It is a constant disappointment to me that I do not live a raspberry-growing climate. I am so jealous of folks who can get raspberries at their local farmer’s markets, through their CSAs, at u-pick farms, or even in their own backyards. But, because I am deprived of this pleasure, I make an effort to enjoy raspberries with relish during the season when we can get good ones in our grocery stores. I also love brown butter, cultivated by regular consumption of my favorite brown butter gnocchi sauce. So when I saw this recipe in the June Bon Appetit, I immediately began dreaming about how it would taste.
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The Durham Farmer’s Market has gone through many changes in the two years I’ve been regularly shopping there, and I’m sure there are many evolutions yet to come. It’s been fun to see the new vendors who’ve arrived in the past year, like Dolly Mama, who makes her own North Carolina inspired chocolates, including specialties like Sweet Tea (black tea & honey), The Southern Belle (white chocolate & peach), and Sea Turtle (caramel & local pecans). I love the idea of the CSP (Community Supported Pie) offered by Scratch. Rather than picking up a box of veggies each week, you get a sweet or savory pie. This past winter I fell hard for the coconut cream pie with a layer of chocolate ganache.
But my favorite addition this year has been Loaf, a husband-and-wife bread team. He bakes the bread, she sells it. From what I’ve seen, they’ve had a lot of success right off the bat; probably because they have tasting cubes of all their breads set out and they encourage you to try as many as you want until you settle on the one that is just right for you. Even though I’m usually at the market early, they are almost always sold out of my favorite: olive bread. On several occasions, though, they’ve had a second delivery. I’ve been known to wait around a little while longer just for the chance to shell out $5 for an olive loaf. Last week we were at the market much later than usual and decided to try one of the few types they still had available. We chose walnut rye and have been loving it as breakfast toast all week long. I enjoyed it this morning spread with some peach butter I’d made for canning. It’s had me thinking about tomorrow’s breakfast all day long!
The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
This post is dedicated to my Grandpa Z, who loves anything marshmallow, especially Peeps & Mallowmars. I thought our fabulous hostess Nicole had a great idea here – trying a homemade version of one’s favorite storebought things. Though not as big a fan of marshmallow as my grandpa, I decided to make the mallowmars first. The idea of piping marshmallow piqued my interest. I intended to follow up with milanos with a twist- chocolate cookies with a chocolate mint filling. However, I seriously underestimated the number of cookies I would end up with after trying the first recipe. Even after taking at least a dozen to my friend Emily, whose sweet baby Rachel decided to make an appearance 6 weeks early (!), I still had at least 50 cookies left. My next step is to give some to my brother. College students have a way of putting lots of homemade sweets away. In any case, the milanos will have to wait for another time.
I thought these cookies were good but not incredible. The cookie part is rather biscuit-like. I found it a bit too crumbly. The marshmallow was good and even though I thought I’d piped generously, I wished there was more of it on each cookie. I made my glaze with bittersweet chocolate and it came together nicely, though it needed to be refrigerated in order to harden, which the recipe does not mention.
A love for ice cream is required in my family. My grandpa Z can never resist a milkshake or sundae. My grandma Carol lives for chocolate on chocolate Haagen Dazs bars. My Uncle Lee has been known to make ice cream a main meal. And as I recently discovered, my cousins who live in Germany eagerly anticipate trips to the US, where the quality and price make ice cream a daily treat.
In my family, we’ve always had something for mint. My mom has a huge electric ice cream churn that uses rock salt and ice. Something like this but much larger. She stores it at the mountain house and we have spent many a summer’s night ignoring its rather loud buzzing sound as it works its magic on the back deck. Mint chocolate chip has almost always been the flavor found inside its massive metal canister. At some point, I began to claim that I did not like mint chocolate chip ice cream. This is not actually true. I do like it, but I tend to tire quickly of the same flavor of anything, particularly ice cream. I have many half-eaten pints in the freezer simply because I grew bored of one and decided to purchase another. However, when I pulled out my ice cream maker this summer, I decided that maybe I was overdue for an old favorite flavor.
One of my first cookbooks was a Williams-Sonoma pasta collection. They make several pasta cookbooks but this particular one is chock-full of recipes that utilize both fresh and dried pasta. It also includes recipes for pasta salads, soups, and risottos. It is one of my most loved cookbooks, although I cannot stand the shape of it. Because it is too large for my cookbook shelf it has to hide out on the bookshelf in the living room. This means that I often forget about it. Luckily, I have this recipe memorized, which has been affectionately called “olive pasta” by myself and my family for quite a few years.
Growing up in Florida, we had access to some of the earliest and best strawberries around. The season there begins in December and is over by April. Out of loyalty, I have always chosen FL strawberries when local ones aren’t available, especially when they are from Plant City. Many years ago my family visited the strawberry festival held there. Memories are vague, consisting of walking around in a barn-like setting, petting some horses, and listening to bluegrass. One thing I do remember was a build-your-own shortcake bar. Mmmm….
Living now in NC I am forced to wait until April for strawberries. Here in Durham we have some excellent local strawberry farms. My favorite berries come from Vollmer Farms. Since strawberries are one of the foods on which the pesticide residue is the highest, I like that Vollmer Farms grows their berries organically. Each year I vow to make a pick-your-own trip so I can can some strawberry jam. I missed the opportunity yet again this year. But I did discover a mix of ingredients that makes a divine strawberry salad. I brought it to this year’s Hootenanny, where it was well loved.
The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.
Like most of you, I had no clue what a bakewell tart was before beginning this challenge and had certainly never tasted one before. Basically, it is a tart that consists of 3 layers, a crust, a layer of jam/curd, and a layer of frangipane (spongy almond cake). This challenge came together quite easily and lent itself to lots of experimentation. Like many other Daring Bakers, I made tartlets so I could try many different fillings instead of sticking to one. Jasmine & Annemarie urged us to make our own jam or curd rather than using storebought. So in two tartlets I used blackberry jam left over from the oodles and oodles my mom and I made for the wedding. I also made a berry curd using some past-their-prime berries I had in the fridge.
When I’m looking for a recipe for a classic dish, my first stop is always Joy of Cooking. Being enormous and timeless, it has a basic recipe for just about anything I can imagine cooking. I particularly love the vegetable section, which contains lengthy descriptions of each veggie and basic ways to prepare it, followed by several recipes per veggie. The many other sections also offer this same informative tone combined with an exhaustive list of recipes.
Around these parts, banana pudding is one such classic dish. Found on dessert menus everywhere, from barbeque joints to diners to the best restaurants in town, it holds a special place in the hearts of Southerners. Though only a semi-Southerner myself, I share with Jeff, a true-blood, a love for this homey dessert. Sadly, Jeff thought his banana pudding eating days were over due to dietary constraints. However, I’ve learned that in many milk-based dishes like puddings, soy milk can be substituted quite easily for cow’s milk. If you like soy milk for its health benefits, its gentleness on your stomach, or its taste, this recipe is for you. Besides swapping out the milk, I decreased the sugar a bit, took out the vanilla extract in favor of vanilla-flavored soy milk, and increased the cornstarch a bit to compensate for the lack of milkfat in soy milk. Curling up at the end of a long day with a bowl of this pudding is as comforting as it gets!
