Cardamom 'n Apples

I heart cardamom. I think there is no better pairing than cardamom with apples. Cinnamon is a close second. When I came home yesterday morning with over a dozen of my favourite apples, Pink Ladies, I was dismayed to find six other apples, and they weren’t no Ladies. Oh, bother. Where did they come from? I didn’t want to deal with them, I wanted to throw them away. I needed the space in the crisper drawer. But how wasteful! I could never. I think Michael must have bought them, but he wasn’t eating them. I tend to ignore apples that I don’t pick out myself. Since I don’t have as much time in the kitchen as I’d like to lately, Michael has kindly and almost uncomplainingly stepped up. Nowadays he does almost all of the grocery shopping and a lot of the food organization. If it sounds as though we had kind of 1950’s relationship it’s because we did. Well, minus the housecleaning and great dress with a fitted bodice and full skirt. Anyway, what was I talking about? Apples. So Michael bought some crapples and the only thing to do with them was to make a chunky applesauce for our morning cereal.

Makes about 3 cups

6 apples – peeled, cored and cut into wedges

2 tablespoons agave

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Get Michael to peel, core and cut the apples that he bought. If you don’t have a Michael you’ll have to do this yourself. Put everything in a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed pot over low heat. Let simmer, stirring often, for about twenty minutes or so. Break up the apples now and then as they’re cooking down and softening. We left the applesauce quite chunky, but you could puree it if you wish. I heart Michael even more than cardamom. We’re a very good pairing, right up there with cardamom and apples.

I Love holidays!  Love with a capital L (as you can see).  I’m like a little kid, I get completely overexcited about holidays, especially the winter holidays that bring friends and family together around festive tables to combat the potential dreary winter blues.  And, I’m an absolute sucker for traditions.  I’m one of those people who likes to do the exact same thing every year for each holiday and heaven help you if you try to get me to change because it’ll be an uphill battle (though I’m always ready to adopt new traditions to have in addition to those I was raised with)!  I firmly believe that having the rhythm and dependability of strong traditions in our families and on our holidays roots us in a way that allows us to then be more creative and accepting of differences in the rest of life.

Given this, you can probably guess about how much variation there is from year to year in what I think should be cooked and served for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That’s right.  Zippo!  Same thing, every year, and it’s good every time!  On the other hand, I feel completely free to experiment with the principle ingredients of holiday dishes the rest of time.  Right now I’ve been playing with cranberries, for example.  I got, shall we say, a little enthusiastic when I was buying cranberries in preparation for Thanksgiving.  So, I’ve been using cranberries in other ways, besides as a side dish for the bird.  One of the first places they showed up was in several loaves of pumpkin bread.  I also tried drying some – that was a total fiasco.  Now I’ve moved on to pairing them with savory dishes.  Turkey isn’t the only meat that goes well with a bit of something sweet-tart on the side.  Pork and chicken, basically the other white meats, are good with cranberries as well (and though I’ve never tried it, I would imagine that salmon, baked with mustard on it (don’t ask why but I imagine cranberry sauce being good with mustard, maybe I had it on a sandwich once) would be good with cranberries too – I may try it and get back to you).

Pan fried pork chops are one of the easiest dinners you can make (if you eat pork).  To cook pork chops, you can literally just salt and pepper them and then fry them over medium heat in a little butter or oil, turning them over every 5 minutes or so for 20-some minutes if they’re bone-in chops.  You have to cut into the thickest part to see if it’s done; it should have no pink, or just the slightest tinge of pink, left.  Anyway, these fried pork chops, then, are a canvas for any number of sauces because pork pairs well with everything.  The simplest is to toss a little wine, brandy, apple cider, or cream into the pan you just fried the chops in (aka deglazing) and scrape up the browned bits on the pan bottom into the liquid, let the liquid boil down just a bit and then use that as a sauce.  Pork is also good with most cooked fruit, like sautéed apple slices, or prunes that have been simmered for a while in wine or another cooking alcohol.  Which is why I decided to make a cranberry chutney.  I had some leftover dried figs in my pantry that I figured would be good with the cranberries – because they’re so tart cranberries need either a good dose of sugar or to be paired with another sweeter fruit (like apples, pears, dried apricots or figs, orange marmalade…), or both.  Cranberry flavor is delicious in and of itself, but it is also nice with warm spices, like ginger and cinnamon.  And, because I wanted to use the cranberry in a savory dish, I decided to add some curry powder, to make more of a chutney instead of a compote.  All the cooking required is putting the fruit, spices, sugar or honey and a little liquid together in a pot, bringing it to a boil, lowering it to a simmer, and then letting it cook until it becomes thick and sauce-like.  And the very best part of the whole endeavor is that cranberries pop as you simmer them!

