We make Meyer Lemon curd. Lots of it.
It takes less than 30 minutes to make a quart of it, and since it freezes beautifully, you may as well make a few quarts… provided you have eggs and lemons. And we do.
Jars of Meyer lemon curd for the fridge and the freezer
This post first appeared – with minor modifications and without pictures – as an article “In season now: our fascinating native pawpaw” in the September 22, 2011 issue of the Rappahannock News.
Pawpaw puree
My favorite banana custard involves no cooking whatsoever. No, it doesn’t involve opening a package of store-bought “custard” either. In fact, it requires a stroll along the creek with my nose up in late summer: I am looking for native wild pawpaws (Asimina triloba) that are ripening now and in early fall, sometimes as late as October – depending on the tree and its location. They aren’t showy, but they are easy to recognize: small understory trees with large vaguely-tropical-looking drooping leaves that turn a bright pure yellow in mid-fall. They grow mostly along bottomland creeks, forming ever expanding thickets, often at the edge of the woods. Read more
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
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
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
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
I don’t do pies. I just don’t. Maybe you have to grow up with pies and learn to make them with your mother or your grandmother…
Tarts, however, that’s another story. Maybe because they are easier to make than pies? I mean, you certainly can gussy up a tart, but as its most basic it’s fruit, a bit of sugar and one layer of pastry shell. The pastry can be an all-purpose short crust, a sweet short crust, or puff pastry. or whatever you can get together. The filling is nothing more than fresh seasonal fruit sprinklered with sugar and baked, or a slim layer of fruit jam or fruit compote baked and topped with fresh fruit. You could even use custard or creme patissière that can be flavored ad infinitum (That’s getting into gussying it up, by the way). The fruit can be cooked or uncooked. The dough can be prepared well ahead… You can even turn them upside down! How flexible is that? Read more
Since our most recent honey harvest yielded close to 15 quarts, I am experimenting with honey as a sweetener. We are so used to the taste of sugar that we don’t really taste it any more, we only taste the sweetness. Honey on the other hand has a depth of flavor that some palates find too potent. But pair it with a complementary yet assertive enough flavor, and you’ve got a winner. And in the spring we’ve got… rhubarb, beautiful, tart, versatile, perennial rhubarb!!!
I used not to care for rhubarb, having been subjected to too many over-sweet strawberry rhubarb pies with less than stellar crusts. So it took me quite a while to embrace its sourness, so welcomed after winter. In comparison with fresh tamarind, a fruit of my childhood, rhubarb’s sour bite is actually quite gentle. No wonder I don’t want its tartness to be disguised by too much sugar. Read more
I post a picture of pickled Jerusalem artichoke or marinated peppers (canned last summer) or wheat berry salad on Facebook. Do I get request for recipe? hahaha… However, I post – as an after thought really – a photo of an almond and chocolate cake… and I get no less than 3 (3!) requests for recipe. My friends like chocolate.
But who indeed does not like chocolate?
I would normally not post a recipe for Reine de Saba cake, because, really, it’s such a classic. And it’s a classic for good reason: it is such a very good cake – beautiful, dark and tender; it’s also balanced: not too dense, not too intense, just right. After a bite, you’ll understand its name. Read more
On February 2, in Punxsutawney, PA, Phil the Groundhog is most unwillingly thrust into forecasting the next 6 weeks’ weather (most unwillingly indeed as he is – apparently – wrong 61% of the time). But you know, no matter what poor Phil does or does not do, we are now halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and receiving 10 hours of sunlight a day again! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is cause for celebration, even if only a modest one.
So whether you celebrate Ground Hog Day, Candlemas, St Brigid’s Day, Imbolc, or just want to have a fun family evening, I propose we make crepes. Listen: if you can make pancakes, chances are you can make crepes! The basic ingredients are the same after all (flour, eggs & milk), the proportions different. As when making pancakes, a cast-iron skillet is the most practical choice. There is absolutely no need for a special crepe skillet: I do not have one. Fun and easy to make, sweet or savory, sophisticated or homey, crepes are our friends – and they are coffee-friendly, hard-cider friendly and, without a doubt, wine friendly!
If you want to read more and get the recipe for Vanilla Crepes stuffed with Almond Creme and served with Maple Caramelized Apples (and suggestion as what to drink with that) please head over to the Virginia Wine Gazette On-Line where editor and wine expert Mary Ann Dancisin asked me to do a “Virginia Edible” blog post. Except for the almonds and vanilla, those crepes can be Virginia grown…
There is no season for ice-cream. Or rather I should say: it is always the season for ice-cream. And in winter we make ice-cream from frozen fruit (poached and pureed, and then mixed into the ice-cream base) or more often using spices.
Ginger ice-cream is a favorite of mine. No surprise there for those who read this blog, even occasionally. My liberal use of ginger is after all rooted in childhood. The ice-cream gets a double dose of ginger: first the cream is infused with fresh ginger (which will also color it a pale yellow), and then chopped crystallized ginger is folded into the finished ice-cream. Good by itself or in combination with sautéed or baked fruit.
Fresh ginger by the way is a model spice to keep around – it will remain fresh for weeks. Choose plump firm roots at the market. Don’t buy a small knob because that’s only what you need for a dish. Buy a big whole healthy root. Don’t keep it in the fridge where it will not only shrivel but mold (yuk!). Break off what you need when you need it. If your root is drying out too fast (sometimes it happens no matter what you do), you can salvage what you have by pickling it (slices or chunks in vinegar or vodka), or by grating it and freezing it (my preferred way). Read more
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