Scrumptious Street

Clafoutis, Flaugnarde? Both? Neither?

When the season's last beautiful plums were on plump display in the Farmer's Market I knew they deserved special treatment.  I had a class coming up teaching a French-style, local market produce-inspired class coming up so I wanted to make a clafoutis.  However, a clafoutis is traditionally only made with black cherries and well, I wanted to use these succulent plums.  So, I thought I'd call it my "Plum Clafoutis". 

Upon doing more research, including my ultimate reference Larousse Gastronomique, I learned that if the French cooks add fruit other than cherry (such as pear, peach, prunes) to a Clafoutis, it becomes a flaugnarde or even more confusing, often spelled flognarde.  So then I thought, "Easy, this is flaugnarde, not a plum clafoutis".  But upon reading the recipes it became very clear that wasn't exactly the whole truth either.  The recipe and portions are different between the two.  And, I was desiring the light yet dense, puffy almost custard-meets-crepe texture of the clafoutis.  Reading the flaugnarde recipe I saw that the result would be more crepe-like, there was more liquid, more egg and the same flour.  And I didn't want to mask these decadent plums, I wanted silky and creamy sponginess that showed them off. I also added vanilla, which usually isn't in a clafoutis. But flaugnarde usually includes not only vanilla, but often rum and orange-flower water or orange tree extract (WTF?) and sometimes cinammon.  Online research only confused me more. So, this is a lovely, phenomenal dessert without a perfect name.  If any French purists out there know, please enlighten me.  Otherwise, I'm calling it a Plum Clafoutis. Regardless, it was phenomenal!

Here's how I did it, give it a try if you still happen to have gorgeous plums in season or tuck this away for for next year.   

Ingredients
Serves 6-8

6-8 fresh plums, washed, pitted and sliced into wedges
1/2 c. sugar, divided into two ¼ c. portions
1 T. unsalted butter
1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
pinch of kosher salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 ¼ c. whole milk
1 whole vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped from pod

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Dust the plums with ¼ c. sugar and let sit for 30 minutes.  Butter the inside of a pie plate or baking dish.  Arrange the plums on the bottom in a spiral from the inside to the outside edges of the pan.

2. Place the flour, a pinch of salt and the remaining ¼  c. sugar in a mixing bowl and stir.  Whisk the eggs in a smaller bowl and add the milk and vanilla bean seeds.  Whisk again. The batter should be like a very thick pancake batter.

3. Pour the batter over the plums and smooth to even.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until the clafoutis is completely set.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

4. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.  Serve while still warm and enjoy!

 

"Spring Chicken" with Asparagus and Morels

I know that sometimes we cooks, chefs and bloggers get predictable.  But, every year there are certain foods or ingredients that really get our juices flowing, our kitchens humming, our hearts buzzing. Typically, they are items that are only at their peak a short time each year and we wait all year long for them.  For me, one such example is my penultimate Spring combination of baby asparagus and fresh morel mushrooms.  EVERY YEAR, I feel like Spring hasn't begun until I've successfully hunted them out in the Farmer's Markets, reminisced about my Dad gathering morels in the woods when I was young (he can smell them 1/4 mile away I swear) and cooked up the first batch of the year!  Here's this year's creation, my "Braised Chicken Thighs with Asparagus Tips, Green Garlic and Crispy Morels."

This was wonderful, Spring on a plate.  Healthy, light, earthy and succulent. This dish really exemplifies how cooking with the simplest and freshest ingredients is so fulfilling and delicious.  Pay attention to textures here and it'll be perfect.  You want juicy and tender chicken with soft yet still firm asparagus.  You want peas just the other side of raw, so they pop in your mouth but are still tender.  You want the morels to be like well-seared meat: moist on the inside and crispy on the outside.  Rather than following exact times in my recipe, keep your focus on getting these combination of textures, taste as you go and don't let anything go past done into the land of soft of mushy. (Oven temps and equipment make it vary anyway,)  If you put care and attention into this dish and focus on flavor and texture, you'll be thrilled with the delicious result! Next year, I'm hunting my own morels because even what you get in the Farmer's Market don't compare with what you find in forests!