Because I still had more cranberries, I decided to make the rest into a sauce with another fruit I had on hand, pears.  This took longer, but eventually it cooked down to the consistency of a chunky applesauce.  I then took it and put it in a couple of cleaned out jars, which I stuck in the fridge.  It’s making an excellent snack on it’s own and as a topping for plain yogurt.

Cranberry Fig Chutney

2 cups fresh cranberries, washed (and get rid of any rotten ones)

¼-1/2 cup dried figs (or other dried fruit), cut into smaller pieces

1 Tbs. minced fresh (or candied!) ginger, or 1 tsp. dried

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. curry powder

¼ cup honey (or sugar.  You can add more to taste depending on how sweet you like things.)

¾ cup water

Add all ingredients to a pot, cover and bring to a boil.  Remove cover, turn heat down to simmer, and let everything simmer together, stirring occasionally, until all the cranberries are popped the figs are soft and the sauce has thickened, probably around 20-30 minutes.  Serve with pork, turkey, or chicken.  It’s also delicious with Brie or another creamy cheese on bread.  I would even try it as a topping for vanilla ice cream.

Cranberry Pear Sauce

2 cups fresh cranberries, washed (and get rid of any rotten ones)

4 pears, cored and cut into smallish chunks

1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger

¼ cup honey or sugar

¼ cup water

Put everything in a pot, cover, and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a simmer, leaving the lid on.  As they cook, the pears will add moisture to the sauce.  If it appears to be getting too dry, add little bits of water.  Stir occasionally.  Cook until all the fruit is soft and mushing together.  Cool and serve.  This will keep in tupper ware or jars in the fridge for a number of weeks.

Ooh. Ahh.

This is quince, a member of the rose family. A quince looks like a lumpy, mishapen and acid-yellow pear. Pick one up, bring it to your nose and inhale. It will flood your brain with the most haunting floral fruit fragrance. There is nothing like quince. They are not good to eat raw as they are granite hard, super astringent and sour. But poached? Divine. As you can see, they turn a stunning foxy red. And the flavour? Amazing. Why not pick up a couple of quince next time you see them at the market?

Makes about 2 cups

2 ripe quince, peeled, cored and cut into wedges

1/3 cup agave

2/3 cup water, divided

tiny pinch of sea salt

1/2 vanilla bean, seeded

In a small saucepan, combine agave with 1/3 cup water, sea salt and vanilla. Reserve the remaining 1/3 cup of water to add during cooking. Bring contents of saucepan to a simmer over low-ish heat. Add quince to pan and arrange in a single layer, or as your pan allows. Let simmer and caramelize without turning for about half an hour, adding a tablespoon or so of water as needed. Your home will be filled with the perfume of quince. Turn the entire pan on the burner if you notice that some of the quince are getting too dark. Carefully turn each quince wedge over – they will be darkening to that gorgeous foxy-red colour on one side, and becoming sticky. Cook for another half an hour, adding a little water here and there if needed. Quince are loaded with pectin, so the gorgeous syrup that is resulting is probably really thick and speckled prettily with vanilla bean. Remove from heat and allow to cool a lot before tasting. Sweet, syrupy and sour. Really good in your morning cereal for a treat. Great with roast pork. Astonishingly yummy over vanilla ice cream while still warm.

Golden Quince

Fact or fiction? Quince may have been the proverbial apple that Eve offered Adam.

An onion bagel at the NYC Marathon, mile 7.  There was coffee too… did I not photograph it?

Sandwich at Fairway… Sam examines ingredients in his Vitamin Water.

Appetizers

Amazing brisket (I made it).  Dinner with Jules and Juliane and Susan and Vin.

Dessert

When Emily Fleischaker, Associate Multimedia Editor of Bon Appétit, contacted me just a few days ago to ask me to participate in the Bon Appétit Blog Envy Bake-Off, I was thrilled! To be featured on this venerable food magazine’s website — and to have the opportunity to compete with some of America’s top food blogs for best holiday dessert — is a delicious honor indeed.

