Seasonal Suffering

It is that dark and difficult time in the little jam kitchen. Don’t get me wrong; I understand that the world is beset by violence, famine, and floods and yet I come to you to complain about my longing for berries. It is less than a month, until the first strawberries arrive; ripe and sweet and red but I grow weary of waiting.

We jam ladies go about our business of making delicious spreads out every kind of fruit from our local farms but around this time of year we feel the challenge of “going local” more than any other time.  Our friends and customers see supermarkets counters filled with every type of produce and so naturally it is reasonable for them to ask for a jar of a particular strawberry or raspberry jam. They are often shocked to find during this time of year that we have sold them all and no more will be made until the season comes around again. It reinforces our own craving to have that Summer fruit now.

So what do we do? It is easier and cheaper to stop buying fruit from our local family farms but that was the point of my starting Doves and Figs in the first place. We could have strawberries from somewhere all year round but it would not be the same for me. The first sun-warmed berries will arrive soon from the fields and they will again taste of shortcakes and childhood adventures and the essence of Summer.

What do we do? We wait and we hope that you find beauty in embracing the seasons too.

 

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Cheddar Cheese Hamentashen

If you love Hamentashen and you love cheese, then these Cheddar Cheese Hamentashen are the perfect cookie for your Purim celebration. We filled ours with Doves and Figs Falling Leaves (apple, fig, & dried cranberry) jam but any fig jam or homemade fig filling will work well.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus additional for rolling cookies)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg
3 Tablespoons cold water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fig jam

Equipment
Cookie sheet
2″ cookie or biscuit cutter or glass with 2″ rim
rolling pin

How To
Heat the oven to 350 degrees
In a mixer or food processor or by hand, cream together butter and sugar
Beat egg and water and add to the butter/sugar mixture
In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt
With the mixer or food processor running, add all of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until a ball of dough begins to form (by hand blend in flour with a wooden spoon and hands until dough forms into a ball)
Kneed in the cheese and a bit more flour if the dough is still sticky
Roll out dough to 1/8″ thick and cut out circles of dough
Spoon a scant teaspoon of jam onto each circle and dampen the edge lightly with water on a pastry brush or fingertips
Fold the dough edges to form a triangle
Bake for about 12 minutes until lightly browned
Cool and enjoy your Purim treats!

 

Wicked Son Eggs

Passover is a time of stories and symbols.  As the holiday draws to an end, I wanted to share one of the most fun things we served at our Seder this year.  Last year my hubby, Mark, led us in the   The Two Minute Haggadah for the second night of Passover.  Everyone thought it was a riot and we joked that there should be a dish to match that contained the essence of the Seder in a few bites.  A few days before Passover began, we remembered the conversation and tossed around various ideas of how to make a bite-size Seder.  We hit on deviled eggs as the perfect medium for our holiday madness and Mark insisted that we call them “Wicked Son Eggs”.  Off to the kitchen I went to figure out a recipe.

After a day of shopping and cooking, the lamb confit was ready and I assembled the rest of our Wicked Son Eggs as follows:
Peel and sliced 12 hard boiled eggs
Scoop yolks out and mix with mayonnaise, little shreds of lamb confit, fresh grated horseradish, and parsley
In another bowl mix finely diced apple with chopped walnuts and sweet wine
Stuff the eggs with yolk mixture
Top eggs with apples and walnuts
Serve on romaine lettuce leaves

No to the nog no more

It is practically blasphemy to say it this time of year; but I don’t like eggnog.  A nice frothy homemade batch will do as a conduit for bringing rum to lips, but it is just not my favorite holiday beverage.  A warm mulled wine, cocoa spiked with spirits, or an elegant tall glass of bubbles are more my style for celebrating. 

When my stepdaughter insisted on buying some eggnog at the supermarket, I groaned.  She is the only one in the house who would drink it and as I predicted after sipping a tiny glass, she grew bored with it and moved on to something else. I hated to waste the rest of the container of eggnog so I decided to see if I could bake it into something I would like.

