Category Archives: Summer

Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta

We feel lucky that a lot of the food we eat comes from farmers and producers that we know personally and have bought from for many years.

During this pandemic we have to tried to support them more than ever, especially as the bulk of their revenue comes from restaurants that have been closed or operating at limited capacity for some months.

The current situation also presents opportunities. A farmer emailed to say they had a glut of newly harvested pink eyed peas. The timing didn’t work out for them to include them in their weekly CSA box, and there simply wasn’t the demand from restaurant customers to shift them so we were offered a great deal on a 10lb bag of fresh pink eyed peas.

A 10lb bag of pink eyes peas is pretty big, but undaunted we managed to find good uses for every last one. Some we gave to friends, others we blanched, packed into 1lb bags and stuck in the freezer for winter, but we simply had to eat some of them while they were fresh. The fresh peas only took 7-8 minutes to cook in a pan of salted boiling water.

Tomatoes are also plentiful at the moment so it seemed obvious to combine the peas with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes and enjoy them piled onto freshly toasted homemade sourdough.

Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

A generous pinch of chilli flakes

1.5lb fresh tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

12oz cooked pink eyes peas

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, salt, basil and oregano. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the pink eyed peas and simmer until warmed through (about 10 minutes).

To serve as bruschetta, toast or grill slices of bread just before the peas and tomatoes have finished cooking. Rub the warm bread with a clove of garlic, then pile the peas and tomatoes on top, season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Alternatively, you could serve the tomatoes and peas on generously buttered hot toast for more of a “beans on toast” vibe.

Carrot Top and Arugula Pesto

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I’m a big fan of using every scrap of produce I can in the kitchen so when I recently picked up a bunch of multi-coloured carrots at my local farmers market I didn’t want the greens to go to waste once we’d eaten the carrots.

Carrot tops can be a little bitter and not to everyone’s taste but mixed up with other ingredients to balance them out you can still make use of them in the kitchen.

I opted for pesto, with some peppery arugula / rocket, raw cashews, grated parmesan and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil. I was delighted with the result: bright and fresh with earthy, herby undertones this would be great with pasta or spread on a sandwich.

Carrot Top and Arugula Pesto

Greens from one bunch of carrots (about 2oz), washed, drained and coarsely chopped

3oz arugula (rocket) leaves, washed, drained and coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp sea salt

3oz raw cashews

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3oz grated parmesan

Place the carrots, arugula, garlic, salt and cashews in a food processor and process for around 30-45 seconds to mix well.

Add the cheese and the olive oil and process for another 30 seconds or so until smooth.

Serviceberry Shrub Summer Cocktail

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This year was a particularly good one for serviceberry foraging, with our harvest far larger than we’ve ever managed before. I made jelly, syrup, started off a batch of liqueur and made serviceberry shrub, and I still have a couple of bags stashed away in the freezer to play with at a later date.

I’m a big fan of shrubs, or drinking vinegars, loving the blend of fruity sweetness and the tartness from the vinegar. I usually drink them diluted with sparkling water but this weekend I felt the urge to do some cocktail experimentation with my serviceberry shrub.

I was perfectly willing and quite prepared to try any number of concoctions to find something I liked but as luck would have it, my very first attempt resulted in a drink that was delicious, refreshing and well balanced. I would describe it as “dangerously drinkable”, so enjoy in moderation.

I may come back and tweak the recipe but as it stands I can see myself enjoying a few of these during the hot days of summer.

Serviceberry Shrub Summer Cocktail

2oz Serviceberry Shrub

1oz bourbon

4oz ginger ale

Pour the shrub and the bourbon over ice in a short tumbler. Add the ginger ale and enjoy.

Jam and Other Recipes for Strawberry Season

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Strawberry season has arrived in Georgia. Here the season starts at least a month before it does back home in Britain so it is more of a spring than a summer fruit. When friends and family are enjoying berries at their peak across the pond it will already be too hot in the US South for this fragile fruit.

So we have to take advantage of the strawberry crop while it lasts, and we normally do, stocking up at local farmers markets and making a few trips to our favourite pick your own place where we invariably get carried away and fill far more buckets than we originally intended.

Luckily, we have a range of strawberry related recipes up our sleeves to make the most of the fruit now and preserve some to enjoy all year round.

The obvious starting point is to enjoy some of the berries as soon as possible, usually with ice cream, whipped cream or with added meringue to make an Eton Mess.

