Apple Weekend, 2014

 

He was very proud of pulling this wagon across the apple orchard.

Two weekends ago we got together with some of our favorite people to cook and feast. It was the 11th annual (would have been 12th but it didn't happen last year) Apple Weekend, although this year apples only made it into two of the nine dishes served. We still went apple picking just for fun, but we now focus on a meal of small plates featuring anything seasonal and local. We had some delicious dishes, both creative and simple, this year. 

This was the menu: 

I made a small bite to start: a potato latke for everyone (made with the red potatoes Willem and I dug up a few weeks ago from our garden), topped with a smear of sour cream and a dollop of applesauce that Gordie and Willem made. Latkes are so good. They always make me think of those potato sticks that came in a little box that I always managed to get and devour at Halloween when I was a kid. So good with the tart, unsweetened, first-batch-of-the-season applesauce and the sour cream. 
Then, Matt made a quite-spicy lentil sambar. He looked in an authentic Indian cookbook and made this using butternut squash among other things.

Next I did a pasta with a sweet roasted-cherry-tomato sauce. I roasted mixed red and orange tomatoes from our garden and topped with some shaved Parmesan. 

I really loved my sister's dish this year, a composed, complete little plate. She roasted turkey breast and topped it with slices of Gruyere and crispy onions. On the homemade roll she put an onion-apple jam she made. She served it with just a few crispy fries she made with potatoes from her garden. She paired it with a hard cider.

Next was a Cassidy classic: roasted duck breast atop a super-smooth parsnip puree, with a cherry compote. He paired it with a Merlot.

In the dessert portion of the evening, peaches which are plentiful right now, had a starring role. Gordie participated with a peach sorbet made with North Carolina peaches that his aunt and uncle had just brought us when they visited from North Carolina. He scooped out the peach halves to get the fruit to make the sorbet, froze them, and then spooned the sorbet into the frozen shells to serve. He thought it would be fun to serve the pits right on the sorbet so it really looked like a peach half. 

Next I made this delicious galette with New Hampshire peaches. It has an almond paste beneath the peaches that completes it. The crust is my own favorite crust recipe, but the filling came from a Smitten Kitchen cherry galette recipe that we love. 

Next, Meg made what she would only tell us was frozen custard until it was on the table. It was gorgeous and so rich in color, so between that and her secretiveness, I guessed right: beets! It also had chocolate in it, which really balanced out the beet really well and added to the color and texture. She garnished with a mint leaf and a candied beet. I wouldn't want to eat a big bowl of it but it was a deep interesting flavor and I really enjoyed each of the few bites. 

My sister finished off the evening with a totally comforting peach-strawberry clafoutis (the strawberries ones she had frozen from her garden earlier in the summer) with melting buttermilk ice cream on top of it, drizzled with burnt caramel. 

I think it gets better each year!

Asparagus Pizza

I'm about two seasons behind, but had to share this Epicurious find that we made a whole bunch during asparagus season.

Start with rolling out your favorite pizza dough (which for me is no longer this one, so I'll have to post my now-favorite sometime). 

Atop your dough of choice: first, brush it with a garlic oil. Wowee. I wonder if we should start doing this on every pizza. Such a tasty flavor base. Then, green onions, or chives if you've got a limitless quantity of them in your garden, followed by mozzarella, slices of cooked potato, and goat cheese. Finally, some sliced asparagus tossed in oil, grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper. It's especially easy to assemble if you have the potato cooked and the asparagus sliced ahead of dinner time. The whole pizza is so flavorful. It's a new springtime favorite here. 

Before cooking

Finished

Why I went to my Epicurious app in the first place and searched for asparagus recipes and then on a whim, "asparagus pizza," was that as of this summer we have perennial asparagus growing steps away from our house! Two years ago, we added two more raised beds and planted asparagus crowns in one of them. We watched them and let them be to do what they would that season and the season after. But this season we harvested for the first time. Here were the thrilling beginnings in May:

And here's what they looked like a little later in the summer. We stopped harvesting them after a few weeks so they can build themselves up for more harvesting in future seasons (I'm told we have decades of asparagus to look forward to, so I can be patient). It was hard to stop breaking off each spear as it became pencil-tall, but they are sort of lovely with their lacy fronds edging the garden, especially now in September when the fronds are densely lush and thick.

Asparagus, Fingerling Potato, and Goat Cheese Pizza

from Epicurious.com

5 oz. potatoes

dough for one pizza

2 T olive oil

1 garlic clove, pressed or minced

4 green onions (or handful of chives), thinly sliced

1 1/2 C (6 oz.) grated mozzarella 

4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

8 oz. asparagus, trimmed, each spear cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 2- to 3-inch pieces

1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

Put potatoes in small saucepan, cover with water, sprinkle with salt, and boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Cool. Cut potatoes into thin slices.

