Blueberries are ready for picking.  Glenhaven Farm is open  for picking but is having a short season.  Grisamore Farms also has blueberries. Luce Farm in Ovid (7381 HALL Road, Ovid 607-532-9475) is closed this week but will have blueberries next week, but that will be there last week..   Check out their websites to get hours and directions.  Or click on "U-Pick" to find other farms in your neighborhood that are open for picking. Hall's Hill Blueberry Farm in Cortland is advertising U-pick until August 26th.  They have coupons in the Ithaca Journal.  

Blueberries are one of my favorite fruits to pick.  No need to break your back.  The harvesting is quick and painless and it's a great social activity since you can chat away with your friends.  I always meet someone I know when I'm picking at Glenhaven.  Many children come for the event.  They either help their parents pick, or just have a private blueberry feast, or lay out a blanket in the shade and watch the others pick.  Everyone has a good time.  Blueberries are the best to freeze and baking requires no advance preparation.  We just put a huge bowl  on the table and let passerbyers grab the blueberries by handfuls. 

RASPBERRY CLAFOUTI

THE BEST WAY TO EAT RASPBERRIES IS OF COURSE PLAIN WITH WHIPPED CREAM OR ICE-CREAM OR JUST UNADOURNED!  BUT IF YOU HAVE SOME LEFT THAT YOU WANT TO COOK, TRY THIS RECIPE FOR RASPBERRY CLAFOUTI COMPLETE WITH VIDEO BY ERIC RIPERT  

RASPBERRY CLAFOUTI FROM ERIC RIPERT

 Yield : 2 servings as side

INGREDIENTS

I have made this a few times using wheat berries.  This is a recipe I found online from the New York TImes Cooking section.  It is amazing.  And it’s vegetarian.  I didn’t use the parsley and didn’t miss it.  I used pesto I had in the freezer instead of basil and that worked great.  I copied this and pasted into this blog making a few changes which I highlighted in red.  If you like eggplant,  please try this.  

Long-Simmered Eggplant Stuffed with Farro or Spelt

AUG. 25, 2014 From New York Times Cooking

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

This is a riff on imam bayildi, the long-cooking eggplant dish bathed in tomatoes and onions that is one of the great achievements of Turkish cuisine. I added cooked farro to the tomato-onion mix, making this more like a stuffed eggplant dish. The active cooking time is minimal, but the smothered eggplant must simmer for about 1 1/2 hours to achieve the intense, syrupy sauce and deep, rich flavor that make this dish such a wonder. Make it a day ahead for best results, and serve at room temperature on a hot night.

Time: 2 hours, including 1 1/2 hours mostly unsupervised simmering ( Mine was done after an hour)

1

Yield: Serves 6

Advance preparation: This is best if made a day ahead. You can roast the eggplant through Step 1 and make the filling through Step 2 several hours before stuffing and cooking the eggplant. Once cooked, the finished dish can sit for several hours, or refrigerate overnight and bring to room temperature before serving. Cooked farro and spelt keep for 3 days in the refrigerator and freeze well.

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[recipe difficulty=”easy”]

Curried Lentil, Kale and Butternut Squash Soup

This soup is my new favorite.  It combines smooth with crunch since the French lentils keep their firmness.  The red lentils and butternut dissolve into a lucious creaminess.  The sweet and spicy flavors meld together beautifully.  And I love the orange and green colors of this soup.  It improves after each reheating and MUST be made the day before.

Yield: 5-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut or olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2-3  tsp curry powder ( I use a combination of Japanese and Indian curry blends)
• 1-2  tsp salt (or to taste)
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 6 cups chicken broth or vegetarian broth or water or combination
• 14 oz light coconut milk
• 3/4 cup red lentils, also known as Lal Masoor Dal (Goya sells this)
• 1/4 cup Spanish Pardina lentils (Goya sells this) or French Puy lentils
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and diced into ½-inch cubes
• 1 TBS brown sugar ( or to taste)
• 1 bunch kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped or about two cups after stemming and chopping

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion and cook over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt and cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until onion becomes tender. Stir in the ginger, garlic, curry powder, and salt. Stir for about a minute, stirring frequently.
2. Meanwhile, roast the squash for 15 minutes at 450 degrees until beginning to brown or fry over high heat.  This caramelizes the squash and heighten the flavor but if you are in a hurry just throw it in without browning.
3. Add the tomato paste and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until it starts to darken in color, stirring constantly. Add the water, coconut milk, red lentils, and squash (either quickly roasted or  fried in or just cut up and not roasted). Bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, until the squash are falling apart and the lentils are cooked through, about 30 minutes. The red lentils will have dissolved and the French lentils will still have a little
4. Stir in the kale and cook for about 5 minutes, or until wilted and tender.
5. This soup is better refrigerated and warmed up and eaten the next day.

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[recipe difficulty=”medium”]

  RYE SOUR DOUGH BREAD

¾ cup sour dough starter

½ cup water

2 TBS molasses

1 TBS olive oil

1 ½ tsp salt

1 TBS toasted caraway seeds

2 ¼ cups Bread flour

¾ cup rye flour

1 ½tsp yeast

Combine in bread maker and check to make sure the consistency is correct after it has kneaded for a while. Once it has become a ball,   poke it with your finger.  You should have a tiny bit of stickiness but mostly it needs to be dry and in a ball. You may need to add more flour or water to adjust.