Ingredients

Serves 2

4 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 c. dry white wine, such as Pinot Gris

1 fresh bay leaf

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp. Herbes de Provence

1 small shallot

2 T. fresh green garlic, minced

2 c. fresh baby asparagus tips

1 c. fresh morel mushrooms

1/2 c. fresh English peas, shelled

1/2 lemon, juiced

Method:

1. In a small bowl add 2 T. kosher salt and 2 c. water and stir to dissolve.  Slice the morels in half lengthwise and add to the salt water.  This helps remove any small bugs that may be in the mushrooms.  (Yes, they could be there but this gets them out.) Soak the mushrooms for 20 minutes.  Gently skim the mushrooms off the surface and rinse thoroughly with cold water.  Squeeze dry with paper towels and let the mushrooms continue to dry on a plate.

2. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and season with the kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  Take out a oven-proof skillet or braising pan with lid and place on medium-high heat on the stove.  Add 1T. of the olive oil.

3. Brown the chicken on all sides, starting skin-side down until a dark golden brown, about 5-8 minutes.  Add the bay leaf, herbes de Provence and shallot and saute until the shallots begin to soften, about 4 minutes more.  Pour in the white wine, add the green garlic and asparagus and toss to combine.  Cover the pan with a lid and place in the oven.  Bake for 35 minutes.

5. At 30 minutes, take out another small skillet and heat the remaining 1 T. olive oil over medium heat.  Add the cleaned and dried morels when the oil is smoking hot.  Fry the morels until crispy, about 8-10 minutes. 

6. When the chicken has baked 35 minutes, quickly remove the pan from the oven and add in the fresh peas and toss.  Return the pan to the oven without the lid and braise another 5 minutes.  Finish frying the morels to crispy brown and set aside.

7. Remove the pan from the oven and spoon the chicken and vegetables onto plates or a large serving platter.  Squeeze half a lemon over the chicken and vegetables.  Lastly, top with the crispy fried morels and serve immediately.

Oyster Mushroom, Asparagus and Fontina Quiche

The Spring vegetables are looking fantastic here in the Bay Area and on a recent trip to the Farmer's Market I discovered these gorgeous Oyster Mushrooms.  Also finding beautiful tender asparagus there, a simple dish to boast the vegetables was in order.  I think egg dishes are wonderful ways to show off delicate vegetables and this time a beautiful quiche was my canvas.

I often go for a frittata for speed, but a quiche is perfect when you want simplicity yet a sense of elegance and sophistication.  A flaky, buttery crust adds so much texture to an airy custard studded with crisp and delicious tender vegetables.  Here's the final "Oyster Mushroom and Asparagus Quiche".

The great thing about egg dishes is that you can honestly just hunt in the markets for whatever looks beautiful, fresh, perfect and tasty and then whip one up depending on the time you have.  An omelette, a frittata, a quiche, a tart... you name it.  Actually, a quiche is a savory tart.  Did you know that?

Here's my very simple recipe with spectacular and scrumptious results.  It'd be perfect for brunch this weekend!

Ingredients

Serves about 4, makes 1 quiche

1 9" pie crust, rolled flat to 1/4" thickness

1 bunch fresh asparagus, washed, and chopped using tips and tender parts of stalks

6 oz. fresh oyster mushrooms, wiped with damp towel and chopped

1 T. butter

1 T. olive oil

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/8 tsp. ground white pepper

3 medium eggs

1 1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. grated Fontina cheese

1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 tsp. fresh tarragon, chopped

1/4 c. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.  After dough is rolled out, press the dough into a quiche pan or tart pan with removable bottom.  Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to rest after pressing into the pan.  Line the dough with aluminum foil with enough to cover the top and sides of the dough and fill with dried beans to weight the dough.  I use dried chick peas, see photo here.   This process is called "blind baking" and helps make sure your crust will be fully cooked and is not soggy. Bake the crust for 20 minutes and then remove from oven and cool.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350˚F.

