image courtesy califapricot.com
Obsessed – according to the free dictionary online is defined as : to preoccupy the mind of, excessively; hmmmm this is surely me- but in the best of all possible ways!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 But, you knew that already……. I obsess over food, flowers and farms – mostly, but not limited to, but in this time of year, well, yes. Only when I’m not busy obsessing over Italy…… but, I digress.
Two news items got me going yesterday. First, I was intrigued by a comment made by Alex Guarnaschelli, the famous New York Chef, Food Network regular, and fellow ICE grad, about her love and wide-ranging potential of the upside down cake. Yes, she is absolutely right. The iterations of this lovely and charming cake category are basically limitless. There are three basic components of this cake – the cake, the sugar-based syrup and the fruit. All three components leave much room for experimenting and creating. And, we are coming into the season where we can spend months trying out ideas.
Then, as a news and noteworthy item for Californians – there was actually a post about how there was NO Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market yesterday – in the town where there IS one every day – not having one on Monday, May 5 was news! Ahhhh, this place, the land of Alice W, Lindsey S and Thomas K, to name just three of thousands, and where the incidence of Farmer’s Markets is the fodder of news, makes me intensely jealous! But, you already knew that, too. (There are also some of my very perennial favorites – Emily Lucchietti, Alice Medrich, Nancy Silverton and Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson – all of whom I am in great awe of daily! I’m not meaning to leave anyone out here – I am just naming a few who pop to mind.)
The combination of these two news items got me to thinking about how all the world is relative, isn’t it? Relatively speaking, we are all happy to be embarking upon the slightly timid and slowly-moving-forward Springtime here, while out West, they are well into the height of the harvest time of some of the most coveted fruits anywhere – totally immersed in their lives of basically a continuing growing season. It must seem to them that just as soon as they plow under or finish harvesting they begin again.
Yesterday, Alex said she was going to make an upside down cake with almond flour batter and spicy plum jam. Yummy – Sounds great and I would gladly have had a sample!
Me, however? As soon as she mentioned this, I went off into a state of euphoric daze and mouth watering day-dreaming, imagining one with a honey and herb -infused bathing and swaddling of those gorgeous fresh apricots, just picked at Frog Hollow Farm, where I have obsessively (rather, covetingly) watching their harvest come in. Yes, check the date – May 1, yes, that’s right!!!!!
Last season’s jams are still wonderful, don’t get me wrong, and spicy plum send me off into another barrage of recipe ideas – but in the here-and-now we can be enjoying an abundance of the actual fresh-picked fruits of the season – on the West Coast, and in some who-knows-how blackbox of business dealing, perhaps some shipped to-the-east-coast second-class citizens – unless of course you get yours overnighted from Frog Hollow and those others who also provide this prized service for us desperate, can’t wait any longer types!!!!
Strawberries, Cherries and Apricots are at the top of the list right now. While perhaps the most famous of all Apricots come from Europe, past and present, these days the Californians are doing a great job. Apricots must be said to be one of the lesser indulged-in stone fruits – primarily due to their short growing season and the overtaking of peaches, plums, nectarines, etc in the marketplace later in the season. But, I adore Apricots and I have since I was a little girl, and continue to search out great ones.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/07/5402176/in-season-california-apricots.html
I am, as always, keeping a sharp eye on those coveted gifts on the West Coast – where they are “Jammin”, aka – picking, sorting and packing, with the Fresh Fruits right now, in the form of those three crop specialties, but not limited to these – not still resorting to long ago put up pantry items from last season. Ugh, yes, Alex, we are lagging well behind the curve here. And herein lies the huge perspective difference on the East Coast vs the West Coast, when it comes to the impact on our lives of the growing season. At Union Square we’re seeing Ramps and Radishes, maybe some early lettuces and peas, but no fruits like these. I am sure your cake came out great – and was an item to celebrate. But to me, it hardly seems fair that just as we begin to get really excited about the flow of fresh produce here, it rages up into what seems like a short flurry-and-rush of a few weeks and then begins to taper down again. How does that happen? July and August here just whiz by!
You know that I spend a great deal of time living vicariously through those lucky upon lucky people “over there”, yes, I do, for they live in a land where the Strawberry harvest came in well over 6 weeks ago! My new Strawberry plants were “frosted” and the fruit singed beyond repair about a month ago and, while I go out and stare at them each and every day for new signs of life, they have been stunted beyond belief.
I admit that I do indeed spend a lot of time bemoaning the fact that our growing season can be considered to be at least 3+ months shorter than theirs. Basically, nothing of newly grown and edible quality hits the markets here until, at earliest, May, with the planting season for most Summer-growing plants not even beginning where I live until after May 15. While Ina put her tomato plants out in East Hampton a couple of weeks ago(what?) – where she luckily gets the benefits of the warming of the ocean, we are still in danger here of frost for another 10 days at least! Ugh!
