Au Pavillion de la Pomme

WOW...this summer is speeding by! And between teaching two sessions of summer school and working at the farmers' market, I feel like I've barely seen any of it, except from the window of my classroom (see the previous post) or my kitchen. But--praise be--this is the last full week of school for the summer, and I will have darn near a month to recuperate before it all starts again!

As Cyd is working something like a swing shift these days and doesn't get off until 7, and because I have to prepare things for the market during the week, doing stuff on weeknights is practically impossible. Then, of course, most of my day on Saturday is consumed with the market. So that leaves just Sunday for us to do something fun. We try to get out of the house and go on little road trips here and there, usually somewhere in Quebec because we love it so. One of my favorite blogs, An Endless Banquet, always gives great ideas for places to go, like restaurants and markets and farms (oh my!).

Last year, they wrote about a great U-pick place about a half hour east of Montreal called Le Pavillion de la Pomme (that's The Apple Pavillion to non-Frenchies). But at this time of year, not only do they have every variety of the most gorgeous blueberries you've ever seen (bleuets), but also gooseberries (groseilles), red currants (gadelles), and the amazingly hard-to-find black currants (cassis) as well! Now, you know I'm not talking about miniature raisins, right? This a whole different animal...er, vegetable...fruit! Anyway, I made a mental note to check the place out this year when the berries were ready. And we were not disappointed! Le Pavillion de la Pomme is located in a beautiful rural area at the foot of Mont-Saint-Hilaire. And although they have already-picked fruit for sale, the fun is getting out there and picking your own! Well...under certain circumstances. I would have been thrilled to let them pick my fruit for me on such a hot summer afternoon, but when I got there, they told me that there were no black currants left--that they had been picked over the weekend before, and there would only be a few more of them but not until the next weekend. I nearly cried and explained that I only needed a pint, a quart at the most, for a recipe I wanted to make, and that I had come ALL THE WAY from another country! They finally took pity on me, gave me my little basket, and told me to search--possibly in vain--at the bottom and back of each bush. So the picking wasn't easy, but by the hardest, I got my quart of cassis! And it was fun, I have to admit. I particularly enjoyed listening to the Russian visitors boisterously laughing and talking together as they picked blueberries, and also the young French-speaking mother and her little (maybe four-year-old?) daughter who were singing sweet little songs together as they picked. It was a little League of Nations right there in the berry patch! And picking under the bird netting was kind of like being in one of those forts that you build as a kid, with blankets thrown over the furniture in the living room. Tee hee.

So heat-stricken, red-faced and huffing-and-puffing, we took our precious treasure back to the little store to purchase both the black currants and two pails of red. Then we motored on a bit further down the road until I managed to procure both raspberries (framboises), and even some of the last of this season's strawberries (fraises).
With that, I finally had all the ingredients I need to make a jam that I had been dreaming about. Awhile back, when I visited Saratoga Springs on my way back from an airport run to Albany, I stopped by Mrs. London's Bakery. In their shop, they sell these beautiful imported jams from a company called Tea Together. And one of the jams had the most enchanting name, Summer Pudding with Vanilla Pod. What could it mean? Well, the British call all desserts pudding, but a summer pudding is usually comprised of fresh macerated berries layered in a deep bowl or other kind of mold with slices of soft, white bread that absorb all of the lovely juices. In the case of this particular jam, the fruits included black and red currants, raspberries and strawberries, along with vanilla beans. Yum! I adapted a recipe for red currant and raspberry jam from the Ball Blue Book, and it turned out sweet, tangy and DEEE-LICIOUS! However, I will warn you, it is the most expensive, labor-intensive, time-consuming, and downright exasperating jam that I have ever made, and it took me three frustrating attempts to finally get it right.

First of all, you must remove all of the stems from the currants which takes, roughly, forever. (I amused myself by watching Season 5 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Don't you just love Spike?) Then, as I quickly discovered after the first unfortunate batch, currants have dreadful seeds in them, resulting in this inedible shrapnel floating around in your jam. So you must cook the currants in a little water for about ten minutes and then push them through a sieve or food mill (you do this for both the black and the red). Since you're sieving anyway and your carpal tunnel is already exacerbated, you might as well go ahead and do the raspberries, too, and get most of those seeds out of the way. And finally, of course, you need to hull and slice the strawberries (whose seeds are too tiny to bother with). And all of this is BEFORE you even make the jam itself! AARRGH!

The other fatal flaw I committed on the first couple of batches was cooking the jam too long. When I make jam without pectin, I usually use one of three testing methods (or a combination)--using a candy thermometer to take it to 221, the sheet-off-a-spoon test, and the cold-plate-in-the-freezer test. Plus, I usually have a pretty good feel and eye for the set. Not with this jam! If you take it to the traditional jelling temperature, it sets up way too thick. And it's still going to look runny from the spoon and on the cold plate when it's done. This is a tricky one, this jam. It must have lots of natural pectin at play. So my advice to you, if you are brave and longsuffering enough to attempt it, is to stop cooking it quite a bit before you think you should. And if you err as I did and it sets up too much, oh well. It will still taste amazing, and it'll melt on your warm toast anyway! Here's my recipe:

Summer Pudding with Vanilla Beans
(adapted from The Ball Blue Book of Preserving)

1 cup black currant pulp
1 cup red currant pulp
1 cup crushed raspberries (seeded or not, as you like)
1 cup hulled and cut strawberries
3 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split

To prepare pulp, cook currants until soft with just enough water to keep them from sticking (about 1/4 cup). Press through a sieve or food mill.

Combine currant purees, raspberries and strawberries in a large saucepot. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add the split vanilla bean. Cook rapidly to the gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to avoid sticking/scorching. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Remove vanilla pod. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Makes about 4 half-pint jars.

I managed to use up all of the black currants in my summer pudding jam trials, but I still had the other quart of red currants. So I decided to try my hand at making red currant jelly. You know, they say (whoever they are) that red currant jelly is as common on European breakfast tables as Concord grape jelly is here. But for decades, it was illegal to grow anything in the gooseberry family (including black, red or white currants and jostaberries, a black currant/gooseberry cross) because they are hosts for white pine blister rust, which is potentially fatal to white pine trees. In fact, some states still have laws against it, so that's why fresh currants are not common here in our country. (Don'tcha just love Wikipedia?) Nevertheless, I had never made any kind of jelly before as I generally prefer jam, and you would think I might not want to attempt something new and potentially difficult after my nerves had been so frazzled with the other project. But Michelle at An Endless Banquet made it sound easy, and indeed, it was! The hardest part was figuring out what to do for a jelly bag. I was going to go buy one (if I could find one in my little 'burgh), but some wise old canners over at the Harvest Forum on GardenWeb had nothing but disdain for the jelly bag, saying it is way too small and the metal frame that comes with it is far too flimsy. Instead, they recommended at least four layers of cheesecloth lining a colander, an old cotton pillowcase, or a flour sack towel hung from a kitchen cabinet handle. I opted for the latter, except my cabinets don't have handles, so I used a curtain hook (I put the metal racks behind it just to keep the wet bag from resting against the wood finish of the window frame). This worked great and produced gorgeous, crystal clear, garnet-colored currant jelly. We've been eating it with some of the organic cheeses that I buy weekly at the market from the vendor right next to me (score!), and it is nothing short of a magnificent pairing. But you'll have to make your own, as I'm being stingy and NOT selling any of it at the market. ;-)

