Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

I may be 36 now but my mother still seems to think she knows me better than me. Like she always tells me I’m not a Democrat(because they raised me to be republican). She tells me what food I do and do not like(she bases this off of when I was like 5 years old). And she loves to tell what I do not hate.
“Oh you do not hate the 4th of July, you just don’t like the things associated with it.” Nope I pretty much hate the forth of July.
There are a myriad of reasons all of which I will spew off to you. Reason number 1, 4th of July has became just another holiday to drink. Except to make this one better we give drunk people explosives to set off(more on that). Seems wise. Just like Cinco De Mayo, the people of the United States seem to find the need to drink excessively, but they want to do it with the excuse that it is a holiday. Now unlike Cinco De Mayo, most people actually know what the holiday is for(most people think Cinco De Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day…it is not). However, other than knowing that it is our nations birthday most “Americans” don’t seem to know much about America.
Case in point(and Reason #2). I took a quiz on line that was 10 questions off of the Citizenship test. I got 10 out of 10. At the point when I was taking the quiz only 23% were scoring above 60%. That is just sad as they are not hard questions. Or take a couple weeks ago when I was out with friends and the people next to us were debating about the presidential election. They started talking about the great presidents. They all agreed that Ben Franklin was one of the best. Hmmm. Even more sad was that two of the women I was with also thought he was president at one time. And last but not least I give you my conversation I had on 4th of July this year at the Papa Murphy’s take and bake pizza place.
Worker #1:”Happy 4th of July”
Me:”Thanks, but I am Canadian and don’t celebrate it.”
Worker #1: “You don’t? Is that just you or all Canadians?”
Me: “All of Canada does not celebrate it.”
Worker #2 looking at worker #1 like he is a moron. Which he is.
Worker #1: “What other countries don’t celebrate the 4th of July?”
Worker #2 again stares at worker #1 in disbelief.
I go to answer but worker #2 chimes in.
Worker #2: “Dude, no one else celebrates 4th of July except us.”
Worker#1: “Really, why?”
Worker #2: “Dude, you did graduate from high school, right?”
Worker #1 nods yes.
Me: “Because the 4th of July is The United States Independence Day. There is no need for other countries to celebrate it.”
Worker #1: “Oh, I thought it was like Christmas.”
Me: “No, Jesus doesn’t care about who celebrates America’s independence.”
Worker #2 laughs, Worker #1 looks confused.
I leave.

Reason number 3: Fireworks. Now before you say how can you hate fireworks, I don’t. I really like the professional ones that are tall and bright and shot off by people who shoot fireworks for a living. Fireworks that are shot over a wide open space or over a body of water like they are done here(for the most part). The fireworks that end at eleven o’clock at night. Those fireworks I love.
I have a problem with the bring them home and do it yourself fireworks. The ones that started at 6 pm and went until fucking 5am in my neighborhood. The ones that for a solid 2 hours were lit over my house. I am super cautious about this as not one but TWO teachers I used to work with had their houses burnt down by these fine armature firework shooter offers.
I’m talking about the fireworks set off by the 11 year boy down the street who was out there unsupervised with just a large box of fireworks.
These are the fireworks I hate. Technically they are outlawed in my town. But the surrounding towns allow it. And since it is too hard to catch some one doing it, the police do nothing about it. I understand it, I just hate it.
Give the kiddies some sparkles and be done with it. Don’t light stuff that can catch my house on fire people. Really.

Reason #4. My birthday. That’s right, this is where I get selfish. You see, mine being on the 2nd(and my hubby’s being on the 5th) sucks. Why does it suck? Because it always falls as part of the 4th of July weekend. The weekend where everyone goes out of town. And I, I am left with no one to celebrate with. Now, that I am married, I at least have my hubby to celebrate with but still, a few friends around would be nice.

I am not alone in my 4th of July hating. My husband is a hater. My friend A is a hater(we went bowling on 4th of July instead of any BBQ crap). There are a few of us out there…just not enough in my opinion.
So if you are a 4th of July lover. That is good, but I just hope you aren’t one of the drunk ones who shoots off fireworks and makes your poor neighbors worry. I also hope you know a little bit about the country you are celebrating for.

Enough with the hating. On to my pie. I love cherries and goats cheese together so when I had some Rainier cherries from my side of the road woman I was thinking of things to do with them. I am not a big pie person so I don’t make them all that often so I figured I would step up and make one.

Rainier Cherry and Goats Cheese Pie

1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups whole pitted Rainier cherries(about 2 pounds whole unpitted cherries)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
zest of ½ lemon
6 ounces crumbled goats cheese
whole milk for brushing
Goats Cheese Pie Crust
Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425°F.
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Stir in cherries, lemon juice, and zest; set aside.

Roll out larger piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 14-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim any excess dough to leave a 1/2-inch overhang. Chill shell while rolling out top crust.

Roll out remaining dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round.

