pop quiz: rustic fruit desserts

i was expecting a free cookbook in the mail, since i was a finalist in a culinate blogging contest. but for some reason, i was suspicious when i saw a mystery package on my welcome mat. what on earth could ten speed press be sending me? after a few seconds, i figured it out and ripped open the package. yay...rustic fruit desserts!!! i did a little dance and thought about how this is the perfect cookbook for the beginning of summer - the recipes are even separated by season.

as i flipped through the pages, i found myself wondering what are rustic fruit desserts exactly? i thought i knew what crumbles, buckles and cobblers were, but what on earth are pandowdies? i found the descriptions in the introduction and quizzed myself. when i was at my mom's house a few days later, i quizzed her too. we both knew a lot, but we also learned a lot too.

what do you think? do you really know rustic fruit desserts? here's a little quiz to test your knowledge. these descriptions came directly from the introduction; i just changed the order.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

i'm going to describe the recipes i tested - and give you a few hints. ;)

my friend candace made the stone fruit slump, with a little coaching from me. this was her first dessert! not bad, huh? she adjusted the recipe by adding a pinch of cardamom to the simmering white and yellow nectarines. then she covered the skillet and steamed the dumplings on top of the fruit. it was sweet, but not too sweet and the cardamom perfectly complemented the nectarines. the dumplings were fluffy and flavorful and a scoop of vanilla ice cream was the perfect topping. you can find the recipe here.

a few days later, i made an upside-down sweet cherry cake (not in the quiz, sorry). it was my first time making caramel, and this recipe seemed easier than others i've seen. i just boiled butter, sugar and lemon juice until the color changed from beige to amber. after pouring the caramel in the cake pan, i arranged pitted bing and rainer cherries on top. it was a standard orange butter cake, but soft egg whites were folded in just before baking. this cake was sweet and rich, but with a very light crumb. i didn't know that cherries and oranges complement each other so well.

to make the lemon blueberry buckle, i mixed the cake batter and sprinkled the crumb topping over the cake. then i drizzled lemon syrup all over, as soon as it came out of the oven. the sturdy texture reminded me of a muffin. it was wonderfully tart and a slice would be great for breakfast. you can find the recipe here.

so tell me...how did you do on the pop quiz?

taraji and brad muffins

i usually bake about twice a week.  i love baking because it calms me down and makes me happy. :o)  somehow, my life got so busy that i went more than a week without baking anything.  how could i let that happen???  it was about 10 pm when i realized i couldn't go a minute longer without baking.  that's when i pulled out my "recipes i wanna try" file.  (do you have a file like this?  what's in it?)

even though this is my first dorie greenspan recipe, i know she's an excellent cookbook writer.  i mean, there's a even group of bloggers that have been baking their way through her (huge) cookbook together.  

i love dorie's headnote: "the orange flavor in these delicate, cakey and generously blueberried muffins is in the background, like a play's prompter - present, but only to encourage the performance of the star.  in this case, the blueberries."  this description was all the encouragement i needed to get in the kitchen.  and it's accurate.  if the blueberries are brad pitt, the orange is taraji p. henson.

adapted from dorie greenspan's baking: from my home to yours

orange berry muffins

grated zest and juice of  1 orange

about 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries

preheat oven to 400 degrees.  put paper liners in a 12 cup muffin pan.  pour orange juice in a glass measuring cup.  add enough buttermilk to make 1 cup.  whisk in eggs, honey and butter.  put sugar and zest in a large bowl.  rub together with your fingertips until fragrant.  whisk in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir everything together with a spatula.  stir in blueberries then fill paper liners.  bake for 22 - 25 minutes.

mexican everyday

when i was in chicago last month, i went to frontera grill and had an amazing dinner! the guacamole was the best i've ever tasted....buttery and tangy.  tender pork was wrapped inside house made corn tortillas and blanketed with a complex sauce.  (complex because i've seen rick bayless make a sauce with 17 different ingredients on his show) the rhubarb ice cream was lovely by itself, but the bittersweet chocolate sauce and the goat milk cajeta took the dessert to the next level.  after loosening my belt, i waddled out of the restaurant with a smile plastered on my face and a dazed and confused look in my eyes.  fortunately, i was lucid enough to buy rick bayless' cookbook "mexican everyday" on the way out.  

