Savory Tart Tatin with Apples, Shallots and Blue Cheese

I know that a lot of people rely on the internet for finding new recipes, which is fine, but I love cookbooks, so I'm always on the lookout for one that will have a number of new-to-me recipes that sound delicious.

A few days ago I was in one of our independent bookstores and found a great cookbook on the sale table. It's The Great British Baking Show Favorite Flavors book and I'm sure that I'll be making and posting more of the recipes in the future. As I paged through the book, there were at least a half dozen that sparked my interest. Last night I made the recipe that sealed the deal for me actually purchasing the book.

As written, this recipe is a Tart Tatin, which is sort of an upside down pie, with a rough puff pastry top that becomes the bottom of the tart. It is savory, but there is some sweetness from the apples and the shallots. The blue cheese brings home the savory as does the garlic. the thyme adds a wonderful herbal note. If I make it again I'll add finely chopped toasted walnuts, because the finished tart would have been even better with some walnuts, in my opinion. I'll also cut back some on the butter and oil because I found it overly oily. Just in case you think that it isn't worth making, I should tell you that Sweetie thinks it might be the best thing I've ever baked. Of course I had him at 'blue cheese'!

Because the puff pastry I thought I had in the freezer ended up not being there, and because I didn't have the time to make rough puff and I did have pie dough on hand, I used regular pie dough for the tart and it worked fine. I also didn't use all the blue cheese, nor all the apples and I also used fewer shallots than called for. What this meant was that I had a single layer tart. The original was probably thicker and that's why more fat, cheese, apples and shallots were needed. I liked it as a single layer tart, especially with the pie dough crust. I also skipped the balsamic drizzle, but kept the parsley.  I'm going to give you the original recipe below, but feel free to use pie dough and/or half the fillings if you like. Also feel free to toast a couple tablespoons of walnuts and chop them up and sprinkle them over the tart when you have turned it out onto the serving plate. Not only are walnuts and blue cheese a classic match-up, but the crunch should be great with the soft cheese, fruit and shallots. I plan to that next time.

Savory Tart Tatin with Apples, Shallots and Blue Cheese
Serves 4-6

For the rough puff pastry 
200g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
175g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
4 tbsp chilled water
1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

For the topping/filling
40g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
400g banana shallots (1bout 12 small shallots), peeled and halved lengthways, root end intact
2 Braeburn apples, cored and cut into eighths
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp golden caster sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
1 thyme sprig, leaves picked, about a teaspoon
150g blue cheese (such as Stilton) crumbled
salt and black pepper to taste

To serve
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1.) Make the rough puff pastry. Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Lightly rub in the butter with your fingertips, just enough to knock the corners off the butter pieces - it should still be in a rough dice. Pour in the chilled water and vinegar and quickly mix with a palette knife (small offset spatula works) to bring the dough together in a ragged ball, adding more water if needed.

2.) Lightly flour the work surface, tip the dough out of the bowl and flatten it into a square. Roll out the dough to a rectangle that is three times as long as it is wide - about 36cm x 12 cm, with one of the short ends closest to you. Fold the top third down to the middle and the bottom third up to cover it, to create a three-layered square of dough. Wrap the dough and chill it for 1 hour.

3.) Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle, this time about 45 x 15 cm, with one of the short ends closest to you. Fold the top edge down to the middle and the bottom edge up to meet it in the middle. Turn the dough 90 degrees clockwise and fold the dough in half, much like closing a book. Wrap and chill for another 1 hour, or until you're ready to bake.

4.) Make the tipping. While the pastry is chilling, melt 15g of the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large flying pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, cut side down, and cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes, until golden. Turn the shallots over and cook the other side for 2 minutes, until lightly colored. Using a fish knife or palette knife, remove the shallots to a large plate and season well with salt and pepper.

5.) Heat another 15g of butter and the remaining olive oil in the frying pan. Add the apples and cook each side for 2 minutes, until lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 1 minutes. Remove the apples to a plate.

6.) Assemble the tatin. Spread the remaining butter over the base of the ovenproof pan or skillet and scatter with the caster sugar. Place the shallots and apples in the pan (they don't have to be neatly arranged) and scatter with the thyme and half the blue cheese.

