Strawberry Dumpling

I can’t stop buying strawberries! They’re difficult to resist, especially when North Carolina strawberries are in the market. Plus, May is Strawberry Month in North Carolina so I must celebrate and support my local industry.

My skin should be turning pink. I add strawberries to breakfast cereal, toast with ricotta cheese and frozen banana smoothies. I snack on them straight from the frig. I even served them for dinner one night, topping a spinach and arugula salad with strawberries and grilled spiced chicken. I’ll get my full share over the next few weeks and won’t probably buy them again until next season. Unless I cave and buy long-distance strawberries, but I really hope I can hold out.

This recipe has been tempting me since last year’s strawberry season when I found it on The Kitchn blog. It’s originally from Gourmet magazine. I finally made it last weekend. It’s quick and easy to put together, only requiring a small amount of hands-on time, mostly to make the “dumpling” portion of the recipe.

It looks like a mess but is delicious. If your strawberries are really sweet, you could probably reduce the sugar a bit. And please, don’t forget to buy some good French vanilla ice cream to add to your bowl of steaming strawberry dumpling. I can also vouch that it’s fantastic for breakfast, but not advised if self-control is an issue for you.

Strawberry Dumpling

You’ll need a 4-qt heavy saucepan with lid, medium bowl, whisk and pastry blender (optional).

• 1 quart strawberries, trimmed and thickly sliced (about 4 cups)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• heavy cream or ice cream

Stir together strawberries and sugar in a 4-qt heavy saucepan and let stand, stirring occasionally, until juicy, about 15 minutes. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter using a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Stir in milk until just blended, then add mixture to boiling berries and stir once or twice.

Tightly cover saucepan and reduce heat to low. Cook undisturbed until dumpling looks dry on top, 16 to 20 minutes. Let stand off heat, uncovered, 5 minutes before serving.

Original recipe: Stovetop Strawberry Dumplings, The Kitchn and Strawberry Dumpling, Gourmet, June 2009

The Sunday Table: April 10, 2011

I hope you don’t mind my penchant for Japan stories. I’m sure you understand. A sake brewery representative went on YouTube this week to ask the Japanese people to support tsunami-affected breweries like his by buying their sake for the annual cherry blossom celebrations. Otherwise “secondary economic damage” could result if people heed the Tokyo municipal government’s depressing request to refrain from celebrations this year. ”Rather than exercising self-restraint, we would be grateful if people hold cherry blossom viewing parties.” I hope they did.

Photo by Sandra Lee Schubert

Asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb. Just writing those words makes me smile. Green and pink spring! Head to the Cheap Healthy Good blog to see 81 of their favorite asparagus recipes. Maybe it’s because I’m getting a bit peckish waiting for my breakfast to bake — cranberry scones! — but CHG’s selection of breakfast recipes is really talking to me, especially the frittatas. Other temptations – Lemon Risotto with Asparagus, and, oh gosh, there are too many.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy and cook soba noodles lately thanks to my homage-to-Japan mood, plus I’m sure I’ll love buckwheat pasta. The Sesame Soba Noodles with Asparagus at the What Would Cathy Eat blog will give me the excuse to indulge that whim.

Or if you’re in the Indian mood, try my Indian-Spiced Chicken and Asparagus. I can personally vouch that it’s a five-star recipe.

Photo by Liz West

It’s been years since I’ve made Bernard Clayton’s Glazed Strawberry Pie. I was reminded of this recipe because I read that he died last month. I don’t know much about Mr. Clayton, but his cookbook, The Complete Book of Pastry, Sweet and Savory is one of my more battered, stained and warped ones, meaning, it’s good.

I looked for this recipe online but couldn’t find it, so here it is. I had to paraphrase from different parts of his book and add my own instructions so it’s not exactly how his recipe reads.

Glazed Strawberry Pie

Half-and-Half Pie Crust

The crust is completely baked before it’s filled. You’ll need four hours to chill and one hour to warm the pastry. Watch it while it bakes; there’s a note in my cookbook that says 20 minutes is way too long.

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
• 4 tablespoons shortening, room temp
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups pastry or all-purpose flour
• Pinch baking powder
• 2 tablespoons milk
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Beat butter, shortening, sugar and salt in a mixer until creamy. With beater turning, add ½ cup flour and the pinch of baking powder. Add a portion of the milk and all the lemon juice. Continue adding flour and milk alternately. Stop mixing when the dough is smooth. The mixture will be smooth and soft but will stiffen when chilled.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill to relax for at least four hours before shaping. Remove dough from the refrigerator one hour before rolling to make it less difficult to work with.

