Seasonal Fruits

Yesterday was Exchange Studios end of summer BBQ. This one is different b/c the meat and beer is c/o our property manager. Yay free food!

He has a crazy smoker grill, and made some of the best pulled pork I've ever had.

For this BBQ, I decided I would test out my new oven* and bake some cookies.

I've gotten Figs twice now in my box. I didn't know what to do with them, so the first batch got moldy by the time I made a game plan. Thankfully, the recipe I created only needed 1 pint.

These are the different kinds of figs. I used Mission Figs.

Fig stuffed Sugar Cookies

based on the traditional Italian Treat Cucidati

Dough

4 1/2 c flour

1 t salt

1 t baking powder

1 1/4 c cold cubed butter

1/2 plus some 1ce water

Filling

1 pint figs diced

water to cover

2 heaping T of honey

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 c ground almonds

1/4 c ground pine nuts

1/2 c rasins

Glaze

Confectioner's sugar

milk

extra powder to top

Method:

Cube the figs and set in a sauce pot with a nice layer of water to cover. Add honey and sugar. Bring to boil and simmer until an almost jelly is formed. This takes a considerable period of time so be prepared. While that is boiling grind the nuts to a powder. Leaving some larger chunks is also nice, but most of the mixture should be gorund fine, but not to a paste.

Make the dough in a traditional pastry sense. Sift dry, add butter, pinch with fingers to pea size, add 1/2 c water, add remaing water to form the final dough. If your fig misture is not ready place the dough in the refrigerator to keep solid and cold.

When the fig saice has reduced to a thick, wonderful jelly, remove from heat and add the nuts and rasins. The mixture should be moderatly moist and moderatly dry. You want it to be moist enough to be yummy, but firm enough to hold up as a filling. So keep this in mind when reducing the fig sauce.

Preheat the oven to 275

Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8- 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3" strips and place filling down the center of each stip. Fold over the sides and crease with a fork. Cut into 1" squares. Place on a baking sheet with parchment and bake until the bottoms are golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Add glaze as they leave the oven. Place on cooling rack. Sprinkle with more sugar. Comsume.

*yes, i got a new oven the day after the crows flew. Still electric, but thankfully new.

Edit: My sister informed me I neglected to say how they came out! They were so good! Ultimate success. I couldn't believe it. I half expected them to be less than palitable, but they were good! Most of them were gone before dinner :)

Leftover Salad

EWWWW to MMMMMMM

Normally I'm not really into leftover salads- too mushy for me. Here's a great trick we used to turn a day old salad into crispy flavorful goodness:

If salad is not already dressed- do so with desired vinaigrette
Peel endive leaves off and scoop portions of the salad mixture into each leaf

We used this method to finish up a delicious avocado, orange and poppy seed salad with red wine and shallot vinaigrette. The fresh endive leaves added that much desired crunch that a day old salad is lacking- and it looks a tad fancy for serving as hors d'oeurves

Writers Block EXTREME

I know I should be reflecting and writing about the recent CAW visit to California, but I just can't. I am way far more excited about the soup that I just made, than reflecting upon things we all did.

Although, I will, I promise. Eventually.

While Billy is away enjoying the sights and sounds of Yosemite with his childhood christian brethren, I am at home attempting to not freak out about the mess left behind; and the toilet seat that was up- a clear indication of man-boy rampage prior to their departure this morning.

How do I relax? I brief clean up, and immediate cooking adventure and a characteristic analyzation of my day.

Today was the Castro Farmers Market- a savior on a day where fumes were emitting from my ears for approximately 8 hours straight. After consuming a delicious lunch of Hummus and Tabbouleh* with sesame pita, around 4 o'clock I felt it was time to go for a walk.

I enjoy eating my lunch at my desk, and then going for a stroll later in the day, in lieu of a full blown lunch out. On this day, I decided that I did not crave cookies (although that was tooootally what I needed on Monday, from Hot Cookie)

I craved strawberries. Sweet Delicious strawberries.

Now it is not strawberry season, so I question the integrity of these apparent fresh market berries, but god damn you these were stupendous! They saved my day.

But I digress. Savior of Soup. Simple, delicious, my mind is a-flutter as to what to do with the savory leftovers.


