Let's revisit my summer with fruit

The weather is finally turning cold here in Arkansas, and a polar vortex is threatening later this week. The leaves are falling (and falling and falling. Turns out some oak trees are marcescent, which means they retain some of their dead leaves all winter, or as it plays out in our backyard, about half the leaves take two months to fall in October and November, and the other half stay on until March, when I have to rake all over again.) Anyway, as I was going to say, before I interrupted myself, it is getting cold, and while I am perfectly happy with that, it seems like a good time to revisit some of the lovely warm days of summer, and the food I never got around to showing you.

Oh, heavenly blueberries!

This year, for the first time since I left Washington 13 years ago, I found a farm offering u-pick blueberries. As I have mentioned before, my summers growing up were full of fresh berries, and one of the things I have missed dreadfully over the years is berry picking. It is one of the experiences of my childhood that I most wanted to be able to share with Malcolm, and I feared it would only happen on the occasional trip back to Washington.

Malcolm, with one of his favorite foods

 I have never been so happy to be wrong. Wye Mountain Flowers and Berries is about 45 minutes away from us, and they have blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. We went twice and picked all three. Malcolm caught on immediately, and while there was a certain amount of berry eating, a la Blueberries for Sal, he actually got some in the bucket too.

Blackberry jam

We had so many berries that we couldn't eat them all right away, so I did what any sensible person would do and made jam. Blackberry jam (above), blueberry jam, and even blueberry ginger jam (recipe from a fellow Whitman Alumna's great canning blog). Add these to the strawberry jam I made earlier in the year, and we might just make it to next summer.

Pickle coins!

I made pickles around the same time as well, although we still have some from last year. I can't help it - when cucumbers are so easily available and so easy to preserve, I sort of get carried away.

Mid-way through the process

After berry season ends in mid-to-late June, pesto season is not far away. I have always planted basil in my garden, and I usually have enough to make pesto. The last couple of years, I have had so much basil that not only do I make pesto by the quart, I have enough to dry and freeze for other cooking uses as well.

Mmm, pesto.

Last year, I decided to use pistachios instead of pine nuts, and this year I used cashews. Both are delicious alternatives if you are one of those people who have an allergic reaction to pine nuts. We usually freeze our pesto and use it all winter long, both on pasta and as a pizza sauce. So much better than the stuff you buy in jars at the super market!

The second box of the season, Golden Delicious

And of course, how could it be fall without a box of apples, or rather two, 40 pound boxes of apples, in my kitchen? I didn't manage to score enough peaches this year to preserve any - not sure if it just wasn't a good year for them, or if I just didn't try hard enough (probably the latter, since I do know an orchard that does u-pick), but I made up for it with the apples.

My apple processing workspace.

You'd think that after spending several days peeling, slicing and dehydrating apples, not to mention several pies, including a *real* double crust apple pie, I would have had enough of apples. You'd be wrong. I immediately bought a second box, and am only restraining myself with difficulty from getting a third of a different variety.

I was mightily proud of this pie. Usually I go for a more rustic (read, easier) sort of pie.

And that concludes my tour through my summer cooking. Now it is fall, and time to bake warm bread and cookies and pumpkin goodies. Wonder what I will make next?

More fall cooking, now with recipes

My last post prompted one of Benjamin's aunts to get in touch and send along a family recipe for apple pie. Since I still had 7 or 8 pounds of apples waiting to be eaten, and I've already made my standard apple crostata three times this fall and wanted a change, I gave it a try. It is sort of an apple crisp pie, i.e. there is no rolled crust, just a topping that you pat into place; that is a huge plus in my book, since I really hate making pie crusts. They are too finicky and easy to mess up; no matter how fool-proof the crust is supposed to be, I can manage to mess it up, or at least be incredibly dissatisfied with it. Anyway, the Rider family apple pie recipe is too good not to share, so here it is:

Rider Family Top Crust Apple Pie

Filling:
4-5 peeled & sliced apples
1/2 c sugar
2 T lemon juice
2 T orange juice

Topping:
1 c flour
1/2 c butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 c nuts, chopped (I used almonds, because that is what I had in the freezer)



Layer apples in a greased pie pan and sprinkle with sugar and juices. (You could probably mix them in a bowl first and then put them into the pie plate, but I didn't, and it worked just fine.)
Combine topping with a fork or pastry cutter (or in food processor) and pat on top of the apples. 

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.  Great with vanilla ice cream on top!

Sorry, no picture. We ate it all before I thought about taking one. 

