The Silver Palate's Apricot and Raisin Bread

Last week, I was a baking maniac! Our little church was having its annual summertime flea market - a huge event for the little community in which I live. The ladies of the church always have a long bake table and sell all manner of sweet treats, pies, cakes, quiches, breads, muffins, scones, and preserves. My contribution this year was a double batch of scones (cranberry/almond and mango/ginger) and this quick bread ... there were cookies made too, for the grill station lunch specials that the men's group heads up. I was beat by the end of the weekend, but it was great fun working on the event and seeing everyone enjoy each other's company!

IHCC - Chicken with Sliced Lemon and Fried Onions

It's pot luck week here at I Heart Cooking Club and I couldn't resist going back to a Madhur Jaffrey cook book that I love. I've been wanting to make a spicy chicken dish to have with caraway rice and some garden vegetables ever since taking the camera out to my flower beds. I was taking pictures of the flowers the other day and all the vibrant marigolds reminded me of India and Indian cuisine. Since then, I have been telling SB that we were due for some spicy Indian dinners.

Pizza Sauce ...

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore!

Plum Galette and Asters ...

Stone fruit galette ... oh, what an easy and elegant way to share the plums that came home from the market this week! This dessert is such a quick bit of work, which is good at this time of year. There are tomatoes to cook down for pizza sauce and cucumbers to pickle, beets to blanch and freeze, potatoes to dig and dust off a bit before storing, squash to chop and freeze, zucchini to shred and bake with, basil to make into pesto and put up in freezer jars. It all seems so endless, and yet we know there is an ending coming. Then, there will be time to put up the feet and bemoan the lack of fresh produce. Right now, though, every spare moment seems to be used for canning, freezing, or stepping out for more pectin, jars, rings and lids, pickling salt, vinegar, or sundry spices.

Risotto with a Crown of Green Beans and Mushrooms

Classic Risotto a la Marcella Hazan  ... this is a simple summer supper ... after a day of making and canning pizza sauce for our weekly pizza pies. A glass of chilled white wine and big bowls of this beautiful dish ... feet up for a ball game on the television ... and the day ended well.

Marcella Hazan gives us such a nice little tutorial on making risotto in her classic cookbook called Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. She makes a distinction between the firmer and stickier risottos of the Piedmont, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna regions of Italy and the smoother, looser and runny versions of the Veneto region in northeastern Italy. This looser, gooey, saucier version is my preferred risotto. Hazan calls it 'wavy' or all'onda. I call it gluten free comfort food.

Warm Glass Noodles with Edamame and Sesame Seeds

Could it get any greener ?

Panzanella with Chourizo

Dinner came right from the garden this evening ... the sun was still in the tomatoes. Really! They were warm from the sunshine. SB picked a big bunch of basil that smelled incredible! The corn that came from a friend's roadside stand was chilled from the burlap bag that held it in icy water. SB pulled an artisan loaf from the freezer that I'd baked a month ago and then shucked the corn in the back yard while I put together the rest of the tomato and bread salad. While the salad rested, we boiled up the corn. Such a simple supper that was so satisfying!

The Virtual Supper Club - Beer Battered Onion Rings !

This month, The Virtual Supper Club visits the Country Fair ... 

Can country fair fare be made 'lighter' ? Believe it or not, yes! And here's the proof ... this batter has no egg yolk and no milk. There is no deep-fried method in making the rings ... there's a quick stove-top fry in minimal canola oil and then a finish in a hot oven to complete cooking the onions and build a crispy crust (that would have been accomplished in that sea of hot grease!).  So ... let me digress a bit ...

Two Words ...

One Last ....

Blueberry Pie ...

Lovin' Summertime !

Blackberry Picking ... A Bumper Crop of Summertime Recipes

Time to pick blackberries! High summer's here and the blackberry patch on the Lindquist family farm is giving them up big time! SB and I hit the thorny patch yesterday afternoon and picked quarts of them ... without even making a dent in the numbers. The birds are happy, the mice are happy; even Mimi, the smart little Corgi nibbled a few that got dropped her way.

Mushroom Mezze - I Heart Cooking Club

Mezze - A spread of various vegetable and meat dishes that commonly act as a starter to a larger feast in Middle Eastern countries ... reminiscent of Spanish tapas or French hors d'oeurves.