2. In a skillet, heat the butter and oil over medium high heat and  saute the asparagus and mushrooms until tender.  Season with the salt and white pepper and set aside.

3. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and milk.  I'd recommend whole milk here, don't go with skim.  Stir in the Fontina cheese and chopped herbs.  Sprinkle with a little more ground white pepper.

4.  Over the quiche crust has cooled, remove the beans and foil and spread the sauteed mushrooms and asparagus into an even layer on the crust.  Pour in the egg custard mixture and distribute evenly with a fork or rubber spatula.  Sprinkle the parmigiano-reggiano cheese on top.

5.  Gently place the entire quiche pan onto a rimmed baking sheet.  This will catch any possible leaks or spills.  Bake in the oven about 40-45 minutes or until the quiche is golden brown and knife comes out cleanly.  After baking, remove from the oven and cool another 10 minutes.  Then, if using a tart pan with two pieces, take out the bottom from the rim and slide the quiche onto a cutting board.  Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Most Amazing Roasted Whole Chicken

I have been experimenting all Winter with roasted chicken and have finally settled on what I consider the ultimate, most spectacular variation I've tried.  The recipe couldn't be simpler, but there are three things that make it truly extraordinary.  If you make sure your recipe entails all three of these, I guarantee you will love this roasted chicken.  The first secret is to find the best free-range organic whole bird you can buy.  Do not get a frozen chicken from Safeway.  Go to a specialty or gourmet market and even better, get one from a farmer or a farmer's market.  The best possible chicken itself will yield a final result that will astound you.  The next secret is the herbs.  You must use Herbes de Provence.  There are all kinds of mixes of this herb blend but make sure to use one that has plenty of lavender.  Yes, the lavender is secret number two.  And, the third secret goes along with the lavender -- it's honey.  Again, go with something unique, flowery and upscale.  Not the honey bear here.  I like Bee Raw Star Thistle honey but really just use any honey that has special depth of flavor and floral notes.In this combination, you will be amazed to discover (if you didn't know already) that lavender and poultry are made for each other as are honey and lavender.  Put them all together and you'll be completely blown away.

When making this roasted chicken, I always put lots of chopped vegetables in the pan halfway through the roasting.  Always the same methodology: I toss the vegetables with olive oil, white wine, kosher salt and black pepper and scatter them around the bird halfway through the roasting.  Use whatever you like, but make sure to include with your vegetables some more herbs, some chopped garlic and onion.  My favorite variation of vegetables includes fennel, turnips and winter squashes.  Experiment here and use whatever is in season, making sure to always have aromatics (herbs and onions), acid (wine or lemon juice), olive oil, salt and pepper.  

For the chicken, it's also incredibly simple.  Here's how I do it:

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 T. unsalted butter

1 1/2 T. Herbes de Provence (make sure it's one with lavender)

1 T. good quality floral honey

1 4 lb. whole free-range chicken

1 lemon

4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 bunch thyme

4 sprigs tarragon

Vegetables, wine, herbes, onions that are in season

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Heat oven to 375˚F.  Melt the butter and herbes de provence in a small saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat when melted and whisk the honey into the butter and herbs de provence.  Cover and let it steep for 20 minutes.

2. Remove giblets from inside chicken if they're there.  Season the chicken inside the cavity and all over the outside with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  Peel rind from the lemon using a vegetable peeler, and make long strips.  Cut the lemon in half and slice one half and leave the other save the other half for later.  Put the lemon rind, sliced lemon half, crushed garlic cloves, thyme and tarragon into the body cavity of the chicken.  Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and set the chicken on a roasting rack placed inside a roasting pan.  Brush the chicken all over with half of the herb -honey-butter.  Pour about 1 c. water into the bottom of the roasting pan, making sure not to get the chicken wet.

