Its FINALLY starting to cool off to a seasonal fall temperature around here, helping me feel a bit more in-season. The tree colors peaked this weekend, yesterday was psychedelic with the riotous oranges, yellows, and reds of the sugar maples around here. Other than pumpkins and gourds and squashes and apples, I am seeing lots of pears in the store now and I have been reveling in trying new varieties. I wrote just previously about the seckel pear in a recipe where I served it simply sliced on the plate (“Purple Passion: homegrown eggplant“).

Along this pear tangent, I am now developing a recipe for a pear cocktail for the pear industry‘s “Liquid Pearfection” cocktail contest.

Click the graphic above to go to the page at USA Pears (a pear lobby) where you can get information for entering your recipe!

Do it quickly because the contest ends October 10th.

This activity was fun, sort of like a chemistry experiment. We used our juicer to juice some red or crimson bartlett pears and seckel (sugar) pears. If you do this, I recommend passing the juice through a cheesecloth to sieve off the foamy particulate. I then sat down with some spirits I bought just for this cocktail, the juices (bartlett, seckel, and apple), homemade simple syrup, salt, lemon juice, and pencil and paper.

I wanted to use a spirit that was not something you see in everyday cocktails here in the US and which gave it a latino twist. To this end, I used a Colombian spirit called Aguardiente, a high octane anise flavored drink that is usually had straight out of tiny little stainless steel cups by macho people (male or female, my grandma can put them away for sure).I could not get a hold of the “good” type called Aguardiente Cristal (order here) so I had to settle for the other kind you see in the photo above.

I also could not get my hands on the Colombian rum called “Ron Viejo de Caldas” by the same company (order here) so I had to settle for Puerto Rican Bacardi Gold rum (rum in spanish is ron). (I am not associated with the pear lobby or the alcohol company – zero profit for me – I am just giving you a resource for finding these “rare” spirits. They may be easily had where you live!)I googled pear and fennel (which has an anise flavor) and found that there are quite a few restaurants serving pear and shaved fennel salads. This hinted to me that the anise flavor may pair with pear well.

As we generally do not drink much at all and when we do its Guinness beer, we were lightweights in our taste trials. Keep this in mind regarding our taste testing.

While my husband was not into the flavor, I liked it. My recipe has the alcohol on the light side because the aquardiente has such an assertive (overpowering?) flavor. The recipe that used the rum also included the freshly made apple juice, that was fantastic.

I will post my pear cocktail recipe in the sidebar and here after October 10th (after the contest closes) and if I win, I will let you know!

If you decide to enter, share your recipe too, can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

Related Posts:

• Purple Passion: homegrown eggplant

Product links: (no profit)

• Aquardiente Cristal
• Ron Viejo de Caldas

Technorati Tags: Guinness

Nuts, especially peanuts and walnuts, are lethal for my oldest child.

They are also delicious, found in many of the desserts that make life worth living, and are almost impossible to simulate. I do not like peanut butter, don’t miss it, but I have always felt bad that my daughter has never had a praline.

I think I first had a praline at a Stuckey’s in Texas, when we were driving down from Iowa, back in 1979. We were moving to a place we had never visited and a sort of landscape and heat we had never experienced. I was a bit shell-shocked from the intense aridity and brightness that you have in those mineral lands, so different from the humid monotonous cornfields that I had always known in my childhood. We stopped for a break and got out into the life-draining heat and sun that immediately set my black hair on fire with absorbed heat. We ran into the cold of the Stuckey’s, all new to me, and I walked around marvelling that a whole store that seemed to sell only candies with gobs of nuts stuck to them would be plunked down in the middle of nowhere. I think their biggest item is the Pecan Log Roll, a white tooth-fusing confection with pecans molecularly embedded on the surface. I begged my dad for just a bit of something and that turned out to be a praline. I adored it and left all pecan log rolls for others with less refined palates (kidding).

My favorite place to get and gobble pralines is Aunt Sally’s in New Orlean’s French Market. You can (or you use to be able to) stand and watch them make huge kettles of pralines. When we were at home and not in New Orleans, My mom would make them during our Justin Wilson phase (Ah Gaahrontee).

For me pralines are a seldom treat and not something to really binge on once you buy or make them. I love making them because their aroma is just about 1000 times more enticing than any cake or cookie or baked chicken will ever smell. They are also relatively easy to cook up and you don’t need to know how long to store them because they never make it past about 5 minutes.

