Watermelon, Strawberry and Bacon Salad

This is a simple salad that has summer written all over it. Watermelon and strawberries--find fresh local ones if you can--are the perfect ripe red fruits of summer. The feta cheese adds some tang and the bacon adds its wonderful smoky crisp meatiness.

Feel free to mix this up as you please. Some sweet sungold tomatoes would be good in here, as would fresh blueberries.

I made this for lunch while we were on the Oregon coast a couple of months ago. For whatever reason, we tend to almost always buy watermelon while we're there, but don't get it much when we're home at D.C. (which is a shame, since watermelon is so good). See below for more watermelon salad recipes.

Watermelon, Strawberry and Bacon Salad

1/4 lb. thick-cut hickory-smoked bacon
3-4 cups arugula leaves
2 cups cubed watermelon
1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup feta cheese cubes
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat and cook the bacon until crisped. Set the cooked bacon aside on a paper-towel-lined plate, then transfer to a cutting board and chop into 1/2-inch pieces.

2. In a large bowl, combine arugula, watermelon cubes, sliced strawberries, feta cheese, pecans and bacon pieces. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Pour over salad and toss to coat with dressing. Serve salad in large shallow bowls.

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Cornmeal Skillet Cake with Strawberries

If you've been searching for the perfect summer dessert, the search is over.

This Cornmeal Skillet Cake with Strawberries is amazing! Dorie Greenspan's recipe, recently published in The Washington Post, is a variation on the classic strawberry shortcake. Instead of the shortcake, the dessert's foundation is a wonderfully flavorful corncake baked in a cast-iron skillet and flavored with lemon zest, vanilla and buttermilk.

As good as that cake is, the strawberries are going to make or break this dish, so get the best ones you can, preferably ones that are local and therefore picked ripe. They'll have more flavor than strawberries raised thousands of miles away that are picked under-ripe to "ripen" during transport.

A couple key tips from Dorie: the recipe calls for baking the cake in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, which I did. If you don't have one, you can use a 9-inch springform pan, but you'll need to bake the cake longer--more like 40 minutes. She also recommends working the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers until the mixture is fragrant, which infuses the sugar with lemon flavor. A tip from me: I used an ISI cream whipper to make the whipped cream, which is simpler than using a stand mixer and makes it easy (and fun) for you and those you share this with to pump a little more whipped cream on top.

Cornmeal Skillet Cake with Strawberries
Adapted from a recipe by Dorie Greenspan for The Washington Post

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more (about 2 tsp.) for greasing the skillet
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (I used a Microplane to grate the zest)
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup regular or low-fat buttermilk (I used low-fat)
1 quart (about 2 lb.) fresh strawberries, hulled (I also sliced mine into 1/8-inch thick slices)
Sweetened whipped cream (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Grease a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with the 2 tsp. of unmelted butter.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Add the 1 cup sugar and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl. Using your fingers, combine the sugar and lemon zest until the mixture is fragrant. Whisk the eggs, one at a time, into the sugar mixture until well incorporated. Stir in the vanilla extract (you may want to switch to a silicon spatula at this point). Add half the flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Add the buttermilk and stir until evenly mixed. Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir to incorporate. At this point, the batter will be pretty thick, but it should be evenly mixed. Add the melted butter in three batches, stirring to incorporate completely after each addition.

5. Transfer the batter to the cast-iron skillet and smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with 1 tbsp. of sugar. Bake in the oven until the cake is golden brown around the edges and starting to pull away from the sides, about 30 to 35 minutes. Test the center with a toothpick to make sure it's baked through (the toothpick should come out clean). Place the cake and the skillet on a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

6. While the cake is baking, sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp. of sugar over the sliced strawberries and stir to distribute the sugar evenly.

7. To serve: cut the cake into wedges and cut the wedges in half horizontally to make a top and a bottom. Place the bottom on a plate or in a bowl. Top generously with strawberries and whipped cream and lay the top cake piece on top.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the sugar and vanilla extract, using a fork. Add a few tablespoons of cream and use the fork to combine it with the sugar. Pour in the remaining cream and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to an ISI cream whipper, charge with one cream charger (N₂O) and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Alternatively, after mixing together the ingredients, whip with a stand mixer on high-speed until thick and fluffy (don't overwhip or you'll start to make butter).

