Archive for locavore log

31 Aug 2011
Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log • Recipes

End of Summer Cake

Nectarine & Almond Cake cooling on the window sill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You only need to know a few cake formulas to be able to look smart in the kitchen. Because once you understand the recipe, you can tweak it ad infinitum to vary the result: change the fruit, change the flour, change the flavoring or spice, change the filling, change the icing, change the pan shape… and suddenly the three or four basic cake recipes that you can do (almost) in your sleep become 40 different desserts. That’s why I call them “formulas”.

Witness this recipe for Italian plum cake.

In the spring, use cherries or apricots. In summer, replace the plums with slices of yellow peaches or nectarine. Or slices of sauteed apples or roasted quince or pears in early fall. Or a mixture of fruit. In winter, use rehydrated dry fruit or halved bananas. I more and more use less refined flours like whole wheat or spelt – they accentuate the rustic aspect of the cake. I bet any flour would work! When using stone fruit like peach, I also like to add a little cornmeal (or corn flour) as well as a few nuts. Almonds are great but so are pine nuts if you have them or chopped pecans. Or whatever you’ve got! (or none if you don’t have any).

It’s not a sophisticated looking cake, like, oh say, a Reine de Saba, but is a satisfying not-too-filling dessert, moist, with a little crunch and lots of fruit – great for breakfast too. Best of all,  it’s an easy recipe to memorize, and by playing with it, it will look like you know 10 different recipes!

End of Summer Cake (with nectarine & almonds) Read more

sylvie | 2 comments | Tags: , ,
15 Aug 2011
locavore log • Vegetable recipe

On Making Tomato Paste

10 pounds of tomatoes = 12 fl oz of tomato paste.

Or conserva as the Italians call it.

Three years ago, I was using  Saveur Magazine’s recipe and Italian-type tomatoes to make tomato paste.  I have since learned to use any tomatoes to make tomato paste, not the just the processing type (although they are unquestionably preferable), because you know, I do plant a lot of tomatoes (big, small & medium, and giant) and in good years, we have lots of fruit.  Since the beefsteak tomatoes have a lot more juice, the trick is to get the water out of them. I steam them: I know, it sound contradictory, but it works. I also found that I’d rather use a lower temperature and more time, to avoid burning the paste – which is extremely easy to do toward the end.

The paste does not take a lot of active time (except for the food-mill part) but requires you to be around so you can stir it every hour at the beginning of the oven time, more often as the puree changes to past.

And of course, you could spread the work over a few days: Steam to tomatoes on Day 1 (refrigerate), pass through the food mill on Day 2 (refrigerate) and bake on Day 3.

Read more

sylvie | 4 comments | Tags: ,
11 Aug 2011
Fruit recipe • locavore log

Peach Chutney

If you need one reason to can, peaches is it. Perfectly ripe and luscious peaches are as much a treat now as they are when I open a homemade can of peaches in the dark months (or next spring before the first seasonal fruit, strawberries, ripen in May).

They are not quite as perfect  as a fresh juicy fragrant peach now… but not far. Not far.  They will certainly taste better then almost any fruit you can buy in winter.  Canned peaches are in effect poached peaches and if you can them au naturel like I do, you can use them for all kinds of preparations: naked, with yogurt, in smoothies, tarts, on top of your morning pancakes or waffles, mashed for a quick chunky sauce, mixed with other canned or dry fruit for a winter fruit salad, or puree as a base for ice-cream or sorbet.

Nonetheless, we do have – ahem! – quite a few jars of peaches canned already. And faced with the end of a bushel of ripe peaches I did not really feel like  more “canning”. Call me lazy!  Pickles, jams and chutneys only require 10 minutes in a boiling water-bath, in my smaller canner too since I use 8-oz smaller jars. Why not another condiment? This seems to be the year when I am experimenting with sweet/sour as I have made fennel agrodolce, tomates aigres douces, peach mostarda, peach barbecue sauce, pickled peaches and peach chutney using a recipe from Christine Ferber in Leçons de Confitures. Christine’s Summer Chutney uses peaches, dry apricots and poppy seeds. It was very pleasant and encouraged me to play some more and try my hands at making chutney with what I had available at the moment in the house.

