Ten

The peach harvest in Virginia is in full swing, and I ordered ten pounds of peaches. Or, a quarter of a bushel of peaches. Or, a peck of peaches. Or, about 40 peaches. 

They arrived in a box and I placed them in a red and green basket on the counter for one day. Then, I got to work peeling and slicing, half one day and half the next. First, I prepared a batch of freezer jam, yielding approximately six pints, four for us and two to gift. Then, I whipped up a batch of peach pie filling, two quarts of pie filling for two pies which I froze and enough left over to make one small pie to devour today. 

I try to plan ahead in my cooking as I have time and this varies year to year and season to season. I make my best attempts to stock the larder and ease the burden of cooking down the road. I like having freezer jam or pie filling on hand and ready for unexpected guests. Or, for when the house is about to be full over the holidays but life has been crazy, and I haven't had time to get ready as I would like. Or, for a last minute gift for a friend who needs a lift or a token of appreciation. Don't get me wrong, I serve numerous meals and gift plenty of food that didn't come from my kitchen, too. I simply aspire to prepare what I can and let go of the rest.

Let me recommend Freezer Jam as a homemade staple at your house -- so simple, so versatile, so delicious. The hardest part is the peeling and chopping with stone fruits, but I turn on the radio or a a podcast and the time passes quickly. Better yet, employ some helpers and you will be done in no time. If you make a berry freezer jam, the prep work is lessened considerably.

Freezer Jam

5 cups peeled, pitted, sliced and crushed plums, peaches or nectarines (about 3 pounds) or 5 cups crushed berries (about 2 1/2 pounds)

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons, depending on size)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup (1.75 ounces) powdered, instant, low-sugar pectin

1. Sterilize 3 pint-sized plastic freezer containers or glass jars with tight-fitting lids.
2. In a large pot, combine fruit and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk together sugar and pectin; add to fruit, stirring until sugar mixture dissolves and fruit returns to a full rolling boil. Boil 1 minute; then, remove from heat.
4. Transfer to containers or jars, leaving a 1/2-inch head space. Seal and let sit at room temperature until jam is set or 2 to 3 hours.
5. Freeze for up to 6 months.

Yield: 3 pints jam

For full disclosure, I also left about a dozen peaches out to be enjoyed fresh. The peaches are so good right now that a big bite right down to the pit nearly melts in your mouth and drips down your chin. As a result, I eat one right over the kitchen sink nearly every day, making such a mess that my hands are coated in peach juice by the time I am done. I extol the virtues of fresh fruit for my health, but eating peaches just harvested and straight from the farm is nothing less than a gift to one's taste buds. If food tasted this good every day of the year, we wouldn't appreciate the gift; I simply wish I could share this gift with everyone! In the dead of winter, Freezer Jam will keep you holding on and will remind you of what is to come once again in just a few months. So worth it.

Herbs

I just snipped some fresh basil and Italian flat-leaf parsley from the pots on the deck as I prepared dinner. I always feel such joy as I breath in their fragrances and am reminded how fresh herbs speak of summer, adding so much flavor to the current harvest of fresh produce. Moreover, herbs are incredibly easy to grow on a window sill, on a deck or patio, or integrated into a garden bed. Many like oregano and thyme are deer resistant. Rosemary can be well established in the summer and then brought inside for the winter. 

Still, I tend to freeze some of summer's harvest of fresh herbs to add to soups, sauces, and dishes of all sorts in the winter. In this way, I know I will have the herbs on hand when I need them. Moreover, they are already chopped and ready to add to the other ingredients in our favorite hearty winter recipes. Freezing fresh herbs allows me to add a touch of summer to even the darkest, coldest days of winter cooking, spreading their joy year round. 

Freezing Fresh Herbs

Chop leftover fresh herbs, transfer by the tablespoon full to ice cube trays, and top with water to cover.  The standard ice cube tray takes two tablespoons chopped herbs and 1 tablespoon water.  Freeze the trays for at least four hours.  Transfer to a zipper-lock plastic bag and seal.  Store until you want to add them to sauces, soups, stews, or any other cooked recipe.  Enjoy all winter long!

Humble

I can never say the word humble without thinking about Charlotte's Web. Humble is one of the words that Charlotte weaves into her web to describe Wilbur in a desperate attempt to save the pig's life. From the very first sentence, E.B. White wrote a classic book about friendship with drama and warmth and humor and offers the reader a glimpse into rural, farm life in the post-WWII Midwest . I remember reading Charlotte's Web myself as a child as well as with my own children and couldn't pass the opportunity to read it once again with the student I am tutoring in English. This is a book that keeps on giving.

I feel the same way about pound cake. Pound cake is humble and reliable and versatile. You can add lemon and blueberries to it or glaze it or serve it with macerated berries and whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. As I remember, my aunt made it nearly every week to serve to anyone in a large extended family who might show up at her table for coffee and cake on the weekends. She was the family matriarch, who learned to cook and bake at a cooking school in Gdansk as a young woman. I was fortunate enough to have asked her to show me how she made it once and she obliged. I tried to write down a recipe but she never used one and really taught me more about technique to get the right texture and flavor.

The basic pound cake recipe I use and consider a homemade staple at my house is from King Arthur Flour and made with brown sugar and sour cream. It comes closest to the taste I remember and certainly ought to be passed on. Pound cake might be considered humble simply because it is so easily overlooked. Yet, it may be served more often than not right alongside the most elaborate of dishes and the most challenging of cakes and completely satisfy. I assert that one could ask nothing more of any recipe than this.

Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake

16 tablespoons (1 cup) butter, at cool room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.      Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9- or 10-cup Bundt pan.

2.      In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugars at medium speed for about 2 minutes. The mixture will be light and airy, and will have lightened in color.

3.      Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute or two between additions. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and beat briefly to recombine any residue.

4.      Add the baking powder, salt, and baking soda, then gently beat in half the flour.

5.      Gently mix in the sour cream and vanilla, then add the remaining flour, mixing just until blended.

6.      Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7.      Remove the cake from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to finish cooling. Cool completely before slicing.

 Yield: 1 cake or 16 slices

Preservation

Nothing means home to me more than food and putting food by. Food preservation has been on the back burner in our two year transition as we settled into our new home in Charlottesville. In addition, harvests arrive here sooner than I am accustomed, growing up in the Midwest and living in the Northeast. So, I was only able to freeze a few packs of strawberries and rhubarb this year.

People usually love or hate rhubarb. I happen to have a fetish for the vegetable. In part, I owe this to the rhubarb plant my parents have in the corner of their vegetable garden which was likely planted shortly after my father purchased it in 1970. It remains a prolific producer and grows immense in size. I am hoping to duplicate its production at Nara. Note to self: top priority next spring is the planting of a rhubarb plant!

So, I prepared a batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce this week, utilizing the stores in the freezer, producing four small containers to enjoy sparingly but with great enthusiasm. The sauce can be enjoyed warm or cold with waffles or pancakes, ice cream or yogurt, and cakes of all sorts. The sauce is vintage, old school perhaps, but speaks to the palate and yet never fails to impress. Be sure to taste the sauce as you cook and adjust the sugar to your liking as the sweetness of strawberries can vary greatly.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

1 pound rhubarb stalks, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 4 cups)

2 cups strawberries, hulled, rinsed, and halved

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons water

1. Combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and cook, stirring frequently, until rhubarb is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. You may refrigerate sauce for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 6 months for long-term storage.