For years I’ve yearned to visit the Galápagos Islands, that archipelago of isolation that sits 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. These are the islands where Charles Darwin landed in 1835. While the Galápagos Islands are recognized for the theories they launched, today they are more famous for the inhabitants.
Unfortunately, life has always nudged a Galápagos trip to the back of the bus. While I don’t often give into it, aging and the hesitancy to travel alone have begun to rear their ugly heads. Perhaps the endangered Galápagos tortoises and I would never meet. It just wasn’t happening.
Peach Ice Cream by David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop
A month ago, the stars aligned. I was asked to join 15 others for an 11-day December Origins of the Species Adventure to the Galápagos. We’d be traveling aboard an 144’ vessel called the Integrity. Within a week I’d agreed, booked a flight to Quito, Ecuador, and dusted off my passport.
However, there is one huge hiccup about this trip which we need to discuss.
Miss Colorado Peach 2015
First, let’s talk peaches. Since the prime season for our Colorado peaches is short, I’m greedy and, each week, buy big. I think this week’s show-stoppers are worth sharing. This week-end, why not try Brown Butter-Peach Tourte by Dorie Greenspan or David Lebovitz’s Peach Ice Cream.
Dorie’s tourte is peaches, butter and crust. C’est tout. There’s little sugar or flour and only a dab of vanilla and lemon juice. The delish is a result of the butter which simmers until it turns ‘fragrant and is golden browned to a caramel flavor.’ When your cut-up peach chunks swim in this, it’s heavenly.
Because of the butter, the top crust, sprinkled with sugar, gets browner, melting as it bakes. Here’s where you can be creative, simplify the process or bake to your taste. Since the magic of this dessert is the filling, the crust is your choice. Choose a sweet tart dough, pie dough (no shame in store-bought) or a strudel concoction. This delight is in the filling.
Memories were made from lazy summer days when we helped make hand-cranked peach ice cream. Magic, right? Lebovitz created the simplest stone fruit ice cream recipe I could find. It’s delicious. I know that because I enjoyed most of it myself. After making the mixture and refrigerating it to cool overnight, I found I needed unexpected oral surgery. (I will spare you the 2-day play-by play.) When I returned home, there was very little I could eat. I remembered Lebovitz mentioning this peach ice cream ‘is indeed best when spooned right out of the machine, just moments after it’s been churned.’
I followed David’s advice and poured the chilled mixture into my ice cream maker. Thirty minutes later I was standing at my kitchen counter, drowning my sorrows with this delicious ice cream. For the past two days it’s been my comfort food. With 2/3 of the quart gone, I’m definitely on the mend.
And, that’s important, because I need to be in top form to deal with the hurdle in my upcoming Galápagos trip. From the Brochure’s Itinerary: 11:00 am Snorkeling: The group usually snorkels once every day. You may be out for 30 minutes to an hour, and may even have two opportunities to snorkel in one day.
Snorkeling and swimming are an important part of this journey. The problem is, I don’t. While I can probably dog paddle and keep myself afloat, I don’t swim. My face in the water, nooooo. Twenty years ago Michael paid major money for my private snorkeling lesson in Hawaii. I was doing fine, being attentive and preparing to walk into the Pacific when my instructor said, “And, if you begin to hyperventilate, here’s what you do.”
Alarmed, I immediately laid my equipment on the sandy beach and left, leaving my husband a bit perturbed. (There were times that man was a saint.) Please understand, I am not proud of this and am determined to jump into those waters and swim with whoever wants to join me, whether marine iguana, sea lion or turtle. I am (a brave) woman!
FEAR OF WATER – IT’S THE PITS.
To that end, I am reading this book, will buy my snorkeling equipment next week and have the availability of The Gant’s two pools. My sweet friend, Carol Kurt, my naturalist colleague in all things who has just returned from Galápagos, has offered to “learn me.” She is confident and determined. As am I. I have four months. The clock is ticking.
As for now, I’m off to polish off the peach ice cream while I “Learn How To Swim and Snorkel Even if you are Afraid of the Water.”
