Lemon Tarragon Teacake

Teacakes. Is it not the most adorable word? It conjures images of flowery tablecloths, delicate china and smiling aunties.

Tarragon is a social chameleon. The Gatsby of herbs. It gets along just as well in sweet dishes as it does with its more common savory partners. This recipe demonstrates the former. Lemony, sweet and dense, Lemon Tarragon Teacake is the perfect showcase for tarragon’s delicate, mellow flavor. Confectionery sugar creates a nice crisp top.

For the full herb garden effect, try it with lavender, chamomile, jasmine or a similar floral tea.

Lemon Tarragon Teacake – serves 10

2 T lemon juice
2 eggs
1/4 C canola oil
1 C sour cream
3 C confectionery sugar
2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3 T chopped fresh tarragon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium size bowl, combine lemon juice, eggs, canola oil and sour cream. Mix in confectionery sugar 1/2 cup at a time.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the fresh tarragon

Pour into a metal loaf pan and bake for 55 -65 minutes until a wooden tooth pick comes out clean.

Blueberry Muffins

I really miss the farmers markets. During the summer months we keep the kitchen stocked with fresh local vegetables and fruits – especially berries. This time of year though, the only fresh berries around are very tart, bathed in pesticides and have traveled thousands of miles.

Rather than going that route, I like to either freeze a few pints in the summer when they are at their peak, or buy locally grown and packaged frozen berries. It sounds counter-intuitive, but frozen berries are not a terribly tragic option in the winter because they are packaged and frozen at their peak, and therefore retain their nutrients and flavor nicely.

I will say though, once thawed, frozen blueberries do lose some of their plumpness, so I like to bake them into muffins.

This recipe for blueberry muffins also calls for an optional half cup of walnuts to add texture and protein. Walnuts also offer vitamin E, omega 3 fatty acid and antioxidants. Combine that with blueberries and, dare I say, you may have a superfood muffin on your hands.

Blueberry Muffins – makes 12 medium sized muffins

2 C flour
1/2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1/2 C sugar + some for sprinklage
1/3 C sour cream
1 C milk
1/3 canola oil
1 1/2 C frozen blueberries
1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)
Non-stick spray or desired grease for the pan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl – if you wanted to get really fancy, I suppose you could sift the ingredients together.

Using an electric beater, mix the egg, sugar, sour cream, milk and canola oil in a separate bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with the beater until just combined, getting rid of any lumps.

Stir in the nuts, if using and then carefully stir in the blueberries. Try not to disturb them too much so that the batter will stay batter colored, rather than turning purple. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that the contrast looks nice and the berries stay juicy.

Pour into greased muffin tin. There should be enough batter for each cup to be filled to the rim – this along with the reaction of the soda and powder should result in a nice muffin top.

Sprinkle the top of each with sugar – I like to use turbinado for this application because of the larger granules and nice golden color.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Ingredient origins: Flour – Vermont; Baking soda – unknown; Baking powder – Massachusetts; Salt – Maine; Egg – New Hampshire; Sugar – Florida; Sour cream – Vermont; Milk – Vermont; Canola oil – unknown; Frozen blueberries – Maine; Walnuts – California

Apple Pie

Who doesn’t love apple pie? Especially this time of year when the apples are fresh and sweet. I got the apples for this pie at a local orchard. Normally I like to use McIntosh apples for pie, but I heard recently that Northern Spies are good for pie because they keep their shape well. This turned out to be true – the slices even stood up to a good toss with the other filling ingredients without breaking.

Another ingredient to note is honey, which I added to the pie filling. I debated whether it would add too much moisture, but in the end decided the flavor would be worth it, and it was. When my husband tasted the pie, he guessed right away that there was honey. It added a nice richness. I chose not to add spices like cinnamon this time because I didn’t want to detract from the apple flavor.

This pie turned out to be light and satisfying, and not at all filling. That may be because I didn’t add butter to the filling as is usually done. The result was an almost refreshing apple pie.

