Fresh Tart

Given lusty poached plums and a hint of orange, this cake would be stunning on the Christmas table.

Recipe for Almond & Orange Cake with Poached Plum Compote at Food & Wine Magazine/Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures.

Spicy, tender Pumpkin Cake to eat warm with whipped cream.

Lovely for dessert, but devoured 'round these parts...for breakfast! When we ran out of whipped cream I just poured heavy cream over warm pieces, in a bowl, and made my son very happy. A little grating of fresh nutmeg over the top is a nice finish.

Happy Almost Thanksgiving! Recipe for Pumpkin Cake at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I'll confess, the last week has been incredibly difficult. My mom had very serious surgery just last Monday, and my husband John had knee surgery two days later. Things are looking up for both of them, thank goodness, with Mom still hospitalized but slowly improving, and John back at work already today. The body's ability to heal is mind boggling.

I've been amazed by the outpouring of well wishes from friends near and far, in person and online. The social media community is a force of nature, in case you've ever doubted it. My sister Stacey and I have been overwhelmed - in the best possible way! - with loving and supportive messages and offers of help. We are beyond grateful.

I'm the type of girl who loses her appetite when I'm stressed out. But it makes me feel better to cook, so I was glad that in the midst of this craziness, I was making and writing about three different panna cotta recipes that spun out of the Tour de Farm/Celebrity Chef Tour dinner I attended a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that panna cotta is perfect comfort food and it has literally sustained me over the last days.

Funny how things work out.

See this week's Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine post for my friend Kris Hase's genius "cheeese course" recipes for Goat Cheese Panna Cotta with Honey & Berries and Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Bacon & Blue Cheese. Thank you Kris!

So...on to Part II and the pretty details of the Tour de Farm/Celebrity Chef Tour dinner. Despite the bumps in the evening (see Part I), it really was an amazing night. In fact, the whole weekend was a blast, starting on Friday night, when Joy Summers, Molly McNeil, and I stopped by Birchwood Cafe to chat with proprietress Tracy Singleton and to meet National Geographic fellow, sustainable seafood advocate, and chef Barton Seaver. I bought Seaver's book For Cod and Country and had the chance to talk with him for a few minutes about his work and mission. As I left I told him I'd see him not just at Sunday's event, but also for dinner Saturday night at Corner Table, where he and Tour de Farm founder/chef Scott Pampuch were cooking together, featuring a menu of sustainable fish as well as CT's signature local fare.

Debbie and Stu Williams, as well as Rudy Maxa, Ana Scofield, and Ana's daughter Natalie, joined John and me for dinner. We chatted with Seaver and Pampuch, decided to let them choose dishes for us (very wise decision), and had the best meal of the summer: Tomato salad with trout roe. Pickled herring, smoked clams, and basil pesto. Trout cakes with sweet corn. Pork belly with scrambled duck egg. Braised rabbit. Slow roasted salmon with goat cheese butter, baby Brussels, and walnut pesto.

And oh, lovely sweet corn panna cotta for dessert, mmm. Although I didn't realize it at the time, it turns out those creamy dreamy bites were the first of many I'd be maniacally inhaling over the next couple of weeks...but more on that in a bit.

After precious little sleep on either Friday or Saturday night, I picked up my friends Joy Summers, Shaina Olmanson, and Molly McNeil and we were off for Star Prairie Trout Farm in Star Prairie, Wisconsin, for Sunday's Tour de Farm dinner. I think it's fair to say that Star Prairie is the Lothlorien of Wisconsin farms, watery and elvish and a little bit magical. The sight of the long, communal dinner table - always impressive - was particularly delightful as it twisted and turned amongst crystal clear trout springs.

Did I mention that the weather was perfect? Dry, sunny, warm, clear. No frizz. Even though I stayed for far too long, I didn't score even one mosquito bite. I'm telling you...Lothlorien, for real.

As a Celebrity Chef Tour/James Beard Foundation event, the guest chefs included Seaver, of course, as well as chefs Tim McKee and Andrew Zimmern, with Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl as the evening's sommelier. Yes, I write for Dara, and think she's just the bees knees in every possible way, but those are not the reasons that the highlight of the evening, for me, was the marvel of the wine pairings with the food.

