Your Fall Grape Guide

 Fall may be the time for apples and pears but it's also the time for grapes. There are all sorts from the richly colored Concord to the pale blushed color Traminette. There's nothing like a dish with them or just eating them as a snack.

One of the most popular and famous is the darkly purple Concord. These are the richest flavored grape, Most people know them from being in grape juice and jelly. Yet on their own. they're delicious.They have the eclasspic grape flavor always associated with the fruit. They add bright color to any charcuterie board. Pair them with a bold flavored cheese such as Bleu cheese and a sharp Vermont cheddar. However soft, creamy cheese like Brie and goat also work well with them . They are excellent for your own version of Welch's Classic grape jelly along with being perfect for pies and cobblers.Carawba grapes are also thriving right now. These are a muted berry red color and have a delightfully sweet taste. They're perfect for making homemade juice and wine. These, too, would be perfect for any charcuterie board. Try them with a very creamy cheese like Fontina, Brie and Camenbert. You could also pair it with goat and cheddar. You can make jelly with them and even more surprising ketchup. The grapes are boiled and then mixed with a variety of spices such as cloves cinnamon , allspice and black pepper. Vinegar gives it that classic ketchup tang while sugar balances out all the flavors.

Another fall grape is the blush colored Traminette..They have a floral and spicy taste .better suited for wines. However this Indiana born fruit is derived from the German varietal Gewurtztraminer. They make a good appetizer paired with feta . You could also try the silvery pale Vidal blanc. This is a grape you can use to make preserves instead of jelly along with making homemade juice. Are preserves harder to make than jelly or jam? Yes. They involve cooking whole pieces of fruit which requires a delicate balance to prevent the flesh from breaking down too much. Jelly, on the other hand , is created from strained fruit juice. Autumn crisp grapes are also being harvested right now. every supermarket. They are large and juiy, perfect for snacking with a  citrus, peach flavor.  It also has notes of muscat and rose too.One big plus about them is that they are seedless, making them easy to eat. You don;t have to worry about crunching down on seeds or swallowing them.These definitely belong on a charcuterie table. They pair well with everything from cured meats  to nuts to cheeses.

Fall is more than just apples and pears. Try grapes this season for a good snack or dessert. They're sweet and perfect . a good fruit for the autumn.

Sweet Homemade Easter Treats

 More than any other holiday Easter is the  holiday for all sorts of sweets.Not only does this include chocolate bunnies and eggs but homemade treats too. These are wonderful; after a savory meal of ham and asparagus.

New contributor and author of the newsletter Kitchen Projects, Nicola Lamb, give sus two classic Easter treats in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section one treat is more of a candy and it comes from Britain.These are called nest cakes although there's nothing cakey about them. They're the first thing British chefs and kids learn to make and they're also a favorite here in the US.It;s just melt chill portion them out in cupcake papers and then chill.It;s really a buttery treat because the recipe has five tablespoons of butter in it. Almost two cups of chocolate chips are used in it - although some American recipes also add in a quarter cup of peanut butter and/or marshmallow fluff.  Also white chocolate or milk chocolate can be used instead of dark for variety.Four cups of plain cornflakes are used . It's not a sin , though, to sub in Rice Krispies or CHinese fried noodles. Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, place the mixture in a muffin tin lined  with cupcake fullers. Chill until the chocolate is set although not too hard. Fill with Cadbury or robin;'s eggs, M& M's or Whoppers.

The second recipe which could also grace any shower dessert table comes from Sweden,Princesstarta or princess cake. This was first made for Swedish princesses Margaretha, Marta and Astrid in 1948 by Jenny Akerstron, a home economist teacher who also wrote a cookbook. It was originally called grintarta or green cake thanks to the lightly tinted marzipan icing. The royal association is still strong.The country sold out of them in 2012 when Princess Estelle was born.The cake itself is a dome of three layers of sp onge cake along with a cream and jam filling. This may be daunting for beginner bakers , especially the assembling and placing the marzipan on top. Yet it can be done. Home balers will need a springform or an eight inch round cake pan.It is a typical sponge cake made with three eggs and r=two an half tablespoons of vegetable oil added for a smooth ,spongy texture. The custard is a rich cream that has yolks and even butter added. There is also the marscapone cream added that combines teh cheese with heavy cream. There is the recipe for marzipan but a store bought one can be used if it;s tolled out. for the cake. Save a small bit for th pink rose on top.

Easter is the time for sweet goodies. Make something simple as the chocolate nests or something more involved as the Princess cake. either treat is a guaranteed show stopper.

