Sometimes life is like a bowl of sour cherries… but I’m not complaining!

Yes you heard me right, sour (tart) cherries are now ripe and ready for picking in the Leona Valley (just North of Los Angeles, CA near Palmdale).  SOUR cherries?? you’re probably thinking, why would I want those?  Because, let me tell you my friend, they are the way to true cherry pie bliss.

And cherry jam bliss…

and real Maraschino (pronounced “maraskino”) cherry bliss.

No, you don’t need any red #40 to make these, but you do need real Maraschino Liqueur.

I have to admit that two years ago I had never tried a sour cherry.  To be fair to myself though, most Californians haven’t.  It’s more of an East coast/European/Persian thing.  Why that is, I’m not really sure.  Maybe because sweet cherries grow so well here.

This all started when I discovered the Manhattan cocktail a few years back.  I loved this cocktail, but hated the garish garnish.  For some reason those noxious things people call “maraschino” cherries just freak me out.  I knew there must be something more.  What was the origin or inspiration for these cherries?.  A little googling around and I was on to something.

The first Maraschino cherries were cooked up somewhere on the Dalmatian coast near Croatia and Italy.  They were made from small, black, sour cherries that grow wild on the hillsides around those parts.  Their name was the Marasca cherry.  A sweet liqueur known as Maraschino had long since been distilled from the fruit, stones (pits), and leaves of these wild cherry trees, but until the 1800’s no one had ever tried to pickle the Marascas in their own liqueur.

Some years later American tourists discovered Maraschino cherries and brought jars home to share with their friends.  They were a big hit and news spread quickly.  Before long, they were all the rage in America’s finest saloons acting as garnish for delicious pre-prohibition cocktails like the Manhattan.  But, sad as it is, the salad days of the real Maraschino cherry in America were numbered.  Things changed when a guy from Oregon, with too many cherries (and chemicals) on his hands, developed a way to preserve them in a less than appetizing way.

How on Earth did these offensively colored new substitutes catch on?  I can only guess.  I’m sure the Temperance Movement didn’t help.  God forbid children should be tempted to sneak one of these liquor soaked cherries!

The new and improved “Maraschino Americano” was also incredibly cheap compared to the imported varieties, and you know how we Americans are when it comes to the cost of food.  The cheaper the better.

Yum…

Thus began my personal quest to re-create the original Maraschino cherry as closely as I could.  A google search for “sour cherries Los Angeles” yielded few results, but I finally found what I was looking for.  It was a place called Cherry Tyme Sour Cherries in the Leona Valley about an hour and a half North of Los Angeles.  Bingo, I thought!

But wait, it was August and all the sour cherries were long gone according to the pleasant lady on the phone.  I had just missed the season!  As you can imagine I was devastated, but the lady offered me one bit of consolation.  I could leave her my e-mail address and the next year they would let me know when the season opens.

Sure enough, the next July I received an e-mail stating it was “Cherry Tyme!”  I recruited my dad to go up there with me and help pick.  We came away with 13 pounds of fresh, sour cherries of three different varieties: Montmorency, Balaton, and Morello.  The Montmorency were large, pale, very sour, and extremely delicate.  I used them for my pies, and they left me with memories I won’t soon forget.  The Balatons were small, firm, dark skinned, and not quite as sour as the Montmorency.  I thought these seemed most like the wild Marasca cherries of the old country, and used them for my Maraschino cherries with great results.  It’s been a year since I put them up and they’re still firm and delicious!  The Morello cherries were medium sized, dark fleshed, sour, and very flavorful.  For some reason they were the most attractive to me.  They embody a perfect balance between the other two varieties, and I used them to make my preserves.

Pitting was a bit of a challenge without a proper cherry pitting tool, but we got pretty good with bamboo skewers after the first hundred or so.

The cherry massacre!

The fun starts tomorrow morning June 27th at Cherry Tyme in Leona Valley.  Their hours are from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm; open daily until all the cherries are gone.  Bring your own boxes!

Cherry Tyme Sour Cherries:

39913 107^th St West

Leona Valley, Ca 93551

(661) 270-0649

cherrytyme@email.com

Hope to see you there!  Recipes coming soon.

I can’t tell you much about the Kona Inn, but if you’re craving some delicious banana bread I promise this recipe will bring you satisfaction.

When Stepmother left me and my sister as young adults she knew we would be left craving some of the fine baked goodies we were brought up on so she was kind enough to leave us each with a thoughtfully prepared binder of her favorite recipes. I’ve held on to my binder all of these years since then, and this banana bread recipe is one of my all time favorites. It turns out so moist and flavorful you will be tempted to eat it all before it has a chance to cool.

