Crazy Carrots

Well it's been a while. Time has passed, the season has changed and here we are at the beginning of winter. Thanks to the greenhouses and root cellars at many a local farm, Erica's Kitchen is full of hardy winter greens, lettuce mixes, micro greens and root vegetables, like these beautiful carrots! They are a deep, dark purple on the outside and then bright yellow or lighter purple with beautiful markings on the inside, I'm in love! The Hudson Valley is full of wonderful sustainable farms and food producers, who are helping those of us on a mission to eat locally to continue on our paths, even when they are covered with snow and ice. No farms, no food, it's that simple and simply how it should be.

Simply Alice

Alice Waters is on the front page of the Dining & Wine section of the NY Times today. Alice is someone whom I admire greatly and wish to emulate. When she speaks about food, she seems to always be right on the verge of tears, her passion spilling out with such energy. She is in love with beautiful,sustainable, local ingredients and has done so much over the past 36 years to awaken people to the importance of knowing where our food comes from and that it was produced responsibly and not far from our homes. Alice firmly belives that a great change can be made by simply feeding people a plate of the most beautiful, local ingredients, even if just a single peach. Of course it would be the freshest, most beautiful, locally produced peach at the height of it's season, spilling over with sweet, sticky juice the second you bit into it. But how many people know what a real peach actually tastes like? Nothing like the ones that can be purchased at your local supermarket any month of the year, that's for sure. You might as well eat a cardboard replica of a peach, it would taste pretty much the same! What I love most about Alice though, is that she is just Alice, no bells and whistles, no frills, just simply Alice Waters, a woman in love with beautiful, local food and willing to do whatever it takes to feed people, one plate at a time, a meal that will change their outlook and lives forever.

The Smell of Autumn

Autumn is in the air and there's nothing like the smell of apples and cinnamon wafting through the kitchen on a cool September morning. Local Honeycrisp and Macintosh apples slowly simmering on the stove, infused with a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon, now that's the smell of Fall. The crust is a simple pate sucree, John Boy's Farm duck eggs provide the beautiful yellow hue, the only eggs I like to use for my tarts, they are amazing! I arrange apple slices over the top, brush them with sweet cream butter and then bake. Once the tart is cool, I brush the top with a thin layer of apricot glaze for the shine, and sprinkle on a streusel topping made of butter, flour, nuts, cinnamon and brown sugar. Fresh local apples, combined with a few simple ingredients.....the essence of Autumn on a plate!

Beautiful Beans!

These string beans were so delicious and so green and beautiful! Quickly blanched and dressed with a simple red wine vinaigrette with fresh garlic and lemon basil, yum! They came from Amawalk Farm, a new farm only 2 minutes from my home, it's their second growing season and their first open to the public. They have the most amazing pick-your-own raspberries.....big, beautiful and so sweet! Also heirloom tomatoes, squash, garlic and in the Fall they'll have pumpkins. More and more local farms are popping up as people begin to awaken from the dream of fast, processed, industrial, world traveled food. This makes me smile.......local matters.

Preservation Meditation

So I've been canning like a crazy person for the past few days, all with the help of my wonderful friend and canning partner Dayna. We've put by almost 100 jars and this is only just the beginning. This was my first time making chutney and I love both that we made, peach and plum. Not only do their colors look beautiful in the glass pint jars, they are delicious! They will be paired with many a meat and vegetarian dish on the kitchen menus come late Fall and Winter, their flavors only deepening over time. We also canned many jars of colorful heirloom tomatoes, red, orange and yellow so far, and later today I will can the remaining box of "Aunt Ruby's German Green's", adding another color to the ever growing rainbow of goodness filling my pantry. Preserving is a meditation for me, I truly enjoy the entire process and sharing the whole experience with a close friend makes it that much better. At the end of the day, when I see the stacks of colorful jars, the fruits and veggies of our labor, I can't help but feel good, deeply satisfied and find myself looking forward to the cold days of Winter when these jars of goodness will be opened, bringing back the memory of the harvest past and the love that went into preserving it.

A Perfect Summer Dinner

A sliced "Rose" tomato from Four Winds Farm, mozzarella from Popovich Provisions, fresh basil from my herb garden, a drizzle of olive oil, balsamic and a touch of sel gris, perfect!! This and a burger made from the grass-fed beef of Heather Ridge Farm, simply seasoned with salt and pepper and served on crusty Italian bread, so simple, so delicious. This was dinner tonight, I'm full and smiling! The kitchen is closed for another two weeks due to renovations, so I'm on a crazy canning mission to preserve the harvest in all its glory. My new pressure canner arrived today and I cannot wait to start using it tomorrow, I'll christen it with a batch of plum chutney and the rest of the heirloom tomatoes I have in the kitchen, my true loves of Summer. I had the pleasure of meeting a new amazing farmer today, Cheryl Rogowski of W.Rogowski Farm in the black dirt country of Pine Island NY. The dirt is so unbelieveably rich and loamy and so black, hence the name, I want to roll around in it, I can't help it, it's the most amazing soil I've ever seen! Cheryl's farm will provide an amazing new edition of produce, edible flowers and herbs to the kitchen and I'm so happy to add her to my growing network of local sustainable producers. Eating locally really does matter, more than most people know or want to know, but it's time to wake up and smell the petroleum in the food, if you can call it that, of industrial agriculture.

Heirloom Vegetables

So this is the beginning of the Erica's Kitchen blog. I'll write as often as I can about anything and everything having to do with local food and whatever else seems appropriate. After coming home from the Piermont Farmer's market a few Sundays ago, I couldn't help but snap this picture of the heirloom eggplants, peppers and tomatoes I had gathered from Yuno's Farm, so beautiful! I often photograph the fruits and vegetables that I gather, before they move on to the kitchen to be prepped and turned into a dish whose flavor and character will depend highly on their freshness and the fact that they were produced sustainably.