A Summery Blast Of Fruit

 Winter baking can be boring. You're tired of the tried and true flavors of chocolate, vanilla and some kind of spice. You long for something summery and fruity. That taste of summer baking can be had even on a wintry day.It;s just adding fruit into the mix.

Regular contributor Melissa Clark wrote bout this in her  A Good Appetite  column  in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section.She is a jam enthiusiast from her earliest days , going for just the jelly i na jelly doughnut. As an adult, like many cooks, she appreciates a good jam. Any fruity concoction is a welcome relief during cold snowy days.Its brings back sun kissed orchards during July and August. She does recommend using only jams because they don't melt under high temps like jellies do. There''s also the plus of having real fruit bits laced among the crumb.she gives two recipes, ones for a light and airy lemon pudding along with a one bowl jam doughnut cake. Ms. Clark recommends using thick, dark hued jams such as blueberry,blackberry and raspberry to give a nice contrast to the pale yellowness of the cake. What about marmalade?It has a tendency to be like jelly, meaning the jelly itself will disappear once itsbake and will leave only the flavor and orange bits. 

The baked lemon pudding is a contrast in colors and flavors.Even though it is a pudding there is a quarter of a cup  of flour added  to give it body.  Two large lemons go into it. They have to be juiced and zested.Use three large eggs and separate ten. (Unfortunately egg substitute doesn't;t seem to work here.) the whites have to be beaten into a meringue almost and added to the batter. Again for the jam, you can use any flavor but the blueberry goes well with the lemon.Pour one half cup into a bowl to loosen it. Spread dollops of it over the batter once the batter is poured into a shallow buttered baking dish. It's baked in a 350 degree Farenheit oven for thirty to thirty -five minutes. Once cooled, then dust some confectioners sugar on top. Ms. Clark's cake recipe is more of a Bundt cake with a buttery glaze drizzled on top. The batter is a rich one producing a dense crumb thanks tot he three eggs, half a cup of melted butter and a quarter of a cup whole milk. There is   that cakey doughnut look and feel thanks to dusting the buttered pan with a cinnamon sugar before baking.The batter is poured in in two parts. After halfway filling up the ring create an indentation and then dollop in a quarter cup of blackberry jam, spreading it evenly thought out the trench circle.Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for forty to fifty minutes. Brush with more melted butter and then a generous dusting of more cinnamon sugar.

These jam rich gems are perfect for brinigng back the taste of summer. Bake these cakes to enjoy them on a cold wintry day. A slice will liven up an afternoon with hot tea.

Your Culinary Year Make It Your Best

 With a new year comes new posssibilities and hopes, especially in cooking and baking . Make this the year to try new recipes and ingredients. Be curious.  Be adventurous, but most of all be fun.

One way to try new dishes is to eat out.It's one thing to try recipes you see on the web it's another to experience them at an eatery. You can ask the server or chef what's in it  and how to create it.If the chef is mum with his ro her recipe then carefully look at it. How was it cooked? Broiled? Flambeed? What were the spices used? Did you detect a hint of red wine ro brandy in the sauce? What about the sides? Were they a simple vegetable sauteed in garlic and oil or did they come with their own sauce?Also think about the cuisines you haven't tried yet. Do you want to cook Szechuan? Or French? Do ants climbing a tree or creating scratch crepes appeal to you? if so , then tart cooking. Make sure you have the appropriate gear such as a wok or crepe maker (although a skillet pan can also do the trick for crepes). Do you want to try your hand at creating your own recipes? You can. There's nothing holding you back.

The same philosophy applies to cookbooks. Buy what interests you if you ddin;t receive a book on it for the holidays. I recently picked up The Great British Baking Show  recipe book at the Clark Shop Rite.

 it was intriguing and I thought why not.Hopefully I'll have the time to bake a few treats fromthis little volume.I do want to try Mary Berry's cheese straws as well as her zesty orange filled Jaffa cakes., a British classic. The breads are a must. I like the idea of a warm homemade bread slathered with butter and jam. It's challenging myself along with discovering tasty recipes I can also make for family and friends.

This is the year to have fun and challenge your cooking and baking skills.it could be adding a new spice or trying a new cuisine.It could even be making up a new recipe. Have fun. Be daring this year.

The Peach Drought

 Peaches are a big part of summer dining. They're eaten fresh after a wash in icy cold water. They grace pues, crumbles and cobblers. Unfortunately there's a peach drought,impacting fruit lovers across the country.

 Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about this problem in yesterday's New York Times Food section. It's well known that Georgia supplies the country with peaches.even South Carolina who supplies more peaches - namely seventy five per cent is also suffering from this. Yet the ones available are shining,, soft , fleshy and juicy. yet the peach drought can also be found in New England where harvesters are hard pressed to find one.Again it has to do with the weather where there was a blossom killing February cold snap that took temperatures below zero. One state is shining through and that's New Jersey. The Garden State now has a terrific peach crop. The weather here has been perfect, without excessive rain that can render the fruit mushy according to Pegi Adam f the New Jersey Peach associatiom..TRhis will be great for the many peach farms throughout the state that rely on July and August picking season for revenue. California is also have a good season, The California summer has been cooler which results in a sweeter, tastier fruit .

Yet what are Southern cooks and bakers doing about this? They're still using Southern grown peaches. Steve Satterfield , chef at Atlanta's Miller Union is not about to supplement his precious allotment of just two cases. He does not want it use New Jersey or California peaches. Instead he is building recipes around the deficit.His pastry chef, Claudia V. Martinez is slicing them extra thin for layering on a cornmeal cake with vanilla ice cream. Tomaores and cucumber s paly supporting roles in a peach salad that also has ricotta ,herbs and crunchy granola. The bartender is pondering whar to do with the peach pits for non alcoholic mocktails. Some chefs are simply giving up. Erika Council who runs the Atlanta breakfast spot Bomb Biscuits is making jam with pineapple and canteloupe, Customers will have to wait next year for her peach reaper sauce made with Georgia peaches and Carolina reaper peppers. She doesn't want to use canned or frozen peaches because they wouldnt give the sauce that fresh taste. Theere also too expensive as well

Hopefully this peach drought will just be temporary. The world needs the sweet goodness of Georgia peaches. They are true gems tha thopefulyl make a comeback.

It's Coleridge's Birthday!!!

 Celebrate this amazing poet , Samual Taylor Colerdige born this October 21st in Ottery, St Mary's East Devon, England  Celebrate the foods he would have enjoyed, namely clotted cream and jam on scones,a good tea, possibly a good beef roast dinner with all the trimmings and that frothy treat syllabub.

As for me, I'm celebrating with these all American cupcakes.

A Tray Of Pretty Cookies

 It's holiday time and that means a tray of cookies. Why not make them eye catching and pretty. They can be delicious and exquisite, perfect for any Instagram or Pinterest picture. There are many different types to choose from.

One of the most popular and often made is a simple sugar cookie jazzed up with royal icing. The icing by itself is pretty bland but how you use it can be creative and lovely. One of the prettiest is creating simple straight piping on snowflake cookies. You can dye the icing a light powder blue and then pipe white icing using a round cake decorating tip number 2 (buy Wilton's for the best result). You can also first ice the cookie with royal icing and then use silver dragees and silver sanding sugar. Keep in mind that the dragees do have silver and really aren't meant to eat.One way of making snowflake cookies pop is just placing one dragee in the center and let the icing be the star. You can also color royal icing with either bought or homemade natural icing . Keep in mind that if you use natural colorants like spinach or onion, you will wind up with some of their taste. Again start off with a simple royal icing base which is usually powdered meringue or egg whites mixed with vanilla extract and confectioner's sugar. You can use aquafaba or chickpea water for a vegan version. 

Homemade Linzer tortes are beautiful gems on any cookie platter. These Austrian classics have a cookie base of almond flour and confectioner's sugar. This is what gives the base its' tenderness. The jam filling can be any kind of jam from apricot to raspberry. Use raspberry for a Christmas cookie platter. The middle of the top cookie is cut out to reveal the glistening jewel like jam. You could easily do an intricate snowflake or snowman cut out using a smaller cookie cutter or hand drawn template. Dust the cookies with a fine coating of confectioners sugar or for more prettiness use silver or gold sanding sugars.Oatmeal lace cookies are another exquisite addition to the holiday platter. This incredibly complex looking snap is just a simple mix of butter, dark brown sugar, flour, salt, and eggs with a dash of vanilla. The batter is very thin which produces a delicate candy like texture. They can be dipped in dark chocolate and then become florentines. Stained glass cookies are pretty too and the idea can be carried over to make stained glass windows for gingerbread houses and gingerbread churches. Use any brightly colored hard candy and then smash them in a plastic bag. Make an outline whether a circle or a star and fill the inside with the candy, The cookie is typical butter cookie which makes for a solid frame. 

These are the prettiest cookies to bake for a holiday treat platter. Bake them to impress , but also bake them to admire their beauty. They are true gems

Cherry Grove Farm - The Best of Lawrenceville NJ

 New Jersey has amazing farms which have a wide variety of fresh made and organic products. Cherry Grove Farm in the quaint town of Lawrenceville right outside of Princeton. The town itself is like an American version of a Jane Austen setting.