Much of what I don’t like about commercial eggnog is the syrupy sweet flavor and the heavy texture.  I like rich creamy feel in custards but not in drinks so I decided to whip up a custard and offset the sweetness with some farmers cheese.  I am sure ricotta would have worked as well but farmers cheese was what I had on hand and the slighty salty flavor was perfect.

I made a quick basic tart dough (I love Sweet Tart Dough from Fanny Farmer Baking Book, 1984) and chilled it.  Then I put together the filling (recipe below)
and poured it in the chilled shell.  I baked the tart for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees and then let it cool.  Since I had leftover candied citrus and cranberries which I had made for another recipe, I sprinkled them on the tart along with some blanched almonds for extra crunch. 
NOTE: An unbaked pie shell would also work for this recipe as well.

With my first bite, I knew that I would never feel the same about eggnog again.  After my friends devoured slices of my eggnog “pie”, I realized that I might even have to keep some of the previously maligned beverage on hand just for this recipe.  Happy and Delicious New Year to everyone! 

 Egg Nog Pie or Tart Filling
1 cup of eggnog
3 eggs
8 oz farmer cheese
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup dried currants
2 Tbs Southern Comfort (optional)

Whisk together all ingredients and pour into prepared tart or pie shell

Sweet Season

Although my family celebrates Chanukkah, every year at this time my kitchen is filled with joy and piles of Christmas delights.  I bake holiday cookies and make candy for friends and business associates and always make some kind of crazy cake creation for Christmas dinner.  I will be posting more about my cake next week, but for today it is all about sweet ways to spread some holiday cheer. 

This year’s treats included apple cider and walnut brittle, cranberry and pepita caramel, breakfast bark (dark chocolate with raisin bran cereal, ground coffee, and drizzled white chocolate”milk”), peanut butter bark, chocolate treat cups, candy cane & cocoa swirl cookies, chocolate M&M trees, and my favorite, bacon & coffee piglets.  The recipe for these adorable cookies is below and they are as tasty as they are cute.

Bacon and Coffee Butter Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup crumbled crisp bacon
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon finely ground coffee beans
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook bacon until crisp in the oven or a frying pan
Cool and crumble into small bits and set aside
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Cream softened butter and sugar
Add egg yolk and water
Blend until combined
Add flour, coffee, and cinnamon and mix until a ragged dough begins to form  
Stir in bacon and mix just until dough comes together in a ball
Gather dough together and wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour
Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out cookies with cookie cutters (such as the cute little pig shown)
Bake for about 12 minutes until edges are barely brown

Peach Panic

I bought some peaches as soon as they showed up at the farmers market and they were delicious if a tiny bit under ripe.  The next week I bought more and we ate some for a snack and made a delicious salmon with white wine and sliced peaches and grilled peaches with mint and honey. 

Next I bought a small bag of perfectly ripe nectarines which was demolished amid contented sighs and sticky hands coated in juice.  The peaches and nectarines and plums were so good this year that they made me feel sad to think that the season would soon draw to a close.    

I could not imagine being without this friend through the long winter so out came the canning supplies and soon I had created a small winter stash of white and yellow peach preserves with cinnamon and port wine, spicy peach with Hungarian peppers, a small batch of peach and lavender, and a tart plum and ginger sauce.  We often think of jams and preserves as spreads for toast; but they are wonderful for savory and sweet dishes.  Try serving homemade jam on a cheese platter, or  use as a meat or fish glaze, and use preserves for filling tarts and cookies as I did with the simple shortbread cookies shown here stuffed with peach and lavender jam.

Apple Cider Foccacia

I am always looking for low-fat and fat-free treats to balance out my richer offerings.  This recipe eliminates all the oil and uses apple cider to give the bread a slight sweetness and a tender texture.  I used fast rise yeast but you can also use regular yeast and give it extra time to rise.  With the fast rise, it makes a great last-minute addition to dinner or brunch.