BROWN BUTTER-PEACH TOURTE by Dorie Greenspan, Baking Chez Moi
INGREDIENTS:
Filling
2 pounds ripe but firm peaches (about 5)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Tiny pinch of fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or a drop of pure almond extract)
Juice of ¼ lemon
Crust
1 partially baked 9- to 9½-inch sweet tart dough crust, cooled
1 12-inch sweet tart dough circle, refrigerated
Sugar, for dusting (I used Turbinado natural cane sugar)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Using your favorite method for peeling and dicing peaches, cut each peach into one-inch chunks. Put the peaches in a strainer, over a bowl, to catch extra juice.
3. Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and allow it to melt and bubble. When it reaches a light caramel color, pull the pan from the heat. If you spot small dark brown spots on the bottom of the pan, that’s fine. You’ll also catch the whiff of warm nuts. After a minute or two, pour the butter over the strained peaches. Add the sugar, flour, salt and vanilla. Gently stir together. Finish with the lemon juice.
4. To assemble the tourte, ut the tart pan on the lined baking sheet. Give the filling another stir and scrape it into the tart shell, smoothing the top. You should have just enough filling to come level with the edges of the crust. Remove the circle of dough from the refrigerator while it’s resting a minute or so, brush the edges of the tart shell with water. Position the circle of dough over the crust. Press the rim with your fingers to glue the two pieces together, pressing on the rim as you go.
5. Use a knife to remove a circle of dough from the center. Brush the surface lightly with cold water and sprinkle generously with sugar.
6. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the crust is deeply golden brown and the butter is bubbling. Transfer the tourte, still on its baking sheet, to a rack and allow it to cool until it’s only just warm or at room temperature before serving. As it cools, the buttery syrup will be reabsorbed by the peaches, which is just what you want—so don’t be impatient.
Storing: You can partially bake the bottom crust up to 8 hours ahead and you can have the top crust rolled out and ready to go ahead of time, but the filling shouldn’t be prepared ahead. Best served the same day but if you’ve got leftovers, refrigerate them. The crust will lose its delicateness, but the dessert will still be satisfying.
PEACH ICE CREAM by David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop
Yield: 1 quart
INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ pounds ripe peaches [about four large peaches]
½ cup water
1/4 cup sugar
½ cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice
DIRECTIONS:
1. Peel the peaches, slice them in half, and remove the pits. Cut the peaches into chunks and cook them with water in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring once or twice, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, stir in the sugar, then cool to room temperature.
3. Purée the cooked peaches and any liquid in a blender or food processor with the sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon juice until almost smooth but slightly chunky.
4. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator and freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Insanely tasty Olive Oil & Maple Granola. Since I am eating this for a hiking snack, I added Pomegranate-infused Dark Chocolate Drops.
Admit it. I can read your mind. You don’t need another insanely tasty granola recipe. Because…1) Granola, not a fave food choice; 2) Already have an insanely tasty granola recipe; or, 3) It’s an easy purchase at your market.
I plead guilty to #3. Have you counted the various granola cereals on sale at your market? (My answer, “Yes.”) When you next visit your grocery store, notice the length of your cereal, bread or tomato products aisle. Here’s a statistic. The bread aisle in a Kansas City Walmart Superstore is 45 feet long and 7 shelves high. I know that because Father Jonathan, my Episcopalian priest, mentioned that factoid in last week’s sermon. He was suggesting we may be spoiled by too many choices. Ya think?
How simple is this recipe? Add the ingredients and stir. That’s it.
That’s why I felt honor bound to share this recipe with you. Because…1) This granola is a guaranteed palate-pleaser; 2) This may become your only killer granola recipe; and, 3) Here’s a one-choice, healthier, preservative-free, sweet and savory granola.
Ready for roasting – 45 minutes.
Olive Oil & Maple Granola was created by Nekisia Davis of Early Bird Foods. It’s a chosen recipe from Food52 Genius Recipes, 100 Recipes That Will Change The Way You Cook. Since receiving this fabulous cookbook, I’ve made several thumbs-up, successful recipes. Here’s how the writers describe Davis’ granola. “Olive oil, maple, brown sugar and salt form a rich, shaggy crust on a wholesome mix of oats, pecans, coconut shards, and various seeds. It leans sweet but olive oil gives it a savory backbone and salt keeps it from being cloying.”
