HARVEST GATHERINGS

 

                                        Harvest gatherings

          Festive fall country fairs have from time immemorial honored the harvest and those who have made it possible by celebrations of the season with sociability and food.  For city dwellers it often is the only way to get close to a farm and its animal inhabitants, displayed in various pens competing for a blue ribbon of excellence.

          The cooler fall days are also the time for the annual gathering for a group of women friends at our house for a harvest luncheon.  For more than 15 years, only interrupted by Covid, we have gathered to share summer experiences and of course food. To emphasize the harvest theme, my friend Ingrid again arrived with an incredible box of vegetable harvest from her husband’s extensive gardens. This year’s plan required a luncheon to please the eye and tease the palate without too many last-minute preparations.

The day was sunny and perfect as we gathered sipping white sangria with prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe cubes and warm traditional Latvian piragi (soft bacon and onion filled rolls). My main dish, stuffed shells, could be made the night before in a large baking dish and finished baking just before lunch.

                                                           White Sangria

          Combine the following in a large pitcher: 1 bottle Pinot Grigio or other dry white wine, ½ cup simple orange syrup, ½ cup Limoncello and ½ cup Tripple sec. Thinly slice: ½ orange, ½ lemon, ½ lime and 1-2 peaches or plums and add to the wine mixture to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. To serve, dilute with bottle of club soda and serve with an ice cube and a few slices of the fruit. Note: plums will give the sangria a pale rosé tint. Recipe for orange syrup: combine 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup water and peeled zest from one orange in a small pot. Heat until sugar is dissolved and allow to cool. The syrup will keep refrigerated for a couple of months for other occasions. 

                            Jumbo shells stuffed with Italian sausage and wild mushrooms

          Soak 2 cups dried wild mushrooms in hot water to cover for 30 minutes, remove from soaking water and pour soaking water through a paper towel lined sieve to remove sand and set aside. Chop mushrooms to bite size and set aside.

Cook 12 oz. Jumbo shells in salted water for 10 minutes, drain and set aside.

Brown 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage meat in a large pan, remove and set side.  Pour off most of the fat. In the same pan sauté 1 chopped medium onion, 2-3 chopped garlic cloves, ½ seeded and chopped red pepper for 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. lemon pepper, juice of ½ lemon, 1 tblsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp. oregano and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the browned sausage meat and 1 ½ cups the strained mushroom soaking water. Cook on medium heat while stirring until all the liquid is absorbed, remove from heat and allow to cool.  Add 1 tblsp. chopped fresh basil, 2 tblsp. chopped Italian parsley and 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese and stir well to blend.

Spread ½ of a 32 oz jar of Marinara sauce on the bottom of a 12x10x2 inch baking dish. Open each jumbo shell, fill with the sausage stuffing, and place it with open side up in the pan. Continue filling shells and fitting them in closely packed rows to fill the pan. Spread the rest of the sauce in strips on the surface of the stuffed pasta. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil before baking. At this point you can refrigerate the dish overnight but allow it to come to room temperature before baking the following day.

Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Serve with a salad. 

                                   Tomato-Feta-olive salad with basil

Line a large platter with fresh basil leaves around large slices of fresh tomatoes, sprinkle with cubed Feta cheese and pitted Kalamata olives. Sprinkle with fragrant olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and serve.

Roasted vegetable ratatouille, dilly beans, pickles, sourdough bread with butter and a green salad contributed by a friend rounded out the main luncheon. Tiramisu, contributed by my Portland friend, was our incredible finale for this laughter filled harvest luncheon among old friends! 

   (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

 

COMFORTING BISQUE AND ORIENTAL PORK

                            Comforting bisque and Oriental pork

           Last week we were promised a rousing departure of summer as we tracked hurricane Lee along the Eastern seaboard with a promise of high winds and lots of rain. By Friday, anyone with a boat had it safely stashed away for storage or in a safe harbor. Homeowners secured anything liable to topple or be blown away. My five-foot potted dahlia in full second bloom was moved to our porch for protection.