7.) Lightly flour the work surface. Roll out the pastry and cut it into a 28-30 cm disc (about 3mm thick). Lay the pastry over the shallots and apples and tuck the edges down the inside of the pan. Chill for 20 minutes while you heat the oven to 200 degrees C/180 degreed C fan/Gas 6.

8.) Cut a steam hole in the top of the pastry and place the pan over medium heat on the stove for 2 minutes, until the edges of the pastry start to sizzle and bubble. Then, transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden all over.

9.) Meanwhile, bring the balsamic vinegar to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced by half. Removed from the heat and leave to cool.

10.) Leave the baked tart to rest in the ovenproof pan or skillet for 2 minutes, then place a board or serving plate on top of the pan and carefully flip the pan over to turn out the tart. Drizzle with the reduced balsamic vinegar and scatter with the remaining blue cheese and the parsley, to serve.

Pork and Mushroom Ragout Over Polenta

A few days ago Sweetie cooked a pork shoulder low and slow in the BBQ grill, all wrapped up in heavy duty foil. He browns the shoulder on each side before wrapping it up, then lowers the grill temperature so that it can cook for hours and get soft and delicious. In the process some of the fat and juices make their way into the bottom of the foil. When he takes the packet off the grill, he carefully saves those juices in heatproof glass jars, then opens the foil all the way and removes the pork to cut and serve. If we're having pulled pork bbq sandwiches, I ask him to just cut a chunk off for me so that I can pull the pork with two forks instead of slicing mine.

If the pork shoulder is a large one, as the one he cooked a few days ago was, I get to be creative with ways to use some or all of the leftover pork.

Today I made a sort of pork stew or ragout with some of the leftover pork, some onion, garlic, mushrooms and spinach, plus seasonings. It was yummy and went well over some soft cooked polenta. I didn't really have a recipe to follow  but I've cooked similar things before so I was pretty sure that I could figure out the recipe as I went along. I did have a recipe for the polenta and it was a delicious mix of stone-ground polenta, some chicken broth and some of those pork juices Sweetie saved then refrigerated, some salt and pepper, some butter and some Parmesan. Don't skip the Parmesan...it makes all the difference. Also, use good Parmesan, either the real deal, grated, or something pretty good like the already grated stuff from Costco. Skip the Kraft Parmesan in the green tube. Not worth adding.

Pork and Mushroom Ragout Over Polenta with Spinach
serves 4

For the Pork and Mushroom Ragout:
1/2 large onion, peeled and chopped
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
135 grams mushrooms, sliced (about 4-6 depending on size). I used cremini.
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
salt  and pepper - about 1/4 teaspoon 
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
170 grams or 6 oz. already cooked pork roast. I used the shoulder cut, slow cooked
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 cup broth/reserved pork juices/water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup chopped cooked spinach

For the Polenta: 
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup stone-ground (if possible) polenta  grind corn meal
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese - best quality

Instructions: 

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or small Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions and stir, then cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms and stir. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and cook for 3 minutes to allow the mushrooms to release moisture. Uncover the pot and return the heat to medium-high then cook, stirring often until the mushrooms have some browned areas on the slices, about 4-5 minutes. If necessary, add the rest of the olive oil to cook the mushrooms or garlic. Add the garlic, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 1 minute, then stir in the salt and pepper and the thyme. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low and cook another minute to allow flavors to meld.

Add the pork, cut into 1-inch or smaller cubes, to the pot, and stir to combine. Cover the pot and cook, still on low, for 3 minutes, to heat the pork.

In a small bowl combine the balsamic vinegar, cornstarch and 1/4 cup of the broth/pork juices/water, being sure to stir until there are no lumps of cornstarch left. Add this mixture and the rest of the broth/pork juices/water to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir until the broth thickens. Add the cooked spinach, stir, and cover until ready to serve, leaving over the lowest heat possible on your stove. The mixture needs to stay warm while you prepare the polenta, but you don't want it to burn.

For the polenta, add the water to a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the salt and stir to combine. (Note: Taste your pork mixture before adding the salt. If the pork mixture is fairly salty, as it might be if you use the pork juices or your broth is salty, then reduce the salt you add to the polenta water. I only used 1/2 teaspoon because my pork ragout was fairly salty.)

