My Goodness, My Guinness Stew
March is here and Spring is in the air – or is it? Having another long cold saturday in front of me, I decided to turn on the oven and celebrate the glimmering hints of Spring by raising a strong cup of tea to St Patrick and the Irish – Peter O’Toole, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and even Colin Farrell. With a Dexy’s Midnight Runner’s song playing in my head, and the sound track of Barry Lyndon playing in my heart – I began to make my “almost” famous Guinness Stew. I found this recipe in a 1980‘s edition of Food & Wine and over the years I have tweaked and redefined the flavors to made this stew my own. My friend Anita – who shared the same love of the Irish with me, would poetically describe the flavor of the mushrooms to our foodie friends – Joyce couldn’t have done any better. She was always invited to our St. Patricks Day dinner as she was a dear, dear friend who loved Irish music, Irish men and “real” Irish stew just as much as I do.
This recipe makes enough for 8. I make this quantity so that you will have leftovers to freeze for an impromptu Sunday night supper. It is a simple stew that benefits by slow and thoughtful cooking as well as a “rest” in the fridge for a day or two. It gives a chance for the flavors of the spices to blend.
Ingredients:
4 lbs. beef stew
6 T or more olive oil
2 lbs. white button mushrooms
1 lb. frozen pearl onions onions (as much as I love the baskets of fresh pearl onions – the frozen will save you time and is equally as good in the stew.)
4 carrots – give or take
4 ribs of celery
1 cup or more of flour
Sea Salt
2 t Quatre Epice (mix equal parts of cloves, ginger, nutmeg & black pepper)
2 12 oz cans of Guinness Stout (buy the 4 pack and enjoy the pour.)
1/3 cup ketchup – or if you prefer tomato paste which was what the original recipe called for. ( I have no problem with ketchup after using it as an integral ingredient in David Bouley’s crab salad while working as Garde Manger at the 4 star restaurant.)
1 T Herbes de Provence – (an mix of savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano & sometimes lavender)
A spice bag consisting of:
2 bay leaves, 1 t celery seed, 1/2 t mustard seed, 2 cardamon pods,6 all spice seeds, 6 white & 6 black peppercorns, 4 cloves, small piece of nutmeg, slice of ginger, pinch of red pepper flakes
OR
2 T Josephine’s Fest Shinnecock Bay Spice Rub
pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
First trim the stew meat. I like to cut my pieces into something that sits on a spoon – usually 1/3 the size of what my butcher provides.
Stem the button mushrooms and cut the caps into slices – I only use the caps saving the stems for a mushroom stock.
Peel the carrots and cut in half lengthwise and slice into 1/2’’ slices. Do the same with the celrey. Reserve the pearl onions.
Make a dredge using a bit more than a cup of flour, a good pinch of sea salt and 1 t Quatre Epice
Heat 2 T of the olive oil in a heavy cast iron pan. When very hot and smoking, quickly dredge a hand full or two of the stew meat in the flour and sear on all sides. Work quickly and in small batches using a bit more oil if needed. The end result should be a juicy stew without steaming the meat in it’s own juice. The object is to caramelize a “crust”. Work your way through all the beef in small batches. Reserve.
While the meat is resting – add 2 T of olive oil to your roasting pan and place it on the stove. Sauté the carrots & celery with a pinch of salt for 3 to 5 minutes. Then add the mushrooms. Once again – allow the carrots & mushrooms to cook and caramelize without steaming. About 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the stew meat and the onions. And two cans of Guinness Stout and 1/3 cup of ketchup. Scrape any bits that may be on the bottom of the pan.
Add a Bouquet Garni – a cheese cloth tie made of 2 bay leaves, 1 t celery seed,1/2 t mustard seed, 2 cardamon pods, 4 all spice seeds, 6 white, 6 black peppercorns, 2 cloves, small piece of nutmeg, slice of ginger, pinch of red pepper flakes.
Cover and roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 2 to 3 hours.
When finished test for seasoning. A bit of salt can be added to taste.
This stew benefits by a long slow roast and is particularly good the second day so it is a terrific make ahead meal.
