Pomegranate Guacamole

I went to the IFBC in September as a resident blogger as long as I agreed to write three posts about whatever I wanted from the conference. I should probably do that since it was a month ago. There were a bunch of sponsors and the one I was excited to see was the Chilean Avocado Commission. I was thinking, yay free avocados! They gave away a free avocado....cookbook. Now listen, the lamb board was giving away a leg of lamb. A LEG OF LAMB, PEOPLE! That they're going to mail to me this week! Now that's what I call excellent sponsorship (also, the mini Sharpie that says I Heart Lamb is pretty cool too). However, there was nary a free avocado to be found. This made me so sad that the only way to overcome this sorrow was to buy two avocados and make this delightful guacamole. The conference itself was pretty cool.

The first time I saw a guacamole recipe with fruit in it (Tami made it for a Christmas-themed cooking club about ten years ago), I thought it sounded really weird, but then I tried it and was hooked. It added so much more contrast in texture and a sweet/savory component. This is my version.

2 large ripe avocados, split in half, pit removed and flesh chopped into chunks
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 serrano pepper (or more if you want it very hot), minced
juice of 1/2 to 1 whole lime, depending on your tastes
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
fresh pomegranate seeds, about 1/4 cup plus a few for garnishing
2 Tbsp diced red onion, rinsed under cold water for a minute and then drained (this cuts down on how strong the onion flavor is)
1. Scoop the avocado flesh out of the peels into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Mash with a potato masher to desired consistency (less mashing if you want it chunky, more if you want it smooth).
2. Squeeze in the lime juice, then mix in the rest of the ingredients.
3. Guacamole is pretty simple to make and very versatile, so you can add more or less of all the ingredients, or substitute other ingredients entirely (though not the avocado, you kind of need that if you're going to call it guacamole).
 

Pumpkin Scones

"On the second day of Autumn, my true love gave to me: Two pumpkin scones and a mega-a mug of coffee." This is the song I sang to M. last Wednesday when I first made these scones, but I didn't get around to posting the recipe until today, the seventh day of Autumn. I guess that means I should come up with more lyrics. Okay, thanks for asking: On the seventh day of Autumn, my true love gave to me: Seven roasted chestnuts, six bowls of soup, FIIIIIVE GOLDEN BEEEEEETS (that's five golden beets, but you have to read it the same way you sing it, right?), four winter squash, three French toasts, two pumpkin scones and a mega-a mug of coffee.

I made the scones again early Saturday morning for a coffee hour in my building, and they were a hit along with the Kale, Pine Nut & Parmigiano Scones (recipe in the making). People are afraid of making scones. I had several people ask how to do it, as if it were a magical enterprise. Nope, just butter. Lots of butter. Lots of cold, unsalted, cubed-up European-style butter (the higher fat content makes a better scone). Okay, so if you just make one batch, one stick of butter isn't so bad, but I made a quadruple batch so I was cutting a whole pound of butter into six cups of flour.  So what is the secret to a tender, flaky scone? 1. Keep the aforementioned butter cold. After you work the butter into the flour, if it warmed up a bit from the process, stick the flour-butter mixture in the fridge for 15-20 minutes before you move on to adding in your wet ingredients. I even put a tray of scones in the fridge after they were cut into triangles for 20 minutes before baking them, just to make sure the butter was super cold. Why is this important?  If the butter is already warm when it goes in the oven, instead of helping the dough rise upward into glorious flaky layers, much of the butter will just melt into a pool of butter at the bottom of the scone, which will be deformed and sad. 2. Don't overwork the dough. I stir in the liquid ingredients with a large spoon until it starts to clump together, then I turn it out onto a floured surface and form the dough into a rectangle. Then I fold the dough in half on top of itself, turn the other direction and fold in half again.  I used this recipe and the only thing I changed was to use cream instead of half-and-half. The blogger included step-by-step photographs, so check it out if you get stumped on what the dough should look like!

For the Pumpkin Scones:

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (65 grams) brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
8 tablespoons (113 grams or 1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup (113 grams) pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon molasses
3 tablespoons half and half
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the sugar glaze:

1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons cream

For the spiced glaze:

1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon pumpkin puree
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 to 2 tablespoons cream

1. Cut the butter into small cubes, then put into the freezer while you finish the rest of the recipe prep. 

2. Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Combine the dry ingredients in the work bowl of your food processor: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Pulse several times until well-mixed.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, molasses, cream, the egg, and the vanilla extract.

5. Remove the butter from the freezer and put into the food processor with the flour mixture. Pulse several times until the butter is broken into smaller pea-sized pieces. Scrape the mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir with a spoon just until the dough starts clumping, then turn out onto a floured surface. Press the clumps together, then fold the dough over itself twice (this helps create lovely layers).
6. Divide the dough in half (if you're a perfectionist like me, weigh the dough first so you get precisely the same amount in each.) Shape each half into a square. Cut each larger square into four equally-sized squares (so now you have a total of eight squares, yay math!). Cut each square into a triangle. Now you have sixteen scones. 
7. Place the scones on the prepared parchment-lined baking sheets. At this point I like to refrigerate the scones for 20-30 minutes before baking just to make sure the butter is still super cold.
8. Bake at 400 for 13-15 minutes, until the bottom of the scones are golden brown.
9. Let the scones cool completely, and while that's happening, mix up the two glazes in two separate small bowls. 
10. Spoon a little of the white glaze over the top of each scone, then drizzle the spiced pumpkin glaze over top. To make this easier (and prettier!), I put the spiced glaze in a piping bag with a small tip and then piped it on. 
Remember, scones are best eaten the day they are made! If you can't eat all sixteen (please don't try), find a few friends and/or neighbors and pawn them off. They'll like you (even more than they already do). 
 

Upside-down Plum Cake

Do you ever argue with Martha Stewart? Well, I did last Thursday. But she started it! Who has a 6-inch cake pan in their kitchen, let alone FIVE 6-inch cake pans? I have a very well-(over)stocked kitchen, yet nary a 6-inch cake pan can be found. So I was like, "Whatever Martha," and decided to cut the recipe in half and bake it in a 9-inch cake pan (of which I have three). Martha could not be reached for comment, but the cake turned out beautifully. I always loved pineapple upside-down cake growing up because the top of the cake had crispy edges and each slice of pineapple was caramelized into sticky goodness. So it should not be a shock that should you, say, acquire nine pounds of plums on Tuesday, if you give them the same upside-down-cake-treatment, they'll turn into pretty darn tasty plums. And also cake.
Don't skip the cake flour here, because it really helps keep the cake texture light and moist (which is a word I hate except for when one is discussing cake). Also, the cake is best piping hot on the day it is baked, preferably a la mode (pictured here with Honey-Lavender ice cream from my work).

