Chocolate Date Truffles

With the snow melting away and the sun shining, I feel warm and hopeful and glad to wear something other than snow boots.  My skis are put away and I’ve even slipped on some flip-flops. My toes are happy!

Spring is a time for new beginnings. Soon the wild flowers will emerge from the earth and there’s talk of planting seeds on the radio. I, too, am embarking on a new beginning. When we moved to this beautiful valley last summer, I knew I was starting on a journey but had no idea what direction it might take.

I mentioned previously that I’ve been keeping busy (an understatement!) with a new project. I’m delighted to tell you a bit about it now – it’s a kitchen and home store! A fantastic opportunity emerged and I decided to jump on it. I’m beyond excited! You never know what life will bring, do you? I’ve been learning and planning and painting and designing and ordering and falling into bed exhausted every night. But it’s thrilling and a whole new adventure to embrace.

Needless to say, I haven’t been cooking much lately and I miss it! One evening before I collapsed I just had to get back into the kitchen. I made a little sweet that didn’t involve any cooking but still scratched the itch (and was delicious!): Chocolate Date Truffles.

My dear friend, Tristan, gave me the original recipe (thank you again!). Raw cashews are whirled in the food processor with honey, cacao powder, vanilla and shredded coconut to create a rich, lightly sweet truffle to scoop and roll. I began nibbling right away! The original recipe calls for rolling in citrus zest, nuts or seeds, but I decided to stuff some luscious, plump dates with it instead. What an indulgent treat! These didn’t last long and I know I’ll be making them again soon.

Off to the shop now – I can’t wait to share details and photos with you in a couple of weeks after we’ve opened.

Chocolate Date Truffles
Makes about 22
Filling adapted from Nourish and Heal, 2014

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in a bowl of water for 20 minutes and drained
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, plus extra for garnish
22 whole, plump Medjool dates

Add the drained cashews and honey to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides once. Add the cacao powder, vanilla, kosher salt and coconut and process until well combined, stopping again to scrape the sides.

Scrape the filling into a small bowl, cover and chill for about an hour. You can prep the filling the day before serving and leave to chill overnight, too.

To assemble the truffle dates, slit each date open along one side and gently remove the pit. Place a small scoop of filling into each date and shape it to fit smoothly. Arrange the dates on a serving plate and scatter a little coconut over the top. Indulge!

Blueberry Apple Jam

My friend, Janelle, is up to something. Something big! I had the pleasure of meeting Janelle a couple of years ago and have since followed her blog, Talk of Tomatoes. I’ve also tracked the progress of the awesome urban farm she is creating with her family in Seattle.  Janelle is warm, gracious and talented. And she drives the coolest truck ever! Now she’s taken her enthusiasm for eating local food a (huge) step further and started Farmstr.

Farmstr is an online marketplace connecting small farmers directly with consumers in the Pacific Northwest. Janelle is spending time meeting farmers in Washington and Oregon, getting to know their farms and families and helping them promote their sustainable, local produce, eggs and meat to interested buyers (like me!).

Last month, when I was in Seattle for the International Food Bloggers Conference, I picked up ten pounds of beautiful frozen blueberries through Farmstr. The berries are from Bow Hill Blueberries, an organic, family-run farm north of Seattle. Now that October is here, knowing I have this stash of blueberries in my freezer makes me very happy!

This Blueberry Apple Jam is the first thing I made with these luscious berries. The jam combines summer and fall together, honey sweetened blueberry goodness with a fresh bite of autumnal apple. Apples contain natural pectin, so I kept the prep easy and left the peels on which allowed the jam to thicken a bit more. I popped a jar in the fridge for immediate devouring and the other two into the freezer for a later treat.

The next time I’m in Seattle I’ll be picking up forty pounds of squash, which has me very excited for some fall cooking. Farmsr also has honey, potatoes, pears, eggs and chickens available so please check out their site and help spread the word.

Blueberry Apple Jam
Makes 3 half pint jars

2 pounds blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
2 medium apples, cored and diced (keep the peels on)
3/4 cup raw honey

In a large pot, bring the blueberries, apples and honey to a boil and lower to a bubbling simmer. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until it cooks down and thickens into a jammy consistency and apples are soft, about 55-60 minutes. Let cool and ladle into jars. Store the jam in the fridge for up to a month or freeze for future use.

