July 2007 Archives

Fresh fruit is plentiful at the farmers markets these days. Strawberry season is pretty much over, but raspberry season is upon us and the blueberries and blackberries have just started to roll in. We've been buying half a flat a week. Tonight we had a beautiful dessert of all three types of berries with creme fraiche. 

A few weeks ago, we bought half a flat of organic raspberries. Unfortunately, we got busy, the fridge was full, and we dumped the raspberries into a tupperware and promptly forgot about them. The horror!

Today, as I was cleaning out the fridge, I found the tupperware. I was scared to open it. I figured the raspberries would have disintegrated into a moldy, fermented mess. Well, I was wrong. The raspberries were still beautiful. They were softer than they'd been when we bought them - in fact they practically fell apart when I picked them up. But the taste was super sweet and I couldn't see just throwing them away.

So I decided to make jam. The recipe was exceedingly simple. Smash about 4 cups of berries in a pot. Bring them to a boil, add the same amount of sugar, boil for another 6-8 minutes, cool, and put into jars. Now I used a little over 5 cups of berries and a little less than 3 cups of sugar. These berries were so sweet, they didn't need very much sugar.

Of course I had to taste the jam. It was incredible. I very nearly had that alone for dinner. We'll put a jar in the gift baskets we're making for our parents.

I don't like mushrooms. In fact, I pretty much categorically refuse to eat them. John never liked them either. They always smell good cooking, but I've never liked the taste or the texture. But Orangette (one of our favorite food blogs), had a post about morels. The recipe intrigued us, as did her beautiful narrative about morels.

Then, a few days later, Roots and Grubs (another of our favorite food blogs) did their own post on morels.

At the farmers market this weekend we saw morels at Foraged and Found. We were sunk. Resistance was futile.

We brought about a quarter of a pound home with us and had to wait until tonight to cook them.

Ingredients

• Morels
• Whipping Cream
• Butter
• Bread

We used local morels, Organic Valley whipping cream, Mother's Choice butter, and Tall Grass Bakery Walnut Levain bread.

Brush the morels lightly with a vegetable brush to remove any dirt and slice them in half. Don't wash them unless you have to.

Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a large saucepan. Throw in the morels.

Here's where I had a little trouble.

Orangette says to let the mushrooms release their juices and then reabsorb the juices again until the morels are almost dry.

Well, I cooked ours for about 10-15 minutes. They did release their juices, but they never got to the almost dry stage.

At this point, the smell alone had me salivating. I turned off the stove and added about 2 Tbsp of whipping cream and some salt.

I gave the mixture a couple of stirs, just so the cream combines with the morels.

John took a couple slices of walnut levain bread and spread a bit of butter over them.

He toasted them on the grill for a couple of minutes and we assembled the masterpiece.

At this point I feel it necessary to repeat: I DO NOT LIKE MUSHROOMS! I do not eat mushrooms.

 

 

 

I ate these. I salivated over them. I savored them. They were buttery, creamy, salty, earthy, and rich. I could have licked the bowl. When they were gone, there was an appreciable sigh of sadness. It will be at least a couple of days before we can get more morels.

After we'd both finished our two toasts, the following conversation took place:

J: "I almost wonder if the bread was a little overpowering."

P: "Maybe. We can try it again with a plainer bread."

J: "Ok!" (said with such enthusiasm that I wondered if he loves morels more than me)

This weekend at the market, we will surely return with more than a quarter of a pound.

Yes, I know. The one or two people who read this blog are probably getting sick of reading because it's all risotto all the time. I'm sorry for that. Well, I'm not exactly sorry. I mean, you can't blame me for going a little risotto crazy now that we know John's blood sugar likes Emmer. Rice is now back in our lives like a long lost friend. It's been fun catching up with Emmer, and I am looking forward to many new adventures we'll have together.

This recipe was fun to make, because I got to play with garlic. As an added benefit, it was tasty too.

Ingredients * = local, & = organic

• 2 whole heads of garlic, unpeeled *&
• 1 quart chicken stock *&
• 1 tablespoon olive oil &
• 3 shallots *&
• 2 cloves garlic *&
• 1/2 bunch celery &
• 14 ounces rice or emmer *&
• 2 glasses white wine
• Salt
• Handful of fresh thyme &
• Pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter *&
• 4 ounces parmesan cheese
• Fresh panko bread crumbs &

Directions:

Well, this is much like every other risotto I've made with one exception. The first step is to take the two whole heads of unpeeled garlic and stuck them in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes. Pull them out and set them aside to cool.

Meanwhile, start heating the chicken stock in a saucepan. You don't want it to get to simmering, but you do want it pretty warm.

Dice the shallots, garlic, and 2 cloves of garlic.

In a different stockpot, add the olive oil and saute the shallots, garlic, and celery for about 5 minutes. Add the emmer (or rice) and stir to coat well with the oil. 

Add the white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Let the wine cook down until there's just a little bit left.

Next, add a generous pinch of salt and a ladle of hot stock.  

Now comes the fun part. Remember that garlic? Take each individual clove and squeeze it into the risotto.

I was actually able to peel some of the roasted garlic and put the soft whole cloves into the pot, but I still had to squeeze some just for fun.

When you're done, add the fresh thyme and some black pepper.

 Stir to combine.

Continue to add stock, one ladle full at a time as the previous stock cooks off.

When you get down to the last little bit of stock, watch the risotto carefully. Take it off the heat once the stock has been absorbed and add the butter and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and cover.

You'll want to check on the risotto and give it a stir every couple of minutes until the butter melts.

In a separate pan, heat a little bit of olive oil and add the bread crumbs. Stir to coat and brown slightly. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the risotto to serve.

What's better than pork wrapped in more pork? The answer is - not much. For dinner the other night, John found a recipe from one of the food blogs we read: Get Your Grill On. Well, it's not so much a recipe as it is some easy instructions.

Ingredients * = local, & = organic

• Bacon *&
• Pork tenderloin *&
• Pineapple &
• Sauce mix (below)

Yes, that's really all you need.

Directions

Cut the pork tenderloin into equal pieces. The number of pieces is up to you, and will probably be dependent on the number of bacon slices you have.

Wrap each pork cube in a slice of bacon. Skewer the bacon wrapped pork cubes and alternate with a pineapple chunk. If you want, you can pre-cook the bacon a little to render some of the fat. This is probably a good idea as we didn't and some parts of the bacon were a little underdone.

Those are our curved plate skewers. Aren't they neat? They are designed to fit perfectly on a plate. No more long skewer hanging over the side ready to impale your fellow diners. Although, they can be a bit difficult to pick up. Since they're curved, the balance is a little off. But we like them.

Now, here's where you can get creative. John mixed some Harry and David's Mojito marinade, some red pepper flakes, and a few dashes of some Jerk sauce we had in the fridge. He grilled the kabobs for 10 minutes, then flipped them and brushed them with the marinade. He cooked them another 5 minutes and repeated the flip and brush. Another 5 minutes and another flip and brush. Your timing will vary depending on the thickness of the pork and the doneness of the bacon.  

Here's the finished product along with some grilled pineapple rings:

This was excellent. Next time we'll precook the bacon slightly, but otherwise, this was near perfection on a plate.