The farm is a dairy farm , rare in New Jersey and known for their homemade mozzarella and burrata. There are several animals for petting and just nuzzling.

                             Here is an adorable baby goat. It has the softest fur and sweetest disposition.

                   This is the sheep and goat. There's also a chicken coop and fields full of cattle.

                                      Here is the sheep, possibly a ewe, along with that adorable kid.

Cherry Grove is also known for their small country store. I couldn't get over the variety and array of fresh made products.It was hard to choose  what food to buy.

                                          They have a fig almond spread and a red pepper tapanade.

These are the preserves and jams.It was hard not to pass up the bread and butter pickles and pickled green beans.

Cherry Grove Farms also has a fantastic array of bee products from honey to pollen. I want to get the pollen on my next visit.

    I decided on the Weaver's Orchard's applesauce and Oak View Acres strawberry jam, these coming from the heart of Amish country near Reading ,PA.  not  all that far from Lawrenceville. I plan on serving the apple sauce with veggie pancakes and the jam slathered on croissants.

Cherry Grove Farms is the perfect fall outing. Take a ride there to see the animals and try their amazing array of different preserves, cheeses, jams, honey, and applesauce. Enjoy  a fall day in the country

Cherry Grove Farm is located at 3200, Lawrenceville Road , Lawrenceville ,NJ. It's right off the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 206

A Late Summer Feast

 Rhis is when the barbecue and picnic season is winding down. Yet you can still take advantage of the late summer harvests and a chance to create great dishes with fresh produce,

Tomatoes are still in abundance right now. Of course they're perfect in a sandwich with a lot of mayo but there are other dishes you can make too.Try a salsa cruda a tomato sauce where the pasta itself cooks the sauce. This is just when you can dice the tomatoes and let them along with onions and peppers marinate in an olive oil bath. Minced garlic is a must as is oregano. you can add a teaspoon of red wine vinegar for some bite. Another interesting idea is tomato jam. This is made similar to gently simmered jams and involves Roma tomatoes, ginger and brown sugar?Cumin, paprika and pepper flakes give it bite. Try it on a grilled steak or spoon it on slices of toasted Italian bread. Top with grated Parmesan or shredded mozzarella. Corn is another late summer crop that's in abundance right now. Try it as elote , Mexican street corn. This is grill roasted corn slathered with a mix of sour cream or Mexican crema, ,cotija or feta cheese and a variety of such spices as ancho chili powder and garlic. more cheese is sprinkled over them.

Root veggies are making their debut right now too. Late summer yields up beets, turnips and carrot. Beets are great, roasted or boiled . Most home chefs prefer roasting them because the process brings out the veggie's full flavor. Have them in a simple salad dressed with an easy vinaigrette. You could also add onions and some feta cheese to compliment the beets' sweetness. Turnips also make their debut right about now. You can make them mashed. The recipe is similar to mashed potatoes , save with the addition of a teaspoon of sugar. This would make a great side with store bought rotisserie or oven grilled chicken. These can also be grilled too. Just the turnips into cube , slide them onto skewers and brush with olive oil along with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. You can also infuse the oil with dill and lemon for a more flavorful kebab. Another root vegetable ripening in September is the carrot. Yes, you can serve them raw with tasty dips but try roasting them with olive oil, salt and pepper. This is a great side with any kind of poultry.

Late summer means taking advantage of the harvests right now. Turn them into a feast of flavors and colors. Make a great feast of all this produce right now.

The Inequality of Craft Foods

There are many  excellent Black food crafters out there yet it's the white ones that get all the credit It's a system, like much of the food industry based on decades of racism. Will it end? Will there be equality? Hopefully there will be and soon.

 Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote this eye opening piece for today's New York Times Food section.  She interviewed Shakirah Simley who works in food policy  who also had an artesinal jam company Slow Jams. Food artesans of color have been ignored and shunned  while creating some of the country's best craft foods such as jams and pickles. Surprisingly a bucket of moldy jam started it all off.It belonged to Jessica Koslow owner of the hip Sqrl. This is a trendy breakfast cafe in Los Angeles famed for its' homemade type jams and Instagram pictures of those jams on toast with a slick of ricotta cheese. Yet this prize winning eatery got sloppy and let mold take over it's foodstuff, so much so that workers had to scrape the stuff off in layers.It infuriated Black artesans whose own jams were looked over and passed over in competitions. A few like New jersey jam maker Ashley Rouse, a jam maker who also has a  successful jam company, Trade Street Jam Company wondered how Chef Koslow got a book and all this success after a visit to LA and Sqrl.

