A little stoned...fruit...

I've been back in Texas for almost a year and a half, and one of the things I'm still getting re-used to is the difference in the seasons. Just a couple of days ago, I had a "memory" pop up on Facebook from October 2016 - I had posted a picture about how my little vegetable garden in Philly was still producing tomatoes, and I had to harvest them green because we were expecting our first freeze. (Those green tomatoes inspired a blog post, check out the one from November 1, 2016.) My tomato plant on my patio here in Texas stopped producing fruit back in June, it's just too hot here in the summer and the blossoms drop off. But, now that the weather is starting to cool off, it's covered in new blossoms, and I might even get a second crop of tomatoes before it freezes. Seasonal is definitely local.

I'm learning that one of the mantras of the grocery store business (really in all types of retail - Starbucks pumpkin spice, anyone?), is that we tell our customers when the seasons change. So, even though it may still be pushing 100 degrees outside, if it's after Labor Day, that means we start selling pumpkins, apples, all of the fall produce items. We'll still keep a selection of the more summery fruits and vegetables, but they are no longer the spotlight and the displays are much smaller. 

For some reason, the selection of peaches, apricots, and plums pulled at my heartstrings this year. We had more varieties of stone fruits this summer than I think I've ever seen. Colors ranged from deepest purple, to every shade of orange and yellow, and even green. Seeing that last small display in the produce department made me a little sad, like it was the last vestiges of summer, standing in defiance to the mounds of apples and butternut squash that surrounded it. I suddenly felt inspired to try and capture end of summer with what else? A jam. Peaches, nectarines, plums, even the last of the basil from my patio, all tied together with rosé wine. 

This recipe can be made with any variety of stone fruit. For this batch, I used yellow peaches, nectarines, and red plums. I chose not to remove the peels from the fruit, in part because I just didn't feel like taking the time to peel over 20 pounds of fruit, but also because the peels, especially the plum peels, give a really beautiful color to the jam and are a great source of pectin to thicken the jam. 

One last note - I started with about 21 to 22 pounds of fruit. After I finished cutting, removing the pits, and trimming away any bad/bruised areas, I ended up with 18 pounds of fruit. In the recipe below, I've scaled the amounts to a more manageable 2 pounds of fruit, but be sure that you measure out the 2 pounds after trimming and removing the pits.

I hope you enjoy!

Summer Sunset Jam

Makes 9 to 10 cups jam, or 5 ½-pint jars

2 pounds mixed stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, apricots), pits removed, cut into chunks

1 cup granulated sugar

½ bunch fresh basil

½ cup fruity rosé wine

Combine all of the ingredients in a very large stainless steel saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently for 30 to 40 minutes or until mixture is reduced and thickened. There should still be some tender stone fruit chunks in the mixture. 

Remove the basil stems and discard. Using an immersion blender, puree the cooked fruit and basil leaves until it smooth. 

At this point the jam can be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated where it will keep for about 2 weeks. Or you can place the jam into canning jars and process in a hot water canner. 

While the stone fruits are cooking, prepare your jars for canning. Remove the lids and rings from the jars. Bring a large stock pot of water to a rapid boil. Sterilize the lids and rings by lowering them into the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Transfer them to a clean towel. Repeat with the jars.

Carefully ladle the hot jam into the hot jars, leaving about ½ inch of headspace. Cover the jar with a lid and a screw top ring. Tighten the ring to just finger tight.

When the stock pot of water has returned to a boil, lower the jars into the pot, standing them upright and in a single layer across the bottom of the pot. Make sure the jars are completely submerged under the water. Cover the pot and when the water in the pot returns to a boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the pot and set on a clean towel. Repeat the process with the remaining jars, being sure to let the water come back to the boil each time.

Let the jars sit undisturbed until they are room temperature. You should hear a noticeable "plinking" sound as the jars cool and pull the center of the lids down. After they have cooled, gently press on the center of each of the lids to be sure they have fully depressed. Any jars with lids that have not pulled down tight have not properly sealed. Place those jars in the refrigerator and enjoy them first. 