This recipe makes 7 cups of Granola so I used it plain for ice cream and yogurt topping and morning cereal.
I could name-drop, mentioning the famous people swearing by Davis’ product or the three Michelin star restaurant that sends every diner home with a jar of this goodness. But since the recipe is posted below, I challenge you to purchase what ingredients are not in your pantry and stir a batch together. If you can stir, you can do Olive Oil & Maple Granola. I’ve also suggested many variations, riffs on this recipe, experiments dependent on your taste and your pantry.
Out of the Woods, A Memoir of Wayfinding by Lynn Darling
Life, yours and mine, is also about choices, isn’t it? Last week I read “Out of the Woods, A Memoir of Wayfinding” by Lynn Darling. This memoir is about a woman, a writer, a widow who’s just sent her only child to college. Although she lived in Manhattan throughout her adult life, she feels lost. So she buys a ramshackle cabin in a remote area in Vermont to find herself. She names her digs Castle Dismal.
Darling is a beautiful writer. She has profound thoughts and observations but, to my mind, she’s a woman who was into suffering. That she chose to do this in an uncomfortable environment devoid of friends and family was a choice I wouldn’t have made. I’m not about piling suffering on top of suffering.
Thank You, Jack Canfield
Life is loss. That’s just a sad fact. How we deal with these losses is the difference between residing in Castle Dismal or Castle Joy. I credit my family for steering me towards Castle Joy. Following Michael’s death, in their many “just checking in” phone calls and messages, the advice from my daughter, Melissa, and my brother and sister-in-law was always the same. “This is your time now, Mary,” my brother’s wife, Janie, would say. “You do exactly what you want to do.”
Seriously, those three were broken records. Always the same. Never, “Do this. Do that. You should. You shouldn’t. Go here. Go there.”
Please understand, like all families, there was a subliminal message in those words. It was “Make good choices.” Nevertheless, their advice was liberating for me. Remember the Marlo Thomas song, Free to Be Me?
A Swallow, being a good parent, in its nest.
Fortunately my choices during the past three years have worked brilliantly. Thoreau ‘went to the woods in order to live deliberately, to pare life down to its essential facts.’ I returned to the mountains not only because it was my home but to follow my passions. Cambria, California, was a fortunate stroke of serendipity. Luckily, a wintertime Castle Joy. Since Henderson, Nevada, where we last lived, lies directly between, I can still hold tightly to those who were so good to Michael and me in the most meaningful eight years of my life.
Fast forward, some weeks later, to this juvenile Swallow who is wondering where Mom and Dad are.
No one is more aware than I that tomorrow this comfortable rug of contentment could be snatched out from under me. Then I will make other choices. As for now, I’m standing in my Castle Joy kitchen and urging you to make this granola!
OLIVE OIL & MAPLE GRANOLA by NEKISIA DAVIS, a FOOD52 GENIUS RECIPE
MAKES ABOUT 7 CUPS
INGREDIENTS
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup hulled raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut chips or natural coconut flakes
1 1/4 cup raw pecans, left whole or coarsely chopped
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
Coarse salt (Do NOT skip the salt.)
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 300° F.
2. Place oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut, pecans, syrup, olive oil, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and mix until well combined. Spread granola mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes, until granola is toasted, about 45 minutes.
3. Remove granola from oven and season with more salt to taste. Let cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
TIPS: If you prefer your granola to be clumpy, stir in 4 beaten egg whites before placing in the oven. I added pistachios to my granola.
VARIATIONS: Any seeds (flax, sesame, toasted wheat germ) or nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pistachios) or dried fruit (dates, cherries, cranraisins, candied ginger or banana chips) or spice combos can be substituted in this recipe. The olive oil, maple syrup, and salt trio is key.
How often must I remind myself to not be cocky? Here’s how my personality rolls:
1. Bad stuff happens.
2. Make a plan. Solve that stuff.
3. Move on.
It’s my 1-2-3 approach to Life. Unfortunately it’s never worked particularly as I’d hoped. It’s not the Black and White that’s the problem, there’s all that messy Gray stepping in to clog the process.
