buttermilk bran muffins with raisins

Right off, I have to tell you this is my very favorite muffin. Given a choice of big banana, lemon poppyseed, apple spice, blueberry, morning glory, or lemon drizzle yogurt - or this bran - I'll pick it every time. It's just the right consistency, just the right amount of juicy sweetness from the raisins, the tang of buttermilk, the hint of cinnamon. The only problem I have with this muffin is its refusal to shine in a photograph. I must have tried to photograph these ten times, and it always comes out the same - brown. The raisins don't show, the texture looks ordinary. This is my UPS muffin - brown, brown, brown. So when you make them, give them a little encouragement and affection for being humble, brown, and incredibly tasty.

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease two Texas size muffin tins ( this recipe makes about 12-13 muffins)

3 cups bran

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup canola oil

2 1/2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour

2 1/2 t. baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

3 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups raisins, dark or golden

In a small bowl, mix the oil, boiling water, raisins, and one cup of the bran. Let sit.

In mixer bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the eggs and buttermilk and then the bran and oil/raisin mix. Mix well.

Using an ice cream scoop of normal size, place two scoops in each greased muffin tin cup.

Place tins in the middle of the preheated oven, and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes in the tins, then remove from tins to a cooling rack. These freeze incredibly well, and are a terrific snack to keep in the car or in your bag or lunch basket.

the black raspberries are ripe!

The best way to enjoy black raspberries? Warm from the sun with sugar and cream.......

a cool dessert - creme patissiere with berries

It is hot and very humid (97%) in New Hampshire today - and the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven for a fresh fruit tart. So, I thought, why bother? I made the classic creme patissiere pastry cream and simply layered it in glasses with strawberries and blueberries.

Fast, easy, and oh so delicious!

You will need a heavy bottomed saucepan for this.

To make:

1 cup milk

1 t. vanilla or a vanilla bean, scraped into the milk

1/4 cup sugar plus 1 T. sugar for the egg yolks

3 egg yolks

1 T. flour

1 T. unsalted butter

Heat the milk in a saucepan on medium, adding the vanilla and the 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk quickly, and make sure you do not let it boil! When sugar has melted in, remove from heat.

In a mixer bowl, place egg yolks and 1 T. sugar and whip until pale yellow and somewhat thicker, then add the flour and whip a little more.

Add half the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, stirring quickly, then pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place back on heat, whisking as you heat it again. The mixture will quickly become thick, and at that point, take off the heat and whisk in the 1 T. butter until melted.

Spoon over fresh berries and serve .

fresh! tabouli with chopped mint & crispy veggies

This is such a delicious salad to eat on a hot night - loaded with fresh, choppped herbs and vegetables, and simply dressed with fresh lime juice and olive oil.

The recipe comes from my old herb group in this small town - a large group of mad herb gardeners who spent most of the gardening months swapping plants, rooting tiny sprigs, and yes - even digging up a coveted , and ancient, daylily or trillium - in the dark.

To make:

1 cup bulgar

1 cup boiling water

Cover bulgar with boiling water, fluff with fork, and leave to absorb the water for a half hour.

Add:

3 diced Roma tomatoes

1 peeled and diced cucumber

4-5 diced radishes

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup chopped mint

1/2 cup sliced scallions

1/3 cup snipped chives

Dress with:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

salt and freshly cracked pepper

Fresh - and healthy!

making buttermilk biscuits

When I was 9 years old and newly arrived in Pascagoula, Mississippi, my mother signed me up for the local 4-H club, where I learned to make these biscuits. I think that time was where the foodie germ came from, because I went on to win a blue ribbon for my biscuits - and from that moment on I never stopped cooking.

In Mississippi, many folks eat biscuits every day - and not just for breakfast. I still remember visiting my next door neighbor, Linda Gail Ivy, after school and sitting at her table dipping buttermilk biscuits in pools of sticky molasses, while her sister blasted the music of local-boy-made-good, Elvis Presley. We looked at each other and rolled our eyes, then got back to the business of eating biscuits.

After years of trying to find a recipe that resembled the one I remember making - I found it, or close to it - on Homesick Texan (.blogspot.com). She's listed on blogs here, so if you click on her blog, then click on top favorites, you'll find the recipe.

I made several batches today - and three sizes of biscuits. I use a drinking glass to cut out two of them, and a pastry tip to punch out little tiny ones for my granddaughter's "tea party". Big, big hit - and big mistake, since she spooned at least a tablespoon of that strawberry jam on each tiny biscuit and down her sparkling white Mexican dress. The big ones are being frozen for our 4th of July strawberry shortcakes - and the medium ones? Gone in a flash............

