April 2, 2012

The First Baby Ramps Have Been Harvested!



They are so beautiful! I harvested just a small bunch, as they need to be allowed to grow a bit more, and grow they will! They will be around for just a short moment, and we will celebrate that moment fully at the kitchen. With respect and gratitude for Mother Earth always, Namaste.

March 25, 2012

Baby Ramps 2012!!



The ramps are here...three weeks early! I'm so in love with these wild, harbingers of spring, and we will be celebrating them in the kitchen starting later this week! :-)

March 15, 2012

Cous Cous Stuffed Chickens



Roasted John Boy's chickens stuffed with toasted Israeli cous cous scented with white truffle oil, fresh herbs and local farmstead cheeses, yum!!

March 12, 2012

A Pig Dog in the Sun...



Well here she is, our mascot, Miss Mischka Lou, basking in the 70 degree sunshine, on this amazing day! Many seedlings were started today for the 2012 Erica's Kitchen garden, lots of heirloom tomatoes of course!

March 5, 2012

Chicken Stock



There's nothing better than homemade chicken stock, slowly simmered with aromatic vegetables and fresh herbs. Oh, and of course the chickens are from John Boy!

March 4, 2012

Cookbooks on a Sunday Afternoon



A sunny Sunday afternoon in our living room, with a stack of cookbooks to get lost in and inspired by. Ahhh, what a way to end the week, and begin my "day off". :-)

February 27, 2012

Chicken Provencal



This is one of my favorite dishes to prepare. It showcases John Boy's very happy and delicious chicken legs, slowly simmered with aromatic vegetables, capers, white wine, lemon, olives and fresh herbs...among other things :-)

February 25, 2012

Beautiful Greens!



Thank you to Amba Farms for these beautiful, baby salad greens!

February 24, 2012

Our Mascot



Well here she is, Mischka Lou, the official mascot of Erica's Kitchen. My four-legged brat, fast asleep and snoring. :-)

February 19, 2012

BBQ Smoked Chicken "Berkshire Blue" Pizza



A closeup of one of Brenden's amazing flatbread pizza creations!

February 18, 2012

Dreaming of Heirloom Tomatoes...



February will be over before we know it, time just keeps moving faster it seems. We've not had a real winter, and I have to say I do miss it. It is a big change compared to last year, but I wouldn't mind a good snow storm or two. Crocuses, hyacinths and daffodils, among so many other "signs of spring", really shouldn't be sprouting this early. We'll see what the next few months have in store, Mother Earth just isn't herself, and I'm not surprised. As a cold rain falls outside tonight, I'm thinking about heirloom tomatoes and am anxious to get my seeds started. This is a shot of a sandwich we made at the kitchen this past summer.

February 15, 2012

Flatbread Pizza Fest!



Six feet of flatbread pizzas! Margherita, Roasted Garlic & Basil, BBQ Berkshire Blue and Hawaiian Pineapple.

February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!



Nothing says love like a pair of beautiful steaks from John Boy's Farm. A T-bone and Porterhouse, sitting on the fire... :-)

February 13, 2012

Roasted Garlic & Basil Flatbread Pizza



It's been quite some time, to say the least, since I've posted to this blog. Erica's Kitchen is now located in a space of it's own, at 1 Court Road, in the historical district of Bedford NY. It's a cafe/market, full of good, clean, local food, along with lots of love and light. The beautiful flatbread pizza pictured above, was one of the special surprises on the menu this past Sunday.

May 21, 2009

December 4, 2008

Fresh Fig & Prosciutto Tart



This is one of the seasonal savory tarts on the menu now and is one of my favorites. Fresh figs are baked in a tart shell with caramelized onions, prosciutto, toasted walnuts, local "Ewe's Blue" cheese from Old Chatham Sheepherding Company and Provencal herbs, the tart is then finished with a drizzle of artisanal olive oil and aged balsamic. Simple, rustic and delicious!

December 1, 2008

Garden of the Past


Where oh where did the year go? My last post of the "Black Pineapple" heirloom tomato plant, happily living in my now dead garden, seems like only yesterday. Time flies, life happens, business gets busy and the Erica's Kitchen blog is placed on the back burner so to speak. This is a picture of the heirloom tomato plants at their most luscious, a few were nine feet tall, amazing!

June 4, 2008

And So It Begins.....


Meet "Black Pineapple", one of the 62 heirloom tomato plants happily living in the Erica's Kitchen garden. I am in love with heirloom tomatoes, that is why I could not resist buying variety after variety of starts from my favorite heirloom tomato farmer Jay. There is something so primal, so empowering, so nuturing and loving and just plain wonderful, about growing your own food. Besides, what's more local than your own backyard?

June 3, 2008

There's Something Happening Here....


Well it's been a while but I'm glad to be back on the blog. There is much happening
all around in regards to the local food movement and I am ever so grateful to be a part of the vibration. From here on out, this blog will be a symbol of the awakening happening all around, a glimmer of the light that I wish to see in the world each and every day. Blessed Be and Eat Local, It Matters!

December 14, 2007

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.