Immediately, my creative juices started flowing — I wanted to create a dessert that was seasonal and a little bit French. But I also wanted my recipe to be inspired by classic American holiday desserts. That’s when the humble and beloved pumpkin pie came to mind… I thought it would be fun to revamp it and give it a modern twist.

It didn’t take long for me to conceive of today’s dessert. Butternut squash is a close relative to the sugar pumpkin, and its delicate flavor and creamy texture make for the most delicious pie filling. So why not make it into an elegant tart? The rest just fell right into place. The Cointreau highlights the butternut squash’s inherent citrus notes and the buttery pine nut dough makes every bite of this tart melt in your mouth!

And what would a holiday meal be without colorful cranberries? That’s how the cranberry compote found its way in. And it’s perfect, really… just two ingredients: cranberry and sugar, gently simmered into a compote — the little bit of tartness that makes every element come together.

As for the rosemary gelato, it refreshes the palate with every spoonful. Then, as a last indulgence, the dessert is drizzled with a little orange blossom honey syrup.

Needless to say I’ll be serving this dessert for my holiday dinner… and I hope you will too!

To vote for my dessert, click on Bon Appétit Blog Envy Bake-Off… and have fun perusing all the gorgeous desserts that have been submitted. It might just make this holiday the sweetest one ever… Thank you for your vote!!

UPDATE – VOTING INSTRUCTIONS: To vote click HERE. You’ll need to register. Once that’s done it’ll take you straight to the voting page. My recipe is in the “pie, tart or pastry category”, the second to last category listed. Keep on clicking on the box “vote on the next batch” until you get there. Keep clicking until you get to “Finished? Submit your survey” (If you do not click on that link your vote will not count)… Thanks a million!!!

PS: Scroll down for the step-by-step instructions for the food processor tart dough. I developed this recipe over twenty years ago and have made it countless times! It’s truly foolproof… and I hope the pictures make the whole thing look simple enough that you’ll feel confident about making it on your own.

Butternut Squash-Cointreau Tart with Rosemary Gelato and Cranberry Compote
Orange Blossom Honey Syrup

makes 1 large tart  — serves 6 to 8

For the dough
1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons organic sugar
pinch sea salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter – cut in 1″ chunks
3 tablespoons cold milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the filling
2 large eggs
pinch sea salt
1/2 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Cointreau
1/4 teaspoon very finely grated orange zest (use microplane grater)
1 1/2 cups butternut squash purée (click on link for recipe)

For the cranberry compote
6oz fresh cranberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup organic sugar

For the orange blossom honey syrup
1/3 cup orange blossom honey
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 recipe Rosemary Gelato with Crème Fraîche (click on link for recipe)
powdered sugar as garnish
tiny rosemary sprigs as garnish

9″ x 9″ square tart mold with removable bottom (or 10″ round tart mold with removable bottom) – lightly buttered
extra flour for rolling the dough
butter to brush the mold

Step 1: In the bowl of a food processor, place the flour, pine nuts, sugar and salt. Process at high speed for 30 seconds, until the nuts are finely chopped. Add the chunks of butter and pulse until crumbly. In a small bowl mix the milk and vanilla. Drizzle on the crumbly mixture and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball. Scrape dough from the bowl, gather into a ball and shape into a 4” x 4” smooth square (with no cracks on the sides). Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes until it is cold, but still a bit soft if you press your finger in it.
Step 2: Put the eggs, salt and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip at high speed until the mixture is pale and ribbony, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cream, Cointreau, orange zest and butternut squash purée. Continue whipping at low speed until well incorporated. Set aside.
Step 3: Preheat oven to 325°F. Unwrap the dough and set it on a heavily floured surface. Sprinkle dough with a little more flour and roll it out to a 12″ x 12″ square. Gently lift the dough off the counter by sliding your hands flat under it and set it over the tart mold. Press dough lightly against the sides. Trim the excess dough with a sharp knife. Set the mold on a baking sheet. Line dough with aluminum foil and press carefully but firmly against the sides. Bake for 20 minutes until very pale yellow at the edges. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the aluminum foil.
Step 4: Increase oven temperature to 350ºF. Pour the squash mixture in the pre-baked tart shell. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden and slightly puffed up. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature in its mold.
Step 5: While the tart is baking, prepare the cranberry compote. Place the cranberries and sugar in a medium heavy-bottom saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat. The sugar will melt and the cranberries will start releasing their juices. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes until the cranberries start to blister and the juices thicken. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature.
Step 6: When ready to assemble the dessert, place the honey and lemon juice in a small pan and heat over medium heat until honey becomes liquidy, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and keep in the pan.
Step 7: Unmold the tart and dust with the powdered sugar. Cut tart in 6 to 8 even rectangles. Place each slice in the center of a dessert plate. Place a small scoop of the Rosemary Gelato next to it and a spoonful of the cranberry compote. Drizzle with the honey syrup, garnish with a rosemary sprig and serve immediately.
Cook’s note 1: The tart will keep for 12 hours at room temperature and is best eaten the day it is made. If you need to refrigerate it, make sure to bring it back to room temperature for 1 hour before serving. Refrigeration will make the crust a bit soggy.
Cook’s note 2: The cranberry compote can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Food Processor Tart Dough

