Fried Honey Almond Peach Pies

One of my happiest memories is when I was in seventh grade, after having moved here from Montana, getting to go horseback riding through neighborhood peach orchards. It was about 10 degrees cooler under the shade of the trees, it smelled amazing, and don't tell anyone, but we would help ourselves to a peach or two. To be honest, while it's romantic to think about now, I do recall having the juice running down my elbow, producing insanely sticky arms that then of course, got caked in horse hair, which in turn became a beacon for horse flies. Regardless, peach pies are a perfect way to conjure up those summertime, childhood memories, and fried peach pies, just make it all the more delicious.

Fried Honey Almond Peach Pies
Ingredients
Crust:
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/4 C whole milk
2 T ice water
1 tsp lemon juice

Filling:
2 very ripe peaches, chopped coarsely
2 T unsalted butter
2 T honey
pinch salt
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp instant tapioca
1/2 tube almond paste, sliced into thin (about 1/4-inch or thinner) disks

Peanut oil for frying
1/2 C granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp allspice for dredging

Make the crust first by pulsing flour, salt and butter in a food processor until it resembles a coarse meal. Remove the bowl from the stand and create a well in the center like you would for making pasta. Add the whole milk and lemon juice to the well, and mix lightly with a fork until just combined. 

Use ice water as needed to gather the dough together. It should just barely come together--do not knead or otherwise overwork. Form into a ball and place into a large ziplock bag. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Start by placing the butter in a stainless steel pan over medium heat, swirling/stirring until the butter smells really fragrant and turns amber.

 Add the chopped peaches, honey, salt, lemon juice and tapioca. Continue to stir periodically and cook down until jammy. This will probably take about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and place in the refrigerator to cool.

When the dough has been chilled for at least an hour, remove from the refrigerator, and place on a plastic sheet or parchment paper. Flatten into a disk, and place another sheet on top. Roll out the dough until it is very thin, about 1/4-inch. Cut into rectangles, about 3 x 5 inches. Place a disk of almond paste onto the lower portion of each rectangle. Top with about a tablespoon of the chilled filling. Fold the dough over and crimp the edges with a fork to bind the pie together.

Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Make sure there is enough oil for at least an inch of depth. Place the pies in the oil, giving them enough room so that they do not touch. Cook 3 minutes, turn each pie over, and cook another 2 minutes. 

Pies should be lightly browned. Remove to a rack to cool and drip off excess oil, for about 5 minutes. Dredge in spiced sugar and serve warm.

Baba Ghanouj

Until last year, I never liked eggplant--as a matter of fact, I loathed it. I had only eaten it in eggplant Parmesan where it tended to be a slimy layer tucked inside an oil-saturated bread coating, or once, when I was served it sauteed with zucchini. Again, the texture was flabby, insipid and altogether unappetizing. That was until last summer, when my favorite local grocer, the Farmhouse Table Store, started carrying Baba Ghanouj that a small company in Chelan was making. It was a game changer. I became a little obsessed with replicating the dip, but didn't have any success until I was given a recipe by my daughter's riding instructor, Dee. The recipe that follows isn't an exact match to the Chelan company's, nor is it an exact match to the recipe Dee gave me, but it's what I've come up with since, and I like it best. If you like hummus, you'll love this.

Baba Ghanouj 
Ingredients
3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 Italian eggplants or (about 1.5 pounds), cut in half lengthwise
1/4 C toasted pine nuts
1/3 C lemon juice
1 lemon, sliced into 1/4-inch slices, seeds removed
1/3 C tahini
1 garlic clove
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper (no Aleppo pepper? Cayenne works fine too)
1/4 tsp Syrian Za'Atar (optional if you have it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub 1 T oil all over eggplants, and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 45-60 minutes--you want some char here for flavor. 

Cool. Toast pine nuts in a non-stick pan over medium heat on your stovetop, just until you can start smelling them,  tossing them regularly so they don't scorch. Add the cumin and toast for 30 seconds. 

Remove from heat. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, scoop out the insides, and add to a food processor. Add tahini, lemon juice, remaining olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and cumin, and salt. 

Puree all together until smooth. Add more olive oil, lemon juice or salt to your liking. Serve with a splash of olive oil, and a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper and Syrian Za'Atar if you've got them. Fresh parsley is also a good accompaniment.

*This recipe scales well for larger batches, and is easily canned. Pressure can for 45 minutes in half-pints at 15 pounds of pressure, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace in each jar before sealing with lids and rings. No pressure canner? Omit the pine nuts and add an extra teaspoon of lemon to the top of each jar along with a slice or two of fresh lemon, and can in a boiling water canner (same headspace as previously noted) for 15 minutes.