A good banana nut bread is in that same category. For these reasons, I have been hunting around for a way to make nut-free but nutty pralines and banana nut bread and my first try came out with something so decadent and amazing that I am going to share it with you today but I do not think we will make it again for some while, its that fattening!

I used roasted unsalted soybeans. Yup. You see them in the store but I bet you don’t buy them much. They are hard to snack on because they have skins on them. Annoying. I finally figured out how to get rid of the skins on a cup of beans. Rub a handful in your palms and then, as you pour the beans from one hand to the other, blow away the skins. It can be messy but it works!

I used dried buttermilk from Saco to boost the complexity of the flavors. I love cooking with this stuff. If you do not have it, simply omit it and this recipe should work for you.

Ginger sour cream buttermilk banana bread with praline soybeans

(adapted from the basic sour cream banana bread recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 c. butter
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 c. bananas, mashed
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
• 4 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 6 tablespoons dried buttermilk
• 1 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1 c. praline soybeans (see below)

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar together very well. Add in the ginger, vanilla, eggs and beat until incorporated. Mash the bananas and then mix with the butter-sugar well. Whisk dry ingredients together (flour, buttermilk powder, baking powder, and baking soda).

Add the well-mixed dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with 1/2 cups of sour cream. Fold together until smooth. Gently fold in the cooled praline soybeans.

Pour into 2 large greased and floured loaf pans and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes at 350 F. Use the knife test to see if its done, when it comes out clean, the cake/ tart is done!

For the tart shown at the top, I greased a small tart pan with a removable bottom. I put down a layer of soybeans and then poured praline mixture over the top of it to set it into a “crust” for the tart. Pour some batter over the crust and bake the small tart for about 30 minutes, check with a knife.

Praline soybeans

Ingredients:

• 1 C water
• 1 C white granulated sugar
• 1/2 C 1/2 and 1/2 cream
• 1 C de-hulled roasted unsalted soybeans

Directions:

Simmer water and sugar in stainless steel pot until it begins to become a medium brown and is thickening. CAREFULLY add the cream (it will pop and spatter really HOT molten sugar), stir to bring it all up to temperature. Let simmer until it reduces about 1/2 and add soy beans, mix, pour out onto greased foil, cool.

Banana Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C water
• 1/2 C sugar
• 4 tablespoons chocolate powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon all natural banana liquour

Directions:

In a small saucepan over medium to high heat, dissolve sugar in the water, bring to a boil. Turn to medium low and add the chocolate. Heat until just simmering and remove from heat. Add in vanilla and banana flavoring. Enrobe your favorite things.

Resources:

• Aunt Sally’s Creole Pralines
• Tony Chachere Famous Creole Cuisine
• Justin Wilson
• SACO cultured Buttermilk Blend
• Roasted unsalted soy beans – neat small farm!
• The Spicery Shoppe all natural banana liquour

Because this is my own little nano-bully pulpit, I have to relate something I overheard at the grocery store the other day. I have been trying to come to terms with what was said and how I have been reacting to it, over time. This post is part of that process. Your comments will be an important further step.

I was dithering over some apples when I heard this 16 oldish guy (taller than me for sure) talking to his mom. He was trying to persuade her to let him buy a pineapple. She said that she didn’t want him to buy it and to buy the canned pineapple instead. He persisted, saying he wanted to try it fresh. She said, in an off hand and rather annoyed manner, that it is less expensive canned. He replied that it isn’t really and that the pineapple cost less. She said that it was just too much trouble, he replied it couldn’t be that hard to carve up and then he goes on to talk about how you should cut this and that part.

Finally, she literally pulled him away from the fresh fruit display into the canned and boxed budget isle.

I was struck dumb and felt so bad for that kid. Here he is, a guy who is a teen who actually WANTS to eat fresh food and who wants to actually get his hands dirty with the pineapple and his mother is telling him that canned is BETTER. Sure, the mom must have been in a hurry, didn’t want to clean up a mess, preferred canned ancient pineapple, whatever; she missed out BIG time on a teachable moment (hers and his).

She wasn’t listening to her child, in the least.

They could have bought that pineapple, just a few dollars. He would have had the opportunity to use a knife, in the kitchen, and learn a bit about the way of the pineapple – the spiky bits, the woody bits, the green top, the smell and flavor that does NOT exist with canned fruit. She could then have drilled home for him how to clean up afterwards (an extremely important skill that has to be taught). None of those lessons and experiences happened.

He learned one huge lesson: its OK to be virulently anti-fresh pineapple (fruit, food, what have you).

