Willie’s Blackberry Crisp

In the Northwest we have 2 varieties of wild blackberries. One we seek out and the other seeks us out- and threatens to take over our garden every year. Both varieties are delicious, they just lend themselves to different uses. The small, coast trailing blackberry, with it’s sweet-tart flavor, is prized for cobblers, pies and jams. The large Himalayan, which is juicy and seedy, is best in crisps, jellies, spritzer base and vinegars. This recipe is a good way to use the larger berries that are so abundant.

Willie’s Blackberry Crisp
Makes 6 servings

Crust Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, beaten

Blackberry filling:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4-5 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

• Preheat the oven 375˚ F.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and blend in the egg, mixing until crumbly. Set aside.
• To prepare the filling, mix the flour and sugar in a small bowl. Place the blackberries in a large bowl and sprinkle with the flour and sugar mixture. Toss gently to evenly coat the blackberries.
• Transfer berry mixture to a well-buttered 8-inch by 8-inch by 2-inch glass baking dish and sprinkle topping over berries.
• Drizzle melted butter evenly over the crumbly topping. Place baking dish on a baking sheet to prevent spillovers into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.
  

Grammy's Chutney

Chutney is a sweet and spicy condiment that combines chopped fruits and/or vegetables with added spices. They may be served either cold or warmed, and are excellent over meats.

Grammy's Chutney

11/2 cups sugar
11/2 cups vinegar
1 large onion
1 green pepper
1 garlic clove
1 lime seeded and sliced thin
11/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup raisins

Caponata

The sweet and sour flavors of this braised vegetable condiment make it a nice accompaniment for grilled or roasted meats.

Caponata
Makes 8 Servings

2 eggplants, cut into small dice tossed with 1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 yellow onion, finely diced
2 red peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 yellow peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup pimento stuffed green olives, chopped
1/4 cup capers, drained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1-28 ounce can of diced tomatoes in puree

• Spread the oil coated eggplant on a baking sheet and roast at 350˚ for 25 minutes.
• In a Dutch oven over medium-low heat add 1/4 cup olive oil. Sauté the garlic, onion and peppers. Add the olives, capers, vinegar, sugar and tomatoes and turn the heat down to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Add the roasted eggplant to the tomato mixture and simmer for 15 minutes longer.
• Serve at room temperature.

Normandy Style Seafood Stew

Normandy is one of our favorite areas in France. The abundance of fresh seafood, butter, Calvados and ciders made us just want to go back to our farmhouse and cook. The halibut, scallops and mussels are wonderful with the fennel and Calvados.

Normandy Style Seafood Stew
Makes 8 Servings

11/2 pounds mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1 medium sized yellow onion
1 cup dry white wine
10 sprigs of parsley plus 1/4 cup chopped
2 cups leeks, white and pale green part only, finely chopped
2 cups diced fennel bulb
2 tablespoons butter
13/4 pound halibut fillet, skin removed and cut into 11/2 inch pieces
10 ounces fresh sea scallops
1- 8 ounce bottle clam juice
24 ounces fish stock
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup Calvados (apple liquor)
1 cup heavy cream

• Combine mussels, 11/4 cup chopped onions, wine, and 6 sprigs parsley in a 6-8 quart Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Cover and cook until mussels open, shaking pot often, about 5 minutes, Using a slotted spoon, transfer mussels to a large bowl to cool (discard any mussels that do not open). Strain cooking liquid into a bowl or large measuring cup; discard onions and parsley in strainer. Add 1 cup water to the mussel broth and set aside.

• Meanwhile, melt butter in the same Dutch oven over medium heat. Add remaining 11/4 cups onions, leeks, and fennel and sauté until leeks are soft, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Add your reserved mussel cooking liquid, 4 parsley sprigs, clam juice, fish stock, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Simmer uncovered until vegetables are tender and liquid has been reduced by 1/3, about 25 minutes. Add halibut and scallops to broth and simmer until just opaque in center, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer halibut and scallops to a bowl. Discard parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves.

• Serve in warm bowls with a crispy baguette and serve with your favorite bottle of white wine.

Keeping your Dutch Oven in Tip-Top Shape!

To ensure a long life for your pot, remember these basic guidelines:

1. Just rinse it out with a little soapy water and a soft sponge. To remove any stuck particles from your Dutch oven, soak the pot in hot, soapy water and scrub with a plastic scouring pad. Never use heavy abrasives or metal scouring pads.
2. On the stove top, cook over low to medium heat. Never use our Dutch oven over high heat for searing,g, or the enamel will crack and chip.
3. Don't leave an empty pot on a hot burner - the enamel will crack.
4. Please take care not to drop or bang your Dutch oven, as the enamel coating can chip. However, shipping does not make it unsafe to use.
5. Dutch ovens are ovenproof; however, the knobs and handles get hot and stay hot! Be careful! Always use two thick oven mitts when handling your pot.
   