For the topping:
1/2 cup (1/2 stick or 4 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 teaspoon dark rum
1 cup light-brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 lbs Damson plums (9-10)

For the cake:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan or a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray. Line the bottom of the cake pan with a round of parchment paper, then spray again. 

2. Make the fruit topping: Cream all of the topping ingredients together with a hand mixer for several minutes, until they are uniformly incorporated. (I used the hand mixer for the topping since I was already using my stand mixer for the cake.)

3. Spread the fruit topping evenly on the bottom of the cake pan with an offset spatula, or divide evenly between the muffin tins. 

4. Slice the plums in half, wiggle out the pit, then slice each half into 1/4-inch wedges. Starting from the outside and working your way in, arrange the plums in the bottom of the cake pan in a circular pattern , using about 3-4 slices per muffin tin if you go that route. 

5. For the cake: Sift together both flours, the baking powder and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, with the paddle attachment. Then mix in the two eggs and the vanilla. 

6. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients and the milk by adding them incrementally; alternate by mixing in 1/3 of the flour first, then some of the milk. Repeat until flour and milk are both incorporated, but turn off the mixer in between additions so you won't accidentally over-mix the batter and end up with a tough cake.

7. Scrape the batter into the greased cake pan and spread evenly over the plums. Or for the baby cakes, divide the batter evenly between the muffin tins, about 2 oz of batter per tin. Bake until the cake is golden brown (and delicious), 45-50 minutes, or 25-30 minutes for the baby cakes. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes, or 20 minutes for the baby cakes. Using a small offset spatula or paring knife, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan, then carefully turn it upside down and let the cake slide out of the pan (placing your serving plate directly over the cake pan before you invert it will help).  Peel off the parchment, 'cause you don't wanna eat that or whatever. Slice into wedges and serve immediately! Or, if you made the baby cakes, stand around the pan with your boyfriend and pry the cakes from the pan with your fingers when they're still too hot, then blow on each bite to cool it because you don't want to wait any longer Repeat as necessary, or until you decide you've probably hit your butter quota for the day. 

Pesto Chicken

One summer my friend Becci was visiting, and as usual we had a veritable feast the first night, involving gnocchi with pesto. The second night, I didn't have a menu planned, so I opened the fridge and stared at the leftover pesto and some chicken breasts that needed to be cooked like yesterday.  I thought, why not just spread the pesto on the chicken and see if breadcrumbs will stick to it, instead of having to do the usual flour-egg-breadcrumbs dredging routine?  It worked! And the chicken was delicious. Becci asked for the recipe and I was like, errrrr....there isn't one. She said, "I shall call it... Chicken à la Zinser."

"I like it," I said. 

So this is my attempt at making this into an actual recipe. It's summer, so don't put too much effort into it but serve this with whatever tasty vegetables you have lying around; I did a quick sauté of cherry tomatoes, spinach and garlic in olive oil. 

Pesto Chicken
You could just buy regular chicken breasts and then flatten them yourself with a meat mallet, but then you have a dirty meat mallet and a phobia about chicken germs on the counter even if you flattened the chicken inside a ziplock bag (or maybe that's just me), so look for thin-sliced cutlets if you can, to skip that step. 
1/3 cup pesto (recipe below)
4 thin chicken breasts, no more than 1/4 inch thick, about 1 1/4 lbs (the meat guy sliced two fat chicken breasts lengthwise when I asked if they had any thin-cut chicken breasts)
pinch salt and pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
1. Spread the pesto on one plate or shallow baking dish big enough to hold the chicken. Put the breadcrumbs on a second plate. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. You want it really hot so that when you add the meat to the pan, it sizzles instantly. This will help get a nice brown exterior without overcooking the interior.
3. While the pan is heating, spread the pesto evenly on the chicken breasts (I just use my hands because they're already meat-contaminated anyway from taking the chicken out of the package). Then dredge the chicken in the breadcrumbs on the second plate, pressing firmly to make sure a uniform layer sticks to the pesto. 
4. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pan in an even layer. If your pan isn't big enough to fit all four, do two at a time and add a little extra olive oil if the pan gets dry in between the two batches.
5. Cook until the bottom is golden brown, about 4 minutes, then flip over to cook the other side, about another 3-4 minutes. Once the chicken is browned on both sides and cooked through (check the thickest part of the chicken breast to make sure it's no longer pink), remove from the pan. 

Pesto
I was interested in trying a recipe that stayed bright green even without adding parsley (which I was out of) or spinach, so the internets came to the rescue and I tried this New York Times recipe. I didn't think the flavor suffered from the blanching; in fact, I thought it was the best pesto I've made in a while.
2 cups packed basil leaves (I weighed them out of curiosity since it bugs me the basil measurement is always in cups- what if I packed my cup way lighter than yours? I had 80 grams.)
2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/4-1/3 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup tasty extra-virgin olive oil
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced
1/3-1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1. Bring a small pot of water to boil over high heat. 
2. Set up a bowl nearby filled with ice water.
3. Put the basil leaves in a small sieve or colander that will fit in the pot of water. 
4. Once the water is boiling, plunge the sieve of basil into the pot for five seconds, then quickly drain it and put the sieve in the bowl of ice water. Blanching deactivates the enzyme in the basil that turns it brown quickly after exposure to the air (oxidation).
5. Remove the basil from the ice water and squeeze all of the excess water out.
6. In the work bowl of your food processor, pulse the pine nuts and salt until the nuts are finely ground, then add in the blanched basil. Process until the basil is finely chopped, then stream in the olive oil while the processor is still running. Scrape down the sides in case any errant basil leaves tried to escape, then pulse a few times more until you have a uniform paste. Remove from the work bowl, then stir in the Parmigiano Reggiano and minced garlic cloves (I found that adding it later instead of pulsing along with the nuts and basil prevents the garlic from being too strong). 
7. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
Because of the blanching, the pesto should stay bright green even after a day or two.

Lavender Blueberry Scones

As previously mentioned last summer, the family tree of blueberry-loving ingredients goes something like this: Blueberry marries Lemon and lives happily ever after. They just go together like BFFs, like two peas in a pod, etc etc. Mint is Blueberry's crazy cousin that always shows up with a bottle of liquor and a sugar-rimmed glass and says, hey let's throw a party while mom's out of town!  Now Lavender... Lavender is probably Grandma- you like her perfume but too much of it and hugging Grandma feels like you just buried your face in potpourri. Chuck too many dried lavender buds into your baked goods and you might as well be eating soap. And yet!  Drop a teaspoon of dried lavender into 1 cup of sugar, let it set for at least a day, then use the sugar in your favorite blueberry scone recipe and you've just created magic. All of the floral notes are in the background, adding complexity to your baked goods without tasting like you're chowing down on your bubble bath bomb. 

