Our neighborhood elementary school has vegetable, flower and herb gardens that are used as a hands-on learning experience for students. Cleaning out the garden for the coming cold season, the genius behind the project kindly placed herb clippings – including rose geranium and pineapple sage – in buckets in our local (neighborhood) organic food store [...]
Archive for the ‘Stone fruit’ Category
Peach “Marmalade” with Rose Geranium
Posted in Herbs, Preserving, Stone fruit, tagged Herb jams on September 16, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Paper Chef: Nectarine Upside-Down Cake with Green Tea Ice Cream
Posted in Berries, Cake, Paper Chef, Sorbet, Stone fruit on September 13, 2011 | 2 Comments »
With the ingredients nectarines, cornmeal, almonds and green tea for this month’s Paper Chef, I immediately thought of an upside-down cake that I used to make — every summer it seems — but forgot about in the last couple of years. I’ve made it with both plums and nectarines. Nectarines are in full season now, [...]
Plum Sorbet with Ginger and Cardamom
Posted in Sorbet, Stone fruit, tagged Plum Ginger Sorbet on August 30, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I was listening to A Splendid Table on NPR while driving between farm and farmers market a couple of Saturdays ago and heard Mario Batali expounding on gelato made from really, really ripe fruit. This was for me, so I thought, given the really, really ripe plums on my table that were going to be [...]
Peach and Raspberry Sorbet
Posted in Berries, Sorbet, Stone fruit, tagged Peach melba sorbet on July 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This is like the famous dessert Peach Melba but without the ice cream. “Peach Melba” was invented by Auguste Escoffier in Paris and named after a singer named Nellie Melba. It typically consists of a peach and raspberry sauce served over vanilla ice cream. The first white peaches of the summer and the first red [...]
Ginger Squash Soup with Mango-Kumquat Jam
Posted in Preserving, Soup, Stone fruit, Winter squash, tagged Ginger Squash Soup, Monica Bhide Kumquat Mango Jam on April 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Winter squash keeps so well over the (duh) winter season that I am still using very well preserved squashes that have been mellowing in my (cold) basement since November. I’m astonished at how well they’ve survived, particularly the very large green Hubbard squash that I just roasted. At the cusp of the seasons, the combination [...]
Dark Days Last Course: Sorbet and Ice Cream from the Pantry
Posted in Dark Days Challenge, Sorbet, Stone fruit, tagged Vanilla peach ice cream on April 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I know the dark days are over when I can pick fresh mint from my garden to garnish the ice cream made from the last jar of vanilla peaches in the pantry. So, for the last course, I thought I’d offer one of the quickest and most clever uses of my pantry stock. Jewel-like jars [...]
Spiced Mangoes
Posted in Preserving, Preserving with Plagemann & Fisher, Stone fruit, tagged Canning mangoes on April 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
These mango slices resemble peaches in appearance but have a denser (and less mealy) consistency. Lightly spiced with cloves, allspice, cinnamon, mace, and peppercorns, the vinegar and sugar mix creates a light but flavorful poaching liquid. The recipe came from Fine Preserving by Catherine Plagemann, originally written in the 1960s and later annotated by [...]
Mango Rum Sorbet with Toasted Pistachios
Posted in Sorbet, Stone fruit, tagged Mango rum sorbet on April 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
With abundant organic “Champagne” mangoes in the market, I couldn’t resist another mango sorbet. Certain sorbets tend to get icy, which is considered undesirable around here. In addition to using pulpy fruit without the addition of liquids, one solution is to add alcohol, since it doesn’t freeze. I thought that the alcohol should contribute to [...]
Cardamom Quick Bread Two Ways: with Mangoes and Pears
Posted in Pears, Quick breads and muffins, Spice Rack Challenge, Stone fruit, tagged Cardamom quick bread, Mango bread, Pear bread on March 15, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Cardamom seed pods, lightly crushed with the side of a knife (like peeling garlic) reveal a bunch of little black or brown nuggets, aromatic ingredients that are the basis of our chai and incorporated into sweet and savory dishes. Like star anise, cardamom imparts a characteristic but elusive aroma and flavor, and has a lingering [...]
Crock of Ages: Confiture des Vieux Garçons
Posted in Preserving, Stone fruit, Tigress Can Jam, tagged Confitures des Vieux Garcons, Rumtopf on February 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Tigress started it. She posted a picture of her new preserving pot – a crock like the one I used to use for sauerkraut – and a preserving process for fruit that spans the entire growing season. She called it by its French name, which means “old bachelors’ preserves,” whereas I know it by the [...]
