Nectarine Upside-Down Graham Cake

It’s always upsetting when fresh produce begins to go. We bought some lovely nectarines at last week’s farmer’s market and sadly, due to a week of entertaining and a subsequent plethora leftovers, the nectarines sat, virtually ignored for much of the week until at one point my husband resigned them to the refrigerator. They’re not bad, just a little tired. They needed to be revived. Reinvented.

The weather has turned chilly and damp here, and the wind is now whipping off of the water, so I decided to turn my sad nectarines into a warming upside-down cake. In the spirit of maintaining some level of healthfulness – they should have been a nutritious snack, after all – I made this cake with half whole wheat graham flour. The result is a hearty, dense cake that’s not too sweet. Fruit and fiber make this a less than sinful option for breakfast or brunch.

P.S.: by the way,  just FYI – this is YankeeCook’s 100th post. Hooray! I thought of installing one of those falling confetti, ticker-tape type plugins for this page, but I decided that would just be tacky. Too horn-tooty. Anyway, I’ll be sitting on my front steps waiting for those flowers you’re sending.

Nectarine Upside-Down Graham Cake - yields 6 to 8 servings

2 T butter
2 T honey
4 nectarines, sliced
2 eggs
1/3 C canola oil
1/4 C sour cream
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 C granulated sugar
1 C white flour
1 C whole wheat graham flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the butter at the bottom of 9 inch cake pan and allow it to melt in the oven while it pre-heats. Remove from oven. Drizzle the butter over the melted butter so that it is evenly distributed. Arrange the nectarine slices at the bottom of the pan.

In a medium size bowl, combine eggs, canola oil and sour cream. Gradually mix in sugar.

Sift flours, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Pour the batter over the nectarine slices in the cake pan.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until a wooden tooth pick comes out clean.

Allow to cool 10 minutes until the edges of the cake begin to pull away from the pan. Using a butter knife, loosen any edges that have not pulled away from the pan. Invert onto an oven proof dish.

Raise the oven heat to 500, and move a rack to the highest position. Place the inverted cake on the top rack so that the fruit caramelizes under the broiler for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven. Serve warm or cold with or without whipped cream.

Roasted Stuffed Figs

There is a chill in the air as Summer hangs up its floppy sunhat, puts on a scarf and goes by the name of Autumn again. While it’s sad to say goodbye to summer’s warm weather and produce, the best has just begun. Fall’s harvest brings all kinds of goodies, as you know. Aside from sweet squash and corn, more interesting and, dare I say, exotic fruits and vegetables are being grown and harvested in New England these days. Among them are figs.

More commonly seen in places like the Mediterranean, figs have made themselves comfortable right here in New England. Years ago, my mother saw figs at a local market and brought some to my grandfather, who had been raised in Italy. He hadn’t seen a fresh fig since he was a boy.

Well, I wish he could be here today to find them fresh and locally grown. The figs in this post came from a farm right down the road from us. Sweet and juicy, roasting condenses the sugars. I like them stuffed with a goat or blue cheese and drizzled with olive oil to add a little earthiness. Freshly chopped mint brings a subtle herbal snap to keep things from becoming too cloying.

Though this certainly seems like a decadent snack, figs are quite nutritious and low in fat. They contain vitamin A and C to prevent scurvy, as well as calcium and potassium.

Roasted Stuffed Figs – serves 4 -6

12 black mission figs
4 oz goat cheese
2 T finely chopped fresh mint
drizzle of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the stem off of the fig and cut a cross from the point to about halfway down. Gently open the fig and stuff with a teaspoon of goat cheese.

Arrange the figs on a lightly greased baking dish. Top with a sprinkle of mint and drizzle with olive oil.

Place the sheet on the top rack of the oven closest to the flame or element. Cook for 10-12 minutes until the cheese begins to brown slightly and the kitchen fills with the aroma of figs.

Cucumber Salad

We’re having what may be the final barbecue of the year for us this weekend. After a season of potato salads and coleslaw, I was thinking a lighter side dish might be in order. Cucumbers are still going strong in our area, and so I was reminded of this Eastern European dish. Cucumber Salad is cool and refreshing and makes a great accompaniment to barbecued meats.

This is my husband’s recipe. It’s satisfying but light, and offers an excellent alternative to typical mayonnaise-based sides; yogurt and sour cream provide far more calcium and protein than typical potato salad, and cucumbers offer far less carbohydrate.

