Life's a Bowl Full of Strawberries

I've been drooling at all the new and beautiful veggies, and especially fruits showing up at the farmers markets.  Berry season can never seem to get her quite fast enough.  Finally we have strawberries!  

My favorite way to eat strawberries is off the vine, slightly warmed from the sun.  When I was little, and it was my turn to pick the strawberries, I would often make myself sick, eating berries by the handful before my basket was even half full.
On occasion I will control myself long enough to make some jam or bake them into something... eggs and cream perhaps.

Cherries Clafoutis is one of my favorite desserts, or breakfasts, or snacks.  Traditionally baked with the cherry pits still in, I like to work (a little) for my dessert.  I also like to remember to SLOW DOWN.  I have an incredibly simple and tasty clafoutis recipe, adapted from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Cookbook.  Sadly we don't have a cherry tree.  We do have a strawberry patch.

Cherry Strawberry Clafoutis

Preheat the oven to 400F. 
Butter a shallow 10 inch baking dish.
In a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup sugar, 3 large eggs and zest from one lemon until combined.
Add 1 cup heavy cream (on this occasion we used half and half because that was in the ice box) and 1t vanilla extract.  Whisk until combined.  Add 1/2 cup flour and a pinch of salt, whisk until frothy.
Pour about half the batter into the prepared baking dish then add a pound(ish) of (stemmed cherries) trimmed strawberries.  Ours were quite large so I cut them in half.
Bake until golden and puffed up.  Devour!

Remember:  If you are serving this dish cherry pits and all remind your happy guests before they dig in.  It would be a sad dessert if some unsuspecting friend chipped a tooth. 

Thanks

It's not hard to be thankful, even when we are so spoiled. Nick and I are blessed, our lives are charmed, our home is warm, our bellies are usually (too) full, our chickens are happy and healthy... We are happy and healthy. Our dog and cats are playing as I type in bed.  We live in such an amazing, abundant, and beautiful place.

I am tempted to go over the top and describe the sun shining in through the window and the crisp morning garden, but I will not.

I will only say Nick is up making coffee, and soon I will pick some spinach from the garden, eggs from the coop, and make an omelet.

But this is our everyday routine.  As much as we try, we sometimes forget how much we have to be thankful for.

Spinach, cheese, and turtle bean omelet

Nick and I do remind ourselves all the time how lucky we are.  We take deep breaths, we admire our skyline, we ride our bikes, we sit down to eat, we eat.  Like I said, we are blessed, and we are not alone.  We have the support and love of our friends, family, and community, and they have our support and love in return.

My family always gets together in Marin for Thanksgiving, I look forward to it every year.  All of us, over twenty people usually, gather around to catch up with each other and eat the hors d'oeuvres everyone has contributed (we are going to bring some kind of cured meat, soft cheese, homemade jam concoction).  I have the good fortune of coming from a family of talented cooks and amazing palates, so everything on the table is so good that by the time dinner is ready I am already full.  I am not even going to try to pace myself this year, I am going to be thankful for everything I eat, and wear a full skirt, and maybe even take a nap.
I hope everyone is mindful of their abundance today.  Feel deeply, feel grateful, eat good food with good people, remember that we are all good people.
Happy Thanksgiving!

The Great Pumpkin

Chelsea's Descry launch was amazing, fun, and there was a great turn out. Nick and I warmed folks up with boozy beverages, and welcomed them in from the rain with scoops of ice cream, and boy were they happy to see us. I happily scooped until there was nothing left to scoop. We were very well received and are so grateful to be apart of such a wonderful night.
The pumpkin ice cream was a delight, and I was pleased to have some leftover pumpkin. What to make next?

I decided to make a lovely pumpkin gnocchi. I love gnocchi and every once and awhile I try my had at a perfect gnocchi, and they usually turn out OK (as good as store bought) but there is always room for improvement. It may just be the Italian gene I lack, in which case there is no hope for me.
In theory though, like all pasta, gnocchi is very simple to make.
It starts with a baked potato.
When your potato has baked through, pull it out of the stove and scoop out the hot insides and run through a food mill.