3. Roast the chicken uncovered for 45 minutes, basting every 15 minutes.  If the pan begins to go dry, add more water.  After 45 minutes, quickly remove the chicken from the oven and scatter the vegetables you've prepared all around the bottom of the pan.  Add a little more water if the pan is completely dry.  Brush the chicken with the remaining herb-honey-butter mixture.  Place the chicken back into the oven and continue roasting another 40-45 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the internal temperature of the chicken's thigh is 165˚F.

4. Remove the chicken and set on a cutting board to rest, cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Serve the vegetables into a dish and if you'd like, make a nice sauce from the leftover juices in the pan.  After the chicken has rested about 10 minutes, carve it and gently squeeze the remaining half of the lemon over the chicken and vegetables.  Serve immediately.

Roasted Golden Beets, Cippolini and Fresh Figs

One of my favorite and highly anticipated Autumn ingredients is fresh figs. Sweet, juicy, full of flavor and wonderful texture, they are a terrific addition to many dishes. Here in California, where many figs are raised, they have been the little gems of the Farmer's Markets.  Whether it's this vegetable side dish or my favorite holiday dressing, I love cooking with them. Recently I found some that were so purple and plump that they cried out for me to create a new dish. Here is my "Roasted Golden Beets, Cippolini and Figs".

I love roasting beets too, but this dish turned out very special because even though all of the major ingredients are vegetables, all three sweeten beautifully as they roast. The sugars develop so that your final result is satisfying and scrumptious, and works as a great side dish to pork or red meat. It's really a simple recipe but each ingredient is there to complement the others, so that a bite gives you a little of everything. You could also substitute the beets for any number of fantastic dark-fleshed winter squash or edible pumpkins. Let your imagination run! Typically when I prepare beets, I roast them first with skin on to develop maximum flavor and retain as much moisture as possible. In this case, however, I wanted all of the flavors to blend while roasting. So, I peeled the beets before roasting. Little differences in technique like this really determine how much your flavors work together or maintain their individual tastes.

Here's my simple and fast recipe.
Ingredients Serves 4 as side dish

4 large golden beets, peeled and chopped
8 cippolini onions, peeled and left whole
6 fresh figs, rinsed and sliced in half
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
4 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Method:
1. Wash and peel vegetables. Chop beets and place beets, cippolini onions and figs in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the thyme leave, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to the vegetables in the bowl and toss thoroughly. Spread them out flat on a rimmed baking sheet or shallow roasting pan so that everything is in a single layer.

3. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast in the oven 40-45 minutes, until the beets are just fork-tender but not soft. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Zucchini Salad with Yogurt Dressing

The produce at this week's Farmer's Market jaunt was no less than stellar, which always is inspiring and yields terrific recipes at Scrumptious Street.  While in Italy recently, I was reminded of the perfect affinity zucchini and mint have for one another so I made a wonderful summer dish of "Zucchini & Tomato Salad with Capers and Mint in a Yogurt Dressing".

This isn't necessarily an Italian dish, but it is Mediterranean influenced.  If you've never tried zucchini and mint, this is really a spectacular combination that must be tasted! Additionally, feta cheese is a beautiful supporting cast member here and lends just enough tangy creaminess to really make it special.  The salad is incredibly simple and will be delicious if you follow a few guidelines.  You must have very fresh produce as close to the farm or garden as possible -- these ingredients in particular, cannot be the watered-down grocery store varieties. 

Zucchini is somewhat bitter when raw.  However, it's quite delicate so when cooked it would be too soft and dull colored for a salad.  So, I kept it raw but prepared it by dusting with salt and letting it strain.  Just like eggplant, this treatment draws out the bitterness in the skin and flesh of the squash, gets the juices flowing and tenderizes the vegetable.  It softens a bit without changing the color or fresh lightly-crunched structure.  So, make sure to follow the steps for salting and straining in this recipe and you'll love the salad too!