How To Make Red Currant Jelly in 14 Easy Steps, According to Michelle of An Endless Banquet

1. Place berries in a pot.
2. Add just enough [water?] to cover the bottom of the pot (Michelle recommends about 1/4").
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
5. Pour the entire mixture in a jelly bag.
6. Let the contents drip into another pot overnight.
7. Measure the juice by volume.
8. Pour the same volume of sugar in a baking pan and place in a preheated oven at 200º F for 30 minutes.
9. For every cup of juice, have 1 teaspoon of lemon juice ready.
10. Bring your juice to a boil.
11. Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir.
12. Let it simmer until it comes to a gel, about 1 minute.
13. Carefully skim the foam and discard.
14. Ladle into jars and seal using either a wet or dry canning method.

Excellent on buttered toast, divine with a nice cheese.

Summer on Lake Champlain

This is the view from my classroom window every day at school. Lucky gal, aren't I? I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer, whatever your view!

A coupla quickies...one brag, one corny recipe.

This is going to be a short(er) entry, as I am on the run today, but I had to post a picture of my raspberries! I planted one bush about three years ago, and every year, I get a disappointing half dozen berries at most (perhaps because I forget to water it and it gets too crispy?). But Cyd and I were sitting on the porch the other day, and though I myself was engrossed in the new Harry Potter, she spied a shload of berries on the bush this year. JUST LOOK! There's darn near a pint of 'em! Oh, and they are so juicy and sweet, especially when freshly-picked and still warm from the sun. I think I might have to throw them in some homemade ice cream or something...I'm still deciding. But aren't they pretty? And I grew them myself! Ta-dah!

I hate to blog without a recipe, and I do have one to share. As I mentioned before, I have a conundrum. Corn season has begun, and I wish to eat two ears with every meal from now through October, but until Cyd deals with her dental issues, corn on the cob is a problem. So last night, we had a simply delicious chicken that I stuffed with cut limes, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with the house barbecue rub, roasted at a high temperature until crisp and juicy, and then glazed with my special apricot pepper jelly (come to the Plattsburgh Farmers' Market and I'd be happy to sell you some! tee hee). And alongside the marvelous roasted chicken, I made homemade creamed corn. It's so simple and so easy that I can't believe I haven't made it before! (Well, it's because I'm always eating it right off the cob, I guess.) Even when Cyd's teeth are better, I'll be making this on a regular basis throughout late summer and fall...and maybe again tonight!

Creamed Corn
(kind of cross between Alton Brown's version and one from Martha's Everyday Food)

1/2 onion, diced
2 tablespoons butter
8 ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup heavy cream (you can get away with 1/2 cup, but why would you want to do that?)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional, for a nice yellow color)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper*

1. In a large skillet, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook 2 to 3 minutes until translucent.
2. While the onion is cooking, remove the kernels from the corn. Stand a corn cob vertically over a large, shallow bowl. Using a sharp knife, use long, downward strokes of the knife to remove the kernels from the cob. Use the edge of a spoon (or the back of your knife) to scrape the sides of the cob to remove any remaining pulp. Pick out any fibrous bits that may have found their way into the bowl by mistake.
3. Add the corn to the onions and butter in the saucepan. Add about a 1/2 cup of water and bring to a simmer, reduce heat and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes until the corn is tender.
4. Add the sugar and cream (and tumeric, if using) to the corn. Cook, uncovered, for another five minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced and thickened somewhat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6.

*I wanted my creamed corn very simple last night, but next time, I might add a few sprigs of fresh thyme to the corn as it's simmering, then remove the woody stems before adding the sugar and cream.

The veggies are here! The veggies are here!

Friends, this morning on my way to work, I saw the sign that confirms that the harvest season has begun in earnest--the folks that sell corn out of the back of their pickup truck was open for business up at the corner of Rt. 22 and Miner Farm Road. YIPPEE! I knew it would happen soon, as all of the produce vendors had the first teeny-tiny but very sweet little ears of corn for sale this past Saturday. Of course, my silly roommate has a terrible toothache right now, and the dentist won't be back from vacation until August 7th, so corn on the cob is out and mushy and/or liquid foods are in. And since we have been experiencing a spate of unseasonably cool weather, I decided to make that autumnal favorite, corn chowder. Here's my method:

First, I use kitchen shears to cut a half pound or so of bacon into thin little strips, and I brown them in a big pot. Once they are crispy, I fish them out and set them aside. Then I add a half stick of butter to the bacon renderings and cook 2-3 ribs of diced celery and one large diced onion until soft. Next, I add a teaspoon of tumeric and a half cup of flour to the pot and cook the roux for a few minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. Then I add two quarts of chicken stock, a tablespoon of dried parsley, a teaspoon of dried thyme (although fresh herbs would be preferable at present!), a pinch of cayenne, salt and pepper to taste, and then I stir the broth. Next, I add four large or six medium potatoes (peeled or not, as you like) cut into sizable chunks and simmer them for maybe ten minutes or so until almost completely tender. Then I add about a pound of corn kernels (cut fresh from the cob at this time of year or a bag of frozen will do in off-seasons) and cook for another five minutes or so. Finally, I stir in a pint of cream or half-and-half, correct the seasonings, and serve with a sprinkle of the crispy bacon pieces on each bowlful. YUM!

Not only is the corn coming on, the squash deluge has begun. I have actually been too busy with the farmers' market this year to plant more than tomatoes and peppers, but as prolific as squash is, I'm sure my friends and neighbors will hook me up! And now that zucchini is plentiful, customers at the market have been asking me to make zucchini bread. Here's the one I've been making for the past couple of weeks, and it's yummy! It's a zucchini and carrot bread to which I add a little candied ginger for extra zing. I also use white whole wheat flour for added nutritional value, and if you wanted to take the health issue a bit further, I bet you could swap out some applesauce for some of the vegetable oil. Even though this makes a very dense loaf, it is surprisingly moist, and it and keeps for quite awhile in the fridge. And the spices give it a great flavor--kind of a cross between zucchini bread and carrot cake. So when the zucchini starts overtaking your home and garden, give this recipe a try.

Zucchini-Carrot Bread
(Makes two loaves.)