This stew is great with egg noodles or mashed potatoes. But for a truly remarkable meal why cook up a pot of polenta while the stew is finishing? Although this a a non-traditional accompaniment – it is immensely delicious and satisfying. The leftovers can be rolled into a log – wrapped and refrigerated over night. It is a perfect sliced and grilled to serve alongside the leftover stew.
“Gee, Your Pancakes are Terrific”
Living a good life is like flipping pancakes. If you hesitate, it splatters all over the place.
Mr Simpson may be right – it takes a bit of a quick wit, a sure hand and a practice to make a perfect pancake – much like the perfect life. A dissertation on life is quite beyond me. But the perfect Sunday pancake – this is where I have some knowledge.
I love the idea of desert for breakfast – especially on a holiday, a lazy Sunday, or when we have guests – and it surely pleases the child in us all. We love chocolate but a candy bar for breakfast is a bit decadent, although I have been known to enjoy a piece of dark chocolate with my morning coffee.
After pondering the conundrum – why not chocolate chip pancakes? With bananas – a current favorite and maybe a tricked out maple syrup and marmalade drizzle. Now your talking – a dash of vanilla and a pitch of cinnamon could round out the flavors. Sappy and wonderful just like sticky buns – but that’s another blog.
For a special spring brunch or special occasion they do blow the blueberries out of the park – but why not go one step further – heat the maple syrup and add a bit of bourbon the the marmalade. Just don’t serve it to the kids – we’ll not cross any lines here.
We love them – even my husband who doesn’t eat desert loves them and most of all. Jo and Lucky beg for more.
Chocolate Chip & Banana Buttermilk Pancakes with Marmalade Scented Maple Syrup
Ingredients for Recipe
3 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (All Purpose will do but I choose Whole Wheat)
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/4 t fine grain sea salt
2 t organic sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 t vanilla
4 T Butter (Melted & cooled – I often clarify my butter to remove the milk solids)
2 3/4 cup Buttermilk
4 eggs
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
4 ripe banana’s thinly sliced
Clarified butter for cooking (it’s easy and cooks at a higher temperature due to the removal of the milk fat)
Saucy Syrup
1 cup maple syrup
2 heaping T Blood orange or other marmalade
Optional
A dash of Cinnamon
Pancake Preparation Steps
- In a food processor whiz all ingredients for the pancakes except the chocolate chips and bananas
- Scrape bowl and whiz again – you may need a bit more buttermilk if the batter is too think
- Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle and drizzle a healthy dose of clarified butter to the pan
- when the pan is hat and not quite smoking drop 1/3 c (you can use a ladle, a measuring cup or an ice cream scoop for this.)
- As soon as the edges go firm add a few slices of banana and a spoon of chocolate chips.
- Cook for a minute or two and when the sides go golden – flip and continue cooking.
- Stack cooked pancakes of a warm plate.
- As the pancakes are cooking heat the maple syrup and the marmalade. Stir – being careful not to burn the syrup. Turn the fire off and keep warm
- To serve – stack 3 to 4 pancakes with the left over banana slices.
- Pour the warmed marmalade and Maple syrup over the pancake stack
- As an option sprinkle with cinnamon
This recipe makes 30 pancakes – but the recipe can be cut in half or saved for the following day. I think pancake batter always tastes best the second day.
My Bliss Point – Upside Down Cake
My Sunday was sideswiped by the cover article of last weeks NYT magazine, “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” by Michael Moss . A fascinating expose of how large food brands seduce our senses with fast, easy to prepare (or pack, as in the case of Lunchables ) engineered “food”.
Building a product that tests high and bringing consumers to their “Bliss Point” is the goal. Addicting them to fat, sugar and salt is how you measure success. Consumerism at it’s best and maybe most dangerous. But sales soar and brands grow. I don’t usually stand on a soap box pontificating about the horrors of engineered food. We all are lucky enough to make choices, and so much of success in life is about good choices. If you have the time I would recommend that you read this article.
But what is a real life “Bliss Point”?
We all have blissful food memories – a Sunday supper or home baked pies, an insane burger or a perfect Maraschino-cherried Manhattan at a cozy bar.
For me, it was my mother’s sunday roast beef dinner. When it was a “special” dinner, it was always followed by a magical pineapple upside down cake that filled the air with the scent of caramelized sugar and tropical fruit.
