Fruit Archives - Page 2 of 3

Cranberry Curd Tart (All the Colors of the Pie)

By threejamigos | December 6, 2019 | Comments 1 comment

The Perfect Potluck Event

Before going full force into Christmas mode, a recap of Thanksgiving is due. Turkey Day was spent at my brother’s house in The City with aunties, uncles, cousins, and friends. Potluck style, the spread is a mash-up of classic Thanksgiving dishes and Chinese dishes adapted for the holiday.

Our table would not be complete without sweet rice stuffing – Gnaw Mai Fan and Cousin Gary’s Sweet Potatoes (yep the classic copious amounts of butter and brown sugar, topped with mini-marshmallows). Our contribution to the annual feast was PIES and for forty-plus people. That’s a whole lotta pie. Lucky for me Jamie was home. Yay. Reinforcements.

It’s Pie Time

Have you ever noticed, Thanksgiving dinner is texturally (besides the turkey) a toothless delight-stuffing, yams, corn casserole, carrot pudding, overcooked green bean casserole…you know what I’m talking about. The traditional desserts are a plethora of orangey-brown tones-pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and pecan pie. The only reprieve is a dollop of whipped cream on every slice. Kinda monochromatic.

Well, we fixed that this year. Not the soft foods just the dessert color palette problem. We still made Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie but we then finished with a color flurry-Purple Sweet Potato Pie, Apple Tart (don’t peel your apples), and a Cranberry Curd Tart. Splash!

For the Cranberry Curd Tart, two recipes stood out (ok, they were the first two after Googling). David Tanis’s recipe in the New York Times and the Cranberry Curd Tart from the blog Blossom to Stem. A flip of the coin, Blossom to Stem won. It is a beautiful blog, craft cocktails, and delicious food, check it out.

Let’s Talk Crust, Crust, Baby

The crust, all butter, flour, powdered sugar, egg yolk, and orange zest. The powdered sugar makes a tender crust by lowering the protein content of the dough. Melted butter means no waiting for the butter to soften. I am a believer in using melted butter for crusts. I learned this from making Alice Medrich’s BOSS Lemon bar recipe. Bake it until a nice golden brown. The finished crust is sweet, citrusy, and tender. Love it.

The curd starts with cooking the cranberries in orange juice until they burst then passing the mixture through a food mill to remove the seeds and skin. Don’t have a food mill? Make the curd and strain it. A little more elbow grease (ok, more than a little) without a food mill but doable.

Voila, a gorgeous ruby red cranberry curd-sweet, tart, and delicious.

The curd will thicken as it cools so make sure the crust is baked before finishing the curd. Quickly pour the curd into the crust and slide it into the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool the tart at room temp for an hour and then into the fridge it goes to set.

Garnish with pomegranate seeds or candied cranberries and serve with a ubiquitous dollop of whipped cream or if you like, a meringue (nope, not me).

Make this tart and bedazzle your family and friends this holiday season.

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Cranberry Curd Tart

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cranberry curd tart

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 25

Additional time to prep curd and bake 25

Total Time 1 20

Servings 8 Servings

Ingredients

For the crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange

For the cranberry curd

12 ounces cranberries fresh or frozen
juice of one orange Approximately 1/2 cup
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier (optional)

Instructions

Make the crust

Preheat oven to 350°F. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and salt to a small bowl and whisk together. Melt the butter in a small saucepan (or in the microwave), add the vanilla extract and orange zest to the butter and stir, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir together until thoroughly moistened.
Press the dough evenly along the bottom and sides into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Make the cranberry curd

Heat the cranberries and orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until the cranberries split. Strain through a food mill or fine mesh sieve and discard the skins.
Return the strained cranberry mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, vanilla, and orange liqueur (if using) to the pan and give everything a good stir. Heat gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 170°F on an instant read thermometer (about 8-9 minutes). Immediately strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and pour into the prepared crust. Bake (still at 350°F) until the curd is set (it should jiggle but not slosh), about 10 minutes.
Let cool at room temperature for about 1 hour, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill. Serve this chilled or at room temperature.
Serve with softly whipped cream

Gettin Figgy Wit It (Fig & Honey Tart)

By threejamigos | October 23, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

I’m pretty jazzed, a friend is gifting me a fig tree! She took a cutting, threw it in dirt and whaddya know, it grew into a full-fledged tree. I’m going to be really embarrassed if it doesn’t survive on my watch. Farmer Deb is not a moniker associated with me.

