Reminder

I think it is fair to say that most people don't "put up" summer produce anymore. My great-grandmother used to walk for miles in a rural part of southern Italy to forage for wild foods like truffles and other mushrooms, sometimes walking over 15 miles, roundtrip. She had a dry, cool space in her house where she kept these culinary treasures, and would preserve them carefully so that all winter long she would be able to make delicious foods that no one else in the neighborhood had during that season.

Now, it is a great production to venture to a pick-your-own or to get to the farmer's market (to think, there's lately been a "status" about going to the farmer's market which I will blame solely on Martha Stewart and those photographers of hers.) That said, my yard this year and next will be in complete upheaval as we prepare to remove the old garage base and put in a fence. This year, most of the gardening will be done in containers, and at my mother's house (who very generously asked if we would like one of her three garden plots which we jumped at the chance to get.) We will drive 30 minutes to plant, sow, weed, and eventually reap the harvest.

Last summer, I had the good fortune to come upon a glut of gorgeous, perfect peaches; some of which I made into Vanilla Peach Preserves, and the small remainder, into frozen peach pie filling. I like to thicken my pies with tapioca starch, as it allows the clear, bright flavor of the peaches to really come through. I pour it into cling-film-lined pans until frozen solid, then take them out and vacuum seal the frozen brick. Every now and again, I pull one out and cover it with either a crumble topping, biscuit topping, or a roughly-made pie crust, usually torn into pieces for peach pandowdy.

Tonight was a pandowdy night. I like to drizzle it with a tiny bit of cream when it is still warm from the oven. The taste alone screams summer. Loudly. In your ear via your tastebuds.

Hedonism

I have a slight obsession with making sure there is dessert after dinner at least once a week. Growing up, dessert after dinner was pretty much a birthday thing. If it wasn't someone's birthday, there was no dessert. That is just not how Italian households *do* dinner. I envied my friends for having American moms who would, after having the table cleared, pull out a pie, cake, or cookies. They had moms that baked. On the other hand, my friends' moms didn't know the first thing about homemade soprassata with a good loaf of crackling bread and some fresh figs, so there was the tradeoff.

Because nearly every meal in this house is made by me, dessert is usually something that can quickly be thrown together. Sometimes it is a bowl of freshly sliced peaches with a dollop of whipped cream and a crumbled gingersnap on top. Sometimes it is something gloriously rich, like chocolate mocha syrup cake, which makes its own sauce by some small chemical miracle. I have seen recipes that call something like this "pudding" cake, but the resulting product isn't pudding by any means (meaning custard. It is pudding in all sense of the British meaning, though.) The basic premise of the recipe is that you make a thick batter, pour a hot liquid on the top, bake it, and it magically becomes something altogether sinful. I will warn you that a tiny bit goes a very long way. You will also need something to cut the richness of this dessert, like a scoop of vanilla ice cream or very, very lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Chocolate Mocha Syrup Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/3 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I like the acidic bite of the regular reddish cocoa)

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter (half of a stick)

1 oz square unsweetened chocolate, chopped finely

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups strong coffee (I just use whatever is left over from that morning's pot of coffee.)

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375*F

In a small saucepan, or in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt, cocoa, and baking powder together. Add milk, vanilla, and butter/chocolate mixture, stirring until smooth. Set aside.

Combine remaining sugar and coffee in a small saucepan. Simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spray a 10-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and spread the batter into the pan evenly. Slowly pour the coffee mixture over the batter - DO NOT STIR - and carefully place the pan into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Spoon servings making sure to get a bit of the syrup with every serving. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream (below) or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Whipped cream:

Using a mixer, beat the cream with the powdered sugar until firm peaks form.

Cold Comfort Farm... Redux

I am much too anxious for the arrival of spring. I want to turn my heat off, open the windows, and banish the stale winter air out of my home. I want to scrub everything and paint other things, wash windows, prep the flower beds, and just *do* things outside.

Alas, it is not to happen, as the forcast for tonight is snow. I saw a robin and a mourning dove today, so spring cannot be to terribly far away. I'm tired of being chilled to the bone.

Marie, a glorious woman in England, created a dish that looks to be quite delicious, with a lovely salmon cream sauce and cheesy biscuits baked on top. Find it Here.

(after dinner) Well, I can certainly tell you that while this was cooking, we couldn't wait to sit down to eat. I used buttermilk in the biscuits rather than regular milk, because I like the tender crumb that the resulting biscuit has. The olives had me a bit skeptical, but I'm so glad I put them in there. I chopped them extremely fine and it provided a lovely salty depth of flavor that didn't scream "OLIVE!". The salmon cream mixture reduced a bit too much, mostly because I had children climbing up my leg while I was cooking. I think the next go-round I'll increase the amount of milk by a cup and use a third cup of flour. This was lovely and delicious, and my husband, who doesn't really care for fish or peppers ate it all. Thanks Marie!

Impatient

I cannot wait for spring to arrive. Each year in this area, spring is hailed with the arrival of wild leeks, also known as ramps. They grow in the woods, and I make the trek onto state forest grounds to search for the bright kelly green oval leaves peeking through the leaf litter. They're not like the thick, round leeks at the store; they are much more delicately structured than that. These require digging and careful separation of dirt from plant. The roots are usually in a tangle, and if you're not careful, you'll snap the tender bulb, leaving it in the dirt (which is okay, since another leek will just grow there next year.) The bulb is pungent, and the leaves have a delicate onion/chive flavor that are fantastic strewn upon potatoes O'Brien.

