Admiral Tucker's San Juan Blue Margarita

We're all headed up to the San Juans for what might just be the best vacation ever. Our friend Tucker is taking us out on the 46' Esprit de Mer. We'll be sailing around the San Juans taking in the sights and living the good life. Not bad.

For this weekend we came up with a signiture cocktail in honor of our Captian. I love margaritas, but they can be kind of messy to make. The last thing I wanted was a sticky cabin full of lime juice and simple syrup. The nice thing about this recipe is that it uses Blue Curacao which replaces the need for simple syrup. So one less chance to make a big sticky mess.



Combine all of these ingredients in a pitcher and serve in a salted tumbler with ice.

2 parts tequila
1 part triple sec
1 part blue curacao
1 part fresh squeezed lime juice. (absolutely no lime syrup)
lime wedges for garnish


ps. Drink responsibly and don't drink and sail.

Harvest Dinner

My favorite meal of the whole week is hands down Sunday Dinner. I grew up in a family that ate dinner every night at the table, but Sunday was always the best. Sunday usually meant pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy. Peter and I will start mulling over our options before we head to the market Saturday morning. Usually by that afternoon our plan has changed a couple of times, but eventually we settle in on a meal. We call our friends over and enjoy our family supper.

This week was about celebrating the summer harvest. We had corn stewed in tomato sauce, potatoes in romesco, green beans with cherry tomatoes dressed in aioli and pork tenderloin with bell peppers and vinegar.

This week my aunt Julene hosted an equally delicious Harvest Dinner out at her home in the country. It was great sitting out under the trees eating a table my grandfather built back in the 1950s. Hopefully everyone will have a chance this weekend to really enjoy the bounty of the summer.

Barbecue Beef Ribs

I love barbecued beef ribs. I'm making these for my cousins birthday. I decided to make them with two different sauces. The first one is a coke cola barbecue sauce and the second is Dijon mustard glaze. But first the ribs are going to be roasted with a garlic soy marinade. The ribs are roasted for two hours until they are tender and almost fall off the bone. After they are cooled I slice between the bones and brush them with the barbecue sauces before putting them on the grill to finish. mmmmmmmmm

Huckleberry Scones

This morning at the market I found tart shiny huckleberries. I got several pints knowing that I’ll make a couple of different things. When I got back to the house I decided to make Huckleberry Scones. These scones aren’t like the hard dense scones you get at a coffee shop. They are light crumbly and melt in your mouth. You can use this recipe as a base and add different ingredients to make other scones. This recipe comes from my aunt Nancy. To keep the huckleberries from turning the scones purple I freeze them and dust them in flour before I fold them into the dough.

Scones
2 C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1/3 C butter
1 egg
1 t vanilla
½ C cream
½ C huckleberries

1 egg for wash

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Dust the huckleberries and put them in the freezer. Combine the dry ingredients and cut the butter into them as you would if you were making a pie. Mix together vanilla, cream, and egg, then combine with the dry ingredients using a fork. Don’t over mix the dough. Add in the frozen huckleberries. Knead the soft dough briefly on a well-floured surface. Then pat into a 7” disk with edges tapering down so that the highest point is in the center.Place the disc on a cookie sheet and cut it into eight wedges. Separate them from each other by ½” . Brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

So what’s the difference?

Last week I made a peach cobbler and it sparked a question from one of our readers. “I'm curious as to what is the difference between a cobbler, grunt or a buckle? I have heard all of these terms describing what appears to be the same thing.”

I passed the question on to the reference librarian at Multnomah County Library. Let me just say, they Rock! You can call up and ask just about anything and in a couple of days, boom, you’ve got answers and source material. So I want to give a special shout out to Pauline for the help finding this info. Here is the basic breakdown, but there is more info at these links. It’s definitely worth checking out.
http://www.grit.com/comfort-food/2006-09-01/
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/CobblerHistory.htm

Betty – A baked pudding or casserole made of alternate layers of fruit, tossed with sugar and spices, and breadcrumbs. Apple Brown Betty made with brown sugar is the best-known betty.
Buckle – A buckle is like a single layer cake; Blueberry Buckle is the best known of the old recipes, but any berry can be used. Buckles most often have crumb toppings.
Crumble – This British sweet is made by covering raw fruit with a crumbly pastry mixture before baking. The crumble often contains oats and nuts, in addition to flour, butter and sugar.
Cobbler – A deep-dish fruit dessert covered with a rich biscuit dough. The fruit is generally thickened with a little cornstarch or flour. Dough is cut into biscuits and the rounds are laid on top.
Crisp – Prepared in a shallow dish with fruit on the bottom and the crisp on top, a crisp can be made with any fruit and usually has a bit of flour or cornstarch added for thickening.
Flummery – A pudding made from stewed fruit, generally thickened with cornstarch, most often berries, sometimes with milk or cream. Grunt – An old-fashioned dessert from New England, usually made with berries or apples. The fruit is stewed with sugar and a soft biscuit dough is dropped.
Slump — See Grunt.