The cake was a visual delight – plotted rings of pineapples stuffed with bright red maraschino cherries. There was something so exotic and wonderful about the smell of pineapple and caramelized sugar with a suggestion of cinnamon. The drama of turning out the cake was always a theatrical moment with lots of fuss and bravado. The pan was flipped on a dinner plate revealing the glorious design of the pineapple rings. The burnt sugar glaze dripping down the side of the soft white cake. The gesture of the flip was usually reserved for my father – as it took some strength to flip the hot pan and not drop the dinner plate as the cake surrendered. If we were lucky, my mother would serve it al la mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And yes, to my 10 year old experience it was it was perfectly blissful.
My recipe is adopted from my mother’s with a bit more bravado than even my father could achieve. I chose to substitute star fruits for the pineapples and I added bananas and blood orange marmalade along with cardamon and nutmeg to the cinnamon and vanilla. I really changed the recipe – to enhance my adult bliss. But you can add and subtract as your own flavor profile suggests. I tried this out at a casual saturday night dinner when Sean & I had invited guests. Lets just say it fast and easy to prepare – the perfume of the citrus and spices filled our home and the theatrical flip of the upside down cake was not wasted on Stephen who adores an operatic gesture at the Met or where ever he can find one.
A Cold Winter’s Night Star Fruit & Banana Upside Down Cake with Blood Orange Marmalade
Ingredients:
1/2 cup blood orange marmalade – we use Josephine’s feast! Fine Cut Blood Orange Marmalade. But any marmalade will do
1 star fruit – 1/2 slices
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced organic bananas
8 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup sugar – I prefer organic, along with being healthier it has a rich warm color
1 egg
1 T vanilla
3/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t cardamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1-1/3 cups cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup milk
whipped cream or ice cream (optional)
Directions:
Prepare the Skillet – Slice Fruit – add Marmalade
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 10 inch cast iron skillet.
Heat the pan over the stove top and spread the marmalade evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Place the star fruit in simple pattern and add the banana slices covering the marmalade – but allowing the rind to show thru.
Preparing the Batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I use a hand mixer for this as my mother always did
Continue to beat while adding the egg, vanilla, and spices.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk to the butter mixture, a bit at a time, then stir until just combined.
Pour the batter evenly and completely over the fruit that line the skillet.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Loosen the cake from the skillet by running a knife around the edge of the pan.
Get Ready to Flip!
Invert a serving platter over the cake and turn over so that the cake rests on the platter. Gently lift the skillet, the fruit and marmalade layer should now be on the top of the cake.
Star Fruit, Banana and Marmalade Upside Down Cake
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired. But this is a beautiful cake with a desert wine by a winter fire. Serves 8 to 10.
Josephine’s Feast! Wins Good Food Award 2013
Laura, June Taylor, Alice Waters at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal for the Good Food Awards 2013
What do you get when you bring the best artisan food producers in the USA into one room? The Good Food Awards, which marked it’s third year on January 18, 2013. Held at the San Francisco Ferry Building, the event is sponsored by The Seedling Project and was hosted by Alice Waters. And I am so very proud to say that Josephine’s Feast! was announced as a winner in the Preserves Category for our Hand Foraged Wild Beach Plum Preserves.
Good Food Award Medals 2013
This national award recognizes the highest level of achievement in producing artisan products that are both delicious and produced in a responsible manner using local and sustainable ingredients. 1,366 entries from 49 states were blind-tasted resulting in 100 winners across 9 categories. The complete list can be found on the Good Food Awards website.
The Awards Ceremony is a Black Tie Gala often referred to as the “Oscars of Food”. The Wall Street Journal columnist Kitty Greenwald remarked, “the Awards Ceremony puts a spotlight on people who are working hard to keep a pulse on what’s happening around the country…it means an exciting future for young entrepreneurs and for food quality nationally.”
The gala featured tastings of the winners food and dishes envisioned by 10 local chefs, including Sarah and Evan Rich of Rich Table, Comstock Saloon’s Carlo Espinas, Bill Corbett of The Absinthe Group, Trevor Ogden of Chambers and Slanted Door alum Grace Nguyen of Asian Box. Josephine’s Feast! Hand Foraged Wild Beach Plum was chosen by Chef Carlo Espinas of the Comstock Saloon for a Wild Beach Plum and Rye Whisky Cured Gravlax with Picked Creme Fraische.
