Berry Sweet

It's a little late for berry season (silly weather!), but it is, oh, so good.  On some mornings in the northwest it makes more sense to eat a little cereal with my berries than a few berries with my cereal.  Yum.  I have had strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.  I have eaten them fresh, made jam and preserves, and am now baking of them.

Yesterday I looked around for a recipe for a strawberry cake.  This is in part due to the bad recipe for strawberry muffins I tried last year which resulted in damp, soggy and too salty muffins.  And I found a recipe that with a little tinkering is just about perfect and really nicely versatile, because it doesn't depend on the moisture of the berries to keep the cake moist.  The berries are sort of a garnish, which means much can be done with it.  A friend today remarked that it looked like an upside down cake--and I guess it does, but it isn't "flipped."

So, I baked it up with the last pound of the berries I picked at Knapp's and am planning on whipping up some variations soon.  It's easy and simple, too.  I have decided that this is the kind of cake I like--forget the fussy and complicated.  I want a cake (and food generally) to show off its perfect ingredients, instead of covering up blander or tired ingredients.

Covering up ingredients or getting too fussy is all too common now.  No wonder so many of us have forgotten what a really sweet strawberry or a garden-ripe tomato (forget that "vine-ripened" stuff that still tastes pretty bland but has the stem still on it) tastes like.  Cooking should show off the ingredients and only in doing so show off the skill of the cook.  If the ingredients are good, even an average cook becomes genius--and can take credit for a little bit of what nature has already done.

On to it, then.

Rustic Strawberry Cake
6 tablespoons butter (plus for greasing pan)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Put butter and 1 cup sugar in medium bowl, mix on medium high speed of electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter cut side down and as close together as possible. Sprinke remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over berries.
Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges.

Great with ice cream or whipped cream.

Variations:

Use almond extract with strawberries and add 1/2 cup slivered almonds to batter.

Use raspberries instead of strawberries.

Use blueberries and add zest of one lemon to batter.

Use diced apple and add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter.

Use your imagination!

We Be Jammin'

I just got back from two weeks on the east coast visiting family.  It's the break between the end of summer school and the beginning of my first sabbatical.  And I am taking this week off, too (with the exception of a department meeting today).  It's amazing what changes two weeks in the peak of farmers market season brings.  When I hit it on Wednesday there were so many different things that hadn't been available when I left--apricots and green beans to name a few.  And we now, even though it is late, have berries in full force.  In fact the day after I got back from the east coast I went strawberry picking at Knapp's up at Green Bluff.  I picked 11 pounds in 45 minutes.  It's a bargain at 99 cents a pound (if you buy a pre-picked ten pound flat it is still a good price at $25).

My intention with these strawberries was to learn to can.  I have wanted to for a while and with the encouragement of friends and the gifts from other friends (one college friend gave me canning equipment for Christmas and another a beautiful canning cookbook--I am indeed lucky).

the first four jars cooling

So, with OCD-like compulsion I read the instructions on making strawberry jam.  My goal was to make jam and have all the jars seal--I really don't want to kill anyone.  I approached this with the same trepidation as I had learning to drive (I remember saying to my driver's ed instructor, "but this is a lethal weapon" referring to the sedan I was getting into).  I read the instructions in all three canning cookbooks I had, those than came with the water bath canner, those that came with the canning equipment, the jars and the pectin.  I even read the basic instructions on the USDA webpage.  I really, really don't want to kill anyone.  So I was really happy when those first four jars sealed properly with the satisfying "pop, pop, pop."

It actually took a lot less time than I imagined and was easier than I expected.  I was so enthralled with those first four jars I started on another recipe using more of those strawberries.  I am now the proud owner of 4 jars of strawberry jam and 6 of strawberry lemon preserves.  I can't wait to do more and to move from jams to pickles and then on to the reason I wanted to learn to can in the first place--tomatoes!

Making Jam

washing the jars

Making strawberry jam really is pretty easy once you overcome the fear of giving someone botulism from the canning process.  It has just three ingredients--strawberries, sugar and pectin.

sterilizing the jars

It takes more work to prepare the jars and boil the water for the canner than it does to prepare the berries and boil off some of the liquid.  Strawberries are high enough in acid content not to need added acid in the jam mixture to make it work safely, too.

mashing the berries

But washing the jars and mashing the berries was all in the service of this beautiful jam.