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated, raw zucchini (no need to peel it)
1 cup carrots, peeled and grated
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-3 tablespoons finely-chopped candied ginger
3 cups flour (I use white whole wheat for this)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/3 of a nutmeg, grated
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two loaf pans or spray with cooking spray with flour. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, oil, zucchini, carrot, vanilla, and candied ginger. Mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add to zucchini/carrot mixture. Mix just until combined then fold in the walnuts. Pour into prepared pans and bake for about an hour. Cool on rack for 10 minutes then remove from pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sour Cherry Epilogue

So whatever became of all those sour cherries that you lovingly and gingerly carried home from Columbia County two weekends ago, Gina? Glad you asked! A good many of them were simply pitted and frozen for future pies. And no, not pies for the farmers' market...pies we will make and selfishly hoard for ourselves and perhaps a few very special friends. Then the remainder of the cherries were fashioned into the most perfect of jams. The recipe is your basic Sure Jell formula, but with a teeny bit of vanilla and a mere whisper, a ghost, an innuendo of almond extract--flavors intended not to call attention to themselves but simply to make the cherries taste, well, cherry-er. The jam is also a beautiful, sparkly, classic cherry-red color, and it tastes bright and tangy and heavenly. For those who wish to try this at home (and I strongly encourage it), here's the recipe:

Sour Cherry Jam

4 cups prepared fruit (about 3 lb. fully ripe sour cherries)
1 box powdered fruit pectin
1/2 teaspoon butter
4-3/4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
few drops of almond extract

Bring boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.

Stem and pit cherries. Finely chop or grind fruit (I prefer a rougher chop as they break down a lot as they cook). Measure exactly 4 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot.

Stir pectin into prepared fruit in sauce pot. Add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon. Stir in vanilla and almond extract.

Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.) This recipe makes about six half-pint jars.

On the shores of Cheddar Bay...

Yes, yes, I KNOW! I know I haven't been posting much. That's because I am not cooking much, other than the same old same old for the farmers' market that I've already blogged about. But I do have a tide over snack for you today that I've been meaning to share for sometime now.

Let me preface this entry by saying that I live in a very small city (actually, I live 20 miles north of a very small city, but that's neither here nor there), and we are not blessed with great eating establishments, Michigan joints notwithstanding (please refer to your October 2006 issue of Gourmet for all the details of Plattsburgh's only culinary claim to fame). What's worse, sometimes we get decent places and then they go away. Just this week, in fact, I was dismayed to learn that our one little gourmet shop/caterer in town, The Grand Onion, is going out of business...BOO HISS! And it's not just small, privately-owned operations, either. Years ago--even before I moved here--Plattsburgh had a Red Lobster that that closed down. I mean...what in the world? How could a big box chain like that fail? When Applebee's came a few years ago, people stood in line for hours to get in, for crying out loud! Anyway, there are still folks around that remember Red Lobster being here and some of them even used to work there.

In the first summer session, I had a nice fellow named Larry in my class, and he used to be a cook at the now-defunct Red Lobster. He even went through the intensive training in Orlando or wherever it is that they send them, and he earned the highly-desired Red Lobster chef's coat! Whoo-hoo! And for his informative speech my class (have I ever mentioned that I teach public speaking? well, I do), he decided to teach us how to make a excellent knock-off of the famed Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits. (Where is Cheddar Bay, do you suppose? Wisconsin, perhaps?) Now because Larry would like to work for them again one day if he has the opportunity, he kept some parts of the recipe as trade secrets, but he did share some great tips. The most important of which is to start with good old Bisquick as your base. In fact, they are told at Red Lobster if they ever run out of their own secret biscuit mix (which has to be shipped in unmarked cartons or it frequently gets stolen off of the trucks!), that they should run to the store and buy some Bisquick and use that in a pinch. Also, Larry insists that, despite all of the copycat recipes on the web advising the use of milk to keep the biscuits tender, that it's all about the ice water in the mix. And lastly, to simulate Red Lobster's buttery topping, Larry recommends using a liquid butter-type product such as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray. That skeeved me out a bit, so I just used regular melted butter, but you do what you need to do. I also chose to make mine in a muffin tin, to get crispier sides. But that made for less surface area on top to spread the buttery goodness over. So I think I will make them as Larry does, with a muffin scoop right onto a cookie sheet, for next time. Still, these were darn good and a very reasonable facsimile of the legendary Cheddar Bay Biscuits of Red Lobster fame. And until that restaurant returns to us in poor old Plattsburgh (though in truth, I'd much rather have an Olive Garden and/or a Chili's!), these might just have to do. Enjoy!



Larry's Almost Cheddar Bay Biscuits

2 1/4 cups Bisquick
3/4 cup cold water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (preferably, sharp)

4 oz. liquid butter (such as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix together the Bisquick, cheese and ice water (water temperature must be between 34 and 36 degrees). Stir ingredients just until soft dough forms. Dough must be portioned and placed in the oven within 10 minutes (use a muffin scoop for equal-sized biscuits). Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate biscuits about halfway through so that they bake evenly.

Mix together the liquid butter (open the spray bottle and pour), garlic powder, garlic salt (I don't have garlic salt, so I used 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic plus a good pinch of salt), Old Bay, and parsley. Once biscuits are golden brown, remove from the oven, and immediately brush garlic topping over hot biscuits and serve.

On the Trail of Sour Cherries: A U-Pick Road Trip

I can't be the only crazy foodie in Christendom that makes her travel plans around regional eats, can I? You already know about my regular forays into Montreal and the surrounding areas of Quebec. At the other end of the spectrum, there are whole vacations devoted to cuisine, such as when I went to New Orleans some years ago just for the food, and more specifically, to find the best pecan pie in the Crescent City. (By the way, and Liz Taylor agrees with me here, it's to be found at the Camellia Grill. The pie itself is decent, but it all comes down to how they drizzle a slice with butter and then cook it on the grill for a minute or two before serving it up all warm and gooey. Wow! But I digress...)

Even when I'm going somewhere for a non-culinary purpose, I still feel compelled to plot out a few foodie side trips. This past weekend, I was in West Springfield, MA for some dog shows (we lost...boo hiss...although we did get reserve a couple of days, which is like runner-up). And on the way back, I made it my business to track down some farms in lovely Columbia County (15 miles or so east of Albany, the beginning of the Hudson region) that might have the nearly-unattainable objects of my desiring, FRESH PIE CHERRIES! As is my way, I did some research before I left, and I found two places in Ghent and Kinderhook, and a few more in Hudson and Germantown, but I was hoping not to have to go that far south and/or too far from my regular route (I-90). Lucky me, I struck gold (or maybe rubies, in this case) at the first place I tried, the beautiful Love Apple Farm in Ghent, NY. I don't know what possessed me because they were NOT cheap, but I made off with an entire PECK of puckery beauties (that's eight quarts to non-rural readers). They were $1.50 a pound if you picked them yourself, but I was quite happy to pay $2 a pound for them to do the picking for me. After all, I'm going to have to do all of the blasted pitting (although I pray that Cyd will find it in her heart to help--and she better if she wants a pie out of it)! However, had it not been late in the day with nearly three hours left to drive home and were it not so terribly hot, and had I brought some company along (other than my dog, Grady, whose paws don't allow for gentle fruit retrieval from trees), it would have been a fun outing to go picking in the orchards, and afterwards, there's a petting zoo with cute baby animals, too. :-)

I'm not sure if you can make out the sign here (click on it to make it bigger), but I enjoy the house U-pick rules at Love Apple Farm:
1) No throwing fruit. (I love that this is priority one.)
2) Must pay for all that you pick. (That's fair enough.)
3) Lift your trunk upon return from orchard. (Ooh, not much love and trust at the LOVE Apple Farm, eh?)
And then a final warning, 4) Pick at your own risk. (What are the dangers of cherry-picking, I wonder? Since fruit-throwing is strictly verboten, that leaves...what? Jealous bird attacks?) After a hot day of picking fruit in the orchards, you can cool off with some ice cream at Love Apple Farm. In the lower right corner of the picture, you can also see a few of their ice cream flavors that day. I didn't have any, but the most amusing flavor was ELVIS (vanilla with peanut butter and banana)...tee hee.