Carlo Espinas dish using Wild Beach Plum Preserve
It was a delicious evening, or rather a Delicious Revolution as Alice Waters would say. The beauty of the event was that like-minded producers were able to come out of their kitchens, smokehouses and roasting rooms and share their craft. We had the opportunity to speak with other food crafters and taste all the winners – which was no easy feat! Some of my personal favorites are listed below:
Vanilla Bean Salted Caramels –Her Coconess Confections , California.
Shelly is my new BFF and insists she was put on this earth to feed the world. Her caramels are outstanding and her Bittersweet Nibby Rocky Road ain’t bad either.
Black Sesame Brittle –Sweetdragon Baking Company , California
At Sweetdragon the Black Sesame Brittle is awsome and her New Crop Pistacio Brittle is also off the charts – in fact my brother and I almost got into a fight over the last piece
Tarragon Cherries – Cold Water Canyon Provisions , California
Rondo makes preserves from his mother recipes The pickled cherries were divine! The perfect pairing with a marscapone cheese or alongside roasted duck.
Japanese Pickle & Arame Kimchee – The Cultured Pickle Shop , California
June Taylor sent me to meet Alex, “Their Kombucha is outstanding”, and on that I was greated with the smell of fermenting krauts. The Pumpkin Kimchee is my favorite along with a Red Beet Kombucha.
Borselino Salami – La Quercia , Iowa
Kathy Eckhouse is an inspiration to anyone who handcrafts artisinal food. A gifted cook and mother, she and her husband Herb have built a business based on the good food and respect for all. I have been buying their proscuitto at Dean and Deluca for years but never realized how great they really are.
House Ham – The Meat Hook Brooklyn , NYC
Now this is ham!
Wild Thimbleberry Jam – American Spoon , Michigan
Larry makes a perfect wild preserve. Just lovely.
As for us, we would just like to thank all the people who bought our Wild Beach Plum Preserve in September and October before there was any awards or recognition. You bought it because you tasted it and you liked it, and it just goes to show you certainly have great taste!
Stalking the Wild Beach Plum
Here is a our story about the elusive Wild Beach Plum.
Prunus Maritima is a member of the rose family and often confused with rose hips by the uninitiated. Beach plums grow along the seashores of the Atlantic coast from Eastern Canada to Virginia.
They range in size from a small Nicoise olive to a giant Sicilian olive. But they have a huge pit – and often more suited to jelly making than that of a true preserve. They are a finicky plant, producing an overwhelming abundance one year and almost nothing the next.
Ron G - The Forager
Another problem is where to find them. No true forager reveals their sources. In fact, when asked where the beach plums are found, almost unanimously the answer is “if I tell you I will have to kill you.” Our forager is a third generation farmer and carpenter from East Hampton who gleefully brought a hundred or more pounds of beach plums to me 3 years ago. Ron G keeps a little book with “his” foraging haunts and has brought us wild beach plums, wild grapes, wild cherries and wild cranberries. He fights the ticks and the poison ivy and I really think he loves this work.
There was such a bounty that first year. We had no idea what to do with all the beach plums. Ron made jelly from his mother’s recipe and I began experimenting with preserves. We made beach plum liquor and liquor soaked beach plums. I even pickled some. The following year, after Huricane Irene, the bushes were barren. This year, the harvest was a pretty good one if you got to them before the other foragers. You also have to beat the deer who are known to eat beach plums.
The taste is a cross between a plum and a prune with a heady tang and an especially deep flavor.
As I began selling this preserve at the markets, my customers shared family stories of parents dragging bands of children onto the beaches with pails to pick the beach plums – they only produce fruit along the bay and the ocean. Farmers and bankers alike, all making jam and jelly over the years.
The preserve making is time consuming. First you wash,sort and pit. Then I mix the berries with cane sugar and let them macerate over night in a true method confituer – this helps to develop the natural pectin. Cooking is also tempermental. The fruit gels only when the proper balance of water to sugar to fruit pectin is reached. Then we hand jar, vacuum seal in a water bath, cool and label our preserves.
