Concord Grapes - One of Autumn's Sweetest Gifts

Last week, in my post on foraging, I promised to write more about making Concord grape jam with grapes that are ready to be harvested this time of year. Concord grape jam has such intense flavor and fragrance - there is nothing else like it! While we are picking the grapes, the aromas wafting from the vines and even down the road are strikingly vivid.

 Looking up under the wild vines, you see the grapes hanging down, plump and fragrant.

 The baskets we use for picking the grapes happen to be made out of grapevines, themselves, which somehow adds to the fun of it!

Grapes don't have much pectin in them, but (as with all fruits) the less ripe ones have more pectin than ripe ones. So I always try to combine some under-ripe berries with the riper ones. I also happen to like that they make the jam just a bit tart - not overly sweet.






The first step in making jam is to pick through the grapes, discarding any that are past their prime. They can be very ripe, but you don't want anything that is brown or moldy or smells "off". Then I rinse them in a strainer, under cold water. (Technically, if you are using organic produce you picked yourself, washing shouldn't be necessary, but I always do anyway.) Only wash the grapes right before you use them. You don't want them to become waterlogged.

Making any jam is all about proportions and cooking time. For Concord grape jam, the proportions are easy: 5 lbs. (2 1/3 kg) grapes to 5 cups (1 1/4 liters) of sugar. I measure my grapes on a digital scale, after I've picked through them and removed the stems, but before rinsing them.

This year, I made two different batches of grape jam, one incorporating the pulverized skins and one with the skins discarded after they had cooked. The batch with the skins produced a thicker jam, but no difference in flavor. The following pictures are of the former process:

If you do incorporate the skins, you must first separate the skin from the meat of each grape. This is surprisingly easy, as these grapes are of the slip-skin variety. Just a squeeze and the grape pops open...the inner grape will actually shoot across the kitchen if you're not careful where you aim! (Don't let your kids catch onto this fun little fact!) This part does take a while, which is why some people prefer to skip the skin separating stage.

 You end up with little Pac-Man shaped skins!
(You can always spot someone who likes to prowl around in the woods, by the scratches on their arms!)

Then, before cooking the grapes, pulverize the skins in a food processor, with a small portion of the sugar, before adding them to the pan with the grape meats and the rest of the sugar. I also add a generous splash of lemon juice. This helps activate the natural pectin in the grape skins. As happens so often, once I got into making the jam, I completely forgot to take pictures. However (luckily) Jessie, the author of one of my favorite food blogs, The Hungry Mouse, posted a superb description of this process, including her own great photos. Also included is this video submitted by one of Jessie's readers:

One thing I do a little differently, is to add some additional liquid fruit pectin to the pot, if needed (and I find it usually is). I add it sparingly, as I don't like my jams to be stiff. As I said above, cooking time is an essential part of making any jam. If you don't want to use pectin (although there is no reason not to, as it is completely natural) then you need to simmer your jam for longer, to reduce the amount of liquid in it, thereby thickening it. The main reason I add pectin is that I find the grape flavor is fresher when not cooked so long. I hate to smell so much of the flavor goodness going up in steam!

If you decide to go the easier route and just use the grapes whole in the jam pot, then you want to crush them with a potato masher. In either case, I strain the jam through a finer sieve than shown in the video, because, while the seeds may seem huge in your mouth, they are still small enough to pass through the holes of many colanders. They are quite bitter, if bitten into, so I like to keep them out of my finished product.

The finished jam has an incredible perfume to it, evoking for me, a combination of sweet red wine and jasmine flowers in full bloom - very heady.

I always end up making a lot of jam (and many different kinds), so I do process my filled jars in a boiling water bath, just to insure that the airtight seals will last a long time. Here's what we still have, after giving away quite a few jars:

Just divine!

Okay, so now I'm dating myself, but who remembers begging their mom to buy Welch's grape jelly in the Flintstone glasses? I always find it shocking when I discover something from my youth available at antique sales! LOL

Bon appetit!

They don't call it the KING for nothing!

Well, we were back in the woods today, foraging for more mushrooms, and we also came home with some beautiful rose hips and cranberries. They were all growing together, so what the heck - the more the better! 

We got a lot of both Boletus edulis and Boletus bicolor today. The Boletus edulis are called King Boletes, and for good reason - they are very large and almost regal, sometimes hiding, sometimes out in the open - just amazing to come across. They grow to about 8" (20cm.) across the cap, as well as in height.

 

King Boletes (above)

 I just love the beautiful stems of the Boletus bicolor - almost like mini tree trunks.

Today's haul

Wild cranberries

Cranberries grow all over Cape Cod. They are just starting to ripen right now, so we didn't pick that many, but will go back for more in a couple of weeks.

The opposite is true for the rose hips, which have been mature and ready to pick for well over a month, now. It was fun to get some at the tail end of their season. Some people even pick them after the first frost, as they are the sweetest then. Although they are probably most commonly thought of as ingredients in tea (think Red Zinger, one of my favorites!) rose hips also make wonderful jelly - a Cape Cod tradition.

 Rose hips and cranberries (above)

For dinner, Jack sliced mushroom caps and stems (the least woody parts) and sauteed them in a combination of olive oil and duck fat, with a touch of butter.

When the mushrooms were tender (in literally a few minutes for such fresh specimens) Jack added lots of coarsely chopped garlic and a little heavy cream. He then added creamy cooked orzo to the mushrooms, followed by freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper, and some grey sea salt. He tossed it all together in the pan, quickly, and the dish was ready to serve.