However, I did avail myself of a most unexpected food find (and aren't those always the best ones?), an authentic Mexican lunch from "Leticia's Cosina!" I saw a lot of Latino folks around the area, and I assume, much like where I grew up in Oregon in the pear capital of the world, they have a lot of seasonal migrant labor in the Hudson area. (I overheard one customer saying, "See you next season!" to Leticia and her crew while I was eating my lunch out on the covered patio.) I chose two tamales and a soup called Sopa de Cameron, or cold shrimp soup. And look at the cute little apple plate on which they were served! The tamales were okay, but nothing to rave about (they will be much improved when the pico de gallo includes seasonal tomatoes in another month or so). But the SOUP...oh, the soup was sheer heaven! It was like gazpacho--tomatoey, zesty and tangy with lime--but with the sweetness of little shrimps and avocado chunks. DELISH! You KNOW I am going to have to try to recreate this refreshing soup at home, since I am clearly in my cold soup period.

After my time at Love Apple Farm, I decided to go ahead and check out Samascott Orchards which was just a couple more miles down the road in Kinderhook. Kinderhook is just a darling little postcard of a town, and Samascott's looked to be U-pick heaven! They have a little table set up in the middle of the parking lot with scales and a cash box. On the way in, you stop and pick up a map to locate the pickings of your choice, and then on the way out, you stop at the table again and they weigh your haul, collect your payment, and send you on your way. It's a U-pick drive-thru! Isn't that fun?!

Heading back to the interstate, I made a final stop at Golden Harvest Farms in Galatie, NY. I was saddened to realize that the peaches advertised on their roadside sign that caused me to slam on my brakes were from Georgia. But they did have apple cider donuts, hot from the fryer, that were the best I have ever tasted, and I consider myself an apple cider donut connoisseur, mind you. They were huge and fluffy and spicy, and this all but cements my working theory that fried doughs are best left to those from Germanic communities (this theory having derived from the most amazing funnel cake that I once had years ago in a largely Amish area in Ohio, but again...I digress). So I bought a dozen donuts and a pint of locally-produced milk, and I was happy as a clam at high tide, riding down I-90 toward Albany, covered in sugar and an equally sticky smugness in acquiring 20 pounds of beautiful sour cherries. And in a few weeks, the Morellos (a European tart black cherry that I have only ever seen in a jar at Trader Joe's) will be ready, not to mention, the local peaches. I feel another road trip coming on! ;-) So my friends, if you are in the general region, I highly recommend a very scenic day trip to the farms and orchards of Columbia County, New York. It's a truly seasonal adventure that should not be missed!

However, if picking fresh cherries is not feasible for you, or not your style, I can still recommend a wonderful recipe using cherry jam. My dear friend, June, made this meal for us from the ubiquitous Rachael Ray a few weeks ago, and it was so good, that I had to make it again at home! I like to think that it still honors this brief but magical cherry season any time of year without having to make the long summer road trip.
Spanish Pork Chops with Linguica Corn Stuffing and Cherry-Rioja Gravy










(Source: Rachael Ray via http://www.foodtv.com/)

4 thick-cut boneless pork chops, center cut, about 2 pounds
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup rioja or other dry red wine, eyeball it, about 1/4 of a bottle (I used Shiraz myself)
1/2 cup black cherry preserves or all-fruit spread (Polaner makes a great one, though soon, I will have my own homemade sour cherry jam!)
2 cups beef stock, divided
1/2 pound linguica or chorizo, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped (or 4!)
4 corn muffins, crumbled (I cheated and made mine from a Martha White mix)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika, eyeball it in your palm (regular paprika would work)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, 4 to 5 sprigs
handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to the pan, 2 turns around the pan. Add the chops and caramelize the meat, 2 minutes on each side. Transfer meat to a sheet pan and place in the oven to finish cooking through, 12 to 15 minutes. Return pan to stove, reduce heat a bit and add butter to the skillet. Add flour to butter and cook 1 minute. Whisk wine into pan and reduce 1 minute then whisk in preserves and 1 cup of stock. Season with salt and coarse black pepper and let gravy thicken over low heat.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan. When oil smokes, add linguica or chorizo and brown, 2 minutes. Add the celery, onions, peppers, garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes then crumble muffins into the skillet and combine with vegetables. Dampen the stuffing with remaining 1 cup of stock and season with smoked paprika and thyme. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

Remove meat from oven and whisk the drippings into your gravy. Pile stuffing on plates, chops alongside and ladle gravy over both. Scatter parsley over meat and stuffing.

Try to keep your raging jealousy in check....

I begin with a story of my stupidity. Last week, I was trying to make the legendary Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Pie to be served with some of the exquisite St-Valentin strawberries. The recipe says to begin by mixing the dry ingredients in your blender. I knew better, that my blender requires liquid first to function properly. But did I listen to my instincts? Nooooo! But I guess I learned my lesson when SMOKE started pouring out of the base of my poor old Cuisinart! Am I am idiot or what? (Shh. That was a rhetorical question, thank you.) Instead of crying over burned blenders, I took it as a sign from the gods/goddesses of kitchenware that it was finally time for me to pursue that holy grail of blenders...(gung, gung, GUNG)...a WARING! The reviews I read encouraged me to stay away from the kitchen models and spend the extra money on a professional/commercial bar blender that would crush ice effortlessly and last long enough to bequeath to my progeny, should there ever be any. The trouble is, the cost was a bit prohibitive, starting at about $130 and heading upwards to nearly $400! But then this beauty entered my life:

Ok, so it's a refurb in a color that some might find offensive but that I find charming and kitschy-cool (think Jadite, think...MARTHA!). But it's a Waring Pro and more blender than a gal like me will probably ever need, and all for the rock-bottom price of 66 bucks! That's half-price, friends! And look at the sexy, svelte curves of her vintage beehive design, and if you could feel her substantive weight, her sturdy character that promises a relentless work ethic, you'd say to yourself, now THAT'S a blender! Try not to hate me 'cuz I have one and you don't.

