“You see things and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say ‘Why not?’”
George Bernard Shaw
It’s July with the Secret Recipe Club and the inspiration behind this great idea continues. This month I was assigned to secretly invade Kims blog @ Everyday Mom. Kim has a delicious blog and for an everyday Mom {read 24 X 7} like me, it was an instant connect.I loved reading her posts, seeing how she involves her sweet kids in the kitchen, looking into her CSA box, seeing how she uses what turns up including these beautiful garlic scapes. That was what I intended to make for the SRC, but my next visit to Kims threw me right off course!
What did I see here? Ablueberry cobbler? The passionate fruit baker in me was completely inspired and a cobbler it was going to be. No blueberries here in India, so a quick stock check brought up apricots and plums; on a whim I decided to throw in some frozen strawberries too. I cut back on the cream in the topping as I had less than half a carton on hand, and I added some almonds to up the ‘healthy’ factor… the cobbled bit was basically a happy result of whatever I had in the larder. My frequent impulsive dashes to the bazaar are now limited thanks to this pooch!She’s a full time job and is more full of beans than I could ever imagine. A plum rolled out of my bag in the kitchen and it caught her naughty little eye in a flash. There was a mad dash to the garden …… where she had a plum party! Off she was, tossing it, attacking it, licking it…and then making a meal out of it! This is where the rest of my time goes these days; behind the lens as she is too cute not to click!!You might need a wait a little longer for the recipe, inspired completely by Kim, as I committed a guest post to my dear talented friend Sukaina @ Sips & Spoonfuls for the 18th of July, not realising that it was the SRC posting date.
The Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog! Click on the link if you want to join the fun!!
So here I am killing 2 birds with one stone, or make it 3 maybe? Sukaina has eyed my pots, pan and knives for long, and invited me to do a guest post for her. I couldn’t help but create a post for her around my favorite vintage pans.Coincidentally, she is hosting the Monthly Mingle this month and her theme is Stone Fruit {my favourite} so the recipe is an entry for the Meeta’sbrainchild as well. You will need to catch the recipe there, and I have to say it’s well worth it. One so you get to discover her beautiful blog, and secondly of course because this cobbler turned out to be delicious in every way!Food blogging, food cultures, cusines and food props have made life so much more interesting. Sukaina is food writer and photographer living in Dubai, creates magic with her camera. She longs to come over and join me in food prop shopping, much like Shulie @ Food Wanderings and of course my twin sistah Jamie @ Lifes A Feast. Please do head across to Sips & Spoonfuls to get a taste of this good cobbler indeed, full of all the goodness and deliciousness that stone fruit offers, the juices that oozed over absolutely delightful. The sweet tartness of the fruit, the nuttiness of the almond meal in the topping enticing the palette … all good stuff! As the lad said, “This is REALLY good Mama; can I have more?” Scrape, scrape scrape … the teen just helped herself to seconds! Find it HERE!
” There’s nothing more exciting to cook than discovering a new ingredient or finding an interesting new way to use an old favourite.”
Fine Cooking In Season
My love affair with fruit in baking and fruit based desserts continues unabated, often bordering obsession. Got back rejuvenated from the vacation, exhausted too, to find an absolutely delicious looking book waiting for me in the mailbox. This finger licking good Peach, Plum & Apricot Streusel Crumble was just waiting to be baked!!Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season’s Best from the Fine Cooking Magazine. The cover had the most beautiful picture of juicy plums, blueberries etc. A quick peek within and outstanding photographs by Mathew Benson had me sold!The cover drew me to the book and at 2am I was leafing through it oblivious to the tired aching muscles etc. An almost 24hour flight from Sydney via Hong Kong forgotten, the tired kids suddenly unimportant as they fell into bed in a dazed stupor, suitcases all over the place … the book had me mesmerised!
“Fine Cooking in Season is like having an expert and friend guide you from the farmer’s market to your kitchen, helping you make the most of the delicious bounty available throughout the year. Focusing on produce at its peak is not only flavorful and inspiring, but also a natural way to get a variety of healthy food into your life.”–Ellie Krieger, host of Healthy Appetite on the Food Network and author of The Food You Crave.