Racism goes deeper than just jams. It seeps into every aspect of craft food making, excluding people of color along with women and the LGBTQ community . Slowly but surely it is changing thanks to Ms. Simley who is  now the director of the office of racial equality in San Francisco. She urged The Good Food Awards, held in San Francisco to waive their $78 entry fee for people of color. About twenty percent  of the entrants identified as Black. Only one of the fifty-five companies entering the preserves category is black owned. There's a new equity task force  set up by the Good Food Foundation to examine how to make its' premier competition for cheesemakers, beekeepers and other provisioners less white.The organization is rethinking the very natures of its' rules and categories. For example the rules require that ingredients be seasonal, local and preferably organic. This may disqualify a brilliant Jamaican hot sauce maker in the Bronx that gets his or her peppers at a corner produce store.  

People will be surprised that there are Black food artsesans. Yet they should be more surprised at the inequalities they face, from funding to food competitions. Will it change. Hopefully soon.

Homemade Food Gifts

Nothing beats a homemade gift. It symbolizes the epitome of love and care. Home chefs and home bakers can definitely attest to this. Family and friends love homemade nibbles. The best part is that it's an easy gift to make.

The New York Times Food section touched on this in an article written by regular contributor, Kim Severson. Food gift swaps are kind  of like culinary Facebook events. Everyone finds out on line and then people are paired with gift givers who also expect a home baked or home cooked gift in return.As with Facebook and Twitter it is a fun way to meet fellow foodies from across the country. There are moderators such as the website Food52 which is dedicated to cooking and decorating brings food lovers together. This year 1,1507 from fifteen countries signed up, (it's closed for this Christmas but you can sign up for next year's). Gifts can be anything from homemade jam to peanuts raised in an Alaskan backyard garden. A new mother, Adrienne Kerrigan, a Seattle food blogger received a container of frozen apples cooked forever from her food exchange couple. They had found out she was expecting and sent her  the same first food that they had fed her baby. As for people with allergies, celiac sufferers are paired with other allergy sufferers.Europeans are given names of foodies on their continent while Canadians are matched with fellow ones.

You don''t have to use Food 52 to have a food swap. If your family and friends love your cooking and baking then gift them with edible gifts. The Food section online has an amazing array of recipes for making fresh from the oven and stove top presents. Snack lovers will go wild for Melissa Clark's tamarind spiced nuts with mint. It's taking cashews and coating them in a blend of tomato paste, light brown sugar,honey butter and tamarind. The nuts are then baked in a 300 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Candy lovers will enjoy opening up a box of Florence Fabricant's buttery English toffee made with a pound of Lindt or Tobler chocolate and two and a half cups of butter. Then there's  David Tanis;' chocolate bourbon truffles , rife with heavy cream,  crushed pecans, or hazelnuts and of course, bourbon. He also has a savory pecan cookie, spiked with rosemary and Parmesan cheese. Give a tin of them with a dry sherry for a one of a kind gift. .If you have jam lovers in your circle surprise them with bacon onion jam, a blend of bacon, Spanish onions, and mustard seeds cooked down with dark brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Bake a loaf of  sourdough to accompany it for a great lunch or hearty snack.

Food gifts are fun to make and fun to give . Join a food swap or give a holiday treat to friends and family. It'll be enjoyed and remembered throughout the entire year.

Crazy Grapes

Grapes have always been a fun snack and a neat addition to dessert plates. Now there are some new hybrids that are going to ran up the excitement around them. These will definitely be the new favorites.

I discovered one strain while food shopping at the Stop &Shop. There are only so many peaches one can eat, and as much as I love them, they can be tiresome. The grapes beckoned  - and these were not just any grape. They were long tubular ones, sort of looking like pudgy little fingers. They were the Moon Drops, a pretty name for a pretty fruit. The grapes' color is a rich deep purple - think a midnight mixed with eggplant. They're the size is about two Concord grapes long with blunt, rounded ends. The flavor is sweeter than the average grape,think homemade grape jam. Sweet but not cloying. They are an offshoot of the common grape - vitis vinifira and the name was trademarked by The Grapery,a California based grower. Their odd shape might make people think they've been genetically modified   but they're not. The breeding technique did require human intervention howeve. An embryo rescue occurred, This is when the breeding process involves pollinating a flower and then growing the embryo seed in a laboratory test tube. Eventually the seedling is planted in soil and grown in the traditional manner.Unfortunately they're not really good for jams or wine. Eat them fresh , by themselves or with cheese.