Red on Red on Red Lentil Soup

1 small onion diced
1 large carrot grated
5-6 gypsy or lipstick peppers
1 excessively large ripe heirloom tomato, diced
about 1 cup frozen corn- although fresh would suffice

1/2 cup red lentils
4 cups water

larger bits of ground fennel seed
1 T crushed black pepper
pinches of salt
sprinkles of onion powder
1 pinch cumin
some garlic powder
a little mustard powder
some nutmeg

Methods:

Coat the bottom of a heavy pan with olive oil. Add carrot and onion, cook for a long while. meanwhile, dice the peppers all nice and tiny-like. Add these. At this time add some salt and lots of black pepper. Cook for an f-ing long while, add tomatos and cook until they give off their water. Add various spices now. Add lentils. Add water. Cover and cook for a long while, until lentils are cooked until you can't tell they were once tiny little things, and the soup is of a consistency that makes you happy. Turn off the heat, add the corn, mix. Eat with bread, or rice, or alone!

*a great lunch btw

The Pink Crow

Hello! The crows are indeed back from Cali- rested full of culinary adventures to share. As previously shared by Miz. Holly we were all about the d.i.y. on this trip, although it is doubtful we would have been so successful without the amazing resources offered up by Lady Riane's wonderful Ma and Pa.

This cocktail I'm about to share is one of my favorites- and I should give a shout out to an unnamed restaurant in Boston's fenway where I worked for awhile my senior year of college. They invented the drink and I put my spin on it, but no matter who it is served by and where it is drank, it is truly delicious. Drinkers be warned- don't let the tastiness fool you- this bevy packs a punch.

The Pink Crow

1 1/2 oz ounces of vodka*

1 1/2 oz of grapefruit juice

splash of lime juice

splash of cranberry juice

Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass. Top off your cocktail with a healthy dash of champagne or other sparkling white wine (we used an inexpensive prosecco). Garnish with lime or a citrus (grapefruit or lemon) twist.

* If you are interested, I highly recommend a citrus flavored vodka such as Absolute Ruby Red (preferred) or StoliO. However, we used regular old Gray Goose and it was tasty tasty tasty. Just remember, if it comes in a plastic bottle, fly away.

muffins in mtl!

bonjour from montreal! la belle province!!

when it comes to cooking, i am definitely a baker, so naturally, all my overripe (and underripe for that matter) bananas go into banana bread! whenever i spy a browning banana i throw it into the freezer for later use. i find, however, that when i re-visit these frozen fruits, they've often times turned completely brown and to a frozen mush in the freezer...don't be afraid! thaw those puppies out and squeeeeeeeeeeze them into you mixing bowl, they're already mashed!! i have found, however, that bananas of the frozen type never seem to pack as much flavor and i generally add extra.

for this recipe, i only had 2 bananas and none in the freezer, what's a girl to do!? i modified my goto banana bread recipe, reducing ingredients and adding roasted almonds and coconut to produce 10 muffins! breads and muffins are great modifiers in that you can add and subtract fruits and nuts to your liking.

coconut almond banana muffins:

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbs softened butter

2 ripe bananas

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup nuts

1/4 cup coconut

preheat oven to 350F

sift dry ingredients.

mix wet ingredients.

add dry to wet, then add coconut and almonds.

scoop into muffin cups and top w/a little bit of coconut

bake in preheated oven 20 min and voila!

Crows unite, fly to brooklyn, eat honey.

This weekend Herself and I had the rare opportunity to perch together for a few days in Brooklynand catch up with each other and some old pals. We spent all day Saturday grazing across the borough in search sublime satisfaction/ a perfect greasy mess to cure a hangover. Some truly awesome snacking occurred, including:

-An enormous taco-esque creation that was too messy to eat in public but I did anyway
-Asian-inspired hot dogs with red cabbage slaw on top
-A mango speared on a stick and sprinkled with chili power
-Expensive, but delicious pizza, eaten under the Brooklyn bridge and washed down by summer ale.

While on the journey we encountered this small farmer's market that has some super fresh looking produce and locally made yummies.

Observe below:
This local organic cheddar made my mouth water. Herself and I took a moment to fantasize about biting into a huge block of cheese; probably not as awesome as it sounds, but still, I really wanted the cheese. Sour cherries!

Free samples! Of marinated tofu! ehhh... oh well.