Spanish test....

We had a really fun class last week at work. We had the executive chef from a local Spanish restaurant teach a class in tapas and paella. The food was amazing, he even brought a giant paella pan (about 4 feet in diameter) that we set up on a propane burner out on the patio. Our guests had a blast. 

When preparing for a class like this, we sometimes have to tweak the recipes before we make the recipe packet for the guests to take home. The chef provided us with copies of his recipes, and as I expected, they were his restaurant production recipes. Luckily, most of them were scaled appropriately for the home cook--the paella for example is meant to serve 3 to 5 restaurant guests, so that required just minor adjustments in the instructions to make it easier for the home cook. The pan con tomate tapas was scaled to make 4 quarts of the tomato topping, but it was easy enough to scale down to make 1 quart. The flan, on the other hand, was scaled to make 105 servings. The flan recipe was going to take a little work.

Flan is a traditional Spanish custard dessert. Generically, custards are made from dairy, sugar, and eggs. Depending on the type of dairy and whether the eggs are whole or yolks only, custards can range in consistency from creme anglaise (vanilla sauce, which when processed in an ice cream machine becomes vanilla ice cream) to something firmer, such as creme brulee (firmer than a sauce, but still soft enough that it must be served in the dish in which it is baked), to flan, which is firm enough that it can be unmolded from its dish and stand alone on the plate. Cream and egg yolks will yield softer custards, milk and whole eggs generally yield firmer custards. 

The chef's recipe for flan used sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, liquid eggs and coconut extract--and the measurements were along the line of 3 quarts of liquid eggs, 2 gallons of evaporated milk, etc. On top of that, the chef used a combi oven to bake the custards. A combi oven is a restaurant appliance that combines a convection oven with a steamer, and when using a combi oven, you can set temperature, fan speed, percent steam, even add superheated steam. So, the baking instructions for the chef's restaurant recipe consisted of the different dial settings and a time to bake. Needless to say, the recipe as written wasn't going to work for the home cook.

I started by converting all of the measurements to ounces and then used basic math to adjust from 105 servings to 1 serving, then looked at how the measurements worked for 4, 6, 8 servings, etc. My goal was to see if I could get the math to work out for round numbers on the eggs, hoping to avoid something like 4.6 eggs. The math for a 6 serving conversion came out to 3.1 eggs, so I used that as my starting point. But, I knew I needed to make a batch of the flan using the converted recipe, because when you scale a recipe to that degree, things can go sideways pretty quickly.

The first batch of the flan didn't quite work. The flavor was spot on, but the texture was totally wrong--it was spongy. The flan had cooked too quickly, and for too long, and the custard curdled.  I had looked up a flan recipe on the internet and used the basic baking instructions as a substitute for the combi oven settings, but clearly I needed to make some adjustments. I asked our R&D chef to take a look (we share our cooking school with his team), and he agreed that the temperature and time were off, but he also thought that I might want to add a couple of additional egg whites to lighten the custard. I didn't have enough time to bake another batch at work that day, so I quickly packed up the ingredients I would need and took them home with me to test the next day on my day off.

So, that next afternoon, I pulled the bag of ingredients out of the fridge to start the next test batch of flan. In my rush to get out of work the day before, I had inadvertently grabbed the extra large eggs (instead of the large eggs), and two cans of evaporated milk instead of one evaporated and one sweetened condensed. (Grrrrrr....) I really didn't feel like getting out and going to the store, so I decided just to go with what I had on hand--my biggest concern was the oven temperature and cook time, and I decided I could probably sort that out with the ingredients I had on hand. If not, I could go in to work early and make a third test batch when I got there.

Sometimes, the best recipes are the result of happy accidents. I added sugar to compensate for not having the sweetened condensed milk, and instead of adding egg whites, I used the extra large eggs and increased from 3 to 4. I reduced the baking temperature and time, and it all came together beautifully. The recipe we gave the students still uses the sweetened condensed milk and large eggs, to keep it as close as possible to the chef's original, but this version below I will proudly claim as my own.

