Futures

We have four plum trees on our property and another neighboring tree which drops on our yard.  They are all small wild plums, or cherry plums.  Pink flesh, yellow flesh, juicy, ripe, ripe, going, going, gone... one (silly) summer anxiety is letting these little guys go to waste.  We can't possibly eat them all straight from the tree!  They have little to no shelf life.  I'm more than happy to share with friends, neighbors, birds, and bees.  Still they fall to the ground.  I know I should be canning them- wild plum jam is one of my favorites!  But time hasn't been on my side.   So in an act of love, and desperation, I turned to booze.

I sterilized a variety of canning jars and lids.  I picked a basket of little plums from two different trees, washed in cool water, then pricked their skins with a fork before dropping them in the jars.  When I couldn't fit another plum I added sugar to the jars (I filled the jars about 1/4 to 1/3 the way up), then BRANDY to the top!  Lid, shake, store in a cool dark place, and patiently wait at least two months.  Yum, I will be eating brandied plums while I carve my pumpkins and cozy up by the fire. 

That is all the preserving I can muster for now, but I do have my calender circled for Monday, I've given myself the whole day.  I certainly won't be lacking plums.

For Our Next Trick

Thanksgiving was lovely, we finally digested. We are back to the grind, and looking forward to the weekend. It is true we always look forward to the weekend, but this weekend is really something to look forward to.

 Nick and I are participating in our friends Meredith and Olivia's second Shop Party.
Shop Party if a craft bazaar, there will be over twenty vendors, from local business to crafty people who make incredible stuff. Two bands will be playing, there will even be cocktails! We will be there with our now much requested banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich)

We will also be scooping up some cà phê sữa đá ice cream (Vietnamese coffee ice cream).
To take home with you we will have a variety of preserves for you to try and purchase.

Apple Rosemary Jelly, Pear Fennel Butter, Sweet Roasted Beet Relish, and the amazing Tomato Jam

We are busy, busy, busy until then and really hope you come on down. You can get all your holiday purchasing done in one fell swoop, and have lunch, and hear local music, AND support local business and the local arts and crafts community. It seems like money well spent to me!
See you Sunday!

When You Do Feel Like Cooking

Now that we are rested, I wanted to cook. I was also craving ravioli. I have made ravioli from scratch before with various levels of success, but each time I seem to get better.
Making the pasta is easy enough, it is 2 cups flour, mixed with 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks.
For this pasta I added some finely chopped (pulverized) dried sage.
The filling was easy too, my favorite, butternut squash!

I roasted a beautiful squash with olive oil and some salt and pepper, when it was ready I mashed it, and mixed it with ricotta cheese.

I rolled out the dough in golf ball size proportions, and that is easy too because I use my handy dandy pasta rolling attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. The difficult part for me, is cutting and stuffing. There is nothing uniform about this process for me. Part of me loves the beautiful inconsistency, even messy look of (my) fresh pasta. There is another part of me the worries about the inconsistency of my pasta for cooking and presentation.  Perhaps someday I will have a ravioli stamp, or maybe higher counter tops to streamline this process, as for now, it's a little (delicious)  mess.

It is fastest, and easiest for me is to make ravioli pockets, that is cut a rectangle of rolled pasta, place the filling on one side, dampen the edges and fold over, press to seal. I only do it this way because I then don't have to cut identical pieces of pasta. :)
Once I made all of my little pockets I dropped them into a large pot of boiling water. Like all fresh pasta cooking these ravioli only takes a few minuets.
I dressed the ravioli with fresh basil pesto, tomato jam (I may be a little obsessed, I am incorporating this into every meal) and fresh goat cheese.

The garlic in the basil, the sweetness of the squash and tomato, with the tangy-ness of the tomato and goat cheese was a winning combination.
Our sage and butternut squash ravioli with pesto, tomato jam, and goat cheese dinner was a delicious success.

When You Don't Feel Like Cooking

Over the weekend we went up to Sea View to celebrate Nick's birthday.  We had a wonderful, relaxing, adventurous time.  The weather was unbelievable, warm and clear.  I promised Nick I would make him anything he wanted for his birthday dinner... I think he has moved entirely into adulthood, as he requested sauerkraut soup and roasted Brussels sprouts for his special meal.  The soup was really wonderful and hearty, I forgot the Brussels though.  We ate the soup with crusty cheesy bread and salad.  A friend of ours arrived before dinner with a roast chicken and so I roasted some potatoes and we really feasted.
When we got home the next morning we were all exhausted.  Back to work we went, and for dinner we didn't feel like cooking.  Our solution was simple, snacks! We love bread, cheese, smoked fish, smoked meat, jam, mustard, anything you can pile on or glop together in a convenient and wonderfully satisfying bite sized taste.

We dined, or snacked, or picked at a sourdough baguette, a lovely soft cheese, pickled anchovies, smoked oysters, smoked sprats, and some (mind-blowing, if you don't mind me tooting my own horn) tomato jam I made awhile back. To round the meal up we made a simple salad of greens and herbs.

Dinner was amazing, and we didn't have to lift a finger, other than to pop a piece of fish in our mouth.

We All Scream For Ice Cream

It's SO hot.
Last week when we had some colder days, even a little rain, I started canning. Now of course it feels like winter will never come and what should I do with those cans of caramelized pears?
Dollop them next to ice cream of course.

To make a simple vanilla ice cream pour 1 cup cream in a sauce pan with 1/2 sugar, a pinch of salt, and one vanilla pod sliced open and scraped into the pan. Heat until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat, add two more cups cream and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Thoroughly chill before freezing in ice cream maker.
Simple and delicious.

Caramelizing pears was fun, and a bit more complicated. I used this recipe. I'm not sure how to tweak it, as I don't know enough about pH when canning, and these pears are delicious but a bit too sweet for my taste. They taste like candy!

Try to stay cool!

Blackberry Fingers

Sunday Nick and I went blackberry picking!
I made a tart, and several jars of blackberry sage jam.
I love blackberry season. I feel a particular kinship with the berry, as we "ripen" at the same time of year.
More berry picking, and pie and jam making to come...
I love summer.