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sylvie | No comments | Tags: , ,
27 Jul 2011
locavore log

August Flavor

Flavor Magazine August/September issue is coming out in just a few days, and it’s – in the words of the editor Pam Hess – an action-packed issue. I am delighted with the way my Seasonal Table column was shot and shows. With the help of Joanie Ballard of R.H. Ballard Shop and Gallery in Washington, VA we set up several tables using wonderful Le Jacquard Français linen and the glassware and silverware available from her shop along with dishes and linen of mine (and flowers that Joanie picked from the garden and arranged for a relaxed mood). And then photographer Molly Peterson did her usual magic. As you can see on that photo below which was taken on my porch where we set up a table for 2.

The recipes are simple – as always – using what’s in season in August and September, and therefore flavorful. On the menu:

  • (Spirited) Peach Lemonade
  • Fresh and Spicy Zucchini Relish
  • Marinated Lamb Kebabs
  • Fresh Mint Sauce
  • Red Couscous
  • Roasted (Grilled) Zucchini & Summer Squash with Basil Emulsion
  • Lemon Verbena Poached Peaches
  • Raspberry Ice Cream

Check it out! Bon Appétit!

sylvie | 5 comments | Tags:
25 Jul 2011
Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log • Recipes

Tequila Yellow Plum Sorbet

I am canning. Jamming. Pickling. Wining. Infusing. Freezing. Chutneying. Syruping. Cordialing. And otherwise having great fun in the kitchen. And the garden is calling most insistently: “Yo! When are you picking that corn? Have you checked the cabbage lately? The beans, the beeeeans…” and “It’s hot. I am thirsty. Where’s the water?” and always, always “Weeeeeedds!!!! Squash bugs!!!!! Mexican bean beetles!!!!”  So… I have not gone away… just busy in the garden and the kitchen.  Glad you asked!

Seriously, despite the most recent heat wave and lack of rain (a predictable complaint… since I so whine every July), it’s been a good harvest so far. And the harvest needs processing. We eat a lot of fresh veggies and fruit, but I also process a bit for the dark months. While a few of those recipes will follow in future post (pickled zucchini maybe? or Tomates Aigre-douces? or peaches pickled with basil and balsamic vinegar? or peach chutney?), I am posting a simple immediate-gratification dessert here – so that I have at least one post in July! Tequila Yellow Plum Sorbet! Just what’s needed when it’s 105 outside…. or after a canning session.

Tequila Yellow Plum Sorbet

  • Yellow Plums (never weighted them – all the leftovers from a peck that we’ve been munching on all the prior week), to yield 3 C puree
  • Mild honey, 2/3 to 3/4 C (depending how sweet the plums are)
  • Simple sugar syrup 3 T (as needed)
  • Tequila, a shot

Prick or slash the plums. Put them in a non-reactive heavy bottom pan with a little water so they don’t stick and cook on medium to low heat until they are very soft and have completely lost their shape (20 to 30 minutes; adjust the heat as needed). Let cool until you can comfortably handle, then squeeze the plums with your hands to clean the pits of flesh as much as possible. Discard the pits (ALL the pits!).

Puree the plums in the blender until very smooth.

While still warm: For each 3 cups of puree, add 2/3 C honey. Taste, as needed add the rest of the honey and the 3 T simple sugar syrup. Blend to mix completely. Let cool completely. Chill if you have the time.

Whisk in a shot of tequila. The larger the shot, the creamier and the boozier your sorbet. But don’t go overboard or you’ll have a slushy plum margarita. I would say no more than 1/4 cup (I used 2 tablespoons… more or less).

Process in your ice-cream maker, following manufacturer’s instruction.

Enjoy as is or with fat juicy blackberries and a few fragrant peach slices. If you aren’t driving anywhere, give the fruit another shot of tequila and a sprinkling of sugar and let marinate up to an hour at room temperature first.

aaaahhhhh…..

Locavore Log: yellow plums from Jenkins Orchard in Sperryville and our honey

 

 

 

sylvie | One comment | Tags: ,
27 Jun 2011
Farms • Harvest • locavore log • Wild Food

Berry Season


There is no question that we are well into berry season.

Strawberries are the first berries to ripen for us here in the Northern Virginia Piedmont. The most common ones that you are likely to grow or buy are the June bearers. They produce a big flush over a few weeks in  late May or June, and then they are done until next year. Day neutral cultivars like ‘Tristar’ or Alpine strawberries produce a little bit all summer long. I pick about a quart of strawberries every week from my ‘Tristar’ patch and that works well for us.