Once the salted water is boiling, slowly whisk in the polenta. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir until the polenta mixture is thickened and the grains are cooked to your liking. I like mine with just a bit of chew still in it. Once desired thickness is reached, add the butter and the grated Parmesan and stir vigorously until it is well combined. Mixture thickens slightly as it cools, so if it's too thin for you. let it sit 4-5 minutes before serving.

To serve, spoon the polenta into shallow soup bowls and top with the pork mixture. Serve additional grated Parmesan on the side, if desired, to be sprinkled at the table over the ragout. 

Peach and Raspberry Pie

Don't actually need another pie recipe, but I finally found some ripe peaches at the market. Usually they are hard as rocks, which I don't find appealing at all. This time they were soft, so I bought six large ones. One I ate for lunch and the other five went into the pie. Unfortunately these 'ripe' peaches were just peaches that had been the rock hard ones and had sat long enough to soften and, in most cases, dry out some in the process. This leaves the peach slices more like sponges in texture than true peaches that have had a chance to ripen at least some on the tree. the good news is that cooking them brings back at least some of the juiciness, so baking them in a pie improves them a lot.

For the crust I used my favorite ready made ReadyCrust from Pillsbury from the market. Sweetie likes it and it's easy, making a pie go together much faster than if I made the crust dough.

The filling was those five peaches, peeled, pit removed, slices and the slices halved. I mixed up some flour, sugar, salt and cornstarch, grated on some freshly gound nutmeg, then sprinkled that mixture over the peaches in their CorningWare bowl. The peaches were mixed using my hands to keep from bruising the slices and to distribute the dry ingredients evenly,

Into the pastry lined pie plate I put about 1/3 of the coated peach slices, then dotted about 6-8 fresh raspberries around, covered them with another 1/3 of the peaches, repeated the raspberry dotting, then finished it off with the rest of the peaches. The top crust went on, the edges of the bottom crust resting on the pie plate rim were moistened with water and the top crust pressed down a bit. This seals the sides to keep the juices in. Top and bottom crusts were rolled under together all around the rim, then fluted. While all this happened, the oven was preheating to 425 degrees F. I painted the top crust and rim with egg white and sprinkled some clear sanding sugar on top for sparkle and a little crunch.

After cutting three slits into the top of the pie, I placed the pie on a pizza sized baking sheet, then into the preheated over for 15 minutes. Even with that short time in the oven, the peaches and the crust smelled wonderful!

Another 25 minutes at 350 degrees F and the pie was done, all golden brown and delicious looking. The filling bubbled a bit in one of the slits so I knew it would need some time to cool before slicing. Unfortunately I didn't share that information with Sweetie, so he cut a couple of slices within about a half hour of the pie coming from the oven...so the filling was very soupy. Still delicious!

Want to make this pie? Follow what I wrote above, and use THIS recipe as a template and all should be well.

XO, Elle

Chocolate Cherry Quince Frangipane Tart

Typically frangipane is an almond cream of sorts that is used as a filling in pie and tarts...and it isn't chocolate. Almond is the usual nut used. Sometimes a different nut is used, often pistachio. A few year I ago I decided to try it with chocolate because chocolate and almond go well together. I tried it with fresh cherries as the fruit and it was delicious. Now that our quince are ripening I decided to try the same tart but with the addition of quince (the pieces of fruit at the outer rim of the tart in the photo above). It's fantastic!

First you partially bake the tart crust and while it's cooling you mix together the frangipane filling. I prepared the fruit earlier. The cherries get halved and the pit removed. The quince are washed, peeled, and cut away from the core, then cut into pieces, mostly wedges. In a small pot a syrup is made by simmering water and sugar, then the quince are added and poached (basically simmered with the lid on the pot) until tender, then cooled. After cooling, you strain the fruit and it's ready for the tart. You can do this a day in advance if you store the fruit pieces in the syrup in the fridge. When you are ready to put the tart together, drain the fruit and pat dry. Use the syrup for something else...maybe over ice cream?

This makes a tender tart with a soft chocolate filling that has texture from the almond flour and this highlights the fruits. Hard to stop at a single piece.

No Quince? Just use all cherries or use all raspberries, or mix the two. I think you want a fruit with a bit of tartness to it but any fruit that goes with chocolate would probably be delicious. Apricots? Nectarines?

