My grandma worried that we would get so bored that one year we would eventually resist coming.  I’m not sure why we worry as adults so much about the children in our lives being bored.  I know as I look back on my childhood memories, the softer, less thrilling moments are the ones I cherish most.  As I watch my own children, move in and out of boredom, what comes after bored is so interesting to observe.

“Mama, I’m bored.”

“Oh, excellent!  I can’t wait to see what comes after ‘bored.’  Whatever you discover, I know it will be terrific!”

I’m certain that this is one of the phrases that I give to my children which they promise to themselves they will NEVER repeat to their offspring.  We’ll see.

During one of my many childhood periods of boredom spend with my grandparents, we would don my grandpa’s old oxfords with the tails down to our knees and the sleeves rolled up to our wrists, armed with pails and some sort of muck boot.  We’d then tromp through the bushes to my grandma’s favorite haunts looking for whichever berry was in season – usually raspberries, blackberries, or my favorite, elderberries.  We would then trounce home, tired and sunburned and mouths watering for my grandma’s famous elderberry pie.

For the longest time I tried to recreate it with other berries, but eventually gave up the effort, resigning myself to reliving elderberry pie in my mind only.

Until this summer!  When the elderberry patch went into my garden!  It’s American Elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, and I should see my first pie next year.  My mom has always said that gardening skipped a generation and that my grandmother passed her green thumb on to me.  Thank you, Grandma, for the memories.  I’m so glad you are with me again in the garden.

Annie
Thinking of Cecile Hunt

Vanilla and Orange Poached Pears

4 pears
2 cups apple juice
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 peels of orange
1 vanilla bean, split
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 inch slice of ginger
1/3 cup crème fraiche (for garnish)

Peel the pears, leaving the stem on.  Place the pears in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients except crème fraiche and cover with parchment paper.  Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes or until the pears are tender when tested with a sharp paring knife.  Transfer the pears to a plate and remove the solid pieces from the liquid.  Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon, about 30 minutes.  Cool the pears in syrup with the parchment paper covering.  To serve, slice a sliver of pear off the bottom to get the pear to stand upright.  Serve either on a platter or individual plates with the syrup drizzled over the pears.  Spoon a dollop of crème fraiche next to each pear.

Serves 4

3 cups whole milk
3 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped or grated

Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it is just ready to boil.  Put the chocolate in a blender and pour in the hot milk. Allow the mixture to sit for 10-15 seconds, so the chocolate begins to melt; cover securely, place a folded towel over the lid, and blend until completely mixed and frothy, about 30 seconds. Serve with marshmallows.

Makes 3 servings.

Pastry:
1 1/2 cups flour
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup ice cold water, as needed

Pears:
8 Anjou or similar pears; peeled, cored and quartered
12 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar

Pastry:  In a medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add the egg and then the water 1 tablespoon at a time.  The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.  Form a disc with the dough and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place in the refrigerator until the pears are ready.

Pears:  Preheat oven to 375º.  In a 10-12 inch cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Remove from heat and sprinkle evenly with sugar.  Tightly pack the pears around the edge of the skillet and then pack the center so that they resemble a fan of sorts.  Return to medium-high heat and cook for about 15 minutes and the butter and sugar are caramelized.

Roll the pastry out on a floured surface into a 12-inch round.  Gently place the pastry over the pears and tuck the edges under loosely between the pears and the wall of the skillet.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pears are tender and the pastry is golden brown.  Allow tart to cool for  5 minutes and then loosen edges and invert onto a round platter.  Serve warm.

Serves 8-12

You can also use this recipe to make bars – simply spread the dough evenly in a greased 9 x 13-inch pan and bake at 350° for about 30 to 40 minutes.

16 ounces semisweet chocolate (either chips or coarsely chopped)
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler.  Set aside to cool slightly. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla lightly with fork; sprinkle in the coffee powder and stir until dissolved. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the egg mixture. Add the chocolate and beat until combined. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into the mixture and beat until just combined.  Do not overmix. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until it firms up to a fudge-like consistency. Line 2 cookie pans with parchment paper.  Form 1-inch balls and place them 1 1/2inches apart on the cookie pan. Bake about 10 minutes, turning the cookie pans about halfway through.  Cool on racks.

Makes 2 dozen.

Rhubarb Sauce

This one reminds me of my grandma.  She used to serve it with corn bread and sausage on one of those simple, comfort food nights.

4 cups diced rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (to taste)
1/2 cup maple syrup (to taste)

In a medium stockpot, cook the rhubarb, sugar and cinnamon over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the rhubarb has broken down.  Add the maple syrup to taste and serve.

Makes 2 cups

Cornbread

1 cup yellow or white stone-ground corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat the oven to 425°. Grease a cast iron skillet or 9 x 9-inch baking pan.  Stir the corn meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Add the eggs into the well and stir lightly with wooden spoon; then add the buttermilk and milk.  Stir quickly until almost combined.  Add the melted butter and stir until the ingredients are just combined.  Pour the batter into the greased pan.  Bake until the top is golden brown and lightly cracked and the edges have pulled away from side of the pan, about 25 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for around 5-10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm.  Alternately, cool in the pan and serve directly from the pan for a more rustic look.

