand to gain a pound or two. But all I’ve gotten so far is lactose intolerance, and a gluten allergy. I reluctantly confess this. It was only recently that I was a…

KITCHEN COPY:SWISS CHARD
By Categories: Appetizers, Cooking Methods, Featured, Kitchen Copy, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal Tags: , , , , , ,

Has it ever happened to you that two things enter your life at the same time, and forever after it’s nearly impossible to think of one without also thinking of the other? It happened to me about twelve years ago. It happened to me with Swiss chard, and my wife. I can’t cook Swiss chard without also…

KITCHEN COPY: SWEET SAUSAGE
By Categories: Cooking Methods, Featured, Kitchen Copy, Recipes Tags: , ,

If I didn’t have other cookbooks to keep it pinned between, my Fanny Farmer cookbook would completely fall to pieces. It’s true. Just about every page within its sad, decrepit cover has become unglued. And the spine has given up entirely. On a few occasions I’ve almost thrown it into the recycling. But every time I voice these intentions, my wife pleads…

KITCHEN COPY:A PRETTY PUMPKIN
By Categories: Cooking Methods, Featured, Kitchen Copy, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal Tags: , , ,

Right about now the Mums begin rolling into Wolff’s and taking over the place like some kind of bizarre alien invasion. It seems like every day more cloudbursts of color are added to the expanding floral grid. Their arrival coincides with the onset of chilly mornings, corn shocks, and overwhelming swells of heirloom pumpkins. The pumpkin’s…

KITCHEN COPY: HONEYCRISP APPLE LIME GRANITA
By Categories: Apples, Beverages, Cooking Methods, Featured, Kitchen Copy, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal Tags: , , , ,

Some things take a long time to learn about oneself, while other things take none at all. After scaling, gutting, and prepping fish for a brief stint at a small Greek restaurant in Federal Hill, Baltimore, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do in the kitchen. And it wasn’t cleaning fish. It only took a…

KITCHEN COPY:NOTEWORTHY NECTARINES
By Categories: Cooking Methods, Featured, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce Tags: , , , , , ,

I’m fully allowed to taste the produce at Wolff’s Apple House. As their resident chef, it’s part of my job. Nevertheless, there is always a moment (right about the time I lift the fruit from the display) when it feels criminal. Like I’m getting away with something. Like I’m stealing something precious from others. Which leads me to a confession. Earlier today,…

KITCHEN COPY: HEAVENLY HEIRLOOMS
By Categories: Cooking Methods, Featured, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce, Tomatoes Tags: , , , , , ,

Some heirloom tomato varieties hardly resemble tomatoes at all. That’s what one might think, anyway. The truth is that only in the last hundred years did tomatoes become so uniformly round, and red, and (Let’s admit it!) often flavorless. That’s all changed, of course. Americans have rediscovered (thanks to hard-working small farmers) how to embrace seasonality, and a desire to experience the…

KITCHEN COPY: SCANDALOUS STRING BEANS
By Categories: Appetizers, Cooking Methods, Featured, Kitchen Copy, Locally Grown, Photos, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce Tags: , , , , ,

Whether whores first invented puttanesca is no concern of mine. The sauce is bright, flavorful, pungent, and goes with just about anything you can scrounge together. Including the ubiquitous green bean. Literally translated, alla puttanesca means “in the style of a prostitute.” It is a culinary legend whose origins (like so many inventions) are clouded with speculation. There are various…

KITCHEN COPY: THE WHOLE EGG
By Categories: Appetizers, Cooking Methods, Featured, Kitchen Copy, Recipes, Vendors Tags: , ,

For someone who grew up eating uniformly bleach-white supermarket eggs, all natural, free range eggs were a revelation. My wife used to run a farm, and it was there that I first encountered them. It was on that farm where I witnessed firsthand the obvious benefits of allowing laying hens the opportunity to range freely. And it was also on that farm where I first tasted…

Make Room for Mushrooms: Mushroom-Swiss Sandwich
By Categories: Featured, Leafy Greens, Locally Grown, Recipes, Sandwiches Tags: , , ,

I have to admit, it’s been a long while since I’ve felt like sunbathing, and I feel like I’m running low on Vitamin D, that vitamin so renowned for strengthening bones as it helps the body absorb calcium.  If you haven’t felt much like picnicking in the snow and soaking up sunshine, there’s good news…

Hot Summer, Frozen Fruit
By Categories: Berries, Cooking Methods, Desserts, Featured, Recipes, Seasonal Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In one attempt to remove refined sugar from my family’s diet, I decided to make my own frozen desserts instead of purchasing pre-made ice pops. Many frozen ice pops in the supermarket include corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. And while there is much to be said for the nostalgia that goes…