Greek yogurt gives the dish more structure than plain American style yogurt, and the sour cream lends its sweet creaminess. We got our garlic from a vendor at the Rowley Farmer’s Market and the cucumbers came from a farm down the road.

Cucumber Salad – serves 4 – 6

1/2 C full fat sour cream
6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed and diced
2 cucumbers
1 t dill
salt to taste

Peel the cucumbers, halve lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

In a large bowl, toss the cucumbers with garlic, sour cream, yogurt and dill. Season with salt to taste.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with dill, if desired.

Summer Couscous Salad

It’s late August and fresh, ripe veggies are being picked in gardens and on farms across New England. The sun and the rain have done their thing, and now the year’s very best peppers, radishes, zucchini and tomatoes are ready to leap from their vines (or soil as the case may be) and onto a table near you.

It’s lovely really, but it can be tough to tell what can be done with so many veggies all at once. What is a good dish to utilize such a great combination and bring out the best notes in each vegetable? There are obviously plenty of options, but the following Couscous Salad is a dish that I’m fond of this time of year because it can be served warm or cold.

Zucchini absorbs a little butter flavor while it sautés with the pepper. Tomato and radishes add a little sweetness and tang. Feta rounds out the bunch with a little brininess and the couscous keeps things under control.

Summer Couscous Salad – serves 2 – 4

1 C dry couscous
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 bell pepper (purple adds a nice color)
1 zucchini
1 tomato
5 radishes
3 ounces feta cheese

Prepare couscous as directed.

Cut the zucchini lengthwise into quarters and then into 1/4 inch pieces. Cut the pepper 1/4 inch pieces. Melt butter over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the butter begins to foam add the zucchini and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes until softened and lightly brown, adjusting heat accordingly.

Meanwhile, halve the tomato and remove the membrane and seeds. Dice into 1/4 inch cubes.

Halve the radishes lengthwise and finely slice.

Dice the feta.

Remove the zucchini and peppers from heat. Toss all vegetables with the couscous and feta. Serve warm or cold.

Gazpacho

Hot. Humid. Availability of fresh, local vegetables. Yup. Perfect conditions for gazpacho.

As you may be aware, tomatoes are best served fresh from the vine at the height of summer, because they taste like – brace yourself – tomatoes! Sweet, juicy, luscious tomatoes. Freshly picked summertime tomatoes are completely different from the crimson, grainy guys found in supermarkets. Fresh local tomatoes have that deep, almost gleeful magenta color throughout the fruit and a happy-go-lucky sweetness too. They’re just joyous little beings, like doughnuts ready to be snacked.

Fortunately, it is now the height of summer. If you have a garden, great. I advise that you check for plump red tomatoes. Go now. I’ll wait. If not, perhaps you live in an urban area, make friends with the nearest neighbor with an urban garden or one of those upside-down hanging tomato planters. Do what you need to do in order to get in on freshly picked perfectly ripe tomatoes while their hot – or still warm from the afternoon sun.

Gazpacho is a great way to showcase the sweetness of fresh tomatoes. I also used fresh local cipollini onions, garlic, green peppers and a cucumber, all of which were generously bestowed upon us by a friend whose cup runneth over with CSA produce. Always happy to help a fellow locavore, we gladly accepted the veggies. Thank you, if you are reading this!

Some like to blend gazpacho. I do not. Because a blended soup is a wonderful, light treat. A cold soup is a wonderful, refreshing treat. A blended cold soup is a cold vegetable smoothie eaten with a spoon. Not my idea of a fabulously satisfying meal. If it is going to be served chilled, the least it can do is provide a little tooth.

Tomatoes contain plenty of vitamin C, vitamin K and lycopene. Onions and garlic – originally consumed for medicinal purposes – also contain vitamin C and are said to offer antibacterial and cardiovascular benefits. Despite the heavy glug of olive oil in this recipe and the bread, I consider gazpacho to be a supremely light. Refreshing, light and nutritious – the perfect food for summer.

Gazpacho - serves 2 – 4

4 fresh medium tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 clove garlic
1 cipollini onion (small to medium in size)
1 t ground cumin
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C water
3/4 C cubed baguette
1/2 t salt

Finely dice all of the vegetables. Combine in a large, non-reactive bowl. Add cumin, vinegar, olive oil, bread, and salt. Salt is important because it will draw the liquids out of vegetables to make the  gazpacho more soupy.

Refrigerate for one hour. Using a masher or the back of a slotted spoon, mash the soup until the bread bits are broken up and the juices are rendered from the vegetables.

Serve cold.