Grilled Peaches with Chevre and Honey

We’re still outside grilling and holding onto the warm evenings for as long as possible.  I’m savoring every last bite of summer and, with all the orchards just down the road, I’m eating the best peaches of my life. Sweet and juicy, I can’t even begin to count how many pounds of luscious peaches have entered our kitchen. A happy time indeed!

In addition to eating peach dumplings, peach pie, peach jam and just plain peaches, I made this simple dessert of Grilled Peaches with Chevre and Honey.  I grilled peach halves until warm and soft, then topped each with a little scoop of soft goat cheese and a drizzle of honey.

We have a marvelous local source for goat cheese here in the valley, Sunny Pine Farm, and their chevre is really lovely - creamy and indulgent, with just the right amount of tanginess to complement the sweetness of peaches and honey. A pinch of flaky sea salt and a sprig of fresh mint finished them off nicely.

This is a flexible recipe and allows you to use whatever late summer stone fruit, herb or soft cheese you may have on hand. Grill some nectarines and top with feta, or use maple syrup and thyme in place of honey and mint.  You can also bake the peach halves in your oven until soft and go from there. Just be sure to serve these little treats warm, so the cheese is meltingly soft and decadent, a glorious way to celebrate these last heavenly days.

Grilled Peaches with Chevre and Honey
Serves 4

2 ripe peaches, sliced in half and stones removed
Soft goat cheese
Honey
Flaky sea salt
4 sprigs of fresh mint

Heat your barbecue on high until very hot. Place the peach halves cut side down on the grill and close the top. Grill for about 6 minutes, or until the peaches are soft but not mushy. Carefully remove each peach half to a small plate. Scoop a tablespoon of goat cheese on top, drizzle with honey and sprinkle on a generous pinch of flaky sea salt. Garnish with mint and serve right away.

Plum Chutney and Moving to the Methow

We are well into August and it has been an exciting, busy month for our family. We moved! This is a recent decision, inspired by a desire for a bit of change with my older son, Sam, leaving for college. For the past two years, we’ve been coming to our little cabin in the Methow Valley for long weekends and school breaks. We love our time here and, more and more, are drawn to this stunning, rural area.

With Sam’s departure to the University of Oregon, we are in a natural period of transition and we thought this might be an ideal time to shake things up. So Bob, Isaac and I decided to reverse our Seattle-Methow Valley balance and live in our cabin full-time, with Seattle reserved for long weekends and school breaks. This lead to a flurry of activity as we rapidly shifted our lives to this magical place for the coming year and enrolled Isaac at the local high school.

We are now all tucked into our tiny house high on a hillside, surrounded by sage brush and open land. The chickens arrived last week and the move feels complete.

Our new daily life includes dirt roads, deer peeking in our windows and a chorus of coyotes and crickets at night. I’m loving every moment.

There’s a vibrant food scene here in the valley with an abundance of farms and orchards, weekly markets, a winery and a cider house. Eating and drinking local is quite delicious. At the market, plums are spilling over with their intoxicating fragrance and in various shades of red, black and even sunshine yellow. We are devouring them by the pound, enjoying their juicy goodness.

To celebrate the abundance of plums, I made chutney. Chutney is a marvelous condiment with an explosion of flavors – sweet and savory, spicy and tangy. Ginger, garlic, chili, vinegar, raisins and honey combine with the deep sweetness of plums beautifully. Quick to make, this chutney turns a rosy shade of magenta, adding a colorful splash alongside grilled fish or chicken.

I’m having fun cooking in the cabin kitchen, finding new rhythms and embracing this time. Sam and Isaac are starting their new schools soon and we are off on an adventure. As I step into this next chapter of our lives, I’m grateful for the opportunity and can’t wait to see what this year will bring.