In the bowl of a food processor, place the flour, pine nuts, sugar and salt. Process at high speed for 30 seconds, until the nuts are finely chopped.

Add the chunks of butter, making sure they do not touch.

Pulse holding down the button in 3-second intervals until mixture is crumbly.

In a small bowl mix the milk and vanilla. Drizzle on the crumbly mixture, making sure to drizzle it evenly all around. If you dump the whole thing in one spot your dough will not form properly and you’ll have to start all over… (And I’m sure you don’t want that!)

Pulse holding down the button in 3-second intervals until the dough comes together in a ball.

Scrape the dough from the bowl, gather into a ball and shape into a 4” x 4” smooth square (with no cracks on the sides). The trick here is to work quickly so the warmth from your hands doesn’t warm up the dough too much.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes until dough is cold, but still a bit soft if you press your finger in it.

Brush the bottom and sides of the mold with a little melted butter.

Sprinkle flour on a work surface or counter — there must be no bare spots. Cover a surface of about 14″ x 14″.

Unwrap the dough and set it on the floured surface. Sprinkle dough with a little more flour.

Roll it up-and-down twice, using light pressure on the rolling pin. (You’re not making pizza!)

Then roll it side-to-side twice… Continue rolling the dough alternating up-and-down and side-to-side until it is about 12″ x 12″ square. If cracks form at the edges, just press the dough back together with the tips of your fingers. Work as quickly as you can so that the dough doesn’t warm up too much, otherwise it’ll be very hard to lift it and place it in the mold without it tearing.

Roll out the dough so it is about 1 to 2″ larger on all sides than your mold.

Gently lift the dough off the counter by sliding your hands flat under it and set it over the tart mold (that’s when you’ll know if you floured your surface enough and if your dough was cold enough).

Press dough lightly against the sides.

Trim the excess dough with a sharp knife.

Line dough with aluminum foil and press carefully but firmly against the bottom and sides. The aluminum foil will keep the sides from shrinking as they bake. So make sure it is well placed around the sides and especially at the corners.

Place tart mold on a baking sheet or jellyroll pan and bake for 20 minutes until very pale yellow at the edges.

Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the aluminum foil.

© 2009 viviane bauquet farre – food & style NY LLC

I was brunching at one of my favorite elbow-to-elbow places on the LES, Prune, the other day and had the biggest pancake in my albeit short-lived life!

It’s called a Dutch Pancake which is literally a whole cake baked in a griddle pan with blueberries nestled in the batter, and topped with fresh whipped cream and a warm blueberry compote. It was accompanied by a side of Canadian Bacon, as if I needed any more protein, and maple syrup.

Two hours later and with the help of my brunch companion, B., we finally made a dent in the UFO-sized batter-bonanza. I highly recommend ordering the Dutch Style Pancake and sharing it with an entire village of burly men in flannels welding rubber axes.

This weekend we picked the last of the figs off of our fig trees and it’s safe to say we’re all “figged” out. Since early September we’ve been blessed with literally hundreds of sweet purple-fleshed figs and I’ve made everything from a Greek fig spoon sweet; to roasted figs stuffed with Gorgonzola and wrapped in prosciutto; to a cinnamon-spiced fig jam; to two large batches of vanilla-scented fig compote. Not to mention that we ate dozens of these little fruits as is.