Awwww, look how pretty that is!

So it took me three tries to get this right. That's 24 scones I either had to eat or foist on unsuspecting friends, if you're counting. The first time I should have put them in the fridge or freezer for a bit before baking; when it's 95 degrees outside even with a small air conditioner inside, butter comes to room temperature kinda fast. And warm butter does not make pretty scones. They spread out into giant puddles of melted butter. Of course the end result still tasted good, but they looked like thin muffin tops (on actual muffins, not the kind you see in the People of Walmart videos- what would a scone-muffin hybrid be called, a scuffin? That's probably better than muffcone- ahem, that sounds vaguely dirty). Anyway.... the second time I somehow had zero lemons in the house and while they weren't bad without the zest I really wanted to see how the lemon + blueberry + lavender combination turned out. Third time's the charm! I froze the cubes of butter for 30 minutes before cutting them into the flour, and I even threw the sheet pan of unbaked scones in my freezer for 20 minutes or so before baking just to make sure the scones were super cold. They didn't spread too much and the flavor was fantastic! 

Insert obligatory crappy iphone photo taken at 10 pm here

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (I encourage you as always to weigh your flour rather than scoop it up with a measuring cup, for accuracy’s sake)
1/2 cup (100g) lavender sugar (mix 1 tsp dried culinary lavender with 1 cup of granulated sugar and let sit in an airtight container for at least a day before using. It will keep for quite some time, so if you find you like adding lavender to more tasty things, you can mix up a bigger batch of it and store in your pantry.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, cut into chunks and frozen for 20-30 minutes before using (it needs to be very cold!)
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest from one large lemon
1 heaping cup (190g) fresh blueberries (or frozen, but if you’re using frozen, do not thaw them before adding. I did not try this recipe with frozen berries, though I imagine it might be trickier to keep the blueberry color from bleeding into the dough when mixing them in.)
2 Tbsp coarse sugar for sprinkling on top before baking (or if you can’t find your jar of pretty sugar crystals, just sprinkle some of the lavender sugar on top)

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Adjust baking rack to the middle-low position. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Add the flour, lavender sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse 30 seconds or so to combine the dry ingredients and grind up the dried lavender a little bit. Add the frozen, cubed butter to the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal with some pea-sized bits of butter in it. (Alternatively, you can do this in a bowl with a pastry cutter or your hands, but remember, you need to keep the butter cold and your hands will warm it up much faster than a few pulses in a food processor.) 

2. In a small bowl, whisk the cream, egg, lemon zest and vanilla together. Pour the liquid over the flour mixture and pulse just enough for the dough to start clumping together.

3. Dump the dough onto a floured surface (if the dough isn’t forming a ball, drizzle a little bit of extra cream on the dry spots to help bring the dough together. Gently work the blueberries into the dough (without letting them all roll away from you onto the table). Press into a circle about 8 inches across and two inches high. Cut the dough into 8 equal wedges with a very sharp knife.

4. Spread the 8 scones with at least two inches between each scone on the baking sheet. If you alternate which direction the points and fat ends of the scones are facing, even better for keeping them from spreading into each other while baking.

5. For extra insurance, place the sheet pan of scones into your freezer for 20-30 minutes until cold and firm to the touch. 

6. When ready to bake, remove them from the freezer. Top the scones a sprinkle of the coarse sugar or extra lavender sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light brown and cooked through. 

Chocolate-Covered Coconut Macaroons

So between traveling for two weeks to Spain and France with my two besties and working on something special for the past eight months, I've been crazy busy and have sadly neglected this blog. Therefore, I come before you today with a confection-based apology. Cozy on up on your couch with your fan and maybe your air conditioner too, because this weekend is going to be hot. Also, while you're cozied up, eat a macaroon. And read a book. Specifically, this one:

So they're not perfect...you try cutting 20 books of 116 pages each using an enormous guillotine, aka, paper cutter, built in 1946. :-P

This time last year I had never heard of the Independent Publishing Resource Center, even though I had just moved into an apartment a mere 1.3 miles away. A friend told me about their year-long fiction/non-fiction certificate program on July 29th, the date which I remember because the deadline for applications, including writing samples, was July 31st. I freaked out, decided that was a brilliant idea, and immediately filled out the application and typed and sent in ten vignettes I had written in the past year. My lofty goal for my final project was a book entitled Divorce: A Love Story with Recipes. Fast forward to now, and those ten vignettes have grown into a little 116 page book that I wrote, arranged into book format through InDesign, designed a cover for, printed, and bound, all by myself. Okay, I did it with the help of a lovely cohort of talented writers, IPRC volunteers, a mentor and a teacher, and also my second writing group I met through Write Around Portland (I love you guys!). I still hate InDesign. And Adobe products in general. Same goes for the IPRC's black and white printer, Blanche. But Super Stan the color printer is cool.

I'm still working on a Kindle-compatible e-book version. 

So if you want to learn how to self-publish, check out the IPRC. I'm super glad I did. In the meantime, don't forget to make these macaroons that I'm taking to the IPRC graduation ceremony tonight. And since I know when I post this, my bestie's husband is going to say, "HEY, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SEND ME THESE IN THE MAIL AS PAYMENT FOR DRIVING YOU ALL OVER FRANCE!", I have to add, "I know, I know! I'll send you some soon, I promise. I'm just worried they will melt by the time they reach Atlanta." Besides, I already paid for the rental car with real money, not just coconut-based currency. :-P

I got the recipe idea from this blog, but decided it was silly not to use the whole can of sweetened condensed milk because I kept forgetting to use the rest and ended up throwing it away. Therefore, I decided it would behoove me to just make more macaroons. I can be smart like that sometimes. 