I am content to be the recipient of anyone else’s green thumb bounty. This includes figs, which I adore. Until my little tree matures, I will happily take extra figs off your hands. Put that right in the box, next to the “what am I going to do with all these” zucchinis and persimmons.

Yep, bring it on.

Lucky for me, Snookies brought me a couple of generously filled baskets of green and purple figs. After popping a couple of them into my mouth (yum), I got online to FIG-ure out delicious ways to use these little bad boys.

A Fig & Honey Tart from The Little Epicurean caught my eye instantly. The tart is as beautiful as it is delicious AND it is pretty darn easy to make. Your friends and family will be SO impressed. Word.

To start the crust is very easy to work with. Don’t be intimidated by the whole pie crust thang. The addition of almond flour and sugar creates a tender, cookie like crust that oozes with buttery goodness. A couple of interruptions had me taking the dough in and out of the fridge before finally fitting it into the tart pan and baking it off. If the crust gets a little soft, toss it back in the fridge. By the time I rolled out the dough and placed it in the pan, talked to Jamie on the phone for a bit, it was getting pretty soft. I ended up pressing pieces into the pan, worked like a charm.

The filling is stupid easy. Combine cream cheese with honey and sugar, give it a good mix and that’s it. I added a teaspoon of vanilla to add depth. Quarter the figs and place in concentric circles on top of the filling. Dust with raw or Demerara Sugar. Go to the garage and grab your blow torch and caramelize the sugar. Drizzle honey over tart and sprinkle chopped pistachios on top. I used hazelnuts cuz that’s what I had on hand, Yums.

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FRESH FIG TART WITH HONEY AND PISTACHIOS

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword fig, honey, little epicurean, tart

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into tablespoons, cold
1 egg yolk cold

Filling

8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp honey
green figs or purple figs quartered, as needed
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Pistachios or toasted hazelnuts Chopped

Instructions

Crust

In a food process, combine flour, almond flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.
Add cold butter. Pulse 4 times at 3 second intervals to lightly mix together the ingredients. Add egg yolk and pulse until dough begins to come together.
Dump the dough onto a clean working surface. Gather the dough together and push into a ball. Flatten dough to about 1-inch thickness.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until well chilled.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Press dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack to room temperature before filling with cream cheese.

Filling

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and honey. Mix until combined. Spread cream cheese filling into cooled tart shell.
Arrange cut figs on top of cream cheese filling. Cover with plastic wrap and keep chilled in the fridge until ready to serve.
Before serving, sprinkle with Demerara Sugar and caramelize.
Drizzle honey over tart and sprinkle nuts on top

You Say Crisp, I say Crumble, Either Way, it’s Berry Delicious (Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble)

By threejamigos | July 22, 2019 | Comments 1 comment

On my recent foray to the Farmer’s Market I came home with not only strawberries and blueberries but rhubarb too. I thought about making a pie but I wanted something a little easier and quicker to make but just as tasty.
Ideas started running through my head, how about a crisp or crumble? The vision of a sea of lightly sweetened fruit capped by cresting waves of oatmeal, nuts, sugar and butter. I dove in.

I could adapt my apple crisp, which is yummy-licious, but I did a quick digital walk online and found a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble on Epicurious. It looked really tasty to me. A crumble is essentially the British version of a crisp. Best of all, the recipe called for hazelnuts. Lately I have found myself drawn to recipes that incorporate those tasty filberts. They’re super crunchy and buttery with a unique flavor that is hard to describe. Pecans, my usual go-to nut, are milder and softer while hazelnuts are bold and assertive. It doesn’t get swallowed up by other ingredients, but acts as a nice foil. But that crunch, oooh, love it.