with hundreds of recipes and great photos throughout, it's a beautiful book.  for sunday dinner, i decided to test a few recipes: jicama salad with watercress, romaine and lime-cilantro dressing, red chile chicken and rice with black beans and pineapple skillet upside down cake.  

the salad was delicious!  the jicama was refreshing and crunchy, the watercress was peppery and the vinaigrette smoothed everything out.  this was my favorite recipe.  i didn't add the jalapeno because some of my friends don't eat spicy food.  

when i was studying abroad in the dominican republic, i spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my host mom, and arroz con pollo was one of her specialties.  she didn't have to measure anything!  somehow she knew the perfect amount of  water the rice and beans needed to cook perfectly.  when i got home and tried to replicate her dishes, my experiments failed horribly, with the rice either burned or undercooked.  this was a few years ago, but i hadn't tried again...until now.  and it worked! the rice wasn't cooked burned or undercooked, the only problem was it was too mild for me.  maybe i'll add a jalapeno next time, when i'm cooking for myself.    

the last time i made a pineapple upside down cake, i used canned pineapple slices.  this time, i used fresh fruit.  the brown sugar topping was caramelized and intense.  everyone thought it was delicious.  the cake had a great texture and the brown butter added nuttiness.  ku even said it was still on her mind the next day!  i was happy everyone loved the cake, so i just watched their eyes roll up and to the side and let them go on and on about how good it was.  

but my taste buds were pleading for vanilla.   next time, i'll add a teaspoon or so to the cake batter and hopefully that will round out the flavors.

here is one recipe i tested.  you can find the others - and many more - in his book.

adapted from mexican everyday by rick bayless

serves 4

3/4 cup vegetable oil or olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest

1/2 cup cilantro

salt

1 medium jicama, peeled and cut into sticks

1 medium bunch watercress

romaine leaves

combine the oil, lime zest, cilantro and salt in a mini food processor.  blend until smooth.  in a large bowl, combine jicama, watercress and romaine.  drizzle a little vinaigrette on top and toss.

vegan soul kitchen

my full review of this cookbook is on cityflight.

when i get a new cookbook, i first turn to the dessert section.  although i'm very impressed that bryant managed to find a way to make a vegan chocolate pecan pie, i wasn't brave enough to try it.  please let me know if you do.  after reading through the dessert section, i started back to the beginning.  i turned down the corners of all the pages that looked interesting and narrowed it down to a manageable challenge.  

i tested 5 recipes from bryant terry's new cookbook for sunday dinner.

1. citrus collards with raisins redux

2. sauteed jalapeno corn

3. garlic broth-braised brussels sprouts

4. sweet sweetback's salad with roasted beet vinaigrette

5. california slurricane

i love to eat corn, brussels sprouts and beets but i've never cooked them before.  it took a few hours to cook everything but i enjoyed the process.  my friends (who are not vegan) were skeptical, but willing to participate in the taste test.  

my adaptations are in italics; for bryant's full recipes, buy his book!

citrus collards with raisins redux

course sea salt
2 large bunches collard greens, ribs removed, cut into a chiffonade, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

in a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. add the collards and cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes until softened. meanwhile, prepare a lar

ge bowl of ice water to cool the collards.

remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. drain by gently pressing the greens against a colander.

in a medium-size saute pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. saute for 1 minute. add the collards, raisins and 1/2 teaspoon salt. saute for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

add orange juice and zest and cook for an additional 15 seconds. do not overcook (collards should be bright green). season with additional salt to taste if needed and serve immediately.  i accidently added too much salt so i added some vegetable broth and let it cook out for 2 more minutes.

has anyone else ever put raisins in dark green vegetables before?  bryant terry says, "the defining ingredients, the ones that would perplex people when they heard the name of this dish, would be the thompson raisins and freshly squeezed orange juice."  i saw a tv chef put raisins in a broccoli dish a few years ago s

o i've been adding this touch of sweetness for a while now.  so i wasn't "perplexed" when i first saw this recipe.  it was good!  although the recipe only calls for orange juice, i a

lso added about a teaspoon of orange zest (like in the cookbook photo).

