Harvest Monday - June 25, 2012

Well, it was strawberries again this week.  We are getting about twice as many as we did last year, primarily, I suspect, because we added more plants.  However, these plants are also producing larger berries, which is great!

Other than that, not much.  Random herbs and hot peppers, but that's about it.  Waiting with bated breath for our tomatoes - growing bigger every day!



I made a dessert with some delicious in-season cherries that I wanted to share.  I would have loved to use strawberries, but we didn't get quite enough.

I made a cherry galette.  A galette is essentially a sort of free-form pie or tart and can be made either sweet or savory.  This one is a bit like a fresh cherry pie and makes me wish we had a cherry tree!

Fresh Cherry Galette


Ingredients
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
3 - 7 tablespoons ice cold water
4 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 1/2 cups pitted fresh cherries (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary). {I like to use butter for my galette crust as I think it adds a delicate and lovely flavor.  It does make the dough a bit more difficult to handle though.  You can substitute the same amount of shortening if you don't want to use butter.}

3. Gather pastry into a ball. Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap flattened round of pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the butter to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.

4. Roll pastry, using floured rolling pin, into a rough circle, approximately 12 1/2-inch. Combine 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, stirring with a whisk. Sprinkle cornstarch mixture over dough, leaving a 2-inch border.

5. Combine the cherries, remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, rind, and juice; toss well to coat. Arrange cherry mixture over dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold dough border over cherries, pressing gently to seal (dough will only partially cover cherries). Brush edges of dough with buttermilk. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over cherries and edges of dough.

6. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until dough is browned and juices are bubbly. Remove from oven; cool on pan at least 20 minutes before serving.

Delicious!  The galette looks and sounds fancy, but with its free-form shape, it's ridiculously easy.  This is another one of those desserts that can be made with just about any fruit you have on hand.


So, back to our harvest this week.


Total Harvest for the Week: 9.4 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 26 pounds, 7.4 ounces

 I'm thinking this will be a strawberry week again. Maybe enough to make a strawberry galette this time?

 Linked up with Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

Pin It

Dessert Time: Upside-Down Individual Pavlovas

With all of the fantastic berries that are in season, you've probably got some extra hanging around the house. This pavlova dessert makes good use of them!  Pavlovas are usually meringue topped with cream and then berries.  I turned it over and made them individual.  Here's how I did it!


Upside-Down Individual Pavlovas

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 2 cups of berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or a mixture thereof... your choice)
• 1/4 cup cranberry curd (if you can't find this, lemon curd will also work)

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw 4 circles the size of your serving glass on the parchment paper. I used margarita glasses, so my circles were margarita glass sized.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gradually add in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until thick and glossy. Overbeaten egg whites lose volume and deflate when folded into other ingredients. Be absolutely sure not a particle of grease or egg yolk gets into the whites. Gently fold in vanilla extract, lemon juice and cornstarch.
3. Spoon mixture inside the circles drawn on the parchment paper. Working from the center, spread mixture toward the outside edge, building edge slightly. This should leave a slight depression in the center.
4. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack.

5. Mix the berries with 1/4 cup sugar and the cranberry curd.   In a small bowl beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form; sweeten if desired and set aside. 

6.  Divide the berries between the serving glasses. Top with whipped cream.  Remove the paper, and place one meringue on each glass.  

This is an easy dessert, but looks elegant and like you've spent a lot of time.  Great for dinner guests!

What is your favorite dessert for guests?

Pin It

In Our Backyard

We see quite a few hummingbirds in our yard.  They are among my favorite things to watch - they are pretty fearless, and will come right up to us.  I expect because they want us to get out of their territory.  They haven't learned much about sharing yet.

Hummingbirds are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 3–5 inch range. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12–80 times per second (depending on the species). To conserve energy while they sleep or when food is scarce, they have the ability to go into a hibernation-like state (torpor) where their metabolic rate is slowed to 1/15th of its normal rate.  They are also the only group of birds able to fly backwards.  They can fly at speeds exceeding 34 mph!

Hummingbirds drink nectar, a sweet liquid inside certain flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by preying on insects and spiders.

Hummingbirds drink by using protrusible grooved or trough-like tongues. Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy cost would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to twelve times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10–15% of their time feeding and 75–80% sitting and digesting.

With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute!  They also consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight.