Toss toss goats cheese with cherries, then add to shell and cover with top crust . Press edges of crust together, then trim, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhang underneath, then crimp decoratively and brush top crust with milk. Cut out 5 (1- by 1/2-inch) teardrop-shaped steam vents 1 inch from center.

Bake pie on preheated baking sheet 30 minutes, then cover edge with a pie shield or foil and reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Continue to bake until crust is deep golden and filling is bubbling in center, 50 minutes to 1 hour more. Transfer pie to a rack to cool completely, 3 to 4 hours.

Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine, June 2008

Goat Cheese Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cool
4 ounces soft goat cheese, softened but still cool
2 sticks(8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool

In a mixer, combine all ingredients and mix on medium-low until it forms a dough. Divide dough with one half slightly larger, then form each piece into a ball and flatten each into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

I cringed having to write that but I must admit that once again(don’t let it go to your head mom) my mother was right. As you get older your body rebels against you, but you feel the same on the inside as you did when you were 16. Though hopefully at little more educated and street smart then that 16 year old.
I’ll never forget the first time one of my friends turned 40(no, I’m not there yet but now I am closer to 40 than 30). It just seemed so odd. For J is not old to me at all and yet here I was going to the birthday party of a forty year old. A forty year old. Surreal.
I can still remember my mother’s 40th birthday. It involved a penis cake(which she blushed galore…12 year old me did as well) and my mother getting so drunk that she promised me a pony(I’m still waiting). Certainly if I can remember my mother’s 40th birthday so clearly, no friend of mine could be turning 40, let alone me in a few years.
I’m not a panicker. I had a friend who when she turned 35 literally had to be sedated(she did that at 30 as well). She kept freaking out that her best years were over. Subsequently, she pretty much lives like the best years of her life are over…rather sad. I know I am older, but then again so is everyone else. No one I know can afford Botox so we are all growing old together.
I guess I feel the best years of my life are the ones I am currently living. Making the best of what you got and not worrying about how you used to look can make your life a lot more happier. Holding on to that pair of pants you had when you were a size 6 helps no one, only hurts. Plus, if you ever do fit back into those babies…they will be out of style…toss them. If your life is so bad that all you can do is reminisce about the old days, YOU do have the power to fix it. Enjoy the now, enjoy the you in the now.
Well, I said I wasn’t going to bake a birthday cake and then out of no where the sky opened up and started to dump rain. And dump rain. And thunder. In doing that the temperature this morning was 57! Hello oven!
These are simply just devil’s food cupcakes with some buttercream frosting that has a little raspberry jam in it. Topped with a little chocolate raspberry jam ganache filled raspberry to make it a little more birthday special.
Thanks to all of you who wished me a happy birthday…it was a happy one indeed.

Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Raspberry Jam Buttercream and Raspberry Truffle

Devil’s Food Cake
Raspberry Jam Buttercream
Raspberry Truffles

Deeply Dark Devil’s Food Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
11 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups warm water

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour mini cupcake pans.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix to incorporate.
Beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes. Add the cocoa powder and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the warm water in two additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake cupcakes for 13-15 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes in pan and remove cupcakes from pan. Let cool on wire rack. When cool, frost with Raspberry Jam Buttercream.

Cake Source: Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Raspberry Jam Buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
6-8 cups powdered sugar
½ cup seedless raspberry jam

Place butter and jam in a mixing bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream butter and jam until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time until you reach desired consistency. If frosting gets too thick you can add a little milk to thin it out.

Raspberry Truffles

2 pints fresh raspberries, cleaned and dried
5 ounce semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
¼ cup seedless raspberry jam

Place chocolate and raspberry jam in a heat proof bowl.
Bring cream to a boil.
Pour cream over chocolate and jam and let sit for about 3 minutes.
Whisk together chocolate mixture. If it is still a little lumpy, put in microwave for a few seconds and whisk again.
Put ganache into a piping bag fitted or even an plastic bag(with a tiny hole cut out). Pipe chocolate ganache into fresh raspberries.
Let sit in fridge for about 15 minutes. Top frosted cupcakes with raspberry truffle. Eat any extras…they are good.

I would love to report that I am healthy but that would be a down right lie. I continue to suffer. Lucky me. I am hoping that it will be gone by my birthday(about a week and a half)…surely that is not asking that much of my body.
Even though I was sick, I ended up going to a cooking class last week. It was already paid for and it was by one of my favorite cookbook authors, Greg Atkinson. We had a lovely menu of mango and avocado salad(which is over on Northwest Noshings), slow cooked halibut with spring veggies and a strawberry brulee.
Knowing that this weeks TWD recipe was a Mixed Berry Cobbler(chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life) I had planned on making a cobbler bottom, filling it with mixed berries and then doing the whipped cream/sour cream mixture on top. But then I got to thinking that the cobbler bottom would be too heavy for this dessert. So I went in a whole new direction, angel food cake. By doing that the recipe still remained refreshing, like what I had at the cooking class.
If you are going to make this I beg you not to use low fat or fat free sour cream. I mean, the angel food cake is practically nothing as are the berries, so you can stand to have some extra calories in the topping!
To see the real deal(meaning the actual cobbler), head on over to the Tuesday’s With Dorie website.

