Strawberry & rhubarb cobbler

I  was raised in the Pacific Northwest. In South Eastern Washington State. When I was a kid, we lived in an old victorian house in Yakima, Washington.  I remember the alley that ran behind my house as a real special place. It seemed that every yard had fresh raspberries or blackberries growing along the fence line and all you had to do was walk the alley and pick  and eat the berries to your hearts delight.  One of our neighbors, an older couple about two doors down were Christian Missionaries. The Knotsons (I think that's the correct spelling. It's been 30+ years) were often gone for long periods of time. Their back yard was wild. But not in the bad sense. It was more of a free form garden. But since then were traveling a lot, the wall of berries they had growing in their yard was always a great place to hunt for fresh berries. The plants cascaded over the wood fence and into the alley. You just had to beat the birds to the ripest berries.

  Some of my favorite memories are of my mom in the kitchen. She canned, pickled, juiced and preserved so many different things. From homemade pickles to jams.
There were times in the late spring to early summer that our entire family gathered and went on road trips up to the coast. Either up north near the Seattle area or out west towards Portland. Grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles all wandered around with 5 gallon buckets and collected fresh black berries and raspberries that grew wild just off the roadside or along park trails. We would come home with black or red stained fingers and more than a fair share of thorn pricks.  But it was well worth the effort. My mom would turn her bounty into jellies and jams, or she would lay out the berries and individually freeze the berries so that she could make pies with them.

So when it comes to desserts I have always been partial to berries and fresh fruit. I'll take a pie over a piece of cake anyway.  But when you cook for people who are very weight and calorie conscience, you cant just back a whole pie and send it for two people. The better option is cobblers and crisps.

This week I found some good looking fresh rhubarb at the grocery store and I knew right away I wanted to do something special with it.
I chose a strawberry rhubarb cobbler.

A few years ago I stopped using flour or cornstarch as a thickener for my pies and fruit desserts. I read an article about tapioca and when I tried it for the first time, I found it was a great thickening agent. It is a more refined form of starch and it gives my desserts a much nicer texture. I started by reading the box of tapioca to get a sense of how much it would take to properly thicken my cobbler. But since I was not making a full pie I was a bit concerned that if I didn't have it just right, that the filling would be loose and runny. So I chose to make the filling first.

I used frozen strawberries and I put them in a sauce pan. I began to warm them slowly on the stove until their juices began to thaw. It always surprising how much juice is released. As the berries warmed and let go of their juices. I cleaned and sliced the rhubarb into chunks. and set it aside.  Then before the berries could break down completely, I used a slotted spoon to remove them from the sauce. I set them aside to cool and to the pan I then added my tapioca. I have found that if you don't give the tapioca time to activate before you back your pies, it doesn't dissolve all the way. Your finished product has these little bits of uncooked tapioca. Its very unpleasant. So I knew that it might take some time to simmer and cook the tapioca before it melted completely. To tame the heat and keep the mixture from scorching, I put a heavy cast iron pan down onto the burner, warmed it and then set my pan of strawberry juice and tapioca pearls onto the cast iron pan. That way I had a much slower and even heat. It took about an hour of slow simmering and occasional stirring before the mixture thickened properly and the starch dissolved completely. Then I added the berries and the rhubarb to the thickened sauce and cooked them slightly. I added sugar to taste. I like my fillings to be a bit tart.  I don't like heavy sugared fillings. I want you to know they are handmade and not some cheap canned pie filling. I want you to taste the fruit. Once the filling was done, I pulled it off the heat to cool and added a pinch of salt and a good tablespoon or so fresh lemon juice.

Then ass the filling cooled slightly I made my topping. For this, I actually used a a real recipe. I did not want to risk making a mistake by eye balling the amounts like I did with the fruit.

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
•  This is a basic biscuit dough type method: sift and whisk the dry
• cut the butter into the dough with a pastry knife or do like I did and pulse it in a food processor. Pour the dough into a work bowl and add the wet. Mix gently to pull the dough into a cohesive dough. Roll out onto a floured surface. Then use a cookie cutter or knife to cut into your sizes and shapes to fit your needs.

I used a cookie cutter for mine. I made them to size for each of my 8 oz ramekins. I buttered the inside of each ramekin, added the filling and topped each with a biscuit. I brushed the tops with a bit of cream and sprinkled them with a touch of sugar.  I placed them onto a cookie sheet and baked them at 375 for about 40 minutes. Just till the biscuit topping was golden brown and the filling was bubbling.

That's it. Simple and easy. The biscuit topping came out fantastic. Like a cross between a sugar cookie and a sweet biscuit. It was soft and tender and had just a hint of sweetness. it was a wonderful contrast between the silky smooth filling and complimented the flavor of the tart fruit.

It was all I could do to take the time to photograph them and not put the camera down and tear into them.

its well worth the effort.