To make you feel better, I will share an excellent recipe for you to make in whatever humble little blender you might have. This dish comes from my friend, Becky, who is both a brilliant philosopher and an imaginative cook. When the summer starts to swelter but the garden-fresh tomatoes aren't ready to make gazpacho yet, this is the chilled soup that will fill the bill. Apparently, Becky reworked a classic Fannie Farmer recipe and came up with this simple yet delightfully refreshing soup that is nearly the color of my new blender and tastes like you're eating a cloud...a tangy, creamy, cool, green cloud. ;-)

Cucumber-Avocado Soup

one good-sized cucumber (preferably English and seedless)

two ripe avocados

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup half and half

salt (to taste)

lemon juice (to taste)

fresh chives (to taste)

Peel, slice, and seed the cuke. Peel, halve and pit the avocados. Add both to the blender. Add the chicken broth and half and half and blend until very smooth. Add enough lemon juice and salt to please you (you might try 1/4 cup lemon juice--I think I ended up using the juice of two lemons--but it's all about balance, says Becky the philosopher). Add some fresh chives, starting with about two teaspoons or more to taste, realizing that the chives will take awhile to fully flavor the soup. I also like to add a good pinch of cayenne. Then chill the soup thoroughly. Garnish with sour cream and another sprinkle of chives.

Market Pies and Mittitei

My life seems to be divided into two modes these days: getting ready for the farmers' market each week and then COLLAPSING FROM EXHAUSTION for a day or two afterwards before it all begins again! But last week, I cut back a lot. My first summer session class ended, and psychologically, I guess I just went into "time off" mode. I did make a lot of jam, though, including two batches from the lovely St-Valentin strawberries (16 jars) and also two batches of my new favorite thing in the whole world, apricot pepper jelly made from the beautiful, fragrant Ontario apricots from the Jean-Talon Market (14 jars). I'm not sure that I don't love it more than my regular onion-garlic-pepper jelly...it's SOOOO good! But beyond jam, I didn't do much in the way of baking, other than to make pies. I promised awhile ago to share the recipes for some of the pies that I've been making lately, so here you go...

Rita's Simply Blueberry Pie (pictured, top right and center right)
(Source: Rita Pooler, winner of the Wild Blueberry Pie Invitational at the annual Union County Fair in Maine, via www.marthastewart.com)

Filling:
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 cups fresh berries (preferably, wild!)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter

Crust (I used my favorite crust recipe from Ken Haedrich instead):
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup rice water

Glaze:
1 egg white
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Make the filling: Sprinkle lemon juice on berries. Mix flour, sugar, and cornstarch. Add to berries, and toss lightly. Set aside.

2. Make the crust: In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in vegetable shortening and butter until coarse. Add ice water, and mix gently until moist. Form two balls, and roll out one of them to line pie plate. Spoon filling into unbaked crust. Dot with butter. Roll out second ball, and cover pie. Fold edges of top crust under bottom crust, and flute edges. Slit top of pie to vent.

3. Make egg glaze: In a small bowl, beat egg white with 1 tablespoon water. Brush top of pie with mixture, and sprinkle with white and brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and bake until filling bubbles, about 45 minutes.

Cherry-Red Raspberry Pie (pictured, top right and top center right)
(Source: Phyllis Bartholomew, grand prize winner of the 2004 National Pie Championships in Celebration, FL, via www.foodtv.com)

Crust (again, I used my favorite Haedrich crust recipe):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tablespoons super rich butter powder, optional*
1 cup shortening
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ice water

Filling:
1 (10-ounce) package frozen red raspberries, thawed
2 cups canned pitted sour cherries in juice
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Milk, for brushing crust
1 tablespoon sugar, for sprinkling

For the crust: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and the butter powder, if using. Add the shortening and using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside. In a small bowl, beat together the egg, vinegar, salt, and water. Add egg mixture to the flour mixture and combine with a fork, just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the filling, drain the thawed raspberries, reserving the juice in a measuring cup. Drain the cherries and add enough of the juice from the cherries to make 1 cup liquid total.

In a saucepan mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in the juice and add the cherries, and simmer over medium-low heat until filling is thick and clear, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Very gently fold in the raspberries. Set aside.

Using a little more than 1/3 of the dough, roll it out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap to a size that will overlap the edge of a 9-inch glass pie dish. Fit dough in pie dish, trimming off excess.

Add the filling. Roll out the remaining dough to fit the top. Place the dough over the filling, cut off the excess, and crimp edges to seal the dough. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cut 3 or 4 slits for steam vents.

Place on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, and then move to the middle shelf, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F, and continue to bake until the crust is a golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes more. Cool completely before cutting.

*Cook's Note: Butter powder is available online and at some specialty baking stores.

Vanilla Bean Peach Pie with Almond Crumb Topping (pictured center left and bottom left)
(Source: adapted from an amalgamation of two recipes from Ken Haedrich's Pie)

single pie crust, your favorite recipe

Filling:
5 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and thickly sliced
1/2 cup vanilla sugar (or granulated sugar plus 1/2 scraped vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Topping:
3/4 cup whole or slivered almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold, cubed
1/2 cup rolled oats (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out pastry and fit into a 9-inch pie pan.

Mix together the peaches, vanilla sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Turn the filling into the pie shell and smooth the top. Place the pie on a center rack in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the almonds, sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the pieces are reduced to less than pea-sized. Add the oatmeal (if using) and gently mix with your fingers (don't process--leave the oatmeal whole). Refrigerate topping until ready to use.

After 30 minutes, remove the pie from the oven and reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Carefully dump the crumb topping in the middle of the pie and spread it out evenly and tamp it down lightly (I use a fork). Return the pie to the oven and bake for another 30-45 minutes, or until the juices bubble thickly around the edges.

Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool for at least two hours before serving.

After baking pies all day Friday and working at the market all day Saturday, I was in no shape to prepare an elaborate dinner that night! So I decided on an easy grill-out meal but with an ethnic twist. As I have blogged about previously, we have fallen in love with the super-tasty burgers Romains at the Jean-Talon Market, and I was determined to figure out how to make them at home. I found a recipe online called Mittitei or Grilled Romanian Hamburger that sounded just right. Basically, it's just like an American hamburger but with different spices, and it's shaped into a cylinder like a hot dog. It's served in a regular hot dog bun with a robust mustard (I actually made my own based on an Alton Brown recipe) and some sauerkraut. It would be best if you made your own sauerkraut, but most of us don't have the time, patience or space to ferment our own kraut. So if you buy it, just try to find the freshest kind possible that still has some snap to it, like Claussen's refrigerated sauerkraut (I used another brand called Krisp Kraut this time). And, voila! These were delicious and very similar to what we buy in Montreal. I will definitely be making these many times again this summer!

Mittitei (Grilled Romanian Hamburger)
(Source: adapted from http://www.cooks.com/)

2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (I doubled this, as is my way!)
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I doubled this, too.)
1/2 cup beef stock, fresh or canned
Vegetable oil*

Combine all ingredients except oil in a deep bowl. Knead vigorously with both hands until ingredients are well blended. Then pour in the stock and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Taste for seasoning. Divide the mixture into 18 equal portions and roll each one into a cylinder about 3 1/2 inches long and 1 inch thick, moistening your hands with cold water as you proceed.

Grill or broil on the highest setting about 3 inches from the heat for about 8 minutes, turning them with a spatula or tongs every few minutes until they are crisp and brown on all sides.

