Fresh Tart

Angharad Guy

If you love eating well while doing good, get thee to Share Our Strength's Annual Blogger Bake Sale, this coming Saturday at Midtown Global Market. You might not know it, but Minnesota has an incredibly talented, vibrant food blogger scene. We call ourselves Fortify: A Food Community, where we connect virtually and in person with the food industry and food lovers in any industry. We love to cook, and bake, and share recipes, and gather to help out where we can.

This year's event is coordinated once again by Delightfully Midwestern blogger Lisa Nguyen Gaulke. When we chatted about the upcoming event, I mentioned it would be fun to share a recipe from last year's sale with all of you. She said, "You have to ask Angharad for her lemon cake recipe, it was my favorite item and last year's best seller...partially because I bought six slices myself!" And so I did ask, therefore the gorgeous recipe below for Lemon-Drenched Lemon Cake, perhaps the best cake name ever. Angharad's blog is Eating for England and is chock full of perfect recipes, gorgeous photos, and bits and bobs of her travels home to England.

Angharad Guy

Lisa notes that the Kitchen in the Market space at Midtown Global Market is key to the success of the sale. "Bring the kids, walk around, grab lunch, then swing by the sale for dessert. Last year, there were 15 participants and we plan the same this year, with each blogger baking and donating anywhere from 2-4 different kinds of treats. There will be a variety of baked goods - cookies, granola bars, breads, gluten-free cupcakes, even honey and homemade jam!"

And when your treats are devoured: Make. This. Cake.

Recipe for Angharad Guy's Lemon-Drenched Lemon Cake at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Remember Poppycock, the massively addictive caramel-glazed popcorn with almonds that has graced every dorm room on every campus ever? Well apparently I still love the stuff, because when craft ice cream whiz kids Benny Solberg and Erik Powers - aka the Froz Broz - asked me about collaborating on an ice cream flavor (whee!), what we came up with together is in a nutshell Poppycock ice cream. Hellooo brown butter, salty caramel, and glazed almonds, spun into a popcorn-infused custard base. I'm telling you, this beauty hits all the right crunchy-creamy-salty-sweet notes.

It may still be ridiculously cold outside, but it's the perfect time for ice cream.

Benny and Erik swung by my house to demonstrate the ice cream's various steps, chat about their business plans, and perhaps share a couple of cocktails. Have I mentioned that they are awesome? Smart and funny and talented times 1000, the fact that they're churning the coolest ice cream flavors in town is really just a bonus. A decidedly delicious bonus! Born from their mutual passion for cooking with local ingredients, the long-time friends decided to invent adventurous ice cream flavors...a new one each week! With flavors like Sweet Pea Mint; Tomato; and Black Pepper Grape Syrup with Pita Cracker & Chevre (to name just a few), the Broz work with local farmers to incorporate peak-season ingredients. Every flavor I've tried - I'll confess I've been lucky enough to try several - has been just beautiful to eat.

These are ice cream flavors you think and talk about afterward.

I know your next question: Where can I buy some? And the answer is: You can't. Not quite yet. For now, they give away two pints of each weekly flavor, so definitely subscribe to their blog and leave a comment to enter their drawings. Or, hire them to make you a special small batch. And then, if you like, contribute to their equipment fund, because in their words, "Making our own base is crucial to the quality and breadth of flavors we create, we have no choice but to get the expensive pasteurization equipment required to get legal with 'the man'."

While you're waiting for the Froz Broz to take over the world, churn yourself a batch of Caramel Popcorn Candied Almond and forget there's still snow on the ground.

Happy Brown Butter Spring!

The Froz Broz recipe for Caramel Popcorn Candied Almond Ice Cream is at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

You don't have to eat chocolate on Valentine's Day. It's true! In fact, these bittersweet Pavlova meringues might better represent your romantic status. And even if not, even if you're blissfully, nauseatingly in love, the contrast of chewy-crisp meringue with fluffy whipped cream and crunchy, salty almonds will delight you.

For such a simple dessert, these have a lot of love going on.

If you haven't yet given them a go, Pavlova meringues are a worthy addition to your dessert repertoire. They're cheap, impressive, easy, beautiful, light on calories, adaptable, and...delicious! Of course they must be delicious. Fill them with whipped cream, or ice cream and chocolate sauce, or citrus curd and berries. Bake the meringue as one big torte, or make individual-sized shells. The basic egg-white-and-sugar mixture can be enhanced with various extracts or in this case, instant coffee. Consider them the pot pie of desserts, ready to be filled with whatever you have on hand.

And if you really, really need to...drizzle them with warm chocolate sauce, it's OK. Happy Valentine's Day!

Recipe for Coffee Pavlovas with Almond Whipped Cream at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

What to bake when you prefer the salty over the sweet? And you're busy? (And you can't eat gluten?) These easy beauties, which have become everyone's favorite Christmas cookie, including mine.