Mixed Berry Angel Food Cake Brulee

Angel Food Cupcakes(recipe follows)
Mixed Berry Filling(recipe follows)
Cream Topping(recipe follows)

Angel Food Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups egg whites (approximately 10 large eggs)
1 1/3 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, put through sifter twice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cake flour, sifted before measuring

Beat egg whites; add cream of tartar and salt when eggs are frothy. Continue beating until egg whites stand in peaks. Gradually beat in 1 cup of granulated sugar. Fold in vanilla. Sift the sifted and measured flour three more times; mix with remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.
Fold flour mixture gently into batter until well incorporated.
Using a small ice cream scoop or large tablespoon, fill muffin cups about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake(at 350F) for about 15 to 17 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes in pan on rack. Remove cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.
Cut the top off of the angel food cupcakes(go ahead and just eat that yourself ). Take the bottom of the cupcake and horizontally cut it in two so that you can fit it into a ramekin. Place angel food cake piece at the bottom of a 4-ounce oven proff ramekin.

For the Filling:

1 pint strawberries, hulled and split
½ pint blueberries, washed and dried
½ pint raspberries, washed and dried
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBPS granulated sugar

In a small bowl combine the berries, lemon juice and granulated sugar. Distribute the mixture evenly among the ramekins over the angel food cake.

For the Topping:

½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 TBSP powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup natural sour cream(I like Nancy’s Organic)
¼ cup granulated sugar, for sprinkling on top

In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it is stiff. Stir in the powdered sugar, the lemon juice and the vanilla extract. Gently fold in the sour cream. Distribute the cream mixture evenly over the berries and with the straight side of a rubber spatula or a butter knife, flatten the cream on top of the berries.
Light a small butane or propane torch. Working with one dish at a time, sprinkle about 2 tsp of sugar over the top of the whipped cream mixture and run the flame of the lit torch over the sugar until it bubbles up and turns brown. The sugar will form a thin layer of brown caramel over the surface of the cream. Serve at once.

Makes about 6

Adapted from West Coast Cooking by Greg Atkinson

Each year, round this time, there is a woman who sits along the side of the road for two weeks and sells cherries out of the back of her truck. She doesn’t really speak, I’m not sure her English is all that great. If it sounds sketchy, it probably is, but they are the best cherries I have ever had and so I hand over my cash no questions asked.
However, every time I see her I can’t help but think of the Chris Farley Saturday Night Live character Matt Foley. It was one of my favorite SNL sketches. If you don’t know the character, he was a “motivational” speaker and a pretty bad one at that. Often sent to homes to get kids on the “right track”. He would usually get frustrated and end up telling them in some manner that he lives in a van down by the river:

“You kids are probably saying to yourself, “Now, I’m gonna go out, and I’m gonna get the world by the tail and wrap it around pull it down and put it in my pocket!” Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re probably gonna find out, as you go out there, that you’re not gonna amount to JACK SQUAT!” You’re gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river!”

I keep thinking that if the side of the road cherry lady ever does talk to me she will tell me that she lives in a van down by the river.
Okay, enough of that and on to the food. Since I did have these gorgeous cherries, I needed to do something with them. A few weeks ago Joy the Baker had on a Strawberry Cake that she got out of a cookbook called Sweets. I went and hunted down that book(you can’t buy it new) and immediately had a crush on the book when I opened it up. If you can, get a hold of a copy yourself. I spied the Strawberry Jam Cake and decided to use my mother’s cherry jam and some fresh cherries to make my own version. The actual cake is a layer cake and you spread jam in between the layers, but I made a cherry jelly glaze instead. I am sure both ways are equally delicious.

Cherry Jam Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
4 ¼  cups cake flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup sliced fresh cherries
1 cup cherry jam

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour a 8-x-8 inch square pan. Set aside.
Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
In a small bowl combine baking soda and buttermilk together.
In another bowl, sift together flour, salt and spices.
Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk, to the creamed butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients; mix well.
Fold in walnuts, cherries and jam. Mix well to make sure it is incorporated in the cake batter.
Pour cake into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven. Let cool on racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pan.
After cake has been removed from pan and placed on serving platter, drizzle cherry jelly glaze over cake.

Cherry Jelly Glaze

1 cup cherry jelly( you want jelly because it has no chunks of fruit in it, you want this to be smooth)
¼ cup sifted powdered sugar

Place jelly in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, heat jam until it becomes liquid. Take off of heat and add in sugar. Whisk until sugar has dissolved.

Source: Adapted from Sweets: A Collection of Soul Food Desserts and Memories by Patty Pinner