For detailed instructions on rolling and decorating the pastry, see my Mince Pie recipe. Sprinkle your work surface lightly with flour. Flatten dough into a fat disc. Sprinkle with flour. Roll it out into a disc that’s about ½ to 1 inch larger than your pie pan. Carefully transfer dough to pan and do any decorative treatment of the edges. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork.

To prevent the dough from bubbling out of shape or shrinking, cover the dough with foil and fill with dried beans, rice, pie weights or another pie pan for the first 10 minutes of baking. Bake for a total of 15 minutes or until the crust becomes light golden brown. Cover edges with foil if they’re baking too fast. Don’t worry if it’s ugly, the glazed strawberries will command everyone’s attention.

Strawberry Filling

• 1 quart strawberries, hulled
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• Whipped cream for topping

Select 25-30 of the prettiest reddest strawberries, or however many fit into the pan. They’ll be placed later on the crust, large end down. Set them aside. In a food processor, puree the remaining berries, about 1-1/2 cups.

Place the puree in a saucepan and heat slowly to a boil. Add sugar. In a small bowl mix cornstarch and water into a smooth paste. Add it to the strawberry mixture. Cook to the clear stage, bubbling slowly, over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes. Stir frequently so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Remove from the heat. Stir in butter and set aside.

In the food processor blend the cream cheese and 1 tablespoon of the cooked puree until the mixture is smooth, about two pulses. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the pie crust. Arrange the whole strawberries in a circular design with the largest fruit in the center and the smaller berries radiating out. Spoon the cooked puree (glaze) evenly over the berries.

When the glaze has cooled somewhat, about 15-20 minutes, place the pie in the refrigerator to chill before serving with whipped cream.

Looks a lot like mine! Photo by Brian J. Geiger

Let’s not forget rhubarb. I’m checking out recipes from the She’s Cookin’ blog for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and from Saveur magazine for Rhubarb Ginger Crumble.

Do you have enough poetry in your life? I don’t. I should rephrase that. I encounter poetry in things and thoughts all the time, but I don’t spend enough time with written poetry. My friend Patti Digh is featuring a poem a day this month on her blog, 37 Days. I encourage you to subscribe and enjoy her selections.

Here’s a taste of a sizzling spring poem from Edwin Morgan who was one of the foremost Scottish poets of the 20th century, according to trusty Wikipedia. Please visit his website to read the entire short poem – I don’t want to infringe too much on his copyright.

Strawberries

There were never strawberries

like the ones we had

that sultry afternoon

sitting on the step

of the open french window

facing each other

your knees held in mine

the blue plates in our laps

the strawberries glistening

in the hot sunlight

we dipped them in sugar

looking at each other

not hurrying the feast…..

Serious Gingerbread

Gingerbread is the ideal counter cake. It sits on the counter and gets more and more delicious every day. Friends drop by during the holidays, you cut a few slices, and damn it’s good — intensely spiced, moist and tasty. It also goes really well with eggnog.

This recipe was developed by Claudia Fleming when she was the pastry chef at New York City’s Gramercy Tavern. The chef and the restaurant are respect-worthy. I have a penchant for cooking with beer so that’s another reason this recipe appealed to me.

When you inhale the aromas of the boiling beer and molasses, you know it’s going to be gingerbread unlike any other. It’s serious gingerbread. My choice of beer, a roasty and robust Highland Brewing’s Oatmeal Porter, gave a deep flavor to this hearty chewy cake. Pour a glass of nog or winter brew and enjoy!

photo by Natalie Herr at Oven Love

Serious Gingerbread

• 1 cup oatmeal stout or porter, or regular stout or porter, like Sierra Nevada or Anchor — try to find an American microbrew stout or porter, otherwise, there’s always Guinness!
  
• 1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp ground ginger (yes, tablespoons!)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch (or more) of ground cardamom
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• Confectioners sugar for dusting
• Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously, and I mean generously, butter a 10-inch (10- to 12-cup) bundt pan and dust it with flour, knocking out the excess. Removing a cake from a bundt pan can be a nightmare unless you’ve greased your pan extremely well. Even then, sometimes the pan won’t cooperate.

