Last night I went to see a performance of The Crucible, which by the way was terrific and if you’re in Pittsburgh, do check it out - this is the last week. The play is being performed in a park, so I wanted to bring a little treat to snack on during intermission. Of course, I never consider desserts to be sinful, so bringing something sweet was only natural. No goody-two-shoes Puritanical treat would do, either; rather more fitting would be something that might look plain but is a bit more interesting once you sink your teeth in.

It also follows that I am helpless to fight the baking urge, despite the temperature in my apartment climbing gleefully past the 90° mark. Besides, stovetop treats such as candy would probably not set up in the humidity, and utensil foods (e.g. rice pudding) would be too awkward to eat. So you see, it was quite logical to make cookies. Cornmeal seemed like the right choice, as always feels summery to me. However, most cornmeal cookies I’ve had are plain and crisp, while I prefer a chewier cookie…so the goal was to make something that would both have a pleasant texture and also be welcoming to some other flavours as supporting cast members. A bit of fiddling with an existing recipe produced an excellent result - the chew is just right and the apricot-ginger combination is lovely with tea. It’s probably best to use finely ground cornmeal for this recipe, as coarse or stone-ground will leave tiny nuggets of corniness in the cookies, which is charmingly rustic but perhaps not desirable for a tea cookie. Be mindful to remove the cookies from the oven when they are just lightly golden.

Continue reading “Portable Treats”…

Drink up, my pretty…

When most people think of green drinks, Absinthe comes to mind.
Continue reading “The Other Green Fairy”…

Farmers market season is upon us, and this year there are plenty within city limits — enough to cover every day of the week except Sunday.
Continue reading “Farmers Market Frenzy”…

It’s the height of cherry season, and conversations around Gastronomicon HQ are riding an excited buzz about the local Bings, Raniers, and Sours that are soon to show up at the local farmer’s markets. Cherry fever seems to have gripped the rest of the nation, too. For instance, I just discovered an online store that sells Washington State cherries for about 5 times more than what my local supermarket charges. Of course, these cherries are hand-picked, allowed to ripen on the tree, and quintuple-checked against discolouration, softness, size, Scientology affiliation, and all other potential cherry misdeeds. Of course, there is no way I could afford to buy these beauties, so they sit on their website and taunt me with their scarlet words: plump, juicy, tart, ripe…whew. Enough to make a girl want to go to confession for lusting after them.
Continue reading “Chim Chim Cherry”…

There is nothing quite like being up to one’s elbows in blood, guts, and fish scales at 3PM on a Saturday afternoon.

Furthermore, there is sushi neither fresher nor more satisfying than that cut directly from the body of a living creature caught by one’s own hand and eaten on the spot, before the actual gore-fest commences.

I threw these muffins together today because I had a bunch of dried cherries that I wanted to use. They’re essentially a plain muffin recipe with a single modification (I substituted honey for half of the sugar) and the addition of dried fruit, but they turned out well and a friend asked for the recipe. So, here goes…
Continue reading “Name Like a Pornstar”…

We’re in the midst of blueberry season, and grocers everywhere are offering cheap pints of berries. What we get here in PA supermarkets are mostly Jersey-grown berries. While these may not taste as perfect out-of-hand as wild Maine blueberries, they still fare quite nicely whether plain or in desserts. In my opinion, baking them is one of the best ways to bring out their best qualities. A blueberry buckle, which is more or less a coffee cake that happens to contain more berries than batter, is an excellent way to make those supermarket berries shine. The quantity of fruit makes it supremely moist, and a crunchy streusel topping adds texture. With a swirl of lemon curd sauce for a bit of tang, this downhome treat is transformed into a sublime summer dessert (or breakfast). Not to mention it’s very easy to make. The following recipe is adapted from one in Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
Continue reading “Blueberry Buckle”…

I am not allowed to buy any more plants for my garden.

Yesterday, Gastronomicon co-author April and I went to Chapon’s Greenhouse in search of the very last thing we wanted for our respective gardens: Thai basil. Sadly, they claim they will not be getting any in this year. Even though I repeatedly asked her to talk me out of buying other plants instead, I walked out of there with five new ones. Of course, someone else came out of there with two new ones, as well. At least I talked myself out of a new windowbox and three everbearing strawberry plants. After bringing everything home and doing some planting, rearranging and uprooting/potting, I now have a full garden, two full windowboxes, and five potted plants on the front porch.
Continue reading “No more plants!”…

The scones in Ireland disappointed me. There, I said it. They were dry and tasteless and barely buttery. There was a bakery in Doolin where I was once (so I’d hoped) lucky to get a batch fresh from the oven. To my chagrin, they were not only bland but the texture was more like a biscuit/muffin hybrid. Fishguard, Wales was not much better, although at least they were smart enough to cover the dry little lump with cream and jam. Could this be the way scones are meant to be? For a cluster of islands who are so keen on tea and pastry, I can’t help but suspect it was just bad luck on my part and negligence on theirs. But perhaps my idea of a scone is just too foreign…indeed, my first experiences of the classic teatime delight were not at the hands of a sprightly Welsh or Irish baker, but a regular old American lass.
Continue reading “Sconey Island”…

Last night, I whipped up an experimental marinade for a barbecue which I attended today. It went over so well that I had to buy more lamb for the barbecue that I will be attending tomorrow.

I used blade-cut lamb shoulder chops, but really, any lamb will do. (I love lamb, and will eat it any way I can.) There’s not much of a recipe to this, because I kind of made it up as I went along, but here is a rough approximation of the very simple marinade.
Continue reading “Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops”…