Another crazy grape causing a buzz is the cotton candy grape. This hybrid is yet another product of The Grapery., and have been out since 2011 (I'm late to the party with these). They look resemble "white "or the pale green variety save for one important aspect - they taste exactly  like cotton candy. How is this possible? Again, as with the Moon Drops, there was no GMOs or even sugar injections to boost the taste. It seems it was a hit and miss with flavors.The growers didn't set out to create that particular one. Consumer testers gave them that name. Warm, they have a caramel or toffee flavor but chilled, as they were first eaten - and the cotton candy taste comes out.Again, like their unique  cousins, they can;t be made into jam or wine. Just eat them as a fun dessert when they're in season,. Supermarkets usually sell them during their harvest months of August and September. Another wild globe from The Grapery is the teardrop grape. This is a deep purple chili pepper looking grape that were originally named Witch Fingers which would be a cool name for them around Halloween. Like their cousins, they're best on their own or better yet on a cheese or charcuterie  plate. Harvest time for them is mid Spring, around June.

Grapes are a nice addition to any table - no matter what the time of year. MoonDrops are big right now. Enjoy them at a fall  picnic or gracing a cheese platter full of Bries and cheddar.

Kitchen Cleaning For A New Year

Rosh Hashanah is upon us and that means a new year, along with sweeping out the old. For other this transitional time, it means evaluating the summer foods and ingredients. Get rid of the old,  and prep the pantry and fridge for fall ingredients.

Summer is all about the barbecue sauce. If it's still warm where you are,keep on grilling. The stuff can last anywhere between six to twelve months, depending upon its' composition. However it can also be used instead of ketchup for burgers and fries.Yet it can be added in meat loaf ,meat  balls and hamburgers. It gives the meat a sweet tang and a spicy bite, which takes ground beef out of the ordinary .Another idea of what to do with barbecue sauce is adding it to shredded pork for pulled pork or leftover roast chicken  for a take on the first.This makes a great Saturday lunch, perfect with potato chips or a scoop of potato salad.Barbecue sauce also can be a key ingredient in homemade baked beans.If you bought jerk sauce for spicier outdoor fare, you can still use it  in a variety of dishes.Like barbecue sauce it has a shelf life of anywhere from six months to a year. Add to a chicken stew for some bite and excitement or even to tomato sauce to create a Caribbean version of arrabiata  sauce.

If you have a garden, then you know about end of the season overage.Luckily tomatoes can be  turned into sauce that can easily be stored in freezer.It can also be turned into salsa and even jam.What is great about tomato jam or jelly is that it also uses green tomatoes,This is perfect if you're cleaning out the garden and have a few stragglers.Summer's herbs, especially basil can still be used or ground into pesto.If you've made several containers of the sauce, remember that it can be added to tomato sauce and even mayo.Try a pesto flavored potato salad or hummus for a different take. Make an Italian BLT with pesto mayonnaise and subbing in pancetta for the bacon.Pesto also highlights seafood and fish, Consider serving mussels with the sauce or add it to a tuna and white bean pasta sauce. That sweet summer treat, ice cream, is probably sitting in the freezer.It has one of the shortest shelf life of any summer food - two to three months only.If eating it on a chilly day gives you the shivers ,consider serving it with a hot fudge or hot caramel sauce. Smuckers has some great toppings that can easily be warmed in the microwave. Another way to get rid of it, is adding a blob of it to hot coffee for a different take on a latte.Or put it between Nilla or chocolate wafers for mini ice cream sandwiches (for a bigger bite, use the monster cookies from your local bakery)

It's a new year and a new season. Get rid of the old summer ingredients and make way for the fall..There will be more room for what's ahead.

The End Of The Harvest

Summer is coming to a rapid close and with it the harvests of the seasons. Many plants are still producing fruit and vegetables well into apple and pear time. Don't worry if you still have some. There's so many recipes that call for them.

Tomatoes are the most versatile of any garden fruit.If you still have an abundance of them, then consider the red gems for salsa cruda. This is a simple sauce to  make because the only cooking involves the pasta.It's taking tomatoes of any kind, chopping them and letting them marinate in garlic and olive oil.Feta or mozzarella can be added as well. Of course salsa is the easiest way of dealing with a bumper crop. Roast the tomatoes along with chili peppers for a smoky rich flavor. Like any other fruit, tomatoes can be turned into a preserve.The best part, it doesn't require any elaborate canning equipment or skills. It's just cooking it on a low heat for two to three hours and then letting it set in the fridge in any kind of jar.Tomato jam is versatile and can top anything and everything from crab cakes to fried eggs. It can also be whisked into a vinaigrette for some punch or served on toasted and oiled Italian bread. If you have green tomatoes and want to clean out the garden, pick and put in a paper bag to ripen. You can also fry them too. The coating is a double one, with the first just being flour and the second being a mix of breadcrumbs and cornmeal for some crunch and bite.