Flan

Makes 8 to 10 servings, depending on ramekin size

For the custard:

2 12-ounce cans evaporated milk

½ cup granulated sugar

4 extra large eggs

2 Tablespoons vanilla extract

For the caramel:

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup water

Preheat the oven to 300 °F. Arrange ramekins in a shallow baking dish or roasting pan.

Place the custard ingredients in a blender and blend on medium-high speed until well blended, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

Take the remaining 1 cup sugar and water and place in a small saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until the sugar is fully dissolved and the liquid is boiling. Do not stir the sugar solution from this point forward, gently swirl the pan as needed. Continue to cook until the syrup is a deep golden brown. Remove from the heat and carefully pour the caramel into each  of the ramekins, making a puddle fully across the bottom of each ramekin. 

Pour the custard into each of the ramekins, filling them just up to the rim. Fill a large pitcher with hot tap water, then carefully pour the water into the roasting pan around the ramekins. The should be deep enough to come about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. 

Cover the roasting pan with foil, then place in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and peel back the foil. The flan is cooked when the custard is set and is slightly wibbly in the center. If the flan still seems soft, replace the foil and return the roasting pan to the oven, but turn the oven off. Check the flan again in about 10 minutes, they should be set.

Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and allow to cool on the counter to room temperature, then wrap and place in the refrigerator. To serve, run the tip of a paring knife around the inside edge of the ramekin to loosen the custard, then turn out onto a plate.

I'm a little out of practice....

It's been a while since I wrote a blog post....mostly because I've been busy with work (I know, what else is new). I find myself starting recipes, taking pictures of the dishes as I work on them, but not quite getting them finished to my satisfaction. I'll eventually loop back to them--how to make dashi broth and udon noodle soup, an exercise in cooking potatoes, recipes inspired by my trip to Santa Fe, plus a few others. I'm just a bit out of practice...

Our cooking class calendar updates on the first of every month--so this last Friday, June 1st, the July calendar went live on the website. It's always fun to see which classes our customers jump at first, we often have a couple of classes that that sell out in the first 4 or 5 days each month. This time, we had a class sell out in 36 hours--a class on making macarons. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see our customers respond this way, but I haven't actually made macarons in a while. Like working on the blog, I'm a little out of practice.

So, if I'm going to teach macarons next month, I'd better brush up on my skills in the coming weeks. I did a first practice run a couple of weeks ago, in anticipation of putting the class on our schedule. The flavors were spot on, but I can see every little flaw in the technique. I'll definitely need to practice a few more times before the class. But, I thought you might like to see what I've been up to. I hope you enjoy!

Blueberry Macarons with Lemon Buttercream

Blueberry and lemon is a classic flavor combination. In this recipe, I use freeze-dried blueberries, ground into a fine powder, to give both flavor and color to the cookies. Feel free to use a store-bought lemon curd in the buttercream filling, but the recipe below is really easy to make.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies

For the cookies:

2 ounces freeze-dried blueberries

7 ounces powdered sugar

4 ounces almond meal

4 large egg whites (about 4 ounces)

pinch of Kosher salt

3 ½ ounces granulated sugar

For the filling

4 large egg whites (about 4 ounces)

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 pound unsalted butter, softened

²/₃ cup lemon curd, plus more to taste (recipe follows)

To make the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 325°F and place a rack in the center. Line 3 baking sheets with silpat baking mats or parchment paper. 

Place the dried blueberries into a mini-food processor or spice grinder. Process the berries until they are finely crushed into a powder. Shake the berry powder through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl to remove the seeds. 

Place about ¹/₃ of the powdered sugar, the almond meal, and the blueberry powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until a fine powder is formed. Transfer the nut and sugar mixture and the remaining powdered sugar into a fine mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Sift the mixture into the bowl, using the back of a wooden spoon to press any remaining bits of almond meal and blueberries through the mesh.