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove it from the heat. The mixture will boil up once you whisk in the baking soda, so make sure your pan is large enough to prevent overflow. After you whisk in the baking soda, let it cool to room temperature.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs and sugars in another bowl. Whisk the oil into the eggs and sugars, then whisk in the molasses mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan and rap the pan sharply on the counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool the cake in its pan on a rack for 5 minutes. If you’re able, carefully loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a slim knife or spatula. Turn out onto the rack and cool completely.

Serve the cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It’s even better if made a day ahead. The cake will keep three days, covered, at room temperature.

Original recipe: Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread, Gourmet, February 2000

Photo courtesy of Natalie Herr at Oven Love

Aschaffenburg Christmas market (flickr photo by herownjourney)

Mince Pie

My mum and I are mincemeat pie lovers. Just a thin slice is the perfect dessert, or breakfast, at Christmas time. You can buy mincemeat in the jar, but it’s not that difficult to make your own.

Traditional mincemeat pies are made with beef or venison and suet. Suet is the fat found around the kidneys and loins. I know, that doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it adds richness. Mincemeat pies were first created to preserve meat, or whatever came home from the day’s hunt.

Some day I would like to make it that way, probably following the recipe in The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, but I’ve been using this Modern Mince Pie recipe since I first saw it in Bon Appetit. The only change I’ve made is the addition of walnuts. Instead of using the pie dough recipe they suggest, I make my ‘old faithful’ recipe from Elinor Klivans. It’s very forgiving and you can easily make it in a food processor. You could make a decorative top, like the star top I made a few Christmases ago, or just a plain top. Either way, it will be delicious and make your kitchen smell like Christmas.

Mince pie, Christmas 2007

Mince Pie

• 3 1/2 pounds small pippin apples (about 7), peeled, cored, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted prunes
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsulfured (light) molasses
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 Tbsp dark rum
• 1 Tbsp grated orange peel
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• Pinch of salt

• 2 pie crust dough disks (recipe below)
• Flour for dusting
• Milk and sugar, optional

Combine all ingredients (up to the pie crust dough disks) in a heavy large saucepan or Dutch oven. Cook over low heat until apples are very tender and mixture is thick, stirring occasionally, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool filling completely. This can be prepared up to one week ahead if covered and refrigerated.

Meanwhile make your dough using the recipe below.

Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Lightly dust your counter and rolling pin with flour, put your disk on the floured surface, sprinkle the top of the disk with a little flour and roll it out to an 11 or 12 inch diameter round (about 1/8 inch thick). If it’s larger, no problem, you can use any scraps to repair thin areas.

Make sure the top of your dough is dusted with flour, then lightly fold it over in half and then again. Transfer this quarter wedge to a 9 inch diameter glass pie plate, positioning it in the center and then gently unfold and press it into place. Trim edges of crust, leaving 3/4 to 1 inch overhang. Patch any holes and supplement any crust edges where you don’t have quite 1 inch. Spoon filling into crust-lined pan, gently pressing flat.

Repeat the process for your second disk and roll it out to a slightly larger size, about a 12 or 13 inch round. You can either have a solid crust top or make a decorative top crust using a cookie cutter to create stars or whatever shape you’d like.

For a solid top: Fold the crust into quarters, as you did with the bottom crust, but this time make steam vents. With a knife make 3 or 4 angular cuts about ¾ inch long on each folded side. With your fingertips, spread a few drops of water on the rim of the dough in the pan. Place your folded top crust down, centered and gently unfold. Trim the dough all around so you have about 3/4 to 1 inch overhang. Now press the edges of the two crusts together and fold any part hanging over the rim of the pie plate underneath itself all around.

You’ll end up with a sealed ridge that you can decorate. Make a fluted edge by using thumb and first finger on one hand and first finger on other hand in between them to push crust in opposite directions. Hard to describe but you want to make a wavy edge. Or you can press the tines of a fork all around the edge to make little lines, like the photo above. If you’d like a golden top crust, spread or brush milk lightly all over the top and then sprinkle on sugar.

For a decorative crust: Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. Brush bottom of each shape with milk. Place shape atop the mince, overlapping crust slightly and pressing to adhere to crust. Continue placing shapes atop pie in concentric circles, overlapping edges slightly until top of pie is covered.

Brush milk and sprinkle sugar on the shapes.

Bake until crust is golden brown and mince bubbles, about 40 minutes. Cool completely. Serve pie with ice cream (vanilla or rum raisin).