Removing Pits from Beach Plums with an Italian Food Mill
Eli in the Kitchen processing the Beach Plums after Food Milling
In an effort to better understand the beach plum I registered for a class at the New York Horticultural Society in the Fall. It was given by Gary Lincoff who has foraged with Euell Gibbons himself over the years. His talk was wonderful and his book is even better – The Joy of Foraging. I highly recommend it, especially if you want to add a little purslane to your salad, but that is a conversation for another day. Gary finds beach plums along the coast of New York City and Long Island. He pits the plums with an antique cherry pitter – because, “it still works as good as anything.” He served his Beach Plum Preserves over a ricotta cheese cake. Couldn’t be better.
Gary Lincoff at the New York Horticultural Society - 2012
Josephine’s Feast! – Good Food Awards Finalist
We couldn’t be happier to share some good news with you. Josephine’s Feast!’s Hand Foraged Wild Beach Plum Preserves has been named as a finalist in the 2013 Good Food Awards in the Preserves Catagory. The awards will be announced in San Francisco on January 18, 2013 at the historic Market Place in the San Francisco Ferry Building. The Black Tie event will be hosted by Alice Waters and is considered to be the Oscars for food producers in the US. You can read the Good Food Awards Press Release here. There where over 1300 entries, from 49 states. Only 16 companies from New York State where chosen as finalists. Wish us luck!
Giving Thanks for Turkeys, Leftovers and Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserves
Unconcerned Wild Turkeys in Southampton - Thanksgiving 2012
Thanksgiving is that easy holiday – it feels as comfortable as a warm fire on a cool fall evening. A bit more laid back than most – it has always been my husband Sean’s favorite day. A casual feast with family and friends – what could be better?
After the upheaval of Sandy – I feel the exact same way. A loss of power and a few days stuck at home is a small price to pay when so many have lost so much – we all have something to be thankful for. At Josephine’s Feast! our cooking schedule was disrupted for a week. Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserves were on the schedule and is something I love to make. Just after Irene hit last year, Quail Hill Farm in Amaganset had an amazing assortment of hot peppers standing defiantly on the vine long after the hurricane had left. I thought the peppers were outstanding little devils to resist the storm and set out to harvest all that I could. In the kitchen our first vintage of Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserves was born. And it was amazing.
I waited patiently this year watching the peppers ripened on the vines on the farm and placed a substantial order with Kate the market manager at Quail Hill. We worked together at the Montauk Farmer’s Market and I told her that I had great plans for a second vintage of Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserves. I would take all the hot peppers that I could get – not realizing that history was about to repeat itself
As the day approached for my pick up, the frankenstorm was looming. Kate assured me the peppers were would be fine in her care. Packed away in refrigerators. The storm hit and it hit hard wiping out electricity on long island and nyc. It took us a week but Sean and my brother Chris finally picked up the peppers. They were just maganificent – as was Quail Hill Farm, a testament to the miracle of mother nature.
They trucked a couple hundred pounds of red hot peppers to my kitchen in Astoria, and my my staff & I car pooled over the 59th street bridge to slice, pickle, cook and preserve – what we all do best.
We had sweet red peppers that were so perfect it was hard to cook them – they were a masterpiece of beautiful crimson set against bright green crates. We had green and red jalepenos that we picked in a brine that was scented with anise and coriander. We had Habernaro and Pardon peppers – a Spanish hot pepper that I had never worked with. Tasting it mindlessly I realized it was far hotter than I expected and it burned my lips but had a delicious flavor. I would balance the heat of the Habernaro with the Pardon Pepper in a new preserve – a Red Hot Chili Pepper Jam. The color is a glorious red and the heat is quite strong.
And then there were the chilis – waiting to be sliced simmered in an apple cider based preserve. That would become out second vintage of the Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserve. Sean jokes that we might want to name it “After the Hurricane” – I thought why not?
My team and I cooked, crafted and packed the hot peppers into the most wonderful preserves. And in the end absolutely nothing tastes better with a plowman’s lunch or a Double Decker Hurricane Hot Peppered Preserve Turkey Club Sandwich. This delicious mayonnaise blend is absolutely simple and turns Thanksgiving leftovers into a FEAST!
