Gastroanthropology

Cherry Cream Popsicle

After gorging myself with the better half of 25 pounds of cherries last week there came a point where I could not put another cherry into my mouth. With the mercury rising the idea of making jam or a cherry pie seemed totally unappealing. What to do?  

I've always loved, loved, loved frozen treats. Popsicles in particular. These cherry popsicles have strained yogurt and a touch of cream for a cool, luscious treat.

CHERRY CREAM POPSICLE

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp honey (cherry blossom honey if you can get it)
• 1 lb. pitted cherries (need about 1 1/4 lb. whole cherries to get 1 lb.)
• 1/2 cup strained yogurt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

METHOD

Strain yogurt. Do this by pouring about 1 cup of plain yogurt into a mesh strainer lined with heavy duty paper towel or cheesecloth. Place the strainer over a bowl and leave in the refrigerator overnight. You could also use Greek style yogurt and skip this step.

Heat water, sugar, and honey on medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Set aside and let cool to slightly warm or room temp.

Put sugar mixture and pitted cherries in a food processor and process until smooth. Strain the mixture. Whisk together the strained cherry juice with the yogurt and heavy cream. Pour into your popsicle mold and freeze. Once set, enjoy!

 

Cherry Clafoutis

I had the wonderful fortune of having one of those bad-ass grandmothers. Grandma lived with my immediate family for most of my childhood. Every morning she cooked us a hot breakfast and then sat with us while we ate. Grandma (with the help of Grandpa) cultivated a vegetable garden that would put most small farms to shame. She was sweet as sugar, but at the same time tough and fearless - I once witnessed her kill a rattlesnake with a shovel. What? Yes. She wanted to make sure the snake never came back into the yard for fear that it might bite us so she beat the thing to death. 

Grandma grew up on an island in South Korea, bore nine children, and was the wife of the captain of a fishing boat. She was often left alone for weeks or months at a time to raise her children (one of which was my mother) in a two room home. After my mom (the youngest girl of the lot) married my American father, my grandparents came to the States. 

While life was a bit more comfortable in the States I think my grandmother remembered the times when she went without. Fruit was a huge luxury during my Grandmother's time in Korea. We often went cherry picking when cherry season came around, and my Grandmother, bless her heart, would wear pants with the deepest pockets and slip cherries in them till they were bulging.

Grandma passed over five years ago, but she is missed and remembered by my entire family. Lots of things during my day to day life remind me of her, but when cherries come into season I always think of her and cherry picking.

We never cooked with cherries growing up - just ate them fresh. But now that it's just two at home when I have the wonderful fortune of too many cherries I have to think of different ways to use them. Thanks to some advice from my twittering foodie friends I decided to go with a cherry clafoutis. I contacted my former boss and pastry chef extraordinaire, Belinda Leong, for a tasty clafoutis recipe. She's just back in San Francisco after two years of working with the best pastry chefs in the best restaurants all over Europe. She's got something in the works you lucky San Franciscans. 

I baked mine in a cast iron skillet for no other reason than it was the perfect size, but it worked like a charm. I'd like to say I left the pits in the cherries because it is French tradition to do so, but in reality I've been cooking for the past two years without any kitchen gadgets (referring to the cherry pitter here), so couldn't be bothered with pitting. Worked great and prevented any bleeding of the cherries. Just warn your guests before they dive in and break a tooth. 

This recipe makes one clafoutis in a deep 6-inch cast iron skillet. It's the perfect amount for four, or in our case a greedy couple. You could divide the batter amongst buttered and sugared ramekins.

