Fresh blueberry and lemon meringue pie with homemade ginger snap crust

It's been over a year since a recipe was added. There's a good reason for that. I've taken up growing things as a full time profession (which is an 8 day a week enterprise).  Here's what happened to the first batch of blueberries I picked on the farm. (an extrapolation of a few recipes from Bon Appetite and Joy of Cooking)

Fresh blueberry and lemon meringue pie with homemade ginger snap
crust

For the cookies:  preheat oven to 350
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
6 tbs softened butter
1 egg
                                                      2 tbs molasses
                                                      1 1/2 tsp ginger
whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl
cream the eggs and sugar together in a mixer on medium
with the mixer running on low add the egg, molasses and ginger
slowly add the dry ingredients until just blended
drop rounded spoon fulls on 2 greased cookie sheets with 2 inches between cookies
put sheets at lower and upper thirds of oven, rotate after 10 minutes
bake 20 minutes
let cool

                                                     For the crust:

                                                     4 tbs butter, melted

                                                     1 3/4 cups ginger snap crumbs (pulse in food processor)

                                                     1 tbs flour

                                                     1/4 cup brown sugar

                                                     1/2 tsp lemon zest

                                                     pinch of salt

mix ingredients together
press into greased pie pan
freeze 10 minutes
bake 20 minutes
allow to cool partially before adding filling

                                                      For the filling:

                                                      1 1/4 cups sugar

                                                      1/3 cup cornstarch

                                                      pinch of salt

                                                      1 cup of water

                                                      1 1/4 cups pureed blueberries

                                                      2 tbs lemon zest

                                                      juice of large lemon, about 1/2 cup

                                                      cardamon, lemon grass and ginger to taste

                                                      4 egg yolks

                                                      3 tbs butter, cut into small pieces
                                                      1/4-1/2 cup of blueberries

whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a saucepan

add water, blueberries, lemon, zest, spices

whisk in egg yolks until no streaks remain

add butter

stirring constantly on medium heat, heat until simmering, cook for one minute

pour in pie shell, cover with plastic wrap

                                                    

                                                      For meringue: preheat oven to 325

                                                     4 egg yolks, at room temperature

                                                    1/4 tsp cream of tartar

                                                    1/2 cup sugar

                                                    1/2 tsp vanilla

beat egg white on medium until frothy
add cream of tartar
when soft peaks form, slowly add sugar
drop dollops around still hot pie filling until mainly covered, being certain to spread it to cover crust
bake for 20-25 minutes until meringue is lightly browned
let cool completely in refrigerator before slicing

Stuffed Morel Mushrooms

It's spring! I've fallen in love with the bounty possible in these mountains. Although I wasted tons of time clearing new garden space only to decide to move, there's life everywhere around here. I've taken up the spring sport of foraging. It's morel and ramp season. For those of you unaccustomed to ramps, they are a wild onionish plant that is one of the first things to grow (in a limited region, usually in a damp and shady spot on a mountainside). You can eat both the bulb and the greens. Even though I completely understand that this recipe isn't accessible to everyone and that bacon makes everything taste great, here goes:

Stuffed Morel Mushrooms:

1/2 package of room temperature cream cheese
1/4 cup of an earthy hard aged cheese, shredded (I used my favorite Sotty Clementine from Oak Moon Creamery)
1/8 cup toasted pine nuts (chopped)
2 tablespoons butter or oil
6 ramp leaves
10 ramp bulbs, chopped fine and sauteed
6 large morel mushrooms, slit on side
6 slices thick cut bacon
toothpicks

preheat oven to 375 and cook bacon 1/2 way
meanwhile toast nuts on a dry skillet
melt butter in pan and cook morels a few minutes
remove and set aside, saute ramp bulbs

blend cream cheese, hard cheese, nuts and ramp bulbs
place spoonful on ramp leaf, roll into an appropriate shape for mushroom
insert bundle, wrap in bacon and toothpick together
bake until bacon is crisp, flip bundles 1/2 way through cooking time

Blackberry Carmelized Onions

This would work wonderfully on roasted pork!

Blackberry Caramelized Onion
2 tablespoons butter, oil, or bacon drippings
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 vidalia onion, chopped course
1/4 cup blackberries
6 tablespoons black vinegar
pinch clove and  nutmeg

heat oil in large frying pan
turn heat down to medium low
add onion
coat in vinegar
cook a few minutes until onions get translucent
turn down to low
cook 15 minutes
add blackberries and spices
once onions start to turn, add black vinegar
cook until fully browned

Zucchini Pancake Pizza

Our weekly brunch date was canceled this week. It tends to be the only time I make something breakfasty, but this could easily be a dinner sidedish. The zucchini in the garden has been raging, so I'd been plotting on how to use it. This started out as zucchini pancakes but they weren't holding together when fried so I moved onto plan B.