Addendum:

While the ingredients list seemed to be what I remembered ( except we used lard instead of butter), Ms. Homesick Texan and I have very different ways of technique. The technique I learned was to handle the dough as lightly as possible, and the dough was as soft and silky "as a baby's bottom". Some of my taste testers preferred my method, which made for a softer biscuit, and one that didn't toughen as much after baking.

So herewith, the directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, cut in little pieces (or 1/2 lard, 1/2 unsalted butter)

2 cups flour ( if you have a flour bin , fluff up the flour before measuring, and use a knife to even off the cup measure)

1 T. baking powder

1 t. sugar

1/2 t. salt

3/4 ( plus or minus) buttermilk

Fluff up flour and measure into a mixer bowl. Add the baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the cut up butter and/or butter and lard and mix until you see pea-size bits of butter in the flour. Add the buttermilk, starting with between 1/2 - 3/4 cup. Mix briefly. If it holds together well, and looks moist, then do not add any more buttermilk. If it still looks dry, add a little buttermilk at a time until it holds together in a damp ball. Remove from bowl to floured board.

Briefly, squeeze dough and form into a ball. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out gently to about a half inch thickness. The dough should feel silky and soft as "a baby's bottom".

Using a drinking glass, cut out biscuits and place on a baking sheet that has been fitted with foil. You can re-use the scraps, but don't handle it too much or it will toughen.

Place biscuits close together, and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes.

Remove and cool.

This will make about a dozen medium sized biscuits, about 9 large, and a zillion little pastry tip baby biscuits for tea parties.

green soup in shotglasses - kale and sweet pea soup with mint

I have always wanted to serve a soup in shotglasses like the fancy restaurants do. This week, not only did my never-to-be-missed swap shop at the dump have four pristine shot glasses, but I had just picked up some Red Russian kale at the farmer's market. So instead of the traditional English pea soup with mint ( English peas are the kind you pop out of non-edible pods and can buy frozen year round) - I decided to cut the sweetness of a straight pea soup with kale. It worked beautifully!

The Red Russian kale has softer leaves than the frilly, somewhat tough kale you buy toward the end of the summer and into fall. You can blanch or simmer it in a matter of minutes, and serve with just olive oil and salt and pepper. It's a more interesting green side dish than spinach, and goes with everything. You can also use it in the traditional kale soup with linguica. But my favorite way to serve many greens is in a pureed, intensely green, loaded-with-vitamins soup - and in these shot glasses with a little mint and chive , it looked just beautiful.

You will need:

1 cup vegetable or chicken stock

2 cups water

1 T. scallion greens, sliced

1 T. jasmine rice

2 cups sliced Red Russian kale

1 cup English peas ( frozen is fine)

1 t. unsalted butter or olive oil

dash hot sauce (optional)

Bring stock and water to a simmer. Add scallion greens and jasmine rice. Simmer for 15 minutes, then add the kale. Cook another ten minutes, add the peas, simmer another five minutes. Using a regular blender or immersion blender, puree the soup with:

1T. sliced mint

1 T. scallions

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Serve in shot glasses or bowls with a garnish of chives and mint.

Featured in Tastespotting!

making strawberry jam

For years, strawberry jam making was a huge undertaking - I'd go to a farm, pick flats of berries, and come home to process two dozen jars for the family's PB&J sandwiches for the year. Now, I might make a few jars a year.

It always starts when I come across a fruity waft of strawberry - this time at the Farmer's Market. I grabbed the quart box of tiny, almost-wild strawberries and spirited them home. Fresh strawberries are so perishable - in a matter of hours they can turn brown and mushy, so I hulled them and stuck them in the freezer. Long ago, I read this tip from a grower, because it makes a juicier jam. This morning, my schedule was clear, the storms were coming and going, and I had plenty of time to make the recipe carefully. Since I make a country jam with no pectin added, it's important not to rush.

First, prepare your jars and lids. You want to simmer them in hot water, then, using clean tongs, turn them upside down on a very clean cloth.

Prepare your heavy stockpot and wash very well.

To make:

1 pound hulled strawberries ( about 2 1/2 cups)

juice from two lemons

1 3/4 cup sugar, warmed in an oven briefly

Mash the berries and simmer in the pot, along with the lemon juice. Since this is a small amount of jam, you need to watch the jam carefully- it burns quickly, and then it's ruined.

Simmer berries and lemon juice about 15 minutes.

Add the sugar and stir constantly .

Using your wooden stirring spoon, lift up a few drips of jam and watch carefully. You'll be able to tell the jam is almost done when it thickens and is slow to drip. This took about 20 minutes today.

Ladle the jam into jars, screw on tops, and let cool on a thick towel. I was making just one pot of jam that I planned to use immediately, so I used plastic wrap, then a paper cap tied with twine.

I find this a really useful recipe, because you can use small amounts of just-picked berries through the summer for a few jars of jam. The jam is heavenly - soft to spread, just the way I like it.

Enjoy!

-Katrina Hall