The main recipe is below and you can top the bread simply with kosher salt and rosemary or other herbs, brandy soaked apples as in the picture, or carmelized onions.

Apple Cider Foccocia

1. 1 cup fresh Apple Cider
   1 cup water
   2 Pkgs Rapid Rise Yeast
   4 1/2 to 5 cup Flour
   1/2 tsp Salt
   Oil or Non-Stick SPray for pans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Warm the water and cider together to 110 to 115 degrees
Add warm water and cider to the yeast in a large bowl or mixer
Stir in flour and salt to make a sticky dough
Knead additional flour into the dough by hand until it is smooth and soft but not sticky
Allow to rise about 20 minutes until doubled in size
Oil or spray two 8″ round baking pans
Pat half of the dough into each pan
Top with your choice of toppings
Bake for about 25 minutes until brown on top.  The bread should have a slightly hollow sound when tapped.

Petite Pumpkins

Tiny sugar pumpkins appeared at the Kimball Fruit Farm stall at the Arlington Farmers’ Market and the little cuties practically leaped into my basket.  Arriving home, I snapped a picture of the pumpkins whole and then chopped their tops off.  After scraping out the seeds, I filled them with a bit of Pineau de Charentes (Tawny Port would be lovely as well), some Zante currants and a sprinkle of ginger and allspice.   Into a 400 degree oven they went, lids and all, for about 45 minutes. 
When my petite pumpkins were done, I took them from the oven and dumped in about a tablespoon and a half of couscous and two tablespoons of water.  I replaced the lids and the couscous steamed beautifully in about five minutes picked up the flavors roasted in the pumpkins.  Just a quick fluff of the couscous and they were ready to serve.  What a spooky fun treat this would make for a Halloween dinner or a great vegan side dish for a fall supper.

An Interesting Farmers’ Market Visitor

I was buying beets at the Lexington Farmers’ Market yesterday when the large backpack of the woman standing next to me began to chatter and squawk.  I nearly dropped my shopping basket in surprise as I came face to beak with a beautiful African Grey parrot.  The bird seemed to be adding her comments as her owner and the owner’s Mom discussed buying some beets to eat and their plan to share the greens with their parrot. 

As a former parrot owner, I had to chat a bit with them and take some pictures with my camera phone.  My new bird friend was going home with a choice selection of organic greens and vegetables from the market.  Meanwhile I was so engaged in chatting about pets that I forgot to buy ingredients for holiday soup.  Luckily, Arlington Farmers’ Market is today so I will have my soup vegetables and who knows what strange visitors I might meet!

Triple Berry Jam

The perfect way to end the summer;  lost in row upon row of full lush raspberry bushes.  The ripe red fruits almost fell into our hands.  Except for some slightly  annoyed bees who went off in a huff without stinging anyone and a few scratches from the thorns, it was so easy to fill a pail with the sweet berries.  We went with good friends and the three girls giggled and ate and picked and ate and teased each other and, sticky red-stained fingers tell the tale, ate!  We had three pounds when we were done, and add that to the two and a half pound I had already stowed in the freezer, it was time to make jam. 

I love the texture of preserves but with raspberries I find there are too many seeds.  I started out making a seedless jam but then thought perhaps I would throw in some whole berries as well.  As I reached for the frozen raspberries, I spotted a bag of wild blueberries and also some strawberries.  I tossed a couple of handfuls of each into the jam and the perfect texture emerged.

Before this summer, I always made freezer jam but all my complaining about canning the pickles aside, I was feeling brave enough to try something else.  The jars of jam came out so gloriously beautiful that I started thinking about canning some other recipes.  Last night my Dad mentioned how we used to make concord grape jam in Montauk in the fall.  I guess I know what to look for at the farmers market this weekend.