Chocolate Almond Fruit Tart
    Elle's recipe
Makes one 9-inch tart

To make the crust: 

Use an already made pie crust, like Pillsbury ReadyCrust or your favorite pie dough for a single crust.

Roll out the dough into a 12-inch diameter circle. Transfer to the tart pan and gently fit the dough into it. Fold the extra hanging over the sides down to make a double crust on the sides. Use your fingers to push the dough into the tart side indents. Use a rolling pin, rolled over the top rim, to clean the top. Gather up any leftover pieces and wrap in plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for patching, if necessary. Prick all over and freeze for at least 30 minutes, but longer is O.K.

 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put the rack in the center of the oven.

 Remove tart shell from freezer. Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray/oil and put, oil side down on the tart, pressing down to mold the foil to the tart shape.

 Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil carefully and use the back of a spoon to gently press down any puffed crust. If necessary, use the extra dough from the fridge to patch any holes, then bake another few minutes. Let crust cool.

 

Prepare the filling:

 4 tablespoons soft butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cup almond flour or finely ground almonds

1 1/2 cups fresh fruit ( cherries and poached quince or apricot halves, drained and patted dry, or raspberries, etc.) - about a pint of fruit

 Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To make the filling:  Beat together the butter, salt, sugar, flour, cocoa, espresso powder, and almond extract.

 Beat in the eggs, then add the almond flour, stirring just to combine.

 

To assemble the tart: Spread the filling in the bottom of the crust.

 Place the fresh fruit, cut if necessary, in rows or a nice pattern on top of the filling, pressing them down gently so the bottom of the fruit is covered.

 Bake the tart in the preheated 350 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is puffy and bounces slightly when pressed in the middle. Cool slightly before serving.  

Italian Sausage and Kale Soup

It's going to be hot again next week, but for the last few days it's been in the upper 70s and on Monday night it rained! Fall is coming...my favorite time of year. The sound of the rain on the barn roof was soothing, which was a good thing since I'm still having a reaction to the vaccines taken on Friday. Almost normal today, but have had a headache since Friday, which I'm not equipped to handle well since I rarely have headaches. Anyway, the rain was a lovely thing to hear Monday evening and it also rained on Tuesday in the wee hours, so I didn't need to water my garden.

Today I celebrated the slightly cooler weather by making soup. I love soup, but don't often think to make it. It's pretty easy once you round up the ingredients and this one includes some of those veggies I've been growing in the garden. The amounts are pretty variable, depending on how much you have of things, particularly the veggies. You can use the amount that seems right to you. No veggie garden? You can, of course, use veggies from the farmers market or regular grocery store and celebrate the coming season. I like this way better than putting up Halloween decorations in September!

Italian Sausage and Kale Soup (with lots of other veggies)
Makes a big pot

1/2 - 1 pound Italian Sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
2 cans (about 15 oz each) chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 can cannellini (white) beans, rinsed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 - 1 cup fresh tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 - 1 cup zucchini, quartered, then sliced 1/2-inch thick slices
1 - 2 cups fresh green beans, snapped into bite sized pieces
2 - 3 cups fresh kale

In a large heavy bottomed pot, brown the Italian sausage in the olive oil. My sausage came as a slab, so I used a spatula to divide it into large chunks and browned them so they were almost like meatballs, but you can break yours up to be smaller if you like. Once browned, remove the sausage as set aside.

If needed, add a little more olive oil, but you may find, as I did, that the sausage gave off enough fat to cook the veggies. Cook the onions over medium-high heat, stirring often, until almost translucent about 3-4 minutes. Add the celery, carrots and garlic and continue cooking another minute or two, making sure not to burn the garlic. Add the cup of water and stir to loosen any brown bits. Add the broth, beans, pepper, oregano and add the sausage back to the pot. Stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, green beans and kale and stir to combine with the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour.

Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. Ladle into soup bowls and serve hot. May be garnished with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Truly Tomato Time

Every year we wait for the harvest, especially the tomato harvest. I start the seeds indoors some years. Did that this February. I was optimistic that the weather would be good, so I planted seeds for three kinds of tomatoes and three kinds of cherry tomatoes, plus three kinds of summer squash for good measure...or because I'm bonkers. This year I also grew Cucumbers, Golden Beets and two kinds of Green Beans, plus two kinds of potatoes (and I never grew potatoes before...so really bonkers!)