Enjoy

Meatloaf, no, not the one on Celebrity Apprentice

Individual meatloaf with a well formed in the top to hold gravy and whipped potatoes

There is nothing I like more than a good meatloaf. It's of my favorite comfort foods. The problem has always been that I have never had a real recipe. it's always been a little of this and a little of that… it's usually not the same  from one time to the next.  So to fix that, I have been trying to really find the ingredients and methods I like the most from all the recipes I have tried to make mine more consistent. For a turkey meatloaf, I found that Ina Garten's simple recipe of sautéed onion, dried thyme, worcestershire sauce and tomato paste to be a winner. I have seen recipes for meatloaf with 20 ingredients or more.  They are complex and silly, over done and unappealing. I like simplicity  and Ina's basic recipe is  even a great carry over for a beef meatloaf.  The only additions I make are tons of fresh garlic and to spice mine up just a bit, I roast a large red bell pepper over a gas flame;  peel and dice it up and add it to the mix. Then of course you have the usually additions: a bit of bread crumbs and a egg or two and salt and pepper. I never really measure anything, just play it by ear and by eye. To be sure that I have the seasoning just right, I usually sear off a small piece to taste. Once I know its perfect, i free form shape the loaf on a sheet tray, slather on a glaze of brown mustard, ketchup, brown sugar and… well, whatever looks right at the time and then bake it. 


I always make at least double of what I need. There are few left overs that I like. I am not a big fan of day or two leftovers. But with meatloaf, I make it more for the cold leftover meatloaf sandwiches on the following day than I make it for the meal the night its fresh and warm.

Champagne mangos with Sriracha sauce and fresh lime.

Mangos are my favorite fruit. From fresh to sorbets and salsas, I eat tons of mangos throughout the year. I recently saw this recipe on a television show and I knew that I had to try it.  I found the smaller Champagne Mangos at Sunflower markets, and they were fully ripe and delicious.

I peel the mango first, then take off the meat with a sharp knife. I cut the fruit into thin strips and then dressed it with Sriracha sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. The flavor is incredible. I sat and ate the whole bowl with my fingers. The next day I made this recipe again but this time I used the mango salad when I made rice paper wraps. I  filled the wraps with the mango and grilled chicken, veggies, mint and rice noodles.  They were absolutely delicious. The mango was spicy and sweet. Combined with the chicken and the crisp veggies… it was perfect.

Fresh citrus salad

The Citrus fruit at the market today looked so wonderful. I knew that I wanted to send a plated salad to the house.
With tangelos and blood oranges still in season, it certainly made the salad colorful and tasty.
I made a tangerine lime simple syrup to dress tanned glaze the fruit.

Cod Cakes

Trying to find healthy food for work is often a challenge. Neither person I cook for will eat pork, outside of the occasional piece of bacon. But that has to be so over cooked that its almost blackened and I can get away with sending bacon maybe once or twice a year.
We we have a pretty set routine for menus. Monday is "X". Tuesday is "Y" etc.. So I often have to find new ways to present the same proteins. This cod cake recipe was a very simple recipe. I try to use only the best fish and natural, flavorful ingredients.
I found beautiful "True Cod"  fillets at Whole Foods and I knew I wanted to do something special with them.

I took the skinless fillets and processed them lightly in a food processor. Then in a mixing bowl I combined the fish with fresh lemon juice and zest, fresh parsley, a touch of mayo to hold them together, a small amount of homemade bread crumbs, thin sliced green onions salt and pepper and just a pinch or two of Old Bay seasoning and one small egg yolk. I formed the patties. Gently shaping them without compacting them to much. I lightly tossed them in seasoned flour and then set them aside for about an hour in the fridge. I wanted them to rest and become a more cohesive mass.

I made one small cake, and I sautéed it in a nonstick skillet to assure that the flavors were correct and to make sure I didn't need to adjust anything. Once I knew that the flavor was perfect, I sautéed the rest of the cakes. medium low heat. A pat of butter and a little bit of olive oil.

I made a light sauce for them by combining mayo with fresh parsley, lemon juice and zest, black pepper and salt and a couple cloves of garlic. I put them all in a food processor and just gave it a few short pulses.  It's a light, fresh sauce. Packed with flavor and compliments the fish very nicely.

I served the Cod cakes on a bed of sautéed baby spinach and a warm lentil salad. The lentils were cooked al dente and then tossed in a light olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette.

A perfect dish for a light meal or served as a first course.

Sloe Gin Fiz: a classic cocktail worth a second look, and taste!