sauteed jalapeno corn

course sea salt

3 cups fresh sweet corn, from about 6 ears

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced

freshly ground black pepper

bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium pot over high heat and add 2 teaspoons of salt. add the corn, immediately remove from heat and let sit for 30 seconds. drain in a colander.

in a

 medium-size saute pan over medium heat, combine the olive oil, garlic, cumin and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and saute, stirring often until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

add the corn and jalapeno and cook, stirring

 frequently until thoroughly mixed, 3 to 5 minutes.

season with salt and pepper to taste.

now, i didn't start to like corn until last year.  whenever this vegetable appeared in my mom's kitchen, i avoided it like the plague.  i saw a demo online where bryant made this recipe.   it looked so delicious and easy, i had to 

make it.  

after shucking the corn, i tried to cut the corn off the cob like bryant did in the demo.  unsuccessfully.  there was more corn on the floor than on the plate!  i was about to get 

frustrated when i suddenly remembered a tip i read or heard somewhere (i think it actually might be rachael ray).  i put cob in the middle of an a

ngel food cake pan and tried to cut the corn off again.  this tim

e, the corn gently dropped into the pan.  

this dish was pretty easy and fast to put together.  smoky and earthy yet fresh and sweet. ...and spicy!

garlic broth-braised brussels sprouts

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed of 

stems and cut in half lengthwise
1 cup vegetable broth

coarse sea salt
1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons minced fresh lemon thyme
black pepper
coat a large saute pan with the olive oil.  saute garlic for 1 minute.  the brussels sprouts, arranging them cut side down, making one snug layer.  turn the heat to medium-high and saute until the cit sides are lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

add the vegetable broth and 1 teaspoon salt.  bring to a boil and stir well.  immediately reduce the temperature to low, cover tightly and braise for 15 minutes.  add the white wine and the lemon thyme, stir well, cover, and braise 5 minutes more, until the brussels sprouts are meltingly tender. remove from heat season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

i had no idea brussels sprouts grew on a stalk like in the picture!  i wonder how it looks on the tree or bush.  instead of making garlic broth, i bought a box of vegetable broth.  i minced a cloves of garlic and sauteed them before adding the brussels sprouts.  also, i couldn't find thyme at the supermarket so i just used lemon thyme.  delicious!

sweet sweetback's salad with roasted beet vinaigrette

4 medium beets, scrubbed, tops trimmed, root tails left intact (i used a mixture of golden, red and striped beets)
course sea salt
4 tablespoons plus 6 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave nectar

black pepper
5 cups baby arugula


combine the beets, 3 quarts cold water and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium pot over high heat.  boil uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the beets are easily pierced with a knife.  drain.  peel the beets by holding them under cold running water and rubbing their skins off with your fingers or a clean towel.
preheat oven to 400 degrees.
trim the tails off the bottom of the beets.  reserve two of them for the vinaigrette and compost the others.  cut the beets into a 1/4 inch dice.  in a medium bowl, toss the diced beets with 4 teaspoons of the olive oil.  transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to ensure even cooking.  remove the beets from the oven, transfer them back into the bowl just used, and toss with 2 tablespooons of red wine vinegar.  return to the baking sheet and cook for an additional 5 minutes.  set them aside to cool.

in a blender, combine the reserved roasted beet tails with the remaining red wine vinegar, mustard agave nectar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.  blend while slowly pouring in 4 tablespoons of olive oil.  if needed, add more salt to taste.

place the arugula pieces in a large serving bowl, add the roasted beets on top.  immediately before serving, toss well with just enough of the vinaigrette to coat.

this recipe took a long time to make, but it was very tasty!  i was surprised at how easy the skins came off after they were boiled.

california slurricane

1 cup light rum

1/2 cup dark rum

1/2 cup freshly squeezed navel orange juice

1 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons pomegranate juice

3 tablespoons agave nectar

stir all the ingredients in a pitcher.  fill glasses with ice.  pour over ice.  

my only problem with this recipe is the song.  i have to say, i think bryant really didn't come through with this one....probably because he's only been living in oakland for a little while.  i'm not from the town, but i must have a few more years on him....this was a no brainer for me.  listen to the song i played while i was making this drink and tell me it's not perfect.  :)

happy pi day

someone told me it's pi day today. pi, you know...3.14. math was never really my thing so when every time i heard someone say "happy pi day," it really just made me want to eat a slice of pie.

