I love the fragrance of Meyer Lemons. They strike me as kind of “tangeriny” if you will. In the wine world I believe you’d say “notes of tangerine”. So, whenever I see a recipe which features them, I focus in. A couple of weeks ago I found a recipe on a site called “Foodness Gracious” for Meyer Lemon-Blackberry Scones. I immediately saved it and waited for a moment to try them. I am also a big fan of blackberries. I like their size, think they have a great texture and they present well – I like that they are not the mainstream berry selection. I have been working on a Lobster-Blackberry Cocktail – think shrimp cocktail, as I think the visual of the lobster and blackberry in a pretty glass is intriguing. Will get back to you when I perfect this. Yesterday I found five meyer lemons at Whole Foods so I thought today was a perfect day to try this scone recipe out.
These scones were in the oven when I began this post. Even though it was raining this morning (I can’t remember it raining on May Day – and so sorry for the first day of the Mansion in May) and it is against my better judgment to bake scones when it is raining, I decided to continue with the experiment. I wanted to test the intensity with which the meyer lemon flavor would come through and the degree to which the blackberry flavor would supplement. This recipe also calls for baking powder and baking soda – unusual for a scone. Formulas in scone recipes always interest me. The fragrance was good while they were baking and I did sample a couple of bites. They are good, but considering that I added more zest than called for and 1/2 cup of juice, the meyer lemon flavor is pretty mellow. It must be because the recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour. This is more than usual for a single batch of scones. The blackberries provide a nice little burst. Will work on punching up the flavor on these and think the recipe is worth another try on a sunny day – didn’t get the loft I was looking for and the texture was more “cakey” than I like. Well, nothing ventured…. It’s just that the meyer lemon season is very short.
Well, you can see I uploaded a picture of one of the scones. I actually did this myself today and while I fumbled around for a long time, I am happy that I worked through and got something in place. This is a monumental step forward for me.
I am watching a robin take a bath in a puddle in my driveway which reminds me how disturbed I am – a rainy day always upsets the apple cart for me. Yesterday was so gorgeous and, silly me, I just thought today’d be the same. So, my agenda today has to be revamped – it could be a good recipe-testing day – but no more baking.
I have three new magazines to check out: the May issue of Saveur which features bread, May issue of Food and Wine and most enticing for me – the June issue of Tastes of Italia – featuring Venice – oh Gosh, I can not wait to go back there – planning for Aug 26!!!!! I recently caught Katherine Hepburn in Summertime -circa 1955 – filmed in Venice, with a pretty steamy (for 1955)Rossano Brazzi – I hadn’t seen this in a very long time and it was wonderful. If you haven’t seen this movie and love either Katherine Hepburn, Venice or just, old movies, I highly recommend it!
If you have a moment, check out the website for Trade Secrets 2012 – the fundraiser (garden tours, market, etc) for Women’s Support Services that Bunny Williams does every year at her home in northwestern Connecticut – “in the Litchfield Hills”, as they say. This is a beautiful part of Connecticut that I have often haunted around in with my sister-in law, and it is well worth the trip if you have time. There is very good antiquing around there, too. This year the fundraiser is on May 19 and 20. I am hoping to make it. I am a huge fan of Bunny Williams, one of my favorite books being her “An Affair with a House”. This is one of those books I get out over and over again to refresh her sensibility in my head. I also love John Roselli’s work (Bunny’s husband) – he is into big scale and I am beginning to experiment with that. And, he loves to cook. Check them out. They have shops in New York – Treillage on East 75th Street and John Rosselli Antiques on East 61st among others. If you google them you will find lots of good info. I feel some exciting field trips coming up!
I should mention that after thinking about yesterday’s post, I have decided that publishing recipes readily found elsewhere on the internet on this site is unnecessary. Where there are particular changes to them that I feel strongly about, I will post that information. So, as a rule, I will only post my original recipes on this site. If you are looking for something in particular and can’t find it, just let me know.
Well, that’s all for now………