Watermelon and Blueberry Salad with Goat Cheese

After making the blueberry pie I wrote about earlier this week, we still had quite a few blueberries on hand, plus some watermelon, so I decided to make this salad.

One of the best things I liked about this salad was the interplay between the watermelon and the goat cheese. Chèvre is a common type of goat cheese you can find in most grocery stories, usually sold formed into a little log. It's fairly soft, although solid enough that it can be crumbled (carefully) into salads. When mixed with juicy watermelon and dressing of this salad, the cheese breaks down a bit, creating a wonderfully tangy, creamy coating.


Watermelon and Blueberry Salad with Goat Cheese

Serves 3

About 2 cups 1-inch seedless watermelon cubes
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 cups arugula leaves
1/3 cup unsalted roasted shelled pistachios
1/3 cup crumbled Chèvre goat cheese
2 tbsp. chopped fresh spearmint

Dressing:
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine the watermelon, blueberries, arugula, pistachios, goat cheese and mint. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Toss to combine until the dressing and watermelon juice soften the goat cheese a bit, coating the salad ingredients.

Blueberry Pie

Not long ago, we spent our annual week in Oregon, which we spent mostly at the Oregon coast with a brief visit to Portland. As usual, the weather at the coast was a nice break from the humid East Coast summer, with minimal rain and even some sun. And we ate (and drank) like kings. All this week I'll be writing about what we enjoyed, starting with this fabulous blueberry pie.

Oregon blueberries

Blueberries grow in a lot of places, but the berries I can get on the East Coast don't hold a candle to what's available in Oregon. The blueberries I see in D.C. are small, expensive and sometimes a little sour. Frankly, I can't bring myself to buy them, since I know they can be so much better. In Oregon, blueberries are plump, flavorful and cheap. They are in season right now and are just simply fabulous. We used to buy them from a farm as we passed through the rural rolling hills on the way to the beach. Unfortunately that farm doesn't sell to the public anymore, but even the berries at the grocery store this time of year are excellent.

This particular project was inspired by a movie. A few months ago, we watched Labor Day, and ever since I've been in the mood to make pie. The scene where Josh Brolin's character makes a peach pie is one the film's most memorable: the step-by-step making of the rustic dough, prepping the fruit and baking it to a browned finish. It's a great depiction of cooking on celluloid. Ever since, I've been hungry for good pie. I'd never made a blueberry one before and decided to give it a shot.

An important step in making berry pie is mixing the berries with some kind of thickener. A lot of recipes call for either tapioca or cornstarch, but I had neither on hand when I made this pie. Instead I just used flour, but wasn't sure how much to use. I consulted recipes showing a range from as much as 1 cup to as little as 1/4 cup. A whole cup struck me as excessive, something that would result in a gooey filling. Yet, I wanted to make sure that I used enough so that the filling retained some structure and didn't just ooze out when the pie was cut. My friend Jason, the Aubergine Chef, suggested using just enough flour to evenly coat the berries. Along with the 3/4 cup of sugar, this turned out to be about 6 tablespoons (a little over 1/3 cup).

For the dough, since I'd had good luck using vodka to promote flakiness in the apple pie, I added rum (since I didn't have vodka) to this pie's crust. It worked just as well and, despite rum's stronger flavor, it also wasn't noticeable.

Otherwise I kept the pie pretty simple. I didn't add additional spices or brush the top with egg or milk (I did sprinkle it with sugar). The filling turned out really nice, not gooey but not too runny either. And it was just sweet enough. I recommend tasting your berries first to judge whether you might need a little more or a little less sugar.

Despite this being my first blueberry pie, I was pretty pleased with it. Okay, I loved it. I went a little overboard with the crust edge, which was so thick it was like a cookie, but that provided a good tool for soaking up all of the berry sauce left in the plate after devouring the pie.

Blueberry Pie

2 lb. (about 5-6 cups) fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar, plus additional for dusting the pie
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
1 flaky double pie crust, chilled, with bottom piece in a pie plate (see recipe below)

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Rinse the blueberries and examine them to remove any bad ones (discolored, shriveled or damaged). Also remove any rocks (yes, I've found rocks in a carton of blueberries) or remaining stems.