Though the recipe calls for strawberries and rhubarb, I threw in blueberries for good measure. Rhubarb adds a nice tart punch to the berries. When you dig into the crisp, the berries will be sweet, the rhubarb-tart, and the crumble-buttery, and thanks to the hazelnuts-crunchy. A nice contrast to the soft, juicy berries. Want it less tart? Add more berries and less rhubarb. In a pinch, you could substitute pecans or walnuts. BUT hazelnuts are so good. I use to toast my own but that’s a lot of work. I get toasted, skinned, hazelnuts from TJ. It’s worth it. Grab small handfuls of the crumble and squeeze it together before sprinkling it on the fruit. The chunks of crumble help prevent it from sinking into the fruit.

Last but not least, don’t forget the vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, the perfect finishing touch.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble (Crisp)

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword rhubarb, Strawberry

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1

Equipment

7x11 rectangular baking dish or 2 quart dish, oval or round

Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar for fruit You can substitute light brown sugar for the granulated sugar in the crumble.
Large pinch of salt
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup husked hazelnuts toasted , coarsely chopped
1/2 vanilla bean split lengthwise
1 pound strawberries hulled, halved (about 4 cups)
12 ounces rhubarb preferably bright red, ends trimmed, stalks cut crosswise into 1/2-inch- thick pieces
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Instructions

Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and salt in medium bowl; whisk to blend. Add butter. Rub in with fingertips until mixture sticks together in clumps. Mix in oats and nuts. DO AHEAD: Topping can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Preheat oven to 375°Butter 11 x 7 x 2- inch glass baking dish or any 2 quaert baking dish. Place 1/2 cup sugar in large bowl. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; whisk to blend well. I used 1 tsp. vanilla paste instead.
Add strawberries and rhubarb to sugar in bowl; toss well. Pour fruit filling into prepared baking dish. Compress oat topping in hand to form clumps and then sprinkle evenly over filling.
Bake crumble until filling bubbles and topping is crisp, about 45 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes. Spoon warm crumble into bowls. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes

It's hard to chop hazelnuts without them rolling all around. I throw them in a plastic bag and lightly roll over them with my rolling pin.

Really, too tart? Use more berries and less rhubarb. But if you like a hit of tartness in random bites, keep all of the rhubarb in the recipe.

To make this Vegan, you can substitute coconut oil or a light mild olive oil for the butter in the crumble in a 1:1 ratio. If you try this, I need a report back please!

Do You Mandango? Mango Sticky Rice

By threejamigos | July 12, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

I recently posted a pic on Instagram of this luscious dessert I had up in San Francisco at U Dessert Story, Mango Sticky Rice Bingsoo. A generous layer of fresh sweet mango precariously perched on a mound of superfine shave ice drenched in sweetened condensed milk, and finely shredded coconut. This mega bowl of bingsoo is flanked by an array of sticky rice, housemade coconut crumble, more sweetened condensed milk, and fresh mango puree. It was mind-bogglingly delicious.

Since that day I have had mango on the brain. I picked up a bunch of Manila mangos, because you can’t just buy one, because I had decided I had to make Mango Sticky Rice. It’s sweet, filling, refreshing, and gluten-free. A classic fixture at Thai restaurants, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make at home.

WARNING: Dissertation Ahead + The Ulitmate Rice Guide

The biggest hurdle is probably tracking down the ingredients. Mango Sticky Rice calls for Sweet or Glutinous Rice. This is not regular rice, it is not arborio or risotto rice, and it is not to be confused with sushi rice (short grain) which is stickier than long-grain rice but not actually sticky rice. Sweet rice, also known as sticky rice or glutinous rice, is low in amylose, and high in amylopectin (starches) which allows it to absorb liquids and create that trademark stickiness.

To add to the confusion-sweet rice also comes as short grain or long grain. Thai cuisine uses long-grain sticky rice, while Chinese and Japanese dishes generally use short grain. I used short-grain sweet (glutinous) rice from Koda Farms (Sho-Chiku-Bai) which is a little easier to find (most Chinese, Japanese and Korean markets will carry this) and it’s what I have on hand. I’ll be looking for Thai long grain Sticky rice the next time I’m at an Asian market. I foresee an America’s Test Kitchen session soon.