The zucchini were producing by June although only a few. By July we were overrun with zucchini, but the tomatoes were still green. None of the plants had been planted out until later than usual because our spring was long and chilly. Great for enjoying tulips and later iris, but the soil needs to warm up if heat loving plants like squash and tomatoes are going to do well.

Now we have lots and lots of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes! Our favorite is the Black Krim (far left in photo above), which isn't black, but is a darker red than most tomatoes, almost a brown, and there are often bits of pink and bright yellow-green  at the stem end. The flavor is truly tomato and they are big enough to be enjoyed sliced. We often eat them sliced, with a sprinkle of garlic salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and a few dashes of a good balsamic vinegar. Heaven!

Another great tomato this year is the Costeluto, a deeply lobed bright red tomato that is sort of flat-ish. It makes a great slicing tomato, too, and is also great cut into wedges in a salad.

The third one I grew this year is a yellow tomato. I forget the name, but it has a slightly elongated oval shape and a milder tomato flavor. It slices well, too, and is great in cooked dishes where it doesn't overwhelm other flavors.

The cherry tomatoes are variations of yellow/orange, red, and purple-ish sort of striped, round small tomatoes.

All of these are planted near each other, so there has been some cross-pollination. The Costeluto seems to be most susceptible to that. We've had a deeply lobed and large yellow tomato or two, some bright red but round ones and one that was sort of lobed and had the Black Krim color.

Mostly we have been eating these with very little done to them because they taste delightful as is or with just a little balsamic. I did, however, bake a tomato tart tonight that turned out very well, so I'll share the recipe in case you have lots of tomatoes yourself.

Tomato Puff Pastry Tart
Serves 6 - 8 as an appetizer

1 sheet puff pastry... I use Pepperidge Farm, thawed if frozen
2-3 large great-tasting tomatoes
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 small to medium egg
2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely cut or chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan...if possible use the real thing (but Costco has a nice container of it)
ground pepper for sprinkling
olive oil for drizzling

On a large piece of parchment that will fit in your sheet pan, roll the puff pastry to a 10 x 14 rectangle.

Turn the edges in an inch on each side, to make a rim. Press down lightly on the rim. Place in the sheet pan and chill while you make the filling.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Thinly slice the tomatoes and place the slices on a sheet of paper towel and let drain while you work with the ricotta.

In a small bowl combine the ricotta, egg, basil and Parmesan. Stir until it is well mixed.

Remove the pastry in it's baking sheet from the fridge. Pour the filling in the middle and use a spatula to spread it until it is close to but not touching the edges of the puff pastry. Make sure it is even.

Place the tomato slices in a pattern on top of the ricotta filling.
Sprinkle lightly with ground pepper. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, being sure to drizzle over the tomato slices and the edge of the pastry.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is browned.

Serve at once.

Getting Pickled

I planted the cucumbers and string beans later than the veggie starts, but they are producing quite well now...well enough to pickle some of the harvest.

Pickled Cucumber Spears are delicious and mine have kept their crunch in the past. Haven't tried the ones that I pickled about 5 days ago, but hope to try them this weekend. The Dilly Beans that I made this year use the same brine as the cucumber spears and should be equally delicious. The brine is pretty simple; water, apple cider vinegar, sea salt and a bit of sugar, boiled together until the salt and sugar dissolve. Probably the most difficult part is picking all those beans, and a little difficult is dipping the glass jars and the lids in boiling water and then draining them, before adding the produce, dill and peppercorns. This time the most difficult thing was finding the right sized jars and their lids! Pint sized canning jars with a wide mouth work best, but you can use other sizes, too. I had a jar I'd save that was just as tall, but thinner. It held fewer beans, but will make a nice gift. 

Remember, these are refrigerator pickles, so they don't last forever. If you're gifting them, give them after you have shaken them daily for about 5-7 days.

If you can harvest or purchase really fresh pickling cucumbers and long, thin string beans, do try this recipe. It's a great way to add some nice pickles to your meals, plus it keeps the harvest. That's a good thing when your veggies produce a lot, all at once!

Dill Pickle Spears

Fresh pickling cucumbers, washed under cold water and drained
fresh dill
a few black peppercorns, whole
brine

For the brine:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar 

Trim the ends off the cucumbers and cut into spears by cutting in half lengthwise, then cutting each half in half lengthwise.