Kona Inn Banana Bread

Yields: Two Loaves, Prep Time: 20 minutes, Baking Time: 45-60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup softened un-salted butter
• 6 ripe bananas, mashed (approximately 3 cups)
• 4 eggs, well-beaten
• 2 1/2 cups cake flower
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. With an electric beater, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add bananas and eggs, beating until well mixed.
3. Sift together dry ingredients three times. Blend with banana mixture, but do not over mix.
4. Pour into (2) lightly greased loaf pans. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, until firm in the centers and the edges begin to separate from pans.
5. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
6. These freeze beautifully.

Oh, dear reader, I know the signs. A blog in its last death-throes. The “sorry”s and “back soon”s and promises of reform, the ever decreasing posts. I recognize the symptoms, and I’ll admit it’s not easy to keep alive these little homes we carve out of thin air. But this one’s not going away. Just give its authors time to crawl out from under the mounds of school work and work work, of books and papers and dishes and (yes) a few DVDs; they’ll be back around any day to visit their favorite spots and share their favorite adventures. Until then, I’ll leave you with this recipe for homemade chocolate, Oaxaca style.

I began thinking about chocolate a few weeks ago. Really, I was thinking about pleasure. We were eating at NOPA, which surprises us by how good it is every time we go there and, since we were with a good friend who we rarely see, we were more extravagant than usual. We started with cocktails, then shared a variety of small plates and main dishes, a good bottle of wine, a couple of desserts (their desserts are fabulous), and more drinks. It was a good meal, and it started me thinking about a New York Times Op-Ed from back in February 2006 (Go With Your Gut, by Harriet Brown), which suggests that the more we enjoy what we eat, the more nutrition we derive from it.

It’s a tempting thought, not least because, well, don’t we all wish our every indulgence might yield some hidden benefit? But it makes sense, too. Our bodies, if we can remember how to follow their lead, know what to hunger for.

So here is chocolate:

This recipe comes from Susanna Trilling, by way of her Seasons of My Heart cookbook. I modified it to include less cinnamon and sugar, and prepared it using a food processor, rather than the traditional grinding stone or mill methods. You can find raw cacao at natural foods stores (we got ours at Rainbow Grocery) or online. This chocolate is unrefined and a bit granular. Though it is delicious straight, it is at its best prepared as hot chocolate, the traditional use in Oaxaca. Melt one stick in 12 ounces of hot milk or water, crushing and stirring gently with a spoon. It is also excellent for baking, though the cinnamon gives it a slightly different taste.

Homemade Chocolate, Oaxaca Style

Ingredients
1/2 ounce Mexican cinnamon sticks, broken (or about 2 tablespoons ground)
1 pound first-class fermented cacao beans
10 ounces – 1 1/4 pound finely granulated sugar

Method
In a cast iron pan, toast the cinnamon until fragrant, stirring constantly, then set aside to cool. If using cinnamon sticks, grind in a spice mill or coffee grinder until fine. Add the cacao to the pan and toast, stirring constantly until the beans begin to crack and brown. Allow to cool, then remove and discard shells.

In a food processor, combine cinnamon and cacao beans and mix until finely ground. Add about 8 ounces of sugar and mix again until sugar is fully incorporated. Taste for sweetness and continue adding slowly until desired sweetness is achieved. Do not add more than the chocolate can absorb. The original recipe called for 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 lbs sugar. I used about 10 ounces. Grind the mixture until it is shiny and very smooth.

Turn onto a large wooding cutting board and pat into a square 1/4 inch thick until it is shiny. Slide a chef’s knife under the chocolate to release it from the board, flip it, and pat the other side until shiny as well (you may need to transfer it to a second chopping board to turn it over). Cut into pieces 1 inch by 4 inches and place on wax paper to solidify, up to two hours depending on temperature and humidity. Store chocolate in a sealed plastic bag or glass container.

Eat and savor.

Tonight we’ll make a shopping list, and tomorrow try to prep what we can in anticipation of Thursday. We’re hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year, which, in an odd way, feels more like a milestone than the 30th birthday I’ll be celebrating in a few weeks. Andy’s parents will be there, as well as my mom and my stepfather Ben, Andy’s cousin, our housemate Keith, and a few good friends. In lieu of a turkey, we’re preparing a whole, wild, line caught salmon, which we plan to parchment steam and serve with a Bearnaise sauce “gravy.” On the side, we’ll have a wild rice pilaf, potatoes mashed with garlic, wasabi, and savoy cabbage, cornbread, and a salad of citrus and bitter greens.

Will is also hosting a Thanksgiving celebration this year, and he is soon to add his more classic version of a menu. We’ll both be adding recipes as we find time today and tomorrow, but for now, I’ll leave you a starter . . .