 

CHERRY CLAFOUTIS

• 2 large eggs
• 80 grams sugar
• 32 grams all-purpose flour
• 40 grams almond flour
• 100 grams whole milk
• 100 grams heavy cream
• 20 whole cherries (approx.), cleaned with stems off

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350F. Heavily butter a cast iron skillet. Combine the milk + cream together in a container. Combine the flour + almond flour in a bowl. Gently whisk them together to combine and break up any clumps of flour. Whisk together eggs + sugar in a medium bowl. Once eggs + sugar are combined, whisk them into the bowl of combined flours. Slowly stream the liquid into the bowl while whisking. Pour into the buttered cast iron skillet. Evenly distribute the whole cherries. Carefully place in the oven. Bake for about 18-20 minutes until the clafoutis is set and golden brown on top. Eat immediately. Absolutely not necessary but feel free to serve with a splash of fresh cream.

Muesli + Greek Yogurt

One of our staple cereals is Raisin Bran. Not because I like it, but because Nate likes it. When its on sale at Safeway, I've been known to buy an entire case. I hate having more than one box of cereal open because it goes stale, so when a box of Raisin Bran is open, that's the cereal I have to eat too. But I despise raisins. I can't think of one thing that I find is enhanced by adding raisins. So, before I pour the milk over my Raisin Bran I take the time to pick out every single raisin. Meanwhile, I'm cursing those two scoops - if they skimped on the raisins I would have less work to do. 

The particular brand that has two scoops of Raisin Bran is not easily found here in Europe. And when we first moved to Europe, Switzerland was home, where we discovered how much we loved muesli. I think of muesli as an uncooked, healthier version of granola. But, like my usual quips about cereals and trail mixes, no brand has just what I want. Its always too much of this and not enough of that. Solution? Make my own.

My muesli has a little bit of oats, spelt, and bran flakes, lots of almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and dried cherries, cranberries, and pineapple. 

Rather than drown all these delicious bits with milk, I add greek (strained) yogurt on top, with a drizzle of honey, and freshly grated apple. It's my new favorite thing to eat.

Sour Cherries

A few weeks ago Nate and I were in Door County, Wisconsin celebrating the marriage of two of our friends. Plagued with jetlag on the morning of the wedding and up hours before anyone else we took the opportunity to explore Door County. I had never been to Wisconsin and was pleasantly surprised. We were right on the lake, the weather was perfect, and the people were so friendly. Really friendly. Like we had a friend running late for the wedding who had to change in a gas station, and the lady running the station offered to iron his shirt friendly. Early that morning we drove past cherry orchard after cherry orchard. Sour cherries, often Montmorency, grow in these parts.

Since we were up early we got the first sour cherry pie out of the oven at a local pie shop, and had it for breakfast!

I couldn't really bring baskets of sour cherries back to London, so I brought back the dried version instead. Can't really make a delicious pie with dried fruit (unless its mincemeat pie), so I used the dried sour cherries to make one of my favorite cookie recipes - Oatmeal cookies with sour cherries and chocolate covered toffee bits. 

OATMEAL COOKIES + SOUR CHERRIES & TOFFEE

• 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 c butter, room temp
• 3/4 c sugar
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c rolled oats
• 1 c dried sour cherries, roughly chopped
• 1 c crushed chocolate covered toffee bars like Skor or Daim (about five 28g bars)

METHOD

Put flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter with both sugars till light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract. Fold in dry ingredients. Fold in oats, chopped cherries and toffee bits. Chill dough for two hours. Use a small ice cream scoop to divide dough into balls. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350F oven. Do not overbake - these are good a little bit underdone. Makes about 36 small cookies.

Today in London it seems as fall has already arrived with cool temps, wind and rain. A busy summer with finishing my dissertation and travel has also come to end. To ease the changing of seasons I'm baking cookies and reading fiction. 

There are certain books that from the first few sentences you know you'll love. You rush to get through them because you can't wait to see how it turns out. Then there are those books that can be a struggle, and each sentence read is forgotten and the words fail to create a picture in your head. Every once in a while you come across a book that is so great you're almost part of the story, dreading the end. You find yourself rereading sentences as you go along, partially to extend the time you get to spend with the book and partially to make sure you haven't missed a single thing the author has written. I'm in the middle of one of those kinds right now...a book about a family breeding dogs on a remote farm in Wisconsin. Might not sound like much but I'm totally engrossed with the story.