Tomatoes also go well with another end of harvest veggie - pepper. Combine the two with eggplant and onion for a tasty ratatouille, perfect for an early fall al fresco lunch. Peppers, alone , can be tasty. Use any bumper crop to make a pepper salad. Julienne into strips and toss with a simple vinaigrette. Crumble in some feta cheese for variation and bite. Of course, there's nothing like that great comfort dish  - stuffed peppers. Make them the traditional way with ground beef and rice or mix it up with ground turkey and chili powder. Yes, they can also be pickled too. The process is an elaborate canning one, that does require skill and equipment. Zucchini is another part of a late summer harvest. Try spiralizing them to create a healthier kind of pasta. Saute the strands in an olive oil and crushed garlic. It can be stuffed too or split in half to create boats. This last is a fun way to serve the squash. You can stuff them with meat and cover with sauce and mozzarella or skip the meat for a pizzaiola .  A sweeter idea is using it in a spice laden bread, redolent with cinnamon and cloves or a cake, 
rich with dates, topped with an orange cream cheese frosting.

An end of season bumper crop is a true gift. Use this harvest in a variety of ways to create tasty dishes and desserts. It's a nice way to clean out the garden and fill up the fridge.

Piggy Days

One of the easiest Monday meals a home chef can make is pigs in blankets.So simple, yet so tasty. Any novice or kid chef can make these.

I did.

I used Pilsbury crescent rolls wrapped around Sabrett  all beef hot dogs and Morningstar Farms veggie dogs. I had three  extra rolls which I left as crescent rolls.

It was just thwack against the sink, unroll, wrap and bake.

All it took was fifteen minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit. These can be served with any dipping sauce or stuffed with cheeses for a really festive dinner or hot snack.

These will be saved for later with some yummy jam for a nice,munch with hot tea, along with a good TV show.

Pigs in blanket are the perfect Monday meal. They're  a snap to prepare, a snap to make and a snap to eat.

A Big Southern Do

Today is Derby Day  a big celebration in Kentucky where Southerners revel in the glory of the Kentucky Derby. You have to hand it to Southerners. They know how to do a party right - inspiration for us Yankee party givers. Do a do Southern style - with good food and good drink. Everyone will love it.

Biscuits, always a favorite , can make an appearance at s Southern themed party. Serve them with bacon ,pimento cheese, a favorite filling in sandwiches. Another idea is homemade tomato jam top with cheddar, sort of like an American's take on bruschetta. Tomato jam is easy to make .It's just taking whole peeled tomatoes and half a cup of sugar and cooking into a jam  boiled in a large skillet. A teaspoon of kosher salt is added to bring out the tomatoes' flavor. It's then cooked for about fifteen minutes until thick and jammy. Deviled eggs have always been a staple in almost every celebration and holiday. These are easy to make and can be decorated to look quite fancy. It's just taking the egg yolk and mayo mash and putting it into a cake icer with  small tip (Like a Wilton decorating tip - number 199). Swirl in the filling into the halved egg whites and then dust with paprika or finely minced gherkins.Okra is a big staple in Southern cooking, especially in Louisiana where it's used in gumbo. It can take on a modern twist as a popper. It's simply cutting the stalks into one half inch pieces and first soaking them in buttermilk. They then are rolled in a spicy cornmeal batter that's been spiked with cayenne and garlic powder.

Barbecue is a way of life down South and it too is always the star of many a party.May barbecues have a whole roasted pig . This may be too much and too labor intensive - after all - a pit has to be dug to accommodate the spit and coals. Ribs would be a better choice. They're easier to cook and eat.Marinate them in a spicy and tangy sauce that's laced with hot pepper sauce and sweetened with ketchup and brown sugar to create an interesting marriage of flavors.. Barbecue and fried chicken are also staples of Southernn home chefs. Again brown sugar is added to the chicken's barbecue sauce for that earthy sweetness while chopped onion and garlic gives it some zing. The recipe calls also for ketchup but tomato jam could be subbed in. A fun party food  is homemade fried chicken - what the South is all about. The best tasting ones start with a simple batter , consisting of just flour, eggs and a cup of milk. First  soak the chicken in the milk  and egg mix and then thoroughly coat with flour.Fry in lard for a truly authentic Southern taste.  A Southern do ends with peach cobbler or banana pudding.If it's fancy then bake a traditional hummingbird cake.It's a banana  - pineapple cake laden with pecans and cinnamon. It's iced with another Southern classic  - cream cheese frosting . Serve it with after dinner coffee laced with bourbon for a fantastic ending.