Lemony Open-Faced Egg Salad Sandwich

This sandwich should really be called Arland's Egg Salad Sandwich- not because it's her recipe, or even how she likes an egg salad sandwich, but it's got her fingerprints all over it. To start with, after a week back East where fresh produce rarely crossed my plate, Arland brought me my first fresh slicing tomatoes of the season, knowing full-well that mine were still green and discouragingly hard. Next, she brought me eggs from her "egg lady." Let me tell you, these farm-fresh eggs are sooooo good. But that's really just the beginning of the story. If you've ever tried to hard boil a farm fresh egg, you know that the peeling part of the process becomes downright depressing. Boiling fresh eggs leaves your lovely and delicious egg looking like it's got a wicked case of the pox, with a significant portion of the white still madly sticking to the peeled shell. No bueno. BUT today I learned a secret to treating those beautiful eggs with the care they deserve. Thank you Arland for teaching me to properly steam an egg! Because I then had perfectly cooked eggs, I didn't want to hide them in a bunch of thick mayo, so I concocted something a little lighter to show those babies off, and to make use of those juicy heirloom tomatoes. It's light and refreshing, perfect for a hot summer day. 

Lemony Open-Faced Egg Salad Sandwich

Ingredients

5 fresh eggs, room temperature

1/2 C extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon, juice and zest

1 leaf of french sorrel, minced (if you can find it - if not, substitute Italian flat leaf parsley)

1 T fresh dill, minced

1 stalk of celery with leaves, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper (no Aleppo pepper? Substitute cayenne)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 large handful of fresh arugula

1 large heirloom tomato

4 slices of whole grain bread

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Makes two large sandwiches

Start by preparing your eggs. Put a steamer basket into a sauce pan with about a half inch of water in it. Over medium-high heat, bring the water to a boil. Place the eggs in the basket, dropping heat down to medium-low and covering. 

Steam, covered for 10 minutes for hard-cooked eggs. I like my yolks a little softer, so I only cooked mine for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to rest covered for 10 minutes. Place into a bowl of ice water and chill for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, start making the dressing. Combine the minced herbs, celery, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, salt, Aleppo pepper and mustard, whisking until emulsified. Pour into mixing bowl. 

Slice tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Toast the bread, slicing on the diagonal. Peel and rinse the eggs. 

Cut the eggs on the diagonal into about 1/4-inch slices. Place gently into the mixing bowl with dressing. Fold the eggs into the dressing to combine, allowing them to sit for at least 5 minutes to absorb the dressing. Place the toasted bread triangles onto the plates, topping first with seasoned tomatoes. Add a layer of arugula next, topped with a heaping scoop of of the egg salad. Completely delicious and actually, pretty darned good for you too!

Apricot Pistachio Tart

There are few things I'd rather do more than spending a warm Saturday morning picking beautiful, perfectly ripe apricots with my best friend and daughter (which we did last weekend), but eating a delicious, just-baked tart from those apricots is one of them. I LOVE this fruit when it's in season. It's sweet, but not cloying, it's texture is perfect for pies and tarts, and it smells so incredibly good when baking. But honestly, I think the reason I love it most is because it reminds me of eating them on my godparents' front steps with my dad when I was very little. I takes me back to memories of ham steak breakfasts, milk from their farm, and the sound that apricot tree made when the wind kicked up. I don't think I got to go there but a few times, but the times I did were memorable. It's really amazing how foods can jog our memories, isn't it? 

Apricot Pistachio Tart
Ingredients
Crust:
1 C AP flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
2 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick of cold, unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C ice water

Topping:
5 ripe apricots
4 T flour
4 T sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
4 T cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch chuncks
1/4 C shelled, salted pistachios

Make the crust at least an hour ahead of time. Combine flours, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add 3/4-inch chunks of butter to the mixture. Combine with a fork until the mixture looks like a bowl of medium-sized marbles--do not overwork! You want to leave good-sized chunks of butter in the the dry mixture. Begin to drizzle the ice water over the the mixture a little at a time until it comes together, using your hands. Again, do not attempt to blend the ingredients. You just want the dough to come together into a ball. You may not need all of the water. Once a ball forms, flatten it into a disk, and wrap in plastic, storing in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before rolling out.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a clean, dry, floured surface. Roll out until it is 1/8-inch thick.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slice apricots in half, removing pits, and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange in the center of the pastry. 

Make the topping. Combine flour, cardamom and sugar. Add butter chunks and pistachios. Combine all with a fork until the topping resembles small pebbles the size of the pistachios. Spread evenly over the fruit. Fold the edges of the pastry up over the fruit to hold in any juices released while cooking. 

Place in the center of the oven, and drop the heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and remove from heat. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges and serve. A scoop of vanilla bean ice cream would be perfect on this.

Cold Pan Asian Noodle Bowl

At dinnertime tonight (8:30 p.m.) it was still 106 degrees. I had stupidly agreed to make chicken-fried steak with biscuits and gravy for the kids (why, oh why would I consent to such a thing on a day like this???)  I had agreed to it this morning when it was still a nice, brisk 90 degrees--it didn't seem that unreasonable since I was feeling downright righteous after a 7 a.m. trip to the gym. But tonight, as I was red-faced and sweaty after a full day of unsuccessful heat avoidance, I couldn't even think about stuffing all that heavy, greasy, gut-bomb deliciousness down. The world was literally melting all around us. This really is not exaggeration, by the way. My poor little plants were just drooping--my cabbages looked saggy, the tomatoes a little crispy, and the lettuce bolted and limp simultaneous. No, only cool, crispy, fresh and spicy things sounded remotely appealing. So, the kids would have to survive. I informed them, and thankfully, they've had enough experience with my food-mood swings, that it just wasn't that big of a deal. (I probably wouldn't be that nice about being denied biscuits when I really wanted them.) I began pilfering the garden and my refrigerator, and the mad scientist in me got a little crazy, and this is what I came up with, and man, did it hit the spot.