And lastly, I know this is a terrible picture, but I had never seen an artichoke in full bloom before and I thought it was beautiful. (Also, side note, artichokes are my favorite food. Maybe they should be my favorite food and flower?)

Experiments with Agave Nectar and Sweet Breads

It's summertime, and that means in the Bay Area, produce boxes are HEAVY on the fruits. I get so much fruit, I can't eat it all, and I'm about 3 weeks backed up on plums, nectarines, and peaches. These two breads, are my attempt to use up some of the fruits I have that are about to turn.

Recently, I was exploring a new neighborhood of Oakland and came across a silly hippy natural foods store called The Food Mill, that reminded me of the ass-backwards "health foods" stores that exist in the Northeast, and have existed there since before the dawn of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. You know the type, fresh peanut butter, more aisles of suppliments than food, and the origional pay-by-the pound grains, psices, and teas. I like the first and the latter, but the suppliment ailes both scare and piss me off. And for some reason the people that work/own these stores tend to have a bit of the creepy jesus stare in them, but I digress.

I LOVE PAY BY THE POUND

I especially love pay by the pound olive oil and honey. This time around I bought some pay-by-the-pound Agave Nectar. I have never had it before, but in my attempt to move away from refined sugars as sweetners, I figured I should give it a try. At room temperature it is way less viscous than honey, and therefore, baking was quite easy with it. It scooped right into my measuing cup with ease.

The following two breads are in the oven, so I don't know if the proportions are correct or not. I'll be sure to update when I taste...I'm hoping for a t least a 1 out of 2 here..

Orange Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup agave nectar
2 eggs, beaten

2 mashed overripe bananas
1 h applesauce
zest 1 orange

Mix everything in the usual baking manner- wets with wets, dry with dry. Bake in a buttered and floured pan- shape and size of your choosing (I did 4 X 9) at 350 until the skewar comes out clean.

Plum Cardamom Bread

1 c. fresh plum cubed

1/2 c applesauce
1 yogurt cup
1/2 cup agave nectar
2/3 cup white sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
11/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp. fresh salt

1 tsp. cardamom
1/2 t cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix everything in the usual baking manner- wets with wets, dry with dry. Bake in a buttered and floured pan- shape and size of your choosing (I did 4 X 9) at 350 until the skewer comes out clean. If you feel like it make a sweet decoration of plums on the top of the bread- I recommend this as the top crust wasn't as hearty as I had hoped for.

For the love of Fire Roasted Tomatoes!

Quick note- both Trader Joe's and my local grocery store have caught up to the fire roasted craze by added store-brand fire roasted tomatoes!

No More $3.50 16 oz cans for me :)

I have a project.....

Great article in the times today about canning seasonal fruit and veggies at home. I'm dying to try it out; strawberries and artichokes sound particularly appealing. Anyone with me?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/dining/27cann.html

Sweeet Treats

I have more sweets to share. I don't know whats happening to me!

I never used to obsess about desert, but the meals I've been making lately don't seems as share-worthy as sweet treats. Not to mention, my camera has an uncanny ability to make the most appetizing plates look grotesque. (re: the dumpling shot)

So my box this week was superb! It has finally reached the right time in the growing season to get truly fresh, local veggies. This week was my first sampling of beautiful red heirloom tomatoes. There were also some sweet Italian peppers that I enjoyed two ways. First with sausage on a bun with caramelized onions and homemade mustard. Second, as transformed leftovers in a Tomato based pasta sauce!

That being said, the fruits were the stars of this weeks delivery.

Bananas, watermelon, strawberries, avocado, wow!


Strawberry & Banana Coffee Trifle

Ladyfingers
Whipping cream
sugar
cocoa powder
bananas
Strawberries
Strong brew coffee or espresso

Brew coffee and allow to cool to room temperature (or as I do, brew it, and stick it in the freezer until you need it). Meanwhile, whip the cream, sugar, and cocoa powder until you have whip cream. You can add the chocolate and sugar to your taste.

Pour coffee into a cup and dip the lady fingers in. Allow them to soak up a good amount of coffee and place them along the bottom of your dish. Break them up if need be.

Now you can just layer Ladyfingers, whipped cream, fruit, whipped cream, ladyfingers, fruit whipped cream! Allow it to sit for an hour or so so all the flavors can meld together.


