This one is good for everyone, but especially for the parents out there. Chicken soup is a good thing to make if you have a kid for a couple of reasons. First, apparently it’s medicine or something because you are supposed to eat it when you are sick. And if you have a kid, you are sick all the time. Before we had a kid, I never got sick and Elizabeth got sick even more never than me. Now, in the past couple years, I’ve had that cruise ship thing twice (sucks) and swine flu once (all hype) and a bunch of other minor illnesses. [Read more…]
Ginger Ice Cream with Black Pepper & Orange Zest
Warming and spicy, this homemade ginger and black pepper ice cream is lovely by itself or alongside richer desserts.
pear crisp with nutmeg
I’m pretty sure this is a crisp. The oats differentiate it from a crumble which usually just has flour, butter and sugar. I am positive it’s not a cobbler, which would be topped with a leavened crust. Though it’s now considered a standard in American and British baking, the crumble didn’t appear in a cookbook until 1924. Thank you Wikipedia. Now we know.
It takes a lot of dishes to make a crisp, but it doesn’t require the time or skill of a pie. A crisp can be thrown together and baked quickly, and besides that, it really does the fruit justice. Despite it’s near perfect flavor the crisp, and especially the crumble, are humble and not terribly photogenic.
Make this for company–crisps are as easy to consume as to make.
Adjust the lemon juice according to the flavor of your fruit. More lemon for sweeter fruit and less for tart. And then less sugar for a sweeter fruit and more for a tart fruit. It can be hard to wait, but let the pan cool for at least 20 minutes (an hour is better). Because the dish is fairly sweet, serve with barely sweetened whipped cream.
Pear Crisp with Nutmeg
for the fruit
8 small bartlett pears, cored and cut into 1/2″ slices
1 macintosh apple, cored and cut into 1/2″ slices
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
pinch of ground cloves
big pinch of salt
for the crisp
2 sticks cold butter diced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large (13″ x 9″) baking dish with the leftover butter wrappers. In a large bowl, toss the fruit with the sugar, flour, zest, juice and spices. Set aside.
In a mixer fitted with a paddle, or with your fingers, mix the butter and sugar, and then the oats and flour. Stir until just until the ingredients are combined, into penny-sized chunks.
Pour the fruit into the dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle on the topping and bake for 50 minutes, or until the topping is browned and bubble, or crisp. Cool and serve.
pickle butter
Until a week ago I’d never even heard of pickle butter. But once I had heard of it, I could not stop thinking about it. I mean, pickles and butter–they were meant to be together.
Last Saturday, Brian and I stopped into Saltie, a new eatery very near our apartment. Saltie is a little place with amazing food. We ordered three sandwiches and some bread pudding, though it was really hard to pass up the apple tartlettes. Saltie’s menu and general approach to food was really impressive. I found the flavors interesting and classic and will definitely be back. My sandwich had pickle butter, gruyere and crisp green pickled tomatoes neatly assembled atop the best sandwich roll ever. Their bread is no joke.
The pickle butter brightened the sandwich considerably, and later proved to be a culinary brianworm, much like the BLT. This type of brainworm is probably less appealing to the masses, but I have a deeply held love of pickles, raw onions and butter. And the beauty of pickle butter is that it allows you to spread the onion and pickle flavor evenly across your sandwich or toast instead of having it all fall off onto your plate or lap or original copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Pickle butter is only as good as the pickles used, so don’t skimp. We buy our pickles from the Lancaster-based Millport Dairy in the Union Square Farmer’s Market. Their sweet dill pickles are seriously amazing. I told the lady at the stand one day that her pickles were the best I have ever had and she said,”A lot of people say that.”
(Saltie’s pickle butter)
(My pickle butter)
Pickle Butter
1/2 stick extremely soft unsalted butter (leave it out overnight or rest it on a hot stovetop for a while, but don’t melt it – that breaks down the butter and changes it’s spreadibility).
3 – 4 tablespoons finely diced, preferably amazing, pickle slices
2 tablespoons finely diced red onion or shallot
salt to taste
Combine the ingredients and spead on some toast or an awesome ham sandwich. I pretty much ate my batch right away, but this would certainly be the kind of thing that would get better over time. I would keep it around for a week or so.
concord grape ice cream
This homemade concord grape ice cream recipe captures the essence and bold flavors of concord grapes beautifully.