I hope that his personal lesson is to buy it later and do it for himself.

How many of us do not “like to cook” because there was some sort of gatekeeper who made the kitchen out of bounds or unpleasant? Eating is about as basic as you can get, to feel like cooking and creating in the kitchen is the domain of “others” is unfortunate.

I feel very strongly that we are all born with artistic talent as well as a proclivity towards cooking. Both of these interests are discouraged in so many of us. It is hard to overcome that.

It was just a shock to see this dynamic overtly displayed on an ordinary day in an ordinary grocery store.

Technorati Tags: teachable moment

Here in central Massachusetts, we have an abundance of apple orchards. When tourists come to this region in the summer, they expect to do a few very specific things – buy antiques, pick apples, visit 18th century New England at Old Sturbridge Village, and enjoy a rural landscape. Those of us who live here year round can become rather inattentive to our the local charms but the coming of spring usually pulls us back out of our ruts.

Today has been just a stellar day weather-wise so my oldest daughter and I took a trip to one of those local orchards, Brookfield Orchards, in North Brookfield, MA. This place is a fair hike from our house and is situated in the middle central part of the state.

For those of you who may not know where Massachusetts is -

This map shows you where North Brookfield is in Massachusetts

Their address is 12 Lincoln rd, North Brookfield, MA 01535

(508) 867-6858

Their website is www.brookfieldorchardsonline.com, where you can see all about their mail-order options. They ship apples, preserves, relishes, mustards, jams, gift baskets, and more.

To learn more about the other offerings in the area, check out the “Browse the Brookfields” site for other attractions, like:

• The Salem Cross Inn (I can not recommend this place highly enough, follow the link!)
• The Riverbend Gallery
• The Warren Farm
• The Purple Onion (antiques)
• Tip Top Country Store (whole foods and organic produce)

The following photos gives you a bit of a photo tour through the outside orchard and the store. Enjoy!

The specialty at Brookfield Orchards is hot apple dumplings, served with vanilla ice cream and/or a chunk of cheddar cheese. (seen at top)

Dormant apple trees that will have stunning blossoms in a few weeks time.

Some of the store.

Loads of antiques and charm.

The ceiling

More antiques.

Some fun kitchen stuff too.

Sites of Interest:

• Brookfield Orchards
• Browse the Brookfields
• The Salem Cross Inn
• The Riverbend Gallery
• The Warren Farm
• The Purple Onion
• Tip Top Country Store

Related Posts:

• Local Foods: Auntie Cathies Bakery – Gluten-free to order
• Local Foods: Another visit to Auntie Cathie’s Bakery

Technorati Tags: The Salem Cross Inn

I am posting a few stragglers that have come out of my recent experiments to wrap them up.

Tomorrow I will be going to the Photoshop World show in Boston so I will be a bit out of the loop. I hope to be able to snag some software that I need to get back to where I was before the computer crash! It should be interesting and I think I better leave my credit cards at home!

I may report back here with photos, if anything strikes my fancy and is also germane to the topic here.

I used the carrots and beets I shot earlier and some other vegetables to make a lovely vegetable soup. I didn’t shoot the soup, soup is not terribly photogenic.

More beet shots

Some disturbing carrots, look like dead fingers, yikes.

Super close on an illuminated radish

Super close on an illuminated kiwi

Related Posts:

• Dark secrets of fruits and vegetables
• Resplendent food: A glimpse into fruits and vegetables, just so

Getting beauty from this shoot was harder than I expected.

Things I learned or reinforced:

• I over estimated the translucence of oranges
• I found radishes to be really opaque but with lovely leaves
• kiwi have a LOT of potential that I have not tapped yet
• Alcohol, 409, and copious amounts of paper towels are your friends when dealing with plate glass

I will be revisiting this sort of shot with better technique and a better black baseplate that doesn’t allow bleed through from light below. I will be posting the setup after I get this main post up.

Here are some more images with a few of the non-flash versions (to show you what it looks like in full light though not the best lighting)

Radishes:

Oranges:

Kiwis:

Technorati Tags: translucence, orange, radish, opaque, kiwi, 409, plate glass

A couple of days ago, I did the “on black” shoot where some pears saw the light. Those pears were also part of our breakfast yesterday.

I found some delightful Bob’s Red Mill buttermilk pancake mix I wanted to try out and it made some amazing pancakes.

I sliced one Korean pear and two of the smaller pears of unknown global origin (I forgot, in other words), put the slices in a saute pan, added about 1 tablespoon butter, a dribble of olive oil, about two teaspoons cream of coconut, 1/3 cup white sugar, and let it simmer on medium low for about 20 minutes.