21 oz sweetened shredded coconut 
one (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites from large-grade eggs (my 3 egg whites weighed exactly 90 g)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt (really just a pinch)
12 ounces dark chocolate (I always use a mix of Trader Joe's Pound Plus bars that are 55% and 72%), finely chopped 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on low setting until they start to foam, then increase to high speed until firm peaks form. 
4. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the bowl o' coconut just until incorporated.
5. Using a small cookie scoop (mine holds a scant tablespoon and has a spring-loaded handle for easier release), scoop out small coconut mounds onto the parchment-lined baking sheets. The recipe made approximately 65 small macaroons. Bake 20-25 minutes, until the bottoms of the macaroons are deep brown and the tops are golden brown and starting to look toasty and delicious in spots.
6. For dipping, melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a small pot of simmering water until most of the chocolate pieces are melted. Remove from the pot of water and keep stirring until all of the chocolate is melted. Try to keep the chocolate from going over 95 degrees so it will keep it's shine. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the macaroons immediately after their chocolate bath, but you could still end up with streaks in the chocolate and they won't look as pretty. Honestly, it's a pain in the ass to keep a large amount of chocolate at temper, so for efficiency's sake, today I used the Christmas present I gave to myself last year, affectionally nicknamed the Choco-nator 5000.) Dip half of a macaroon into the chocolate, letting any excess drip back into the bowl, and return to baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining macaroons.  Eat them, take them to your graduation, mail them to your best friend's husband even though it's 90 degrees in Atlanta, whatever you prefer.

Challah French Toast with Berry Syrup

"But Erin," you're saying to yourself right now, "berries aren't in season yet!" Yes, you're very smart. But, these berries from my freezer were the end of my u-pick bounty from last summer. I thought it was time to clear the way for the berries yet to come. There's still a few more months until I have to start obsessively checking my favorite u-pick farm's Twitter and Facebook feeds to find out when strawberries begin. So in the meantime, crack open a bag of frozen berries, whip up a batch of French toast, and because it's going to be an unseasonably warm and sunny 70 degrees for much of the next week here in Portland, pretend fresh berry season is just around the corner.

The sauce can be made ahead of time and will keep in the fridge for several days. If making on the same day, start the sauce before cooking the French toast, as reducing the liquid to a syrupy consistency takes about 10 minutes, and the toast is best served immediately after cooking.

For French toast:
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp (a pinch) ground nutmeg
1 (1-lb) challah loaf, cut crosswise into 12 (1/2-inch-thick) slices (not including end pieces)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For berry sauce:
16 oz frozen mixed berries, such as sliced strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, divided
2 Tbsp granulated sugar (you can add more if you like sweet syrup, but I don't)
1/4 cup water

1. Put 1/2 of the berries (so 8 oz) in a medium sauce pan along with the 2 Tbsp granulated sugar and 1/4 water. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes on medium-high heat, or until the fruit is soft. Transfer the fruit to a fine-mesh sieve over a larger bowl or measuring cup, and drain all of the liquid from the fruit. Mash up the fruit and press as much of the pulp and juice as you can through the sieve. You'll have about 1 cup of sauce.

2. Transfer the strained sauce back to the same saucepan, and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by almost half and has a thicker, syrupy consistency. Check for sweetness and add extra sugar if you want now, so it will dissolve into the syrup.

3. Add the remaining 8 oz of berries to the saucepan. Cook for about 2 minutes, until the berries look like they are just beginning to thaw, then turn off the heat and leave the saucepan sitting on the burner while you cook the French toast. Because I wanted the syrup to retain the whole pieces of fruit, and cooking it too long will cause it to break apart, I let the residual heat from the burner and the syrup warm up the sliced fruit.

French Toast:

1. Heat up a large skillet or griddle over medium heat.  Mix all of the batter ingredients from the eggs through the nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl. Set this bowl beside the pan you'll cook the French toast in, and have the bread and a spatula nearby as well. And now we cook ze toast.

2. Add half of the butter to the skillet or griddle pan and spread it evenly over the surface. When it begins sizzling, it's ready! Dip a piece of the bread into the egg mixture and turn over so it is evenly coated (I did two quick turns, but don't leave the bread sitting in the eggs too long or it will be soggy), then add it to the skillet. Repeat with as many slices of bread as will fit on your skillet in a single layer; I was able to cook the twelve slices in two batches on a long griddle set over two of my burners.

3. Cook on one side until the bread is golden brown on the bottom, about 2-3 minutes, then flip over to cook the second side the same. Repeat until all twelve pieces are golden brown and delicious.

4. Place as many pieces of French toast on your plate as you wish, then pour on the berry syrup and enjoy.

Serves 4-6 people, depending on the voraciousness of your brunch guests

Macaron Class Next Week

One week until my macaron class on Sunday, February 22nd from 10:30 am-1:30 pm. Lemon shells with Meyer Lemon Mascarpone filling, Hazelnut shells with Salted Caramel, and Raspberry shells with Ganache. There are three seats left, and you can register here: https://eatfeastly.com/meals/d/19201928/ 

GF Thumbprint Cookies with Blood Orange Marmalade

No matter how hard I try to live in a Gluten-Lover's Paradise, I keep running into people who have removed gluten from their diets. Hell, even my CAT has gone gluten-free! (True story- she kept scratching ouchies all over her neck and back, and I consulted the internets rather than spending $400 at a vet for them to tell me she was allergic to something but they didn't know what. Deciding the likely culprit was a food allergy, I switched her to a food containing only peas and turkey, and now her skin is all better and I hope she will live happily after. Until I can no longer afford to buy expensive food for her. :-P)

But I digress; back to gluten-adverse humans... After I'm done feeling sorry for them, I start feeling sorry that they can't eat the cookie or cake that I just made. Which then leads me to pull out the bag of Trader Joe's GF all-purpose flour and substitute it in a tried-and-true recipe. This is what I did last week when I wanted to take cookies to my writing class and I knew my instructor was gluten-avoidant; I dusted off the old thumbprint cookie recipe and switched out jam for what I recently canned eleventy-thousand jars of: marmalade!!  Specifically, Blood Orange,  Meyer Lemon, and Three-Citrus Marmalades. I thought these cookies were equally good with either the blood orange or the meyer lemon, but the orange marmalade is what made it into the photographs.  Last week, I pulled them out of the oven, carefully transplanted them to a container, hurriedly found a car 2 go around the corner from my building, and drove like a crazy person (with a fragile cookie cargo) because I was already late to class. I think they forgave me after devouring over a dozen still-warm cookies, almond-y crumbs and powdered sugar on their lips.

1 cup (5 oz) Gluten Free all purpose flour, such as Trader Joes brand or Bob’s Red Mill GF 1-for-1 Baking Mix (but DON'T use their GF flour blend with the garbanzo and fava bean flours in it, unless you love bean cookies)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup finely ground almond flour/meal (2 ounces, I prefer using blanched almond flour)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Blood Orange (or other favorite citrus) Marmalade

Preheat to 325°F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Whisk GF all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Beat in 1/2 cup finely ground almond meal and the vanilla. Beat in flour mixture until just combined.