Place the egg whites and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium high speed until frothy and white in color. Gradually add in the granulated sugar, and once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed and whip until stiff peaks are achieved. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Scatter about ¹/₃ of the almond mixture over the egg whites and gently fold them into the egg whites. Add the second third of the almond mixture to the egg whites and fold as before. When incorporated, fold in the remaining almond mixture. Continue to fold and mix the batter until it is loose enough to slowly flow and drip off the spatula.

Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a ½ inch round piping tip. Carefully pipe rounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. You can pipe them to whatever size you like, but be careful to leave space in between the cookies as they will spread after piping. (I piped mine a little larger than 1 inch in diameter, and the finished cookies are about 1 ½ inches in diameter.) Lift the baking sheets a few inches off the counter and drop them, this will allow any trapped air bubbles to release. Let the cookies stand at room temperature to dry. The cookies are ready to bake with they are dry and not sticky when lightly touched by your fingertip. This may take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. 

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 6 minutes, then rotate the pan in the oven and bake for another 3 minutes. Let the macarons cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To make the filling:

Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and hand-whisk to blend. Bring about 2 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan and place the mixer bowl over the saucepan. Whisk constantly until the mixture is no longer grainy and has reached 160°F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove the mixer bowl from the heat and attach to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on high speed until the meringue is light and fluffy and until the bottom of the bowl no longer feels warm to the touch.

With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the softened butter a couple of tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to blend in fully before adding the next. Halfway through the butter, stop the mixer and use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue adding the remaining butter--the mixture should resemble a velvety mayonnaise.

With the mixer on low speed, mix in the lemon curd and beat until smooth. Taste and add more lemon curd until the desired flavor is reached. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a star tip.

To assemble the cookies:

You will likely have cookies of slightly varying sizes and shapes, so take a few minutes to organized matched pairs. Pipe a swirl of buttercream on the bottom of one of the cookies in each matched pair. Top with the other cookie. Repeat with the remaining pairs of cookies. 

You can store the cookies in a closed container at room temperature, but I recommend storing them in the refrigerator. Storage in the refrigerator will also soften the texture of the cookie and make them even more delicious.

Lemon Curd

Lemon is the classic flavor, but I like to mix it up. Try using grapefruit juice, lime juice, or passion fruit puree (available in most Latin grocery stores, in the freezer section).

Makes about 1 ½  cups

4 large egg yolks

3 ½ ounces sugar

3 ounces lemon juice

zest of one lemon

4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk together the yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Cook the curd slowly over medium to low heat, stirring constantly, until it is thickenought to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let the curd boil, it should be properly cooked at about 170°F.

Pour the cooked curd through a strainer into a bowl to filter out any curdled egg. Whisk in the butter a piece at a time, and stir until melted and completely incorporated. Cover the curd with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until completely cool.

Go for the gold....

At work, we kick off every day with a "good morning" meeting. Those of us that are able to break away from our departments gather in a pre-designated spot on the sales floor and have about a 10 minute check-in. It's an opportunity to share any news from our respective departments, introduce new team members (we call ourselves "partners"), and to sample new products. The product sampling is really fun, I've tasted foods at morning meetings that I would otherwise never tried. Some, I was happy to never taste again, and some have become new favorites. One inspired a cooking class.

We have a relatively large Healthy Living department at our store. The department includes everything from the expected assortment of herbal remedies and dietary supplements to shampoos, lotions, baby products, and superfood ingredients. At one of my first morning meetings, our Healthy Living manager, Jane, brought "golden milk" for all of us to taste. Golden milk powder is made from a blend of spices, primarily turmeric with black pepper, cardamom, and vanilla usually also mixed in. The powder is then mixed into warm milk and served as a beverage. The mix of spices is said to have anti-inflammatory properties as well as supporting the immune system and aiding the digestive system.