*The recipe never says what to do with the oil, but I brushed each piece of meat with a little oil, using a pastry brush before grilling.

Best Mustard Ever
(Source: Alton Brown via www.foodtv.com)

1/4 cup dry mustard powder
2 teaspoons light brown sugar (I used 3-4 tablespoons!)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used 1 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I used a whole teaspoon)
1/2 cup sweet pickle juice (I used dill pickle juice, as it's all I had)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup mustard seed (AB didn't specify, but I used both yellow and brown mustard seeds from my local co-op, and WHOO-WHEE, was that mustard spicy! For a milder mustard, use all yellow mustard seeds.)

In a small, microwave-proof bowl whisk together the dry mustard, brown sugar, salt, turmeric, paprika and garlic powder. In a separate container, combine the pickle juice, water and cider vinegar and have standing by. Place the mustard seed into a spice grinder and grind for a minimum of 1 minute, stopping to pulse occasionally. Once ground, immediately add the mustard to the bowl with the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture. Whisk to combine. Place the bowl into the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute (I had to nuke it in my crappy microwave for almost five minutes to get it to thicken). Remove from the microwave and puree with a stick blender for 1 minute. Pour into a glass jar or container and allow to cool uncovered. Once cool, cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Vive le Québec!

Cyd and I have been working so hard lately, and though there is always lots of gardening and baking to be done, we decided to take the day off and amble across the border into Québec in honor of St. Jean de Baptiste Day. Now I won't pretend to understand the intricacies of Canadian history, but I do know this: around here, Québec's St. Jean de Baptiste Day (June 24, aka the Fête Nationale du Québec ) is a much bigger deal than Canada Day on July 1st (Canada's Independence Day). It reminds me a little of living in Utah, where Pioneer Day on July 24th was celebrated more than the Fourth of July, though they are celebrated in the same month (and in very similar ways). In Québec, besides everyone flying their blue and white fleur-de-lis flags everywhere (from little flags stuck all over their lawns to those flapping from their car antennae), Jean de Baptiste Day is also a night for the traditional lighting of fires, which usually means fireworks, such as those that sparkle over the river in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu on the 23rd and 24th.

As for us, we decided to cross at a different border than we usually do (Lacolle instead of Hemmingford) and take rural routes north into Montreal to see some different scenery on a glorious summer day, and to check out how some of the small towns were celebrating Quebec's most important holiday. Along the way, we made a short detour to Saint-Valentin (where I am told that thousands of people send their letters and cards in February to get that very romantic postmark!) to one of our favorite berry farmers, and the sign said it all: Les Fraises Sont Arrivées! (The strawberries have arrived!) Of course, I quickly acquired a whole flat of the luscious, ruby red, gloriously sweet little gems which will be made into jam within a day or two.

Once we had had our fill of the rural hinterlands, we made our way into Montreal proper and up to the wonderful Jean-Talon Market which was in full swing! The fraises had also arrived there, of course, and people were flying out of the market, clutching their flats and half-flats of the deliciously aromatic strawberries that perfumed the air everywhere we went. After a zesty Romanian hamburger with fresh sauerkraut and homemade whole-grained mustard and then some gelato at Havre aux Glaces (Cyd got dark chocolate and I had Caramel Maple Brulee), we serpentined our way through the market, acquiring two kinds of strudel at the Polish bakery (poppy seed and almond), as well as a lot of delicious produce, including deep burgundy-colored Lolla Rossa lettuce, brussel sprouts, pencil-thin asparagus, shallots, and some fabulous apricots from the next province over in Ontario. We also spotted these garlic scapes. They are the sprouted tops of hard neck garlic that are cut off prior to harvest to redirect the plant's energy down to the bulb below. But the scapes are deliciously garlicky themselves, and have a delightfully pungent kick. Many people just sautee them and eat them as a simple side dish or snip them and use them like scallions or chives, but some of the vendors at my local farmers' market were telling me that they make a fabulous pesto. Some I came right home and produced my own delicious version of garlic scape pesto that I will be serving over the beautiful house-made pasta that we picked up at the Capitol Italian Market that is adjacent to Jean-Talon, and where the world's best cappucino can be had as a bonus while you shop. In any case, I highly recommend that you try making this pesto or using garlic scapes in any number of delicious ways, but hurry--scapes have a very fleeting season! They won't be in the farmers' markets more than a week or two. And while you're at the market, you absolutely must grab yourself a few pints of beautiful, juicy strawberries. They are truly remarkable this year!

Garlic Scape Pesto

3 cups garlic scapes, cut into pieces
1 cup olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan
3/4-1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
1/3-1/2 cup water

Add the pieces of garlic scapes, olive oil and lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor. Blend until the scapes are broken down. Add the toasted walnuts and process until fairly smooth. Add the parmesan and seasonings and process again to as smooth as you can get it. At this point, mine was still not smooth and was still too thick, so I added some water, a tablespoon at a time, until I got it to the right consistency (it took about six tablespoons total this time). I served it over pasta, and it was delectable!

*Tip: This recipe makes a huge batch, so you might want to halve it.

Unpaid Product Placement

Whew! Another extremely exhausting week at the farmers' market is behind me, praise the Good Lord! My roommate started a new job this week (another "amen" there!), and she wasn't able to help me as much as she usually does, so I had to do double (or triple!) duty. I am wiped, but I am pleased to say that this was my best week so far this season! I came home with only one poppy seed cake and the special red velvet cakes that, apparently, no one in the North Country understands or desires (too bad for them, as the cakes were scrumptiously tangy and came with a sidecar of luscious cream cheese frosting...yum!).

I am WAY too tapped to post the new recipes today (I'll get to it, I promise!), but in the meantime, I would like to offer two product recommendations--something I rarely do on this blog--but they are well worth it. First of all, I proclaim the (soft) drink of the summer to be...drumroll, please...SIERRA MIST LEMON SQUEEZE!

It's so refreshing and delicious, particularly if you add a squeeze of fresh lime to it! I just wish it came in diet, too. (Maybe it does, but I haven't found it in my stores yet.) Anyway, if you want to try it, better get on it, because this flavor is seasonal and will only be available until September.

Secondly, I have to pass on a tip that I overheard at the grocery store. I was wandering down the cleaning products aisle, and I overheard this lady telling her friend that a certain product was the most amazing thing ever for cleaning pots and pans with baked-on residue. As a person who WEEKLY tries to destroy her pans (not to mention her oven!) with many baking projects, I had to see what they were talking about. The tidbit that I overheard that really got me was when the woman said, "Well, I do a lot of baking, and this is the only thing that I have ever found that really got my pans clean." Sign me up! She was talking about Dawn Power Dissolver. It comes in a dark blue bottle, it costs about two bucks, it smells like hell and is probably filled with many environmentally unfriendly chemicals, but it WORKS like a charm! And mind you, I bake fruit pies every week that despite all precautions, always seem to explode all over everything, and you practically have to take a jackhammer to the scorched residue. But with this stuff, you spray it on, let it sit for awhile, and when you come back later, the goo just melts off. Amazing! I have also used it on the stovetop around the burners that get pretty crusty. And I have heard that it does a great job at getting tomato residue off of plastic storage containers, but I haven't tried that yet. In any case, it's great stuff, and a real help for home cooks that have to do their own dishes, and a lot of 'em!