Hummingbirds are for the most part unsociable. In fact, the adjectives pugnacious and feisty are often appropriate. When more than one hummingbird is around, it is often a scene of repeated high-speed chases. In fact, male and female hummingbirds do not form a pair-bond after mating and the female is left to care for eggs and chicks alone.

Hummingbirds do not need the help of other hummingbirds, either to locate food or fend off predators. Other hummingbirds are competitors for the flower nectar upon which they thrive. The help that a male might provide a female does not outweigh the burden of having a male around competing for food.

What is all this fighting about? Plants take time to secrete nectar into their flowers. In an ideal world, hummingbirds should time their visits to flowers to take advantage of a full load. But they wait to feed at a flower at the risk of other hummingbirds beating them to the punch. It is therefore worth the effort for hummingbirds to chase away competitors so they have access and control of their favorite flowers.

In many cases, hummingbirds defend small territories around a favorite flower patch, and do so even during brief stop-overs for refueling during migration. Where many species live together, the large species attempt to dominate flowers and get the biggest drinks of nectar and smaller species try to sneak in for a few sips.


Do you attract hummingbirds to your yard?

Pin It

From the Farmer's Market

We ate dinner at our new local Farmer's Market today.  

Our Farmer's Market has the standard row of prepared ethnic and specialty foods for sale, as well as a row of certified farmer's market vendors.

The Boy had for his dinner, a cheeseburger.  Last week The Mr and I ate a Kenyan dinner, and this week we had Indian.  Quite tasty!

And we perused the produce.  Lots of yummy options.

We came home with a bunch - tangelos, strawberries and peaches.  Corn and carrots and lettuce.

We had cherries, but somehow they never made it home.  I noticed that The Boy and The Mr had red stains on their hands.  Hmmm.

With our peaches, I am going to make this recipe this weekend:

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 
• 1 cup cake or all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup whole milk 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 cups sliced peeled peaches, reserved in bowl 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Place butter in 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Place dish in oven to melt butter. 
3. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Stir in milk and sugar to form batter. 
4. Using oven mitts, remove hot baking dish from oven. Pour batter into baking dish. Spoon peaches and any peach juices evenly over batter. 
5. Bake until batter rises and browns on top, about 30 minutes.

I love cobblers with fresh fruit in the summer and can't wait to eat this.

What is your favorite summertime dessert?

Pin It

Two Great Summer Tastes That Go Great Together

Are there two better tastes of summer than sweet corn....

... and ice cream?

This recipe brings those two flavors together, in a wonderful way.








Sweet Corn Ice Cream 

Ingredients
4 ears fresh corn, shucked
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
9 large egg yolks

Directions
1. Using a large knife, slice the kernels off the corn cobs and place in a large saucepan. Break the cobs into thirds and add them to the pot along with the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, then turn off the heat. Using an immersion mixer or a blender, puree the corn kernels (not the cobs). Infuse for 1 hour.
2. Bring the mixture back to a simmer, then turn off the heat. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Add a cup of the hot cream to the yolks, stirring constantly so they don't curdle. Add the yolk mixture to the saucepan, stirring. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spoon, about 10 minutes.
3. Pass the custard through a fine sieve, pressing down hard on the solids, discard solids. Let the custard cool, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Ice cream is being seen in lots of non-traditional flavors - basil, bacon, goat cheese, cucumber and even jalapeno (I am definitely trying that this summer as soon as our crop comes in), to name a few.... though not all together of course.  Would you make a non-traditional flavor?  Or are you all about the tried and true?

Pin It

The Longest Day

The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. This happens twice each year, at which times the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North or South Pole respectively.

The summer solstice is the solstice that occurs in a hemisphere's summer. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the Northern solstice, in the Southern Hemisphere this is the Southern solstice. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the summer solstice occurs some time between December 20 and December 23 each year in the Southern Hemisphere and between June 20 and June 22 in the Northern Hemisphere in reference to UTC.

Though the summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used like Midsummer to refer to the day on which it occurs. Except in the polar regions (where daylight is continuous for many months), the day on which the summer solstice occurs is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight.

People often think of Stonenhenge with they think of the solstices. An enigmatic 5000-year-old World Heritage Site, it pre-dates even the pyramids of Egypt. Its stones weigh up to 60 tons.

Though no one has quite figured out exactly why Stonehenge was built, we have determined that it was built to correspond to the changing of the seasons, specifically the solstices.

Stonehenge was constructed in three phases. It has been estimated that the three phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labor.

Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy, though the current thinking is that it may have been used as a place to perform burial rites for many different religions. These rites, archaeologists believe, would have occurred at the solstice.