October 2009 Exercise – Lionel Tandy, Executive Chef, Chartwells Dining Services New England College, Henniker, NH

 Pub Food:

Ploughman’s Lunch of Country Pate with whole grain mustard, 5-year old Quebec Cheddar with local Cortland Apple, Colston-Basset Stilton Cheese with Raspberry Vidalia Onion Compote, Prosciutto with Pickled Onions, Chicory Salad and Assorted Crostini in the Cone.

 Grilled Filet Mignon with Syrah Sauce, Baby Carrots and Beets, with Glazed Potato Bites in the Cone

 To participate in the November exercise, please send an e mail to: jeffrey@bauscherinc.com

Collections of past submissions are on the Deep Plate page on Facebook.  Please become a “Fan”. 

http://deepplate.wordpress.com

Fall’s here, the leaves are changing and it keeps raining here in Watertown (thanks global warming) but it means apples are bountiful and breakfast can be delightful.

The pancake recipe if based off one my mom gave me a few years ago, but since then I’ve made some changes to it. But if you’re looking for a fairly basic recipe to impress a guest or two, this one is great for two reasons: any basic kitchen will have these ingredients and it can easily be scaled to feed more.

Pancakes for Four

Ingredients
1 Cup of Flour
4 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon
1 Medium egg
4 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 Cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions
1. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl combine all the wet ingredients and whisk them together.

2. Add the mixture of wet ingredients to the dry and whisk them together. Let the batter set for 10-15 minutes, you can use it immediately but it won’t be as good.

3. If you have a griddle, put it on a medium heat. If you only have a frying pan, that can work too but make sure it’s non-stick or this will be a mess. The pancakes can be any size you want, but I tend to stick to using about a third of a cup of batter per pancake.

4. Spoon out the batter onto the griddle. Knowing when to flip a pancake takes a little practice but when tiny bubbles begin forming on the surface it should be ready to flip. If your heat is too hot, the bottom of the pancake will burn before the batter begins to bubble.

5. Serve the pancakes as they become ready.

If you prefer waffles, this recipe can be easily modified. If you want this to be used for waffle batter you will need 4 eggs and an extra bowl. Add only the egg yolks to the wet mixture and whip the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form. The mix the wet and dry mixtures. Finally fold the egg whites into the batter and follow the directions on your waffle maker.

But pancakes with maple syrup on their own is kind of boring. Fresh fruit is great when it’s in season but apples can be a little crunchy on their own so here’s a great apple compote.

Fall Apple Compote for four

Ingredients
4 Apples
1/2 cup of maple syrup
4 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of sugar

Directions
1. De-core the apples and dice them into chunks. You can peel them if you like, but I think they add a nice color.
2. In a medium saucepan add all the non-apple ingredients and put them on a high heat. Once the sugar has dissolved completely, add the adds and bring to a simmer.
3. Let the compote come reduce until the liquid has become a syrup. Serve while still hot with pancakes.

The best way to make this meal as a whole is to let the pancake batter set while you prepare the compote, and let the compote reduce while you’re making the pancakes.

As always, feel free to experiment with these. Whenever I have buttermilk left over from making Red Velvet Cake, I substitute that for the milk in the pancake batter. If you prefer cocoa pancakes, add a table spoon of cocoa or so instead of cinnamon. Prefer more savory pancakes? Reduce the amount of sugar.

I’ll be getting a new camera next week, so no pictures right now. Besides, these are far too good to take time for a photo-op!

J’avais acheté au printemps des graines d’épinard-fraise sur eBay pour égayer vertement mon rebord de fenêtre.

Et miracle, ça a poussé (les framboises bleues par contre hum…). J’avais déjà goûté les feuilles crues en salade, c’est pas mal, ça a un petit goût de noisette.

Bon, après j’ai goûté aux fruits quand ils m’ont semblé être mûrs. Et bof, crus, ils n’ont pas trop de goût et c’est assez granuleux. Comestible sans plus.

J’ai ensuite essayé d’en faire une compote avec une bonne 15aine de fruits + 1 pomme. On obtient une compote à la couleur rouge qui détonne. Par contre le goût, j’accroche pas. A mes papilles, cela se rapproche du goût douçâtre, fadasse et écœurant des pastèques ou grenades. A mes papilles, einh. Mon chéri qui aime la pastèques et les grenades n’a pas aimé non plus.