Strawberry Lemon Preserves

strawberries and lemon--a favorite combo!

My second recipe was just a variation on the first--now strawberry lemon preserves instead of strawberry jam.  The recipe called for macerating the strawberries and lemon slices in sugar overnight.  It is luscious and delicious.  This is one that I already have a friend who has requested a jar!  It is good, sweet and tangy, a little bit different and I think will make a good gift!

I am so pleased that my first few canning attempts appear to have worked well.  And with new confidence I am already planning more things to try--I am a canning fiend.

Strawberry Hill Farm

I think I may have missed the mark with my "dining for dollars and making sense" posts. I realize now that when thinking about eating ethically and inexpensively, my lifestyle, being single and cooking for mostly just myself doesn't really get to the heart of the issue for a lot of people. Plus, I pretty much always have leftovers, which means sharing recipes of a week doesn't help a lot. So, I know I have to get back to this issue somehow later. I am still trying to figure out how to best do this.

Setting that aside for the moment, I made another trip to Green Bluff yesterday. After talking at Trezzi on the 9th, I wanted to get back up there to do some more exploring, picking, reveling in the great bounty just north of town. It struck me that this is a good model if it could be done everywhere and more directly--an agricultural area supporting an urban center.

My friend Ali and I were glad that he weather held and we were able to make it up to Green Bluff. I had thought about picking apples and getting a jump on fall, but we were treated instead to some late summer veggies and berries--have to love the late summer berries! We weren't headed to any particular farm up there, but just turned when we got to a place neither of us had been and that meant we ended up at Strawberry Hill Farm. It was small and sweet. The teenager who showed us around and helped us find good picking places couldn't have been nicer.

They don't use chemicals on the plants, but are too small to get certified organic. this is food that is often referred to as "safe." When we got out of the car and into the little shop to meet our guide, we were treated with some freshly sliced cucumber and a little bit of information about the farm. But it wasn't until we were out back on the farm itself that our guide told us that the music we were hearing was because the owner believes the plants do better when they get to listen to music. It was nice classical music.

We picked two kinds of green beans (including some Hilda beans which were giant flat romano green beans and are delish! Strawberries, blackberries and golden raspberries. Carrots and cucumbers. Yum. They also had tomatoes, basil by the bushel it seemed, onions, summer squash and winter squash and pumpkins (soon to be ready, though). It was a lovely, easy to navigate spot I'll be sure to go back to. On the perimeter of the garden patches and he green house were chickens, emus, a couple of llamas and some goats. This is a full service kind of place.

After we finished our picking, we headed to Harvest House for a slice of pie, some pumpkin donuts and some hot apple cider. We sat and talked about how good it is to be able to head up to Green Bluff for an afternoon, to really appreciate what we have and to feel good about eating the food we have picked and will be able to eat. Can't wait to head to the Farmer's Market next weekend--Ali's going to come along and it promises to be a nice morning, once again feeling good about local food.

Muffin Tops?

From the bounty of the strawberries I picked last week, I have done some baking. First, just a good old standard strawberry rhubarb crisp. But last night I ventured to strawberry muffins. The muffin recipe in my old McCall's cookbook (which is from the 60s, and includes lots of odd recipes for the average housewife of that era and contains some that use pre-packaged ingredients that don't even exist any more) isn't great, so I had to venture out.

The internet has so many cooking websites with so many recipe collections that there had to be one out there that was good. I read about 20 recipes before I settled on one. And that in itself might have been the mistake. After reading so many recipes and thinking about using as local and as ethical ingredients as possible, I made a few adjustments to the recipe I settled on. And, well, those of you who bake know that baking is as much a science as it is an art, and chemical processes give only so much.

I ended up with some very tasty muffins, most of which, if they rose, fell. The recipe clearly needs some tweaking. And thankfully I still have several pounds of strawberries with which to experiment.