Double Decker Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserve Turkey Club Sandwich
1/4 pound Sliced Turkey Breast – leftover from Thanksgiving is best
3 slices of Rye Bread
Mayonnaise
JF After the Hurricane Hot Pepper Preserves
Romaine Lettuce
Sliced tomato
Toast the bread
- Salt & pepper the turkey breast. My husband likes to heat the turkey slices in the pan which I find most delicious.
- Add 2T of Mayonnaise to 1T of JF After the Hurricane Preserves and mix well.
- Pull off 4 to 5 leaves of romaine and slice the tomato extra thin
- Spread the mayonnaise/pepper preserves on two slices of bread and stack bacon, turkey, tomato and romaine in that order. Add a second slice of bread and repeat finishing off with the last and final slice of bread.
- Enjoy the Feast!
Way Down Yonder in the Papaw Patch
I love markets and when I am traveling, I often find myself being drawn to gourmet shops, food markets or farm stands. London is remarkable, Paris is legendary, Venice is on the canal and Northern California has no equal. But as Dorothy stated while she clicked her ruby heels, ‘There is no place like home.” And when I opened my eyes, I found myself just outside of Philadelphia visiting our friends.
The Dixon’s settled on the Main Line after traveling around the world for a year. It is a short train ride on the Keystone Rail Road leaving Grand Central in NYC. Our visit meant our families would have some time together talking, bonding and cooking up a feast – after all we had to test drive the new kitchen and well, cooking is in our blood. Vincent, Ainlay and I gathered up our girls and their son and set off to the Bryn Mawr Farmers Market early Saturday morning
The market is pristine – where else can you find carefully made and exceptionally delicious Pumpkin Pie Hummus? This is a foodies market – cooks who cook and farmers who farm. Smart people who eat and live well. Organic produce was at its peak. Tomatoes and corn, peaches being bought up by the bushel box for home canning. Responsibly reared grass fed lamb, pork and beef with handmade sausage punctuating the offerings. Chickens & eggs are displayed alongside potatoes as big as baby’s heads and as tiny as a penny. All perfect in their own right.
In the back of this Pennsylvania market was a fruit I had never seen or tasted in my life. As a child I had sung the praises of this fruit in a nursery school song that had stuck in my head for a good portion of my years. It went something like this “scooping up papaws and put them in the basket.’ In reality, I have never tasted or even seen a Papaw.
The farmer told me it was one of two fruits native to the US and that we could, “Scoop the pulp and eat the same food as Pocahontas.” That statement went a long way with our three daughters all under the age of 10. Actually, its not true, but it is the largest Native American Fruit in North America.
Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello and it is documented that Lewis and Clark ate papaws on their expedition west. In fact Merriwether Lewis’s recorded this passage in his journal on September 15, 1806 , “We landed one time only to let the men gather Pawpaws or the custard apple of which this country abounds, and the men are very fond of.”
Well they certainly don’t look like much – but Lewis was wise to make the stop, the chartreuse colored fruit reminds me of something tropical – mango, papaya with a hint of banana. The fruit has three times as much vitamin C as an apple, twice as much riboflavin & niacin as an orange, and about the same potassium as a banana. High in magnesium, iron, manganese and copper, it’s a good way to imbibe protein – papaws contain all essential amino acids. In fact food researchers consider papaws a super food.
“When its soft it’s ready”, I couldn’t argue with the farmer who had grown papaws all his long life I made a fuss and purchased just all the fruit he had left. His grandson who worked the stand thought I was nuts. I probably am – but just a little.
When we ate the papaws there were mixed reviews. The texture is soft a bit like a mango – I could easily see papaw sorbet, smoothies or dare I say preserves. The color ranges from a chartreuse to a pale persimmon. It could be used in place of apple sauce alongside potato pancakes or with a roast. But honestly that farmer was right – it is best just scooped out of the skin and eaten fresh from the market. A seasonal treat that our three daughter’s thoroughly enjoyed.
As Summer Ends, So Does the Corn
A Light Wind Swept over the Corn, and nature laughed in the sunshine.