Glutinous rice absorbs liquids well, so the traditional, easy method for cooking it is to soak the rice for a good couple of hours (2-8 hours) and then steam it. You COULD buy a special bamboo steamer for sticky rice or you could improvise. I lined my steamer with cheesecloth to spread the rice on.

The rice steams for approximately 25 minutes. It will look translucent and should not be chalky in the center. Pull out a couple of kernels and taste them.

While the rice is steaming, prepare the coconut milk that will be used in the rice and as a sauce alongside. Warm coconut milk and add sugar, stir to dissolve. Remove 1 1/4 cups to use in the rice. Add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, dissolved in 2 teaspoons of cold water, to the coconut milk remaining in the pot. Stir constantly until the sauce begins to thicken. Set aside.

To cut mango, slice in half lengthwise, as close to the seed as possible. For cubes, score mango in grid pattern and scoop flesh away from skin. Or flip the mango inside out to expose flesh making it easy to cut it away from skin.

When the rice is done, pour it into a bowl, add the 1 1/4 cups of coconut milk and stir to combine. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes so the milk is absorbed by the rice. Stir rice again, cover, and let it sit for a few more minutes.

Slice or cube mango and serve alongside a scoop of sticky rice. Drizzle coconut sauce on rice and garnish with sesame seeds. Enjoy!

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Mango Sticky Rice

Gluten-free delicious Thai dessert

Course Dessert

Cuisine Asian

Keyword mango, sticky rice, Thai

Prep Time 6

Cook Time 20

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

1.5 cups Long-grain Sticky Rice (aka sweet or glutinous) can use short grain
1 can coconut milk 13.5 ounces, like Chaokoh
1/4 cup sugar + 2-4 Tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 t cold water
1 big ripe mango or 2 Manila mangoes peeled and sliced or cubed
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish black or white
fresh strawberries for garnish optional

Instructions

Rinse the sticky rice with tap water and use your hand to gently stir it. Drain the water to remove the excess starch. Repeat once, then add water to cover. Soak the sticky rice for a minimum of 2 hours, up to 8 hours. Rinse again and drain the water.
Transfer the rice to a heatproof bowl, add about 2 inches of water to your steamer (not into the rice), place the heatproof rice bowl on the steaming rack in the steamer, and cover the steamer. Turn to medium-high heat to bring the water to a boil. When the steam starts to come out of the pot, turn to medium heat. Steam for 20 to 25 minutes, until the rice is cooked through, with no hard raw bits in the middle. Or use a steamer rack lined with cheesecloth. Spread rice evenly over cloth and steam as directed above.
While rice is steaming, add can of coconut milk, 1/4 cup + 2 T of sugar, and salt to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is hot and the sugar is melted. Do not bring the coconut sauce to a boil. Taste for sweetness, if it needs more sugar, add another 1-2 tablespoons. Remove 1-1/4 cups sauce to be used with the rice.
Carefully remove the sticky rice bowl from the steamer with your oven mitts on. Pour the 1-1/4 cups of sauce over the bowl of rice. Stir to mix well. Allow to stand covered for 20 minutes. Remove cover and stir the rice again. Allow mixture to sit another few minutes.
For the remaining sauce, combine the cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water in a small bowl. Stir to completely dissolve the cornstarch. Over medium-low heat, remaining sauce to a small saucepan. Add half of the slurry to the sauce. Stir immediately to thicken the sauce. You can adjust the thickness of the sauce by slowly adding a bit more water or cornstarch slurry, if needed. The sauce shouldn’t be too thick, but should coat the back of a spoon.
Serve when the rice mixture and the sauce cool to room temperature. You can serve it or store the extra sauce and the sauce-rice mixture separately in the fridge until ready to serve, up to 3 days. The sauce will further thicken when cooled.
To serve, transfer the coconut rice into serving bowls or plates. Place the sliced mango on the side. Pour a few spoonfuls of the extra coconut sauce on top of the rice. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and fresh sliced strawberries if desired.