I can't end this post without one semi-recipe, something easy and seasonal, I think. Cyd acquired a ginormous bouquet of fresh dill at the farmers' market last week, and we have been trying to think of different ways to use it. Cyd prides herself on her compound butters, and they are a delicious way to preserve fresh herbs that are bountiful at this time of year. All you have to do is soften some butter and mix in whatever tickles your fancy. One of our favorite combinations includes dill and chives or scallions, minced garlic, and lemon zest. You can store it in a plastic container in the fridge, or you can shape it into a log, wrap it in parchment or plastic wrap and freeze it nearly indefinitely. We made a simple but simply fabulous appetizer with whole-grain toast points spread with the compound butter and topped with some cracked pepper smoked salmon. DELISH! It's also yummy on fish or chicken, or on veggies like asparagus. Just grill up nearly anything you encounter in your fridge or freezer, slather it with some of the compound butter, and you have an easy summer supper.

So consider those your seasonal tips of the day, brought to you by Sierra Mist, Dawn, and the butter producers and herb farmers of America. :-)

Raspberries + Peaches = Summertime Bliss!

It's that time again...that time where I get the strange but incessant craving to stand over my jam pot in the heat of summer and turn out endless little jewel-toned jars of fruity sweetness. This latest jam session was triggered when I ran out of my peach ginger habanero chutney last week at the market, so I had to start with a batch of that. But I was really inspired by a gal called Miriam who lives in my old stomping grounds of Salt Lake City. I was first directed to her blog from the Bakerina's website. Apparently, they are knitting colleagues. I don't know from knitting myself, but Miriam's blog also dabbles in the culinary arts, and she is a passionate jam-maker in particular. Her signature jam is purple raspberry and peach which her loved ones refer to as "liquid crack" (tee hee), and she even won a blue ribbon at the Salt Lake County fair with it last year! Not that I am surprised. Is there anything more blissful than the summertime union of raspberries and peaches? NO, I say!

As you may already know, I make a fine berry and peach pie, and a few years ago, I remember making a decent raspberry-apricot jam. But this combination may be my favorite yet, edging out even my beloved blueberry-lime. Now I would be happy to share the recipe, but really, all you need to do is to follow the instructions for raspberry jam on whatever brand/type of pectin that you choose to use, but swap out one cup of peeled and chopped peaches for one cup of the raspberries. Also, I added a tablespoon of lemon juice per batch because it seemed like the right thing to do. For five cups of fruit total (using Sure Jell powdered pectin), I ended up with eight half-pint jars. The jam is just delicious, the texture and color are so lovely, and all of the jars had set up perfectly by the following morning. Now we'll have to wait and see if my customers at the market find this jam as enchanting as I do (fingers crossed)!

However, it's important to admit to my readership that successes in the kitchen are often balanced by failures. After making my favorite Sara Foster crumb cake for the market last week, I got to thinking that I should try the much-heralded CI version. And on the strength of many great reviews from people I trust, I went ahead and made a double batch to share some with my trivia team. But it was just DISASTROUS! The cake itself was wonderful--very fluffy and tender--but the crumbly topping (which is the whole reason that one makes a CRUMB cake!) was tooth-shatteringly inedible. Here was the problem: I didn't have enough cake flour, so I used all-purpose for the topping. BAD MOVE! So I ended up cutting the top off of the cake and using the bottom for strawberry shortcake. That helped soothe the pain of loss somewhat.

But the failure of the crumb cake created another painful problem, that is, what to make for trivia night? And I only had an hour to throw something together! So I defrosted a pound cake, made some Bird's custard with a vanilla bean added for good measure, bought some more of the beautiful raspberries that were on sale at Price Chopper this week (Plattsburghers, take note--they are two packages for four bucks!), and grabbed a can of whipped cream. I threw all of these bits into a cooler with ice packs and headed into town for our weekly game. I told them that since our team name is the Deconstruction Crew, that it was a deconstructed raspberry trifle! (They bought it!) I assembled each plate at the table, starting with two slices of pound cake, topped with the vanilla custard, then a generous handful of raspberries, and a good squirt of whipped cream to finish it off. It looked beautiful (things with fresh berries as a topping always do), and everyone "oohed" and "ahhed," and some even had second helpings. So crisis adverted there. But when I got home and told the tale, Cyd got jealous, so I had to make her a peach melba version of the same with both raspberries and peaches. See how pretty? (Trust me, there's cake and custard under there somewhere!) So get out there and make some luscious raspberry-peach combinations of your own, why don't you?

A few new items for the market...

Well, I just finished my first full month at the farmers' market (though it feels like it's been longer!). I'm still doing well, but I think for my own sanity--not to mention for the pleasure of my regular customers--I need to mix things up a bit and make some new things to sell. In addition the stuff I usually do, I made two new cakes and two new pies last week. The two cakes were old stand-bys, New York Crumb Cake and Blueberry Buckle. The crumb cake recipe is Sara Foster's from the famous Foster's Market in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. It's one of my very favorites with a thin layer of tender cake topped with more crumb than cake, which is as it should be. The blueberry buckle is a traditional New England recipe made with two whole cups of berries in the batter and a crumbly topping that all bakes up into lovely, sandy-looking hills of cake--definitely a summer favorite, especially when our local wild blueberries are ripe for the picking. Here are those recipes:

New York Crumb Cake
(Source: Sara Foster via http://www.marthastewart.com/)

2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more for pan
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 325°. Lightly brush a 9-by-12 1/2-inch baking pan with canola oil, dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, canola oil, and vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over flour mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Sprinkle crumbs over batter, and bake, rotating pan after 10 minutes. Continue baking until a cake tester comes out clean, about 10 minutes more.

Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Using a serrated knife or bench scraper, cut into 3-inch squares, and serve. This cake can be stored, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Makes 1 nine-by-twelve-and-a-half-inch cake (or two eight-by-eight cakes).

Blueberry Buckle
(Source: adapted from http://psoup.math.wisc.edu/dishes/dish10.html)

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soft shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
at least 2 cups fresh blueberries, preferably wild

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup soft butter or margarine

Combine and blend the sugar and shortening until fluffy. Blend in the egg and vanilla. Add the milk, alternating with the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). Carefully fold in the blueberries. Place the mixture in a sprayed cake pan, 8 inches square. Separately combine the topping ingredients (I did this in the food processor), and sprinkle them on top. Bake 45 - 50 minutes at 375°.

In addition to these cakes, I also made a couple of new pies for this week's market. One was a special order for a shoofly pie, which is an old Pennsylvania Dutch favorite made with molasses. I would describe it as sort of like a very dark pecan pie without the nuts. Unfortunately, the woman never showed up to pick it up--boo hiss! However, my neighbor Ken will enjoy it, as he loves Quebecois sugar pie, which is a close cousin to the shoofly pie.

