Summer

BERRY-GINGER COCKTAIL

Sara Forte · November 4, 2014

I went over to her house to pick up some chairs on loan for our dining table. My Aunt Suzy wasn't using them, it will take me months to pick out chairs for our new table, and I like to get Curran out to say hi. I've mentioned my Aunt before - my mom's sister, the only aunt I've grown up close to, geographically speaking, who has been fighting ovarian cancer for six years. She had a beautiful drawing of a skeleton sitting out and I couldn't believe she drew it herself. Actually I could, she's good at a lot of things, art being one of them. As she pulled the drawing closer, she pointed where she had drawn arrows to all the parts in her own body where tumors have grown. She used the technical names of the organs, as you would expect a very conscientious woman would. A lump rose in my throat as she talked about it so matter of factly, like it was no big thing to go through your cancer records and make an illustration of the sick parts of your body that are designed to keep you alive. I didn't say much because it made me sad and I'm certain that as unbelieveably positive she is, it had to have made her sad too. She wiped a few treasured baby toys clean and played with my son and he smiled back at her. I thought of taking a picture because the moment felt important to me, even though I was just going by to pick up chairs, but she has been a supportive, encouraging and generous role model for me, and seeing Curran gaze at her with the affection I feel but infrequently express, was special. But I believe we can take pictures in our minds too, and I'll always hold that image. The drawing keeps popping in my head and I've been thinking about how we deal with grief - how to humbly empathize with someone I love who has been fighting for six long years. That terrible, cliche saying, "live like you're dying" (which we all are at some rate), what does that look like in a practical sense? Not in the hike a major mountain or skydive sort of way, but in the everyday. The small moments.

In this recent interview I read from Anne Lamott she answers a handful of questions about her new book and on life in general. She's speaking on self-consciousness here, but I love theses lines:

"It gets infinitely better as you get older. You’ve lost your parents and some friends, and you feel so amazed and grateful that you still have the gift of life. You figure out that what your butt looks like is 143rd on the list of what is meaningful here, during our brief stay. You throw stuff out of the plane that keeps you flying too low. And yet; and yet. It’s still a struggle."

I've wasted a good amount of time lately concerned about fixing up our house, my post-partum body, our "long term plan" but then I saw Suzy's drawing. What I wanted to tell her was that it's not over. Cancer hasn't won. I'm so proud of her and grateful for the person she has been to me in the thirty years I've been her niece. I have nieces and nephews of my own now, and I hope to be as good to them as you've been to me. This weekend a big group of family and friends are hiking to raise money and awareness for womens cancer research and to celebrate Suzy. It honors a remarkable woman. So, a cocktail. Cheers. Bottoms up. To the strongest fighter I know. May your plane be flying high.

BERRY GINGER COCKTAILS // Make 1 drink

Adapted from Bon Appetit

I know we're all into apples and squash and such but my car thermostat said 76' this afternoon and there are still berries at my farmers market. If you can get your hands on juicy, bright red berries, go for it. Thawed, frozen berries will give you the same pretty color with likely a little less flavor but it's still worth the cocktail, if you ask me.

Lemon Ginger Syrup

4 ounces peeled, chopped fresh ginger
1/4-1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4-1/3 cup agave nectar

Blitz the ginger in a food processor to form a coarse paste. Put it in a saucepan along with 3 cups of water and simmer for 30-40 minutes until reduced by half. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and strain it into a container. Stir in the lemon juice and agave nectar (I used roughly 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup agave. Adjust to your taste). This will make more syrup than you need but can be stored, covered in the fridge for two weeks.

3 strawberries (fresh or thawed frozen berries)
2 oz. tequila
2 oz. lemon ginger syrup
glug of soda water
ice and super thin lemon slices for serving

In your glass, cut up the berries and muddle them in the bottom of the glass. Fill it up with ice. Add the tequila, ginger syrup and a splash of soda water. Give it a stir, taste and add more of whichever you fancy.

Garnish with lemon slices and drink. I suppose you could make a pitcher of this for a party or shower just multiply each ingredients by about eight.

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Dessert, Summer

NECTARINE TART WITH RYE-CORNMEAL CRUST

Sara Forte · September 2, 2014

I'm dog earring interesting recipes in food magazines like a crazy lady. I have a catering job coming up and a particular mini-person has kept me from cooking all that much. Simple things, I have managed to get basic dinners together, but I haven't tried many new items unfortunately. Curran doesn't really like napping, I'm tired, so I eat a lot of brown rice and defrosted wild salmon patties and don't mind because I know this is a season. Ok, actually I cry a lot about it because I want him to get rest so he's happy and his brain grows, but Hugh reminds me it's part of figuring out this parenting thing and we'll turn a corner at some point. You'll miss naps one day, tiny sleep-resister. Anyway, dessert. I've been peeking around to try some new things and I thought these individual tarts in Food+Wine looked great. I haven't had the greatest luck with tart dough, regardless of the printed recipe, so I gave these a run through before putting them on the menu and I approve. I haven't baked much with rye flour but it is perfect here, a tad more flavor than all purpose, and I'm intrigued to try it in other things. The crust is excellent - quite buttery (likely why it's excellent) which makes this perfect for a special occasion.

