These onions, still in the soil at Potrero Nuevo Farm, are being tricked into storage mode. Due to growing conditions and the cool weather in Half Moon Bay, onions need to be coerced into storage mode for the duration of the winter months ahead. In order to hurry the onions into drying out and turning their skins papery, the stalks are bent sideways. This small push signals the nutrients to move from the leaves to the bulb. This term is called, DYING BACK. Bending onion stalks was just one of the ways I participated on the farm during my stay in August. Other chores included thinning rows of carrots, harvesting lemon cucumbers and milking Fresca and Squirt, the resident goats. Cooking and eating on the farm is a dream since the kitchen has a huge garage door that overlooks a half acre garden, where the food you are eating was in the soil just minutes before and the goats are bleating from the hills behind.
-CY
Oregon is overrun with berries, which is similar to how I imagine paradise. Blackberry vines line the rivers and roads, the glistening little fruits calling out to be picked as you pass by. Farmers’ markets are beautified by brightly colored stands selling flats of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. It is just as easy to buy a pint as it is to pick flat on a summer afternoon while fishing the Willamette. The picking season is short so smart cooks find ways to enjoy the fruit in the moment as well as preserve them for the long berry-less months ahead.
Ideas for how to play around with blackberries in the kitchen:
Fold into Creme Chantilly: First place berries in a bowl and smash with fork. Add sugar to sweeten to taste. Next whip heavy cream with confectioners' sugar, then fold in smashed berries. Use this instead of icing inside a layer cake, spread on a flat sponge cake before rolling into a log, or fill a blind baked tart shell with whole berries as garnish.
Showcase berries in fools, crisps, pies, trifles, ice cream, cocktails, with shortcake, etc.
Make Jams and Jellies
Make your own liquor, like they do in the French countryside
To freeze berries, first spread out on a flat tray and freeze. Then transfer frozen berries to a plastic bag. Use in a variety of cooking applications.
-CY
Dear Readers,
I have much to share with you. This summer has been a whirlwind. To begin, Boston was saturated with six straight weeks of rain in June and July. When the sun finally decided to shine and the restaurant patios opened, my life was taken over by packing, saying goodbye to friends, leaving my great job at Sofra and relocating. Fortunately moving wasn’t all work. I was able to turn the end of summer into a series of trips on both coasts of the US. I took a bakery tour of San Francisco, stayed at Potrero Nuevo farm in Half Moon Bay, fished the Willamette river in Oregon, watched my mother prepare Polish galumpkis, cooked with friends, ate well and relaxed. I am now settling down in Tennessee and have a lot of blogging to do. As I organize photos and recipes of all things delicious from these travels, I look forward to sharing them with you. May this help to keep the fresh flavors of summer captured in our minds even as the leaves begin to change.
Christy
Cold sandwiches are a great way to satisfy hunger on hot summer nights. These were made for an evening garden party in the city. Stacked inside is a combination of spicy ingredients: grain mustard, arugula, quick pickled shallots & cold garlic-studded pork loin. The general spiciness pairs well with most picnic appropriate wines: sparkling, rose, crisp whites and light reds.
-CY
Making pate brisee is not a chore in my kitchen; It is pure satisfaction. The attraction for me is its versatility and the frisage, a final smear of fat and flour together with the palm of the hand which gives me control in a world of chaos. I have an army of savory table tarts and sweet pies in my repertoire that all center around a flaky, salty, buttery crust. And though I enjoy having half a dozen trusted doughs in mind for variation, I found the need to streamline one for travel and speed baking. There are debates about how to make the best pate brisee- by hand, mixer or food processor; with frozen butter or with cold butter; ice water or cream; egg yolk or none. I am going to dish it all out to you with my method and trusted ratio for the perfect crust.
This method requires nothing more than the ingredients and a rolling pin (or wine bottle, if desperate) to get your dough in the oven. You can choose to use any machinery you like with any method of incorporating the fat and liquid that you prefer. The ratio will work. I enjoy doing it all by hand working in a bowl or on the counter top and use chilled water, straight from the brita in my fridge as the liquid. Because I am so in love with salt, I use Maldon sea salt in the dough so that it is noticeable. For a sweet variation, I add 1 T of sugar to the dry mixture and sprinkle coarse sanding sugar on top for texture and extra sweetness with salty crust.