As I took a sip of the golden milk, I immediately could appreciate the aromatic properties of the spice blend, it had a real depth of flavor. The particular brand of golden milk powder that Jane was having us try also had dates and ashwagandha (an herb used widely in ancient Indian form of medicine called Ayurveda). I liked it, but as I drank it, I realized that I didn't care for it as a hot beverage. I turned to Jane and said, "I think this would make a great ice cream." She immediately gave me the entire jar of powder and told me she wanted to be the first to taste it.

Jane and I ended up putting together a cooking class that featured the Healthy Living department, and the Golden Milk Ice Cream recipe below was featured as the dessert. We ran it last month, and it was a huge success with our students. We always ask our students to tell us their favorite recipe at the end of the class, and the ice cream took the prize that night. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Golden Milk Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart of ice cream

2 13.5-ounce cans of full fat coconut milk
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Golden Milk powder
4 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

In a medium saucepan, combine the coconut milk, sugar, and Golden Milk powder and bring to a simmer. Place the egg yolks in a separate large bowl and whisk until blended. Using a ladle, slowly add the shot coconut milk into the egg yolks while continuously whisking. After all of the coconut milk has been added into the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Bring the mixture back to a simmer while continuously stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, cooking until it is thick and coats the back of the spoon. Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl(this will remove any bits of curdled egg). Stir in the vanilla bean paste and chill completely.

Process the ice cream according to your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions. Freeze until set. 

Pretty in pink grapefruit...

One of my favorite parts of my new job is that I get to create the calendar of classes that we offer to the public each month. Creating the calendar is a bit like putting together a puzzle without having the picture on the box to go by. I have to take into consideration the season, any major holidays that month, and any store product festivals (like our Hatch chile fest last fall.) Prior to November, we had been running calendars that had been put together for us by senior management while I completed my training and onboarding, but since then, I've been creating our content.

I'm still getting to know our customers, so I've been offering a mix of existing classes while working in some new menus. It's been really gratifying to hear their feedback, the students really seem to like the new offerings. I'm starting to venture back into developing brand new recipes for classes, and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Our annual Citrus Festival happens every January at the store, and I created a number of new classes to highlight the festival, including one that focuses on citrus in baking and pastry. As you might imagine, a baking and pastry class means that we're using the ovens a lot, and multiple bake times and temperatures can be a trick to manage. To make that part of the class logistics a bit easier, I often try to include a recipe that doesn't need to use the oven, and for this class, I added a marshmallow recipe.

Most people think marshmallows are made with egg whites, but they're actually made with unflavored gelatin. Gelatin is made from animal collagen (connective tissue, bones, etc.), so classically made marshmallows like this recipe are not vegetarian-friendly. It is great for your hair, skin, and nails, though. Once the gelatine is softened in water, it is whipped with hot sugar syrup until it is light and fluffy, then spread into a pan to cool. 

Marshmallows can be flavored during the mixing process and before they are cooled and set. For our citrus class, I wanted to make a grapefruit flavored marshmallow. To achieve this, I took fresh-squeezed Texas ruby-red grapefruit juice and boiled it on the stove until it had reduced in volume by about two thirds. I added this reduced juice to the sugar syrup, then added the zest of a whole ruby-red grapefruit just as I finished whipping the marshmallows. (Add the zest at the end of mixing,otherwise it will just end up collecting and clinging to the wires of the mixer's whip attachment.) The juice and zest gave the marshmallows a delicate pink color in addition to a great flavor.

To finish off the marshmallows, I dipped them in chocolate and garnished the with candied grapefruit zest. I hope you enjoy!

Chocolate-Dipped Pink Grapefruit Marshmallows

Makes 36 marshmallows

For the candied grapefruit zest:

1 pink grapefruit

2 cups sugar, plus additional for coating the candied zest

2 cups water

For the marshmallows:

Vegetable oil for brushing pan

About 3 cups confectioners' sugar for coating pan and marshmallows

1 cup pink grapefruit juice

1 cup water, divided

3 (¼-ounce) envelopes powdered unflavored gelatin

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon salt

Zest of 1 pink grapefruit (removed with a microplane)

For the chocolate coating:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

To make the candied grapefruit zest: Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the grapefruit in large strips, being careful to minimize the amount of white pith that is attached to the zest. Using a sharp knife, shave off as much of the white pith from the zest strips as possible. Cut the zest strips into 2 inch lengths, then thinly julienne the zest pieces.

