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 …
Author: sylvie
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 …
On Cherries
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. Continue reading On Cherries
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 …
Fresh Strawberry and Ginger Rhubarb Tart
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 …
45 Minutes and The Cherries Are Sour
In 45 minutes, I can pick 9 pounds of sour cherries. It’s a pleasant 45 minutes, in the orchard, with views of the pasture and the hills. It’s relaxing even if it’s hot. If I am lucky the gnats are on the other side of the tree.
In 45 minutes, I can pit 3 pounds of sour cherries. (that means 135 minutes to pit 9 pounds!) Continue reading 45 Minutes and The Cherries Are Sour
Maintenance Notice
For the next few days, starting Thursday June 2, the blog may look funky as it’s getting revamped. After much (much!) foot dragging I am switching theme. As much as I like the clean simplicity of the current one, I picked it 3 years ago …
Strawberry Liqueur
Time to make more strawberry liqueur! The 2009 batch is almost all gone – the liqueur gets a little darker as it ages.but retained its fragrance. It’s a nice drink to sip by the wood stove in winter or – slightly chilled – on the …
The Year of Rhubarb
Or maybe it’ll be “A Year In Rhubarb”, given the voracity with which I am acquiring stalks for the kitchen. I can’t help it: there are so many plump juicy stems for sale… I have to make up for years of deprivation, you know: there was no rhubarb growing on the tropical island where I spent my childhood.
I am hearing from growers that this year’s wet cool spring has done wonder for rhubarb. Unfortunately, the cool spring is ending this week as we not-so-gently steam and wilt with the thermometer reaching 90 degrees ( 32 C). The wet part is still on though with copious rain showers every day – rather tropical, really. What that will do for rhubarb is anybody’s guess, but I am furiously buying rhubarb. Close to 30 pounds to date, and few weeks to go still…
It’s been fun. I’ve made ice-cream (several batches and settled on proportions I like), sorbet, syrup, cordial, compote, tartelettes, fresh strawberry & ginger rhubarb tart, jam (some with elder blossom cordial, some with vanilla bean and some with fresh ginger root), rhubarb strudel (or was that baklava?) as well as fresh rhubarb chutney (delicious with a rack of lamb). And frozen a bunch, should I suddenly have a craving for rhubarb. It could happen.
It’s about time I share some recipes… so… on today’s episode we’ll learn to cook rhubarb once and make no less than 4 dishes! We’ll delve into the secret lives of rhubarb (oh… wait… we did that already!). Oh, well, then we’ll … learn how to coax the juice from those stalks without turning them into mush and we’ll make first a happy rosy syrup, and then a sweet and even happier little cordial. Continue reading The Year of Rhubarb