Here's the recipe:
Serves 4 as small appetizer salad

4 small zucchini, washed and very thinly sliced
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 scallions, minced
1 ripe medium tomato, washed, seeded and diced
1 tsp. capers, rinsed and chopped
1/8 c. Italian flat-leaf parsley
2 oz. very good Greek feta cheese
1/4 c. fresh mint, minced, plus more for garnish
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 tsp. lemon juice, separated into two parts of 2 tsp.
1 T. plain yogurt (use Greek or strain regular plain yogurt)
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

Method:
1. Placed the sliced zucchini in a fine colander or fine-mesh sieve.  Sprinkle with kosher salt, toss thoroughly and let stand in the sink to strain for 10 minutes, tossing every couple of minutes.  After 10 minutes, rinse the zucchini thoroughly, getting off any remaining salt.  Take a few paper towels and place the zucchini in the towels and gently squeeze out any remaining liquid.

2. Chop your tomato in half and scoop out the seeds with a grapefruit spoon or your fingers.  Dice the tomato.  In a bowl, combine the zucchini, scallions, seeded tomato, capers, parsley, feta, mint, lemon zest and 1 tsp. of the lemon juice.  Toss gently to combine.

3. In a small bowl, make the dressing by combining yogurt, the remaining 1 tsp. lemon juice, white pepper and olive oil.  Whisk and slowly add the olive oil, the quantity you use will depend on the thickness you want and the texture of the yogurt you used.

4. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently.  Refrigerate for 4 hours and then serve chilled.

Hope you like this refreshing, light and healthy summer salad.

Fava Bean and Tomato Salad

Fava beans are another of my very favorite Spring ingredients and I always peruse the Farmer's Markets for them in April and May.  I hit the jackpot this past week and found some Favas that were so beautiful and fresh that I knew I wouldn't want to boil them, sauté them or otherwise cook for very long.  Thus, these babies called to be eaten just the other side of raw, barely blanched and in a simple manner to show off their freshest taste.  Here is my resulting "Fava Bean and Tomato Salad."

This dish was so wonderful but it's not going to work if you don't have incredibly tender and fresh beans.  Two great ways to recognize them are that the pods should not contain any black spots and should not feel flimsy or mushy if you gently squeeze them.  Should you find good ones, they'll turn anyone into a lover of this healthy legume. Another very important part of this dish was the green garlic stalks.  You should also be able to find this at any good Farmer's Market in the Spring months and I chose to use them because they taste of garlic but are much milder and softer, perfect because you can eat it raw, like I did with this salad.  I think this is a scrumptious little side salad for all those summer barbeques and is similar to a typical Mediterranean meze or Spanish tapas. 

I only had a small amount and they're a bit intensive to shuck, blanch and shell so this is just a recipe that feeds two people as a small little nibble.  In case you've seen them at the markets but aren't sure how to get the beans out of the funny-looking pod, here's the basic plan.  Snap off the top stem and pull the long string along the seam, exactly like you do with fresh snap peas.  Pull out the bean inside and put them in a bowl.  The beans are covered in a soft, waxy casing that you will remove before eating.  So, in essence, you have to shell them twice.  Blanch them inside the casing and when done, put them in an ice bath.  One at a time, pinch the end of the casing and slice it open with your thumbnail.  Push the opposite end of the casing and the inner bean should slide right out. I'm sorry I didn't take photos of the process but there are some very illustrative photos here.

On with the recipe!

Ingredients
Serves 2

1 cup fresh fava beans, blanched and shelled (about 1.5 lbs. fresh in their pods)
1 small very ripe tomato
2-3 fresh basil leaves, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh marjoram, minced
1/4 tsp. spring green garlic stalk, minced
1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice, squeezed
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 T. very good extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. String, shell, blanch in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then cool fava beans in an ice bath.  One at a time, shuck the fava beans and put them in a bowl.  Add the chopped tomato, basil, marjoram and green garlic.  Toss gently with a spoon to mix.