The reason is...the wine pairings were delightful. Interesting, approachable, and just really...fun. Wine fun! Food fun! So good.

Also fun? Sitting next to and chatting with Kris Hase, Tour de Farm organizer (along with Pampuch), as well as TDF website designer, blogger, and photographer. All the stunning Tour de Farm photos that have made you so eager to attend one of these dinners? She took them.

Yeah.

When the lovely sweet corn panna cotta I'd had for dessert the night before at Corner Table showed up alongside skirt steak at this dinner, it kicked off a whole rave about the beauty of panna cotta, both sweet and savory, and how rather easy it is to make, and how it should be invited onto more plates.

See Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine for Kris' genius "cheese course" take on Goat Cheese Panna Cotta with Honey & Berries and Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Bacon & Blue Cheese.

And see below for the Sweet Corn Panna Cotta I had on Saturday and Sunday, a recipe that Thomas in the kitchen at Corner Table came up with for the event. I photographed - and let's be honest, quickly devoured - it with fried sage (up top) as well as a with a sexy strawberry-balsamic-black pepper jam (below) I was lucky to possess, one of the amazing Serious Jams by Heidi Skoog that you will soon be hearing much about...killer stuff.

In case you're counting, that's three versions of panna cotta I've made in the last couple of weeks. A couple of them I made twice. That's a lotta panna cotta friends, and I've loved every spoonful.

Your turn now...hit it.

Sweet Corn Panna Cotta
Via Tour de Farm/Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner
Makes six 4-oz. servings

1 c. whole milk, divided
2 tsp. powdered gelatin
2 tsp. butter
3 ears corn, husked, kernels sliced off cob
1 c. heavy cream
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Pour 1/2 c. of whole milk in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin evenly over the top to soften it. Set the bowl aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the corn and heat, stirring a few times, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 c. of milk and the heavy cream. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove pan from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Whisk the milk/gelatin into the warm mixture.

In a blender, puree the corn and liquid together on highest setting to a very smooth puree. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, using a ladle to press out as much liquid as possible. Season mixture to taste with salt & pepper. Ladle into six 4-oz. ramekins. Chill until set, 6-8 hours.

Serve cold in ramekins, or turn out onto plates by warming the bottoms of the ramekins on a plate of hot water for 2-3 minutes and then running a knife around the edges before inverting.

The day I arrived at my inlaws' home in East Hampton, John's dad made one of his famous dins, this time spinach souffles with rock shrimp sauce followed by braised beef short ribs with couscous. For dessert...this luscious lemon pudding. God I love lemon desserts - better than chocolate. Yeah, I just said that.

The pudding is easy to pull together and best made ahead - that's party food in my book. The top emerges golden and crusty but when you spoon into it, it's all soft lemon pudding-y, luscious and creamy. He serves it plain, which is amazing, but I could imagine adding a berry sauce and perhaps even softly whipped cream to you know, gild the lily, Hamptons-style.

Recipe for my father-in-law John's Baked Lemon Pudding at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I bought the loveliest local blueberries at the market last week, as plump and pretty as as my Grandma Meyer. I got them home, popped a handful in mouth because I'm greedy, and was shocked to discover...sour! Oh so sour!

So I dumped them into a saucepan with some (not too much) sugar and turned them into a quick, warm sauce that tastes great with almost anything, sweet or savory. We've so far spooned the sauce over yogurt, pork tenderloin, raw nuts, soft cheese...

...and crepes! Recipe for Crepes with Warm Blueberry Sauce at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Gluten-free note: I did a crepe test run with Bob's Redmill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour at 11:30 pm tonight - yep - and they worked beautifully! So...adapt away. Don't forget to eat them with butter!

July 2: John & I returned from Provence, France (post forthcoming, sometime in 2011, gah).

July 3: I hit the Minneapolis Farmers Market, hard. Five racks of Bar 5 ribs; Blue Gentian Farm lamb chops, sausage, and eggs; many pounds of greens, carrots, beans, herb, berries, onions, garlic scapes, potatoes, and general fabulousness.

Oh lovely summer.

July 4: The Annual Super Duper Shubert Coopster July 4th Celebration of course!

Ribs, as always. Kale salad. Green bean & tomato salad with garlic scape dressing.