Included in the package is a DVD with the Fine Cooking Magazine archive from 1994-2010; for me a virtual treasure. Thank you Taunton Press{I think they sent it as I have no clue who mailed the book to me; it’s been signed by 3 good folk too…gracias} for a book I will always treasure, one thats found pride of place on my shelf. I love it! This was going to be a nice distraction indeed from the monotony of post vacation chores. Unpacking suitcases, putting stuff away, not wanting to touch jackets in this hot weather, cooking to keep the troops happy, dusting the cobwebs off {2 weeks away in the summer and the spiders seem to have a party!}. A quick trip to the local bazaar and yay … all senses awakened, stone fruit were practically tumbling off shelves.I made this stone fruit crumble using 2 recipes. For the filling I used the Peach or Nectarine Cobbler recipe, and since the diva was on a diet and I couldn’t ‘pie’ the fruit, I decided to use the topping from a Ginger Streusel Pie recipe {with a few healthy changes like using 1/2 oats 1/2 flour instead of only flour, slightly reduced butter etc} … this was a celebration of stone fruit!I do love this season. The colours, the flavours, the charm of stone fruit … always like a dream. The crumble was addictive and difficult to keep away from, “sweetly tart and full of soul” … if you know what I mean. Add to it a nutty walnut streusel topping, crisp and delicious and you know this was meant to be. The trusted Thermomix delivered the streusel in one quick whiz.Mr PAB was served his portion with a handsome drizzle of low fat unsweetened cream … and it was nirvana I hear. The lad got a small drizzle too. The teen & me looked at the cream longingly but voluntarily stayed away … there is a post vacation diet which holds ominous significance. 2 thin slivers were demolished by the teen and pre teen last night, with the lad hurriedly polishing off the last crumbs and asking if I could make some again, soon maybe? This is a book I certainly enjoyed for its pictures, its fresh ideas, and for its recipes contributed by some fine culinary gurus which include some of my favourites – Alice Medrich, Abby Dodge, Suvir Saran, Raghavan Iyer, Amanda Hesser among a host of other celebrated contributors.The next book for review on my list is this one by award winning journalist Stephen Fried. The book is interestingly titled “Appetite For America“; Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West – One Meal at a Time. It’s a first ever biography of this visionary entrepreneur considered to be the founding father of the American hospitality industry and gastronomic culture. {I’m halfway through this fascinating journey … which ends in some delicious recipes. More on that in a later post}
Summary:I do love this season. The colours, the flavours, the charm of stone fruit … always like a dream. The crumble was addictive and difficult to keep away from. Sweetly tart and full of soul, add to it a nutty walnut streusel topping, and its crisp and delicious!
Recipe adapted from 2 recipes from Fine Cooking In Season {pgs 134 & 200}
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl immediately after chopping the fruit.
Adjust sugar if fruit is too tart.
Turn into a 9″ pie dish {or 6-8 individual baking dishes} and level out.
Top with streusel, pressing gently to ensure the entire fruit is covered.
Bake for 35-45 minutes until the juices are bubbling over and the topping is light golden brown.
Streusel Topping Ingredients:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, diced {I used frozen}
Method:
Place the flour, oats, walnuts and salt in the bowl of food processor and whiz briefly on low speed to mix.
Add chilled butter and whiz in short pulses until you get a breadcrumb like mix. Reserve {This freezes well too}
Thermomix instructions – Place all ingredients, including walnut halves in TM bowl, and process for 7 seconds, speed 5 until walnuts chopped fine. Add frozen, diced butter and process for 7-10 seconds, speed 6 until you get a breadcrumb like mix.
“No self-respecting mother would run out of intimidations on the eve of a major holiday.”