Zucchini Pancake Pizza

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/4 diced red pepper

1/2 minced onion

2 minced cloves of garlic

3 slices chopped bacon

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme

1 cup instant mashed potato flakes

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup shredded hard goat cheese (I used "Sooty Clementine" by my local Oak Moon Creamery)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup shredded Havarti

1 thinly sliced tomato

Brown bacon in a large frying pan

add onion and garlic towards end

in a large bowl combine zucchini, peppers, herbs and drained bacon mixture

add half of the Havarti cheese, the goat cheese, eggs and potato flakes

stir until blended

pour mixture back into frying pan (if you don't have a metal handled pan, go for a pie pan or casserole dish)

broil on low for about 20 minutes or until the edges start to brown

crank up to high to brown the top, turn off oven

once browned, cover in remaining cheese and tomato and put back into the oven to melt

slice like pizza and dig in!

We also had:

Citrus and Mint Smoothie

1 cup homemade roasted peach ice cream

1/2 a mango

2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint

1 cup orange juice

6 ice cubes

blend mint with juice and mango in blender

add ice cream and ice

blend until fully combined

garnish with mint sprig

Tangy Confetti Pepper Relish

So the garden here is relatively small and simple. I've been spending what's left of my creative brain thinking about how to preserve things like peppers and herbs (which is about half of what we're growing).

I haven't come up with anything amazing. But, I will say that adding cracked peppercorns and red pepper are now going to be staples in the pesto mix I'm working on. Today it was an experiment in pepper relish. It could have gone better. I think I'll try a vinegar reduction for the next go round. My friend Tessa provided a bunch of serranos and I had some banana peppers. I kept coming across canning recipes that involved salting them and leaving them in a cool place for anywhere to a few hours to a full day. I decided to do it quickly and use a palm full of ice cream salt. This was a terrible idea. Although I rinsed them a bunch of times after an hour, I just couldn't get enough salt out. So after finishing the simmering, I had to dump out all the stock solution and re-do the vinegar base. Here's what it came out to:

Tangy Confetti Pepper Relish

1 cup minced red pepper

1 cup minced serrano peppers

1 cup minced sweet banana peppers

3 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup minced onion

1/2 lemon

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup balsamic 

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

teaspoon ground mustard

hearty pinch of allspice

1 tablespoon hot mustard

toast cumin seeds in bottom of larger saucepan

add vinegars and spices and whisk together

zest lemon half and squeeze lemon into stock

add peppers, onion and garlic

simmer for 20 minutes

let cool and transfer to another container or boil in pint jar

Tuna Melt Wontons and Kale Chips

So the summer chaos of my life has officially started. but I have replanted the garden from the random onslaught of spring hail, hungry slugs, frost and crazy heat. Despite the occasion of it being a work weekend, I took over dinner, Tonight turned into a true "do with what you got" challenge as we were supposed to be having crab cakes a'la Ray for dinner tonight, but the crab had disappeared.....so it came down to what was here and the fact that Ray bought a fryer/steamer/super gadget. I'd like to point out that I've never been much for tuna melts, but this was really tasty.

Tuna Melt  Won tons and Kale Chips:
For the Filling:
3/4 package of tuna in water in a bag
1/2 package of cream cheese
4 tbs. mozzarella
2 tbs. Romano cheese
1 tbs. honey, Old Bay Seasoning, Sirrachi Sauce
dash of pepper, red pepper flakes, salt
about 1 tbs. garlic scapes or green onion
4 tbs. onions sauteed in sesame and veggie oil to taste

25 won ton wrappers and water to set the seams
wet edges and wrap like an envelope while preheating your oil to 375 degrees (takes awhile regardless of your method)

for Kale Chips (thanks to allrecipes for the two recipes i combined for this)
heat oven to 350 degrees
wash and stem 1 bunch of kale
dry thoroughly
rip into chip sized bits
toss with 1 tbs. olive oil and 1 tbs. balsamic vinegar until fully covered
add small amount of sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste (be careful, it stays with it so be light handed)
spread on cookie sheets so the leaves don't touch (it will take 3 sheets)
cook until browned on edges (10-20 minutes depending on kale, so watch it)

fry the won ton envelopes until golden
serve with kale chips and you have a weird and delightful take on fish and chips!

Broiled Glazed Cantaloupe with Ham and Mint/Yogurt Sauce

Planted the herb garden today. There are wildflowers everywhere and I found mint out in the yard. The recipe can easily be made without meat but either omit the cheese or look at the bread recommendation from the bottom of the recipe. The smells of the day made me want to make something summery:

Broiled Glazed Cantaloupe with Ham and Mint/Yogurt Sauce 

preheat oven to hi broil, set rack to be 6ish in. from heat
Glaze, melt together in low heat saucepan:
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup real maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp crushed rosemary, allspice,and cardamon

1 whole cantaloupe cut into slices about 1" thick, rind removed
slice of spiral cut ham cut to fit crescent shape
2 tsp. honey goat cheese per slice
dip each melon slice in glaze and ham
assemble with melon, cheese and then ham (stake in place with 2 toothpicks)
place on walled cookie sheet, meat side down
cook about 5 minutes per side

Mint/Yogurt Sauce
(I could drink this stuff!)
in food processor add:
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
4 tbs. confectioners sugar
1 tsp. crushed rosemary
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup fresh mint
pulse until mint is tiny
serve on cantaloupe slices

(I also had leftover doughnut-like balls from a restaurant. I sliced them thinly and layered on bottom to soak up extra juice, but be careful when they are flipped that these don't burn!)