Rose’s Thanksgiving Menu

To Start

Champagne Cocktails

• Dry champagne
• Brandy
• Angostura bitters (or homemade!)
• Sugar cubes
• Unsweetened dried cherries

Plump the dried cherries in brandy at least one hour beforehand. Thread the cherries onto toothpicks (about three to a toothpick is nice – two is bad luck according to old bartending lore) making enough for all of your cocktails. Place a sugar cube in each champagne flute and moisten the sugar with a few good shakes of bitters (be careful though, you can overdo it!) Fill glasses with champagne, and garnish with the brandy soaked cherries.

• Endive boats with Roquefort and caramelized walnut – I stole the idea for these from Le Zinc, a charming little French place in Noe Valley. They make a light and tasty accompaniment to the cocktails. Simply separate the endive leaves and place a small cube of Roquefort cheese and a caramelized walnut at the white end of each.

• Curried almonds

• Fruit and cheese plate

The Feast

• Whole parchment steamed salmon stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and edameme beans
• Eggless Bearnaise sauce “gravy” – The cooking juices made such a nice sauce that we did away with the additional “gravy.”
• Potatoes mashed with garlic, wasabi, and savoy cabbage – Cube and steam 3-4 lbs russet potatoes, leaving the skins on. While potatoes are steaming, thinly slice a small savoy cabbage and place in a large bowl with 3 cloves crushed or diced garlic and 3 tsp powdered wasabi (or to taste). When potatoes are very tender but still firm, toss them with the cabbage until it begins to wilt. Add about 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup milk or cream, and plenty of salt and pepper to taste. Mash until potatoes are soft, but not entirely uniform.
• Citrus salad with bitter greens
• Wild rice pilaf - Combine 8 cups water, 1 1/2 cups wild rice, 1 1/2 cups long grain brown or white rice, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, and 1/2 tsp salt in a rice cooker, or add ingredients to the boiling water in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Return the pilaf to a boil, lower heat, and cook covered for about 1 hour, or until the wild rice is firm but tender to the bite. Fluff and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

• Wine pairings

Dessert

• Pumpkin pie
• Orange whipped cream
• Quady Essensia Orange Muscat dessert wine

***

Will’s Thanksgiving Menu

I’m not sure how classic this really is, but here goes:

To Start

The Gin Buck

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. gin (I use Junipero Gin for its robust flavor and ability to stand up to a strong ginger beer)
• Ginger Beer ( I’m a huge ginger beer fan, and my favorite brand other than my homemade stuff, is Fentimans out of the UK, now available at Cost Plus World Markets)
• The juice of 1/2 lemon
• Lemon wedge to garnish

Method:

1. Pour the gin and lemon juice into an ice filled highball glass
2. Top off with ginger beer
3. Add the lemon wedge as a garnish
4. Enjoy one of the best highballs known to man

Fresh sourdough bread with butter
Cheese plate
Olives

The Feast

• Fresh (never frozen) pasture raised Heritage Turkey roasted to perfection with stuffing, leeks, carrots, and quince
• Gravy
• Mashed potatoes made the old fashioned way without any “new fangled” fixins
• Hashed Brussels Sprouts With Lemon Zest
• Fuyu persimmon salad with cumin-lime vinaigrette
• My original home cooked cranberry sauce (see recipe below)
• Wine pairings

Will’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 bag fresh cranberries (rinse thoroughly and discard the rotten ones)
• 1 organic orange, zested and then squeezed
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (heaping)
• 1 pinch black pepper (my grannies trick)
• 1 pinch grated nutmeg
• 2 dashes orange bitters (optional)
• 4 Tbs. real maple syrup
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 3/4 cup water

Method:

1. Combine orange juice (about 1/4 cup), water, sugar, maple syrup, orange zest, ginger, bitters, black pepper, and nutmeg in a sauce pan over medium heat
2. Stir to dissolve all the sugar
3. Add the cranberries
4. Stir often, and wait until all the berries have popped
5. Continue stirring as the mixture foams up
6. When the mixture calms down and turns a deep red it’s time to turn off the heat (the whole process should take less than ten minutes)
7. Let cool
8. This recipe keeps very well and can be made well in advance of Thanksgiving

Dessert

• Mary’s Cranberry yam apple crisp
• Butternut squash pie
• Cointreau flavored whipped cream (I’ll let you know how it turns out)
• Bonny Doon Muscat “Vin de Glaciere” (ice wine)

With any luck things will turn out as delicious as they sound and i will be posting more recipes in time for the next round of holiday festivities.