Verdict :

- J’accorde le bénéfice du doute aux fruits d’épinard fraise. P’t'être qu’ils étaient pas assez ou trop mûrs. P’t'être qu’il faudrait en mettre moins dans la compote et plus de pommes. Mais bon pas possible de réessayer maintenant : mes 3 plants font sérieusemet la goule (ça doit être la fin de la saison ou le signe que j’ai enfin réussi à les faire crever, hihi)

- Si l’année prochaine mes épinards fraises sont encore en vie, je me contenterais de grignoter leurs feuilles et je laisserais probablement leurs fruits aux moineaux. Et puis faudrait que j’essaie les feuilles cuites (elles peuvent se cuisiner comme les épinards)

I was looking to indulge without feeling guilty and I found sweet satisfaction without using chocolate or butter!

Two berry delicious recipes, one (or a few) simple ingredients= Yum

Berry Compote

Compote- according to the dictionary.com definition: fruit stewed or cooked in a syrup, usually served as a dessert.

Compote- according to Jen: berrylisciousness characterized by tartness from the berries and lisciousness from the added sugar in the form of honey and a touch of olive oil (It’s back!)

Ingredients

• a touch of olive oil (enough to lightly coat a small pan) or approximately 1tbsp (tablespoon- the big one)
• 4 or 5 medium-sized strawberries, halved
• 1/2 cup of thawed frozen raspberries (can be fresh or different berry)
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 2 tsp (teaspoon-the little one) honey
• 1 tbsp of your favorite juice (although tomato is not advisable)

Heat the pan over medium to medium-low heat with the oil inside. Add the strawberries first since they take longer to cook, and brown them ever so lightly-they’ll take in the savory flavor of the oil.  Add 1 tbsp of honey and continue to brown a little more.  Then add the blueberries, followed by the 1tbsp of juice (I used papaya flavored because that’s what was in my fridge and it tasted great). Finally add the raspberries, followed by another tbsp of honey and simmer or cook slightly longer and then shut off the heat to let the mixture cool and solidify a bit.

Pour over your favorite ice cream. I had strawberry cheesecake flavored mmmmmmmmm.  Other ways in which you can use the compote is over waffles or any kind of breakfast bread, or you could try freezing it to make an ice pop (although I did not try this, the idea just popped into my head).

Why berries? I figure it’s the end of summer and while I look forward to fall, my favorite season, and fall foods, I’d give one last hoorah to berries although they are probably no longer in season and the majority of those I used in this recipe were frozen. BON APPETIT!

Berry Smooth Operator

Ingredients 

• About 1 and 1/2 cups of two or three types of your favorite berries, preferably frozen (at least one type).  I used about a 1/2 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of frozen raspberries
• Crushed ice- the amount will vary depending how thick or cold you want your drink to be. Also, the ice cream will help with this- I used a cup overall
• 2 Tablespoons of honey
• 2 scoops of your favorite ice cream
• A blender to mix everything

Since I have a fridge with an ice dispenser, obtaining crushed ice wasn’t too hard however it took much time to get the blender to crush it even more.  In the case that using ice is out of the question, I say add a little extra frozen berries and/or ice cream.  I added the berries to the mixer and blended until smooth.  Then I added two scoops of ice cream (one with strawberries so it just added to the flavor!)  Also, it brought the ice and the fruits together with its creamy texture and made the consistency that of a smoothie.  Since the berries were not sweetened to begin with, I added the honey afterwards to taste and found that blending in 2 tablespoons yielded the perfect taste.

Makes 1-2 maybe even 3 servings

Please give me your feedback! It’s always great to hear how wonderful my cooking sounds.  It’s also helpful to know what I can do to make the recipe better-example: my suitemates suggested that I add more honey to the smoothie. Props to them.

Having made plenty of savoury goodies with the foraged fruits (aside from the crumble) I thought it was about time to make something sweet with some of my fresh blackberries.

So I decided to make something that would go great as an accompaniment with lots of puddings. So after reading a Brian Turner recipe, I decided to have a go at making a Blackberry Compote. It was very simple to create and it tastes so good, especially with Vanilla Ice Cream and natural yoghurt. I’m sure it would be perfect for hot puddings too!

If you have any left over blackberries and some sugar in the cupboard, you have to give this a go.

340g Blackberries
55g Sugar
1 tbsp Water

1 Put the sugar, water and half of the blackberries into a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

2 Blend with a hand-held mixer or put into a food processor and process until smooth. Strain through a sieve to remove the seeds.