Spread the potato in a single layer onto a working surface and let cool completely.  Once the potatoes have cooled, sprinkle 1 cup of flour and a few teaspoon of salt over the potatoes.  Gather the mixture together to form a well.  Add the pumpkin puree (I used about 1/3 cup) and an egg into the middle of the well,

lightly knead the mixture together just until all ingredients are combined and it forms a ball. If the gnocchi are too wet, add more flour a little bit at a time only until the dough comes together and doesn’t stick to your fingers easily. It’s important not to overwork the dough, as this will make the gnocchi heavy and tough. 
Roll out your dough into finger with worms, and cut into bite sized pieces. I will often roll a fork over them to give them a little texture for sauce.

Plop them into boiling water for 3 to 4 minuets, until they come to the surface looking like little pillows. Drain and add your favorite sauce.

For our sauce:
This was a "chop it up, throw it in" light tomato sauce. I diced a handful or cherry tomatoes from the garden, some garlic, some onion, a spoonful or so of leftover pumpkin puree, sauteed with butter, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Not too shabby.
We served our gnocchi with a dollop of pesto on top, and a simple apple and cheese salad.

Saturday night we carved pumpkins, and reserved the seeds, and gunk. We have more roasted pumpkin seeds then we know what to do with, the chickens have been pumpkin feasting, AND I roasted and pureed five pints of pumpkin...
In the posts to come you may note a theme. Hey, it's what's in season.

Stuffed and Stacked

I suppose we are moving into Autumn, but this 90 degree weather certainly is no indication of that.  I can tell that the seasons are shifting- I am all of a sudden waking up before the sun, and the plants are starting to shed.  The plants seem a bit confused.  We are still getting tomatoes and summer squash, even though the plants look like they are ready to be composted.  We are still getting basil too.  I want to make the most of this strange growing season, but I really want to be eating soup and starch and fungi.
For now we are combining the two, and embracing our summerfall limbo.
Stuffed mushrooms.  Or, rather: Stacked mushrooms.
I started by caramelizing red and yellow onions with a little olive oil and a little maple syrup.
When the onions looked beautiful I piled them on the upturned underbellies of portobello mushrooms. On top of that a thick slice of tomato, and some fresh local goat cheese. I drizzled a little balsamic and and olive oil over all of it, and of course, salt and pepper.

In the oven they go at 375º-ish, for 30-ish minutes, until the cheese browns a bit.

We ate our mushroom with fresh greens and some garlic bread.

Nick gave dinner two thumbs up. Success.

BLTE

Our chickens have not been phased by the heat, they keep giving us eggs, we seem to be up to four a day! They are so beautiful too, light brown, dark red, and blue. They beg to be eaten and it is hard to resist. They are slyly incorporated into otherwise egg-free meals such as the classic BLT. Now the BLT comes with a poached egg.
During the summer heat (or rather autumn!?) it is hard to muster up the energy to cook dinner. It is hard to want to turn on the oven, or stand in the kitchen, or think about what to prepare. The standby in our house is the sandwich. Simple, satisfying, seasonal what else could you ask for in a meal?

One of our absolute favorites is the BLT. In late spring we start to crave tomatoes like nothing else (if there is one thing I wouldn't not wish anyone to eat out of season in is a tomato, they are disgusting) and our first BLT of the season is something we slow down to savor, and then usually make ourselves seconds. We are well into tomato season (but it's not over!) and still not sick of BLT's.
For dinner I cooked up some Black Pig bacon, which we cannot get enough of, and feel great about eating because they use happy hogs from the first sustainable hog operation in the United States!
I poached some eggs*, sliced some beautiful fresh tomatoes, picked some lettuce, smeared some mayo on our favorite toast, and piled it all up. Voila! Dinner!

  

For an extra indulgence I made some oven fries. Simply cut potatoes into wedges, coat with olive oil, pop in a 400 degree oven for 25 to 30 minuets until golden (check on and flip after 15 minuets).

Our meal was accompanied by a glass of sparkling wine, of course. I cant imagine a more perfect meal, everything on our plate was fresh, in season, came from withing 30 miles of our house, and was incredibly simple to prepare. PERFECTION!