As an accompaniment to this somewhat rich dish, I made a simple salad of mixed greens, heavy on arugula (my favorite). I added halved, sweet, red cherry tomatoes from our garden and my regular everyday dressing of extra virgin olive oil (a light French one), freshly squeezed lemon juice, grated fresh lemon zest, dijon mustard (my favorite is Maille), freshly ground black pepper and French grey sea salt. Actually, I almost always add minced garlic and shallots to my dressing, but for this dinner, simpler seemed better. The lemony flavor contrasted well with, and provided a welcome foil for the creamy mushroom orzo. Additionally, the greens and reds of the salad provided a beautiful visual contrast to the creamy whites, tans and browns of mushroom dish. (Sorry no picture of this!)

The next dish I want to try with our mushrooms is soup. Our Russian friends said that this is their favorite way to use the bolete mushrooms.

King Boletes - a meal fit for a king!

Tomates Confits (Sun-Dried Tomatoes)

This time of year, vegetable gardens (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) are just bursting with tomatoes - more than can be eaten right off the vine or in daily salads. One of our favorite ways to enjoy and preserve this bounty is to "sun-dry" them. I put them in the oven, instead of actually drying them in the sun, as it gets the job done more efficiently. By September, the New England sun just isn't as strong as it needs to be to dry tomatoes simply by the rays of the sun....now if only we lived in Provence or Tuscany! (sigh)

I say "preserve" somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as these tomatoes never last more than a couple of days at our house - they are just too delicious! In fact, roasting concentrates the natural sweetness of the tomatoes, so that they are almost like candy.

Here is my recipe. You can skip the sugar, if you want, and the tomatoes will still be sweet, but this way  accentuates the sweet tomato flavor.

Tomates Confits / Sun Dried Tomatoes

        

Preheat oven to 150-200o (ie; your oven’s lowest setting). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, if you want to save on clean-up later.

Wash and quarter 3 lbs. of plum or Roma tomatoes. Leave the skins on, but remove most of the seeds and juice, leaving just the tomato flesh. Lay the tomato quarters on the baking sheet, skin side down, in a single layer. Sprinkle with:

1 T. white sugar

freshly ground sea salt & black pepper

1 T. chopped, fresh rosemary leaves

2 T. fresh thyme leaves

Lightly drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes and put them in the oven for 1 hour. Turn tomatoes over (skin side up) and roast for another 2 hours. They will be withered and less moist, but not as dried out as sun dried tomatoes.

For SUN DRIED TOMATOES:

After following the above instructions, turn the oven off, but leave the tomatoes in the oven to dry out overnight (or an additional 12 hours).

Scrape the extra herbs and olive oil off the aluminum foil, and pour over the tomatoes. These can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks (if they don't get eaten immediately!) Alternatively, they can be place in jars, covered with extra virgin olive oil, and stored in a dark spot for several months.

Variations:

·      Whole garlic cloves and/or fresh pearl onions may be roasted in between the tomato slices. Simply peel them and sprinkle with the herbs and olive oil, along with the tomatoes.

·      Other herbs may be used, such as tarragon, basil or savory. (If using basil, it must be well oiled, to prevent singeing.)

Kate Dickerson (copyright 2009)


Bon Appetit!

"Carrot et cetera" Cake

Last night, Jack made an upside down carrot cake which was so divine I had to share it with you. The cake itself was loaded with extra ingredients like Thai coconut milk, a small amount of cornmeal, which gave it a tactile but subtile crunchiness, and oats, which gave it texture and body. All, of course, added to the flavor of the cake which already contained lots of carrots and pineapple, including some pineapple juice.

What really made this dessert so over the top, though, was the upside down bottom/top of the cake. Using a springform pan lined with parchment paper, Jack sprinkled the bottom of the pan with raw sugar, and then an abundance of blueberries, pineapple chunks and grated carrots. The batter went in on top of that.

After it was baked and unmolded, Jack spooned over it a reduction of pineapple juice and Frangelico hazelnut liqueur. Reduced to a sticky syrup, the sauce was good enough to eat on its own. (It would also be fabulous over vanilla or hazelnut ice cream. Hmm...maybe I'll make some hazelnut ice cream to accompany what's left of the cake tonight!)

Finally, powdered sugar was added to create a snowy top. This also served to create an element of surprise when the cake was cut into.

Our trusty helper, Tino, enjoyed licking out the batter bowl as much as we enjoyed the finished cake!

Finger snout-lickin' good!

My Recipe File - Part I - A Lifetime Collection of Memories

My recipe file contains years worth of food stained recipes I've collected from various cooking classes over the years, as well as restaurants I've worked in, magazine clippings, and best of all - treasured recipes handwritten by my mother, father, sisters, cousins, aunts, a great aunt, my husband, my brother's girlfriend who later became his wife, and various other family and friends, some of whom are no longer living. Every time I see any of these, it brings back memories of the person and situation it came from. Although I never intended it as such, this is my treasure trove!

A divine recipe from the first person who taught me to cook - my mom - in her handwriting.

My dad's Mediterranean Sour Dough Bread, in his handwriting.

Plating instructions with wine pairings, written by my husband, before a dinner party we gave, years ago.

Soup recipe written by a dear friend.

Dip instructions written by another dear friend.

Recipe given to me by my sister-in-law, before she married my brother. (It has her maiden name).

A recipe from one of my aunts, copied out in my sister's handwriting.

From another aunt, in my college handwriting.

A recipe from my dad's mother. My mom's mother was also a great cook, but she did everything from memory - never wrote her recipes down.

My mom's Florentine Cookie recipe, which I copied in grade school. I think I had just learned cursive handwriting!

I wrote out this recipe of my mom's, when I was in high school.

My great-grandmother's Blueberry Cake recipe, written for me by my great aunt (her daughter), when she was in her 80's.

Brownie recipes from a neighbor, my 7th grade home economics teacher (the purple mimeographed one), and the wife of our neighborhood grocer.

Menu and plating ideas from a class with Lydia Shire.