Plum Chutney
Makes just over 2 cups

2 ½ pounds plums (any color, I used a mix of red and black), pitted and roughly chopped
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup raisins
1 teaspoon crushed red chile pepper
3 tablespoons fresh mint, slivered

Combine all of the ingredients except the mint in a large sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes, until syrupy and thickened. Stir often to prevent sticking or scorching and lower heat if necessary. When the chutney is cooked to your liking, remove from the heat, stir in the fresh mint and let cool. Store in the fridge for up to a month.

Orange-Scented Couscous Pudding and Jerusalem’s Burnt Eggplant Soup

Couscous, a staple in Middle Eastern and North African cooking, is Tasting Jerusalem’s ingredient for April. These cute little pearls of durum wheat semolina are commonly served with meat dishes, in soups, in salads or as a side dish.

A recipe I’ve been eyeing in Jerusalem is the Burnt Eggplant and Mograbieh Soup. When this past weekend turned chilly and rainy, I decided it was an ideal time to make soup. Charred eggplant is incredibly appealing to me and it’s amazing in this tomato-based soup. Mograbieh is Lebanese couscous, a larger-sized version than the tiny spheres typically seen. It’s similar to Israeli or giant couscous, which is readily available in Western markets.

Since I just pulled our barbecue out for spring it seemed the perfect place to roast the eggplants. Sue, from Couscous & Conscientiousness, made the same soup and also used a barbecue. Less messy than the oven! Plus, you can’t beat the flavor that a barbecue imparts. I tweaked the recipe just a bit, using white wine in place of broth and increasing the tomatoes because we like things really tomato-ey around here. And before cooking the couscous, I toasted the pearls in melted butter until they turned golden and fragrant. When serving the soup, I kept the couscous on the side so everyone could scoop in the amount they desired.  With its deeply satisfying, smoky flavor and bright pop of dill, this is a soup I’ll be happy to eat quite often!

Beth and Sarene are also hosting a couscous recipe contest this month for Tasting Jerusalem. I decided to move in a sweeter direction with couscous and make a pudding for my boys. A lonely bottle of orange blossom water has been sitting in my cabinet for a while, and pairing this with honey and orange zest seemed a marvelous way to flavor the pudding. Orange blossom water has a truly lovely fragrance, and I’ve discovered it’s quite good in tea, too, so I think I’ll be keeping it within easier reach.

I simmered Israeli couscous with cream and honey, whisked in egg yolks and coconut milk, then added a splash of orange blossom water and a bit of orange zest to finish the pudding. Warm, rich and creamy, with a hint of honey and the delicate scent of orange, this pudding is indulgent for breakfast or dessert. Needless to say, my sons devoured it quickly!

Orange-Scented Couscous Pudding
Serves 4

1/2 cup Israeli (giant) couscous
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons honey, plus extra for serving
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1-14 ounce can whole, unsweetened coconut milk
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon orange blossom water (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon orange zest
Orange slices for serving (optional)

In a medium sized sauce pan, bring the cream, couscous, honey and salt to almost a boil, lower the heat and let simmer for about 7-8 minutes, until couscous is al dente. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and coconut milk until smooth. Slowly pour the coconut-egg mixture into the cream and couscous and stir. Continue cooking, stirring a few times, until the pudding thickens, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the orange blossom water and orange zest.

Let the pudding cool slightly (it will thicken as it cools). It’s best served warm or room temperature with orange slices a drizzle of honey. If you chill the pudding, it will thicken quite a bit so warm it and add a little cream or coconut milk to loosen it.

Burnt Eggplant and Mograbieh Soup
Adapted slightly from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Serves 4

2 large eggplants (about 2 pounds total)
Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon cumin
1-6 ounce can tomato paste
1 pound Roma tomatoes, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus lemon slices to serve
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup Israeli (giant) couscous or mograbieh
Fresh dill for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat your barbecue on high, then lower to medium. Slice one of the eggplants in half lengthwise and set aside one of the halves. Pierce the whole and remaining half eggplant a few times and place on the barbecue. Close the cover and let cook for about 10 – 15 minutes. When blackened, turn them and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Dice the raw half of eggplant into a small dice. In a large sauce pan or soup pot, drizzle a little olive oil and fry the eggplant over medium heat. Stir a couple of times, so most of the sides brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Add another drizzle of olive oil and the onions and cook over medium heat the onions are soft. Add the cumin, tomato paste, tomatoes and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the wine, water and lemon juice, bring to a simmer and then lower heat. Let cook for about 15 minutes.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the couscous. Stir and toast it until it browns. Watch closely, as it will turn dark and burn quickly. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch, a sprinkle of kosher salt and bring to a boil. Cook until just softened, about 8 minutes (depending upon your brand). Drain and set aside.

