Archive for October, 2008
Ground Cherry & Chamomile Jam
Forgive me. This post is about to be one of the shortest on SFTF. I’m in the throes of a week of final exams and it’s not been pretty: studying ‘til the wee hours of the night and cheese and crackers for dinner two nights running so far. But I didn’t want to leave you for too long without some culinary inspiration and one last recipe for ground cherries that I have tucked away in my drafts.
Ground cherry season is just about at a close. I have some fruit left on my plants which I’ll harvest when I pull them out of the ground next week during the process of putting my garden to bed for the winter. I knew right from the start I wanted to make jam with these lovely little fruits, but was wondering what I could to spice up the jam idea a bit. I ran across another blogger’s account of making Ground Cherry and Chamomile Jam and I knew right away that’s what I wanted to make. I used my own honey I’d harvested from my hive earlier this year. I didn’t have my own chamomile to use for this batch, but I’ve just harvested a bunch of chamomile flowers to dry that I’ll be sure to use for the next batch.
This jam is floral and fruity, with the ground cherry itself playing a rather secondary role to the honey and chamomile. That is until you hold it for a moment on your tongue and realize the ground cherry’s pineapple-y zest is doing quite a lively dance itself in the very pleasant aftertaste of this jam.
This jam is quite beautiful too: glowing amber suspends little pearls that once were seeds. Those seeds might put some folks off, in which case you could always just strain the hot jam before putting it in jars. I personally like the subtle contrasting crunch of the seeds amid the silky sweetness of the jam.
recipe after the jump
Like this:
Bam!
I’m really not a fan of Emeril Lagasse and his “bam!” tactics on the Food Network. Generally I’ve found him to be a bit too much of a showman and not enough of a food professional. But I may just have to eat my own words after this recipe, one of his from his show Emeril Live.
I wasn’t planning on using an Emeril recipe. However, I had the notion of stuffing some pasta shells with eggplant and, as usual, when I come up with a concept I’m not quite sure about, I goggled the idea. Up popped this recipe, which wasn’t all that exciting until I started reading the ingredients for the sauce. Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce is phenomenal, folks. Can I get a “Bam!” up in here? And the Eggplant Stuffed Shells were pretty darn good too.
Now, I have to be honest about one thing with you. This recipe has a long list of ingredients and is pretty time consuming. But it’s so worth it! Or, just make the sauce and pour it over any ol’ pasta for a heavenly shortcut. It’s really the sauce that makes this dish spectacular. Unfortunately tomato season is fast dwindling so this should go right to the top of your bookmarks!
My List
I’m humming that song from The Sound of Music… “My Favorite Things”. You know the one, right? Only instead of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and sleigh bells and schnitzel (who came up with that last one anyway?), I’ve got a few other things in mind. Fiery autumn leaves is obviously one of them and along with brilliant foliage displays comes myriad food associations, many of which are among my most favored of all. Who here doesn’t drool just thinking about just-picked butternut squash, pumpkin, chestnuts, figs, apples, rutabaga, parsnips… the list of glorious local produce this time of the year is nearly endless.
Coincidentally, I’ll be bringing you recipes for each of those locally grown ingredients over the next few weeks. I’ve had a streak of foraging luck recently that even the wildest woman would be proud of, gathering up such uncommon delicacies as hardy kiwis and tender stalks of rhubarb from rather unexpected places. Stay tuned for those stories as they unfold in future posts. (Yes, I’m a tease sometimes.)
At the very tippy top of this blogger’s “my favorite things” list sits a golden orb, the regal Asian pear. Starting in mid-September, I literally haunt the walkways of farmers markets and the websites of pick-your-own orchards, ready to pounce on that first harvest of the season. From the moment I bite that first succulent juicy sweet fruit ‘til the flood of pears dwindles to a trickle in November, I eat them like a bear getting ready for hibernation. Fortunately, they’re so healthy, I don’t pack on the same pounds as a bear.
But really, if you’ve never had an Asian pear (versus, say, a more common Bartlett), you haven’t let your taste buds really experience life. These pears are so tender and oh-so juicy. No matter how careful you are, juice is going to dribble down your chin and you’re going to giggle when it does because Asian pears make you so very happy.
Generally I don’t cook with these pears though. Why cook them when they’re already perfect fresh? I tried making pear butter with them last year though and found that while it was good, it wasn’t any better than eating them raw. This year, after getting my initial “fix” on the amazing pears from North Star Orchard, I decided to try cooking with them once more. Just when you think you can’t improve upon perfection, along comes Sweet Gorgonzola and Pear Bruschetta.
Fresh Ground Cherry Salsa
I don’t know about where you are, but here in Pennsylvania, autumn came trouncing in on a very chilly rain and seems to have decided to stay. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the first person to roll out the welcome mat for sweater-weather and the golden hues of a sun low in the sky. But this particular autumn isn’t so well behaved so far – it’s cold and rainy and leaves little room for those wonderful culinary creations that shine as bridges between the bounty of summer and the selectiveness of fall.
I was looking forward to offering up this recipe for bright fresh ground cherry and tomato salsa as a tasty way to take advantage of those last sweet little tomatoes and tomato-counterparts still left on the vine. But now, with this drastic change in the weather, you may very well be only in the mood for soups and hunks of warm bread, not chilled chunks of vegetables and chips.
There’s always still the chance that gorgeous and elusive event we call an Indian summer around here will happen. I picked up a wooly worm (I don’t know what their propere name is) in my garden yesterday and it had black tips and a brown middle. According to my oh-so-scientific-farm-kids-lore, that means winter will be harsh at the beginning and end, but mild in the middle. Perhaps that will apply to this autumn as well. You know you’re in the midst of an Indian summer when the air stills sings with the buzz of insect wings and the grass is warm and inviting to bare toes, but the sky is crystal blue and the nights require an extra blanket on the bed. Indian summers are perfect for a sweet tangy salsa like this.
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