*The key to poaching a perfect egg if you don't have a fancy egg poaching device, is to used just enough water (you don't need a lot just enough for the egg to float to the surface and not touch the bottom, a few inches). Add a few table spoons of vinegar to the water. The vinegar will keep the egg together, also the fresher your egg the easier it is to keep together. When the water boils crack egg into the water (some folks crack the egg into a ramekin and then slide it into the water, but I don't like to do dishes). Cook for 3 to 4 minutes and then remove with a slotted spoon.

We Drink What We Like

I think it is a shame to sit down to a meal without a glass of wine. Wine is a condiment, the same way a twist of lemon is. The right pairing of wine and food can make once-subtle flavors and nuances sparkle, refresh and balance a spicy or rich meal, or be the perfect accompaniment to a great meal.

There are two rules to pairing wine with food.  The first rule is don’t choose a wine that overpowers your meal, and don’t choose a meal that overpowers your wine.  The second rule is drink what you like.

If you are in my house, you drink your wine from a jar (most likely an old Hector's Honey jar), just as my grandfather and John Steinbeck did.  Some may consider it tacky.  They may even say it depreciates the aroma or is an insult to the wine.  It is true that there is a purpose to the elegant body of a proper wine glass, but we eat most of our meals outside, we move around the kitchen while we cook, we are clumsy, and we break glasses so we use multi-use durable jars.  The wine tastes fine in a Ball jar.

I like to have a glass of rosé on a hot day as I start to prepare dinner.  Sweet rosés are usually covering up some undesirable flavors, and are generally why people are afraid to drink pink wine.  I like dry rosé, a lively, bright, refreshing summer drink.

 
For dinner Saturday night we were lucky enough to have a surprise visit from Chelsea. We really wanted to re-invoke the summer, as we has reluctantly said goodbye to it only the weekend before, so we decided to barbecue. Nick went to the farmers market for pork ribs, but as it is nearing slaughter season there was none to be had from the previous season (yes, meat has a season too). Instead he brought home riblets and leg of lamb. He also picked up some of our favorite bread, Costeaux Multigrain, a few peaches, and some greens and garlic.
Nick made a simple and beautiful rub for the meat, and we grilled 'em up along with thickly sliced peaches and squash from the garden brushed with olive oil and salt and pepper. In the house I quickly rolled three small disks of goat cheese in coarsely chopped walnuts and roasted them for a few minuets in the oven on high heat. I laid the cheese over a bed of fresh, undressed greens, we laid the grilled peaches and squash over that, and when the meat was ready we nuzzled them all together on our plate.

It was amazing, the meat was sweet and tender, the flavors of squash, peach, cheese, nuts, and greens created an unbelievable synergy.

With dinner we drank a nice red wine, a local Syrah.

You cannot see from this picture (we are still using a ancient camera that only works with a glaring flash, or not at all), but the wine was a beautiful dark plum color.  Syrahs tend to be more purple than red as the grapes are dark purple.  They tend to be fuller bodied, so they are a good choice for the bold flavors of grilled meat. This particular wine had a jam flavor, also a earthy leather flavor which was especially lovely with the lamb.

S T R E T C H summer! Don't even bother clearing off the table!
Skal! Sante!

End of Summer

My birthday celebration came to an end on Sunday in the most amazing way.
We threw a brunch at our house and invited a few friends.
Chelsea made this delicious raspberry-blackberry crumble from berries she'd picked the same day.


I went to the farmers market Saturday for eggs and spinach, and I came across the most beautiful peppers.


I sauteed the peppers with onions and squash from the garden.


Then I filled a few buttered casserole dishes with fresh basil, spinach and goat cheese, added the sauteed veggies and eggs (about 18, which I had beat with a little heavy cream). Then I baked the dish for about 30 minuets (until the eggs were set) at 425˚.
When they came out of the oven they were fluffy and beautiful.
I also tossed some potatoes in olive oil and rosemary, salt, and pepper and roasted them until golden.


We made some sausages, some friends brought fresh tomatoes from their garden, pastries, melon, orange juice, champagne, and iced tea. Nick prepared a Bloody Mary bar with all kinds of fixins, and we had a giant thermos of New Orleans style coffee with chicory.
We had no leftovers.