Next our thoughts turn to jam. Our go-to strawberry jam recipe (details below) is based on one from the excellent “River Cottage Preserves Handbook” by Pam Corbin.

Once you’ve made your strawberry jam you can treat yourself to a cream tea, or even make some cream tea inspired chocolate truffles.

One great way to preserve the strawberry harvest is to turn it into a drink. Strawberries make a great dry, rosé wine for summer sipping. You can find the recipe here. Winemaking is relatively straightforward but does require a bit of equipment and some patience, but liqueurs and infusions are pretty simple, and you can infuse your harvest in something a little stronger to make strawberry liqueur or a strawberry bourbon.

I don’t like anything to go to waste in my kitchen so I have even found a way to turn the leftover, strained strawberry pulp from making liqueur into chocolate truffles as well as a delicious dessert.

Strawberries also make a great vinegar. You can use it in dressings or drizzle it on both sweet and savoury dishes but we usually drink it, diluted with sparkling water. Again, we use a Pam Corbin recipe.

I’m also a big fan of Marisa McClellan’s recipe for strawberry chutney at Food In Jars. It’s a wonderful accompaniment to an aged cheddar.

Strawberry Jam

2.25lb strawberries, hulled and quartered

2.5 cups granulated sugar

2.25 cups granulated sugar blended with 1 tsp pectin powder

0.66 cup lemon juice

Put 7oz the strawberries in a preserving pan with 1 cup of the plain granulated sugar. Crush with a potato masher. Place over gentle heat and when the mixture is warm add the rest of the berries. Stir gently with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. After bringing the berries to a gentle simmer, cook for about 5 minutes until the berries have softened.

Whilst it is cooking, place a couple of saucers or small plates in your freezer to enable you to test later for when the jam has set.

Add the remaining granulated sugar and the sugar and pectin blend. Stir gently to prevent sticking until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the lemon juice. Increase the heat and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil rapidly for 8-9 minutes then test for the setting point.

Test for a set by putting a small spoonful of the jam onto one of the frozen plates. Return it to the freezer for a couple of minutes then test by pushing your finger through it. If it is thickening and the surface “crinkles” when you push it, it is set. If the consistency is still liquid carry on cooking for a little longer.

When the setting point has been reached, remove the pan from the heat and stir gently to disperse any foamy scum on the surface.

Pour the jam into sterilised jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace and then process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes. If you need to know more about water bath canning there is a good introductory guide on the Ball canning website.

“99”

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In the middle of summer I often find my mind drifting to memories of back home.

At this time of year I particularly miss the English seaside, even though most of my childhood memories revolve around spots along the East coast where the breezes can be strong, the beaches pebbly and the murky North Sea rather cold.

No seaside trip was complete without an ice cream, usually a “99”. For the uninitiated, a “99” is a cone of soft ice cream with a Cadbury’s Flake sticking out of it. A little research shows that no one really knows exactly where or when the “99” was invented or where the distinctive name came from, but pretty much everyone in Britain knows exactly what it is.

An authentic “99” relies on soft serve ice cream so it is almost impossible to recreate at home. You really need to get it from a kiosk or an ice cream van serving a famous British ice cream brand like Mr.Whippy. That is why most people think of it as a treat, associating it with days out and special occasions.

Luckily, I found a way to replicate this iconic summertime treat in the heart of Georgia.

First I tracked down a couple of local sources for Cadbury’s Flakes, and stocked up.

Secondly, I had made a note of a video published a couple of years ago by Saveur magazine on making your own soft serve ice cream at home, using a stand mixer and dry ice.

The mix for soft serve is much lower in fat than regular ice cream and needs to be frozen much more quickly than a regular home ice cream machine will manage. You achieve this by putting the mixture in a stand mixer, churning it with the paddle attachment and slowly adding adding spoonfuls of dry ice which rapidly freeze it, whilst also bubbling like crazy and sending clouds of dry ice smoke around the kitchen, which is a lot of fun.

Just a few minutes later you’ll have ice cream with the taste and texture of soft serve. Just add a Cadbury’s Flake to give yourself a taste of an English childhood.

The full recipe and details for the ice cream are here: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/soft-serve-ice-cream

Cream Tea Truffles with Scones, Strawberries and Clotted Cream

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Summer has definitely arrived. Here in the South the days are long and both the temperature and the humidity levels are firmly in the 90s.

