Amuse Bouche

Blueberry Pie Anyone

I don't think that you need three guesses to figure out what I am making right now with these beauties.

Usually my Mom is Queen blueberry picker.  My SD ties her canoe to the zodiac and tows her down to one of the island and she spends several hours paddling around the perimeter of the island picking the berries that overhang the lake into a giant coffee can.  She did have 7 or 8 cups in the freezer for his pie when he comes up this weekend, but since I arrived in a deluge of water, I bought these raked low bush blueberries at a local farm stand.  It took about 30 minutes to clean out all the bits of stem and leaves and mushed berries, but now they look gorgeous, not too mention my lovely blue fingertips.

I am back home now with tales to tell of a fabulous farmer's market in downtown Waterville ME, a case of my favourite wine from Riverside Cafe in Winslow ME and a fabulous new butcher shop in Topsham ME.
Right now though I am waiting for the smells in the oven to waft my way, cocktails will be made after a shower and I'll start dinner in awhile.  I love Saturday nights in the summer don't you?

He:  Halibut steak dredged in seasoned flour, quick fried on each side for colour and finished in the oven with mushy peas, there is no accounting for taste - I tried to tempt him with corn on the cob or cucumber salad or something summery....nuh uh, Brit through and through that one.  Can opener please!

She:  That scallop salad again with the fresh dug fingerlings I picked up at the farmer's market and diver scallops from Captain Marden's.

Fungus Amongus - Mushrooms in Maine

Sod it. 

It's raining at home, it's raining in Maine...so I said screw it and headed up to hang with Mom again for a few days.  Sadly, Mom and I managed to choose some real crap weeks for vacation.
But there is a bright side to all this rain.

MUSHROOMS!

Oh the mushrooms.

I'd tell you where I find em, but then I'd have to kill ya.

In all my years I have never seen the woods so full!

Lobster Mushrooms, really a mold not a fungus, but still yummy!

What you see above is again my stash from our local spot.  I only pick the ones I know, Chanterelle and Lobster.

I did pick one that I really, really think is a Trumpet Chanterelle OR a Pig's Ear Gomphus, but I need a good mycologist to help me out, and my favourite one passed away last year.

But sadly, it has a rather nasty guest.

Right now though, I'm making pickles.

Oh and dinner...Some lovely mussels with wine and scallions and garlic and all kinds of good stuff.  Yum.

Preserved Meyer Lemons

I may be sick of winter, fed up with snow, tired of being a hermit, but I am not yet tired of the fruits winter brings.  I love citrus.  Give me anything tart or sour and I am one happy girl. 

David Lebovitz once said that there are two kinds of people in this world, and I paraphrase here; chocolate lovers or lemon lovers.  How right that man is.  I'd like to say that I am sorry to 99% of the world, but I really don't like chocolate.  Not one little eensy, teensy bit, but give me a lemon, a lime, a grapefruit, a kumquat, a tangerine, a satsuma, yuzu, heck, even an Ugli fruit and I am happy.

Since Meyer lemon season is winding down to a close rather soon and since I have been cooking things in the Morrocan, Lebanese, Turkish, North African realm of late, I thought I would preserve some lemons.  Meyer just seemed like an interesting choice and Marcella Hazan had a nice easy way of preserving them so i thought I would give it a try.

All you need is a clean canning jar, some kosher salt, some Meyer lemons and a bit of olive oil.  I'm not going to tell you specific quantities, because it depends on the jar you have and the number of lemons you wish to preserve, but I will tell you what I did with my 10 lemons.  Six lemons were blanched for 5 minutes and then drained and left to cool.  I sliced them open, removed as many seeds as I could and tossed them in a bowl with 2/3 cup of course sea salt (or kosher if you wish). 

I tossed them around, packed them in the jar, poured over the excess salt from the bowl.  The other 4 lemons I juiced and poured into the jar.  Your goal is to almost cover your lemons with the juice.  Then I topped it off with some olive oil to cover everything.  These are now hanging out for about a week and when I walk by them, or think of it, I just shake everything up a bit.  I don't know how I am going to use these yet, but I am sure to think up something good.  Perhaps more reports later.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

You seriously wish you had smell-o-vision at this moment.

My cherry plum tomato plants decided to give up their harvest in one fell swoop.  Following along Kalyn's idea I roasted away.

Cut in half, tossed with EVOO, fresh rosemary and oregano and roasted in a low, low oven for 5 hours, skins pulled off, these are officially tomato candy, tomato leather, tomato heaven, essence of tomato.  Frozen for later delectation when the winds blow and the snow is knee high to a beagle's ear.

I urge you to try it.

Meduri World Delights

A new catalog landed in my mailbox last week and I meant to mention it sooner.
As I turned each glossy page of the Meduri World Delights catalog visions of salads and tagines, desserts and appetizers swam through my head.  I confess that I do not like chocolate.  Nope, not one bit, but give me good fruit anytime, especially vine fruits or citrus and I am one happy girl.

How about the mandarin orange slices in a cake?  Or maybe pork with those morello cherries?  Just look, LOOK at those raspberries up there.  Those are dried yet they look absolutely perfect, I imagine those are like summer, maybe steeped in some vodka or rum. And OMG the strawberry rhubarb bites...how can you not want to try that?

Sign me up for one of those 3-month plans today please.   Excuse me while I go mop off my keyboard.