Notes

If you use refrigerated sticky rice, you can gently heat it in the microwave to bring it to room temperature before serving, for a better texture. However, it’s highly recommended to serve the rice when it’s fresh, for best results. Do not freeze the sticky rice, as it will create a very tough texture.
Use a small ramekin to mold sticky rice and place on the plate.

Summer Strawberry Cake, Farmer’s Market: A Midsummer Day’s Dream

By threejamigos | July 5, 2019 | Comments 2 comments

Get thee to a Farmer’s Market now. It is the perfect time to visit your local market, all things fruit and vegetable are at its peak. You can hardly walk through the market without becoming intoxicated by the aroma of vine-ripened tomatoes, peaches, and strawberries.

At my local farmer’s market, we are lucky enough to have strawberries from P&K Farms, a family run farm in the Monterey area. I can remember a couple of years ago when I first noticed their stand at the market. Actually, it was hard not to notice, a line easily 10 people deep had formed in front of their kiosk. Being a true skeptic, I thought, come on, are their berries really worth the wait?

Flash forward to this past weekend. Like an idiot, I stopped for coffee BEFORE heading to the market which then meant waiting in the “way more than 10 people” line for my 3-pack of ruby perfection. Yes, it is worth the wait. Their strawberries are sweet, full of flavor, and remarkably hardy.

Let Them Eat Cake!…with Strawberries

I reserved part of my strawberry treasure trove for a friend’s July 4th BBQ. I could take the easy way out and just throw them in a bowl, serve them straight up which would be perfectly fine, but what fun would that be? Time to try that recipe from Smitten Kitchen for a cake that showcases strawberries. A simple butter cake LOADED with berries. The 9-inch cake calls for a pound of strawberries which means with every bite, you sink your teeth into sweet, oozy strawberries and really that’s what it is all about.

The original recipe is from Martha Stewart and tweaked by Smitten Kitchen. The recipe calls for combining the egg, milk, and vanilla and then adding it to the creamed mixture. Adding all the liquid at once made for a very curdled-looking mixture. I added the dry ingredients and the batter came together. I found a trick, when the batter looks like it is about to curdle as you are adding the milk, toss 1 tablespoon of the flour mix into the batter. This small amount of flour prevents the curdling but won’t toughen the cake. Voila’. The hulled and halved strawberries are placed cut side down in the batter.

A sprinkling of sugar to finish and into the oven for about an hour. Bake this cake in a deep dish pie plate or a cake pan lined with parchment. It will overflow in a traditional 9-inch pyrex pie plate. Smitten Kitchen recently adjusted the recipe to make a 9×13 cake (two pounds of strawberries!) because let’s face it, everyone is going to want seconds.

Serve this with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Make it earlier in the day so the cake can sit. The strawberries will marry with the cake even more. Sooo luscious. Sooo good.

So what are you doing this weekend? Yep, picking up strawberries at the Farmer’s Market, baking this cake, and looking appropriately sheepish as your friends and family shower you with compliments and RAVE about this cake.

Repeat after me, “Aww shucks. It was nothing.”

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Strawberry Summer Cake

An easy cake that screams summer is here. Loads of strawberries baked in a buttery sweet tender cake.

Course Cake, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cake, strawberries, strawberry cake, Summer Cooler

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 10

Servings 8

Equipment

9-inch cake pan or 9-inch deep dish pie plate
Mixer

Ingredients

Dry Stuff

1 1/2 cups (188 gram) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt

Buttah & Sugar

1 cup (200 gram) plus 2 tablespoons (25 gram) granulated sugar
6 tablespoons (85 gram)unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate

The Wet Stuff

1 large egg
1/2 cup 118 ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Top

1 pound 450 grams strawberries, hulled and halved

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Don't use a regular 9-inch pie plate which is too small.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat to combine. Add milk and vanilla until just combined. The mixture may look a little curdled. It's okay, once you add dry ingredients it will come together* see post for tip. Add dry ingredients gradually, mixing until just smooth but well combined.
Pour into prepared cake pan. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer, don't be afraid to really squish them together. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.)
Let cool in pan on a rack.
Remove cake from pan by flipping it onto a plate and inverting it onto another. Thank goodness for parchment paper.
Serve with lightly whipped cream. Or Lemon Cream from another recipe, see note!

