Cherry-Raspberry Cobbler

I'm calling this cobbler recipe rustic because it involves a cherished pie crust recipe from one of my mom's old cookbooks. And as you can see, I am not even close to an expert pie maker, but combine this pie crust with cherries, raspberries and rhubarb and what you've got is one mouth-watering dessert, you'll want to make again and again.

If you use high quality pie cherries, like North Star from Grouse Mountain Farm, use less sugar. When you're ready to enjoy some, give yourself the time to linger over the delicious flavors of the season.  Each seasonal fruit goes by fast, so slow down and enjoy each one.

We've got our own crop of raspberries again this year, a bumper crop really, but I'm not sure about allowing my Cooking Assistant free reign around the raspberries. We could end up with a lot less for summer desserts.

Taking bets on how long he'd last if left alone with these berries.

Sometimes I wonder is there any food this dog doesn't like?  He's a big fan of raspberries, that's for sure.

Pitting them is mess, no way around it, you have to wear an apron or get cherry stained.

Another pie cherry fan.  I've loved them ever since I can remember and in those days I'd only sampled canned cherries.  The fresh are out of this world.

Rhubarb, not surprisingly, pairs well with most summer fruits.  It wouldn't be suitable to share with your pooch though because the rhubarb is on the canine don't eat list.

That doesn't stop my Cooking Assistant.  He has a relentless passion for anything edible.

Cherry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Cobbler

(Serves 4)

This cobbler is made with a pie crust topping and you can always opt for a frozen version, but sometimes it’s fun to make your own.  I always go back to one of Mom’s  favorite cookbooks--Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (1951).  Pies, it seems, never go out of style. While my grandmotehr used lard, this recipe uses shortening and I used a vegan shortening.For this recipe, it’s best to start the crust first because the dough needs to be chilled before rolling it out. I came up with these three fruits that go together nicely.  If you don’t have one, make your own substitutions.

Crust

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons very cold water

Filling

1/4 cup cornstarch

3 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped lemon zest

2 cups pitted pie cherries

2 cups thinly sliced rhubarb

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar

2 cups raspberries

1. Prepare crust by sifting flour and salt together.  Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until pieces are the size of small peas.  Add the cold water by teaspoons, tossing with a fork until all the flour-coated bits of fat are covers. Stop!

2. Gather the dough into a compact ball then turn onto a waxed piece of paper and flatten with your hand.  Chill the disc for an hour for easier handling.

3. Preheat oven to 350F.

4. Combine cornstarch, lemon juice and zest in a small bowl and mix well.  Place cherries, rhubarb and sugar in a saucepan on medium-low heat.  Blend in the cornstarch-lemon mixture and stir. Cook and stir until a sauce forms.  It will be opaque at first and when it turns closer to clear but not quite clear, remove from heat.  Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Stir in the raspberries.

5. Roll chilled pastry dough 1/8-inch thick, rolling lightly from the center to outer edges.  Gently lift and place over the fruit.  Crimp the edges and make a few slashes in the top of the dough with a knife.  You can lightly butter the top and add a few dashes of cinnamon sugar if you want before baking.

6. Bake for 35 minutes or until lightly browned on top and bubbling inside.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving with coconut sorbet.

Blueberry Coffee Cake with vegan options

I wanted a coffee cake recipe that was easy to convert to vegan options. Hint: Rule #1 Pick a recipe with one or two eggs.  I also wanted the recipe to include berries, but I wasn't picky about the type.  I  perused my cookbooks first, and I found exactly what I was looking for in The Creative Breakfast by Ellen Klavan.

The recipe is in a chapter called Sweet Treats. Klavan says, "There are times--like when your Aunt Matilda is spending the night or your child is headed off to summer camp, or someone in the family needs cheering up or congratulating when a bowl of skim milk and muesli just don't strike the right note." Maybe because the book was published in 1998, but today we don't need excuses like Aunt Mildred to eat cake, do we? And we don't need to feel guilty for thinking we do.

Enjoy, I say. Maybe I'm a sucker for the hedonistic advice from my Cooking Assistant.  He never feels guilty about indulging in anything. 

