So pretty and so odd this week. Lets see, we had:sugar snap peas
carrots
cucumbers
fresh onions
corn
blueberries
currants
gooseberries
So the pointy head cabbage was the cutest thing ever and the currants were beautiful. I took about 8 glamor shots of them all over the kitchen. I had never seen a gooseberry before so that was kind of fun, too.
And a the bread share was onion foccacia. Once again, it was scarfed. We don't eat a lot of bread. But when we do, we do it FAST!
The blueberries, the few that weren't shoved into our faces immediately upon unpacking the food, were mixed with vanilla yogurt and tasted divine.
What is this ancient bit of technology? It is an early food processor. It is quite ugly and functional. My mom got it, I think, when I was still in high school. It is about 30 years old. My father used to insist on calling it "the La Machine" instead of just "La Machine" and for some reason my sisters and I though this made him seem like a hayseed. He truly knew how to push our buttons!
Anyway, I yanked it out of the cabinet for a recipe that was nearly what I was looking for.
The recipe is CABBAGE AND ONION SALAD and it called for things I had around the house, which is nice. Also, it called for raisins and since when I was searching "what the hell can I do with fresh currants?" I was informed that they could be used in place of cranberries. And since I have been known to use the odd craisin in place of raisins...
Well, I'm sure you can see where this is going.
Brace yourself for the aforementioned glamor shots of the raising substitutes!
Oh, and they look even prettier when combined with the formerly pointy headed cabbage. And a TON of onion. Frankly, way too much onion. I doubled the recipe, but I may have tripled the onion.
Did I mention I used a lot of onion.
Lots.
The dressing is a beautiful combination of mayonaise, oil, sugar and salt. 
And it turned into this delicious, albeit sideways salad. With WAY too much onion...
I laughed and laughed about the corn. At the pick up site we were warned repeatedly not to "peek" at the corn. It was awesome. I finally understand why people buy scratch tickets. "What is my corn going to look like? Will there be worms? Will it be deformed? I can't wait to find out!"
I got home and shucked it. And boiled it up.
It was a poem of deliciousness! I am in love with this corn!
This is the spread I put out for my book club Friday night. It really has nothing to do with the farm share, but it is so durned pretty, I just wanted to show it off!
Also it can represent the passing of time. I neglected to say that the carrots, pea pods and cucumbers were used in salads. Of course they were. It is implied by their very existance.
BUT WHAT OF THE GOOSEBERRIES????????
Apparently no one in the United States makes anything but jam out of gooseberries. Every single recipe I could find had grams and caster sugar and 1.5 liter casserole dishes.
Yes, they were all in English!
But I perservered. I will print the actual recipe at the bottom and I will print my conversions which are incredibly loosey-goosey. But - spoiler! - it ended up amazing.
First up, cut the tops and tails off the berries. This was much easier than I thought it would be.
Add some lemon zest. I put in maybe 2 teaspoons. The recipe called for the finely grated zest of one large lemon. Even with my light lemon, it was still quite lemony.
In a separate bowl I mixed flour, butter and sugar and did the choppy thing that you do with pie crust. Then added pecans. The recipe called for macadamia nuts, but nuts is nuts, I always say.
And I had pecans.
It looked strangely attractive, but REALLY dry. I was a little concerned, but then I remembered that those little berries were full of goo, so I put it into a 400 degree oven in faith.
Will you look at that? It is like a heavenly dish of happiness. So beautiful, tart and sweet at the same time. I am in love with gooseberries.
The British suggest serving this with clotted cream. I am a fan of clotted cream, but had none on hand. So I put a little blob of vanilla Greek yogurt on it. It was quite delicious. I put it in my ramekin.
Now doesn't that sound odd? I say that as if I only have one ramekin.
I know what you are thinking, "Surely you must have a SET of ramekins. Only a crazy person would just have ONE."
Unless there was foul play involved.
Have you seen three other ramekins that look exactly like this lonely one? Any tips are appreciated. No questions will be asked. Just tell me where they are!!!
And here are your recipes...
Cabbage & Onion Salad
The salad will keep well for up to three days in a sealed
container in the refrigerator, so you can make it in advance and at the time of
serving, give it a good stir and transfer to a serving dish.
1 Onion, chopped finely
3 cups Cabbage, grated or very finely sliced
1/2 cup Seedless Raisins
3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 TB Sunflower Oil
1 TB Sugar
1/2 t Salt
1.) Mix the Onion, Cabbage and Raisins in a large bowl.
2.) Combine the Mayonnaise, Oil, Sugar and Salt very well -
mix in with the Cabbage.
Chill before serving.
Enjoy!
******The raisins can be replaced with fresh currants. And you can use vegetable oil instead of sunflower oil if you like.******
Gooseberry, lemon and macadamia nut crumbles recipe
Serves 6
Takes 20 minutes to make and 25-30 minutes to bake
Ingredients:
900g gooseberries, topped and tailed
150g caster sugar, plus a little extra to serve
Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
For the crumble topping:
150g plain flour
95g chilled butter, cut into small pieces
75g caster sugar
50g macadamia nuts, very coarsely chopped
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Pack the
gooseberries into 6 x 250ml deep ovenproof dishes or a 1.5-litre ovenproof
dish. Sprinkle with the caster sugar and zest.
2. Make the crumble topping. Put the flour and butter into a
food processor and whizz until it looks like fine crumbs. Add the sugar and
pulse once more until the mixture starts to stick together in little lumps -
this is what will make your topping craggy and crunchy. Stir in the macadamia
nuts.
3. Spoon the crumble topping generously over the top of the
gooseberries. Place the dishes or dish on a baking sheet and bake in the oven
for 25-30 minutes, or until the gooseberries are hot and bubbling and the tops
are golden. Sprinkle with a little more caster sugar and serve with a spoonful
of clotted cream.
Tip: These are very good with a little peeled and diced
Cox's apple mixed in with the berries. It's important to cook them at a
slightly higher temperature than normal so the topping can become nicely crisp
and golden before the fruit boils up over it, making it soft again.
******Here are the vague American measures*******
Fruit Mixture:
2 pounds gooseberries
1 c. sugar (but a little less)
lemon zest (however much you like)
Crumble Mixture:
1 c. flour (but a little more)
1/2 c. butter (but a little less)
1/3 c. sugar (but a little more)
1/2 c. nuts - on the nosie!
Cook for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.
Let it cool or your mouth will never forgive you!
Enjoy!
I did my first (and only) CSA last summer (yes, I am lazy but it seemed like a charity not an investment...) and we had gooseberries and I could not GIVE those suckers away. I wish I had this recipe. It looks yummy as does everything on the page.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cindy. It was easy peasy and I imagine you could do it with any juicy fruit. But not the gum.
ReplyDelete