1.      Let  the bread maker do the kneading and first rise,

2.       Remove the dough and put it into a bowl lined with parchment paper.

3.       Let it rise again until double: one to two hours.

4.       Half an hour before preheat oven to 450° .Place empty large enamel pot  with cover (Le Creuset works great) that will just hold the bread in the oven to heat.

5.      Slit the top of the bread and carefully place in the enamel pot.  Don’t burn yourself lifting the lid (spoken from multiple experiences).  Cover the pot and cook the bread for 25-30 minutes.

6.      Remove the pot from the oven.  Carefully remove the bread and unless it is already evenly browned, place it as is, without parchment, in the oven and bake a few more minutes, checking regularly, until uniformly brown and crisp. Remove and cool.  Serve with butter.

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[recipe difficulty=”easy”]

Michal’s Chocolate Brandy Snowballs

3 eggs

½ cup sugar

350 Grams dark chocolate (I use 3 bars of Lindt 70%) 

50 grams butter ½ stick

45 ml brandy (3 Tab

1 tsp Nescafe or espresso powder

¾ cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup finely chopped almonds (.3 pounds) I chop them in a food processor

Granulated sugar

Powdered sugar

1.     Beat eggs and sugar for 5 minutes in a mixer.

2.     Melt chocolate and butter carefully in the microwave.  I don’t melt the chocolate completely because it is too easy to burn.  Instead I melt it almost all the way and stir it to melt the last little bit of chocolate.

3.     Add coffee and brandy

4.     Fold chocolate mixture into eggs

5.     Add dry ingredients and mix quickly

6.     Fold in almonds

7.     Refrigerate 3-4 hours or for several days

8.     Make snowballs by rolling into 1-2 inch balls, dipping into granulated sugar and then into powdered sugar so that each is completely covered.

9.     Bake in preheated 360 ? oven for 8 minutes.  Do not overcook.

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[recipe difficulty=”easy”] 

Cucumbers and Carrots with Miso Dip

 Remember Kayuga Japanese Restaurant on Eddy Street?  We were frequent flyers there and I liked their miso dip so much that I asked for the recipe.  I was rewarded with a little piece of paper on which was written the ingredients but not the quantities.  In the true spirit of intuitive  cooking I’ll also pass along the basic ingredients and method and then leave it up to the reader to concoct their own version.  Start with 1/2 cup of Sake and 1/4 cup of mirin.  Boil together until reduced to about 1/2 cup.  Turn off the heat and add miso a little at a time starting with a heaping tablespoon.  The trick to miso is not to boil it.  I use white miso in this recipe, but you can experiment with different types of miso.  You’ll want the consistency to be like ketchup.  It will thicken once cooled.  Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and a few shakes of roasted sesame seeds.  Then taste.  If you want it sweeter, add a pinch of sugar.  This lasts for several days in the fridge. 

Miso can be found in many grocery stores.  Greenstar has it in bulk in the back of their store so you can buy small quantities  and  experiment with different types of miso.  Wegmans has tubs of miso in the cooler section which also containes seitan and tofu.

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 [recipe difficulty=”easy”]

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

(Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side dish)

Special note:  You need to taste and adjust this salad before serving.  Some like it spicier, some like it sweeter or saltier and some like it with more sour flavor from the limes.  Don’t add salt at first since the fish sauce is salty.  Remember that adding the peanuts (and you need lots) adds to the flavor so when you taste it, try it with the peanuts and basil and mint. 

For salad:

·         1 ½ -2-pound  green cabbage, shredded, but not too finely:  I don’t use the mandoline

·         2  carrots, peeled and cut into julienne strips

·         ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion

Optional:   ¼ cup dried shrimp from Asian market boiled for 5 minutes in water and then drained and chopped.  It adds a very fishy shrimp flavor that is very authentic but not to everyone’s taste.
For dressing :

·         1/3 cup Asian fish sauce  (Nuoc Mam)

·         2 teaspoons  cup brown sugar

·         1 teaspoon (or to taste)  Thai or Vietnamese chili garlic sauce

·         2 teaspoon finely chopped peeled ginger

·         1 tablespoon  garlic clove, finely chopped

·         ¼ cup fresh lime juice from 2-3 limes

·         1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled ginger

·         For  topping:

·         2/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts

·         1/2 cup packed torn basil leaves

·         1/2 cup packed torn mint (optional)

·         ½  cup bean sprouts

·         ½ -1 cup  leftover boned  shredded, cooked chicken (optional)

1.    Combine salad ingredients

2.    Make dressing by combining ingredients by hand or in a blender

3.    Toss salad: Mix dressing with cabbage and carrots and shrimp

4.    Assemble salad: .Arrange chicken and bean sprouts over tossed salad and sprinkle with peanuts, basil, and mint. Serve at room temperature or chilled. You can pass around extra peanuts and lime juice for people to add to their salads.

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