Original recipe: Modern Mince Pie, Bon Appetit, November 1991

Flaky Pie Crust

Makes only one 9-inch crust, so set aside enough ingredients to double this recipe, but make only one disk at a time in the food processor. Keep the butter, shortening and ice water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make each disk, you want it as chilled as possible.

For each disk, you will need:

• 1-1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces – I like using the shortening that’s sold in sticks, like butter
• 3 Tbsp (or more) ice water

Mix flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening. Using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle 3 Tbsp ice water over mixture. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. The amount of water varies because it depends on the moisture naturally present in the flour and shortening.

Gather dough into a ball, pressing it firmly together with both hands. It should hold together and be soft and velvety to the touch. If it doesn’t, add a few more drops of water where it’s dry and crumbly so you’ll be able to roll it out easily later, but only add just enough.

Flatten the dough into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill until dough is firm enough to roll out, about 30 minutes. Repeat the recipe for the second disk.

Can be prepared two days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Original recipe: Flaky Pie Crust, Bon Appétit, November 2000

Pere Noel by Morburre (wikimedia commons)

Cranberry Apple Cake

I love baking with cranberries and apples in the fall and winter. I found this Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa) recipe from her cookbook, How Easy Is That?, on the Serious Eats website. Ina calls it “Easy Cranberry Apple Cake,” and it lives up to the “easy” part of that title.

I grew up near cranberry country in southeastern Massachusetts. A few times during my teenage summers, my neighborhood friends and I cooled off with a swim in the irrigation canals of the cranberry bogs in the next town. We were young and stupid, not thinking about the pesticides that probably lurked in the water. We’d hang out there until the migrant workers started hooting from afar at two of my more buxom friends.

Nowadays the closest I get to the bogs is on visits home when we drive by them on our way to Plymouth. Ocean Spray used to have a museum in Plymouth, I think it was called Cranberry World, but, alas, it is no longer there.

Cranberries freeze really well so stock up your freezer while packages are still in your grocer’s produce section; they’ll be gone in a few months. They’re incredibly tart on their own, but if you add a little sweetness to them, they’re fabulous in all kinds of baked goods. I like to keep small amounts of homemade cranberry sauce in my refrigerator so I can stir it into yogurt and oatmeal, add it to savory pan sauces, spread it on sandwiches or serve it on the side with meats. Plus, it packs a nutritional punch.

I made this rustic-looking cake for Thanksgiving. I’m not sure “cake” is the right name for this dish; it reminds me of a pie too. It’s like an upside-down cake but with a sweet coffee cake texture. I used a 9″ dish instead of the 10″ dish suggested in the recipe. You can tell by the photo below that my pie expanded as it baked. I ended up with some sticky filling on the bottom of the oven. The pastry outgrew the dish and I had to scrape some of it off the sides. However, it was delicious. The leftovers were great for breakfast, with or without vanilla ice cream.

Cranberry Apple Cake

• 12 ounces fresh (or thawed frozen) cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 Tbsp grated orange zest (2 oranges)
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tsp plus 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream — I used low-fat sour cream
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Combine the cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice and 1 tsp of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the sugar, butter, vanilla and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.

Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10-inch glass pie plate. I only had a 9-inch plate available and it overflowed in the oven while baking.

Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges.

Serve warm or at room temperature. It’s fantastic with vanilla ice cream.

Original Recipe – Easy Cranberry Apple Cake, Serious Eats, adapted from Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? by Ina Garten

Peanut Butter Tart

This peanut butter tart was dessert the night I made slow cooker jambalaya. Since I hadn’t seen Jim in over a week, I wanted Tuesday night dinner to be a little more special than usual, and since we never have dessert during the week (unless you count late night popcorn), this did the trick. Once I saw this recipe on Joy the Baker, I knew I had to try it. I’m a huge peanut butter fiend, and judging by the number of peanut butter recipes on her blog, I think Joy must be too.

One word – deeeeeliiiicious. We did have very large slices as she suggested and I froze the rest in two portions for later cravings. If you can freeze cheesecake, I’m sure you can freeze this. We’ll see.

Don’t forget the fudge sauce!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Tart

Makes one 9-inch round tart.