I have just cleaned out my white and red currant bushes. They make the easiest jelly since they have so much pectin, and one of the tastiest and prettiest too, a gorgeous brilliant clear red… that is, if you don’t press the jelly bag while it’s dripping. This year, I exercised great restraint and did not squeeze the jelly bag! But I was not going to waste so much pulp, so I processed the left over berries through the food mill’s finest plate. The strained currant pulp was mixed with sugar and black cherries to make a currant/black cherry jam. Cherries are low in pectin so the jam can be a little tricky to set sometimes…. but not if you use currant as the base for the jam! And the tartness of the currant is very pleasant.

I don’t grow gooseberries  but I am told by friends who do that they are ripening now. Well… I do have one small shrub, and last year I turned the few berries it produce into a charming little pink lemonade. But the shrub and I are not really well acquainted yet… I still have a lot to learn about gooseberries. They may be an acquired taste…

We are in the middle of blueberry season.  And what a glorious season it is!  As all other fruit so far they started a little earlier than usual too. We eat them raw, but since cultivated blueberries can taste a little flat, I like to mix them with other berries for berry salads. They also ake excellent ice-creams and sherbets – try it with a Reine De Saba (almond and chocolate cake).

Or layer it with angel food cake for a very pretty ice-cream sandwich cake that can be made way ahead of time. And just before serving, a fresh barely cooked blueberry sauce.

Of course, a few pots of jam – what’s not to like about blueberry jam? and the rest in the freezer.

Read more

sylvie | 6 comments | Tags: ,
18 Jun 2011
Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log • Recipes

Sour Cherry Cake

I’ve picked lots of cherries this year. How much exactly?  87 pounds to date both sweet & sour, over a few weeks in 3 different places. This past  Wednesday  morning I picked 40 pounds from about 7:45 AM until 10:00 AM on a hill top orchard: 20 pounds were mine to keep and 20 was the owner’s share. I love those “shared” deals!

Anyway, when you pick so much, you really cannot eat them all “as is” (no matter how many cherries you can eat at one sitting …. which when it is me, it not negligeable). You’ve got to process them. I have mentioned already the easiest recipe (Cherry Liqueur), and yes, I jam & freeze (and make ice-creams & sorbets. Of course!)

I spotted this recipe for Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake in Saveur Magazine last year, tried it, and after a few modifications (including the not inconsiderable change in cooking time), it’s now part of the dishes I make: it’s easy and adaptable and flavorful. I also make it with other fruit, especially blueberries. Read more

sylvie | 3 comments | Tags: , , ,
13 Jun 2011
locavore log

Post Card From The Porch

We did a photo shoot for Flavor Magazine today, styled by Joanie Ballard of R.H. Ballard, in Washington, VA. After we were done, and everybody left, I simply had to use the little table. It looks much better with everything Joanie brought, but still the scattered rose petals from one of my roses bushes was too cute not to enjoy some…

A table!

sylvie | One comment | Tags:
08 Jun 2011
beverage • fruit • Harvest • locavore log • Recipes

On Cherries

cherry orchard, June-07-11 007

I first encountered really fresh cherries when I was 15 – a defining age to meet a flat of just picked sun-gorged brilliant cherries, I can tell you. On the tropical island where I grew up, cherries do not fruit – they grow, but without a cold dormancy period, they do not fruit. Papayas, mangoes, longans, cherymoyas, pineapple, yes. But cherries are an exotic expensive luxury that travels a long way to get to Reunion Island – like litchis in Virginia. So I was 15, my family was living in Provence for year, and Provence has wonderful cherries. I was hooked. Read more

sylvie | 7 comments | Tags: , ,
07 Jun 2011
locavore log

June Flavor

Flavor Magazine is a regional publication focusing on the Capital Food Shed, Virginia, Maryland, DC. I started to write the Seasonal Table column in January 2011. The June/July issue is out with 10 seasonal recipes. 8 are extremely easy but nonetheless flavorful. No surprise indeed if one cares to choose produce harvested when perfectly ripe. The Wheat Berry Salad and the Spring Lamb ‘stew’ require a little attention and and more time to execute them – but nothing a novice can’t handle. I really love Molly Peterson‘s photos and the way Flavor’s art designer laid them out. Molly is also co-managing Mount Vernon Farm in Sperryville, VA – so has a real appreciation for the seasonality of life on the farm – which I think shows in the way she captures the seasonality of our food.

sylvie | 2 comments | Tags:
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