The original recipe caught my eye a few years ago as the Minneapolis Star Tribune's 2009 Cookie Contest Winner. If you love almonds and caramel and butter and Christmas, you'll be as smitten by these decadent cookies as the Strib'stasting panel clearly was (their verdict: "love" and "beautiful").

As a gift to the baker, these are bar cookies, which Minnesotans know are the most magical (and easy!) of all. Other than allowing time for the shortbread crust to chill before baking, they come together in minutes. After they cool for awhile, cut them into tidy triangles, pour yourself a glass of milk, and dig in.

Despite their simplicity, the triangles are elegant on a cookie plate AND disappear blessedly quickly. You can focus on how nutritious almonds are to lull yourself into cookie complacency, but a cookie isn't Christmas without a hearty dose of butter and sugar, and these are no exception.

Thank goodness!

Recipe for Almond Triangles at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Remember August? It sure was pretty...

August 9, in fact, was the Outstanding in the Field farm dinner at Little Foot Farm in Afton, Minnesota. Little Foot raises heritage breed hogs so it's no surprise that this dinner was a celebration of pork, pork, and more pork.

Thanks to chef Mike Phillips of Three Sons Meat, Inc., it was spectacular indeed.

I had the privilege and pleasure of working at the event this year instead of just attending it. I pitched in to help host chefs Mike Phillips and Scott Pampuch make and serve about 50 million pounds of pickles and condiments to enjoy with all of those beautiful courses of pork. 

While the guests gathered and enjoyed cocktails in Karen Weiss and Sally Doherty's picture-perfect farm yard...

...the hogs got frisky...

...and the crew set the signature Outstanding in the Field table.

Coppa. Glorious.

Afternoon showers meant a bit of a rush to set the table...

...with pickles! Okra, beets, peppers, cukes, rhubarb, green beans, corn, chanterelles, on and on.

It takes a village to serve charcuterie to 150 people.

Just...wow.

Kielbasa's on the grill. These beauties were plated with kimchi...

...as fast as pork-greased lightning by Scott and Mike.

The one vegetarian at the dinner ate very, very well. Kimchi and pickled corn with a poached egg? Yes, please!

That's Mike, slicing one of the three golden, crackling porchettas, plated and served with sauerkraut.

Huge thanks to my left and right hand ladies Emily Anderson...

...and Kathy Yerich for working their butts off AND being a total blast. Oh how I love those gals.

Stunning Laughing Loon Farm and Minnesota Peach Farm tomato salad with grilled kale was a welcome refresher after three courses of pork. Those bowls came back very empty!

As the sun set...

...little jars of roasted fruit topped with toasted oat crumble, whipped cream, and magical sugar-glazed grapes, prepared by pastry chef Kelsey McCreight, wrapped the meal.

Another dreamy farm dinner for the books. Huge thanks to Mike Phillips, Scott Pampuch, and the whole crew for letting me help out. The highlight of my summer, without a doubt, both the event itself and the preparation leading up to it.

See pics from:
Scouting Little Foot Farm with Mike and Scott
Pig butchering/charcuterie making in preparation for the meal
Outstanding in the Field dinner 2011 at River Bend Farm in Delano
Pork Burgers!

When I got home, and unloaded the 50 million pickle jars from my car, I found...a gigantic tub of honey! Farm dinner spoils, nice. In honor of the buckets of delicious coffee that powered the dinner prep and clean-up, I made these coffee, honey, and cinnamon custards. I will not lie...they are divine.

Ode to OITF Coffee Custards with Honey & Cinnamon
Based on a Martha Stewart Living recipe
Serves 4-6

soft butter
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. milk
2 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
3 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1/4 c. honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Set out a 9x13 baking pan. Butter 4-6 oz. (or 6-4 oz.) ramekins and arrange them evenly in the 9x13 pan.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, milk, and espresso powder and heat until mixture almost simmers. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, egg, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla. Whisk a bit of the hot cream mixture into the eggs, then whisk in all of the cream mixture until well combined. Ladle into the prepared ramekins. Set the 9x13 pan on rack in preheated oven, then pour hottest tap water into the pan until it comes 3/4 of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the custards are set and jiggly, about 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and water bath. Cool to room temperature and serve or chill to serve later. To serve, run a knife around the edges of the custard and then flip over onto a serving plate. Give the plate and ramekin together a bit of a shake to loosen and the custards will slide right out.

In my world, 'tis the true season of giving right exactly now, when friends share the bounty of their gardens and the lovely jams, syrups, salsas, booze, and pickles made to stretch summer and fall into winter.