Remove the cook eggplant flesh and add to the tomato base. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until mostly smooth. Reheat gently and add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with some fried eggplant, dill and a slice of lemon. Serve the couscous in a bowl alongside, allowing everyone to scoop out what they’d like.

Rhubarb Cranachan

Yes, I have yet another fruit and cream dessert that I’m crazy for, and I’ve fallen rather hard.  It’s one of those “please take it away so I don’t eat the entire thing myself” types of desserts. In reading British cookbooks over the years, I often came across a rustic sounding sweet called cranachan. Cranachan is a classic Scottish dessert and a quick look at the ingredients assured me I would love it. In the spirit of Eton Mess, Pavlova and strawberry shortcake, this is a cream-and-fruit inspired treat. Rather than including meringue or biscuits, though, this one features toasted oats. And whisky.

A traditional cranachan is made with raspberries, but as we won’t have fresh raspberries for a while I decided to break with tradition and use rhubarb. I’m itching to cook with rhubarb since the slender crimson stalks are appearing everywhere now. Growing up, we had a small patch and I remember my mom heading out many mornings with a kitchen knife to cut some for her pies. I’ve always had a fondness for rhubarb with its tart, bright flavor, and I thought it would make a lovely understudy for raspberries in my cranachan.

I simmered some diced rhubarb with honey, until it softened and turned into a rosy hued sauce. The oats were scattered on a griddle and heated until they browned a bit and smelled warm and fragrant. I whipped the cream and added a splash of Scotch whisky (I can’t mess with tradition here – it must be Scotch!) and the preparation was done.

This is a homey dessert, so I put the bowls of the ingredients out on the table and let everyone make their own. A layer of rhubarb, a scoop of oats, a dollop of cream and we could each stir up our cranachans. The cream balances out the tart rhubarb beautifully, with just a whiff of whisky, and the oats add toasty crunch and flavor. Simple comfort.

Rhubarb Cranachan
Serves 4

1 pound rhubarb stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup honey
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons Scotch whisky, depending upon your taste (I used Glenlivet)

Place the rhubarb and honey in a medium sized sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring it to a simmer and mix. The rhubarb will start to soften and break down, releasing juices. Lower the heat and let cook for about 15 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft and rather like a sauce. Set aside to cool.

Spread the oats out on a griddle or large fry pan. Over medium heat, stir and gently toast them until they begin to turn a bit brown and are fragrant. Watch closely as they can burn easily. Set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Add the Scotch whisky and gently stir. You can make it ahead and keep in the fridge.

When ready to serve, place the rhubarb, oats and cream in individual serving bowls with spoons and bring them to the table, along with small dessert dishes and spoons. Scoop from each bowl, mix and enjoy!

Honey Barbecued Chicken: Summer is Here!

The first full day of summer is here and it is a glorious feeling. My sons will be out of school tomorrow, so then it will really feel like summer...but right now the sun is shining, it’s actually warm and I’ve been outside drinking kombucha from my adorable new summer sipper from the Book Larder (I can see a few portable gin and tonics in here, too ... ).

With outdoor drinks and balmy evenings come the stirrings to have a barbecue. During the summer, we barbecue veggies, fish and meat. My husband and sons enjoy eating chicken, beef, lamb, turkey and duck, but I tend to ebb and flow in my desire for it. Over the years, I have found myself going through periods where I don’t eat any poultry or meat – my body just doesn’t want it, so I listen. After some time, though, I have a taste for it again and I’m not sure whether this is due to the seasons or something else but, again, I listen. This is the first time I’m sharing a recipe for chicken on Blue Kale Road and I thought grilling season would be an ideal time to introduce our favorite barbecued chicken.