Fruity breakfast bars

Crust:

1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c butter- room temperature
sugar to taste
salt

Filling

2+ c fruit (I used strawberries, rhubarb, and raspberries)
2 eggs, lightly beaton
1/4 c flour
sugar/honey to taste


Crust: Mix all ingredients together and push into the bottom of your 9 X 9 pan. A tart pan would also work, although it would then be a fruity tart, not fruity bars.

Filling: Mix all ingredients, and pour over crust

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, until crust is golden brown.
Serve at room temperature or cold as little bars. So delicious!

Fuck Yeah, Seedlings

I've got a bunch of seedlings partying in my living room windows. This is how they looked a week and a half ago:


That's a sunflower and an arugula sprout. This is how they look today:



I got yer sunflowers, yer beets, and yer nasturtiums there. I bought them from Skyfire Seeds in Kansas ("A mail-order seed company!") that specializes in organic and heirloom seeds. In addition to this and the arugula, I have two varieties of cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and watermelon -- the only friends to not show their faces yet. And then I have a bunch of flowers I plan to guerilla plant around the Chicago. I'm super pumped to have a spicy argula, nasturtium salad with roast beets and garlic marinated tomatoes starting in early August. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Cherry Tomatos for Snacking and Salading:
1. Halve the tomatoes, put 'em in a bowl.
2. Drench them in olive oil.
3. Throw a proportionate amount of minced garlic in there. (You know me: I'd do a big clove and a small clove for a cup of tomoatos.)
4. Salt and pepper. Stir.
These taste the best after two days. So make an amount you can finish in three.

Holly - I'm going to try making your dad's pickles next week when I finally find some motherfucking pickling salt. That shit is elusive!

For the Love of Parchment!

In an effort to tame my sweets obsessed boy man, I have been on a kick of making slightly savory desserts that please the both of us.

This week I got rhubarb and strawberries in my box. I had never cooked rhubarb before, but had tried it on occasion. I opted to try to recipe that came with my box for a Rustic Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart.

As I am not a baker, I often misread recipes, which then lead to disaster. Although I misread this one, fortunately, it was not a complete disaster. Although, still not worthy of a picture to post here due to a major burn-situation. I rarely remember that when baking, ingredients are often listed as the total quantity to be used for the entire process, not just one part as often is the case in a recipe for say, anything else.

For example, this recipes states that you need 2 1/4 c flour. Brilliant as I am, I assume that all 2 1/4 cups of flour go in the crust. The same went for the 3/4 c sugar. Again, wrong.

I wound up making a crust that much more resembled a cookie. Which completely defeated the purpose of making a sweet/savory dessert. Nonetheless, it was yummy, and probably one of the only cookies I have successfully made, so all was not lost.

I now share with you a perfectly seasonal recipe for :

Strawberry Rhubarb Tart
c/o Farm Fresh to You with my special edits and the crust you should make

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 sugar
1/4 t salt
3/4 butter
1 pint strawberries
1/4 lb (1 good stalk) rhubarb
1/2 t ground cardamom

Combine 2 c flour, 1/4 sugar, and salt. Cut butter into flour and form tiny crumblies. Add 1/4 c cold water to mixture and form a ball od dough. This process can also be done in a food processor. Wrap in parchment or other material and put in freezer to harden while you work with fruit.

Cut strawberries and rhubarb to pie sized pieces. Mix with 1/2 sugar, 3 T flour, and cardamom. If you wish, as I did, replace some of the sugar with Honey, or maple syrup. It makes for a subtle yet concentrated natural sweetness.

Roll out pastry into ~14 inch round. I recommend some parchment paper* between your baking sheet and dough. Remember to be sure that your butter is cold and not mushy or it will be difficult to roll out the pastry. Stir the berry/'barb mixture well and spoon onto the center of the pastry. Fold the pastry over the border of the fruit while tucking in the excess pastry. Spread or brush some melted butter on the outside of the pastry, while placing a few chunks of butter in the open portion of the fruit. Sprinkle with sugar if you wish.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350-375 (you know your oven best).

* I highly recommend the parchment because if there are any cracks in your pastry, the sweet juices from the fruit will find their way out. Nothing is more difficult to clean than burnt to black sugar.