My own garden is planted primarily with heirloom tomatoes (thanks to the amazing Heidi Skoog, she of Serious Jam and Bastian Skoog florists), which I've been eating while picking, slicing for BLTs, and roasting for soup. Depending on how many I end up with over the next week or so, I may press my friend Laurie Jesch-Kulseth, who writes the food blog Relishing It, for tips on making salsa. She brought me a jar as a hostess gift awhile back and in the confusion of post-party clutter, I lost track of who it was from. A few days later, when the family popped the jar and dug in, we were all thrilled by the hit of bright summer heat in the middle of winter. In order to properly thank the cook/gift-giver, I had to ask on Twitter who had brought me such a generous homemade treat...Laurie answered that it was She, Giver of Salsa and Smiles.

If you too find yourself buried in tomatoes, be sure check out One Tomato Two Tomato blog, written by forager/pickler/canner extraordinaire Tammy Kimbler. She's even (gorgeously, per Instagram stalking) making tomato wine! Love.

And if you find yourself with a giant box of just-picked pears, like I did courtesy of my friend Scott Pampuch, consider throwing together this tart. I've been meaning to adapt this crust to be gluten-free for awhile and a bounty of firm-juicy pears provided the perfect opportunity. I find that recipes that require very little wheat flour - crepes, popovers, and nut cookies/crackers/tarts - are ideal candidates for tasty gluten-free baking. This crust's flavor and texture is derived primarily from ground almonds (and butter!) and is pressed into the pan (not rolled). Prepared with sorghum flour, the crust turned out as nutty and crisp as your favorite holiday shortbread cookies. (It goes without saying that it's quite lovely prepared with wheat flour as well.)

Scott and his family spent a whole day picking pears courtesy of Linda Newman, in Watertown, MN, and another whole day delivering them to lucky friends. I spent very little time throwing this tart together and figure I came out quite nicely as I scarfed down a large, warm piece with honey whipped cream melting into it. (For the record, inspired by my friend Molly McNeil and her Minnesota Peach Farm pears, with input from Tim Niver of The Strip Club Meat and Fish via Twitter - as you can tell, I so love social media for ideas, recipes, and tips - I also soaked a mason jar stuffed with peeled, diced pears in gin for a few days. Pear gin! Hurray!)

Try this crust with your other favorite fresh, juicy fruits as well - think cherries, peaches, apples, plums, figs, or blueberries for year-round tartiness.

Recipe for Pear Tart with Almond-Thyme Crust & Honey Whipped Cream at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I love me a chocolate chip cookie as much as the next girl, but my real favorite childhood cookie is a ranger cookie. My Grandma Meyer made big batches of these coconut-and-cereal-laced beauties, piled them into empty Butter-Nut coffee cans, and hauled them to the lake for mid-day, swim-starved snacking. We grandkids would inhale a stack of them as we ran back to the beach, while my grandma and aunties enjoyed theirs sitting in the shade with a cup of tea. They would politely eat one or two, although I never understood how. I was - and clearly still am - obsessed with their buttery, naughty goodness.

Apparently as was all of Clara City, Minnesota, given a glance at the Bethenny Reformed Church cookbook. There are several recipes by several different names - cereal cookies, oatmeal corn flake cookies, cracked coconut oat cookies (my favorite), and of course ranger cookies. Some recipes call for rice krispies instead of corn flakes, some for shortening instead of butter, but they're all a variation on the same basic recipe. My son noted that these cookies are an early version of the currently uber-popular Momofuku Milk Bar compost cookies - and he's right! I consider these a purer, more elegant form. Then again, nostalgia is a powerful seasoning.

Recipe for Ranger Cookies at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

As a typical Minnesotan, with one eye always on winter, I get overly enthusiastic about the bounty of perfect, juicy stone fruits and berries available at this time of year. Somehow peaches, plums, raspberries, blueberries, and cherries all make it into my kitchen, all at the same time, without a chance of being devoured before fruit flies start hovering. I'd feel greedy and guilty if not for buttery, cinnamon-laced fruit crisps, better than pie in my book, and twice as easy to assemble. Almost any mix of fruits is perfect in a crisp - the version pictured is plums, peaches, and strawberries, because that's what I had lying around. The version I made this morning is a tumble of peaches, pitted bing cherries, and blueberries.

This is absolutely a recipe to make and eat with children, if you have them, or to toss together on your own. As delightful as a warm bowl of fruit crisp with ice cream tastes after dinner, a bowlful with yogurt and almonds for breakfast is awfully nice too. Take the rest to work for lunch and you too can polish off an entire crisp in one day, the way my son and I did on Saturday.

Then wash the pie plate, poke around for odds and ends of more ripe summer fruit, pull cold butter from the fridge, and toss together another.

Recipe for Warm Fruit Crisp (Gluten-Free...or not) at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Tickets for Outstanding in the Field 2012 - August 9, at Little Foot Farm in Afton, Minnesota - are on sale. I bought a ticket and then thought, Hey! I should post the pictures I took at the 2011 event, at Riverbend Farm in Delano...last July...