Notes

The cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered. It really won't last that long though.

Lemon Cream

Jest Jammin’ (Strawberry Lime Jam)

By threejamigos | September 5, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

From my weekly trip to the Farmer’s Market I once again came home with way too many strawberries…I should have bought one basket but noooo…I went bonkers and bought a HALF FLAT of strawberries. That’s 6 baskets of strawberries between the two of us.

Which means it’s JAM TIME. I pulled up the recipe for STUPID EASY JAM I posted a couple months ago, grabbed the lime instead of the lemon sitting on the counter and less than an hour later I’m spreading homemade jam on toast to go with my coffee. How easy is that? Yummos. The lime is a nice change from lemon it gives it a tropical twist.

I think the best thing about regattas and long bike rides is guilt free carb loading. There is nothing better than a pb&j sandwich. I love the saltiness of the peanut butter and the sweetness of the jam smooshed between two slices of Wonder Bread.

Even though I didn’t row or ride today, a loaf of soft white bread reminiscent of Wonder Bread, a jar of just made jam and summer’s last hurrah heat wave was the perfect excuse for a pb&j sandwich and a tall glass of ice cold milk for dinner. Nothing like starting the day with jam on buttered toast and ending it with a pb&j. Felt like a kid again.

So if you are like me and find yourself with too many strawberries. Make some jam!

Strawberry Squared (Strawberry Bread)

By threejamigos | June 11, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

The problem with going to the Farmer’s Markets is I end up with way more than we will be able to finish. As I walk through the market everything looks so delicious and smells so good. The aroma of sun ripened fruit is intoxicating, the variety of greens and tomatoes are mind boggling, every where I turn I see or smell something that I just have to try.

The old adage “my eyes are too big for my stomach” fits me perfectly. I return home from my market excursion, bag brimming with way too many things and in quantities that make me slap my forehead and wonder “what was I thinking”. I don’t just have one basket of strawberries (the perfect amount for Wes and me) but a three pack (way too many).

By mid-week I am hunting for recipes that contain strawberries.

I came across this Strawberry Bread recipe in Saveur magazine. A luscious quick bread that called for not only fresh strawberries but strawberry jam. Strawberry squared! It looked and sounded heavenly so I quickly pulled out my loaf pans, my baskets of strawberries and set to work making this bread. In a wink I had the batter made (the beauty of quick breads) and I was sliding the pans into the oven.

I no longer have to worry about buying too many berries at the market. This bread is delicious. It is moist, slightly tart from the fresh berries, sweet from the jam that I swirled into the batter and bursting with strawberry flavor. The cinnamon adds just a hint of spice. I imagine this bread would lend itself well to other fruits. I have plans to try this with the nectarines currently sitting on my counter.

This bread is great warm just out of the oven but it’s also wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee, toasted and spread with a bit of butter.

Boy I love summer.

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Strawberry Loaf Cake

Ingredients

MAKES 2 LOAVES
Ingredients
Unsalted butter for greasing pans
3 cups flour plus more for dusting
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 ⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups sugar
1 1 ⁄4 cups canola oil
4 eggs
4 cups roughly chopped strawberries substitute peaches or nectarines
1 ⁄2 cup strawberry jam optional or peach jam

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°. Grease 2 (9" x 5" x 2¾") loaf pans with butter and dust with flour; set aside. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk sugar, oil, and eggs.
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.
Stir in strawberries and pour batter into prepared pans. If using jam, spoon ¼ cup over each loaf and using a knife, swirl jam into batter.
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaves comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Strawberry Fields Forever-Strawberry Pie Now

By threejamigos | April 21, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Tasked with dessert for Easter dinner at my brother’s this year, I pondered on what to bring. Inspiration hit at my local farmer’s market when I spied the baskets of luscious, red, ripe strawberries.