Q: Can you identify this darling bird? A: It’s a Black-billed Magpie, a youngster.
Which brings me to June. Michael died three years ago this Sunday, June 28th. Since then, we will all agree, I’ve woven together a wonderful life. Many people who lose spouses, loved ones or partners are not able to do that. For me, really bad stuff happened ending in a sad, unsolvable result. Truthfully, I was then so weary of being brave, part of me wanted to give up. But after my family and countless friends had huddled up and lent support for ten lengthy years, I felt an obligation to find my own Way.
Pistachio Dukka, a traditional Egyptian combination of nuts, seeds and spices, is served with rustic bread and olive oil.
Which brings me to this pesky month of June. In the past three years I’ve begun to happily handle his birthdays, our anniversaries (29) and special occasions. Each of those carry joyful memories that only make me smile. So I do. June 28th, not so easy. I’ve been unable to pull up anything to cause me comfort. Regrettably it’s always a time I feel unsettled and a bubble-off. Hate that.
A bull moose, recently seen at a nearby perserve. Note the family in the nearby pond. Tom Bernard iPhoto
I charged into this month brimming with confidence, determined not to cause my friends or family angst. No whining. This was my pain to conquer. Or, not. Mother Nature and I would be best friends. That’s where I could expend my energy. There was still food to be made and blog posts to be written. I vowed to do it all with a smile on my face, a joyful heart and eight hours of sleep every night. (You jest. It’s important, my friends.) Realizing it’s the anticipation more than the day itself that seems bothersome, I soldiered forth.
New Potato Salad “Tartare” with “soft” hard-boiled eggs, capers, gherkins and fresh herbs.
So, how’d I do. About 65%. Grade B-minus. Let’s call that a win. To honor Michael and for our Cottage Cooking Club this month, I made four mouth-watering recipes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg cookbook. Michael would consider this a dubious tribute. He lived happily on meat, potatoes, Oreos and Hagen-dazs. That I am cooking through Hugh’s book with the Cottage Cooking Club, a group of international food bloggers, would give him pause.
Mama Bluebird is patiently awaiting birth. She was calm during a weekly bluebird box check.
This month I made Tomatoes with Herbs and Goat Cheese, Quick Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta, New Potato Salad Tartare and Pistachio Dukka. As usual with Hugh’s recipes, all were unique and delicious. I’ve posted the dukkah recipe below and will send others upon request.
Quick Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta is perfect to have for lunch, take on a picnic, or share at a potluck supper.
For lunch, I shared the tomato and new potato salads with The Gant’s front office staff. I received two complaints, “not enough” and “day off”. Taken as compliments. The couscous salad traveled to the authors’ picnic potluck on the opening evening of Aspen Summer Words 2015 festival. Not one to name drop, I might mention authors Richard Russo and Andre Dubus both enjoyed my salad. Empty plates. Pistachio Dukka, a twist on the traditional Egyptian combo of nuts, seeds and spices, is a tasty blockbuster and will be my summer hostess gift.
Tomatoes with Herbs and Goat Cheese, a quick and easy salad to be served with cherry, grape, or various heritage tomatoes.
Enjoy these flavorful, healthy dishes and also Mother Nature’s healing photo contributions to my June life. Hooray and Welcome, July!
My first patrol of the 2015 season. (For those of you who’ve remarked you’d pay big money to see me in my USFS uniform, you have my address. )
PISTACHIO DUKKA by Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios
cumin seeds, 1 tbsp
coriander seeds, 1 tbsp
sesame seeds, 3 tbsp
dried chilli flakes, 1 tsp
fresh mint leaves, a small handful (A MUST!)
flaky sea salt, 1 tsp (I used Maldon)
bread and olive oil, to serve
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Scatter the pistachios on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 5 minutes until they are just starting to turn golden. Chop coarsely
3. Dry-fry the cumin and coriander seeds in a frying pan over medium-heat until they release their aroma (about a minute). Transfer to a mini-food processor or mortar and mix together until broken up but not fine. Lightly toast sesame seeds for another minute.