Place the julienned zest pieces into a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring the pan to a boil over medium high heat. Empty the pan into a fine mesh strainer, add fresh water to the saucepan and return the zest from the strainer to the pan. Repeat the boiling and straining process 2 more times, for a total of 3 times.

Return the 3 times boiled zest to the saucepan, and add the 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Once at a full boil, reduce the heat to medium. Continue to cook on a low boil/high simmer, until the zest is translucent and the sugar syrup has reduced by about one third, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the sugar syrup and candied zest into the strainer. Place about a cup or two of sugar on a plate or other shallow dish, and transfer the strained zest onto the plate. (Save the syrup, it makes great cocktails!) Gently separate and toss the candied zest pieces with the sugar to coat. Remove the sugared zest pieces and transfer them to a plate or sheet pan to dry. The dried zest can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks.

To make the marshmallows: Brush the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with vegetable oil. Using a small, fine-mesh sieve, dust the foiled pan generously with confectioners' sugar.

Put the ½ cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle the gelatin into the bowl and stir briefly to make sure all the gelatin is in contact with water. (The gelatin will soften and absorb the water.)

In a heavy 3- to 4-quart saucepan, bring the grapefruit juice to a boil. Boil until the juice is reduced in volume to ¹/₃ cup. Remove from the heat and add the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and ½ cup water, mixing together with a silicone spatula until combined. Place the saucepan over moderate heat and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Put a candy thermometer into the boiling sugar syrup and continue boiling (the mixture may foam up, so turn the heat down slightly if necessary), without stirring, until the thermometer registers 240°F (soft-ball stage). Remove the saucepan from the heat and let stand briefly until the bubbles dissipate slightly.

With the mixer on low speed, pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl into the softened gelatin. Gradually increase the mixer speed to high and beat until the marshmallow is very thick and forms a thick ribbon when the whisk is lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in the grapefruit zest.

With the silicone spatula, scrape the marshmallow into the prepared pan (it will be very sticky) and use wet fingertips to spread it evenly and smooth the top. Let stand, uncovered at room temperature, until the surface is no longer sticky and you can gently pull the marshmallow away from the sides of the pan with your fingertips, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Dust a cutting board with confectioners' sugar.  Brush or spray an offset spatula with oil and run the spatula around the inside edges of the pan to loosen the marshmallow. (You may need to run the spatula under hot water as it becomes sticky and to reapply the oil.) Lightly oil your hands and fingers and pull the marshmallow away from the sides of the pan, and invert it onto the cutting board. Dust the marshmallow with more confectioners' sugar. 

Brush or spray a long thin knife or a chef's knife with vegetable oil. (As with the spatula, you may need to run the spatula under hot water as it becomes sticky and to reapply the oil.) Cut lengthwise into 6 strips, then crosswise into 6 strips, to form a total of 36 squares. (For smaller marshmallows, cut lengthwise into 8 strips, then crosswise into 8 strips, to form a total of 64 squares.)  Transfer the marshmallows to a bowl of powdered sugar to coat, then remove from the bowl and brush off any excess with a pastry brush. (Marshmallows can be stored, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment in an airtight container in a dry place at cool room temperature, for 1 month.)

To coat with chocolate: Place the marshmallows on a parchment lined sheet pan in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water to melt. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the pan, and remove the marshmallows from the freezer. Carefully dip the marshmallows in the chocolate. Place the marshmallows chocolate-side-up back on the parchment lined sheet pan. Before the chocolate sets completely, place a piece of candied grapefruit zest on top of the marshmallow. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows. (Chocolate-coated marshmallows can be stored in an air-tight container and should be eaten within a few days.)