Across the pond the last couple of weeks have seen the tennis at Wimbledon when my thoughts automatically turn to the vast amount of strawberries and cream that would have been consumed during the two weeks of the Championships, washed down with copious amounts of champagne and Pimm’s.

Strawberry season is long gone in the South but I can still temporarily transport myself back to the English summertime with a traditional cream tea of scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream.

Like many English food traditions the exact origins of the cream tea are lost in time and the south western counties of Devon and Cornwall both argue that their versions are true and original. They even disagree on whether the jam or the cream should go on the scone first (cream first in Devon, jam first in Cornwall).

For the uninitiated, clotted cream is another creation of south west England, a delicious spreadable cream, rich in fat, made by gently heating full fat cow’s milk and then skimming off the thick creamy crust that forms on top as it cools. It is commercially available in the UK but can be hard to find in the USA. Luckily you can make at home with a little patience.

Scones, strawberry jam, clotted cream. A wonderful trinity of delicious ingredients and when thinking about cream teas I couldn’t resist the thought of transforming them into a bite sized treat. The English summer in a single truffle.

First you need to assemble your ingredients. For scones, my go-to recipe is this one from River Cottage. River Cottage is also the recipe source for the jam I make every strawberry season, from their excellent book, “The River Cottage Preserves Handbook”.

You can make your own clotted cream by gently heating cream and scraping off the thick crust that forms on top as it cools. The key is gently heating it without boiling it, so it can be done in a low oven, a slow cooker or on a stove top in a double boiler. I went the double boiler route, using this recipe for guidance.

It is then simply a case of combining the scones, strawberries and clotted cream with chocolate to give you a delicious taste of summer.

Cream Tea Truffles with Scones, Strawberries and Clotted Cream

3oz scone

2oz clotted cream

2oz strawberry jam

3oz white chocolate

6oz milk chocolate (to coat)

Crumble the scone into a bowl. Add the strawberry jam and clotted cream and stir to combine.

Gently melt the white chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler or a glass bowl over a pan of water. Once melted add it to the scone / jam / cream mixture and stir together. When cool, place in the refrigerator until the mixture is firm.

Taking a teaspoon full of the mixture at a time, roll into balls to form the centres of the truffles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then return to the fridge to firm up again.

Melt the milk chocolate for the coating in a double boiler. Dip the truffle centres in the melted chocolate to coat and place on baking parchment to set before enjoying.

Yield: 18 truffles

Georgia Peach Bellini Truffles

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It’s peach season here in the peach state and I’ve already knocked out a batch of jam from some of this year’s crop.

Although the jam is fantastic generously spread on hot buttered toast I couldn’t resist having a go at a batch of chocolate truffles, trying another twist on my favourite recipe for alcohol infused truffles.

My inspiration was the classic Italian Bellini cocktail, a mix of prosecco sparkling wine and peach puree. The truffles just need chocolate, peach jam and a little bit of prosecco, so you’ll have some left to sip as you eat the truffles.

It’s a pretty simple recipe and the results are delicious.

Georgia Peach Bellini Truffles

8oz white chocolate

8oz dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60%)

4oz Peach Jam

4 tsp prosecco

Melt the white chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler (or use a glass bowl over a pan as I do).

Once melted add the jam and prosecco and stir to combine. Allow to cool and then put in the fridge until the mix is firm.

Use a teaspoon to scoop walnut sized balls from the chocolate mix and roll into balls. Put the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and then return to the fridge to firm up again.

Melt the dark chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler and then coat the chocolate balls. Once again place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray for the chocolate to cool and set before enjoying.

Georgia Peach Jam

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The topic for the Food in Jars mastery challenge for June is jam. As I live in the Peach State and the first of this year’s Georgia peach crop has just started to show up in local farmer’s markets it seemed the ideal candidate to turn into jam.

Sadly, the Georgia peach crop for 2017 is estimated to be 80% down due to a warmer than average winter followed by a spring freeze, so I need to take advantage of what I can get my hands on before the supply dries up.

My jam is based on Marisa’s recipe from “Food in Jars“, although I tweaked the amount of cinnamon and nutmeg from the original recipe.

The jam turned out really well and will be a welcome reminder of this year’s crop when the limited supply disappears.

If you have any spare jam, you can use it to make a decadent treat: bellini truffles. Click here for the recipe.