4. Mix everything together. Add chile flakes, chopped mint and salt.
5. Taste to see if mixture needs more salt before serving with crusty artisan bread and olive oil, for dipping.
The dukka will keep for two weeks at room temperature in a screw-top jar. Also try scattering it over grilled veggies, a simple lettuce salad or on “soft hard-boiled” eggs.
Swallows sometimes “borrow” the bluebird boxes to make their own beautiful nests.
The Cottage Cooking Clubis an international online cooking group cooking and learning our way through Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg cookbook. The Club, led by The Kitchen Lioness, is ‘meant to be a project aimed at incorporating more vegetable dishes into our everyday cooking, learning about less known, forgotten or heritage vegetables, trying out new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes, and sharing them with family and friends.’
This Great Blue Heron is more interested in an unsuspecting fish than in my couscous salad.
When I issued my dinner invitation, I said, “Wear Your Lipstick,” and they did. L to R, Steve Chase, Donna Grauer, Donna Chase and the birthday boy, Bernie Grauer.
Since October, 2010, when French Fridays was launched, we Doristas have danced around Dorie Greenspan’s French table. While our jigs were virtual, the 300 recipes she created and we made were delightfully genuine. Now, after 4 1/2 years, it’s kinda shocking to realize I’ve successfully muddled through Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yourscookbook.
Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake by Dorie Greenspan was chosen to be included in Food52’s Genius Recipes cookbook.
To mark this journey’s end, we are all choosing our most treasured recipe. For me, that’s easy. I salute Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake. Admittedly, when I bring this dessert to the table, no one is impressed. This rather plain Jane, single-layer cake has no WOW factor…until you take the first bite. As one dinner guest exclaimed recently, “This is the real deal.”
The apple cake batter, in its springform pan, home before it visits the oven.
It gets better. Last April, FOOD52, an award-winning community-based cooking site, published a cookbook, Genius Recipes, 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook. That’s a heavyweight moniker for any cookbook but it’s become a New York Times bestseller. Here’s the kicker. Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake by Ms. Greenspan is one of the 17 chosen desserts. I rest my case.
THE BOOK
The completion of this 4 1/2-year effort called for a celebratory dinner. Since friend Bernie Grauer’s birthday dovetailed with this completion, I planned a small party. “It’s a Genius Dinner,” I told my friends. “Wear your lipstick,” I requested.
Here’s the menu with links to the recipes, all taken from FOOD52’s Genius Recipes, 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook:
The beef brisket is ready for the oven, to cook, and cook, and cook some more.
What I can say about this evening is it was bittersweet and delicious and hilarious. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Grauers and Chases, for making it so.
Doesn’t every milestone beg to be remembered? My artist friend, Ellie Gould, who was just elected president of the Arizona Watercolor Society, did just that. This week I received two gorgeous watercolors of the AMFT cookbook cover and yours truly in a chef’s coat. Already at the framer. Merci mille fois, Ellie.
Chicken In A Pot is the cookbook cover of Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Watercolor by Ellie Gould.
It is with a heavy but grateful heart that I wrap up this French Fridays experience. Dorie and my Dorista colleagues unwittingly helped me rebuild my life. At a time when my only goal was to survive each day, this blog thing and French Fridays came along. Writing and cooking, what could be better? Crazy as it may seem, having to create a post every week insisted upon organization and structure. Michael and I were in a decade-long battle without an end game, no light at the end of any tunnel. For me, completing a post each week was a goal, an accomplishment and fun.
Some of the French Fridays gals who attended the 2013 International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle.
As I’ve said often, during the past four years this French Fridays gang has become more than a virtual community for me. Whether it was rallying around Dorie, the perfect mix of cooks with a common interest, a fortunate accident of serendipity or just my perception, I cannot say. The French Fridays group has been magic. What lies ahead in each of our virtual worlds, no one knows. In the real world, however, I’ve made wonderful friends and those relationships will continue.