NECTARINE TART WITH RYE-CORNMEAL CRUST // Makes 4 smallish tarts

Crust recipe adapted from September 2014 Food + Wine

I used nectarines because the ones at our local farm are still incredible. If stonefruits are gone where you are, the original recipe suggests apples and I'm sure that would be great too. Note, I had creme fraiche on hand so made this creamy garnish but a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream would be just as nice and one less step.

// Dough //
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup rye flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 Tbsp. natural cane sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
14 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1/3 cup ice water

// Filling //
3 ripe nectarines
2 ripe plums
1/2 a vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
quick grate of fresh nutmeg
1/4 cup natural cane sugar, divided
2 Tbsp. unbleached all purpose flour
Turbinado Sugar, for sprinkling

// Maple Creme Fraiche //
1/3 cup creme fraiche
1 Tbsp. real maple syrup
1/8 tsp. almond extract

For the dough, in a food processor, pulse both flours with the cornmeal, sugar and salt. Add the cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with flecks of butter. Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and pulse until it just comes together (you should still see flecks of butter). Transfer to dough to a work surface, gather it together, quarter it and form four small disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour. This can be done a few days in advance.

For the filling, slice the nectarines and plums thin. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cut fruit with the vanilla bean, lemon juice, a quick grate of nutmeg, 2 Tbsp. of the cane sugar and toss to combine.

Preheat the oven to 400' and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the 2 Tbsp. of flour and 2 remaining Tbsp. sugar in a ramekin. On a well floured work surface, roll out the dough balls 1/4' thick into roughly 6" circles. Spread a little bit of the flour/sugar mixture in the center of each dough circle, leaving a 1/2" border. Place a pile of fruit on top of the flour circle (be generous and pile high, it'll shrink down). Gently fold the edges of the dough up around the fruit, leaving the center open. Pinch the tears of the dough together to seal and transfer them to the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the dough with a little water and generously sprinkle the whole top with turbinado sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown and crisp. Let them sit for a minute and then transfer to cool completely on a baking rack.

While they cool, stir together the creme fraiche, maple and almond extract (a little goes a long way, you need just a couple drops). Serve each tart with a dollop of cream. These are best enjoyed the day they are made but they will keep covered for two days and could even be freshened up in a toaster oven when needed.

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Side, Salad, Entrée, Gluten Free, Summer

GREEN SALAD OF NECTARINES, CORN + PEANUTS

Sara Forte · August 21, 2014

Not in the head space to write much, but I wanted to share this salad we had at a backyard dinner with friends last week before another weekend passed. It was the perfect late summer salad - a place for those sweet nectarines that I cannot get enough of (also been throwing them in my morning steel cut oats with cardamom and salted pistachios. Recommended). It was one of the better salads I've thrown together, perhaps because I wasn't expecting it to be such a delicious and easy combination. I feel like a much better cook when I am not trying hard to be a good cook...that must make sense for those of you who write recipes and blogs about food. It's annoying really, and maybe the demon of people who do creative work for a living. Anyway, here is the recipe, give or take, and I'm wishing you all a full weekend ahead. Heidi's salad looks amazing, I want these wraps, Ashlae's cookies and will never pass up a berry crumble. Go eat outside!

GREEN SALAD OF NECTARINES, CORN + PEANUTS // Serves 4

The first time I made this, I used a mix of baby arugula, kale and romaine. You really can use any greens you like, but if you go with something sturdy like kale, cut it with another soft lettuce as well. For aesthetics and texture contrast, I'm a proponent of mixing lettuces and greens.

When a dressing is this simple, I (lazily, because I don't want to wash another bowl) drizzle everything on top and just toss it well to distribute. Do as I say, not as I do and whisk it all before it that sounds a little haphazard to you. I like to live on the edge and risk a mouthful of mustard in one bite.

2 tsp. coconut oil
1 ear of corn
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
4 cups chopped red leaf lettuce
4 cups mixed greens (I used a 'power green' pack)
handful of roughly chopped cilantro
1 ripe necartine, diced
1 shallot, finely minced (about 2 Tbsp.)
1/2 cup crumbled feta, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup roasted and salted peanuts, plus more for garnish
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. agave nectar
1 tsp. dijon mustard
sea salt and pepper

in a small pan, heat the coconut oil over medium high heat. Cut the corn kernels away from the cob and add them to the hot pan with a sprinkle or salt and the smoked paprika. Saute, only moving once or twice so the edges char, for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the corn cool completely.

In a large salad bowl, combine both greens, cilantro, the diced nectarine, shallot and half of the feta, peanuts and cooled corn. Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, white balsamic, agave, mustard and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Dress the salad as desired and sprinkle the remaining feta, peanuts and corn on top. Serve immediately.

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