Weeds? What weeds? Oh, just pretend you don’t see them. I do.

I envision the one above luxuriously resting atop a fresh lettuce leaf draped across a freshly grilled burger. I haven’t a plan yet for the ones below but I’m sure something will occur to me. As Roy Scheider famously said in Jaws, “You’re gonna need a bigger fridge.” Or something like that.

Author’s Note: I’ve tagged this post both fruit and vegetables in an effort to satisfy both purists and those less hindered by rigid conformity to plant taxonomic conventions.

We started the beginning of March with 3 feet of snow and ended it with about 90 degree weather. Which is awesome unless you’re a lovely little patch of maché and think that means it’s time to go to seed and get all bitter. The downside is I had to pull up some of the winter lettuces and brassicas and replant them. The upside is, I do love me some bitter greens.

And while I’m resowing lettuces and leafy greens, why not just plant the whole garden? Especially if it’s 90 degrees already – just imagine the jump I could get on the regular growing season… I’m sure you can imagine the visions of vegetables and canning projects dancing in my head…

Tiny baby lettuces next to a much bigger weed. Grown from Seed Savers Exchange seeds

This year’s summer garden is quite an ambitious one – 4 cherry tomato plants, 2 yellow boy tomatoes, 3 cucumber vines, summer squash, eggplant, lovely Dragon’s Tongue beans (grown from Seed Savers Exchange seeds), jalapeños and bell peppers planted in rows. With lettuces, chicory and radicchio in containers joined by carrots, leeks, chard and brussels sprouts. The strawberry patch (the flower at the top of this page is a strawberry flower – it is in full bloom for less than a day) is a new addition as are the African marigolds and the flame plants (better known as colecia).

Dragon’s Tongue beans – they just poked through the ground this week – here you can see the leaves emerging from the newly split bean. These beans will be purple and green striped when they’re fully mature. Grown from Seed Savers Exchange seeds

For herbs, I’ve still got the same tarragon, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and mint from last year. I figured the mint and the rosemary would survive the winter and was really pleased to see that everything else (save the bay plants) did as well. I added a sage plant and a valerian plant from a photo shoot I assisted on earlier in the year. Haven’t quite figured out what to do with it yet but I’m sure it will come in handy for something. Oh! and garlic – to keep Bunnicula from munching on the carrots ’til they’re ready ;)

Planted cloves from Seed Savers Exchange back in October. They won’t be ready for harvesting until late May but look at those leaves! They were completely flattened by the snow and have fully recovered and nearly tripled in length.

Wayne: So, if you had to pick just one thing to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Me: Is that like one really specific thing or a genre?
Wayne: Like what?
Me: Meat.
Wayne: What kind of meat?
Me: Yummy meat?
Wayne: You have to pick one thing.
Me: Ok, curry.
Wayne: What kind of curry?
Me: I can’t answer this question. What would you pick?
Wayne: Probably stew because it has vegetables and stuff in it.
Me: What kind of stew?
Wayne:: Beef. With bread.
Me: There’s no bread in stew.
Wayne: And a glass of milk.
Me: Ok, now you’re cheating.
Wayne: Well, you didn’t even answer the question.
Me: As any teacher will tell you, there is definitely a difference between cheating and not answering the question.

I couldn’t pick a fruit I’d want to eat exclusively either – I like too many! The first strawberries of spring, ripe peaches and berries in summer, and bodywarming mikans (aka satsumas, clementines, and tangerines) and pears in winter. Apples would probably be the strongest contender; Honeykrisp, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Fuji – I’ll snarf down pretty much any apple as long it’s not a mealy Macintosh from school lunches of yore.

This is dessert does a good job of accommodating people with food allergies/sensitivities – by default, it is low-sugar as well as egg, wheat and gluten free. You can leave out the sugar entirely or substitute honey for it. You could also also omit the butter and use apple sauce and a bit of vegetable oil instead as well for milk allergic folks.

The quantities in this recipe will fit neatly into 2 IKEA Smarta dishes. Double it for a 9×9 baking dish or triple it for a 13×9 baking dish.

Ingredients

• 2 medium hard apples
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
• water
• 1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Peel and core apples. Cut into thin slices and place in a bowl. Grate ginger and add to apples, along with ginger, half the cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. Lay in dishes – the arrangement is up to you. Go for the fancy spiral pattern or try the “leave ‘em where they fall” Jackson Pollock method. Sprinkle with about a teaspoon of water. Place dishes on a baking sheet, place that baking sheet on the center rack of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until apples are crisp-tender.
2. Toss oats, remaining half of cinnamon, salt, and sugar in a bowl until combined. Cut the butter into little pieces and mix in – the goal here is to create spice encrusted butter blobs. Sprinkle topping evenly over apples and bake again until a nice golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
3. Let cool slightly before serving. Keeps well in the fridge for a few days (I can honestly vouch for it keeping well for 2 days after baking. I imagine 3-4 days would also be okay but I can’t keep the researchers out of it long enough to test the data.)