We all love Dorie and I think that she loves us back. International Food Bloggers Conference 2013
Let me end with an appreciative nod to an unheralded group of supporters who always “wear their lipstick.” All my French Fridays colleagues have spouses, partners, kids or extended families living nearby who need to be fed and nourished every day. Since I am single, my reality is whether I put a meal on the table or not makes no difference. Wanting to join French Fridays but not wanting to waste the food I make every week, I’ve relied on others.
It was great fortune that my Henderson, Nevada neighbors were foodies. Lawyer Michele Morgando, also a judge, also a graduate of the Culinary School at The Art Institute of Las Vegas, was (and, still is) my tutor. Ray Dillon and Dominick Prudenti, such great friends to the Hirschs, once owned a successful deli in New York. Adriana Scrima, Sicilian by birth, cooks with an Old World flair. Fresh. Local. Homemade. Many Nevada friends jumped in to help when I began my blog. Failure was not an option. I miss you all.
It all began in Henderson, Nevada with L to R: Adriana, Dominick, Ray, Bobby (Adriana’s husband) and Michele.
In closing, it’s no coincidence that the three ladies pictured below were featured in my last posts. When I moved back to Aspen, Coeur à la Crème was the first French Fridays recipe choice. Holy Moley. Donna Grauer offered, as she has many times, to help. A dinner gathering, with contributions by Charlotte McLain and Donna Chase, followed. This sparked a realization that maybe food blogging could create the social life I desired here. “Wear your Lipstick,” became my watchword. Thanks, friends.
Charlotte and the Donna Deux, February 2013
Coeur à la Crème, my first French Fridays with Dorie post from Aspen. February 2013
“People who love to eat are always the best people.” Julia Childs
Celebrating French Fridays with Dorie, a watercolor by Ellie Gould
Our springtime weather, disconcerting as it may be, translates into lessened fire danger and a healthier forest. That’s why, here in the mountains, this is our weary mantra. It’s been a soggy, snowy, chilly April/May in the Rockies. Think mud. Memo to Denver, Las Vegas and L.A.:As agreed, we’re shipping you our precious water but could you use a little restraint, please?
This tiny White-Breasted Nuthatch and it’s mate are year-round residents in the old-growth cottonwood tree standing next to my balcony. Although nuthatches do know up from down, their preferred direction is climbing head-down.
This weather has dovetailed nicely into what I’ve chosen to make for this month’s Cottage Cooking Club. My food-blogging colleagues and I share inspired veggie dishes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg cook book. My choices, Spinach, Penne and Cheese “Spoufflé” and Pearled Barley Broth, will tickle a bud or two. Guaranteed.
PEARLED BARLEY BROTH, really a substantial soup, is a winner from River Cottage Veg cookbook.
I’m also sharing with you a glimpse of this resort community as you’ve probably never seen it. This is always a time when tourists are few, Aspen is under construction and flora and fauna begin to whisper, “Hey, remember us? ”
You thought the view from my balcony was Aspen Mountain? Not.
When I hear the first wing buzz and sharp chirp of the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, I hang up my feeders. This astounding creature, weighing about 13 oz., can enter a protective torpor, by slowing its heart rate and dropping its body temperature, if our weather is abnormally cold.
The beautiful Pasqueflower is a welcomed harbinger of spring.
The Downy woodpecker is our smallest, has a very short bill and was too busy to be bothered by yours truly.
The painters arrived at The Gant in early April and are still here because the weather has not cooperated with their time schedule. At one point, while painting my D-Building, they needed to cover my windows/doors and tape me into my condo. Let me just say, Man Caves are overrated.
Here’s a view down valley of Sopris Mountain from the top of Smuggler Mountain, a typical Aspen day this spring.
Our mule deer are molting and look a little scruffy right now.
Remember those baby goslings from a few posts ago? They are growing up.
Elk migration is taken very seriously in these mountains. Their pathways are protected by numerous signage and limited speeds. When I first returned here two years ago I payed a hefty fine for speeding during the migration season. Learned my lesson.
On Memorial Day the local military association remembered to also honor the 38 Civil War veterans laid to rest in the historic Ute Cemetery located in The Gant’s backyard.