Saturday mornings mean my usual pilgrimage to the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. I try to go early, before the bulk of gawkers and tourists arrive, but I usually get there just as everyone else does. And truth be told, I don’t really mind. I wander happily through the crowds, Blue Bottle cappuccino in hand, and gawk. This weekend, as Andy stopped off to buy some Fava Beans, I strolled over to Tierra Vegetables to gobble taste some of their famous pepper jams. The jams were as good as ever, but as I made my way from the Mystery Pepper Jam to the Chipotle Jam, I caught a glimpse of what looked like little gold tomatillos. When Andy and I tried them, we found them to be more fruit than vegetable – sweet and tangy, a little like a gooseberry. I was so enamoured, I thought I’d enter them into this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging event, hosted by Susan at The Well Seasoned Cook.

It turns out that, while the fruit is a close relative of the tomatillo and part of the nightshade family, it is often called a Cape Gooseberry. It is also sometimes called Husk Cherry, Peruvian Ground Cherry, and in Hawaii, Poha or Poha Berry. The Latin name is Physalis peruviana.

Native to Brazil, the plant now grows wild in much of South America and Hawaii and is cultivated in many temperate regions, including South Africa, where it has long been popular. It is commonly used in jams and sauces, but can also be eaten fresh.

Chocolate Dipped Cape Gooseberry

According to the friendly folks at Tierra Vegetables, this is a common preparation in France. The golden husks make for a beautiful presentation.

1/2 lb Ripe Poha/Cape Gooseberry
8 oz dark chocolate

Pull husks away from berries, but leave them attached to form a handle for holding and dipping. With a damp paper towel, gently wipe the berries clean. They must be completely dry before dipping in the chocolate. In a heavy pan, melt chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. When chocolate is fully melted, dip berries until they are about 2/3 covered. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and allow to harden. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate.

Well, my brother is now married and off for a week-long backpacking honeymoon. I have to admit, I felt a little lonely last night. We’ve been in constant contact for a month straight, and now that it’s all over, I miss everyone. I am attempting to rest up before Andy and I head out to visit his family in Florida on Thursday. At that point the second round of wedding madness will begin, with an engagement party for us and a barrage of questions about date and location sure to follow.Meanwhile, I am still gathering together the wealth of memories, impressions and ideas from the weekend. I think the last three days passed almost as quickly for me as they did for the bride and groom, but along the way I reconnected with some very old and dear friends. The ceremony itself was wonderful and personal, with friends and family offering readings and music. The reception featured a fantastic live swing band and Will and Mary were out on the dance floor the whole night.The lavender shortbread was a big hit at the tea party shower. It went great with all of the teas and felt very festive and romantic. I first came across and tested a less traditional recipe that left me with delicate, pale, fine grained cookies that threatened to disintegrate at the first touch. Andy preferred them, but I wanted something a little heartier, so I ended up just folding a heaping teaspoon of lavender into a classic shortbread recipe – with excellent results.

– Lavender Shortbread

*1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
*1/4 cup rice flour or corn starch
*2/3 cup sugar
*16 tbs (0r 2 sticks) unsalted butter
*1/4 tsp salt
*1 tsp lavender flowers
*1 tbs turbinado sugar

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Line a 9 inch spring-form pan with parchment and set aside.

2. Process the sugar for about 30 seconds in a food processor then add the flours and salt and mix until combined. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and stir into the flour, then mix for several minutes until the dough is pale yellow and has formed damp crumbs. Stir in lavender flowers.

3. Press the mixture into the pan and sprinkle with turbinado sugar, then place shortbread in the oven. Immediately reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Remove shortbread from oven and score, dividing into 16 pieces. Use a skewer or the tines of a fork to make a decorative pattern on the cookies. Return shortbread to the oven and continue baking for another 40 minutes. Cut the finished cookies into wedges. Wrap well and store for up to a week.

This recipe for Orange-Anise Biscotti was adapted from The New Best Recipe. Biscotti are amazingly easy to the make, remarkably healthy, and can last a month or more when made without butter (as in this recipe). They are twice baked – once in loaves, then as cookies – giving them their crispy texture and long life. Unlike most cookies, they actually improve after a few days.

– Orange-Anise Biscotti
*2 cups all purpose flour
*1 tsp baking powder
*1/4 tsp salt
*1 cup sugar
*2 large eggs
*1/4 tsp vanilla
*1/2 tsp orange extract
*1 tbs anise seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk together the eggs and the sugar until well blended, then add the vanilla, orange extract and anise seeds.

2. Blend dry ingredients together in a small bowl and then fold into the liquids. Mix until just combined. The dough will feel very sticky, but resist the temptation to add more flour.

3. Divide the dough into to equal balls and shape them into logs on a parchment covered baking sheet. They should be about 2 inches wide and 13 inches long.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, until the edges are browned and the top begins to crack. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice the loaves diagonally into slices about 3/8 of an inch thick. Distribute the cookies on the baking sheet cut side down.

5. Lower the oven temperature to 325 and bake for another 15 minutes until the cookies are crispy throughout. They will continue to harden as they cool.