When I purchased my little farmstead 20 years ago, the first thing I did was plant 3 Wolf River apple trees.
Photo Credit Laura Cabot
Why, you may ask? Well, when I first moved to Maine, I moved to the sleepy central Maine area, near St. Albans. I used to enjoy hiking in remote areas near there and it wasn’t uncommon back in the 70’s to find still undisturbed, ancient farmsteads, lost in time and marked only by a granite foundation, a lilac bush or three and a couple of Wolf River apple trees. The size of the apples on these old trees was astounding! I gathered a pail full and made my first Wolf River apple pie with just two. Often weighing a pound or more, these creamy fleshed apples are dry fleshed but perfectly suited for baking, with a flavor that develops in the oven. So bake I did, and the pie was unforgettable! The apples were soft and delicious, but held their shape.
Photo Credit Laura Cabot
And they’re pretty with a stripy pink blush over a greenish skin. The trees are hearty and attractive. This strain is over 150.years old. Originally found in Wisconsin in 1875 on the banks of the Wolf River, this is a cold hearty type of fruit tree and beautifully suited for a Maine winter.
Autumn is a great time to plant trees and shrubs. If you can get your hands on a Wolf River apple tree, I can tell you you won’t regret having one on your property, especially if you are a baker like me!
Imagine a double smoked pork chop, it’s fat crispy, the flesh succulent. Now imagine that bite with a drizzle of a reduction of star anise spiced cider reduction. Elevated. To be sure…and so easy. Bonus, it makes the house smell good and it’s actually easier than pie.
Here’s what I do :
Find a gallon of locally pressed apple cider
Empty it into a heavy bottomed kettle.
Add spices you like, I use star anise and allspice, 1 cinnamon stick. Maybe some lemon peel.
Let it simmer all day on a low flame.
When you get close to the bottom of the pot, now that’s the time you need to watch it. Do not let it scorch. I takes a practiced eye to get your syrup right. If you leave it too long, it gets stiff, like taffy. Just right and you’ll have a lovely syrup to drizzle judiciously over roast pork.
And BONUS if you happen upon juice containing a lot of natural pectin, once in a blue moon you’ll get Cider Jelly, which is heavenly on toast and impossible to find in speciality shoppes anymore.
Full of flavor and just natural sugar, it works for me!
For many of us in food service, September affords an opportunity to step away from the stove and maybe take a drive to try other chefs’ food.
A busman’s holiday, to be sure…but it’s a welcome break and also informative to see something new and different. Learning and enjoyment together, it’s a great combo !
There’s only so much “gilding the lily” that’s appropriate to really good, fresh lobster meat. I’ve hit all the best places in search of ecstasy at lunch time, Red’s Eats, Claws, Sprague’s, McLoons Lobster Shack and plenty of others.
But I found it …Mecca …at Home Kitchen Cafe, James Hatch’s excellent breakfast and lunch jointing Rockland, Maine.
They put out a stacked lobster BLT that was an embarrassment of riches, so to speak. So good that I was the embarrassed one when I polished it off in record time…
I recommend the Home Kitchen Cafe in Rockland heartily. And you won’t even have to fight the seagulls for your lunch!
It’s a wonderful moment in the garden and a great time to be cooking”all the things” you planted in June. But maybe like me, at this point you can’t eat one more cucumber or tomato?
I reach for one of the many gluten free brownie mixes you can find at the local market. Buy it. Bake it. Cool it. Then destroy it!
Directions:
Crumble the whole pan of brownies into a bowl and add a bit of decent rum. Mix it gently, until it will hold into a ball shape.
Make small 2 bite balls and set them aside.
In a separate small bowl, mix cinnamon powder with a small amount of chipotle powder ( you want just a hint of heat).
Toss the brownie-rum balls in the spice dust and set aside on wax paper.
These keep quite a while in a covered plastic container in the fridge, in a single layer is best.
These dessert snacks are surprisedly good, if a little surprising.
Garlic is not hard to grow. It’s a bulb that gets planted in the fall, just like a tulip bulb and many others.
Its medicinal values are well known and documented. Plus, the Vampire thing!