With this recipe, you can souce ingredients locally. I used Nash's local flour for this recipe.  I keep Nash's flour in my freezer and use it up within a few months. 

The picture of pastry flour below is from Dunbar Farms in Southern Oregon. Check your own farmers' market for local flour.

Choose your own berries to accompany this cake.  

Below are strawberries, black raspberries and raspberries.  I like the idea of serving red, white and blue on patriotic holidays.

We don't have blueberries yet in the Northwest, and though it's preferable to have fresh berries, you can also use frozen berries. The only problem with frozen blueberries is, as the berries defrost, the cell walls break allowing the blue color to seep into the batter.  Sometimes you can toss berries in frozen and the bleeding won't happen. I wasn't very lucky with that technique. 

The batter was blue before I put it in the pan. But don't let that discourage you; it still tastes fabulous.

My Cooking Assistant loves the berries.  He can be very naughty in the garden, picking all the berries for himself.  We thought it was cute when we taught him how to pick berries. 

It could be dangerous teaching your dog to pick berries.

This cake is not very sweet so eat it for breakfast if you like.  Or serve it with berries and coconut sorbet after dinner.  This recipe isn't altered much from the original recipe. To switch it to a vegan recipe is easy with only one egg, butter and milk to replace.

Blueberry Coffeecake

(Makes one 7-by 9-inch cake)

Topping 

1/4 cup butter or Earth Balance buttery sticks, softened

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts or pecans

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup butter or Earth Balance buttery sticks

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg or flaxseed egg replacer for one egg

1/2 cup milk (almond, coconut, hemp, or soy)

2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Butter or grease a 7-by 9-inch baking dish.  With a fork, combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon, mashing until mixture is creamy. Stir in nuts and set aside.

2. Sift the pastry flour and baking powder together.  In another bowl combine the butter and sugar, blending until smooth.  Stir in egg or egg-replacer.  Add the flour alternating with the milk and stir just until smooth. Mixture will be quite thick. Gently mix in the blueberries. 

3. Spread in the prepared baking pan and bake for 1 hour.  Test with a toothpick before removing from the pan.  Cool before cutting.  Serve with strawberries and coconut sorbet.

Minted Sugar Snap Peas, Peppers and Leeks

I can't get enough of fresh peas this season. My vegetable love is partly due to an article about peas I'm finishing up for Vegetarian Journal. I love this magazine and if you love vegetables like I do, check out the roasted vegetables in this issue of Vegetarian Journal.

I've enjoyed every pea recipe, even the failures. But I'm not talking about those.  In the process, I became an even bigger fan of garden peas. The Green Pea Guacamole I made last week was to die for. It isn't hard to make--peas, lime, avocado, and salsa. Green pea hummus would be good too--Martha Stewart proves once again that there's nothing new under the sun in cooking. If you can think it up, someone, somewhere, has already cooked or created. 

But seriously, who knew mint was such a great partner for peas? It's as if they were made for each other.  Kind of like cauliflower and cashew butter.

Fresh peas restore my love of spring, but I didn't always like English peas.

When I was young, I turned my nose up at canned peas. They were an annoyance on my lunch tray. I was revolted by the color, and I recall moving the army green specimens around on my plate at lunch time in the school cafeteria, to avoid being forced to eat even one bite the nasty canned things. We were required to take three bites of everything on our hot lunch trays; I wasn't the only kid moving the canned beets and peas around instead of taking required bites. But those canned peas are nothing like fresh English, sugar snap and snow peas, which rarely appeared on lunch or dinner plates.

Today, we've got peas planted in our garden and it looks like we'll have plenty by the end of this month.

I marvel at the bounty at the farmers markets.  These sugar snap peas are from Willie Green's Organic Farm.

English peas are slightly larger, but don't get them too big or they will be starchy not sweet. My Cooking Assistant is waiting for someone to shuck these perfect English peas.  I'm guessing that would be me.

Minted Sugar Snap Peas with Peppers and Leeks

(Serves 4)

16-ounces fresh sugar snap peas, washed and strings removed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 leek, washed and sliced

1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 Tablespoons apple cider or water

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add sugar snap peas.  Blanch for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, drain, rinse and stop the cooking process with cold water.

a heavy skillet over medium heat.  