Visions of sugar plums...

Today is the first day of fall, and here in North Texas the high temperature today was flirting with 100 degrees. (I knew what I was getting into when I moved back to Texas, but I must admit, I am ready for some cool weather.)  Even though the weather here is still screaming "SUMMER", in reality, the summer growing season is pretty much over and we are starting to shift towards autumn. A sure sign of the changing seasons is the giant display of pumpkins at the front of the store, and apples have taken over the produce department. But, there was one last gasp of summer to be found in recent weeks--sugar plums.

Most of us know about sugar plums from the famous poem, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" or from the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker". Those sugar plums, however, refer to a candy called a comfit which is a nut coated with multiple layers of sugar, something akin to a Jordan almond. The sugar layers were incredibly difficult to apply, and comfit were usually lumpy and unevenly shaped. Only the most skilled confectioners could create comfit that were perfectly smooth, like the skin of a plum, hence the name "sugar plum". 

But, these are not the sugar plums that caught my attention.

Sugar plums are one of the last plums to mature in the summer growing season. Sugar plums are known for their dark purple skin with a white bloom, and they have a higher sugar content than other varieties. In fact, sugar plums are usually dried into prunes because of their natural sweetness. They are are also a great variety for baking and pastries. With all of the craziness this summer--packing, moving, getting settled in my new town--it's been a while since I've been able to play with desserts in my kitchen. The sugar plums were the perfect excuse. Enjoy!

Sugar Plum Tart with Honey and Thyme

Makes 1 9-inch tart

For the crust:
1 ¼  cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into tablespoon size pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:
1 ½  pounds fresh sugar plums, cut in half and pit removed
¼  cup honey
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 375° F and place a rack in the center.

To make the crust, place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like damp sand with pebbles.

Add about 2 tablespoons of water and pulse to mix through. Add additional water, about ½ a tablespoon at a time, pulsing the food process to mix, until the dough just begins to come together into large pieces. 

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and bring it together into a round flat disk. There's no need to knead the dough, just press it together. Kneading it will only further develop the gluten and toughen the dough. Forming the dough into a round flat disk will make it easier to roll out later, the dough will tend to stay in the shape it starts in.

Wrap the dough disk in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes. This will allow the butter to get cold again, it allows the flour to fully absorb the water and the dough to evenly hydrate, and it will allow the gluten to relax. You can also freeze the dough at this point, a great way to get ahead of your holiday baking.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a 12 inch circle about ¼ inch thick. (Dough circle should be large enough to cover the bottom of the pan and come up the sides with about ½ inch to an inch hanging over.) Carefully lift the dough and place it into a tart pan with a removable bottom, and using the back of your hand and knuckles, fit the dough into the base of the pan. Fold the overlapping edge of the dough over and down into the pan, so the top edge of the dough is just touching the inside bottom edge of the tart pan, making a double-thickness of dough around the side walls of the tart. Gently press the two layers of dough together with the back of your knuckles. There will be excess dough protruding up above the edge of the tart pan--using your thumb, press the dough out and across the sharp edge of the tart pan to cut/break it off. Place the tart pan in the freezer for about 15 minutes to re-chill.

Remove the tart shell from the freezer. Starting from the outer edge, arrange the plum halves in overlapping concentric circles until they completely cover the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the plums with the honey and sprinkle with the thyme leaves.

Bake in the over until the plums are softened and the crust is lightly browned, about 45 to 50 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Before serving, careful remove the tart from the pan--be sure to take the tart off of the round metal base plate as well. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Hatch-choo!

We just finished a really fun stretch at work--the annual Hatch Chile Festival. Hatch chiles are a green chile pepper grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico, and they come into season in August and early September. What makes them special is the fact that they are grown in this particular area of New Mexico--hot days, with cool nights, the minerals of the soil, the sun exposure, all of this combine to give the Hatch chile its distinctive flavor and heat. Seeds from the Hatch chile grown outside the valley just don't taste the same. In fact, the more well-known Anaheim chile pepper didn't exist before farmers in California tried to plant Hatch chile seeds in their fields, and they just didn't taste quite the same.