However it was built and whatever its use, it is awe-inspiring.  Not many things are as old or well-preserved as Stonehenge, with such mysterious roots.

What do you think will last for 5,000 years from our society?  Anything?  Maybe this blog about a 5,000 year-old archaeological site?  :-)

Pin It

Tuesday Garden Party - Growing Salsa!

So our salsa ingredients aren't quite ready yet, but they are on their way!

Tomatoes are looking good.

We've got about 10 different varieties and I can't wait to see how they grow.

This one got eaten by a mean ol' caterpillar.  But he's coming back!

And of course, you need hot peppers for salsa.  And we have hot peppers!

While the quartet of pain isn't growing yet, our other hots are doing incredibly well.

I love corn salsa.  We've got corn on the way too - and it looks fabulous so far!

While I'm salsa-dreaming, I thought I'd share my recipe for corn salsa.  When my garden grows (faster please!) I'll share pictures too!


Chunky Corn and Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

• 3 ears corn, husked and desilked 
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 ripe garden tomatoes (Roma is awesome), diced small (approximately two cups)
• 1 jalapeno or other hot chile pepper of your choice, minced (I like heat, so I often add more than one, and I like to use a combination of different chiles for a more rounded flavor)
• 1/4 cup chopped oregano (I am not a cilantro fan, but you can substitute cilantro for the oregano
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Blanch the corn in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes, then cut off the kernels.  Saute the corn with the butter and garlic, 8 - 10 minutes or until the starch in the corn is gone.
2. Take the pan off the heat and add the remaining ingredients while corn is still warm.  The heat of the pan helps meld the flavors together.  Mix well.
3. Salt and pepper to taste.  This salsa tastes even better after sitting for a while, so if you can make it the night before, do it.  Your patience will be rewarded!

Check back next week to see what else we're up to in the garden - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

Pin It

Harvest Monday - June 18, 2012

This week was not great for harvesting.  We're kind of between peas and tomatoes and corn.  All we got (aside from various herbs) was a few handfuls of strawberries.

Not that I am complaining (though it sounds like I am) - the strawberries have been super-tasty this year, but I'd like to get into the summer produce.  Perhaps I should plant earlier.  I'll have to remember for next year.


Since I didn't have much to show from the garden, I thought I would share a recipe I made today with ingredients I mainly purchased as opposed to grew, but am looking forward to when I can use my garden bounty for this!


Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes with Buttermilk Basil Dressing

Ingredients

• 3 cups red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved if large
• 3 cups red and orange bell peppers, large-diced
• 1 jalapeno, finely diced (I like a little heat so did not remove the ribs and seeds... you can if you like it milder... you can even leave it out entirely if you have delicate taste buds...)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

1. Put the cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapeno in a large serving bowl.
   
   
2. Season with salt and pepper and toss.
3. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, sour cream, basil, shallot and garlic. Season with pepper.   (I use a measuring cup instead of another bowl - saves on the dishes)
   
   
4. Drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes and toss.

I think it tastes better after it has been sitting a bit, and I like it nice and cold.  So I put it in the refrigerator for an hour or so before serving.

Total Harvest for the Week: 8.2 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 25 pounds, 14 ounces

 We'll have a few tomatoes this week, and probably some more strawberries.  And hot peppers.

 Linked up with Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

Pin It

To the Best Men I Know...

Happy Father's Day!


To my Dad, who raised me to believe in myself.  He gave me my sense of adventure and he has always been there for me

To my father-in-law, who welcomed me to the family from the beginning and who is always game for one of my crazy schemes.

And to my husband, who is a wonderful father to his children, and who every day makes all of our lives better.

I can't imagine my life without these men.  They are all heroes in my eyes.

Pin It

Birds Outside My Window...

I am one of the lucky people who has a window office.  I'm on the ground floor and the birds like to congregate outside of my window.

That might have something to do with the birdseed I put out each morning.  Possibly.

Sometimes I take pictures of the birds through the window with my phone.   They usually aren't great quality due to the angle and the light, but every once in a while one is not too bad.

Like this one -

Cute little guys, right?

I recently discovered Instagram.  And did this to them.

I used Picsay Pro (a different application for Android) to modify this one....

And Creative Kit (via picasaweb) for this one.

And to think not so long ago, we didn't even have digital cameras, much less cameras and picture editing software in our pockets.

What is your favorite phone photo app?

Pin It