2. Place the blueberries in a bowl and add the sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. Toss to evenly coat the berries.

3. Pour the berries into the pie plate with the dough, mounding them slightly in the middle. Place the other pie crust on top. Using scissors or a knife, cut around the dough so there is no more than about an inch hanging over. Pinch the two layers of pie dough together to seal them and fold them under so the pie dough is flush with the edge of the pie plate. Using a fork, make indentations along the rim of the pie crust to completely seal it.

4. Using a paring knife, make four 2-inch slits in the top of the pie (this allows steam to escape). Dust the top of the pie with sugar. Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 F and bake for another 40-50 minutes until the pie is well-browned and the filling is bubbly. Do not underbake the pie. Set the pie on a rack to cool completely before serving.

Flaky Double Pie Crust
Adapted from a recipe by America's Test Kitchen
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
20 tbsp. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very cold
1/4 cup (or more as needed) ice water
1/4 cup 80 proof spirit, (something fairly neutral such as white rum or vodka)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and scatter over the mixture. Using a pastry blender, cut into the mixture, blending the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse pebbles (alternatively, pulse mixture in a food processor until sandy). Sprinkle the ice water and rum (or vodka) over the mixture. With a spatula, use a folding motion to combine the liquid into the dough, pressing down as is folded. If the mixture is too dry to come together, add a little more ice water. Divide dough into two pieces and flatten into large discs. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

2. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. On a floured surface, roll out the first disc into a circle with a thickness of about 1/8 inch (the circle should be at least 12 inches in diameter). Carefully transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, making sure there are no air pockets between the dough and the side of the pie plate. Leave any overhanging dough attached. Chill the pie plate with the dough for about 15-20 minutes. Roll out the other disc to a similar size and thickness and transfer to a baking sheet to chill in the fridge for the same amount of time.

Best of 2013: Desserts

It might be hard to believe if you visit around the holidays, but normally, we don't eat dessert often at our house. Certainly, it's not with every meal or even every week. But every now and then, it's nice to have a really good sweet treat. Not some "light" diet-oriented dessert. Uh-uh. I'm talking something satisfying and decadent. I'd rather have dessert only every now and then and have it be incredible than have low-cal desserts all the time.

Cakes and Pies

I loved this unique Coffee Cake with Coffee Frosting from a recipe by The Pioneer Woman was the perfect winter treat, while Melissa Clarks' recipe for Strawberry Shortcake with Lemon-Pepper Syrup was just as good for summer. Another unusual but tasty cake was the Gin & Tonic Cake, inspired by my favorite cocktail. For out-and-out decadence, nothing tops this Chocolate Truffle Cake, from a recipe by Chef Naomi Pomeroy.

For Thanksgiving, I was blown away by Fine Cooking's recipe for Bourbon-Caramel Pumpkin Tart. And my Apple Custard Pie with Gingersnap Cookie Crust was my effort to combine the best of apple pie and pumpkin pie into one holiday treat.

Ice Cream

I didn't make as much ice cream this year, but when I did, I went for interesting, seasonal flavors. Last winter, I created the By the Fire Sundae with maple-bacon ice cream, a brown butter blondie, caramel and smoky whipped cream. In the spring, taking advantage of my favorite herb, I made Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. And in the summer, I discovered that sweet corn is just as great for dessert as a dinner side in Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Blackberry Sauce.

For lovers of ice cream pie, there's also this wonderfully festive Cereal Milk Ice Cream Pie with Compost Cookie Crust, an ode to the creative ideas of Momofuku Milk Bar Chef Christina Tosi (whose cookbook I got for Christmas--so look for more Momofuku treats next year).

Cookies

As usual, December featured lots of cookie recipes. My favorite were the Molasses Sandwich Cookies with lemon filling (we paired it with Almond Lace Cookies in this year's Dallas Desserts Holiday Bakeoff with Dallas Decoder). I also shared a recipe for Chocolate Saltine Bark, a longtime simple holiday favorite.

Another first this year: I attempted to create several original cookie recipes. My favorite were the Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies, which were like three great cookies rolled into one.