Hatch chiles can be used fresh, but they really shine if they are first roasted. The fresh peppers are placed in large, metal mesh drums that are turned on a spit over an open flame. They are blistered and blackened, and they take on a smokey, richer flavor when roasted. They also freeze beautifully once roasted.

So, after two weeks of Hatch-themed cooking classes, food demonstrations, featured prepared foods, and overall Hatch-mania at work, I just couldn't help myself. I brought home a couple of pounds of fresh peppers and a big tub of roasted peppers and started to tinker in the kitchen. Enjoy!

Roasted Hatch and Tomato Salsa

Makes about 4 cups

1 large onion, peeled and quartered
3 large tomatoes, cored and cut in half
6 to 8 roasted Hatch chiles, stems, seeds and skins removed
Juice of 2 limes
1 bunch of cilantro, leaves removed and stems discarded
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven broiler to 500 ⁰F. Place the onion and tomatoes on a sheet pan under the broiler. Broiler, turning as needed, until blistered and beginning to blacken. Transfer the vegetables to food processor with the chiles, lime juice and cilantro. Process to a chunky puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Hatch Green Mole Chicken

Serves 4

1 pound tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed

1 large white onion,peeled, trimmed and cut in quarters

4 tablespoons canola oil, divided

²/₃ cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

6 to 8 roasted Hatch chiles, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoons granulated sugar

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves removed and stems discarded 

½ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley

Juice of 2 limes

8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish 

Preheat oven to 450°F. 

Place the tomatillos and onions on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast until the tomatillos and onions are browned and crispy on the edges, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the oil and the pumpkin seeds. Toast the pumpkin seeds, stirring constantly, until they begin to pop, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and chiles to the pan and sauté until aromatic, about 1 minute. Add the cumin, coriander, oregano, roasted tomatillos and onions, sugar, and stock. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, parsley, and lime juice. Remove from the heat.

Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth. (Be careful not to overfill the blender with the hot liquid to keep it from overflowing.) You may need to process in batches depending on the size of your blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and thin the sauce as needed with additional stock or water.

Place a large skillet over medium high heat. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. When the skillet is hot, add the oil and place the chicken thighs skin side down in the skillet. Cook,undisturbed, until the skin is golden brown and crispy, about 6 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes to brown the second side. Pour the mole sauce from the blender into the skillet and over the thighs. Bring to a low boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and continue to cook, checking and stirring occasionally, until the thighs are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Transfer the thighs to a serving platter, spoon over some of the mole and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serve.

Hatch Chile Vodka Gimlet

I started with a completely different recipe in mind. I attempted to candy fresh Hatch chiles. I won't say the didn't turn out well, they just didn't work exactly as I had intended. I'll keep working on the candying process, but the happy discovery I made is that the Hatch chile syrup makes a really great cocktail mixer.

For the candied Hatch chile rings and syrup:

2 cups sugar, plus additional for dredging

2 cups water

4 fresh Hatch chiles, sliced into rings, seeds and stems discarded

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. When the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is clear, add the chile rings. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue to simmer the chiles until they begin to turn translucent, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. 

Place about a generous amount of sugar on a plate. With a slotted spoon, remove the chile rings from the syrup and drop them into the sugar. Dredge the pepper rings in the sugar, then transfer them to a drying rack set over a sheet pan. Let the chiles dry out for several hours, then transfer to an airtight container to store. Allow the syrup to cool, then transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

For the gimlet:

2 ½ ounces vodka

½ ounce fresh lime juice

½ ounce Hatch Chile syrup

1 candied Hatch chile ring

Place the vodka, lime juice and syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Close the shaker and shake until the exterior frosts. Strain the cocktail into a glass and garnish with a candied Hatch chile ring.