And even though it's HORRIBLY un-seasonal, I decided to make a sweet potato pie. It turned out SO beautiful, perfectly level and just set, with a gorgeous orangey color and a divine aroma. To make it truly spectacular, I added a thick praline layer on top. I only made one of these pies to see if people would go for it, and my little protege, Anna, and her mom, Martie, very wisely snapped it right up! So now I'll have to wait for their review. But I am confident that it was as delicious as it was lovely. Here are those two recipes from my beloved pie mentor, Ken Haedrich, who has never once let me down.

Shoofly Pie
(Source: Pie, Ken Haedrich)

1 single-crust pastry
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar, divided
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces
½ cup molasses
¾ cup boiling water
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten

Combine the flour, ½ cup brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse until it becomes a fine meal and forms small clumps when you pinch it together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combining the remaining ½ cup of brown sugar and the molasses. Add the boiling water and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the baking soda, vanilla, and egg. For a “wet-bottom” shoofly pie, pour the molasses mixture into the prepare pie shell and top with all of the crumbs without tamping down. For a “dry-bottom” shoofly pie, spread half of the crumbs in the bottom of the crust, pour the molasses mixture over that, and then top with the remaining crumbs.

Bake for ten minutes at 425 degrees then reduce the oven to 350, rotate the pie, and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until the filling is set and wobbles together as a whole (the center should not be soupy). Let cool thoroughly on a wire rack before serving.

Sweet Potato Pie with Praline Topping
(Source: adapted from Pie, Ken Haedrich)

single-crust pastry, partially baked
2 large sweet potatoes, baked
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 cup light cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
scant ½ teaspoon salt

Pierce the sweet potatoes deeply several times and bake for about at hour at 400 degrees (you could boil, steam or microwave them, but baking concentrates the flavor and sweetness). Let cool enough to handle then peel. Puree the flesh of the sweet potatoes until smooth. Measure out 1 ½ cups into bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugars, eggs and yolk, then the cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and spices and blend until very smooth. Pour mixture into cooled pie shell and bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating once after about 30 minutes, until filling is just set and the edge has risen slightly. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.

Or better yet, add this praline topping.
1 ¼ cups chopped pecans
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
2 tablespoons heavy or whipping cream
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine ingredients and place on top of cooled pie and place under broiler for less than a minute until topping is melted and bubbly. (I recommend using foil or a pie shield to keep the crust from scorching.) Let pie cool completely again and/or refrigerate.

Best BBQ Side Dishes in a Supporting Role

It's not exactly barbecue weather here this week. (Oh, how I wish I had managed to get my garden in before all this rain came! Oh well...) Nonetheless, I have a couple of items for you take to your next potluck gathering that are sure to be hits.

The first is a recipe for baked beans that I have made for years and years, but always play kind of fast and loose with. In fact, it's a perfect dish for cleaning out your pantry and fridge. And it's so hearty, it's almost a meal in itself (indeed...I had them for my lunch today). I first had beans like this at a divisional gathering in my first teaching position. Toward the end of my time at that school, I had a dreadful boss (division coordinator), but she could make some mean beans! And I currently have an English teacher colleague here at school that makes a similar dish that's just excellent. Here's my version, but again, feel free to swap out ingredients based on what you have on hand and what your mood is on any given day.

Meaty Barbecue Beans

1/2 pound ground beef
2 links Italian sausage (mild or hot*)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (a few cloves)
five cans of beans, one should be Bush's Baked Beans, but then add any combination of light red or dark red kidneys, pintos, black beans, cannelini (white kidney) beans, Great Northern beans, and my very favorite, butter (or large lima) beans--drained
a bottle of chili sauce (I only had half a bottle on hand, so this time, I added some leftover BBQ sauce from PJ's in Saratoga*, or you could also swap out ketchup in a pinch)
1/4 cup maple syrup (or 1/4 cup brown sugar, or 1/8 cup of each)
1/4 cup mustard (yellow or Dijon or spicy brown or what have you)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon chili powder (preferably, dark)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika (preferably, smoked)
salt and pepper to taste
half pound of bacon

*I used hot sausage this time, but if I had used mild, I would have added a pinch of red pepper flakes, or better yet, a minced chipotle.
**Had I not used a smoky BBQ sauce and smoked paprika, I might have added just a few drops of liquid smoke as I am wont to do. It gives it a little somethin-somethin!

In a large skillet, brown the hamburger and sausage with the chopped onion and garlic. Drain. Toss this mixture into your crockpot, and add all of the remaining ingredients except the bacon. Stir everything together and fire up the crockpot.

In the meantime, fry the bacon in the skillet until browned to the level that pleases you. Drain on paper towels and then cut into half-inch pieces. Toss them in with the beans and cook everything on high for an hour or two, or on low for several hours or until the barbecue is in full swing!

Yield: a crockpot-full of beany goodness

Alternately, if you want to be fancy about it and/or make this dish in the oven, pour the beans (sans bacon) into a 9 x 13 casserole, top with the bacon slices (cut them in half for ease of eating later), and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees or until the bacon is properly browned on top. (I have been known to parcook the bacon a bit beforehand to speed up the process when I'm in a rush.)


Ok, so you've got some sort of carcass burning on the grill, you'll have corn on the cob, of course, and the meaty beans. And you'll probably have the good sense to assemble a green salad as well. Now all you need is a dessert that's easy to throw together, looks nice, feeds a lot of folks, and transports well. I have just the thing...or rather, Anna does. Chocolate Raspberry Pecan Bars....YUM, YUM! These bars came together pretty easily, baked up beautifully, cut perfectly, and were easy to pack up and carry to trivia tonight. I think they would be a marvelous addition to your next to-do.

Chocolate Raspberry Pecan Bars
(Source: adapted from http://www.cookiemadness.net/)

8 oz (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (if you are using unsalted butter, increase this to 1/2 teaspoon)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans, divided (you may use walnuts if you must)
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam (I used non-seedless purple raspberry jam from the world's best jam-maker up the road, and I needed more than 1/3 cup...maybe 1/2?)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan (baking spray with flour added works great--they will come right out of the pan for easy cutting after they've cooled).

Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add flour and salt and stir until crumbly. (Note: I used a stand mixer, and it did not turn out crumbly, but formed a soft dough instead). With floured fingers, press 1 3/4 cups crumb mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan; reserve remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown (mine took 14 minutes).

After the crust is cooked, combine 1 cup chocolate morsels and sweetened condensed milk in small, heavy-duty saucepan. Warm over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla; quickly spread over hot crust.

Stir 1/2 cup of pecans into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over chocolate filling (again, my soft dough did not "sprinkle"--I just pinched off small pieces of the dough and dropped them on top of the chocolate layer, and they spread during baking). Drop (half!) teaspoonfuls of the raspberry jam over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with remaining morsels and the other 1/2 cup of pecans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set (it will probably even puff up to let you know). Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars (I opted for 32). Then I refrigerated them until party time which may have been unnecessary, but I wanted them to hold their shape and remain sturdy for transport.