Shape large tablespoonfuls of the dough into round balls (or if you're a perfectionist like me, weigh 0.6 oz of dough to ensure identically-sized cookies). Place the rounds on your baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Using your mega-sized thumb, poke a deep hole in each dough ball. If the edges of the cookie come apart, press them back together as much as possible so your filling won’t leak out of the center.  Fill each indentation with 1 rounded teaspoon of marmalade. Bake cookies until light golden brown around edges, about 15-18 minutes, switching the pans front to back and top to bottom so both sheets of cookies bake evenly. Cool on baking sheet before removing. Sift powdered sugar lightly over the tops of the cookies. Makes about 22 thumbprint cookies. 

Citrus Salad and a Macaron Class

I feel like this is cheating, because I don't have a recipe for you so much as a general explanation. I like explanations. I also like announcements. Which is good, because I have one. I will tell you after the 'recipe'. Or you know, you could just read the title and figure it out. ......Ok fine, I'll tell you! A very nice reader (other than my mom, hi mom!) requested that I teach another macaron class, and since she asked so kindly, I decided I couldn't keep the masses (?) waiting much longer. If you are in Portland and would like to come to my next macaron class on February 22nd, click on this link and sign up! 

So now for the citrus salad: 

1. Choose two each of your favorite citrus fruits, unless it's a grapefruit, and then just use one. Unless you reaaaalllly like grapefruit, and then knock yourself out. I used two blood oranges, two tangelos, and one ruby red grapefruit. This was enough for four servings at a brunch, where I needed something healthy to make up for the fact I was serving homemade kouign amann, which is in the laminated dough family, or maybe it's the illegitimate offspring of buttery pastry and caramelized sugar, with a sprinkling of sea salt on top. Something like that.  

2. Peel all of your citrus, trying to get as much of the white pith off as possible. Then slice the fruits into rounds (Be careful when you get to the ends and don't cut your finger off please. Grapefruit juice would really sting.) 

3. Arrange the slices on a platter or individual plates. If desired, sprinkle with some toasted pistachios. And if you really want to be frou-frou, drizzle on some roasted pistachio oil, like the kind I found at Trader Joes.

4. Eat. If you happen to spill buttery shards of pastry on top, that tastes good too.

Chocolate-Pomegranate Cupcakes with Pomegranate Buttercream

I love pomegranate seeds. They're like little bursts of tart-crunch goodness in your mouth. They appear just before Thanksgiving and then disappear some time around Valentines Day. They are equally at home in sweet applications as they are in savory. Don't believe me? Try sprinkling some on a nice spring mix with some candied nuts and perhaps a goat cheese and some apple slices with a pomegranate vinaigrette, and you'll know I'm right. 

Pomegranate-Chocolate Cupcake (makes 32 cupcakes)

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

½ cup pomegranate juice

¼ cup pomegranate molasses

3 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I substituted 1 Tbsp of pomegranate liqueur and 2 tsp of vanilla)

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with 32 paper liners.

2.   Whisk the pomegranate juice and pomegranate molasses into the cocoa powder until dissolved.

3.  In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

4.  Melt the butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl.

5.  With an electric mixer or stand mixer/bowl on medium-low speed, beat until the mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes.

6.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition to make sure they are well incorporated.

7.  Add the vanilla and the cocoa/pomegranate mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low.

8.  Add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.

9.  Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.

10. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Let the pans cool 15 minutes, then turn out the cupcakes onto wire cooling racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Pomegranate Buttercream (makes enough to frost 32 cupcakes)

(go here for the basic Swiss buttercream recipe, with excellent step by step photos and instructions)

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pound soft unsalted butter
1/3 cup pomegranate molasses, or more to taste
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
2-4 drops red/pink gel food coloring, to reach desired pink color
pomegranate seeds, for topping the frosted cupcakes
Follow the above link for instructions on how to make a Swiss buttercream, and then to make it Pomegranate flavored:

Add the pomegranate molasses, pomegranate juice, and then the drops of food coloring to reach desired tartness and color.

Using your favorite piping tip, frost each cupcake, then sprinkle a few pomegranate seeds on top of each cupcake. 

Cranberry Orange Madeleines

I think Madeleines have an unfair reputation of being difficult to make. Maybe it's the shape? Maybe it's assumed that because it's French, it must be finnicky? I can assure you that aside from needing 2 Madeleine baking tins (which you can bake other stuff in, like individual brownies), they really aren't hard; if you can measure flour and sugar (preferably in grams, for accuracy) and you know how to melt butter and fold in ingredients with a spatula, you can make a madeleine. I came up with this flavor variation last week, tested it on my unsuspecting guinea pigs (aka my writing class, who devoured over a dozen), and then finally cranked out 3 batches in quick succession Saturday morning for a coffee social in my apartment building. Based on the fact that 68 Madeleines disappeared (and the girl in the navy and white striped pajama onesie admitted to putting four of them in her pockets as she was leaving), I think the tart cranberry-fresh orange zest combination is a winner. 

Cranberry Orange Madeleines (makes 24)

3 large eggs

2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup (175g) cake flour

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder (such as Bob’s Red Mill or Rumford)

zest of 1 medium-large navel orange

9 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus additional melted butter for preparing the molds

4.5 oz fresh cranberries

3/4 cup (150g) powdered sugar

3 tablespoon freshly-squeezed orange juice

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush the indentations of 2 madeleine molds with melted butter (don't skip this, or you might end up with madeleines stuck to the pans, and then you will be sad).

2. Sift the flour and baking powder together in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

3. In the work bowl of your stand mixer, whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt for 5 minutes with the paddle attachment until pale yellow and thickened.

4. Fold in the orange zest and flour, followed by the melted butter. Don’t overmix!

5. Plop enough batter in the center of each indentation with enough batter to fill it by ¾ (I used a small ice cream/cookie scoop like this one that holds about a Tbsp of dough.

6. Divide the cranberries evenly among the two pans and lightly press into each madeleine.

7. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the cakes just feel set in the middle and are browning around the edges. 

8. While the cakes are baking, make the glaze in a small mixing bowl by whisking together the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth.

9. Remove the madeleines from the oven and tilt them out onto a cooling rack. The moment they’re cool enough to handle, dip each cake’s scalloped side in the orange glaze. After dipping, rest each one back on the cooking rack, scalloped side up, until the cakes are cool and the glaze has firmed up. 

Action shot in my building's community room. 