3 Return mixture to a clean saucepan and bring it back to the boil, adding a little water if it is too thick or a squeeze of lemon juice, if necessary.

4 Add the rest of the blackberries and take off the heat immediately.

Serve either warm or cold with a pudding of your choice!

September 2009 Exercise – Domenic Battistella, Executive Chef, Red Rocks Café, Huntersville, NC

George’s Banks scallop on baby arugula sautéed with beer braised Niman Ranch pork belly and yellow Brandywine tomatoes.  Roasted red pepper beurre blanc, basil oil, balsamic redux.

Cassis infused chocolate mousse brownie, ganache, blueberry cassis compote, chanilly.

 To participate in the October exercise, please send an email to: jeffrey@bauscherinc.com

 http://deepplate.wordpress.com

P., J., C., L., and I sat in the living room watching the Jets game on the hard-won HD TV–there was some drunk-on-P.’s-lemon-drops troubleshooting with the Cablevision rep, plus J. putting his electrician training to work in flipping the remote batteries the right direction despite my repeated insistence that they’re fine, they’re fine. A., S., and B. hung around in the kitchen making bacon waffles that came out of the kitchen one at a time. On the verge of eating the remote, or shouting out loud about how I wanted to, P. stepped in and shared a quarter of her waffle while I waited. I shared back when it was my turn. That’s what lunch was like: sharing sweet food with friends, lovers, and neighbors, in a New York City apartment that fit all eight of us.

When I was younger, the idea of being dragged out for the afternoon fruit picking with the family was as much fun as going to the dentist. But recently, with the advent of TV shows like River Cottage, ‘foraging/fruit picking’ has become a growing trend, which I got suprisingly hooked by when going for a walk this afternoon (saturday) in the woods behind our home.

We started to notice bush upon bush of untouched blackberries within a few minutes of our walk, so abrubtly turned round, picked up a container and went back to start filling it. Within only a few minutes, we had collected just under a pound of blackberries and were already deciding what to do with them.

When we got back home we decided that we would try to make three things from them all:

Blackberry and Apple Crumble (Gluten Free)
Blackberry Compote
Blackberry Vinegar

the last two being more of mum’s suggestions and recipes. Over the next few days I will add the recipes on here, once I have tried them out.

Now I realise why we were dragged around picking fruit as children, as you cannot find fruit this fresh in your local supermarket!

On the walk home, we also noticed bushes of sloes and elderberries, so if tomorrow is fine weather, I think another walk is in order. Already have some ideas as to what to do with them!

I finally figured out why I haven’t been doing this food blog. I was so excited about writing about cooking and eating! And then I started trying to put together the Date Night stuff and it was too complicated, which was daunting, which made me not want to do it. How much of the witty reparte between the Mister and I should I share? What if I couldn’t get that picture to show just right next to the text? Oy! So, instead, I am just going to write about food, plain and simple. So, without further ado, Fig and Apple Compote!

Fig and Apple Compote

I was watching Bob Blumer today and he was stomping grapes somewhere. During the cooking segment, a lady showed him how to make fig compote with apples and pears. I said to myself “self, you have figs and apples in your back yard! You could have this! Today!”. So this afternoon I went out into the back yard and pulled 6 figs off our neighbour’s tree that hangs into our yard (thanks John!) and picked up 3 apples off the ground that weren’t too badly bruised. For some reason this year our apple tree hasn’t produced as much as it did last year, but for a compote, it doesn’t really matter if they are a bit rough from a fall.

So, to make it:

I cut the ends off 8 figs (I know I said I picked 6, but I had a couple in my fridge that Sue and Dave brought over last weekend when they were here for a glorious ribs fest/Fiona and Isla partay.)

I quartered the apples, cut off the bad bits and cut them into 1-2 “ pieces

I threw those, skin and all, into the gorgeous pan that CTET bought me for my grad (see photo), along with about ½ cup of white wine (Prospect Lake Pinot Grigio), ½ cup of apple juice, 2 tablespoons of pear vinegar (you could totally use something like apple cider vinegar), 1 tsp lemon juice, ½ cup of flat gingerale (again, not necessary, but I happened to have it in the fridge), ¼ tsp each of allspice, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and salt and a tiny pinch of chilli flakes.

I simmered it (bubbling low pretty constantly) for about an hour, stirring it and smushing the fruit as it softened.