on my last trip to sweet adeline bakeshop in berkeley, i was pleasantly surprised to see their new cookbook for sale. after skimming through the cute little book, my gentle surprise suddenly turned into overwhelming enthusiasm when i saw the recipe for concord grape pie. my reaction is the result of a couple good memories from last fall.



one day in october, i stopped by sweet adeline when i had a sweet tooth. after surveying all the goodies behind the glass, i had a detailed conversation about this important decision with the patient front counter person. finally, i decided to try a slice of concord grape pie. until that moment, i had never heard of this pie but i was more than ready to give it a try.

the crust was securely centered in that magical space between flaky, crisp and tender, and it was an appropriate foundation for the fruity filling. memories of welch's grape juice and jelly played like a slide show over my closed eye lids. then the brightness and warmth surfaced, followed by the crunch of the crust. i opened my eyes wide with surprise. the experience was satisfyingly familiar and new...at the same time. unfortunately, i ate my slice of pie so fast, i didn't have time to identify the source of this new flavor experience.

the pie was on my mind for the next few days, so when i found out my family was going to tailgate at the next 49er game, i immediately offered to bring dessert. i attempted to describe it to my mom, but i just stumbled over my words as i tried to locate adjectives that would explain what i felt when i ate it: comfort, excitement and confusion. somehow, she understood my gibberish and reassured me that she would be able to solve the mystery.


on the morning of the game, i picked up the pie from sweet adeline and an intoxicating aroma filled my car. my index finger couldn't help but reach through the crumbly streusel topping to land in the gooey, purple goodness that lay waiting underneath. it was a beautiful sunday in san francisco. sunny and warm, with a gentle breeze - perfect weather for tailgating. my dad stood over the grill while my brother handed him the hot links. i decided a quick bite wasn't going to hurt anything, since i had to wait for lunch anyway. so i found a fork and sat down with the pie box in my lap. again, i was so overwhelmed with the familiar and new feeling, i didn't slow down to actually taste the pie. after listening to a few squeals of delight coming from my direction, my mom came over and took the fork out of my hand to see what the fuss was about. she brought the glossy and matte jumble of fruit, crust and streusel to her mouth and after a few milliseconds, her eyes rolled up and to the left. my mom exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!" as her fork took another dive into the box on my lap. i looked up at her and shaded my eyes from the sun: "what's in it?!?" my mom expertly tapped her tongue against the roof of her mouth and stood with her hand on her hip, deep in thought. after what seemed like an eternity, she confidently said "Lemon. And cinnamon. And the crust is really good." after another fork-full to confirm her hypothesis, i confidently agreed. the mystery was solved. and my purple lips smiled.



a baker's dozen
recipes with love and appreciation from sweet adeline bakeshop
concord grape pie
yields one 10 inch pie - serves 8

pie dough
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
8 ounces salted butter, cut into 1 x 1 inch pieces, frozen
2-4 Tbsp ice water
1 tsp lemon juice

place dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. using the plastic bread knife (not the steel cutting knife), pulse the butter into the flour, until the butter pieces are one quarter their former size. add the lemon juice and enough water for the dough to just come together. pat the dough into a round disk, and refrigerate over night.

roll dough to fit a 10 inch pie pan, flute the dough decoratively. chill until it is form. line the pie shell with parchment paper and raw beans or rice. be certain that the rice or beans come to the top of the shell. place on a lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees in a convection oven for 10-40 minutes. remove the weights and parchment paper, continue to bake the shell until golden brown.

streusel
3/4 cups flour
1/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
7 Tbsp butter

combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumble. chill.

concord grape filling
1 1/2 pounds concord grapes
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp butter

preheat oven to 350 degrees. stem and wash grapes. mix dry ingredients together, then mix with the grapes. place the fruit in a non-reactive sauce pan, on low heat begin to cook the grapes, stirring the mixture until the grapes begin giving up their juice. bring to a boil and simmer the fruit for 10-15 minutes until it thickens. take the mixture off the heat and add the butter. let the grapes cool slightly and pass them through a food mill. pour the mixture into the pre-baked pie shell. top with the streusel. place on a lined jelly roll pan and bake the pie for 40 minutes until the streusel is golden and the mixture is bubbling and gelled. the filling will look loose.