I kept it ridiculously simple at the pool. Minnesota strawberries and a big ol' bowl of popcorn with butter and salt.

Suz brought this smashing trifle...

...and a special gluten-free version for me. I love my friend. I also love her daughter Vivian who took the kuchen pic up top, as well as the pic of me and of the sliced ribs below.

I took Suz's Kingfield Market Berry Bake-Off Winning Blueberry Kuchen recipe and substituted a gluten-free, almond meal crust. Delicious! You can see that I added raspberries as well as blueberries - red, white & blue and all. You could do that too. Or not. All good!

Blueberry Kuchen (Gluten-Free)
Adapted from a recipe by Susie Shubert
Serves 10

Stephanie's note: this recipe can be easily halved - bake in a 10-inch spring-form pan or removable bottom tart pan. It works nicely to line the pan with parchment paper.

1 stick butter (1/2 c.) + extra for buttering the pan
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. blanched almond flour (choose a finely milled variety from this excellent list at www.elanaspantry.com)
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. sugar, divided, plus a little more for sprinkling
6 c. blueberries, divided
1 tsp. cinnamon

Generously butter a 9x13 baking pan.

In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in 1/2 c. of the brown sugar and let cool to room temperature.  Whisk in egg and almond extract, then stir in salt and almond flour.  Press dough evenly into pan, with slightly higher edges.  Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes.  (Can be prepared one day ahead.)

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir together 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 c. sugar, and cinnamon.  Sprinkle half of the mixture over the crust, top with 4 c. of the blueberries, then the remaining sugar mixture.  Shake the pan a little so the sugar sinks down around the berries and the berries are evenly distributed.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are deep golden brown and the berries are bubbling.

Transfer pan to a rack and distribute remaining 2 c. of blueberries evenly over the top.  Sprinkle with a little sugar, let cool for 30 minutes, and serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or cool to room temperature).

Let me say this right away so that you don't stop reading: Souffles are so easy to make! I made this version with rhubarb but you can use almost any juicy fruit - local strawberries are finally happening!

Soon there will be cherries, blueberries, peaches, plums... Play away.

This recipes uses four egg whites. Don't toss the yolks! Just cover and refrigerate and make Old-Fashioned Vanilla Pudding with Crushed Strawberries the next day (or the day before - you choose). My recipe for Warm Fruit Souffle (in this case, rhubarb) at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

If the only vanilla pudding you've ever eaten is from a plastic Jello brand cup, then please make this. It takes about 15 minutes to pull together and will knock your socks off, gone.

You can eat the pudding warm right out of the pan (Stephanie style) or chill it for a bit to serve after dinner (the proper way).  Because strawberries are amazing right now, crush some with a little sugar (and a splash of booze?) and spoon them over the top. I don't know what it is about vanilla pudding + strawberries in particular, but for me, it is a holy grail combination that tastes of childhood, my grandmother's kitchen, and the world's most perfect strawberry ice cream.

Mmmmm, nostalgia.

(If you're loathe to waste the egg whites, then hold on until tomorrow for a recipe that just happens to call for four egg whites... Update: And here it is! Warm Fruit Souffle. Dessert yin and yang, right? Right.)

Old-Fashioned Vanilla Pudding with Crushed Strawberries
Serves 6

1 pint strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 Tbsp. sugar + 1/2 c. sugar (or even a bit less, depending on how sweet you like your...sweets)
4 large egg yolks
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
4 c. whole milk
1 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. real vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, stir together strawberries and 1 Tbsp. sugar. Mash with a fork or potato masher into a chunky sauce. Set aside at room temperature until ready to serve.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in milk. Place pan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until thick and bubbling. Remove from heat.

Whisk a ladleful of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, then whisk the egg yolk mixture into the pan of hot milk. Return the pan to medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until once again thick and bubbling. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Whisk in butter and then vanilla. Cool in the pan, stirring occasionally, then spoon into serving bowls and serve at room temperature or chill for an hour. Top with crushed strawberries right before serving.

Duck eggs are prized by gluten-free bakers for adding loft and softness. My recipe for Cardamom Cake with Rhubarb Sauce & Whipped Cream (Gluten Free) at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.