What some do not understand is that you have a “head” of garlic ,but you plant the “cloves”. The type I favor, hard neck, have larger but fewer cloves so, in the kitchen, easier to peel and slice…more punch for less work. I’ve tried Russian Red, Elephant, Hard and Soft necked varieties, Magic and so many others. Siberian is said to be the most medicinal, due to it’s high levels of allicin.
It’s cultivation isn’t complicated , plant in the fall in rich, well tilled soil. I cover mine with straw to let it winter over, then when you see it poking thru, remove the straw and it grows quickly maturing into gooseneck scapes inside of 2 months. It’s important to cut off the scapes, which otherwise become a flower and go to seed, in order to direct the energy downward to the developing bulb. We want that head of garlic to grow big! And there are many ways to cook and enjoy the scapes, pesto being a favorite.
This year was an early harvest, mine’s been out of the ground for about ten days already…much earlier than last year.
Once the stems dry out I’ll clip them down close to the bulb and store them in a dry, airy spot to throughly cure.
This year I’ll try making fermented black garlic. Click to Seasonal Recipes to get the skinny!
If you decide that you love the umami of fermented black garlic, the retail cost of it may scare you away. Why not make it at home? Just get ready for some smells!
Well, let’s cut to the chase. You’ll need a rice cooker. It’s an easy way to maintain the consistent temperature and humidity that fermenting garlic requires. It takes a week or more for the garlic’s flesh to become black, dense , sweet and chewy, similar to a date.
Although relatively new to the restaurant scene, black garlic has long been a staple in Asian kitchens.
If, in fact, you’re ready to try this….Google a detailed tutorial on the subject, and give heed to these tips from a pro ( who is not me):
Be certain you know the temperature of your rice cooker…or you may get char. The ideal range is around 150 degrees.
Seal in the moisture as best you can to attain that chewy texture, wrap the garlic heads in foil and also the top of the cooker.
Make it in an outbuilding or garage so your whole house doesn’t smell garlic-y!
So, now you’ve made it. How to use it? Think of it as a way to deepen the flavor if things you already make and love….pesto, chermoula or chimichurri sauce es…hummus, etc.
It tastes great and comes with a range of health benefits too!
I suppose this dish stems from the Mainer’s love of bragging rights.
By July, if you’re a decent gardener you can compile this dish of peas and potatoes from the garden, garnished with fresh dill (my favorite) and sometimes a simple white sauce.
The perfect complement is a savory, fresh and perfectly grilled piece of salmon filet. Crispy skin please! Fresh bread and butter, a green salad from the garden and family..with the promise of whoopie pies and fireworks later…maybe a dip in a lake!
It’s not really a recipe, it’s a state of mind.
Happy Fourth of July everyone. Independence Day. More important to note than ever.
Mine are still in bloom, so it seems unlikely that I’ll have peas for the Fourth. Being a cool season crop, you can plant them early in spring, weather willing and conceivably have them on your plate for July Fourth.
But what fun to watch how fast they shoot up! And the plants are so pretty with their pink and magenta blossoms that I put them and the tender shoots into a green salad that is so “of the moment”, along with my speckled trout lettuces, mesclun and endives. Pretty soon there will be calendula and nasturtiums too!
I usually like to grow a few types of peas. The English shelling peas are the treat to go with the traditional July 4th meal, but sugar snaps and snow peas also have their place in my garden. Especially because peas actually improve the area where they’re grown by fixing nitrogen in the soil.
Once you grow your own peas, you’ll never eat another pea from a can…I promise you.
This month’s Food Safari is short and sweet…because there’s so much to do! With the extravagant rains Maine has experienced, the weeds are growing well…like weeds!
Business is picking up, kids are back from college, summer folk are returning and it feels like turning on a spigot.
We enjoy Air B and B guests, so I keep my culinary gardens for my use and theirs.
Gardens give back so much. Here’s to summer! Don’t you want to have a catered party?
For many of us in food service, September affords an opportunity to step away from the stove and maybe take a drive to try other chefs’ food.
This month’s Food Safari is short and sweet…because there’s so much to do! With the extravagant rains Maine has experienced, the weeds are growing well…like weeds!