We ate and talked and laughed and I opened a few presents, most notably a chair Chelsea made with deer and moose antlers and leather. It is incredible, a museum piece. Pictures to come. My friend Danica, a poet, wrote a beautiful poem for me that when she read it aloud I was moved to tears.
It seems Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. It feels that way for us. We are slowing down, getting back to work/school/life, and the days are noticeably shorter. We had a wonderful summer with a wonderful end. We are dubbing this summer the "Summer of Love and Adventure". It was magic, and I am looking forward to a magic autumn with plenty of warm bread and hearty soup.

If You Can't Take the Heat

We have been sweetly promising our tomato plants that they would surely see some hot sunny days. We have been hoping we would have some nights in witch we could walk around jacket-less. Our dreams came true... and then some!
Our outdoor thermometer obviously doesn't quite work, but it sure felt this hot.
Olive did this most of the day.
We did too, to be quite honest.
We were invited to a barbecue for dinner, which we were grateful for because I was dying to make a peach cobbler, yet there was no way I was staying in the house after I turned the oven on.
These peaches are amazing. You just cant find ripe peaches in the stores. Sweet peaches with soft flesh that juice and drip all over your face and down your arm when you take a bite. They are so perfect, I did almost nothing to them for this simple cobbler.
Biscuit dough. Whatever your favorite recipe is, for mine I used 1 1/2 cup flour, 6 T cold butter, and 3/4 cup heavy cream as well as a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar.
Peaches were my favorite as a child, and when I have a good one now all the desire for that particular sweetness I craved as a kid comes back.
Romance your peaches, then slip off there skins. Slice.
I mixed a tablespoon or so of flour with my peach slices, and a tablespoon of brown sugar. You could add more sugar, but I felt these lovely peaches really didn't need much, and I wanted there own sweetness to shine.
Arrange peaches in a dish, I used a pie dish.
Arrange your biscuits on top. Bake at 375 for 40 minuets or so.
Until the peaches are bubbling and the biscuits are beautifully browned.
We have an abundance of squash so I decided to bring a summer squash dish too.
I simply thinly sliced some squash, thinly sliced an onion, added some fresh basil in layers. I poured 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk over the top, salt and lots of fresh black pepper and baked also at 375 for 40 minuets or so.
While you are waiting for that to bake find a cool spot, bring a large glass of ice water and relax.
When it was ready we brought our baked goodies, as well as some wild plum sorbet, and cold white wine to our neighbors house. We sat outside, ate too much, talked too loud, and very much enjoyed ourselves.

Art of the Tart

We love pizza. We eat it once every two weeks, maybe once a week. We usually decide Tuesday night to have pizza on Wednesday. Nick makes the pizza dough Tuesday, and then I go to the farmers market Wednesday morning for toppings. The only problem with having pizza for dinner, is we need a day for the dough, so it is not exactly something you can trow together day of (I suppose you can, but I wouldn't want to mess with Nick's dough for an inferior product).
We didn't make any dough Tuesday, but we were hankering for pizza so I decided to make a few savory tarts, the flaky cousin of the pizza. Tart dough is easy as pie (forgive me), and it only needs an hour to rest. This dough was two cups of flour, a stick of butter, salt, and a little water to bring it all together.
We have many happy squashes in the garden, we have been using them in every meal.
Our tomatoes are still green, but a friend left a bunch of sweet delicious grape tomatoes at the bookstore, I was eager to use. Squash, tomato, garlic, and feta on the first tart.
On the second tart I thinly sliced a potato and an onion, fresh garlic, and feta. I brushed both with a fresh egg, and decided to only turn the sides up on one, but I recommend turning up the sides.
Bake for 40 minuets...



I piled the tomato squash tart with fresh spinach before we cut into it.
Both were delicious, simple, and filling. A fine substitute for pizza night.

Three Long Days

After I jarred up all the applesauce (our freezer contains nothing but ice cream and jars of applesauce) I decided to make some ice box pickles. It seems the only reason we grow cucumbers is to pickle them, and we had just run out.
I like dill pickles, and I add some garlic, because I add garlic to just about everthing. Simple is better for these guys. Stuff everything into a jar, top with vinegar, and put it in the refrigerator. The hardest part is trying to leave it alone for a few days. It seems every time I open the door, for whatever reason, the beautiful jar is glowing, begging me to open it.
Today is the day!