Preheat oven to 425. Preheat pizza stone and/or otherwise prepare pizza dough as you prefer. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil and garlic in a small bowl. Brush garlic oil over dough. Sprinkle 3/4 of green onions/chives over, then mozzarella, then potato slices, then goat cheese. Toss asparagus and other 1 tablespoon oil in a bowl. Scatter asparagus over pizza. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then lightly with salt and generously with pepper.

Bake until crust is browned and asparagus is tender, about 18 minutes. Slice, sprinkle with remaining green onions, and serve.

Cherry-Almond Galette

I have been on a bit of a Smitten Kitchen kick since I got The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook as a birthday gift from my dad. I've liked every recipe I've tried from the book, but I can tell you that it now opens naturally to the sweet cherry and almond galette. It is amazing. We were planning to have a picnic on our town green the summer evening I first made this, and the galette made it even more scrumptious to look forward to.

There's something about being outdoors that makes food taste even better. For this picnic we had: BLTs, mixed olives, really ripe sweet-smelling melon, some sliced prosciutto to go both with the melon and with Cambezola, a delicious cheese we can always find. My mom says that Cambezola is so good she wants to roll in it. We did not roll in the cheese but we did enjoy it very much with prosciutto wrapped around it (or, in Willem's case, in chunks all by itself until we stopped him). And the cherry galette...I'm so glad I have the cookbook for this recipe alone. I used my own favorite pie pastry, so I can't speak for that aspect of her recipe, but the quick easy almond paste smeared on the bottom was amazing with the cherries and the sugared crust. And the bites of cherry between two layers of crust near the edge, so good. You can pick it up by the slice and eat it with your hands-- the perfect picnic treat. The galette did not last long in our house afterward. (I made this galette this fall as well with New Hampshire peaches in place of the cherries I just stopped being able to find at the store, and that was delicious too-- the peaches almost as great with the almond as were the cherries.)

We had such a nice summer evening, letting Willem stay up past his bed time riding his bike on the nice path in town, including straight through whatever puddles he could find.

Cherry-Almond Galette

from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Pastry

1/2 recipe pie pastry, chilled

Filling

1/3 C sliced, slivered, or chopped almonds

1 1/2 t flour

3 T sugar

1 T butter

1/4 t almond extract

1 large egg white (save yolk to brush crust)

1 lb. sweet cherries*

To finish

1 large egg yolk

1 t water

coarse sugar to sprinkle

confectioner's sugar, to dust for serving

*Recently, Gordie and Willem were delighted to have bought a cherry pitter at a kitchen store. It pushes out the pit, leaving a whole cherry. I haven't made the galette since getting the pitter, but it would definitely look cool and even more rustic with whole cherries. It also works fine to halve the cherries and pluck out the pits with your thumb.

Make pastry and chill.

Make filling: Finely grind almonds and flour in a food processor. Mix in sugar, butter, and extract, then egg white. Blend until smooth. Cover, and chill until needed. 

Assemble: Preheat oven to 400. On floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch round. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the almond filling evenly over the bottom of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Scatter the cherries on top. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. Whisk egg yolk with water, and brush crust with mixture. Sprinkle crust with coarse sugar. 

Bake the galette until the filling is puffed and the crust is golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes, rotating the galette halfway through. Cool, and serve dusted with confectioner's sugar.   

Classic Mojito

We love this version my sister created that uses mint simple syrup to make a big batch, and we made them that way for our wedding. But, after a trip to the Florida Keys in April during which we sampled several authentic mojitos or at least mojitos that felt authentic because of our proximity to Cuba, and with our mint patch revived, we are loving the classic mojito: jagged edges of pretty, fresh mint, several muddled lime wedges, and granulated sugar instead of simple syrup which we normally prefer using in cocktails. We even did a tasting the other day of three mojitos, each with a different kind of mint since we have three kinds (our own that finally came back this year, a chunk of my mother-in-law's mint she dug up for us, and some I bought and planted recently). But I couldn't explain the results of the tasting since we don't know the names of the kinds of mint. One drink was more pepperminty, one was more mellow. Let's just agree that they were all really good. And Willem also loved his sweetened sparkling water with lime and mint. This is his face I think right after a sip in response to the carbonation. He likes bubbly water and always wants it when we have it but sometimes has this reaction at first. I will never forget the first time we gave him a sip of sparkling water when he was pretty little and he made a really shocked face and said, "PIE-cy!" (spicy). But I think he liked the thrill and went back for more. 

Classic Mojito
adapted from allrecipes.com (theirs was a little to fussy and a lot too sweet for us)

For each drink:
10 mint leaves
1/2 a lime, in 4 wedges
1 - 2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste (original called for 2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 oz. white rum
club soda/sparkling water

Muddle in a glass (either low or high) mint leaves, 3 of 4 lime wedges, and sugar. 