This truly classic cocktail, made from infusing Sloe or blackthorn berries, with gin or other neutral grain spirits, is a favorite of western Europe. Large hedge rolls of Blackthorn berries are common in England, where the people pick the berries and then mix them with spirits, and allow them to ferment until the liquor is infused with the wonderful flavors of the fresh berry. It's not common here in the country, the berry or the liquor and when I am looking to find a bottle, I often have to search several liquor stores for it. When I find one, its usually a last bottle, on a bottom shelf covered in dust. Which is a real shame. This is an absolutely incredible cocktail and I hope you try one.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

There have been many times in the past where I scanned thru a recipe for chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, but I never really got around to  making it.  In theory they all sounded good, I but I noticed that almost always  the chicken was essentially stewed in a closed moist environment and I personally don't n like rubbery chicken skin.
  I recently saw Ina Garten make a similar recipe and I looked at it and had decided that if I was going to make this recipe, that her recipe and method would be the one I would follow.

Then this week, while looking through the recipes from another source I came across this particular method. The first thing I noticed was the dark, crisp skin on the finished product. Separating the cooking methods, and not sealing the chicken in a pot seemed to solve the big issue I had with all the other recipes.

The first step of buying a great all organic chicken, cutting it up and then letting the pieces rest in a simple brine meant that the chicken would remain moist throughout the cooking process.
Secondly, roasting the garlic prior to adding it to the chicken and sauce meant that the final dish would have a much more complex and deep flavor. Better than just tossing 40+ cloves of garlic into a pot with the  chicken.

To get the great dark, crisp skin the chicken is browned on the stovetop over medium high heat. Once the chicken has that gorgeous golden color, they are taken out of the pan and the extra fat is removed. Good quality chicken stock and dry vermouth is used to deglaze the pan. The pre-roasted garlic and shallots are put back into the pan and the chicken pieces are set down onto the garlic. The upper half of the chicken is kept up out of the sauce. The whole pan is then put back into a 450 degree over for another 12-15 minutes. Just until the internal temp  of the chicken reaches 165 degrees. Then the chicken is taken out of the pan and set aside to rest. The garlic and shallots are strained from the sauce, pressing gently to extract as much of the liquid as possible, but not enough to crush the cloves. 10 of the cloves are removed and set aside and then they are are  pushed through a sieve or minced into a paste and whisked back in to the sauce. 2 tablespoons of butter are whisked into the sauce, one tablespoon at a time  to make sure the butter is well incorporated and finally  just a  touch of fresh  parsley is stirred in just for color.

The garlic cloves and chicken are presented on a platter and the sauce can be served in a gravy boat on the side, or like I did; I just served the whole dish family style and poured the sauce over the chicken.

Although there is a 30 minute brine required for the recipe, this is an easy and quick recipe and I hope you get a chance to try it. Don't be scared of the amount of garlic in this recipe. Its actually very mellow and sweet. Its not over powering.

very simple, ingredients yet a very complex and wonderful flavor

• 1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks) and trimmed of excess fat.
•   Ground black pepper
• 3 large heads garlic (about 8 ounces), outer papery skins removed, cloves separated and unpeeled
• 2 medium shallots , peeled and quartered pole to pole
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
• 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 1/2 pound organic, all natural chicken

Prior to roasting

30 minutes at 400 degrees, covered. Then
10 minutes longer uncovered. I think I actually
added another 8-10 minutes overall.

8 pieces of chicken, prior to brining

a 30 minute brine

• 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve 1/4-cup salt in 2 quarts cold tap water in large container or bowl; submerge chicken pieces in brine and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 30 minutes. Rinse chicken pieces under running water and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides of chicken pieces with pepper.
• 2. Meanwhile, toss garlic and shallots with 2 teaspoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in 9-inch pie plate; cover tightly with foil and roast until softened and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking pan once to toss contents after 15 minutes (foil can be left on during tossing). Uncover, stir, and continue to roast, uncovered, until browned and fully tender, 10 minutes longer, stirring once or twice. Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.
• 3. Using kitchen twine, tie together thyme, rosemary, and bay; set aside. Heat remaining 1-teaspoon oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; swirl to coat pan with oil. Brown chicken pieces skin-side down until deep golden, about 5 minutes; using tongs, turn chicken pieces and brown until golden on second side, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate and discard fat; off heat, add vermouth, chicken broth, and herbs, scraping bottom of skillet with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Set skillet over medium heat, add garlic/shallot mixture to pan, then return chicken, skin-side up, to pan, nestling pieces on top of and between garlic cloves.
• 4. Place skillet in oven and roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers about 160 degrees, 10 to 12 minutes. If desired, increase heat to broil and broil to crisp skin, 3 to 5 minutes. Using potholders or oven mitts, remove skillet from oven and transfer chicken to serving dish. Remove 10 to 12 garlic cloves to mesh sieve and reserve; using slotted spoon, scatter remaining garlic cloves and shallots around chicken and discard herbs. With rubber spatula push reserved garlic cloves through sieve and into bowl; discard skins. Add garlic paste to skillet. Bring liquid to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally to incorporate garlic; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in butter; pour sauce into sauceboat and serve.