I let it go until the pears released their goodness and the liquid reduced to an almost recrystallized sauce that had the slightest bit of odd bite to it (from the nascent sugar particles). This went so well with the pancakes.

I show it here with just the pears and syrup but also added Vermont maple syrup to the servings for the other family members.

Bacon would go well as a side to old tires, let alone these delicious pancakes.

Related Posts:

• Resplendent food: A glimpse into fruits and vegetables, just so

Technorati Tags: pear, breakfast, pancake, Korean, butter, olive oil, cream of coconut, Bacon

The wisdom of natural processes fascinates me endlessly.

The Fibonacci numbers that seem to sprinkle their way across cauliflower florets and seashells and flower petals is a constant reminder that the universe has decided on a few rules.

Its all a daily symphony of balance, void, entropy, chaos, and re-balance.

Each fruit, flower, vegetable, animal, all of that morphology is a physical manifestation of the tug and pull of existence and non-existence, heat and cold, light and dark, growth and decay, birth and death, kinetics and potential, motion and stillness.

Please enjoy these very few shots that begin to examine some of those ideas.

I am still without Photoshop so you will see imperfections that are not what I would like to see (not on the fruits or vegetables, thats fine.. its more of the cat hairs that I have issues with!).

Technorati Tags: wisdom, Fibonacci, cauliflower, florets, seashell, flower, petal, universe, symphony, void, entropy, chaos, morphology, manifestation

I have been meaning to do this shoot for some time but never got around to it until today.

My objective was to examine the inner beauty of natural things like fruits and vegetables. In this case, it was a grapefruit, carrots, green beans and radishes.

This is just a first “draft,” if you will. Some kinks need to be addressed.

I have also included, below, some how-to shots of the set up. You will notice that I shoot at home, amongst the mess of family life. I also like to make my own soft boxes and rig things. I spend enough on cameras and lenses and strobes, and flashes. Gotta find ways to get the most of it all!

Enjoy.

I recently had an opportunity to review the cookbook Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother’s Kitchen by Judy Glattstein. As you might imagine from the title, this is a book about the making of jams, jellies, marmalades, and other preserved items. Let me assure you that the work and time you take to make any of these recipes will be very well spent. Homemade preserves, made from the most simple of ingredients, taste fantastic and much more like the original fruit than any mass produced preserve, jam or jelly you could buy.

Although the cover features some very sexy strawberries in hyperreal colors, this is not a book for eye candy. There are no full color photographs, only the occasional sepia, printed like the rest of the text.

The introductory text rambles a bit, but it does lend “texture” and premise. She does a lovely job of giving some food history throughout and covers the particularities of preserving with a direct brevity that is welcome. Glattstein writes this book because she feels that an important family centered food tradition, namely the making and giving of preserves, is being lost in our busy world. She looks to provide for her readers a way back to a type of cooking that should be preserved and passed on.

The recipes are arranged first by type of preserve, including:

• Fruit Butters -> Plum butter, Quince butter
• Jams -> Ginger Peach Jam, Orange Fig jam
• Conserves -> Blueberry Orange convserve, Cactus Date conserve
• Marmalades -> Seville Orange marmalade with brandy soaked raisins, Key Lime marmalade, Etrog (Israeli citron) marmalade
• Sweet Jellies -> Apple Jelly with Scented Geranium, Lemon jelly
• Savory Jellies and Conserves -> Cranberry Muscat Raisin relish, Lemon Tarragon jelly

Next, the book presents further recipes by type of fruit or food being preserved. This can be rather confusing, but using the index should direct you towards the recipes you need. In addition to the recipes, this section provides more food history and horticultural information about fruits that are often used in preserves.

Finally, the last chapter offers recipes that use the preserves to make coffee cakes and tortes and even a meatball recipe at the very end.While Preserving” has some distracting flaws, mainly it’s organization and rambling prose, use this book for the recipes and perhaps to glean a bit of cultural context from the author.

(Strawberry Jam – Copyright © 2006 Nika Boyce)

Where to buy:

• From Amazon.com USA – Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother’s Kitchen – $12.89
• From Amazon.co.uk – £8.70

Technorati Tags: Well Fed Network, cookbook, Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother’s Kitchen, Judy Glattstein, jam, jellies, marmalade, preserved, recipe, Homemade, fruit, hyperreal, food history, Glattstein, food tradition, Fruit Butter, butter, Cranberry