Apple Pie – yields 8 slices

Pie Pastry:

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter, ice cold and diced
7 – 9 T ice cold water

Pie filling:

6 – 8 pie apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 C flour
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2 T honey

Start with the pastry dough so that it can rest in the refrigerator while the filling is made. Blend flour and salt in a large bowl. Drop ice cold butter into the flour and either cut with a pastry blender, or blend in a food processor until it it has the consistency of large crumbs. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, lightly tossing until just incorporated. Form a ball out of the dough, cut it in half and refrigerate 10 – 15 minutes.

Peel and slice apples while the dough chills. Add flour, sugars and honey and toss until the apples are evenly coated.

Take dough from refrigerator and, on a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to somewhere between an eighth to a quarter of an inch thickness and about 10-11 inches in diameter. Lay the bottom pastry in a 9.5 inch pie plate. Place a pie bird in the center (Or make a cone out of tin foil. Pie birds are good to use in liquidy pies with top crusts because they allow a channel for steam to escape without causing the crust to leak or the filling to overflow). Surround the bird with an even layer of the apple filling.

Gently fold the top pastry into quarters to find the center. Unfold. With a knife, make an X in the center of the pastry. Carefully slip the bird’s head through the X when placing the pastry over the top of the pie. Seal the crust by brushing a light coat of water around the lower pastry. Remove excess dough around the rim. Crimp the edges. I do a press and fold method – press with the right thumb, fold with the left.

Seal the bird into the pie with some of the excess pie dough. I made him a little scarf with a fringed edge. And he thought he was going someplace cold. Ah birds…

Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the crust is lightly browned and starts to look like pastry and not pastry dough.

Allow to cool for a 2-3 hours before slicing.

Ingredient origins: The flour came from Vermont. The salt – who knows? It was another regrettable Costco purchase not to be repeated. The label says Cargill of Minnesota, so there’s no way for a consumer to know the precise origin of this product. (Cargill is the same industrial food giant responsible for knowingly selling a slurry of slaughterhouse waste and ammonia labeled as “Chef Selection Angus Beef” frozen hamburgers to consumers, according to the New York Times.) The butter came from Maine. The apples came from a nearby orchard. To be honest, I’m not sure the origin of the sugars. I purchased them a while ago and immediately stored them in glass jars on the counter top, tossing the packaging. The honey also came from Massachusetts.

Tarragon Pollock with Herbed Figs

We are members of a CSF – Community Supported Fishery. It’s similar to a CSA, but instead of produce, it’s fish that comes fresh from the ocean that morning. Whatever is caught is what we get. Today’s catch was pollock.

This dish is similar to meuniere, except I added fresh tarragon to the butter. Tarragon gives the pollock a delicate, earthy flavor. The thyme and rosemary lend savory undertones to the figs, keep them from being too sweet. Overall, the fish and figs combined offered a good balance of flavor.

I served it with a simple salad of Boston lettuce, which was dressed with olive oil, brown rice vinegar and freshly ground salt and pepper.

Pan-Seared Pollock - serves 2

3/4 – 1 lb of Pollock, filleted with the skin on
1 T fresh tarragon, chopped
2 T butter
1/4 C flour
1/2 t salt

Cut the fillet in half, dry it off with a paper towel and dredge it in salt and flour for a light coat. Melt butter in a large skillet until it foams. Add tarragon and swirl to infuse the butter, 15- 30 seconds. Do not let it brown. Place fillets in pan, skin side up and cook on medium high heat for 3 minutes. Turn fillets carefully, cook 6 minutes. If the fish is not cooked through, cover and cook another 3 minutes.

Herbed Figs - serves 2

6 ripe fresh figs, halved
2 T butter
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

Melt butter over medium heat in small skillet until it foams. Add herbs and swirl to infuse the butter. Place figs cut side down in pan. When butter and juices begin to bubble, turn heat down to low and allow to cook slowly for 15 minutes, turning once or twice. This can be done while the fish cooks.

Boston Lettuce Salad - serves 2

1/2 head of Boston lettuce
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of brown rice vinegar
2 grinds of salt
2 grinds of pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Turn using tongs until leaves are coated. Divide into two bowls and serve.

Ingredient Origins: Pollock – Fresh from the waters outside our door; Tarragon – Massachusetts, Butter – Maine; Flour – Vermont; Salt – Maine; Figs – California; Rosemary and thyme – Massachusetts; Boston lettuce – Massachusetts; Olive oil – Italy; Brown rice vinegar – California; Pepper – India