Baked Short Ribs with Pasilla Pepper Sauce

This recipe turns out great when slow-cooked in a Dutch Oven. One of the "holy trinity" of peppers, the pasilla is a dried chilaca chile, and is one of my Mom and my favorite peppers to cook with. It's wonderful in moles and sauces. Its smoky yet mild flavor gives this dish an exceptional depth.



Baked Short Ribs with Pasilla Pepper Sauce
Makes 6 to 8 Servings

1 dried pasilla pepper, rehydrated, seeded, stemmed, and finely chopped (To rehydrate the pasilla pepper, place it in a bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for 5 minutes)
4 pounds beef short ribs (boneless), rinsed and patted dry, excess fat trimmed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 cup pureed roasted red peppers (if using canned roasted red peppers, be sure to drain and rinse them before pureeing)
One 14.5 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine
2 whole star anise
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
2 bay leaves

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• To prepare the ribs, season with salt and pepper on both sides. Put a 12" cast iron skillet over medium heat, then add the ribs, fat side down. Cook turning once, until browned on all sides, for 2-3 minutes. Transfer the ribs to a plate and reserve.
• Meanwhile, in a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven add the oil butter and heat over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to soften, for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the pureed roasted red peppers, pasilla pepper, tomato sauce red wine, star anise, cinnamon, five-spice powder, and bay leaves. Add the short ribs back to the pot. Wrap the lid with a slightly damp kitchen towel, pulling tight, placing the corners on top of the pot. Do not let the towel fall into the dish.

• Put the Dutch oven in the preheated oven on the middle rack. Cook until the meat falls apart easily with a fork, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Serve on a plate with buttered egg noodles.

This recipe is from my cookbook:
The Dutch Oven Cookbook: Recipes for the Best Pot in Your Kitchen
Click Here for details.

Cooking with Mom

My love for the culinary arts is a direct result of the absolute enjoyment my Mother takes in cooking. From her I learned the beauty of slow food, the social aspect of food, and how to share my table. I am so thankful for the delicious lessons learned in her kitchen.

This MI-Reporter article featuring my Mom and me is so wonderful, I just couldn't resist posting some of it:

If flipping through its pages makes you want to drop what you’re doing, run to the grocery store, go home and pull out a giant mixing bowl, says Sharon Kramis, that’s the sign of a good cookbook.

Not only did the former Reporter food columnist’s new book make me wish I was at home in my kitchen, it made me wish I was in my kitchen with my mom.

“The Dutch Oven Cookbook” (Sasquatch Books) is the second labor of love Kramis has produced with her daughter, 37-year-old Julie Kramis Hearne. A celebration of “the best pot in your kitchen,” it follows “The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook” with a hundred or so dishes, from Vietnamese pho to French beignets, that can come out of this slow-cooking cast iron pot.

The enthusiasm that mother and daughter share for the ability of both the Dutch oven and cast iron skillet to yield perfection clearly comes from a shared history of successful meals and the happy times that surround them. In a family whose cooks have done time at the Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, Anthony’s Restaurants, the California Culinary Academy and the cooking school of the legendary chef James Beard, memories are stored in the porous holes of cast iron as much as on the pages of photo albums.

When it comes to what goes on in the kitchen (or over the campfire, where many of their recipes can be produced), Kramis and her daughter are of one mind. When discussing food, it’s always “we” rather than “I.”

“It’s almost like we can read each other’s thoughts,” Hearne says. “When I’m cooking and I have a question, I just ask myself, ‘What would my mom do?’”

Even better than eating her mother’s food as a child, Hearne says, was helping to create it. “Making the pasta, making the sausage ... it was the whole process of baking that first loaf of bread,” she says. She recalls faking sickness so she could stay home from school to watch her mother teach classes in Sharon’s Kitchen, a cooking school Kramis ran for several her 40 years on Mercer Island. She later relished accompanying her mother as she trained with Beard at his cooking school in Seaside, Ore.

And after earning her degree in food science and nutrition (just like her mother), when Hearne met the man she would later marry, Kramis pulled from a box an old photo of Harker Hearne in the 8th grade, when he won first place in a cooking contest Kramis judged with his “Auntie Hope’s Fruit Pizza.”

“It all comes back to food,” Hearne says. (click here to read full article...)