Apple Cream Scones

I’ve been searching a long time for a scone that is very tender and fluffy. Scones can easily become leaden hockey pucks if you add too much flour or mix the dough too long, or even let the butter get too warm while cutting it into the flour.  I’ve tried sour cream, buttermilk, and regular milk, but sometimes you just gotta give in to the dark side and use real cream. Seriously, I know, why not just clog your arteries already and be done with it? Hey, at least this recipe only has 5 Tbsp of butter in it, and I made 16 medium-sized scones rather than 8 mammoth ones! Baby steps, right? Let’s face it though: cream has more milk-fat than any of the other dairy products I tried, so of course it’s going to produce the tenderest scone. That’s just how it goes. So pour the cream into your 1 cup liquid measuring cup and try not to freak out about how much cream that is. These scones just might be worth it.

2 cups (10 oz) pastry flour (lower-protein content than all-purpose flour, so it will produce a tender scone)

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

½ tsp salt

5 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (put it in the freezer for 30 minutes)

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp dark brown sugar

1 large apple, peeled, cored, and diced into ½ in pieces (about 5 oz of chopped apple)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp Boiled Cider (optional, but adds such a lovely deep apple flavor; I’d say splurge on it if you’re baking a lot of tasty apple desserts this fall) , purchased from King Arthur Flour online

1 additional Tbsp boiled cider for brushing on top prior to baking, but cream can be substituted for brushing the tops if you don’t go the cider route- this helps the tops brown).

1.     Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2.     Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, salt) in the work bowl of a food processor. Mix them together with a few pulses.

3.     Add the chilled butter pieces and pulse until the butter has broken up, with the texture resembling a coarse meal with some pebble-sized bits of butter still visible.

4.     Dump the contents of the food processor out into a large mixing bowl.

5.     In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine the brown sugar, apple pieces, boiled cider and ground cinnamon together until the apple pieces are all evenly coated.  Set aside while finishing the dough.

6.     Add the heavy cream to the large bowl of flour-butter mixture, and stir with a large spoon just until the dough is all moistened and is starting to clump together. Don’t overmix, or your scones won’t be as tender.

7.     Add in the apples and stir a few more times to bring the dough into a ball. Divide the dough in half and form each half into a circle 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick.  Cut each circle into 8 wedges using a bench scraper or knife (bench scraper is easier), trying to make the wedges as close to the same size as each other as you can.

8.     Place the scones on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet at least 2 inches from each other, as they rise and spread out quite a bit. I used 2 half sheet pans just in case they tried to morph into one giant scone blob.

9.     Brush the tops of the scones with the optional 1 Tbsp boiled cider or cream.

10. Bake the scones for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.

Scones are best eaten the day they are made, but these still tasted pretty good the next day.

Carrot-Ginger Soup with Chile-Chive Butter

The carrots at the farmers market lately have been plump and multi-hued: pale orange, bright red-orange, yellow, purple. They're beautiful to look at, and scrumptious as always. This is a great soup for feeding the vegetarians in your life, for comforting oneself over a lost love (as this recipe has been to me in previous incarnations), or just because it's a rainy, windy fall Portland day and you're pissed that the sun went down at 4 pm and you need something to warm you up and remind you of brighter days to come. 

Carrot Ginger Soup with Chile Butter and Peanuts

For the chile butter:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions (white and green parts only), or chives

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (I like to use Aleppo pepper, which is spiiiiiiicy!)

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

For the soup:

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

2 pounds carrots, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

1 1/4 cups chopped yellow onion (about 1 medium-sized onion)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

5 cups (or more) vegetable broth or chicken broth (I used half of each)

6 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Chile Butter:

Mix all ingredients in small bowl. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

Soup:

1.Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large pot over medium-high heat.

2.Add carrots, onion, garlic, and ginger; sprinkle with salt and sauté until vegetables are slightly softened but not brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes.

3.Add 5 cups broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes.

4.Carefully pour the hot soup into your blender and puree until smooth. Remember, when pureeing a hot liquid, always remove the round middle piece and cover with a towel, because blending hot liquid without venting off the steam supposedly can cause the blender to explode (and I don't want to test this to find out if it's true). Just hold the towel and lid firmly on the blender jar and you should be good to go.

5.Return soup to the same pot; if desired, add more broth by 1/4 cupfuls to thin soup. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

6.Ladle soup into bowls. Top with small spoonful of chile butter; sprinkle with nuts.

German Pancakes with Apple-Calvados Sauce

I should be ashamed of myself that I live but an hour from Hood River, and yet it took me nearly five years to explore the Fruit Loop. I know, I know! I guess I was trying to keep my u-pick addiction confined to the summer months, but now that the Apple and Pear Beast Within has been unleashed, there is no turning back. Over the weekend, my lovely friend Laura and a few of her work friends and I went to Kiyokawa Orchard. I had bought some Pink Pearl apples, a lovely tart pink-fleshed variety, from them at the PSU Farmer's market a few weeks back, and I really wanted more.  Not to mention that they charge a lot less for the apples at their orchard than they do at the farmer's market, so it should be no surprise that not only did I get my Pink Pearl apples, I also bought 10 other kinds of apples and 4 kinds of pears.  And also some cider.  I will be eating apples for quite some time.... but I'm not bummed about that at all. 

A German pancake, also known as a Dutch Baby, is normally cooked in a skillet. It has impressive poofing capabilities thanks to the amount of eggs in the batter, but it always deflates almost immediately after removing from the oven. But be not dismayed, because now it's practically the perfect vessel for a spiked apple sauce. I would describe the taste of a German pancake as Pancake Meets Crepe, Falls in Love, Gets Married, Has a Baby.  Now take that baby and spoon it into muffin tins, and you'll end up with little individual German pancakes. How delightful!  

A brief note: the original recipe says this makes 18-24 pancakes. I only used this one standard-sized muffin tin and therefore got 12 pancakes. They poofed up extraordinarily high but did not stick together or flow over the sides, so I considered it a success (and one less dirty pan to wash)!

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

6 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp table salt

APPLE-CALVADOS SAUCE:

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

2-3 tart apples, such as Pink Pearl or Granny Smith, peeled, cored and diced (I used 3 because the apples were on the smaller side)

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup calvados (apple brandy)

1/4 cup heavy cream

Aren't these beeeeeautiful? They're also quite tart and delicious.

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, zest, butter and eggs to your blender jar and blend to combine. Add the flour and salt and blend until completely smooth, about 1 minute. 

3. Pour the batter into the muffin tins until 3/4 full. Bake until puffy and golden brown (and delicious) on top, 18-20 minutes. Once you remove them from the oven, the centers will immediately start to deflate. 