And I realize now that while I have mentioned crostatas on this blog a number of times, it doesn't look like I have ever put up a recipe or even a picture (although that doesn't seem possible). Rather than type it out, I am just going to include a link to it from Giada De Laurentiis and the Food Channel. As far as pie recipes go, it is pretty easy, but it does involve a crust of sorts, so it takes more time than the Rider family recipe. 

Fall cooking

It is fall again, and for the last month or so, I have been busy finding ways to preserve and use some of the bounty. We had enough jalapenos this year that even Benjamin couldn't eat them all, so I tried pickling some. I think I had about a pound and got three pint-sized jars.

Apart from having to wear gloves to avoid getting too much hot stuff on my hands, it wasn't any harder than making regular pickles. They have to cure for a while, so we haven't tried them yet.

I made another batch of regular pickles yesterday too, after I bought a vegetable assortment box at the farmer's market that came with two pounds of cucumbers. There was no way we were going to eat all of those - I like them in salads but often forget to use them, and they don't last very long. I discovered after I started that I was all out of dill seeds, and since Malcolm was napping and I didn't want to waste time, I decided that I would use caraway seeds instead, since I had two cans of those (why?!). I have used them before and can't say that I really noticed a difference, so the three jars I made yesterday should be fine, if not kosher dills.

My other preserving challenge was entirely self-inflicted. I ordered a bushel box of apples from the farmer's market to dry in the dehydrator and use for apple crostatas and other such yum-yums. For several nights after Malcolm went to bed, and one early morning when he had me up at 5 AM, I spent an hour or two peeling and slicing apples and putting them on trays. 

Of course, the next day I had to bag them up. I put some into a ziplock bag for immediate consumption and vacuum-sealed the rest. We've had one crostata so far, and I plan to make another this week while my mom is visiting. I still have at least four pounds of those apples in the fridge, and then I went and bought another 6 pounds of other varieties, so there may be another night of peeling and slicing in my future. Or maybe applesauce. We'll see.

The last challenge is the most difficult - collard greens. I seem to have planted a few too many this year, and we are over-run. I've used it in place of kale in a gratin, make our standard collard greens and black bean wraps, used it in omelets, given some away...The problem with greens is that you can't really can them at home, so you have to find ways to use them while they are fresh. I just saw a recipe for kale chips in the microwave that said you could substitute collards, so that will probably be my next project.

Apples and apples

I have spent an hour and a half preparing apples for the dehydrator.  On Friday, Benjamin picked up my 40 pound box of Golden Delicious from Conway Locally Grown, and yesterday I went to Williams-Sonoma to find a good apple corer (the red handled tool in the upper photo). A corer is a very big help when you are making dehydrated apples, because it means you can make apple rings, instead of just apple slices.  I decided to peel my apples too, although that is not absolutely necessary.  Since these apples were minimally sprayed (although not absolutely organic), they had a lot of blemishes on the skins.

The box of apples is going to take several days to process, since I didn't even get through half of the apples. The slices are a lot bigger than the peach slices, so I can't get as many on each tray. Processing apples is sort of easier, because no boiling water is involved in removing the skins, and the apples aren't as slimy. The mess is smaller too. So, I will probably be peeling apples again tomorrow night, and again on Wednesday (won't be home on Tuesday night). But that is OK, since it will mean I have apples to eat all winter.

Applesauce!

I haven't been writing much about my culinary feats lately, although there have been a few. (Well, perhaps feats is a little strong, but what the heck, it is my blog, isn't it?). Anyway, last week I baked molasses cookies on Thursday, zucchini/broccoli bread on Friday (my friend Jenn taught me that trick - you use broccoli in place of some or all of the zucchini in the recipe. She does it to get her kids to eat more vegetables; I did it just to give it a try. It isn't too bad, taste-wise, although it does smell strongly of broccoli) and a nice batch of plain old egg bread on Saturday. We have had several good soups lately too.

See the new cow crock next to the toaster? $3 at the thrift store

But today was all about applesauce. It was one of the few foods I would eat as a baby, according to my parents, and while I have branched out these days, I still enjoy it. Last year, I made several batches with the apples I picked, but never in large batches. This year, I decided to give canning applesauce a try, since I had such success with the peaches. Making applesauce is pretty easy: cut up apples, (remove skins and seeds if you don't have a food mill), put in pot with some water, boil until soft, mash or put in blender. Eat. Easy. Canning only really adds one more step - the water bath.


I made two batches of applesauce, since I wasn't sure how much the first batch would make, and in the end was able to can 7 pint jars worth. So now we will be able to have homemade applesauce this winter! I have plenty of apples left, since I bought an entire box last week, so I will probably have enough to make one more batch of applesauce to fill the last 5 empty jars I have, and still have some left over to eat and make a pie with. Yum. Apples - how I love them!