Tag Archives: Features

Amy and her family went cherry picking this week and we were the lucky recipients of 1 and 1/2 pounds of ruby-red goodness.

After we’d eaten handfuls of the raw fruit, Zac was inspired to make a buckle with rest the leftovers. It was the perfect summertime dessert or even breakfast.

For the topping:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. of butter (one stick)

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 T. finely grated fresh ginger

1 t.  vanilla

1/4 t. salt

For the buckle:

1 T. unsalted butter

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3/4 c. sugar

zest of 1 lime

2 eggs

1 T. vanilla

1/2 c. plain greek yogurt

2 cups cherries, pitted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

Make the crumb topping by combing all the ingredients except the vanilla in the bowl of the stand mixture and mixing on low. Once combined, drizzle with vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk together thoroughly. Cream butter, sugar and lime zest together stand mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in-between. Add vanilla.

Next, add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, followed by 1/2 of the yogurt. Repeat, scraping down the bowl,  until all the flour has been incorporated. Fold in the cherries and pour into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter and bake for 45-50 minutes, one until the top is golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Serve with plain or with a dollop of yogurt.

Buttered bread, thinly sliced radishes and a sprinkle of sea salt. Perfection!

Buttermilk  chicken is amazing because the buttermilk acts as a tenderizer and conveys the spices deep in to the chicken during the marinading process. The result is a perfectly seasoned grilled chicken that’s bursting with flavor.

Last night, I had  every intention of photographing each step of the process for this blog post, but I ended up skipping the pictures. My house is bursting at the seems with guests and I just couldn’t get motivated for a proper photo shoot.

Which is great news for you, actually. Because instead of pictures of me stirring, you’re getting pictures of adorable puppies. Which is what you really want anyway. Win/win, y’all!

Buttermilk Chicken

What you’ll need: 

8-10 bone-in chicken thighs (or thighs and legs)

A half gallon of buttermilk

6 cloves of garlic, minced or put through a garlic press

1 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

6 two-week-old Maremma pups (garnish only!)

Place the chicken thighs in a gallon zip top back.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (except the puppies).

Pour the buttermilk mixture over the chicken. Seal the bag and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Remove the chicken from the bag, discarding the marinade.

Grill to an internal temperature of 180 degrees.

Voila! The most flavorful, tender grilled chicken you’ve ever tasted!

Asparagus is my absolute fav green vegetable. I like it steamed, roasted, grilled, wrapped in prosciutto. I like asparagus in served any way you can think of so long as it isn’t overcook. Overcooked asparagus should be classified as a crime against humanity. Properly cooked asparagus should have some snap to it, which is why asparagus pickles are a very, very good idea. My recipe is based on Marisa’s from Food in Jars. (Marisa’s was based on the recipe from Putting Up. Circle of life, y’all.)

Never pickled anything? No worries! Pickling only sounds complicated. It’s actually easy-peasy and the rewards more than make up for the hour or so it will take you to make them.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Start by trimming your asparagus. You want it to be about a half inch shorter than your jars so that they will fit. Trim off the ends, reserving them for asparagus soup if you like.

Now you’re ready to blanch the asparagus. Blanching just means plunging the asparagus into boiling water very, very briefly, then submerging into a ice bath to stop the cooking. I’ve found the best way to do this is to bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. While waiting for the water to come to a boil, fill the sink with water and add lots ice. (This is a great time to clean out the ice maker.)

When the water is at a rolling boil, remove it from the stovetop and place it on the counter beside the ice-filled sink. Working in batches, drop the asparagus in to the pot and remove with tongs immediately to the ice bath. Continue until all the asparagus has been blanched, the remove from the ice bath to a tea towel to dry.

Place the lemon slices, garlic cloves and dried chills into the sterilized jars. Pack the asparagus into the jars, dividing them evenly. Bring the vinegars, water, salt, pickling spice and red pepper flakes to a vigorous boil on the stove, then pour the pickling liquid into the jars, covering the asparagus but leaving a little head room at the top.

At this point you can either allow the jars to cool and pop them in the refrigerator or process them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Either way, wait at least 24 hours before devouring.

We’re still up to our elbows in blackberries here at my mama’s house. Not that I’m complaining, mind you!

Blackberry Syrup is the perfect want to celebrate a bumper crop of blackberries. It’s crazy simple to make, requires only three ingredients and takes less than an hour from start to finish.

Just combine 1 1/2 cups of rinsed blackberries, 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a heavy bottomed pan and place over medium low heat. Bring to the barest of simmers for one hour and then strain the solids through a fine mesh sieve, pressing on the pulp to remove as much juice as possible. Decant into a clean bottle and refrigerate.

Such a nice change from maple syrup!