4. Make the Apple-Calvados Sauce: Melt the 1 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the apples and cook until slightly softened (but not mushy,!) about 2-3 minutes. Whisk in the 1/3 cup brown sugar and the Calvados (apple brandy), and cook until the brandy has reduced by half, about 4 more minutes. Add the heavy cream.

5. Spoon the apple calvados sauce over the finished pancakes and serve immediately.

Makes 12 pancakes

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

I've been gone long enough that tomatoes and corn and zucchini have been firmly replaced by apples and pumpkins and pomegranates (already?!), and all three have been on high rotation in the Portlandivore kitchen, along with a plethora of seasonally-appropriate soups: carrot-ginger, potato-leek, butternut-sage. We have had mild weather so far in October, but the rainy season is about to kick us in the booty. In order to cope with this inevitable shift in weather and the resulting onset of Vitamin D deficiencies and Seasonal Affective Disorder, I recommend many a bowl of comforting soups and spiced baked goods. And also a Vitamin D supplement. (And maybe an anti-depressant too.)

I wasn't intending to take over a whole month off from the blog, but it just kind of happened. Don't worry though; nothing terrible occurred. In fact, my life is pretty great right now, but it's also pretty busy. Trying to juggle my job, a year-long writing program, semi-regularly updating a food blog and making sure my apartment isn't approaching Category V Tornado aftermath proportions, along with wanting to spend time with my lady friends and also the super-sweet, funny, supportive, handsome and talented Mr. M, not to mention I have an ever-demanding diva cat who will wake me up at 4 am if she is not sufficiently snuggled, is still a work in progress.  However, with a bit of A++ time management skills (only recently acquired) and an extra day off from work, I think I've finally figured it out.

Since I am not a doctor nor a pharmacist, I can only assist with my first two recommendations. But you're in luck! Why not try this cream cheese-filled pumpkin muffin?

Makes 12 Muffins:

2 cups All-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp table salt

1½ tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Ginger

½ tsp Ground Cloves

½ tsp Ground Allspice

1 cup pumpkin puree

⅓ cup vegetable oil

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

¼ cup whole milk

3 Tbsp Trader Joes Pumpkin-Spiced Pumpkin Seeds, for sprinkling on top

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature 

2 Tbsp powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick paper liners. Set aside.

2. Using a hand- or stand mixer and bowl, whip the 8 oz of cream cheese with the 2 Tbsp powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla using the paddle attachment until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Set the cream cheese aside.

3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until thoroughly incorporated: flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.

4. In a separate, large-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, and granulated and brown sugars. Add the 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla, and mix until smooth. 

5. Mix in half of the bowl of dry ingredients and the 1/4 cup of whole milk, and then add the remaining amount of the flour mixture. Whisk briefly just to combine (a few lumps won't hurt the batter, but stirring too much will make for a tough muffin). Don't over mix!

5. Fill the muffin liners 1/3 full of the muffin batter. 

6. Using a 2 Tbsp scoop (the spring-loaded handle is quite useful here), divide rounded 2 tablespoon-full scoops of the cream cheese filling between all of the muffin tins. Press the cream cheese lightly into the batter.

7. Now spoon the remaining muffin batter over the cream cheese, spreading it out to completely enclose the filling. Sprinkle the pumpkin seeds evenly over the muffins.

8. Bake the muffins at 350 until a toothpick inserted into the muffin part only comes out clean (because of course the cream cheese will be gooey), about 20 minutes.

9. Cool in the pan about 10 minutes before removing the muffins.

Corn and Tomato Salad

A good chunk of each summer when I was a kid was spent at my grandparents' house in Bryson City, NC.  Every day was pretty much the same: clean house, play cards, read a lot of books, beat up the younger cousins, occasionally go swimming at Deep Creek, and snap a lot of green beans. And eat tomatoes. They weren't fancy, multi-colored heirloom tomatoes, just plain old Big Beef and Better Boy, but in my childhood memories they were the most delicious tomatoes I have ever eaten in my life. They didn't even need basil or fresh mozzarella and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena D.O.P., just salt and pepper.

Fast forward to now, when tomatoes are coming out one's ears and ears of corn are coming out one's...tomatoes?. I admit to being drawn to the colorful heirloom tomatoes- and how could you not with names like Mr. Stripey or Green Zebra or Cherokee Chocolate?! They and the equally adorable multi-colored cherry tomatoes have been gracing the Portlandivore dinner menu more often than not these days- especially since it's been over 90 degrees most days since early July and the last thing I want to do after plopping on the couch in my un-airconditioned apartment after coming home from work is fire up the oven and bake eleventy things for dinner... All this salad really needs to make for a satisfying summer supper is a hunk of crusty bread for mopping up the vinaigrette and tomato-y goodness at the bottom of the bowl. 

Vinaigrette:

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

5 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 cup good quality extra-virgin olive oil 

handful of fresh basil leaves (about 12)

freshly ground black pepper

large-flake sea salt

In a medium sized glass or non-reactive metal bowl, crush or bruise the basil leaves (this will bring out their flavor while they steep in the vinaigrette). Add the chopped shallots and garlic to the bowl, then pour over the red wine vinegar. Let sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature (60 minutes is even better) to soften the harsh bite of raw onion/garlic. Pick out the basil leaves, then whisk in the olive oil. I add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to the vinaigrette to finish. 

This makes extra vinaigrette, which will keep for a week in the refrigerator and gives you a solid excuse to keep serving this salad to friends/boyfriends/yourself instead of cooking something for dinner.

Salad:

2 large heirloom (or any other tasty variety, really) tomatoes

1/2 pint multi-colored cherry tomatoes

1 ear of fresh corn (I like the bi-color corn for sweetness and color)

small handful of basil leaves, sliced or cut with handy kitchen shears into thin ribbons

Thinly slice the large tomatoes into rounds of even thickness and arrange on a large platter (or split up evenly among 3-4 plates if you want to compose the salad for individual servings). Halve the cherry tomatoes, and sprinkle them over top the tomato slices. Cut the kernels off the ear of corn and sprinkle them over top of the tomatoes. Pour some of the vinaigrette over the salad, spooning out garlic and shallots evenly over the tomatoes. Finally, garnish the salad liberally with the ribbons of sliced basil. Please eat this with a hunk of tasty baguette, you'll thank me. 