Strawberry Shortcake with Lemon-Pepper Syrup

Today, June 14, is National Strawberry Shortcake Day! And there's no better way to conclude a late spring dinner when strawberries are at their seasonal best. This particular recipe is by New York Times food writer Melissa Clark, whose accompanying article debated the merits of classic dessert as made with a biscuit or spongecake. Clark's layer cake recipe leans toward the latter and it's absolutely delicious. I love how the lemon-pepper syrup adds additional notes of sour and spice, giving this better depth of flavor than just being sweet.

Strawberry Shortcake with Lemon-Pepper Syrup
Adapted (only very slightly) from a recipe by Melissa Clark for The New York Times

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
2 quarts strawberries (about 2 lbs.)
2 tbsp. plus 330 grams sugar (about 1 3/4 cups)
1 lemon, zested
155 grams all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1/3 cup whole milk (warmed)
2 tsp. plus 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Makes 1 9-inch cake, about 8 servings

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter, line the bottom with parchment and grease the parchment.

2. Cut off the tops of the strawberries and thinly slice half of them, leaving remaining berries whole. Mix sliced strawberries with the 2 tbsp. of sugar and half the lemon zest. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip eggs and egg white on high speed until frothy, about 30 seconds. Gradually pour in the 230 grams (1 1/4 cups) of granulated sugar and whip on high speed until the mixture is a pale yellow and has thickened enough to mound onto itself when beater is lifted, 1 to 3 minutes (note: in my experience, the mixture didn't really "mound," but after whipping it this long, it seemed fine once it was baked).

4. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Fold in milk, 2 tsp. vanilla and 2 tbsp. melted butter until completely combined.

5. Gently pour batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Invert cake onto a cooling rack and peel off parchment. Let cool completely.

6. While the cake bakes, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and pepper and whisk together. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reduces by half, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining lemon zest. (Note: don't do this step too far in advance as the mixture tends to easily recrystallize).

7. Whip heavy cream with 1 tsp. vanilla until soft peaks form. (Note: I considered making the whipped cream in my ISI cream whipper, but decided it might not have enough body to hold up the cake).

8. Using a serrated knife (like a bread knife), horizontally slice cake in half. Generously brush each cut side with lemon-pepper syrup. Transfer the bottom half to a cake plate, cut side up, and spoon sliced strawberries and any juices over it. Spread half the whipped cream over sliced strawberries and gently place the other cake half on top. Spread remaining whipped cream over top and sides of cake (or mound it all on the top). Position whole berries all over the top of the whipped cream.

Chicken-Strawberry Spinach Salad

Today is National Pick Strawberries Day. Although strawberries are common in dessert, I like them just as much in salads, where their sweet note balances nicely with bitter and savory flavors.

Search the web and you'll find many combinations similar to this: strawberries with bitter greens, nuts and sharp cheese. I've used spinach, pecans and soft goat cheese, but certainly arugula, walnuts and blue cheese would be just as good. For some extra tang, I bet quick-pickled red onion would be good in here too.

Chicken-Strawberry Spinach Salad

Salad:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 lb. chicken breast cutlets
Seasoned salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup pecan halves
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. warm water
10 strawberries, sliced
3 cups loosely packed spinach leaves
2 oz. soft goat cheese (chèvre)

Dressing:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste

1. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. When hot, pat chicken cutlets dry with paper towel and add to pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning once halfway through. Set aside to cool and cut into bite-size pieces.

2. Heat a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Add pecans and toast until fragrant. Stir together honey and warm water and then add to nuts, stir until nuts are evenly glazed and the water has evaporated. Set aside on a plate to cool (don't put on a paper towel).

3. Combine the chicken, nuts, strawberries and spinach in a large bowl and toss to combine. Whisk together dressing ingredients, pour over salad and toss gently until salad is evenly coated. Gently stir in the goat cheese.

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Best of 2012: Dessert

This year, my dessert-making was guided by two principal influences: the creativity of Momofuku Milk Bar pastry chef Christina Tosi and the ice cream wizardry of Jeni Britton Bauer. Whether I was faithfully re-creating their recipes or inspired by their techniques to whip up an original creation, the results always hit the sweet spot.