This recipe is from our dear friend, Roz. She made it for us a number of years ago and since then it has become a summer staple and is consistently a hit. First of all, I love recipes where you can marinate the chicken ahead of time and then just toss it on the grill. This marinade is full of flavor from chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic, thyme and brown sugar. When the chicken hits the barbecue, a glaze of honey, soy sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and sriracha is brushed on. Sticky, sweet, smoky and spicy – your taste buds will be dancing!

This one is a crowd pleaser and would make a terrific addition to a July 4th celebration. Happy Summer to you!

Honey Barbecued Chicken
Adapted from Roz’s recipe
Serves 6-8

Marinade 
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons chili powder (I use a hot one)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 pounds organic chicken thighs (or a combination of other parts)

Glaze
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sriracha sauce

Stir the marinade ingredients together and rub all over the chicken. Place the chicken in a large bowl and cover. Refrigerate overnight. Remove the chicken from the fridge an hour before grilling and let it sit at room temperature.

When ready to barbecue, mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. We have a gas barbecue and I turn it on high to preheat, then turn the heat to medium-low (the temperature should be about 350 degrees).  Dip a scrunched up paper towel in some oil and, using tongs, rub the cooking grates to oil them.

Place the chicken, skin side down, on the grates, brush some glaze on, close the barbecue and cook for about 20 minutes. Brush some glaze on again, flip the chicken pieces and brush glaze on the other side. Close and cook for about another 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees inside the chicken. Brush some more glaze on, and turn over once more for a few minutes. You can turn the heat up a little to crisp the skin a bit if desired. Serve warm or room temperature.

Honey Apple Cake: The Sweet Flavors of Rosh Hashanah

Apples dipped in honey ... I love this tradition that celebrates Rosh Hashanah. The crisp, juicy apples pair beautifully with sweet, floral honey. What a wonderful way to bring sweetness to the New Year! During the Rosh Hashanah dinner, we say blessings and pass trays of sliced apples around the table to dip into bowls of honey. (It is also a favorite after-school snack for my boys – a perfect way to welcome apple season.)

Food for this holiday focuses on sweetness. You can use sweet dates, carrots, apples, honey, prunes, maple syrup or dried apricots in stews, meat and vegetable dishes. For dessert, apple cake or honey cake are festive choices.

While I love apple cake and have baked different versions over the years (always in a happy search for “the one”), I am not the biggest fan of honey cake, even chocolate honey cake. Often, I find honey cake too dry and not a cake I want to indulge in to begin the New Year. Since apples and honey are a natural pairing, I decided to combine these two in a single cake that I hoped would yield dense, moist slices for us to sigh over and savor.

Traditional honey cake recipes call for liquids such as coffee, orange juice, whiskey, or a combination of all three. I decided to substitute pear juice and chunky applesauce for these liquids to increase the fall flavors. I also subbed out part of the usual vegetable oil for fruity olive oil. The ultimate addition, though, is layers of apples tossed with cinnamon. Moist and dense? This cake is that, and more. It is a tall, majestic cake that sings of apples and honey, cinnamon and cloves, and sweetness for a New Year.

L’Shana Tova! Wishing you a sweet and healthy year.

Honey Apple Cake
Serves 10

6 large apples (I used a combination of local Honeycrisp and Sansa)
6 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey (I used fireweed)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pear juice
3/4 cup chunky, unsweetened applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or oil a angel food cake pan. Peel, core and slice the apples into eighths. Toss the apples with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, remaining 4 teaspoons cinnamon, cloves and allspice.

In another bowl, stir together the oils, honey, sugars, eggs, vanilla, juice and applesauce.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and mix the wet ingredients in.

Spoon a quarter of the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place a row of apple slices in a concentric circle around the pan. Spoon in another quarter of batter to cover the apples and place another row of apples on top. Repeat two more times, finishing with the apples.

Bake the cake for about 1 1/4 hours. If it begins to brown or darken around the edges too much, place some foil on top. This is a deep, dense cake and you want to be sure it is fully baked. Test in a few areas to see if it is done all over. Let cool completely before removing it from the pan. It is a heavy cake. Slice and enjoy!