For the crust:

• 12 double graham crackers (the kind that measure about 5 x 2 1/2-inches)
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 1-3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
• 1 cup natural smooth peanut butter
• 3/4 cup (6 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
• Optional – salted mixed nuts
• Optional – chocolate sauce or syrup

Crumble the graham crackers in a food processor or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin (or bottle of wine) until no large chunks remaining. Add the melted butter and stir thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into a 9-inch tart shell with a removable bottom. Press the mixture along the sides and bottom of the tart pan until it’s evenly coated. Carefully place the tart pan in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

To make the filling, combine the peanut butter, softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in the bowl of a mixer fit with a paddle attachment or in a food processor. Blend the ingredients until thoroughly incorporated, but don’t over blend or some liquids might separate.

In a separate bowl, whip 3/4 cup of heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture and fold together until well incorporated.

Remove the tart pan from the freezer and spoon in the peanut butter filling. Spread evenly.

Whip up the remaining cup of heavy cream to stiff peaks and add to the top of the peanut butter filling. Refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight. Top with salted mixed nuts or chocolate sauce (or both!) and serve in giant slices.

Original recipe: Joy The Baker’s No-Bake Peanut Butter Tart

Peach Cobbler

Carolina peaches, mm mm good. I still have memories of a peach shake I had years ago, maybe decades ago, during a beach stay in the Outer Banks. Every summer we stay a week at Ocean Isle Beach in the southern part of North Carolina. I like to bake when I’m at the beach. Maybe it’s because there are no obligations there, except the standing 6:00pm volleyball game, but even that can be skipped if you’re willing to take the jeers. Maybe it’s the captive audience, many of whom don’t bake so they’re appreciative too. My domestic goddess side emerges, channeling Nigella.

I brought a faithful longtime companion with me to the beach, Fannie Farmer. Well actually I brought Marion Cunningham’s The Fannie Farmer Baking Book. My edition, still with its torn and ragged original dust jacket, was published in 1984. I’m pretty sure it was the first cookbook I really put to work, and it’s one I return to again and again.

Here is Fannie’s, or Marion’s, recipe for Peach Cobbler. Instead of the traditional dropped biscuit pastry, at least I think that’s the traditional method, it calls for a rolled out pastry. I used a pan slightly larger than the 8″ square pan and kept an eye on it while baking. Don’t forget to buy vanilla ice cream!

Flickr photo by cvilletomorrow

Peach Cobbler

Peach filling:

• 7 cups pitted peaches, peeled and cut into sixths, or something close – I used about 5-6 peaches
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter – I used a bit less

Biscuit topping:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 tablespoons butter, chilled
• 6 tablespoons milk

Glaze (optional):

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 425. Place peaches in an 8″ square baking pan and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Drizzle on lemon juice and dot the peaches with butter. Set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl (or food processor), and stir or whisk together. Cut the chilled butter into bits and drop it into the bowl. Using either a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles fine, tiny and sometimes irregular crumbs. Or, do as I do, and use the food processor to pulse and mix the flour/butter mixture until it crumbs up. It’s much faster.

Slowly add the milk, stirring or pulsing. Gather the dough together and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knead several times, until the dough is fairly smooth. Don’t over-knead; you want the pastry to remain tender. Roll or pat the dough into a shape that will fit the baking pan.

Place the biscuit dough over the peaches in the pan, pressing it down into the fruit around the edges, and trimming where necessary. If you want a glazed crust, drizzle or brush the melted butter over the top and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling, the crust is golden brown and the peaches are tender when pierced. Watch it toward the end; you may need to cover it with foil to prevent it from browning too much. Place on a rack when done. Serve warm or at room temp with vanilla ice cream.

Blueberry Buckle

Are you like me? Do you have file folders full of recipe clippings from newspapers and magazines? For decades I’ve been thinking about organizing them but it hasn’t happened yet. I know there are treasures in there.

One stained newspaper clipping from the Washington Post is titled Blueberry Bonanza. The Post has always had an excellent Food section. This article with recipes is by Elinor Klivans who wrote frequently about baking for the Post when I lived in the DC area. I’m sure my folders hold other clippings by her. Based on the mention of a cookbook she was launching, I’m guessing this article was published in 2001.

She describes a buckle as “typically a moist, fruit-filled cake, often with a crumb topping.” Pretty accurate. Richard Sax, in his wonderful Classic Home Desserts, defines the various fruit pastries – cobbler, crisp, crumble, pandowdy, buckle, grunt and slump — in his Extended Family of Cobblers and Crisps chapter. There’s a good definition of all these fruit desserts on the From Karen’s Kitchen to Yours blog, thank you Google!