-Anne Bronte
Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Rather poetically, as I guess the only way a Bronte could be, she writes about corn fields in England. And this is the time of year that all conversations in our Farmer’s Markets are poetically devoted to corn. I find fresh picked corn just about the best thing in the world. Cooked simply on the grill, corn defines the summer season.
But we do reach our limits, and as the season ends, I can’t help experimenting with various herb butters and spice rubs when we bring home fresh picked corn from the Farmer’s Market . One of my favorite ways to extend my interest in the harvest is to roast or grill the corn over the fire, enhancing it’s flavor with herb butters or spice rubs. Shucking the ears and tying the husks to use as a “handle” is key, and it makes a beautiful presentation at your barbecue as well as on your table.
I have to admit any fresh herb butter will do – gather what you have in your garden if you are lucky enough to have one – oregano, thyme, coriander or anything you may have on hand. Finely chop the tender herbs and add a pinch of sea salt blending with butter to make a paste. Alternately a tablespoon of dried sage, thyme or crushed rosemary will do. Grease the corn with the herb butter and set on the grill. Roll a few times to cook all sides and serve. Do not over cook – 3 to 5 minutes is more than enough time.
Alternatively – I make a curry rub that is sensational with grilled corn. I love the way the warmth of the chili and spices flavors the corn and enhances each kernel’s sweetness. Grill to taste and to get a nice roasted color.
Simple “Curry Rub” for Corn
2 T Mild Curry Spice
1 T Dried Thyme
1/4 t Sea Salt – more of you prefer
Good quality Olive Oil
- Mix all three ingredients in a bowl
- Shuck each ear and brush with olive oil
- Rub a good amount of “curry rub” into the corn.
- Grill over BBQ coals or an open fire.
At Josephine’s Feast! we have Bridgehampton Curry Rub for Corn on the Cob that works well on corn as well as grilled vegetables – such as zucchini, squash, carrots or potatoes and even Shrimp. Give it try!
The Wonderful Blue Cheese Wedge
In the market, iceberg lettuce conjures up two insanely different images. The first is the iceberg of my childhood memory. A bowling ball of watery leafy greens that were just about mummy wrapped in cellophane and saran wrap on the A&P shelf and served on a plate with a dollop of plain sour cream by my Aunt Josie. She was not a cook but an exceptional God Mother and Aunt.
The second was hand harvesting my first head of heirloom iceberg at Quail Hill Farm. What a treat – so much so that I’d drive 20 miles to harvest the iceberg when the crop comes in. I dare not share my secret of the exceptional flavor of the heirloom iceberg while other share holders pick the deer tongue, boston, and other fancy lettuce heads. I wanted to be able to pick more next week. And inevitably the iceberg was still there – week after week.
Now the fun begins. I love an impecable wedge – not the the Baco’s covered wedge of restaurant chain fame – but a proper blue chesse wedge salad – with or without bacon.
My second secret is a recipe from Montrachet – where the blue cheese dressing was made with buttermilk and tarragon vinegar. Exceptional by my standards.
For this recipe – you will need a gadget. A wand is perfect but a blender or small food processor will do.
Butter Milk Blue Cheese Wedge Salad
3 small heads of heirloom iceberg lettuce – or 1 large head
1 cup of Butter Milk
1 large shallot – I prefer the torpedo shaped shallots, they are easier to peel
8 to 12 oz of Danish Blue cheese
1T tarragon vinegar. And although any good quality herbal vinegar will do – the taragon vinegar imparts the perfect flavor
Coarse Ground Black Pepper for Finishing
1-Measure the butter milk and set aside.
2-Roughly chop the shallots by hand.
3- Add the shallots and the vinegar to a vessel and process to chop.
4- add the buttermilk and process adding cheese chunk by chunk continuing to process into a thick dressing
5- Taste. Drizzle in more vinegar if need be.
6- Refrigerate
7- Just before serving cut the Iceberg lettuce heads into wedges. I like the smaller heads on a long platter – lined up like soldiers on guard
8- Spoon the Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing over the wedges making sure it is distributed evenly. Finish with Coarse Ground Black Pepper to taste.
Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing is a teriffic sauce over grilled skirt steak as well. And makes a lovely main course salad.