Erma Brombeck
A Stone Fruit Tea Cake must be one of the best ways to use stone fruit in a cake this summer. Light enough to be a snack to satiate that grumbling in the tummy, yet indulgent enough to offer a light summer dessert if served with whipped cream or ice cream! As I write this post, I am desperately trying to get organised as we are due to leave for a vacation to Hong Kong and Sydney tomorrow … and nothing seems to be moving!Ever since summer and stone fruit arrived, I’ve been looking out for options to use them differently. The Google gods are ready to oblige, and enter the magic words and soon I was led to Rima’s beautiful blog. Her Stone Fruit Tea Cakecaught my eye instantly. It was P R E T T Y, and looked like such an elegant tea cake.Back home my stash of stone fruit nudged me to get going. I seriously needed inspiration to begin as the day was dark and dreary, rainy gray, so no fun taking pictures outdoors! I got onto Twitter after absolute ages and boy was I glad to be back! No lack of inspiration there … a great bunch of folk, and a racing time-line sucked me into another world. Then came the nudge to move it …
dazzler2980: @vindee the mood to photograph doesnt always run parallel to the the weather.. SO you should just go for it.
Before I knew it, I was out with the camera and clicking. Thanks for the dazzling nudgeAnita@ dazzler2980… The cake was baked soon after; was an absolute joy to make. The vibrant colours, the expectancy of a new bake, the uneventful release from the pan {very important happiness factor} all made it so worthwhile! I played around with the original recipe a little {which is now more the norm with me} to up the healthy factor some! It was healthy enough with all the fruit in there, but I put in some almond meal as I love the added texture and flavour it lends to bakes. It does make the cake crumb a little heavier as against using only plain flour, yet the end result is certainly delicious; well worth the healthy addition. As was the Gateau Aux Pommes {apple cake} I recently posted, this tea cake is another good example of a snack cake as well as dessert. Fruit bakes pair well with ice cream and low fat cream {my first preference}, and this cake is no exception. Go on, indulge!! We particularly liked the density and body the almond meal gave the cake, and the fruit were wonderful in here!This is a great cake for tea, served warm, but also nice to make ahead and chill. The dieting diva was back from Dubai and literally hacking LARGE slices off, devouring every crumb with pleasure! The cake kept well in the fridge for 3-4 days {covered}. I love this season … and have done a roasted plum and apricot quark panna cotta too, which hopefully will see the light of day {blog-day} sometime!The kids came back refreshed after a good holiday {away from the Mum}, and were spoilt silly by their cousin and her hub in Dubai. They are now back in the clutches of the ‘wicked mother‘ as we embark on phase 2 of the summer vacations headed Down Under {and HKG}. I am already TIRED, and the intimidations on the quote above are running fast & thick!
[print_this]Recipe: NAME
Summary: A Stone Fruit Tea Cake must be one of the best ways to use stone fruit in a cake this summer. Light enough to be a snack to satiate that grumbling in the tummy, yet indulgent enough to offer a light summer dessert if served with whipped cream or ice cream!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter (for greasing pan)
1/2 cup almond meal {I ground whole almonds}
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
110gms unsalted butter, room temperature
125gm sugar powdered with 1/2 vanilla bean, sifted
2 eggs
1 sachet vanilla sugar for sprinkling over
5 apricots, 5 plums, 3 peaches, 1 cup of cherries {or any combination of stone fruit you like}
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease a round 9″ tart tin with the tbsp of butter.
Run the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt briefly in a blender to mix
Cream the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light. Add the eggs and beat again.
On low speed, add the flour mix in 3 goes and blend until just mixed. The dough will be soft. You can divide this into 2 and chill one half. Push the other half to line the base of your tart pan/ baking tin
Pit and chop the stone fruit, and scatter evenly over the base lined with dough. Sprinkle generously with sugar if your fruit are sour.
Dollop and roughly spread the remaining dough over the top, spreading roughly with an offset spatula. The dough will even out while baking, leaving pretty gaps for the fruit to peep out. Sprinkle over with vanilla sugar.
Bake at 170C for about 30 minutes. The top will feel firm and set. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from pan.