In a clean quart jar place the quartered cucumbers, standing on a cut end, packing them in tight. I used three fairly long cucumbers. Push pieces of the fresh dill down among the quarters and add a few black whole peppercorns to the jar. They will end up at the bottom. That's OK.

In a small pot bring the apple cider vinegar, water, sea salt and sugar to a boil and stir until mixture is boiling and the salt and sugar are dissolved. Pour over the cucumbers in the jar. If liquid doesn't come up to cover the tops of the cucumbers, add enough boiling water to do so.

Let mixture cool. Tap the jar lightly on the counter to dislodge any air bubbles. Once almost room temperature, Seal jar with a tight lid and put into the refrigerator. Every day shake the jar. Keep in the fridge for six or seven days, then open the jar and taste to see if it's pickled enough for you. Jar can be kept in the fridge, tightly closed, for up to three months.

Dilly Beans

The pickled beans are fairly easy to make, but canning is one of those activities where keeping everything clean is essential. I washed the jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinsed them, then put them into boiling water, too, before draining them and then filling the jars with the trimmed beans, dill, and whole peppercorns. The vinegar solution was boiling so I used a metal cup measure to fill the jars with that mixture, then dipped the lids in the boiling water before putting them on top of the jars.

Per Jar: 
3 dill sprigs or 1 dill head
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
fresh green beans, young ones preferred

Bring the vinegars, water and salt to a boil in a medium nonreactive pot. Stir to dissolve the salt.

Place dill, garlic, mustard seeds, and peppercorns in each hot jar. (I dipped each clean jar into the boiling water & then drained it right before filling it. Pint canning jars with a two part wide mouth lid is the best.) Trim the ends off the beans and rinse them. Pack the beans into the jars tightly. Make sure there is a half inch headroom and trim the beans so that they will be covered with the brining solution.

Pour boiling brine over the beans. Tap a few times on the counter to dislodge air bubbles, wipe the rims, and seal with the screw bands. Let cool to room temperature, then put in the refrigerator. Shake the jars daily for about a week. Then enjoy. Store in the fridge.

Potatoes

 

When Sweetie had his birthday in March one of the unusual gifts was a seed potato for a Bodega Red potato, an heirloom variety that was grown in the pioneer days at Bodega Bay.

I'd never grown potatoes before so I waited until when I usually plant things, with the warmer soil, to plant the  Bodega Red potatoes and a Idaho that had started sprouting vigorously in the potato bin. I looked up how to prep them for planting on You Tube and just followed what they said to do. I planted them in a very large grow bag I got on sale at the end of the season last year. It's about the size of a small kids wading pool. My neighbor who has animals gave me some straw to top the bed with and as the leaves came up I added more soil, which I think is called 'hilling up'.

A few weeks ago the Idaho variety started having yellow leaves and basically dying back, so Sweetie and I dug up those spuds. Exciting harvest for someone who wasn't at all sure that the potatoes would grow well. We had some of the potatoes cut into chunks and boiled, then topped with butter, salt and pepper. Yum!

Now the Bodega Red plants are dying back so we are beginning to harvest them, too. Thank you Jan for your great gift!

Happy Birthday Max

On the 12th day of August in the early 1980s our son Max was born. We were lucky to have had a great many fun birthdays before he passed. Yesterday we decided that pie was just as good as cake for a birthday celebration, so Raine and I made a coconut cream pie from scratch. Raine had never had that flavor before, so it was great to see him enjoy his piece when we served it up. Sweetie, of course, really enjoyed his because it was his request that it be a cream pie. The recipe can be found HERE.

Happy Birthday Max!

Must Be Time For Berry Pie

We are enjoying the time with Raine and he seems to be enjoying the conversations, being on our 'farm' and the cooking and baking I'm doing with him, plus the woodworking that Sweetie is doing with him.

Yesterday he picked some more blackberries so that we could make a pie for dinner using the Food Processor Pie Crust dough we made the day before. To those blackberries we added some frozen raspberries and a few blueberries for a three berry delight.