Yeah. In fact I have several pretty posts in the queue, waiting for me to dust them off and share them. I guess it takes a looming one-year anniversary to kick my butt into gear.

Or a new batch of pics! I tagged along just this week to Little Foot Farm with host chefs Mike Phillips and Scott Pampuch as they scoped the site for this summer's event and chatted through the menu. Stay tuned this coming week for more information, a recipe, and some fun pics, both here and on TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Until then, here's a mere fraction of my snaps from last year's shindig, taken while eating, drinking, talking, and running around like a sundress-clad lunatic. Damn I had fun, particularly because I was lucky enough to attend with two of my favorite people in the world, Debbie & Stuart Williams. The three of us attempted the 2010 event but were too late to the game. I put myself on the mailing list so we wouldn't miss the next go-round and I swear we were the first to buy tickets.

Yes.

It turns out that July 26 was one of the prettiest days of the whole of last summer. Riverbend Farm was nothing short of breathtaking in the late afternoon sun, sparkly and lush and golden. Stu did his wine genius thing, handing out glasses of deliciousness mere minutes after arriving.

He's good that way.

While we all enjoyed pretty cocktails in the shade of hosts Mary & Greg Reynolds' front lawn, the crew was putting the finishing touches on the signature Outstanding in the Field table, snaking it's way in this case through a wheat field with a lovely view of the river (bend!).

Why one wears boots to farm dinners, courtesy of Debbie Williams.

It's the best fun of all for me to see the crew pull the meal together, having a blast while working their asses off, crafting a gorgeous meal out of fire and freshness. It's a sight to behold, truly.

Cucumber Salad with Goat Milk Creme Fraiche, Mint, Basil, Shaved Onion & Tomato

Field Salad of Greens, Soft-Boiled Eggs & Summer Vegetables

Braised Goat with Cornmeal Cake, Chile-Stewed Turtle Beans, Mustard Greens & Pickled Vegetables, my favorite dish of all of 2011. Divine.

Thousand Hills Grass-Fed Skirt Steak, Wood-Roasted Potatoes, Radishes, Green Beans & Chimichurri

I might have spilled my wine. And pissed off the wine gods for my wastefulness...look at the angry eyes in that stain! Luckily no one snapped a pic of my dress hung up on the back of my chair. Between that move and posing for pics in the middle of the wheat field, I had a pretty mosquito-bitten arse. Utterly deserved for being such a dork, of course.

And so totally worth it.

This Chanterelle Mushroom Ice Cream (recipe below), with Black Trumpet Caramel Shortbread, Morel Sugar & Toasted Wheatberries, blew my mind with its layers of earthy, creamy sweetness. A collaboration between forager Kathy Yerich and chef Scott Pampuch, I've thought and talked somewhat obsessively about it all year long.

As you'll see in my next two posts, preparations for the August 9 event at Little Foot Farm are already well under way. See you there?  

Chanterelle Ice Cream
Chef Scott Pampuch
Makes 1 quart

Note: Start the ice cream the day before you plan to serve it.

1 c. (8 oz.) egg yolks (about 10-12 large yolks)
4 oz. dried chanterelle mushrooms, crushed with a rolling pin
2 1/2 c. heavy cream (like Cedar Summit)
1 1/2 c. whole milk
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt

Freeze the bowl of your ice cream maker per manufacturer instructions, at least a full 24 hours before you spin the ice cream.

Add the egg yolks to a small bowl and whisk a bit to break apart the yolks. Leave whisk in the bowl and set aside.

Combine mushrooms, cream, milk, and sugar in a large saucepan. Set pan over medium heat and warm the mixture, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves (do not simmer).

Temper the egg yolks by slowly whisking one ladleful of warm cream into the yolks. Slowly whisk the egg yolk-cream mixture back into the pan of cream. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Cool mixture to room temperature, then cover and chill overnight. 

When you're ready to churn the ice cream, working quickly so the cream stays very cold, strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing down on the solids to extract all of the cream and flavor (discard solids). Immediately transfer mixture to the frozen bowl of your ice cream maker and spin according to manufacturer instructions (usually around 30 minutes). Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

I created these moist, chocolate-y brownies for my stepdaughter several years ago. I was new to Kosher for Passover cooking when I first met her and had a lot of fun playing with matzo meal and matzo cake flour to come up with scratch treats that were easy to make and tastier than the box mixes that crowd grocery store shelves during Passover.

The finishing sprinkle of coarse sea salt is a new addition, added by a friend who was taste-testing this batch for me. It's both pretty and delicious, adding texture and depth of flavor to already fudgy brownies. An evolving tradition...I love it.

Recipe for Fudgy Passover Brownies with Sea Salt at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.