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 5 apples, preferably a baking variety
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, straight from the fridge

Canon EOS 5D with ST-E2 transmitter. 180 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 200. 580EXII @1/8th power bounced off back wall.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Peel & core the apples and cut into thin slices. Grease a 9×9 baking dish or similarly sized pie pan (or 3 small IKEA baking dishes). Combine brown sugar and spices in large bowl. Add apple slices, toss until evenly coated and put in baking dish/pie pan. See apples with coating and without in topmost pic.
2. Mix flour, sugar and butter in medium bowl. Using a food processor or your fingertips to blend ingredients until they resemble a coarse meal. (It is worth fighting the urge to just plunge your hands into the bowl and knead that dough into a textureless, sticky blob. It’s great fun but doesn’t produce great pastry.) Spread flour mixture evenly over apples. See pic above for example.
3. Bake on oven middle rack for 20 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking until the crust is golden brown and apples are bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Postprandial Notes: The apple part was a little sweet for me – next time I make this, I will omit the sugar for the apple mixture (and use better quality apples!). I will also make the crisp part in the food processor – I think I made the dough too consistent for a nice crumbly texture. I thought these apples needed a bit of lemon juice for tartness but a nice baking apple might not need it.

You could also definitely experiment with adding walnuts, dried ginger, dried cranberries or raisins, or mixing in other fruit like peaches or rhubarb (ok, not exactly a fruit but…).

Camera Notes: Canon EOS 5D with ST-E2 transmitter. 180 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 200. Background flash: 580EXII @1/8th power and wide angle diffuser. Cutting mat for gobo. Key light: 580EXII, gridded and zoomed to 108mm @1/4th power. White bowls for stand-ins.

Big things have been heralding the arrival of fall as well: kids once flying around the neighborhood on skateboards and bicycles now encumbered by backpacks and school uniforms, the return of kickball to Marie Reed, and the Vogue Fall Fashion issue.

My personal favorite fall herald are apples. If I had to choose a single scent that defined fall and winter, it would be the thick, warm smell of baking apples and cinnamon. I am a complete sucker for recipes that involve apples and will choose apple pie over even the most decadent chocolate lava cake every time.

Stewed apples is a recipe I’ve watched my grandmother make a thousand times. It’s quite easy to make, highly customizable, and only really requires a few ingredients. Truthfully, I rarely measure anything so it’s a bit hard to quantify those ingredients – I thoroughly encourage you to experiment with the spices and amounts you like best.

Ingredients

• 3 apples, peeled and sliced about 1/4″ thick
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• small pieces of lemon rind
• 2/3 cup of water
• optional: 1 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of ginger, walnuts, raisins, etc.

Preparation

1. Peel and slice the apples. Hard apples suitable for baking are ideal but you can use any apple, really – a softer apple will cook faster.
2. Place the apple slices in a saucepan and add spices, lemon rind and anything else you wish. Add water and stir well to evenly distribute the spices. Cover the saucepan and cook over a low flame for about 20 minutes (check your apples periodically for consistency). If the water cooks down too quickly, add some more.
3. The final consistency should be somewhat less liquid-y than apple pie filling. Slices should be cooked but not completely falling apart. If you wish to reduce/thicken the liquid, remove the lid and increase the heat to medium and cook the apples for a few minutes uncovered.
4. Serve with ice cream, yogurt, whipped cream, sprinkled with granola or enjoy as-is. I prefer them warm but you may like them chilled. Keeps in the fridge for about a week.

Commercial break: If you’re too lazy/busy/etc. to make these on your own, hit up the Florida Avenue Grill sometime for breakfast. You can get apples as a side to their main breakfast courses. Granted, they’re fried but that just ups the addiction factor (for me, anyway).

Camera notes: Canon EOS 5D 1/80 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 200. Canon 580 EXII bounced off back wall at 1/32nd power. Canon 580 EXII zoomed to 105mm & gridded at 1/16th power. Tinfoil draped over a cardboard box for the reflector.

So, when my neighbor brought some peaches over on Monday, I knew I had to act fast. And, by act fast, I mean leave them on the counter until today (Friday).

Brilliant Marketing Idea-Time: a peach timer. Kind of like an egg timer but maybe with some kind of probe to test peach ripeness. Ideally, it could send a Twitter DM just in case you didn’t happen to be home. Perhaps it could be called Tweach.

So I threw together a quick cobbler today. I used whole wheat flour and brown sugar for the crust so it looks a little browner in the pictures than it will if you use white flour and regular sugar (not because of some kind of brilliant art direction on my part, mind you – it’s just what I’ve got on hand, at the moment). The hardest part was slicing the peaches. It’s a dead easy late summer/early fall dessert recipe and highly customizable (add blueberries, blackberries, apples, orange slices, nuts, etc.).