It’s PIE TIME

I conjured up an image in my head, fresh sweet ripe strawberries piled in a crispy buttery crust and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. This perfectly describes Rose Levy Beranbaum’s strawberry pie recipe. . I own as many of her cookbooks as I do Dorie Greenspan’s and that’s saying a lot, both are baking gurus extraordinaire. Rose’s recipes are organized, reliable, easy to follow, and best of all delicious. First, the ingredients are listed by volume measurements and weights (ounces and grams, how great is that?) in all her books and then formatted in tables. In addition, each recipe has pointers for success, helpful hints, and a Harold McGee/ Alton Brown-like blurb on understanding the recipe. My favorites include Rose’s Christmas Cookies, Cake Bible, and her more recent book The Baking Bible.

Her Glazed Strawberry Pie recipe is from The Pie and Pastry Bible. In addition to being delish, it is super easy to make. The strawberries are the star of this pie so make sure your berries are ripe and sweet. Start by slicing the strawberries in half then make the glaze. The glaze calls for sugar, cornstarch as the thickener, and cranberry-raspberry frozen concentrate. Yep, frozen fruit juice concentrate. Finally, fold the strawberries in the glaze and pour them into a pre-baked crust.

It’s all about the crust and filling, uh-huh

Use your favorite pie crust recipe (or mine), fully pre-bake it, and as it cools, make the filling. Keep in mind the pie will need to chill in the fridge for a good couple of hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream (totally worth the calorie splurge).

Take advantage of strawberry season and MAKE THIS PIE. Your family will love you. Your friends will love you. You could run for office (hint, hint) after making this pie.

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Glazed Strawberry Pie from Pie and Pastry Bible

Ingredients

1 Basic Flaky Pie Crust for a 9-inch pie
1 tablespoon egg white lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup liquid cran/raspberry concentrate thawed, undiluted
3/4 cup water
4-5 cups strawberries rinsed, hulled, dried, and halved

Instructions

For pie dough:

Favorite pie crust recipe, need only a single crust.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If necessary, allow it to sit for about 10 minutes or until it is soft enough to roll.
Roll dough 1/8 inch thick or less and about a 13-inch circle.
Transfer the dough to the pie pan. Fold under the excess and crimp the border using a fork or your fingers. Cover it loosely and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425°F at least 20 minutes before baking.
Line the pastry shell with foil and fill with pie weights, rice or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully lift out the rice or beans with the foil. With a fork prick the bottom and sides and bake 5 to 10 minutes more or until the crust is a golden. Check after 3 minutes and prick any bubbles that may have formed.
Cool the crust on a rack for 3 minutes, so it is no longer piping hot, then brush the bottom and sides with the egg white.

Make the filling:

In a 2-quart saucepan, mix together the sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in the cran/raspberry concentrate and water until smooth. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely.
Gently fold in the strawberries and spoon the filling into the baked pastry shell. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
Serve with freshly whipped cream
Store:
Refrigerated up to 2 days.
The Pie and Pastry Bible

Blueberry Cobbler with a Cornmeal-Sugar Cookie Crust

By threejamigos | April 5, 2017 | Comments 1 comment

Have you been watching A Chef’s Life on PBS? You should. It follows Chef Vivian Howard who after hobnobbing in NYC for a couple of years moved back home to North Carolina and opened a farm to table restaurant. We are not talking Asheville or Charlotte, urban areas where the culinary scenes are blossoming but in her hometown of Kinston (where? get out your AAA map). From Kinston, she is creating beautiful down-home Southern food using local ingredients.
I may never find myself in Kinston but fortunately, she has written a cookbook, Deep Run Roots, that is filled with tantalizing recipes, gorgeous photos and wonderful stories about her hometown, family and friends. It’s a hefty book organized by ingredients and as I flipped through it I found myself marking quite a few of the recipes.