2. Add leeks and red pepper.  Stir and cook until leeks begin to caramelize and peppers soften.  Add sugar snap peas and stir until the peas warm up.  Stir in fresh mint and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper.

Mac and Peas (vegan)

I'd been thinking about making my own mac and cheese ever since I discovered this vegan version, which sounds a little crazy, I know, but vegans have made this old-time comfort food even better. Check out the Vegan Stoner with this version with canned peas (not my favorite) or this version with coconut milk. Both versions of mac and cheese added nutritional yeast. So I was toying with what else to use, when I met a woman in this thrift shop near the blenders. She said she uses a small blender to make a vegan mac and cheese sauce with cauliflower and cashew butter.

"Cauliflower and cashew butter?"

"I know," she said, "It sounds crazy but it works. It tastes exactly like Parmesan cheese." 

I spotted cashew butter at a Grocery Outlet not more than 15 minutes later, so I got some cauliflower  and tired making the sauce.  One problem was she hadn't given me any proporitons, so it was a bit of a guessing game.  

WOW! 

This mixture even smells like Parmesan cheese. How crazy is that? 

I wrote the recipe ahead of time, adding nutritional yeast and a bit of turmeric, a bit of lemon, garlic powder and sea salt. But when I tasted it before adding these other ingredients, I was shocked.  I kept wanting to taste it again and again.

For me, mac and cheese is a starter. It's one of those food canvas as where you add the colors and flavors. I thought it would be easy to find macaroni, and truthfully I only went to one store, but all the designer gluten-free pastas have taken the shelf space and good old macaroni got squeezed out.  Since I was making it yesterday, I could have gone to more stores, but I finally settled for shell noodles instead.

I've added so many different vegetables, herbs and sauces over the years, it's funny that I hadn't peas until recently.  

Zucchini is my standard with mac and cheese these days. So obviously that ingredient came before peas, but if you don't like it, add mushrooms, peppers or whatever non-starchy vegetable that you love.

Use fresh or frozen peas.  I choose frozen because fresh peas aren't quite at the market yet in Seattle.

Who doesn't love opening fresh peas?  I remember my grandmother shelling them and always sharing a few with me.

You can find cauliflower at the market now, but it's pricey because the season hasn't quite started.

So many possibilities for mac and cheese, and so little time.

Too many peas?  Blanch them in a big pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, drain, dry and freeze.

One of my "secret" flavorings is apple-smoked sea salt from Rockridge Orchards.  I didn't add my favorite Mama Lil's Peppers, but you could add those too, if you have them.

Mac and Peas

(Serves 4)

2 tablespoons cashew butter

1 1/2  cup cooked cauliflower (reserve water and add to thin sauce)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

Pinch of turmeric

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, white pepper and smoked sea salt

1 Tablespoon oil

1 cup diced onions or shallots

1 cup diced red pepper
2 cups sliced zucchini

8 ounces macaroni or shell pasta

1 cup fresh garden peas or frozen peas

1. Combine cashew butter, cooked cauliflower, lemon, nutritional yeast and turmeric in a food processor or mixer and blend until creamy, add more liquid to make the mixture smooth.  Set aside. 

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add macaroni and cook according to package directions. While pasta cooks, heat a skillet over medium heat and add onions, red peppers and zucchinis.  Stir and cook until onions and zucchini are caramelized and the peppers are tender.  If using fresh peas, add and cook for a few minutes, or until tender.

3. When macaroni is done, drain and blend with the sauce and vegetables and serve.

I forgot to mention the asparagus. It's not exactly part of this recipe, but I love asparagus even more than peas, so of course I get some at the market every week.  It looks beautiful on top of my Mac and Peas. All the flavors made me wish dinner would never end.

Sugar Snap Peas, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Penne Pasta

Pssst: Pea Season has arrived

I spotted pea shoots a few weeks ago at the farmers market, so I bought a bunch, washed and trimmed the stems and I cooked them briefly and served them with a simple lemon rice. 