Ingredients

• 5 large peaches
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup cold water

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Slice the peaches thinly in wedges and mix with 1/4 cup of the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Bake this mixture for 10 mins and then remove from the oven.
2. Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix in butter pieces with your hands until it has a similar texture to corn meal. Stir in water until just blended. Alternatively, you can mix the dry ingredients and the butter together in a food processor until cornmeal texture is achieved. Add the water and blend lightly.
3. Using two spoons, drop the batter in scattered spoonfuls over the semi-cooked peaches. Tempted though you may be to even out the mixture or go for an artsy Escher pattern, channel your inner Jackson Pollock and allow the batter to remain where it falls. It will spread and “fluff out” in the oven.
4. Bake battered peaches for 25 minutes (or until the crust is nice and golden brown and the peaches bubbly) and remove from the oven. Tastes best warm.

Recommended chests: Mark Dacascos, David Beckham, and that guy playing the werewolf in the new Twilight movie.. oh, and it must be a shaved chest. Nothing worse than trying to fish a peachskin-hairball out of your teeth…

The combination of tiny baking dishes with a luscious AND easy crust recipe seem to have triggered some kind of fruit tart obsession recently. Although, honestly, I’m about ripe for a new obsession (no pun intended… *snrk) since last year’s exhaustive study of cupcakes.

August is also the perfect month for fruit tarts here in DC – I can’t go to a farmer’s market without being beckoned by pints of sexy, little blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or baskets of swelling, globular peaches and plums, their seductive seams coyly upturned in a come-hither stance.

Of course, I rarely make anything without wondering how it will photograph. Peaches and blueberries seemed like an obvious combination (complimentary colors – orange and blue – instant awesomeness!). Plus they taste good.

Crust

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons ice water

Filling

• 3 good-sized peaches
• 1/2 pint of blueberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Mix the dry ingredients for the crust and put in a food processor. Add butter cubes and pulse until the mixture loses its fine consistency and looks like coarse corn meal. Add water and pulse until the mixture makes moist clumps.
2. Remove the dough from the food processor, roll into a ball and flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two pieces of parchment or wax paper and roll out to a 1/4″ thickness (placing the roll pin above the top piece of paper). Cut a circle about an inch wider in diameter than your pie pan. Gently peel the dough from the paper and place it in the pie pan(s). Let the dough drape over the edge of the pie pan, if you can. If you’re using two small dishes, repeat the process.
3. Slice the peaches, leaving the skins on, and put them in a bowl. Add the blueberries, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix until the slices are well-covered. Pour into the pie pan.
4. Put the pie pan(s) on a cookie sheet and place in the center rack of the oven. Cover loosely with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes. Then, remove the tinfoil and bake for another 25 minutes. Crust should be golden brown and fruit bubbly.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy!

If my neighbor hadn’t “forced” me to take a sack of incredibly ripe and juicy plums from Toigo Orchards (find them in DC at the H St and Dupont Circle Farmers’ Markets) this morning, I would have simply squealed in delight and moved on. But I could already imagine myself pulling them from the oven, with a golden crust full of hot, bubbling sliced plum goop… and into my shopping bag, they went.

I was inspired by this recipe on Epicurious. Of course, I modified it for an open-faced tart. Follow the link above for the original recipe; my modified recipe is below:

Crust

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons ice water

Filling

• 12 small plums
• 1/3 cup plum jam
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Mix the dry ingredients for the crust and put in a food processor. Add butter cubes and pulse until the mixture loses its fine consistency and looks like coarse corn meal. Add water and pulse until the mixture makes moist clumps.
2. Remove the dough from the food processor, roll into a ball and flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two pieces of parchment or wax paper and roll out to a 1/4″ thickness (placing the roll pin above the top piece of paper). Cut a circle about an inch wider in diameter than your pie pan. Gently peel the dough from the paper and place it in the pie pan(s). Let the dough drape over the edge of the pie pan, if you can. If you’re using two small dishes, repeat the process.
3. Slice the plums, leaving the skins on, and put them in a bowl. Add the jam, vanilla and allspice. Mix until the slices are well-covered. Pour into the pie pan.
4. Put the pie pan(s) on a cookie sheet and place in the center rack of the oven. Cover loosely with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes. Then, remove the tinfoil and bake for another 25 minutes. Crust should be golden brown and fruit bubbly.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy!



Canon EOS 5D: 1/180 sec @ f11, ISO 1600. Hotshoed 580EX II set at 1/32 power and bounced.

Share →

]]> http://www.storiography.com/journal/open-faced-plum-tarts/feed/ 1