August 28th, 2009 / comments
It has been too rainy for tomatoes and potatoes to thrive but the patty pan squash plant in my garden has been working hard to keep my spirit up.
It is often used as a “pan for baking a patty” therefore the name – patty pan. It is also called sunburst squash, scaloppini, button squash or patisson.
The feminine name and demure behavior of my plant cause me to think of it as a she. Certainly less insistent than her Italian cousin zucchini, she doesn’t overrun other plants with exuberant vines or produce so many squash that I have to resort to late night squash deliveries to unsuspecting neighbors. Blossoms with long stems, (the male flowers), are plentiful and a tasty treat, either as an addition to an omelet or stuffed, battered and fried to be served as an appetizer.
Small squash, the size of quail eggs, are lovely roasted with potatoes, carrots, oil and garlic. Medium squash, up to six inches in diameter, blanched in boiling water for five minutes, stuffed with a mixture of sauteed vegetables and cooked rice, topped with cheese or seasoned breadcrumbs and baked, are a perfect vegetarian main course.
Patty pan squash larger than six inches star in my favorite carrotless carrot cake.
note: If you think patty pan squash is a strange ingredient in a cake, take a look at this recipe on my friend Drick’s blog by clicking here. I’m amazed!
Here’s how I did it. … read more
August 23rd, 2009 / comments
When friends come for a visit and spend the night breakfast often goes on for an hour or two. We start with cups of tea and coffee, sharing the paper and considering how to spend the day. Breakfast is a cooperative affair, I cook, volunteers set the table and pour the juice, and conversation begins in earnest.
When making breakfast for more than two people, I’d don’t make a traditional breakfast like pancakes, French toast, or individually cooked eggs. Often I make a frittata, a savory Italian omelet, in a cast iron skillet. For breakfast when there are berries in the market, a Sweet Yorkshire Pudding is perfect.
A combination of eggs, milk, and flour, the batter is made in a blender or with an electric mixer and can wait until everyone is awake, showered, coffee’d and ready to eat before it is put into the oven to bake. Half an hour later – Breakfast is served.
August 19th, 2009 / comments
I parked my car, followed the crowd to the table to get a pail and headed through the gate and down the hill. The process is simple, find a spot, pick until the pail is full, have the pail weighed, and pay the farmer. Children shouting, “I found some!” and the pings of blueberries hitting the bottoms of empty pails reminded me of Robert McCloskey’s classic children’s book Blueberries for Sal.
Blueberries, the fruit of a shrub that belongs to the heath family, are related to cranberry, bilberry, azalea, mountain laurel and rhododendron. When ripe, they range in color from blue to maroon to dark purple.
Picking was easy – high bush berries mean stand-up picking – and I was able to gently rake ripe berries into the pail and leave the green ones behind to ripen. With no pesky insects or thorns to deal with, I picked six pounds of blueberries in less than an hour.
At home, as I separated the leaves, stems and occasional mushy berry from the juicy, tart, berries, I considered blueberry possibilities. So many choices – freshly picked, with yogurt, in pancakes, mixed into muffins, cakes, crisps or buckles, whirled into smoothies, frozen in ice cream, preserved as jam or chutney, or in a pie topped with ice cream.
A blueberry snob may try to convince you that tiny, wild, Maine blueberries, gathered while one is on hands and knees while black flies feast on your neck, are the only blueberries worth eating. Ignore them, or if they come bearing baskets of berries, humor them, in either case know that whether you have wild or cultivated, high or low bush blueberries you are in for a tasty treat with the added health benefits of eating local, fresh fruit.
I put a large bowl of berries into the refrigerator and filled plastic bags with the remaining unwashed berries and froze them. The protective gray-white ‘bloom’ protects the berries so I don’t wash them until I am ready to serve or cook them.
With our friends Annie and Andy coming for a two-day visit I decided to make muffins to greet them when they arrived at mid-night.
Here’s how I made them. … read more
May 24th, 2009 / Comments
In order to keep the plant producing, I need to harvest regularly and break off flower stalks as they appear.
Rather than making stewed or roasted rhubarb or a pie with today’s harvest, I decided to make rhubarb bread. It’s easy to make and lovely with a pot of hot tea in the evening or as light breakfast with a steamy cup of coffee.
Although I’ve posted a painting of an egg beater, all you need to make this cake is a large stirring spoon, a knife to cut the rhubarb and nuts, and a mixing bowl. Here’s how I made it:/donotprint] … read more