One of the many recipes I bookmarked with a post-it note was the Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Sugar Cookie Crust. Actually ,I might have put 2 sticky notes on it as I am a sucker for homey desserts like cobblers. Start early if you want to make this as both the crust and the blueberries need “sitting” time. While the dough for the topping chills, the blueberries macerate in sugar and lemon juice. Let me just tell y’all now, this cobbler is AMAZING. The crust is tender and buttery with an ever so slight crunch from the cornmeal, it literally melts in your mouth. Bubbling underneath is a sweet blueberry compote brightened by lemon zest and juice. Of course, I took it up another notch by adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Sometimes you just gotta go for it.

The nitty gritty. I haven’t quite figured out the different types of cornmeal, stone ground vs. regular milled I am definitely open to advice or info on the different kinds. I used Bob’s Red Mill Stone Ground Corn Flour which is pretty fine with just a slight crunch. I tried fine stone ground cornmeal in scones before and was not crazy about the grittiness. I guess I would choose whichever cornmeal you use and like for cornbread for this cobbler.

The crust is not a dough you would roll. It is similar to a drop cookie dough. I scooped out 1/3-1/2 cup portions and used saran wrap (it’s sticky) to shape the dough into 1/2 inch thick discs for my ramekins. You could do the same for a 9×12 pan or any comparable sized baking dish and lay the discs side by side covering as much fruit as possible.

If using ramekins reduce the baking time to about 30 minutes. Make sure to use a tray or sheet as they will bubble over (a picture is worth a thousand words). I made half the recipe filling which filled four one cup ramekins. I stashed the extra dough in the fridge for another day.

I plan on trying different berries and seasonal fruits with this recipe. I’m already dreaming about mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries and blueberries) and summer stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, plums) versions.

Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Sugar Cookie Crust from Deep Run Roots

Course comfort food, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword blueberry, butter, cobbler, cornmeal, vivian howard

Ingredients

For the Filling:

2 pound fresh blueberries or fruit of choice berries, stone fruit
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons removed with microplane
1 teaspoon salt

Cornmeal Sugar Cookie Crust:

1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks unsalted butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup A.P. flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Make the Filling:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and press down with the back of a spoon to burst some of the berries. Stir it all together and cover.
Let the berries and sugar hang out for about two hours or overnight, stirring when it’s convenient.
After about two hours, lots of juice would have leeched out of your fruit. Strain the juice and and add it to a small saucepan. Reduce the juice by half, or until it’s nice and syrupy. Add the syrupy stuff back to your fruit and stir to combine. It should coat and cling to the fruit like that scary cherry pie filling from the can.

Make the Crust:

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Cream together the butter and sugars in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and paddle to incorporate. Slowly add the flour until just combined.
Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it well with plastic wrap, and let it rest. The cookie dough can be made several days in advance. You could even make a larger batch, freeze it.

Assemble the Cobblers:

Butter your 9x12 oven-safe dish and spoon the fruit into it. Or if you have ramekins/souffle dishes you can make individual servings.
What’s important is the filling to topping ratio. For every 1 1/2 inch of filling, you want 1/2 inch cookie crust. If your dishes go deeper, just increase both by the ratio.
If your topping is chilled, allow it to come to room temperature. Generally for something like this, you would be instructed to flour your work surface and roll out the dough, but for this recipe, that doesn’t really work. So just take your hands, grab a nice ball of the soft, kind of sticky dough and flatten it out between your palms until it’s approximately 1/2 inch thick. Lay that flattened, irregular disk on top of the fruit and move on to your next handful. The goal is to pretty much cover the fruit filling, without overlap but with very little exposed fruit in between. (I used plastic wrap to shape the dough)
Ideally you want to place the baking dish on top of a larger cookie sheet because, chances are, it’s going to bubble over, and I think that’s a good thing (unless I’m washing the dishes).
Bake it at 350 for about an hour. The top should be really nice and brown, not pale, but dark golden and slightly crispy looking.
Individual dishes will bake in less time, approximately 30 minutes.

Tips/Techniques

We’ve used the obvious like blueberries, blackberries, cherries, strawberries, plums, apricots and peaches for sure. But we’ve also used figs, apples, oranges, and a combination of tangerines and cranberries for a festive looking holiday cobbler. Feel free to combine fruits and add spices to suit the occasion. Clove, allspice and cinnamon work well with fruits like fig and apple.