Fill glass with ice. 

Add rum.

Top with club soda, stir, garnish with remaining lime wedge.

Garden Update

We have strawberries! Early last Sunday morning when Willem and I picked and ate the first handful, we were two very happy people. They are shiny, sweet, and perfect. (Unfortunately, this means that our pug is a greater pest about trying to get through the garden fence than he was last summer when green beans were his main prize.) I love strawberries as much as any food in the whole world, but I feel especially gratified that our own plants are producing because we planted them two summers ago and nothing had happened until now. I knew the first season we wouldn't get anything, but then as last year's early summer turned into midsummer, I had to fess up to my own worries when Willem asked, for the hundredth time, when the strawberries would grow, that maybe... they wouldn't? And they never did last summer, even though the leaves grew big and looked like they meant business. I definitely have some things to learn about growing berries, but it is such a delight for now to see this red garden candy calling to us from among the greenery every time we find ourselves nearby. We've gotten a bigger bowl full each time we've picked throughout the week. We're also feeling rich in wild ones growing in the grass. 

We've eaten our strawberries chopped up in fruity yogurt popsicles, and on Willem's birthday sundaes.

I'm feeling satisfied with some other aspects of the garden even if they aren't as show-stopping as berries. The garden has come a long way since its meager, late beginnings this spring. It was such a long cold winter, that both the weather and my mindset contributed to everything starting quite a bit later than usual. But I eventually caught the bug again and I'm optimistic. 

Gordie doesn't usually get too involved in the garden, but back in May he did the lion's share of the work in hacking up all the sod between and around the six raised beds and then pinning down landscaping fabric to keep down the weeds. We then dumped a bunch of bark mulch on that. So now it looks neat and tidy around the edges, which has so far been keeping me motivated to keep the gardens themselves weeded to match. Last year the mower didn't fit between the garden beds and the weed whacker didn't mix well with the wimpy garden fence, so we had incredibly discouraging strips of lush grass going to seed between all the beds. No more.

Willem is often interested in helping with some of the garden jobs, and he was especially involved when we were just getting it started. His help is sometimes truly a help, as when he carted armload after armload of sod and weeds and brush we were producing to the woods while we worked, and sometimes not, as when he wanted to use his own shovel to help remove the sod and needed to work exactly wherever Daddy was currently working (meaning Daddy could no longer work). But, his participation is always adorable. Here he is carefully planting peas:                                        

Here was one of our first asparagus shoots this spring (another moment of gratification, having planted the crowns two years ago):

I let the potatoes dry out for a day after cutting them, before planting them-- two varieties this year: red and fingerling.

 Things finally got going mid-May. Peas back then:

 and lettuces making their appearance:

And here are some pictures from last week. These are the asparagus fronds. We enjoyed breaking off the spears at ground level and eating them for three weeks straight, then we let them go. We get to harvest all the spears that come up for an increasing number of weeks each year to let the plants establish themselves to come back year after year for a long time.                                

The tomato garden is on the left. They look pretty packed, but they each have at least a square foot. I learned recently that it's a good idea to prune them to focus on the central growing stem. This is supposed to help with higher yields and better disease resistance, by directing energy to producing tomatoes rather than to unnecessary foliage. It involves pruning any leaves touching the soil because those leaves are more prone to pest problems, pruning all "suckers" (little shoots at a 45 degree angle between the junction of the stem branch and a leaf), and pruning some leaves in the interior of the plant to let in more light and air flow. 

On the right is: squash at the back (I've since put a trellis there for it to grow on to keep it cleaner and neater), cucumber, beans, beets, a broccoli I'm trying for the first time this year, and carrots.

Thinnings we ate:
This is the strawberry bed:

 Snap and shell peas (and a couple more broccoli at the back):

One thing I have not enveloped into my gardening practices is succession planting. With some things like lettuce that we can't preserve at all, it would be ideal to plant some every couple of weeks through much of the summer so a small amount is always ready. I tend to plant all of it, or all I can fit, all at once and I feel pretty pleased just to get it in the ground. 

Right now the lettuce garden looks really pretty and healthy, but we are not going to be able to keep up with this much lettuce. It's so perfect and fresh, with no wilted pieces like you always get from the store, not even bug-chewed leaves. We've been eating all our favorite big salads lately. When I pick it I cut it all off in a given area an inch or two from the ground and it keeps coming back amazing quickly, for a good part of the summer. Lettuces are in the front, red potatoes at the back:

Fingerling potatoes and garlic:

I didn't get a picture of the herb garden, which we also massively de-weeded and overhauled to be a predominantly basil garden for the pesto days ahead...