From Tosi, I found a cookie so delicious it rivals my all-time favorite (peanut butter), the Corn Cookie, which is like the sweetest corn bread transformed into a cookie. I also enjoyed making her Crack Pie just the other week.

After making a few of Bauer’s ice creams last year, I felt free to apply her technique to come up with flavors of my own. A favorite from early in the year to coincide with my week of olive oil themed content was, naturally, Olive Oil Ice Cream with a dark chocolate sauce.

Then I mashed up ideas from both of these chefs for two recipes: A Blackberry-Vanilla Ice Cream Pie with Corn Cookie Crust, which combined a Bauer ice cream recipe with Tosi’s idea to grind up corn cookies and use them as ice cream pie crust. Even more adventurous was the Cereal Milk Baked Alaska, which used Tosi’s idea of using sugary kids’ cereal as flavoring in ice cream but made with Bauer’s technique, encased in an oven-browned meringue over brown butter cake.

A couple of my desserts got special recognition this year, which was very nice to experience. In the summer, my Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting won my office dessert contest. And in the run-up to Thanksgiving, the New York Times Diner’s Journal included a mention of my Apple Pie with Vodka Crust, based on a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.

I went a little cookie crazy a few weeks ago. Besides the Corn Cookies, I featured my long-time favorite, Peanut Butter, and the holidays wouldn’t be complete without these Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies from an old Mary Engelbreit recipe.

Best of 2012: Main Dishes

Chicken

For midweek meals and even sometimes during weekends the meat I turn to most is chicken. It’s affordable, lean and, depending on the method, quite fast. One of my favorite dishes to make is Roasted Chicken with Greens and Bread Salad, a recipe adapted from the dish served at San Francisco’s Zuni Café, which Chris and I discovered last year when we visited the restaurant.

The most popular chicken dish among Cook In / Dine Out readers was the Updated Chicken Marbella, a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen that sought to modernize the classic Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook. Even if you love the original recipe as much as I do, this update is worth trying to experience a different take on the dish.

Although I would describe my cooking style as American with strong Italian influences, every so often I venture into Asian territory. I hope to pursue more international flavors next year (I have a stock of Asian dishes I’m planning to post soon after the New Year). When it comes to Chinese food, Kung Pao Chicken has been a personal favorite ever since I was about 9 years old. As delicious as the takeout version can be, it’s just as satisfying made at home and arguably less fattening.

Lastly, the Ricotta Tartine with Chicken, Arugula and Asparagus Salad, Honey-Cinnamon Almonds and Garlic-Sautéed Squash Blossoms (long title!) was one of the more unusual and unexpected things I made this year. It came about from the rather made idea to “mash up” two recipes I’d been planning to make over two nights but ended up with just one to do it in. This is a good dish for early summer with squash blossoms and asparagus are freshly available.

Turkey

Turkey, the other poultry, plays second fiddle to chicken most of the year but shines at Thanksgiving. This year I brined my Roasted Turkey Breast for the first time, and it was so good, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the herbs-under-the-skin method. I always make a breast, rather than a full bird, since I don’t have a large number of guests. But, if you find yourself with leftover turkey, Thanksgiving Leftover Pizza is a great way to use it up, along with stuffing and butternut squash puree.

Ground turkey, especially ground dark meat, is an effective substitute for ground beef in many dishes. I prefer it in Turkey Black Bean Chili, an old favorite in our house, and its flavor shines in the Turkey and Butternut Squash Meatloaf, really more moist and flavorful than a traditional meatloaf.

Pork

For years the pork lobby tried to sell Americans on the idea of pork as “the other white meat,” but that really does a disservice to what is a versatile and delicious meat in its own right. It’s nice to see pork enjoying a renaissance in restaurants these days. When you have the time, slow roasting pork produces excellent flavor, such as in Carnitas Tacos where the pork is cooked in a slow cooker and then finished under a broiler to give it some crispness. But when you don’t have the time, pork chops are fast and easy and benefit from a flavorful sauce, like Pork Chops with Maple-Peppercorn Glaze.

