Food

Discover the best food, farms, and dining in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield Hills. Rural Intelligence shares local restaurant reviews, seasonal recipes, and stories celebrating regional flavor.

Food

Pie Wisdom from a Pro

By Kathryn Matthews If you want to dazzle family with a home-baked pie—apple, or otherwise—but, you’re a neophyte baker, or, you think that your best pie could be (much) better, take heart. Baker extraordinaire and owner of Tivoli Bread & Baking Company Mikel Gonnella, who also sells

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Food

AgriCulture: From Nomad's Caravans to Luxury Condos

Rural Intelligence bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: My first real experience of nomads was in 1962 in central Turkey near Konya on the old Silk Road. An intrepid group of us had just piled back into

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Food

Smashed Potatoes & Celery Root with Chive Butter

Knobby celery root doesn’t look like a vegetable to cuddle up to, which is why most Americans don’t cook it (and why CSA members often leave it behind when they make their pickups.) But scratch its skin for an earthy aroma that’s celery-like with a distinctive edge.

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Food

AgriCulture: What We Learned About Farming in Turkey

Rural Intelligence bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: Back from Turkey, but one would be hard pressed to call it a vacation, as Peter organized and led the trip, introducing the group to sites he knew intimately

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Food

Get Lit at The Lenox Bookstore

You expect an independent bookstore owner to have an independent spirit, and Matthew Tannenbaum is definitely sui generis. For the past 34 years, he has sold new (and some used) books his way at The Bookstore in Lenox (whose slogan is "Serving the Community Since Last Tuesday.") "

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Food

Baked Peaches or Pears with Ginger Snaps and Chocolate

Local peaches and pears are in. Eat them out of hand until you can’t stand it. Today I stuffed them with ginger cookies, almonds and chocolate. They barely made it to the fridge, but they’re good warm or cold.—Amy Cotler, author of The Locavore Way, Discover and

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Food

Surprise Red Pepper Soup

This intense soup combines the local harvest and eastern seasonings with a touch of butter to round them them all out. It’s terrific eaten immediately with crusty bread—I couldn’t help myself—but radically better the next day. Serve for lunch or as a first course, rather than

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Food

AgriCulture: The Urbanity of Farm Life

Rural Intelligence bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: Last year at this time I wrote of what seemed to be the “ho hum” nature of the 8th anniversary of an event that deeply affected our lives and,

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Food

Amy Cotler's Zucchini Feta Fritters

These savory cakes are crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and are superb accompanied with a salad of summer tomatoes and chopped Greek olives. It’s a snap to use lots of local goodies in this recipe, such as garden zucchini, farmers market onion, local yogurt

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Food

AgriCulture: Mob Rule in the Barnyard

Rural Intelligence bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: Is it the sweltering weather or is it the time of year that explains the cacophony of animal sounds engulfing the house these past few days? The relentless dah

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Food

AgriCulture: Preserving the Harvest in Ketchup

Rural Intelligence bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: Peter’s reminiscences of tomatoes last week seems to have flowed right into my stream of consciousness. Like other Americans, when I think of tomatoes, it is natural for

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Food

Five Top Chefs, Just Forty Guests, and One Remarkable Setting

To raise funds and heighten public awareness of their mission, the Bannerman Castle Trust is hosting a dinner on Pollepel Island in Fishkill on September 11. Five prominent chefs—Noah Sheetz, of the Governor's Mansion in Albany; Laura Pensiero of GiGi Market and Trattoria, in Rhinebeck; Bob Turner,

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