Monthly Archives: August 2010
Blueberries for Sal
It was another good weekend. We headed to Maine after work on Friday and awoke to a perfectly blue sky on Saturday morning. It was chilly. In fact, the temperature was only 43 when Howard took Bella on her morning walk. Brrrrr. That’s a little cold for the first week of August!
This weekend was the Maine FiberArts Tour. I had read in the local (Maine) paper that there were two farms open for visiting in New Gloucester, so we went to see. First, we visited Acker’s Acres Angoras, where Beth has about 100 angora rabbits, and she spins their hair into yarn. I bought a skein and can’t wait to make a very soft scarf for the winter.
Next, we visited Betsey Leslie at Ewes to You. She was a very interesting person. She gave us an in-depth tour of her farm, walking us through the entire process from sheep to fleece to yarn. We met her 8 Border Leicester sheep, two parents and 6 offspring. She does everything by hand and had demos of her dying, carding, and spinning processes. She had a wonderful color palette, and I couldn’t resist and bought a skein of Spring Tweed, a blend of gold, blue, and green.
Shortly after we returned home, my cousin Debbie and her family returned from their trip to Acadia. We spent a pleasant evening hearing about their week of adventures. I gave Debbie a cooking lesson, teaching her to make last week’s guacamole. Then we all shared a dinner that everyone pitched in to make. Howard made the burgers. Debbie shucked the corn and made the salad. Scott sautéed the zucchini and summer squash. Michael made the salad dressing. Kyle kept us company. I guess I didn’t really do anything except supervise. After dinner, Scott, Kyle and I played Monopoly, and Scott creamed us. Fortunately, we set a time limit on the game, as Kyle and I were going down fast.
I took advantage of having company to make a Blueberry Bannock Scone for breakfast. In the past month, we’ve picked 3 or 4 quarts of blueberries from the bushes at our house in Maine, mostly from one abundant bush near the dock. Our blueberry picking is relaxed, home turf foraging, not a dramatic mother/child separation tale (human and bear) like my childhood favorite book, Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey.
Mostly we’ve been eating them for breakfast with melon or yogurt. I wanted to make this breakfast cake, which is baked like a cake, but you cut it into wedges. It isn’t very sweet and has the texture of scones with a blueberry filling. It seemed like the perfect thing to make for company, especially because it’s not something that Howard would ever eat and not something I need to each all of!
Blueberry Bannock Scone
Adapted from Martha Stewart
1¼ c all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pan and your hands
½ c finely chopped almonds (or almond meal)
½ c wheat germ
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
5 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup (5-1/3 Tbsp) unsalted butter, chilled
½ c buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 cup blueberries
1 tsp water
Preheat the oven to 400F. Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour (to prevent sticking) and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, almonds, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp of the sugar. Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers (or cut in with a pastry blender or fork), until it has the consistency of small crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk with 1 of the eggs. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. The dough will be wet and sticky.
Divide the dough in half. With well-floured hands, pat one half into a 9-inch circle on the floured baking sheet. Spread the blueberries over the circle, and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp sugar. On a lightly floured piece of wax or parchment paper, pat the rest of the dough into a another 9-inch circle. DON’T FORGET TO FLOUR YOUR HANDS. Carefully place the dough on the wax paper on top of the dough with blueberries, like a sandwich. Gently press the edges together.
Beat the remaining egg with 1 teaspoon of water and brush the egg wash over the top of the scone cake. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 Tbsp sugar.
Bake until cake is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Once it’s cool, you can cut into wedges and serve.
Serves 8 or more.
Restaurant Review: Parsons Table
Last night, I tried a new restaurant with my friend April. April suggested the place, though she hadn’t been there before. We went to Parsons Table in Winchester, Massachusetts.
The town of Winchester is right next to Lexington. I’ve lived in Lexington for 17 years, and I lived in Arlington, another bordering town, for 4 years. In all those years, never mind the years I lived in Cambridge and Boston, I have never been to downtown Winchester. My only destination in Winchester is Mahoney’s Garden Center, and the route to get there doesn’t go through the center of town. Their town center seems charming (though mostly closed down at dinner time), worth a return trip during daylight hours.
Our meal at Parsons Table was a pleasant surprise. The restaurant is right up my alley. The food was creative, nicely prepared and well-presented. Many of the ingredients were locally sourced with the farmers or fishermen identified on the menu.
April and I made joint choices and shared everything. We ordered rose wine to drink, made from some of my favorite red wine grapes: Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre.
We started our meal with mussels from Jonesport, Maine, with chopped chorizo. It was cooked with a smoky tomato and lobster broth that we used all the available bread to soak up the juices.
For our main course, we shared two different entrees. The first was scallops from Gloucester with creamed corn and sauteed chanterelle mushrooms. The corn provided a rich sauce for the scallops. The other entrée was wild striped bass with a finely diced ratatouille on a bed of eggplant puree. The fish was served with its crispy grilled skin, and the white flesh, though mild, went well with the vegetables. Again, we cleaned our plates.
We thought we would pass on dessert, but decided to indulge after all. We shared a fondue made from Tazo Chocolate (produced in Somerville) with pound cake and fresh berries for dipping. The chocolate was rich and creamy. I have tried bars of Tazo chocolate and often find the texture to be grainy, but it turns out that it melts to be perfectly smooth.
This is the kind of place that will change its menu seasonally, so I look forward to going back to try another season’s menu. It was a great find. Good choice, April!
On another note, I recently discovered the blog Public Radio Kitchen, produced by my local public radio station WBUR. They blog about a variety of food-related topics, A few weeks ago, I emailed them to see if they’d consider adding my blog to their blogroll. Today, I got a response to let me know I’d been added. Check it out. You can find Plateful listed under the category “Healthy Eatin’, Livin’”.
A Plateful of Happiness 