Raine and I have baked freeform pies like galettes before, but this was our first pie in a pie pan together. He easily rolled out the dough for the pie bottom, seeming to know instinctively to keep the thickness even across the circle. He used a small knife to even out the overhang after I showed him how to fold the circle into quarters and then unfold that in the pie pan. Then, forgetting that we were planning to do a two crust pie, I showed him how to form the edge by folding the excess under, sort of rolling it, then fixing it to the edge and making it decorative with his fingers. By that time I remembered the two crust notion, so we changed course and decided to top it with streusel instead. Fortunately the book we're using for the pie recipe also has one for streusel.

The pie turned out pretty well. Because the frozen raspberries had a lot of juice, the filling was a bit loose, even with both flour and cornstarch added before baking, but it was still delicious and the pastry was excellent. I liked the streusel crunch as an contrast to the soft filling. We all agreed that the filling was nicely tart, even with the sweet streusel.

Triple Berry Pie with Streusel Top Crust

based on recipe from Art of the Pie by Kate McDermott

1 recipe Food Processor Pie Dough (see below), using half the recipe - reserve the other half for another use

6 cups (680-900 grams), about one and a half pounds, equal parts blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, fresh picked or unthawed-frozen (We used about 3 3/4 cups frozen raspberries,1/4 cup fresh blueberries and 2 cups fresh blackberries)

3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar

Small grating fresh nutmeg (OK to use a pinch of ground nutmeg instead)

1 teaspoon (5 grams) fresh lemon juice and a few gratings of lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (73 grams) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch 

1 recipe Streusel topping for pie (see below)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Roll out the half recipe of pie dough, fit it in the pie pan (9-inch, deep dish), fold under excess dough to create a raised edge, then flute. Place pie pan in the freezer while you make the filling.

Put the berries, sugar, nutmeg, lemon juice, zest, salt, flour and cornstarch into a bowl and mix just to combine. If there are few juices, mash slightly with a wooden spoon to create a small amount of juices.

If not already done, make the Streusel to top the pie with.

Pour the filling into the chilled pie dough lined pan. Gently smooth with the back of the wooden spoon to make level. Filling should come up to about 1/2 inch BELOW the edge of the pie.

Top the filling evenly with the Streusel (Crumble Topping).

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for another 25-35 minutes. Check after 15 minutes and cover streusel with aluminum foil, loosely, if topping is looking too brown. Pie is done when the filling at the edges of the streusel is bubbling and the pie crust is golden brown.

Set the pie on a cooling rack and cool to room temperature before serving so that the fruit filling can set up.

Food Processor Pie Crust from Martha Stewart Test Kitchen

makes 2 disks

2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces, divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup ice water

Freeze 3/4 of the butter pieces in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet until hard, at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate the other 1/4 of the pieces. The frozen pieces stay chunky after being pulsed, creating steam pockets when baked (the key to flakiness) and the refrigerated bits get worked into the pastry, giving it a tender texture.

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor work bowl. Add refrigerated butter (the smaller amount of the butter bits). Pulse to combine, about 10 times. Add frozen butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some blueberry-sized clumps.

With the processor off, add the ice water. Immediately pulse until water is just incorporated, about 10 times. Squeeze a small amount of dough to make sure it holds together. Pulse a few times more if needed. When you squeeze the dough it should remain crumbly, but come together. Don't pulse it so long that it forms a ball. Adding water while the processor is running  and over-pulsing are bad ideas... could lead to tough dough.

Lay out 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Empty half the dough onto each piece. Bring edges of wrap together to gather dough and form a round mass. Press the dough this way to form a rough round mass, and press on top of the wrap to form a disk. The processed dough should resemble uneven crumbs. When you empty the mixture from the processor bowl out onto the plastic wrap, some pieces will be tiny, others will be in clumps. That is perfect! The gathered plastic wrap method of forming the disk simultaneously has you gathering the crumbs into a cohesive dough and shaping it.

Roll out disks, still wrapped in plastic, to 1/2 inch thick rounds, about 8 inches in diameter. Rounds this size will chill more quickly that hockey-puck sized ones and will soften more uniformly when removed from the refrigerator.

Refrigerate at least 45 minutes and up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen up to 1 month. 

Streusel (Crumble Topping)

1/2 cup (110 grams) brown sugar, packed

1/4 teaspoon salt (a pinch)

1/2 cup (73 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups (144 grams) whole oats, rolled

8 tablespoons (112 grams) unsalted butter

1/2 cup (60 grams) chopped nuts, optional - We used walnuts, but pecans are great, too

Put the brown sugar, salt, flour, and oats in a bowl and stir to mix.