Fish

We’re not big seafood eaters in our house, but we do have fish weekly and it’s usually salmon. Broiled, it’s a fast and easy weekday meal, and even when it’s baked it doesn’t take very long. For years, I made it broiled with a paste of garlic, rosemary, olive oil and lemon. This year, I paired salmon with many different flavors to demonstrate its versatility. My favorite was the Southwestern Salmon with Black Eyed Pea Succotash and Yellow Pepper Sauce. The most unusual was the Salmon with Blueberries (it’s good, honest). Chris was particularly fond of the Salmon with Zucchini “Spaghetti,” and I also want to mention the Salmon with Corn, Pea Tendrils and Green Garlic Butter since it uses less common spring ingredients from the farmers market.

Vegetarian

We’re not vegetarians, obviously, but many of our friends are. Even meat lovers have favorite vegetarian dishes, especially during the summer, when the bounty of fresh produce makes cooking without meat inventive and interesting. Take, for example, Pasta with Roasted Garlic Scape Pesto. Garlic scapes can be rather potent, but roasting mellows them a bit to make a delicious pasta accompaniment. Blackberries, another summer delight, go great with corn—Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce is perfect for summer breakfast.

When the summer bounty peaks, it’s good to have dishes that can use up a lot of vegetables so they don’t go to waste. For that, I recommend Summer Vegetable Lasagna and Ratatouille.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Making cranberry sauce from scratch is so simple, I wonder why I bought the canned product for so many years. As a child, my grandmother made a wonderful homemade thanksgiving dinner, but even she poured her cranberry sauce from the can (very carefully actually, so that the ribbed lines from the side of the can were intact). This recipe from America's Test Kitchen is very easy, fast (like 20 minutes tops) and so much tastier.

Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from Cranberry-Orange Sauce, America's Test Kitchen's The New Best Recipe 

¾ cup water

1 cup sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 12 oz bag of cranberries picked over (discard any bruised, bloated or soft berries)

1 tbsp. orange or lemon zest

2 tbsp. orange-flavored brandy liqueur (such as Grand Marnier)

Boil water, sugar, orange zest and salt in medium saucepan over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until saucy, slightly thickened and about 2/3 of the berries have popped open, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl, stir in orange liqueur, cool to room temperature and serve. 

Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce

The New York Times Dining section ran this recipe recently, which features two summer stars together in a breakfast dish. It's got great corn flavor and, since there is little added sugar, it's not at all overpoweringly sweet. Rather restrained actually.

I was afraid I'd ruined the dish when I realized that the pan I was cooking it in was a casserole dish rather than a gratin dish (which I don't have). In the end, it worked fine though. So if you have a gratin dish, use that, but using a casserole instead seems fine too.

Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce
Adapted from Puffy Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce by Melissa Clark for New York Times

4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup fine cornmeal
5 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper
Corn kernels from 2 ears of corn (about 1 cup)
2 cups blackberries
3 tbsp. sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Add butter to a 2-quart gratin or casserole dish and bake until butter melts and starts to bubble, about 7 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together flour and cornmeal. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Whisk in the honey, salt and pepper. Stir in the corn kernels.

3. Remove the dish from the oven and add the pancake batter. Bake until the pancake is well browned around the edges, puffed up and golden on top, about 20-30 minutes.

4. While the pancake bakes, make the blackberry sauce. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat with the blackberries and sugar. Lower heat a bit and simmer ingredients until the blackberries have broken down into a syrupy sauce.

5. Serve the pancake in wedges topped with blackberry sauce.

Chicken Salad with Mango and Blueberries

Evidently, I made a lot of salads with berries this summer that I didn't get around to posting. This is the last, which combines blueberries with mango, goat cheese, chicken and walnuts.

Chicken Salad with Mango and Blueberries

2 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 lb. chicken breast cutlets
Seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper
2 cups baby arugula
1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/3 cup walnut halves, toasted
2 tbsp. goat cheese, crumbled

Dressing:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Pat chicken cutlets dry, sprinkle with seasoned salt and pepper and sauté 10 minutes, turning over halfway through. Set aside and, when cooled, chop cutlets.

2. In a large salad bowl, combine arugula, mango, blueberries and walnuts.

3. Whisk together olive oil, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour over salad and toss to combine. Serve on plates topped with goat cheese and chicken.