Cold Pan Asian Noodle Bowl
Ingredients
Chicken & Marinade:
2 T sesame oil
2 T fish sauce
2 T honey
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 lbs chicken breast, cut into strips, about 2 inches wide

Salad:
1 bag of rice stick vermicelli
1 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
1 C fresh mint leaves
1 C fresh basil leaves
2 C bean sprouts
1/2 English cucumber, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
lime and Sriracha for seasoning

Salad Dressing:
1/2 C fish sauce
3 T honey
4 T rice vinegar
1 T ponzu
1 scallion, sliced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped

Combine all marinade ingredients and chicken in a bowl and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Start your coals on the BBQ. Continue to allow the chicken to marinate until the coals are ready--probably another 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make your salad dressing by combining all dressing ingredients and refrigerating.

Bring a large sauce pot of water to a boil. Add rice noodles and boil for 1 minute. Drain and rinse under cool water, placing the strained noodles into the refrigerator. Skewer the marinated chicken. I use flexible skewers, but you could use regular metal skewers or bamboo. If you choose to use wooden skewers, make sure to allow 30 minutes to soak the skewers before threading. Place skewers on a medium hot, clean grill, rotating approximately every 5 minutes until cooked through. (Grill marks are good, but full-tilt burning is not.) This took about 15 minutes on my grill, but depending on your heat and the size of your chicken strips, it could take longer or shorter. The chicken is done when it is opaque all the way through. Remove from the grill.

Assemble bowls with a bundle of noodles, salad vegetables and chicken in each. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of dressing over each salad, and finish with a squeeze of fresh lime and a few drizzles of Sriracha. Add a little extra Sriracha to up the sweat level--I swear it helps cool you down!

Grilled Culotte Steak with Chimichurri and Grilled Green Beans

Sometimes nothing will do but a big hunk of medium-rare, grilled beef. It doesn't happen to me often, but when it does, I tend not to shy away. I had intended to go buy a hangar steak at our local butcher, but the owner's wife told me her favorite cut for grilling was the Culotte steak, a piece taken from the sirloin, so that sealed the deal. I then headed down through the market (I'm referring to the new public market in our town called Pybus Market) and was super happy to see that one of the vendors had brought in their first round of green beans from their farm. I snapped up a bunch with the intent to pickle them for future bloody Marys, (which I did before dinner) but saved a pound for dinner. I also grabbed some cilantro (mine has since fried in the heat), a jalapeno (mine are wee babies in the garden still) and a lime to add to the ingredients I already had at home to make the sauce for the steak--chimichurri. I absolutely LOVE this sauce and think it will probably hit every grilled piece of meat that comes off my BBQ this summer.

Grilled Culotte Steak with Chimichurri and Grilled Green Beans
Ingredients
Steak:
2 lb Culotte Steak (you could sub a skirt, flank or hangar steak)
Maldon salt & pepper to season

Beans:
1 lb fresh, clean green beans, tipped & tailed
1 T chopped garlic
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
Maldon salt to season
Fresh lime, cut into quarters 

Chimichurri:
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1/4 C fresh oregano
1 jalapeno
4 cloves garlic 
1 shallot
*all finely chopped
1/2 C red wine vinegar
3/4 C extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt

Start out by making the Chimichurri first. Combine all of the chopped ingredients in a small bowl with the salt. Combine the vinegar and oil, and add to the chopped mixture. Cover and set aside for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.

If you want to avoid the hassle of chopping, you could put the ingredients in a food processor, but be careful--you run the risk of making a runny sauce without texture

Start your coals about 30 minutes before you're ready to start grilling. As soon as you're done, remove the steak from the refrigerator and unwrap, allowing it to rest and come to room temperature.  Season liberally with Maldon salt and pepper. I like to use Maldon for this, rather than kosher, expressly because of its crunch, but if you're in a pinch, or just plain don't want to buy it, just use the salt that you have. Next, toss  your green beans in a bowl with some salt, garlic and olive oil. 

Take all outside to the grill. Make sure your grill is clean and oiled. Place the steak on the grill and cook undisturbed for 10 minutes. (This timing is based on a steak that is roughly 2 1/2 inches thick, with the intent to produce it medium-rare. If you're using a thinner cut, reduce the grill time.) Turn over, and place your beans crosswise on the grill also, turning periodically for 7 minutes. This may sound like a real pain, but initially I followed instructions from a cook that advised me to place the beans in a grill basket, normally used for fish. This sounded like a good idea, until it was time to flip the basket. Let's just say I lost a LOT of beans--far more than I did simply placing them across the grate. 

Remove the steak and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes. Give it one more sprinkling of salt and pepper. Remove the beans from the heat. Place them in a serving dish and season with salt and a squeeze of fresh lime. Slice the steak across the grain and serve with a heaping spoonful of chimichurri.