I also bought pea plant starts from River Farm, but after we planted them, our cat Gino dug up three of them. At first I suspected Gino, was a secret vegetarian and wanted to try pea shoots, but he'd tossed the tiny plants aside, like he was miffed that we hadn't planted catnip.  

Gino, the pea shoot thief

Remove the tough stems from pea shoots.

Fresh peas at the market can be pricey, but they only come once a year, so plant your own or save your pennies and get to the farmers' market when the first shoots appear--which would be now at the U-District farmers market.

The flavor of pea shoots is delicate and subtle so choose ingredients that won't overwhelm them, and remember to remove all of the tough stem, which can make for an unpleasant eating experience.

After the shoots, come sugar snap, snow, and then shelling or English peas which are so good, even self-professed pea haters become converts. Sugar snap and snow peas are the best bargain because you eat the pods.

String sugar snap peas and snow peas after washing.  If you don't, you'll curse yourself because the tips can poke you when you eat and the strings are tough.

Shell English  peas before using in recipes.

Sugar snap peas from Willie Green's Organic Farm

Be sure to remove English peas from the pods before eating 

Sugar Snap Peas from Willie Greens Organic Farm 

My Cooking Assistant is in heaven with these fresh English peas.

Pea shoots from Mair Farm-Taki at the farmers' market

Sugar Snap Peas, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Penne Pasta

(Serves 6)

2 cups penne pasta

8-ounces shiitake mushrooms, tough stems removed (save for soup stock)

1 large red pepper, stem removed, seeded and diced

1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound sugar snap peas, strings removed

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup Kalamata olives

10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

2 tablespoons lemon juice or balsamic vinegar

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.  While the water boils, prepare the vegetables.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add shiitake mushrooms and dry-fry, stirring until mushrooms become soft.  Add red pepper and oil.  Stir and cook until peppers soften.  

Add sugar snap peas, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until pears are tender.  Stir in garlic powder, green onions, and Kalamata olives.

Transfer to a serving bowl and gently blend in tomatoes, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper.

Gluten-Free Cherry-Rhubarb Crisp with Lavender

I'm getting a jump on spring this year with this pie cherry-rhubarb recipe. I decided to make it gluten-free, too, but you could use whole-wheat pastry flour, if you want.

I also added a touch of lavender in this recipe. Use culinary variety of lavender, such as hidcote or Betty’s Blue, a lavender cultivar developed in Oregon.  The bud's don't need to be fresh.  Dried lavender works in this recipe.

 You can find pie cherries in the frozen fruit section at natural food stores. They probably won't be organic, but they will most likely be local if you live in the Northwest.

Rhubarb made an appearance at Rockridge Orchards at the U-District Farmers Market last week.  Pricey at $7 a pound, but early fruits and vegetables command the highest price and for rhubarb lovers those baby stalks were a treat. As summer approaches, the price drops, and stalks get bigger.

My Cooking Assistant has sweet memories of cherries.

We can't wait for fresh cherries to make an appearance in the Northwest, but in the meantime the frozen cherries will do.  For a dairy-free version use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks and coconut sorbet.  If you can't find coconut, lemon or blood orange sorbet also make great additions to this recipe.

Gluten-Free Cherry-Rhubarb Crisp with Lavender

(Serves 6)

Rhubarb and tart pie cherries pair up in this amazing gluten-free crisp that carries hints of lavender, a mint family relative and an herb that demands a light touch. Some recipes specify 1 or 2 tablespoons in the mix but be aware that when you cook with lavender, it’s best to use less because too much can make the crisp taste soapy.  

Filling:

4 cups pitted sour pie cherries

1 to 1 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons crushed dried lavender buds

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

3 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch

Topping:

1 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter or vegan baking sticks

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine pitted cherries, rhubarb, sugar, lavender and lemon zest in a 2-quart casserole dish. Stir gently and set aside.

Combine dry topping ingredients: gluten-free flour, oats, brown sugar and soda in a medium-size mixing bowl.  Mix well.  Cut in butter or baking sticks until mixture looks like small particles.  Add more flour, if necessary.  Crumble the topping over the filling.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the filling bubbles. The liquid is thinner when hot and as the crisp cools, the filling thickens.  Serve with coconut sorbet or vanilla ice cream.