Sour Cherry Pound Cake

My parents had several fruit trees in our yard in Ohio when I was growing up. For some reason, the peach and apple trees couldn't hack it, but the sour cherry tree thrived for years. Every summer, we had to race the birds for the bright red orbs glimmering in the harsh July sunlight.  People seem to love sweet Bing cherries, but I'm kind of siding with the birds on this one- they knew that sour Montmorency cherries were where it's at! I'm just saying, if robins could operate an oven and had opposable thumbs, they would have been baking cherry pies or cherry streusel muffins or freezing bag after bag of pitted cherries for the winter months when nary a delicious cherry can be found (and don't even mention that scary, gloppy substance known as 'cherry pie filling' that comes in a can....)  But since the birds can't whip up a pound cake, it's up to me and you. 

I don't know why, but the stands at the PSU Farmers market usually charge several more dollars a pound for sour (or commonly referred to as 'pie') cherries, to the tune of $6.00/lb for the whole, stem-on cherries. Uh, no thank you! I found the one stand selling them for $3.50/lb, but even so, the cherry season was pretty short this year due to the heat. Then I discovered a 2 lb bag of frozen Montmorency cherries at Sheridan's that will fulfill more of my cherry needs...that is, until I can convince my parents to plant a replacement cherry tree in their yard for me to harvest when I visit in the summer.

I adapted this recipe from NPR's Kitchen Window. I thought the original recipe was too sweet, didn't have enough sour cherry goodness, and at 3 sticks of butter, kind of frightening to think how many miles I would need to run to burn off a single slice.  Even with my adaptations, it's not exactly diet food, but it is delicious. If you would rather bake one large bundt cake rather than the baby bunts, bake at 325 for 75-85 minutes.

Cake:

10 oz (2 cups) fresh or (thawed) frozen sour cherries, pitted and halved

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup for marinating cherries

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon table salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan

6 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

8 oz sour cream

Glaze:

the reserved juice from the strained cherries

1 additional cup of fresh or frozen pitted halved sour cherries

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease a mini bundt cake pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. (The recipe made 8 mini bundts for me, so if your pan only holds 6 bundt cakes, you'll need two pans; I just only greased the tins that I knew I would use.)

2. Combine the 10 oz of sour cherries with 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a medium sized bowl and stir until the sugar starts melting into the juice the cherries release. Let the fruit macerate while you mix the rest of your cake ingredients.

3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour and salt. Set aside while mixing the wet ingredients.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the 2 sticks butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and whip with the paddle attachment until fluffy, about 5 minutes. 

5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition. 

6. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.

7. Strain the macerated cherries through a fine mesh strainer, pressing out as much liquid as you can without smashing up your fruit. Reserve the liquid for the glaze. 

8. Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer and fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula, then fold in the strained cherries.

9. Divide the batter between the 8 mini bundt cake tins, then bake in the oven until golden brown and a wooden skewer poked through the cake comes out without any batter or wet crumbs clinging to it, about 40-45 minutes. 

10. Once you've removed the cake from the oven, let it cool slightly while you make the glaze: pour the juice (about 3/4 cup) and the additional 1 cup of cherries into a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, until the liquid has reduced to a syrupy consistency. 

11. Invert the mini bundt cakes out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and slowly drizzle the glaze over the top of each cake. Spoon the cherry halves over the tops. 

(Just fyi, going by the recipe, each mini bundt cake contains 2 Tbsp of butter, so you should probably serve at least 2 people from each baby bundt unless you don't care how much butter you consume on a daily basis.) The cakes keep well in the freezer, and also taste delicious still partially frozen.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Bologna is the kind of city in Italy that one visits not for ancient Roman ruins (there's a tiny bit), grandiose cathedrals (sure, they have churches just like every other town in Italy), or the longest portico in the world (actually, that was kind of cool), but for the food. I spent 5 days in Bologna 2 years ago, and most of the time was spent eating (and drinking!). Parma and Modena are both easy drives from Bologna, which you might recognize as the important producers, respectively, of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena D.O.P., which is how our guide Alessandro referred to it every. single. time. he. talked. about. balsamic. vinegar. I also did a day long cooking class in Bologna, which is where I first had fried squash blossoms.  They weren't even stuffed with anything, just a simple flour and club soda batter (with a small splash of brandy for extra flavor), then fried and sprinkled with salt. Sitting on a balcony in Italy on a breezy June evening as the sun set, sipping sparkling wine and chowing down on fried squash blossoms is kind of awesome, in case you were wondering.  However, if you can't afford to do that on a regular basis (though I am almost out of my Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena D.O.P. ....), try making them yourself at home. You could just pick up a few at the PSU Farmer's Market, or even better, if you have 827 zucchini in your garden right now, save yourself the heartache of having to sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch and harvest the blossoms instead.

18 squash blossoms, brushed of dirt and/or stowaway bugs (you can wash them but they're fairly fragile so I wouldn't recommend it unless they're super dirty)

6 oz fromage blanc (or goat cheese)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

6 skinny scallions, finely chopped

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3/4 cup seltzer water/club soda

optional splash of brandy

vegetable oil, for frying

1. Mix the flour and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, scallions, and parsley. Add half of this mixture to the flour. To the remaining garlic-scallions-and-parsley, add the fromage blanc or goat cheese and stir until incorporated. 

3. Carefully open the squash blossoms and spoon in a little of the cheese mixture, about a Tbsp's worth. Close the petals around the cheese filling and slightly twist the ends together to keep the cheese from leaking out later.

4. Heat a large, deep bottomed skillet or pot over medium heat and pour in 1/2 inch depth of vegetable oil.  As always for proper frying technique- think crispy, not oily/soggy!!- have your handy-dandy infrared or regular kitchen thermometer nearby so you can periodically check for when the oil has reached the proper temperature.

5. Into the flour, pour the club soda and splash of Brandy, if using. Whisk until a thin batter is formed, about the consistency of a crepe batter.

6. Once your oil temperature has reached 375 degrees, start dipping the stuffed squash blossoms one at a time in the batter (this is why you should leave a bit of the stem attached, because it makes for a convenient handle), then carefully slip it into the hot oil. Add as many as will fit in your pan without touching/overcrowding. I was able to fry five at a time. Adjust the stovetop temperature as necessary to maintain the oil at 375 degrees.

7. Fry each blossom for about 90 seconds and then flip over, for a total of 3 minutes cooking time, or until each blossom is lightly golden brown. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack or a paper towel-lined plate to soak up any excess oil. Repeat with the remaining blossoms until finished. Once cool enough to try, eat one to see if it needs any more salt, and if so, lightly sprinkle the finished fried blossoms with kosher or sea salt. 

8. You can serve plain or with some marinara sauce for dipping. Both ways are tasty!