Blackberry & Cucumber Salad with Fennel Pollen

On a recent New York trip, I picked up fennel pollen at Eataly, Mario Batali's Italian mega-market just off Madison Square Park. Awhile back, I'd been making a recipe (coincidentally, one of Batali's) that called for fennel pollen and I couldn't find it anywhere. So when I saw it at Eataly, I picked some up in case I ever needed it again.

Of course, I tried a little bit to see what it was like. Unsurprisingly, a lot like fennel, although more intense than you would expect and even a little sweet. A little goes a long way. For its inaugural use in my kitchen, I opted to sprinkle it over a salad with blackberries, cucumber and arugula. Not wanting to overpower it, I kept the dressing very basic.

This salad features another unique find: lemon cucumbers. My farmers market has them sometimes. They are thicker and shorter than your regular cucumbers (so basically more spherical) and have a yellow-white skin. They don't really taste different than other cucumbers and they certainly don't taste like lemons, just resemble them.

Blackberry & Cucumber Salad with Fennel Pollen

Serves 2

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Three cups of arugula
2/3 cup fresh blackberries
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 lemon cucumbers, peeled and chopped (can substitute one regular cucumber)
Pinch of fennel pollen (no more than 1/8 tsp.)

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to make the vinaigrette. Combine the other ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the vinaigrette. After plating, sprinkle lightly with fennel pollen.

Rocket Salad with Blueberries

"Rocket" is the term Brits use for Arugula, also known as Rucola. I think its the perfect term for the green, especially if freshly picked, when its peppery bitterness can be so intense that it burns your mouth. That's when you know you're eating a "rocket" salad and not just arugula.

Here I've paired the green with seasonal fresh blueberries and tomatoes, tossed with a zippy vinaigrette, some goat cheese, and a bit of anise-like flavor, courtesy of the tarragon.

Rocket Salad with Blueberries


1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

3 handfuls of rocket (a.k.a. arugula)
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, halved, seeded and sliced
2 tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves
4 oz. goat cheese (chèvre), crumbled

Whisk together vinegar and olive oil with salt and pepper to make vinaigrette. Combine other ingredients in large bowl. Toss with vinaigrette.

Salmon with Blueberries

This week, I'm going to focus on a getting up a few dishes I've made recently with berries, specifically blueberries and blackberries, which are in season right now, but probably not for much longer.

This dish appeared recently in the New York Times. It strikes me as a very "Oregon" dish--salmon and blueberries are, after all, pretty abundant there.

A neighbor told me how much she liked this dish, but noted that it has a lengthy cooking time. In adapting the recipe, I was able to save some time by broiling the salmon, instead of roasting it. That I was only making half of much blueberry sauce also probably saved some time. Additionally, I brightened the dish a bit with some fresh tarragon.

Salmon with Blueberries
Adapted from Salmon with Agrodolce Blueberries, Melissa Clark, The New York Times

2 servings

2 tbsp. sweet onion, minced
3/4 cup white wine (sauvignon blanc)
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
3-4 thyme sprigs
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
Salt
3/4 cup blueberries
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. honey
3/4 lb. salmon fillet
Olive oil
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Fresh tarragon leaves

1. Preheat the broiler. Position oven racks 4 and 10 inches from broiler.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine onion, wine, vinegar, thyme, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 1/4-1/3 cup liquid remains), about 15 minutes. Remove and discard thyme sprigs and cinnamon sticks. Add blueberries, butter and honey, cooking until the berries soften and the sauce turns a deep pink, about 4-5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Place salmon on oiled rimmed baking sheet, skin side down. Spray exposed flesh side with olive oil. Broil 4 inches from broiler about 5 minutes. Turn fillet over and broil another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and discard skin.

4. Place broiled salmon in an oiled 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Pour blueberry sauce over salmon. Place in oven and broil 10 inches from broiler about 5 minutes. Cut fish in half and remove, placing on plates. Return baking dish with remaining blueberry sauce to oven and broil 10 inches from broiler about 5 minutes to concentrate sauce. Spoon sauce over fillet, season with fresh-ground black pepper and sprinkle with tarragon.