In these parts, one can usually find a ham & leek dinner, where the leeks are usually steamed whole and eaten as "greens", sometimes with butter and a splash of malt vinegar. I much prefer to clean them, separate the greens from the whites, and use the greens in cream sauces or as one would use chives. The sharp bulbs, in my opinion, are best when roasted, which allows their sweetness to shine through the strong flavor. The caramelization also gives them great depth of flavor, and are wonderful pureed and added to a simple carbonara sauce, or anywhere you'd use roasted garlic.

I suppose leeks wouldn't be as prized as they are if they were easy to gather. The next few weeks, we'll drive into the woods and look for signs of leek growth. We'll wait until the signs start going up at local churches, advertising leek dinners, and we'll hike onto our "secret" hillside, enjoy the sounds of the creek as the water meanders through the rocks, and we'll forage for our green gold.

That's our sign that winter is officially over.

Hot & Wild Leek Dip

1/2 cup wild leeks (ramps) cleaned and chopped roughly (if you cannot get wild leeks, use scallions/green onions, but use 3/4 cup)

16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature, cut into cubes

3 tsp cayenne pepper sauce, we like Frank's Red Hot

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp crumbled bacon, cooked crisp

Preheat oven to 375*F. In a food processor, process the ramps until they are well-chopped. Add the cream cheese, cheddar, and cayenne until well-blended. Transfer mixture to an 8" baking pan sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkle with bacon pieces. Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and heated through. Serve with crackers.

The dregs of February

I'm not a big fan of being cold. While I do enjoy a Fall day when the air is crisp and I need to wear something under a sweater, the bone-chilling, bitter cold of a western Pennsylvania February has me craving something hot and steamy.

A blog-favorite of mine posted her recipe for Sweet Potato and Molasses Beef Stew on her website, but, of course, I changed it to suit my fancy. The recipe directions she includes are excellent. I leave out the celery, the carrots, and the white potato and double (or triple) the amount of sweet potatoes. I also doubled the amount of molasses, because although I did not want a pronounced molasses flavor, I did want to be able to taste a hint of it. The last thing I did was make a small amount of butter and flour roux, which I cooked to a deep brown (about 10-12 min; 3 Tbsp butter, 1/4 cup flour.) It added another depth of flavor and thickened this up in a most fantastic way. Due to the wee littles, I like stews to be rather thick; less dribbling down shirts is a good thing.

This is hearty and delicious and something that makes the bleak and icy landscape a bit more tolerable. I highly recommend that you make it.

Oh, as an aside, do be sure to try her Salmon Noodle Casserole. It has become a family favorite 'round these parts.

Five Spice Crispychews

I'm relatively obsessed with five spice. I have a tendency to use it in anything that calls for- or looks like it may call for- cinnamon. Don't get me wrong, cinnamon has its place. Heck, five spice has cinnamon in it. But, when you compare five spice to cinnamon... cinnamon shows up as a dowdy, quiet cousin who comes to visit from Iowa or Kansas and no, doesn't want to go out clubbing with you and your friends. Cinnamon wants to say home and do economics homework.

Five Spice Crispychews are the sophisticated version of a molasses cookie recipe I had. While the traditional molasses cookie is a bit up front in spiciness, Five Spice Crispychews flirt with you from across the room.

Five Spice Crispychews

1/2 cup butter-flavored Crisco (I don't recommend substituting)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses (not blackstrap)

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp Five Spice powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup demarara sugar (or granulated sugar) for decoration

Cream the Crisco, butter, and sugars together until very well combined. Add egg and mix well. Add molasses and vanilla, mixing until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients, then add all at once to the butter mixture. Mix until all of the flour is combined. Cover and chill for 3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls (about the size of a walnut.) Roll the balls in the demarara sugar and place on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 11 minutes. Let cool for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Yield: 3 dozen

Quick and Dirty Dinners

There are times when one needs to just throw something together for dinner in order to get "other things" done. While this is all fine and good, I feel that it is essential that said dinner also has to be delicious and not at all in resemblance of the fast-food genre.

I am a firm believer that a small amount of time dedicated to prep work makes the Quick & Dirty dinner such a success. I'm also fond of having a well-packed freezer of items that make Q&D such a staple.

It is inevitable that at some point of an early acquaintance I will ask what a favorite food is. My exhusband's favorite food is stuffed shells. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach; I say it's actually through his sternum.

Quick & Dirty Stuffed Shells

1 lb package large pasta shells, cooked just almost al-dente, drained, and set aside in cold water (they will cook a bit more when you bake them; you don't want mushy shells)

Filling ingredients:
2 lb part-skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs (or 1 large egg and 1 egg white; or the equivalent egg-substitute product)
1 cup pulverized crumbs made from prepackaged Caesar-seasoned croutons
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried Italian-style seasoning blend (or 1/4 tsp each dried oregano and dried basil)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
optional: 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, 1/2 lb italian sausage cooked, crumbled, and drained.
______________
3 cups of your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Freezing equipment: gallon-sized freezer bags, baking sheets lined with plastic wrap

Mix all of the filling ingredients until well-blended. Scoop a rounded tablespoon into each pasta shell and set the filled shells aside on the baking sheet. Once the sheet (s) are full, place the sheets in the freezer and freeze the shells until they are completely solidly frozen. Remove from baking sheets and place in the freezer bags.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400*F. Spray a shallow baking pan (8x8 for 2-4 servings; 9 x 13 for 6 servings) with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup sauce in the bottom of the pan, arrange shells in a single layer, then top with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes for small pan; 40 minutes for a large pan. Remove foil and sprinkle with cheese; bake 15-20 additional minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serving size: 2-3 shells