A well-recognized rite of springtime is graduation. Having never attended an Aspen High School graduation, tomorrow I’ll be sitting front and center at the Aspen Music tent to watch young Cav O’Leary receive his diploma. It was a wonderful day for Michael and me when the Texas O’Leary family moved to Aspen and our neighborhood. Then I will be deadheading to Bishop, California, where, next week, Emma will be graduating from 8th grade. Her Mother and I, always quick with the tears, will be shedding a few. Emma will be mortified.
Cav O’Leary, Aspen High Graduation Class 2015
Emma, 8 years old, Black Mountain, Henderson, Nevada. (When Emma once visited me in Henderson, I “made her” hike up Black Mountain. It was high noon and in the 90s. I know, what was I thinking? Emma has never forgiven me, her parents were not happy and she has never visited me “alone” again. Lesson learned.)
Ahhh, Springtime.
Spinach, Penne & Cheese Spoufflé by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg cookbook
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 onion finely cut
3 1/2 oz. penne or similar shaped pasta
A little canola or olive oil
9 oz. spinach
3 1/2 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
6 1/2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
3 oz. mature Cheddar, finely grated
A little freshly grated nutmeg
3 large eggs, separated, plus 1 extra egg white
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and put a baking sheet in to heat up. Liberally butter a 6-cup soufflé dish. TIP: I halved the recipe and used a smaller dish.
2. Put the milk, bay leaf, onion and peppercorns into a small saucepan, bring to just below a simmer, turn off the heat and leave to infuse.
3. Bring a pan of well-salted water to boil. Add the penne to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain well and add a bit of oil to stop sticking together.
4. Cook the spinach, with just the water clinging to it after washing, in a large covered pan over a medium heat until wilted – just a few minutes. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out the liquid with your hands, then roughly chop the spinach. TIP: I used chopped, frozen spinach.
5. Re-heat the infused milk, then strain. Heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, stir in the flour to form a roux (paste) and cook for a few minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the milk slowly to the roux and keep stirring until you have a thick béchamel sauce.
6. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cheese, nutmeg, chopped spinach, and some salt and pepper. Beat in the egg yolks, then fold in the cooked penne.
7. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks. Stir a spoonful into the Bechamél Sauce mixture to loosen it and then fold in the rest. Fold into the buttered dish and place on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until well risen and golden. TIP: Top with sour cream, yogurt or crème fraîche sprinkled with nutmeg and serve immediately.
If you wish the recipe for Pearled Barley Broth (really a substantial soup), just ask. The Cottage Cooking Club is an international online cooking group cooking and learning our way through Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “River Cottage Veg“ cookbook. The Club, led by The Kitchen Lioness, is ‘meant to be a project aimed at incorporating more vegetable dishes into our everyday cooking, learning about less known, forgotten or heritage vegetables,trying out new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes, and sharing them with family and friends.’
This is a toque-worthy day in our French Fridays with Dorie world. With this week’s mouthwatering recipe, our group will have literally cooked-the-book. The cookbook is “Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours” by the incomparable Dorie Greenspan. What began in October 2010 with Gougères, those exquisite pâte à choux pastry puffs flavored with Gruyère cheese, is ending with Chicken in a Pot, the Garlic and Lemon version. So happens, it’s featured on AMFT’s cover.
Chicken in a Pot – the veggies are prepared and then tossed in a large skillet for a sauté.
To observe this remarkable milestone I planned an intimate dinner to acknowledge another remarkable milestone, a very special birthday. However, there were some caveats:
1. Since Chicken in a Pot is not a particularly simple recipe, I would need sous chef assistance.
2. Once fully cooked, the seal on the Chicken in a Pot needs to be broken with a screwdriver!
3. Like many occasions at my table, this would be a Lights on Bright blog post. Wear lipstick.
4. Having never made this recipe before, it might be a disaster. My back-up choice, frozen pizza.
After the chicken is browned on all sides, it joins its veggie friends for a roast in the oven.
I called my friend, Charlotte McLain, and asked if she and the birthday boy, her husband, Michael, were free for dinner. I explained we would be cooking the cover recipe of my AMFT cookbook. Besides being a professional musician, Charlotte is an extraordinary chef. She happily accepted my invite. We made a plan.