Peach Jam

2 lbs fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped

2 cups granulated sugar

Zest and juice of a lemon

0.25 tsp cinnamon

0.25 tsp nutmeg

3oz pack of liquid pectin

Put the peaches and sugar in a large non-reactive pan and stir well to combine. The peaches should start releasing their juice. Bring to a boil and add the lemon zest and juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook over high heat for 15-20 minutes.

Add the pectin and and bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. The jam should have thickened. Remove from the heat.

Yield: Three 8oz jars

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Serviceberry Shrub

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I wrote last year about my delight in discovering a serviceberry tree on public property in my neighbourhood, which gave me the chance to do a spot of urban foraging and make something delicious from the berries I picked.

I’m glad to say that I have subsequently spotted a few more serviceberry trees within walking distance of my home meaning I can grab a decent haul of the sweet red berries but leave plenty on the tree for other foragers and birds.

The window for picking is relatively short. There was about a one week period where I was making daily strolls to pick berries from the abundant supply. I then returned from a couple of days out of town to find that the trees were bare of berries and that was it for this year.

Luckily I had gathered enough to make something delicious. Last year I opted for a sweet, thick syrup, perfect with pancakes. This year I decided to turn my berries into a shrub, or drinking vinegar. I make these regularly, especially when I have a glut of strawberries or blackberries, but have never tried with serviceberries before.

The result is absolutely delicious; it’s a pity that I’m going to have to wait another year until I can make some more.

Serviceberry Shrub

Ingredients

12oz fresh serviceberries

1 cup distilled white vinegar

Granulated sugar

Place the berries in a glass or ceramic jar, crush lightly and add the vinegar.

Leave to steep for 4 days, stirring or shaking daily.

After 4 days strain the fruit. Then add the sugar: I use a 2:1 liquid to sugar ratio but you can adjust to your personal taste. After straining I had around 10 fl.oz. of liquid so I added 5oz of sugar to it and then gently heated it in a pan over medium heat, stirring regularly until the sugar dissolved, about 10 minutes.

Once the shrub is cool, bottle it and store in the fridge.

I usually drink my shrubs diluted with sparkling water.

Sourdough Pancakes with Serviceberry Syrup

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When I lived in Britain I had a pretty good grasp of plants that I could forage for locally: wild garlic and hops in the spring, blackberries in late summer, sloes in the autumn.

Moving to Georgia meant a different seasonal calendar as well as new, unfamiliar plants. One fruit that was totally new to me was the serviceberry, also known as the juneberry or saskatoon berry. I first heard about them through the work of Concrete Jungle, an Atlanta based non profit that harvests fruit and nuts from thousands of untended trees around the city and donates them to the poor and hungry. Their map of food sources in the area shows an abundance of serviceberry trees around the city. Last year I stumbled upon a solitary tree on public property in my neighbourhood and tried these delicious, sweet little purple-red berries for myself. This year I managed to pick a few cups of berries to experiment with whilst leaving plenty for other foragers and the local birdlife.

I turned my haul of serviceberries into a gorgeous bright purple syrup that paired beautifully with a stack of sourdough pancakes but would also be great on waffles, or stirred into oatmeal.

Serviceberry Syrup

4 cups serviceberries

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

Add the water to the serviceberries in a saucepan and crush. I used a potato masher.

Slowly bring to the boil over medium-high heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool a little and then strain through a jelly bag or muslin. This yields about 1 cup of juice.

Add 1 cup of sugar to the cup of juice and heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce has thickened a little. Do not let it boil.

Once it is cool pour it into a jar or bottle and it will keep in the fridge for two months.

To enjoy my syrup I whipped up a batch of sourdough pancakes. My go-to pancake recipe is this one from kingarthurflour.com which calls for sourdough starter and the preparation of an overnight sponge, so it takes a little planning. I found it worked perfectly for me as I left the berries to strain overnight whilst the sourdough batter bubbled and worked its magic. If you have less time on your hands this is a great alternative recipe.

Once you have a stack of freshly cooked pancakes, drizzle generously with syrup and enjoy.

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Brit In The South

A Blog from the Deep South with a British Twist

Category Archives: Summer

Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta

Carrot Top and Arugula Pesto

Serviceberry Shrub Summer Cocktail

Jam and Other Recipes for Strawberry Season

“99”

Cream Tea Truffles with Scones, Strawberries and Clotted Cream

Georgia Peach Bellini Truffles

Georgia Peach Jam

Serviceberry Shrub

Sourdough Pancakes with Serviceberry Syrup