But I think it is important to note that I do not think using local ingredients as much as possible here had anything to do with the "failure" of this recipe. The local flour is still flour, the local, free range eggs are still eggs, for example. It's a matter of getting proportions and heat and timing right. If it isn't, then I will have to find a new recipe altogether that works well with the ingredients I am willing to use. I'd rather find a new recipe than compromise the ethics.

And even if I end up with kind of ugly muffins, I know that they are good where it counts--the ethics and the taste!

I'll post the better of the two recipes later and let everyone know if further adjustments are needed.

U-Pick Strawberries

Last week I intended to go pick strawberries and it just didn't happen. So, today, even after getting up late and being still tired from a late night out with friends at a great party, I got myself into the car and headed north of the city to the Green Bluff collective of farms to pick strawberries at Knapp's. One thing you learn quickly when picking strawberries is a lot of what you pay for in the grocery store in the labor. Picking strawberries is dusty, hot and back-breaking work. But, if it is work that one does for enjoyment and especially ripe strawberries it is worth it. (Although I am always struck by the fact that this is a day's activity for me and for most of the others picking. It is something to do for fun. It is a luxury that I do not have to do it for work. U-pick seems like the ultimate American invention.)

Many of the people there were picking with children. It is good to see kids on the farm looking at the strawberries, the ponies, the plants that will yield the fall pumpkins that will be their jack-o'lanterns. It will make nice memories for them, I hope. I hope also that it will mean they have some sense of where their food comes from.

It's the freshest food around--I know exactly when it was picked--between 10:15 and 11:15 this morning. And in that hour I picked about 7 pounds of strawberries which was about 2/3 of one planted row. I have a raw spot on my left palm from the scratches the straw between the rows and plants made. And I missed a spot on my upper arm when putting the sunscreen on. Small prices to pay. And the price for the berries themselves was pretty small too. At 99 cents a pound it is a great deal.

On my walking back from the fields to pay for the berries I noticed that you could probably just walk away without paying. But that would be a crime twice over. At once there would be the obvious theft of the strawberries themselves, but then there would also be betrayal of the trust that the farmers had placed in those that they let wander their fields. Farm life is different than urban life and trust works differently. It certainly is not something I would ever consider--stealing from a farmer.

As I made may way to the area where they weigh the strawberries and you pay, I chatted briefly with someone who works there. She said the shade felt good, I said I had enjoyed being out in the sun. She said that there hadn't been a lot of sun this year yet and we spoke for a moment about the weather this spring and summer and how it had made things difficult for the farmers in the area. When I said I really felt for those who were trying to grow things this season she replied, "thanks, we are trying."

When picking strawberries I pick the ripest ones I can, they are often not the biggest. I think a lot of people must pick the big ones before they are really ripe so that they can have big ones. You also see a lot of oddly shaped ones that weren't picked and have gotten too ripe. But who is to say that those oddly shaped ones are perfect? They are literally the fruits of nature at work. That's perfect enough for me.

I'll be eating fresh strawberries and baking with them for a while now, and will still have some to put up for the off-season. That way I can have some ethical berries for longer, making the ones in the stores in the winter that I know are not local a lot less tempting.

The First Strawberry

Sunday, when I was watering the garden, I spotted a strawberry almost ready to be picked. Imagine my dismay to find that on Monday, something--a squirrel or a bird or a slug--had gotten to it before I did and left half of it on the ground. But today, back watering the garden over my lunch break, I eyed another berry, not super red, but red enough. I usually am pretty good about sharing the fruits of the garden with the local fauna, but not today. I picked it. Admittedly, it might have benefited from another day in the sun, but I picked it anyway. It smells like a good strawberry, that sweet, bright, smell that they have. And I smile just thinking about it. This is a berry that I grew. And that will make it extra good when I eat it tonight.

Growing something one's self is a counter-cultural act in America today, but is something almost everyone can do. Even if just a pot of herbs on the windowsill. Wendell Berry, long an agricultural advocate, has said we should all grow something to eat. It is economical, local, you know where it came from and there is a great joy of eating something that one nurtured to maturity. And for those of us with broader counter-cultural leanings, there is the sly smile that creeps across the face when eating something completely outside the clutches of big industrial food. I have my best Cheshire Cat grin on right now.