The South knows how to throw a party with good food. Create your own Southern do with tasty fried chicken and biscuits, or barbecue and hummingbird cake. It's what entertaining is all about.

Your Own Boulangerie

One of the best aspects of living in France is the fresh bread.It's in all shapes and sizes, tastes and flavors. Imagine having a fresh loaf in your kitchen, whether slathered with jam for breakfast or accompanying a lunchtime soup. Imagine having a sandwich made with brioche or a chocolate  or almond roll for dessert. You can. Baking French bread is not impossible.It's doable, even for novice home bakers.

What is a baguette anyway?It's a long narrow loaf of just bread flour , sugar and water along with salt and yeast. There is no egg or butter which would weigh it down.The yeast and sugar are whisked into a cup and a half of warm water.Add two cups flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. Two and a half teaspoons of salt is stirred in as well as to to two in a half more cups of flour. The salt can be omitted for those on a low sodium diet or halve the amount. It shouldn't alter the taste that much. The dough should be kneaded for about eight minutes on a lightly floured board or table until smooth and elastic.It's left to proof for an hour and half before being shaped into loaves.Put them on a lightly greased sheet pan for another half hour of proofing. They can be given a shiny glaze with a wash of beaten egg yolk. Bake for thirty minutes or until golden , then let cook on a baking rack.The recipe can be varied for sourdough and whole wheat .Boulangerie's also sell boules, those round breads that are perfect sliced for a sandwich or gracing French onion soup. The recipe is relatively the same as the baguettes, the only difference is that the top is brushed with melted butter to give it a burnished brown crust after baking.

Croissants and brioches are also sold in boulangeries. Croissants can be a bit intimidating to any home baker. at first. Remember it does take time to perfect this buttery roll so don't be discouraged if the first batch comes out a bit wonky.The recipe calls for a lush one and a half cups of butter along with three tablespoons of sugar. It's also made richer by the addition of both milk and cream that has to be warmed.It's a lot of rolling and folding along with keeping the butter and dough cool. If the butter starts oozing out of the dough , then everything has to be placed in the fridge. After the croissants are formed have to be popped into the fridge for another fifteen minutes and then given an egg wash before baking.The dough can also be used for pain au chocolat, that heavenly marriage of crisp buttery layers and dark chocolate.Almond croissants are also big  and again this is an easy recipe, using already made croissants and filling them with a homemade almond "jam". Boulangeries also sell brioches, those eggy, buttery rolls .Again these are yeast driven and have a spongy texture,The recipe can be labor intensive because the butter used has to be room temperature, not too cool and not too warm. The recipe can be turned into a loaf bread, now popular here in the US.

Any home baker can turn their kitchen into a boulangerie.Try baguettes one week and croissants or brioche the next. There's nothing like fresh delicious French breads right from the oven!

Creamery Goodness

Nothing beats a very good dairy product. I recently got to experience two of them,Devonshire clotted cream and farm fresh churned butter. Both are amazing and truly the definition of sinfully delicious. They can be hard to come by here in the States but they are oh so good and worth the hunt.

I wrote about clotted cream and how to make it last week. Luckily I was able to find Devonshire clotted cream on the web and ordered it. To me this is the best, especially with the jam (surprisingly the French Bon Maman) that came with it. The Devonshire type is a thicker , more buttery spread perfect for any type of bread , but ideal  on scones. It's the best ingredient for having a traditional cream tea . You could also serve it alongside holiday pies and pudding,s although the best way is still with jam and  fresh baked scones (or English muffins).I  would recommend making it at home butclotted cream  can be a bit labor intensive. You can order it from The English Tea Store, Jolly Grub, or British Food Depot.

Another treat I  got to savor was farm fresh churned sweet butter. I was lucky to score it at a local farmer's market, rare now, especially since many outdoor markets are closing for the season.Again, there is nothing like this.Of course it's great for a a vegetable saute or melted and oozy in a baked potato, however it's best again on toast  or any slice of bread.It's more cream than butter and doesn't  have that waxy aftertaste that some commercially made butters possess . Some grocery stores do sell it , such as Stop & Shop and A&P in the States. However if you live near any dairy farm or creamery, then you  have the chance to buy it.

Dairy products, especially rich ones are considered taboo  yet that ban can be waived when it comes to Devonshire clotted cream and fresh churned butter. Both are just amazing, with silky tastes and textures. If you;re going to indulge, these are the treats for you. They are just truly  perfect , especially with jam and bread.