No wonder those California Chefs are able to create and flourish so well out there! They live in the “hot bed” of the growing season – pun intended – where moderation in climate is the key to their incredible lifestyle and resulting culinary, yes, GLEE! They have basically a year-round growing season to inspire them! Don’t get me wrong, these people work incredibly hard and for most of the months of the year to fully take of advantage of, well, their advantages.
Yes, Strawberries in Oxnard came in during the third week of March. I saw the fields with my own eyes – and I ate them first hand. They have now been harvesting Cherries for a couple of weeks. Those beauties make my mouth water and while, their crop has been hurt badly, we will have the benefit of theirs until the mid-west Cherries come in. The apricots began to come in last week. They are looking beautiful. Is this heaven or what? Check out the article in the May/June issue of Eating Well, entitled, “Precious Harvest”.
Here is a listing I found which summarizes the growing season in California: http://www.california-grown.com/PDFs/Whats-In-Season.pdf. This, you’ll see, is basically a year-round celebration.
You will note that in California, they harvest Lettuces and Peas beginning in January!
So, today I am inspired to think like a Californian. Upside Down Cake? How about a Fresh Cherry one – courtesy today, of that crop at Whole Foods?
But, actually, I didn’t really mean to focus on upside down cakes exclusively in this post. I meant to focus on those fruits, coming now, fast and furiously and all you can do with them – there is no end to the fun you can have in the kitchen with just what’s out there now – the Strawberries, Cherries and Apricots. How about seared duck breasts with a Cherry Sauce? One of my favorites – Chicken with Apricots. Or many a pork dish. Or just a big bowl of local Strawberries with a faint orange zest a sprinkle of Champagne and a dollop of the freshest Cream for Mother’s Day Dessert? Oh, don’t get me started……………
Because I was pretty heartened by the taste of two apricots I picked up in Kings and ripened on the window sill for a good 7 days or so last week, I am off again to try to score another batch. Today, I may try a cake and/or a Chicken and Apricot Dish. But, I’m guessing they won’t be ripe enough to cook/bake with today – even if I do find some. So, I’ll keep on thinking…….
Here is an article from the Kitchn which discusses making an upside down cake with just about any fruit:
Back to that cake – as Alex did yesterday, you can experiment with lots of flour bases as well. She was using Almond Flour. But, don’t forget that the Italians have been using Chestnut and Chick Pea Flour for ages! There are many nut flours out now as well as gluten-free options. So, go ahead and experiment. Of course, blending any one of these with all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour is an option as well.
I’m all into fruit/honey/herb combinations right now. I have lots of ideas swirling around – particularly that amazing Heather Honey from Wales I scored at Fortnum and Mason last year and the Tuscan Sunflower Honey from DiPaolo’s in NYC that I first tasted at the Newport Food and Wine Festival 2 1/2 years ago. OMG these are dessert-finery on their very own – on the level of the greatest Port, Cognac or rarest of rare – maybe even better than the aura of a Black Truffle? You see, I can easily get carried away.
And so, right now I, inspired by Alex and by those California Kings, aka farmers, am thinking of this – Apricot, Honey and Thyme or Lemon Verbena……. if I can find those apricots today, or soon, I shall execute and publish the recipe. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep on dreaming……….. perhaps there is one with that luscious Rose Petal Jam which so lovingly complimented those Lemon/Lavender/Peach Scones from last week. Last year I made my Rose Petal Syrup on June 5 – http://www.kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/06/05/harvesting-rose-petals-for-syrup-and-ice-cream/. this year I’m not even close to a bud yet – so making that jam’s going to have to wait awhile.
So, in the meantime (pun intended) if you can’t find any acceptable shipped-cross-country fruit offerings at your grocer, you can feast your eyes on the sites of Murray Family Farms, Frog Hollow, Blossom Hill, Big Tree Organic Farms and Masumoto Family Farms – just a hand-picking of my selections today.
On a related note, well, you know I am reading Rosemary and Bitter Oranges by Patrizia Chen. I am savoring this book over a number of days to fully ingest how lovely her life must have been. Yesterday I read the passage about when they made the Bitter Orange Marmalade from the fruits from their trees. It detailed the process of releasing the bitterness from the oranges before getting to the marmalade stage. Of course, only the peels are used. The pulp is discarded. I think an orange, lemon or lime version of the upside down cake is very intriguing, particularly paired with a complementary honey and herb. Anyway, the last of the great citrus crop from California can not be overlooked either. Citrus pairs well with a multitude of other fruits and every meal imaginable – food and drink. We all saw all of those crazy Margharitas yesterday, right? I think the Pink Grapefruit one sounded amazing!
Anyway, I’ve rambled on quite a bit here today. But, you get the point – if you want to eat locally and enjoy the longest growing season in this country – and be enchanted by the beauty and industry of the people who devote their lives to providing us these foods, you need to live in California, if you can, or at least live vicariously through them like I do, until such time as something “new” happens. But, I hope, if you took the time to read through this, I gave you at least one good idea to try. 🙂
And yes, yesterday, while they were harvesting their beauteous Apricots in California, I was at The Farm where there continued to be warning signs for planting before the ides of May. Sigh, heavy sigh………….