The homemade dough is rolled out, stretched into a long rope and secured around the pot. To save time, I used fresh pizza dough from Whole Foods.
Charlotte mixed together a red cabbage, kale, broccoli, raisins and nuts slaw.
Eventually I explained the screwdriver thing to her, suggesting that I hoped the pot wouldn’t blow when the seal was broken. She chuckled, kinda. We decided, at tool time, Michael would be in charge. Her husband, a Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, is a fun guy and a very good sport.
READY!
Michael Hirsch’s old, old screwdriver, sterilzed and embellished.
Our unforgettable evening, one for the memory book, can best be told through photos. Michael insisted on choosing a superb wine and brought his last bottle of 2005 Willenborg Pinot Noir. The birthday dessert was Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake, my favorite Dorie/AMFT sweet treat. The recipe for the chicken is below. I’ve linked to the apple cake recipe.
To be truthful, Michael and Charlotte are a little apprehensive.
Not knowing what was going to happen, do you notice something missing. Glasses, perhaps?
Michael is rethinking being a good sport. Charlotte just steps back.
C’est Manifique.
Chicken in a Pot, the Garlic and Lemon version.
CHICKEN IN A POT, THE GARLIC AND LEMON VERSION by Dorie Greenspan,
Serves 6 – 8
INGREDIENTS:
½ preserved lemon, rinsed well
1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and each cut into 8 same-sized pieces (you can use white potatoes, if you prefer)
16 small white onions, yellow onions, or shallots
8 carrots, trimmed, peeled, and quartered
4 celery stalks, trimmed, peeled, and quartered
4 garlic heads, cloves separated but not peeled
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 thyme sprigs
3 parsley sprigs
2 rosemary sprigs
1 chicken, about 4 pounds, preferably organic, whole or cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
1 cup chicken broth
½ cup dry white wine
For the Dough:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup hot water
(To save myself some time, I used fresh store-bought pizza dough from Whole Foods to seal the pot.)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
2. Using a paring knife, slice the peel from the preserved lemon and cut it into small squares. Discard the pulp.
3. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan, drop in the peel, and cook for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the vegetables and garlic, season with salt and pepper and sauté until vegetables are brown on all sides. (If necessary, do this in 2 batches.) Spoon vegetables into a 4½- to 5-quart Dutch oven or other pot with a lid and stir in the herbs and the preserved lemon.
5. Return the skillet to the heat and add another tablespoon of olive oil. Brown the chicken on all sides, seasoning it with salt and pepper as it cooks.
6. Tuck chicken into the casserole, surrounding it with the vegetables.
7. Mix together the broth, wine, and the remaining olive oil and pour over the chicken and vegetables.
8. For the Dough, put 1½ cups flour in a medium bowl and add enough hot water to make a malleable dough. Dust a work surface with a little flour, turn out the dough, and, working with your hands, roll the dough into a sausage.
Place the dough on the rim of the pot — if it breaks, just piece it back together — and press the lid onto the dough to seal the pot.
10. Slide the pot into the oven and bake for 55 minutes.
11. Now you have a choice — you can break the seal in the kitchen or do it at the table, where it’s bound to make a mess, but where everyone will have the pleasure of sharing that first fragrant whiff as you lift the lid with a flourish. Whether at the table or in the kitchen, the best tool to break the seal is the least attractive: a screwdriver. Sterilize the screwdriver. Use the point of the screwdriver as a lever to separate the lid from the dough.
12. Depending on whether your chicken was whole or cut up, you might have to do some in-the-kitchen carving, but in the end, you want to make sure that the vegetables and the delicious broth are on the table with the chicken.
SERVING:
If the chicken is cut up, you can just serve it and the vegetables from the pot. If the chicken is whole, you can quarter it and return the pieces to the pot or arrange the chicken and vegetables on a serving platter. Either way, you don’t need to serve anything else but some country bread, which is good for spreading with the sweet garlic popped from the skins and dunking into the cooking broth. A pot at the table is because it makes for easy dipping.
FRENCH FRIDAYS with DORIE is a wonderful virtual group of food bloggers who have cooked their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table Cookbook. To see the other Dorista’s efforts this week, go to our FFWD link.