Elinor makes her buckle in a 9×9 pan but I must have left mine somewhere so I used a 7×12, pretty close in volume. I kept an eye on the time just in case it was done early.

Blueberry Buckle

For the crumb topping:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour

For the cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ½ cup milk – I used 2%
• 2 cups (about 1 pint) blueberries

Preheat oven to 325. Grease your pan (9×9 or 7×12). For the crumb topping, with a mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth and well-blended, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and mix just until the mixture forms crumbs, about 15 seconds. Set aside.

For the cake, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract and beat for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, add half of the reserved flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the milk, mixing until just incorporated. (She said the mixture may look slightly curdled, mine didn’t). Add remaining flour and mix until just incorporated (sensing a theme?) and the batter is smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go. Gently fold the berries into the batter.

Spread the batter evenly into your pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees to ensure even baking and bake 20-30 minutes more, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature. You can store it covered for up to 2 days. Enjoy!

Corn Salad and Plum Clafouti

Corn on the cob season is here! My guy was making ribs so I thought corn salad would be the perfect accompaniment to them. I have a corn salad recipe somewhere but since I couldn’t put my hands on it I took a look at some online recipes and relied on my memory to make what turned out to be a yummy dish.

Corn Salad

Ingredients — sorry, no real specifics, just eyeball what looks right to you

• 

  photo by Flikcr/normanack

  4 slices of bacon

• chopped red onion
• minced garlic
• 5 ears corn
• lima beans — frozen okay, thawed
• chopped red bell pepper
• chopped cherry or grape tomatoes
• vinegar — my old recipe called for champagne vinegar (can substitute rice wine vinegar for that), I used red wine vinegar
• chopped basil
• salt and pepper

Cook the bacon in a large pan, drain on paper and chop. Leave the bacon fat in the pan. Add red onion, saute until just getting soft. Add garlic, saute until just turning golden. Add corn, lima beans, red bell pepper and tomatoes and cook a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in bacon, vinegar, salt, pepper and basil. Serve warm or cold.

Plum Clafouti

Clafoutis are rustic French desserts that are sort of like a cross between a pancake and a custardy pudding. They’re a cinch to make (no mixer needed) and are a great way to feature seasonal fruit. Plums were looking enticing so I decided to whip one of these up for dessert. They also make a great breakfast too — warm, room temp or cold.

• 

  photo by flickr/Secret_Tenerife

  3 eggs

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• ½ tsp vanilla
• optional: 2 tsp rum
• 5-7 plums, halved and pitted (as many that fit into bottom of dish/pan)
• butter for greasing dish/pan

Preheat oven to 400. Whisk sugar and eggs until they are lighter in color. Gradually add butter, whisking to incorporate. Add flour all at once, whisk until batter is a homogeneous mixture. Slowly pour in milk a little at a time. Add vanilla, and rum if you’re using it, mixing well. Batter should be very smooth and shiny.

Place plums in a buttered baking dish, cake pan (9” or 10”) or skillet that can go in the oven. Pour batter over fruit. Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes (but check earlier) until slightly browned and almost completely set in middle. Let sit at least 15 mins before turning out onto a plate and serving.

Strawberries Galore!

It’s strawberry season in North Carolina. I found a farm stand close to my house – Porter Farms in Willow Spring on Hwy 42. They have all sizes of containers for sale, and it’s even cheaper if you pick your own.

from the Porter Farms website

That night we had (store-bought) angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream on top. Easy.

The next day I made fruit salad with a heavy emphasis on the strawberries. I added bananas, orange segments, pineapple, pear, apple, grapes and some peach nectar and sugar. I meant to top it with coconut flakes when serving, but forgot.  It was also good on the angel food cake with whipped cream, for breakfast.

The fruit salad starred again in white wine sangria. I didn’t add any other type of liquor to the wine as many recipes suggest. I put some of the fruit in the bottom of the glass and then added the wine with a bit more peach nectar. Oh boy. I have a feeling I will be making fruit salad a lot more often if it means sangria is on the menu.

flickr photo by ~MVI~

Next up to try is this Strawberry Dumpling recipe from The Kitchn (who got it from beloved and departed Gourmet). Check out the photos on their blog — how can you resist that? I’ll report back on how it turns out.