2. In another small bowl add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Whisk to mix.  Slowly stream in the olive oil, about one tablespoon at a time, making an emulsified vinaigrette.

3. Pour the vinaigrette over the fava, tomatoes and herbs in the first bowl.  Mix thoroughly and taste, adding a pinch more salt and pepper if desired.  Serve either as is, or placed atop a very fresh bed of arugula.

Have a great time with this one and believe me, it's worth the effort with the beans and the rest of the preparation is very quick and simple!

Crispy Fresh Morels and Peas

It's that wonderful time of year again;  Morel mushroom season in North America.  Having grown up in a beautiful mountainous place where we foraged our own after rainy May days, morels are an "official start of Spring" for me.  I adore their hearty, meaty, rich flavor and their magnificent toothsome texture. 

I haven't hunted morels myself in years but after finding these perfect specimens at a local Farmer's Market I'm itching to get my rainboots and basket out and check out my Northern California forests.  It's easy to find them with a good guide after the first couple of days of sun following a little bit of rain.  They like to grow in forested or wooded areas and are as prized in some parts of North America as truffles are in Europe.  If anyone in the Bay Area knows where I can hunt them please let me know.  In the meantime, I'm hitting that market every week through May to stock up on more.

Morels are wonderfully adaptable to most cooking methods and tastes.  There always seems to be a joke floating around that morels "taste like chicken" but I couldn't disagree more.  They are a unique and distinct flavor that cannot be described, purely experienced.  All my years in New York, I depended on dried morels except on a few wonderful occasions when I found fresh ones.  However, these are so much larger, heartier, tastier and prettier than anything I found in New York ever.  I was so excited at the market I started shrieking and giggling, it's a good thing I was amidst other avid cooks and eaters who understood my joy!

My recipe is an adaptation of the classic way my Mom prepared them: fried with corn meal.  I took her basic recipe and added a few key ingredients and made a superb marinade to help tenderize them before frying.  Wow.  They rocked! Here are my "Crispy Spring Morels and Peas".

Here's my recipe.  It's just a small amount, for two people since the price of these mushrooms is astronomical.  They are a splurge but my memories and love of them are so profound that I couldn't resist them.  But, just tasty little side dishes, I only bought a little.

Ingredients
Serves 2 as small appetizer or side

8 oz. fresh Morels, bottoms trimmed off, halved and cavity wiped clean with moist towel
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. yellow corn meal
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. vegetable or peanut oil
1 medium Spring onion, minced
1/3 c. shelled fresh green peas

Method:

1. Prepare and clean mushrooms and soak in a salt-water bath for 10 minutes.  It's important to cut off the tough end of the stem and also to slice them open in half lengthwise.  You must do this to look for worms (always possible) and to clean out the inside gently with a damp towel.

2. Combine the Worcestershire sauce and buttermilk in a bowl by whisking together.  Add the cleaned morels to this sauce to act as a marinade and help tenderize the mushrooms.  Refrigerate 1-3 hours.

3. When mushrooms have marinated, put the cornmeal on a large, wide plate.  Add the salt and pepper to the cornmeal and mix with your fingers to spread through.  One at a time, dredge the mushrooms in the seasoned cornmeal.  Shake off any excess cornmeal and place on another plate in a single layer.

4.  In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil on high and when shimmering and very hot, gently add the mushrooms.  Fry until they are very tender but crispy and brown on the outside from the cornmeal, about 6-8 minutes.  Toss in the spring onion and peas and fry another 2-3 minutes until the peas are just tender.  Remove from heat, and drain on a plate lined with paper towel if there's extra oil.  Add another pinch of kosher salt and enjoy immediately!