Dice the chilled butter into small dice and scatter in the bowl. Cut the butter in with a pastry tool or two crossed knives, or use you fingers to smear the butter into the dry ingredients.  When you are done, the mixture should look crumbly. Take about a 1/4 cup in a clean hand and squeeze - it should stick together. If that works, add the nuts and mix in. If it doesn't stick together when squeezed, add another tablespoon or so of butter and work that in, then add the nuts.

Pour the mixture into a bowl or plastic bag and chill in the freezer while you make the filling.

Garden Update

Even though we had a relatively cool July, There wasn't a whole lot of baking going on. There was, however, a fair amount going on in the garden. I planted green beans and cucumbers and more beets and those plants are all getting bigger. Started to see the beans start to flower a few days ago since they have climbed to the top of their supports, and then some!

The cucumbers and beet plants get bigger every day and are thriving. I planted a few zinnia seeds, too, so there should be a bit of color in a few weeks in that planter barrel. In the last few days I've seen some yellow flowers in the cucumbers patch, too, so they should set some fruit soon.

We've been getting zucchini for a few weeks and this week had enough to give away a few. There are actually people who welcome the gift. The baby butternut squash have set fruit, too, about three so far. I had to help pollinate some of them. You can't really see them, but they are at the bottom of the planter box in the photo below, near the orange plastic front of the watering can. The bees seem to be more drawn to the flowering sage than to the squash. Ants actually help pollinate the zucchini.

The potatoes are starting to turn yellow, a sure sign that I'll be able to dig them up soon! It's probably just one variety with the second one still pretty green, but I won't know until I dig - Sweetie moved the planter after I planted, so the plants are not arranged as I planted them.

The big news for August will be the tomatoes. I  harvested the first grape tomatoes today (see photo at the top) and there should be some larger ones a few days. After a slow start, the tomato plants have set a lot of fruit and are still doing that, so the harvest will likely go on into October. Yum! Here is a photo showing the almost done poppies, the tomatoes with underplanting of marigolds, and some of the squash plants. 

Have also been picking blackberries down the driveway and managed to step on a windfall Gravenstein apple hidden by leaves and almost fall. Caught myself, but managed to roll my right foot. Off the the doctor late last week. X-rays taken and PT ordered. Sigh. This is going to cut back on both garden and baking time since both require some standing, which is not a great look for me right now.

On the cooking front I did use some zucchini and ground turkey for chili (first time using zucchini and it was great!) which is gone and no photos taken, and for some spaghetti sauce like the recipe HERE.

Had some calzone last night that used some of the spaghetti sauce. Our grandson Raine is visiting and he helped make the dough for the calzone and the calzone too. He's a natural in the kitchen.

Welcome to August! Will be as busy as my foot allows with visiting grandson. Hope to have some new posts for you. Probably one on a pie Raine and I made today, 

plus one on some croissants we are making together.

Strawberry Shortcake for a Crowd

It may be past strawberry season where you live, but we are still enjoying fresh strawberries from the Hwy. 12 stand. No strawberries? Try this with blackberries, which are in season right now many places.

This is based on an idea on the King Arthur Baking website and has probably also been on their blog. You bake a large (9 x 13-inch) cake then top it with lots of freshly whipped cream, making dips and valleys and higher spots with the cream as you spread it out, then top with  juicy fruit (could probably also use peaches or plums!). The juices pool in the dips and valleys. Cut into squares and serve!  It's a bit messy but soooo good. 

I made a double recipe of the Vanilla Warm Buttermilk Cake for this. The recipe for the single recipe can be found HERE. Just double it. I tried splitting it and putting strawberries in the middle, but it was really difficult because the cake is not sturdy enough for that method and partially fell apart. The photo of the slice shows it that way, but I recommend not splitting the cake, so whole cake, whipped cream, fruit should work better! If you hull and slice the strawberries in the morning, sprinkle them with sugar and let sit and marinate until dinner time, you should have lots of juice. Didn't do it this way, but you might think about poking the cake with a skewer all over before putting on the cream and that way some of the juices will soak into the cake...I think.