Tomorrow we’re going to eat it with goat cheese and baguette (I’ll try to remember to post pictures!), but I think it’ll also be awesome with pork, vanilla gelato or ice cream, maybe even a strongly flavoured white fish. Yum. Bounty.

Au lieu de faire des muffins, j’ai fait de la compote (qui mousse, c’est étrange … Rassurez-vous c’est parce qu’elle était encore chaude quand je l’ai mise en pot). Je ferai les muffins ce soir ou demain, et sacrilège : je vais en congeler une bonne partie. Je croule sous les pommes … (et comment dit-on “crouler” en anglais ?  To crumble. Ma foi, tout cela est fort logique !)

“Classic” is a term usually reserved for persons or things sharing an almost ineffable quality that combines timelessness, simplicity, grace, and durability of form. These things can always be found exactly where you expect them to be, and will always be the way you remember them being one year ago, ten years ago, and the first time you encountered them. Familiar and comforting, classics wait for you like old friends, standing immobile while dizzying change moves us inexorably forward. Classics are, in a word, perfect, and remain that way.

So much of the annual excitement leading up to the State Fair each year centers around the “new” — new fried food, new cars in the auto show, new rides on the Thillway, new entertainment featuring animals doing strange tricks — that I thought it would be lovely, here at number 22, to take a breath and pay tribute to a grand old favorite. A State Fair classic — the Funnel Cake.

This delicious dessert may indeed be one of the least complicated fair foods you can find. It consists, literally, of a plate of fried batter. That’s it. No special spices. No barbequed Hostess snack cakes. No melted candy bars or crushed up cookies or marshmallow garnish or dollops of icing.

Just. Fried. Batter.

To be clear, you ARE encouraged to add powdered sugar or fruit compote* to your plate of fry, but I think we can all agree that this dessert appears to be exceedingly unsophisticated when compared to everything else on offer at the Fair. It’s Jimmy Stewart in a roomful of Paris Hiltons — it may not be the most exciting or flashy thing we can find, but we’re sure about its high quality and unsullied reputation, and we don’t have to worry about it doing anything we didn’t expect.

I’m convinced that this is the very best funnel cake picture of all time (and was actually taken by yours truly!). Dan and David are two favorite State Fair friends, and in this picture, they look like they are eating purloined funnel cake — their wide eyes seem to say, “O no! We’ve been caught in the act of scarfing illicit bits of sugar and fry! Shall we make a run for it?”

A couple of notes about the Funnel Cake:

• Fried batter takes up LOTS of room in the stomach. Plan accordingly.
• Fried batter might just be a GENIUS chaser for Frito Pie. (I think I just had a lightbulb moment.)
• In my opinion, the best funnel cake topping is lots and lots of powdered sugar. Make sure to get as much sugar as possible, because my second favorite thing to do with powdered sugar on funnel cake is take a deep breath and blow it in the face of whichever unsuspecting State Fair travel companion happens to be in my immediate vicinity. Yes, I have been playing the same trick since the age of 5, but I still find it to be highly amusing.

There you have it. A State Fair classic. Delicious, and not to be missed.

*Bleh, does anyone else hate the word “compote”? It’s a terrible name for something yummy – fruit and sugar slurry (which is also not a good name, I know). Seriously, though, doesn’t “compote” sound like something that should come out of the medicine cabinet and be applied directly to jellyfish stings? Help! Who has a better word for “compote”?

The Blues

I think this might be the easiest compote to make, and it doesn’t require any starch or pectin to make a it thick and jammy. Blueberries are the most easy-going of berries. They aren’t fragile or easily crushed. They keep well in the fridge and make for a handy, healthy, antioxidant-loaded snack. They freeze easily. Once they are washed and dried you can tumble them into a freezer bag and pop them into your freezer, no fussing with pre-freezing on a tray first.

Makes about 1 cup

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 lemon, juiced and zested

2 tablespoons agave

Put all three ingredients into a small, heavy-bottomed pot. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until contents are heated through and blueberries begin to soften and burst. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, now stirring constantly, until compote is hot, thick and bubbling. Remove from heat, compote will continue to thicken as it cools. Keep in a container and store in your fridge. I’ll bet that it won’t last much longer than a few days – just think of the many things you can blob this bluesy compote onto. Cereal. Whisk into a salad dressing. Onto a fruit salad. Have with salmon. Or another protein. Maybe you should make a triple batch, it will freeze beautifully.