My Perfect Pate Brisee Ratio-
Yield- this is not enough for one pie. You will want to double it for a bottom crust and a lattice top, as pictured. But the ratio of one cup of flour to one stick of butter is unforgettable.
1 Cup of AP flour
1 T Maldon Sea Salt
1 T sugar (FOR SWEET VARIATION ONLY)
1 Stick of Salted Butter (4 oz)
2-4 T cold water
Method:
1. Combine the flour, salt and sugar (if using) in a bowl.
2. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and work into the flour with your hand. Begin by rubbing the butter together with the flour and then smearing it together as the butter softens a bit. Once the mixture is begins to clump slightly and the butter is no longer chunky add enough water so that the dough will clump together when squeezed with your hand.
3. Turn the mixture out onto a counter to frisage- using the palm of your hand begin smearing it away from you to form the dough. This will take some effort and is deeply satisfying.
4. Form the smeared dough pieces into a ball and chill for at least 15 minutes, though 30 is best, before rolling out for any variety of tarts or pies.
-CY
I bought this IE-DE-CHEF brand chicken roaster on a whim. The biggest draw for me, besides the $5 price tag, was the thought of crispy skin on the underside of the bird as well as the skin on the breasts and legs. I have used the gadget three times in four weeks because I love it. The two inverted U shaped wires take up the majority of the cavity, so it is not possible to add flavor by stuffing onions or lemons inside. Twice I tucked fresh bay leaves and thick lemon slices under the breast skin and seasoned the cavity and outer skin liberally with coarse salt and pepper . The other time I rubbed the skin and cavity with a paprika and garlic rub. Both methods took almost not time to get in the oven and needed little attention while cooking. Set up and clean up were made easy because there is no need to truss the legs by tying them together and the drip pan collects 90% of the fat and juices that trickle out of the bird. Be sure to place a baking sheet with sides under the drip pan to collect the spill-over.
There are people standing up for a cause more noble than crispy skin on the oysters of an organic chicken. Outstanding in the Field is a good spirited company run by road tripper Jim Denevan and his crew who tour the country in a bus. They stop to serve dinners at long, community tables in the fields where the food they are serving has been grown and honor those who contributed to the menu. Check out their guest chefs and locations across America, then make a reservation here.
-CY
I recently became a fan of dried chick peas, trading in years of convenience found in their canned counterpart. Then I heard a cooking interview with Jose Andres on NPR. The challenge was to create a meal for four under ten dollars. His recipe included using stale bread, lots of olive oil, fried garlic and a hefty amount of paprika, saffron and cumin in addition to chick peas and spinach. The result is a meatless stew with layers of flavor that is as satisfying as a beef brisket. Add a fried egg on top- you won't regret it. If you become as enamored as I am, you too will be soaking chick peas for a whole repertoire of meals.
-CY
Out of sheer desire to avoid root vegetables in March, I came up with a variation on my favorite summer tomato cobbler. The use of canned and sun dried tomatoes makes this dish ethical when the fruit is out of season. Try making multiple at the same time: a large one to share for an easy Sunday dinner and individual portions in ramekins to bake off later in the week. It is the perfect side for a roasted chicken. Be sure to save the tomato juice for braises or soups. Not all tomatoes are created equal; It is really important to use a flavorful, high quality canned tomato like San Marzano.
2 leeks, cleaned and thickly sliced on a bias
2 T butter
2 cans of high quality chopped tomatoes, well drained
1 ½ C golden sun dried tomatoes thinly sliced
Handful of chopped basil
Salt and pepper
Gruyere crust from tomato cobbler link above
Egg wash
On summer vacation, netting is my life. The stunning blue crab population in the Chesapeake is once again healthy. Luring dozens of crabs aboard a wooden boat was almost a cardio sport. Two members of our boat crew were frantically scooping up to three crabs off each twine wrapped chicken thigh while the other three crabbers slowly raised the meat up from the muddy bottom. The males, Jimmies, were biting like mad. The mature females, Sooks, were instinctively resting below since they are in a healthy reproduction cycle.
I always prepare blue crabs by steaming them them with Old Bay. If you don’t have the patience to sit around for a few hours with dirty hands and pick crabs, try another recipe. Marinate chicken legs in old bay, sliced lemons, chopped onions, parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. Then grill. Or, prepare a shrimp, corn and kielbasa boil. Regardless, you'll want to have some chilled beverages on hand to quench your thirst.
-CY