Makes 4-6 servings

Every time I make this recipe, something I’ve been doing for 20 years or so now, with chocolate chips or without, with cinnamon or without, with nuts or without, it’s always successful.  Early this winter when E, our most excellent Shore Coordinator of All Things Important, smelled banana bread wafting from the kitchen into the office (this is both a blessing and a curse) she decided to truck right on home and make some.  Upon returning the next day, she reported that the bread had spilled all over the oven and had made a huge mess, culminating in setting off the smoke alarm in her apartment and with her tossing the bread into the trash.  This had never happened for me, so I tested it again, and without thinking used a different bread pan.  For the first time in the history of the making of this bread, the same thing happened to me.  At first I thought it was our ovens, both new, mine an old restaurant stove, hers a new apartment stove.  Maybe our temperatures were off, a common issue among stoves.  Testing the temperatures between our two stoves did not solve the mystery.  I then began to mess with the recipe to less than stellar results…. and gave up, sick of banana bread all together and frustrated with my lack of closure.

And THEN, yesterday, a rainy afternoon with tired children in need of a pick-me-up and bananas at the perfect stage of ripeness, I attempted banana bread again.  In my original pan.  I apprehensively checked the oven more times than was really necessary in an attempt to one, forgo the mess on the oven floor and two, to watch what was happening with the bread.

It came out perfectly, just as it ALMOST always has done.  After measuring both pans with a ruler, I found that they both share the same measurements.  One, however, is a non-stick, air-insulated loaf pan and the other a plain Pyrex loaf pan.  Then I measured by volume, thinking that the air-insulated pan, the one with the over flow issue, would carry less dough.  Wrong.  The Pyrex pan, the one that has always produced a perfect loaf, holds 3/4 cup less by volume than the over-flow, air-insulated pan.

And then came my ‘aha’ moment.  The Pyrex pan, without insulation is able to create an exterior crust more quickly and thereby give more structure to the bread.  The insulated pan delays the setting of crust allowing a floppy mass to spill over the edges and create havoc.  Mystery solved!

Crossroads Banana Bread
4 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease one loaf pan, 9x5x2 3/4 inches.  In a small bowl, pour the lemon juice and buttermilk over the mashed bananas; set aside.  In a large bowl beat the sugar, butter and eggs.  Stir in the milk.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into the bowl.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.  Cool for 20 minutes in the pan before removing.

Makes 1 loaf

Variation:
Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
You can make a delicious variation of this bread by stirring 2 cups of chocolate chips into the batter.  Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Annie
Saving the last of the bread for the girlies.

Cake:
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/4  cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch square baking pan.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs, then the milk. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just blended. In a separate bowl blend the butter, brown sugar and flour with your fingers, then toss in the apricots. Place half the batter in the baking pan and sprinkle with half the topping.  Repeat.  Bake for 30 minutes, until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan and cut into squares.

Makes 9 servings.

Key limes are touted for having a very special taste and while they are really wonderful freshly squeezed into drinks (especially the rum variety), on grilled fish or in a salsa, I’m surprised to say that they don’t really make a big difference in this recipe.  I tested using both kinds of limes and the pies were a tie each time.

Key limes are smaller, rounder and have a thinner skin than the Persian or Tahitian limes we more often see in the North.  When you are looking for limes, choose ones that have lighter green skins and are a little softer as opposed to the ones that are deep green and hard.  Key limes will sometimes tend toward yellow and this is fine too.

It’s common in lime pies to have a layer of whipped cream on the top of the pie, but I opted for a lighter version with a much smaller amount of whipped cream.  The pie is creamy and rich enough as it is and the small amount of cream is a nice balance to the tartness of the limes.  This dessert would also be a nice ending to spicy grilled fish or grilled chicken with a mango or pepper salsa.

Fresh Lime Pie

1 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 325°. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter together in a medium bowl. Press the mixture into an 8 or 9-inch pie pan and chill about 15 minutes. Bake until the crust is firm and crisp (about 10 minutes). In a medium bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, egg yolks and vanilla and beat until smooth and thick. In a separate bowl, beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar to the whites and continue beating until stiff.  Fold the whites into the lime mixture and turn into the prepared shell. Bake until the filling is set, about 15 minutes.  Cool and serve.

Makes 6 servings

Photo from Google Images – credit unknown

This is one of my favorites – and I don’t even like bread pudding!

Pudding:
Day-old French bread, sliced 1-inch thick, enough to cover the bottom of a 9-inch square pan.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
Dash of cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup raisins

Bourbon Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
Dash of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
1/4 cup bourbon

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Arrange the sliced bread in one layer in the bottom of the pan.  If there are large gaps cut some pieces to fit. Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl. Add the eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla and raisins and mix well. Pour the mixture over the bread and let stand for at least 5 minutes. Turn the bread over and let stand another 10 minutes. Cover the pan with foil and place it in a larger pan filled halfway with warm tap water.  Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes.  The custard should still be soft when done. Remove the pudding from the oven and the water bath and allow it to cool a few minutes. While the pudding is cooling, combine all the sauce ingredients except for the bourbon in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Continue to boil until the sauce has thickened so it coats the back of a spoon.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the bourbon.  Keep warm. Cut the pudding into squares and serve with the warm sauce.

Makes 9 servings