So I'm currious to know what everyones favorite is. I think mine is a crisp.

Carrot Cake

The quintessential carrot cake. When ever I make this cake it gets rave reviews. The pineapple makes it moist and tart. I’m making it for a birthday party this weekend. I like to make it for when I know there is going to be a large crowd. This recipe comes from Nick Malgieri’s Perftect Cakes. This is a cookbook that everyone should add to their collection. In fact I would go so far as to say get any of his cookbooks. Nick is a professional instructor so the recipes are very clear. Every year on the food network they replay an episode of Sarah’s Secrets where he makes a Bouche de Noel. It’s a great episode and I watch it every year.

Cake batter
2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
4 large eggs
2 C sugar
1 ½ C vegetable oil
2 C finely grated carrots
8oz crushed pineapple in juice
¾ C pecans, coarsely chopped

Cream Cheese Icing
12oz cream cheese, softened
12 T unsalted butter, softened
1T vanilla extract
6 C powdered sugar sifted after measuring
1C pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

You will need three 9” cake rounds

1. Set the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugar and continue whisking briefly until light , about one minute. Whisk the oil in a slow stream.
3. Stir in the carrots, the pineapple with its juice, and the pecans then fold in the dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
4. Bake for about 45 minutes, switching the position of the pans top and bottom and back and to front, once during baking, until the cake layers are firm and golden and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
5. Cool the cake in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto racks to finish cooling
6. To make the icing, in the bowl of a heavy mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar. Once all the sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes longer.
7. To assemble the cake, place one layer on a platter or a cardboard round and spread with one third of the icing. Top with another layer and spread with another third of the icing. Place the last layer on top, bottom side up. Frost the top and sides with the remaining icing. Sprinkle the toasted pecan pieces on top of the cake and press into the sides.

I'll ad pictures on Saturday.

Peach Berry Cobbler

I’ve finally decided what to make with the gorgeous peaches I got last week at the farmers market. Peach Cobbler. I went back to the market and picked up some strawberries and blackberries to add to the fruit. The cobbler topping is a thin dumpling batter that bakes up into a moist soft top.

This recipe came about from making a topping that was just thin enough to slip between the pieces of fruit and cook in the juices, steaming to a perfect soft dumpling finish. Some of the batter stays on top of the fruit, where it is dusted with sugar and bakes up into a wonderful crunchy foil to the tender filling.



Filling
6 peaches sliced
1 pint strawberries halved
1 pint black berries
juice and zest of one lemon
½ C sugar
¼ tsp almond extract

Dumpling Topping

3 large eggs
½ C whole milk
3T butter melted
5T sour cream
1tsp vanilla extract
1 ¾ C all purpose flour
6T sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

3T cinnamon sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9 x 13” baking dish.

To make the filling slice the peaches into a large bowl, combine with the berries, lemon zest and juice, sugar and almond extract and mix well using your hands. Transfer the fruit to the prepared baking dish.

To make the dumpling topping combine the eggs milk, butter, sour cream and vanilla and whisk together in a large bowl. In a second bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk just until combined.

Spoon the batter over the fruit in an even layer. Some will sink in between the fruit and some will remain on top. Sprinkle the top with the cinnamon sugar. Bake the cobbler on the middle rack of the oven. Place a lined sheet pan on the rack bellow to catch the drippings. Bake for one hour. To test for doneness use a knife to peek into the topping to check the crumb structure to see if it has baked through. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature with ice cream, whipped cream or cream anglaise.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Tartine by Elisabeth m Prueitt and Chad Robertson. They have a famous bakery down in San Francisco. I’m taking a eating trip down to the bay area next month and Tartine is one of the places I’m planning on visiting. I’ll give a full report after my trip.

Farmers Market Update, August 11th

This week there were beautiful artichokes at the market. I didn't get any, but I'm going to figure out what to make with them. I'll get some next week.

Farmers Market Update, August 4th

This week peaches really hit their stride. There is a booth at the NE Sandy Blvd farmers market with two beautiful women who sell great peaches with a line that stretches twenty people deep. There is something kind of magical about the peach sisters with their pink cheeks and blonde hair. They could be an ad campaign for the healthy farmers life.

Now I just need to dream up the perfect peach dessert.