Prickly-Pear Cactus Fruit Salad

Now there's something I never had in New York.  Prickly-pear cactus fruit.  It made a gorgeous and very delicious Sunday brunch fruit salad, when combined with some other fresh produce from the farmers at a stand within 20 minutes' drive.  California rocks:  it's November 11 and today I bought fresh strawberries that are still nearly as good or better than what I used to get during peak summer season in New York.  Oh, and we ate outside on our deck in 70-degree weather.  Yes.  On November 11.

As the most devoted of Scrumptious readers know, the last three months of my life have been fraught with change, rest, and misery.  It has taken a very, very long time to transport our lives cross-country and I have spared you the gory details, because, well, this is a cooking blog.  And, I have been so ensconced in turmoil and loss that I haven't done much cooking. There have been good moments, and a spectacular vacation, but for the most part moving has been a huge detriment to my cooking, for many reasons.  Well, dear readers, we are nearing the end of my hiatus.  This weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Scrumptious moved into a super-fantabulous-house with a to-die-for-kitchen and (GASP, ARE YOU READY?) A HOME-PROFESSIONAL STOVE.  The real deal.  The six-burner Viking with warming shelf and double-wide oven with three racks.  No, not the double-oven...that will only come when we move into a house in which I designed the kitchen! But, for a rental house, this is pretty friggin spectacular.

We only moved in this weekend, so I'm not really cooking on full burners yet as the house is still mostly in some state of unpacked and nicely organized.  Mr. Scrumptious did point out that the kitchen was the first to get attention.  Alas, he is right.  I claim it's due to wanting the movers to unpack everything and check for breakage and well, I needed to put things away as they unpacked to make room for the bazillion other boxes, right?!

So I apologize for not cooking and shooting and blogging some real cooking.  But, I'm not settled quite yet.  Only another few days and I should be rearing to go.  You have all been so patient, thank you! We're almost there.

Until then, the fruit salad was like this:

Ingredients
Serves 2

1 Prickly-pear cactus fruit, pink/magenta variety (I confess I have no idea what KIND of cactus)
8 ripe fresh strawberries
8 fresh green grapes
1 fresh Valencia orange, segmented
1 tsp. Bee Raw Star Thistle honey (this is still my favorite)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground cinnamon

Method:
1. Wash and clean all the fruit.  Peel the prickly-pear cactus fruit.  Chop into pieces but leave grapes whole.  Peel the orange with a knife and segment the supreme.  Remove all the pith. 

2. Place all the fruit in a bowl.  Squeeze the juice from the orange left-overs over the fruit.  Mix gently with your very clean hands.

3. Drizzle the honey over the fruit.  Sprinkle the cinnamon over the fruit and toss gently with a spoon.

4. Serve immediately and enjoy but beware the seeds of the prickly-pear.  They're quite robust.

Berkeley Pasta

Here it is, Scrumptious readers.  My first posting from sunny California.  I must confess, things are crazy and cooking isn't yet a priority in the getting-settled-madness.  Rather, working, looking for a home, logistical details, buying cars and opening bank accounts have trumped my creative culinary bone.  However, I did make it to the Berkeley Farmer's Market over the weekend and bought some absolutely delicious produce.  They were such sweet and well, TOMATO-Y, heirloom tomatoes.  That fresh-grown taste and smell that you can't find more than 12 hours off the vine... Paired with very delicate and pale summer squash, fresh baby onions, and handmade fresh Meyer Lemon pasta, this was a good introduction to many spectacular meals to come. Here's a look at my "Berkeley Pasta".

I didn't keep track of the recipe at all, but you get the idea.  Extra virgin olive oil, baby shallots, garlic, summer squash, heirloom tomatoes, basil, thyme, Meyer Lemon fresh linguine and lemon juice.  All grown, harvested and produced within 50 miles of Berkeley, CA.  Not a bad start....

Now, we're off for a 2-week vacation for scuba diving and finally some relaxation.... I will return to Scrumptious Street in October. Until then, happy cooking!