          When Saturday arrived, it became clear that the air and water currents of the Atlantic had once more saved the Maine coast from such an unwelcome visitor. The national weather service declared that Lee was now only a tropical cyclone with minimal rain for us, though the winds still might cause some damage. Comfort food might not be a requirement, but since the ingredients were now on hand, the cook might as well produce the planned menu.

                                                Roast butternut squash bisque

          Most recipes for butternut squash soup start with cooking peeled, seeded, and cubed squash in a broth, but roasted squash provides a richer and deeper flavor for this dish.

 Cut a large butternut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, spray the cut sides with olive oil and roast in a shallow pan, cut side down at 425-degrees for 45 minutes. There will be enough roasted squash to serve two as a side dish with butter and salt, while the rest will be basis for the bisque. A good way to save on time for two meals.

          Break half of the roasted squash in large pieces and place a 3-4 qt. pot. Add ¾ cups dry white wine, 3-4 cups chicken broth, 2 sweet peeled and cored apples cut in 1-inch pieces, 1 tsp. onion powder, ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. turmeric, 1 inch peeled and shredded fresh ginger, ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste. Bring to boil and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes.

          Allow soup to cool and puree in a blender. Return thick soup to the pot and adjust to desired consistency with chicken broth as well as salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives.

          Chicken, veal, and pork cutlets are easy meat dishes to prepare on a busy day. These thinly pounded slices of meat are dipped in a combination of flour, egg, breadcrumbs or panko and are quickly fried for a delicious meal. Pork tenderloin, usually made as a quick tender roast, is also excellent when sliced in ½ inch slices for making very tender pork cutlets and is amenable to many flavors as shown in this Oriental pork cutlet recipe. 

                                                  Oriental pork cutlets

          Start with 6-8 one half inch thick slices of pork tenderloin and pound them to ¼ inch thickness.

          For marinade combine: 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar, 2 tblsp. miso paste, 1 tsp. sugar, ½ tsp. lemon pepper, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. Chinese 5 spice, ¼ tsp. white Oriental pepper. Marinate the pork slices for 2-6 hours in the refrigerator.

          Remove the meat from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Dredge the meat in cornstarch spread in a shallow bowl, shaking off excess and fry in hot vegetable oil 30 seconds to a side. Drain on paper towels.

          Serve hot with rice and a colorful vegetable sauté of zucchini, red bell pepper, shallots, and some corn kernels seasoned with celery salt and lemon pepper.

          Our bright blue sky of Sunday morning made the previous weeks hurricane trepidations seem overblown. To quote Shakespeare: “All is well that ends well”, the broken tree across the road in the next block notwithstanding.

         (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

 

HANGING ON TO SUMMEER

 

 Hanging on to summer

     Our current spate of sunny warm days is easy to appreciate after a soggy August. My rosebushes are coming into their second bloom and the red stands out against the six-foot hydrangeas with their scattered bright blue flower heads. Even the eggplant finally proudly displays a veritable crop of white and purple striped fruit. September is gracing us with a few more days of summer-like weather with shimmering multicolored mounds of produce.

While fall harvests can be overwhelming, there is still time for the cook to revel in cooking with some of the fresh ingredients that abound in summer.  We love cherry tomatoes for salads and appetizers, but they can also add a different dimension to cooked dishes, especially pasta.

                                   Spicy Andouille pasta with cherry tomatoes

Cook 6 oz. mini farfalle (bows) in salted water for 1 minute less than al dente. Save a cup of cooking water, drain pasta and set aside.

In a large pan heat 1 tblsp. oil and 1 tblsp. butter and sauté 1 chopped medium onion with 3 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms and 2 sliced cloves of garlic for 7 minutes. Stir in juice of ½ lemon, ½ seeded diced red pepper, ¼ cup pitted Kalamata olives cut in half, 1 tblsp. capers, 1 ½ tsp. Sicilian seasoning, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp. lemon pepper, 1/3 cup white wine or chicken broth, 1 ½ cups multicolored cherry tomatoes cut in half, pasta and ½ cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Bring to slow boil and stir in 2 ready to eat diced Andouille sausages. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat.

Stir in ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley. Plate in shallow bowls, sprinkle with Feta cheese and serve.

Maine blueberries were late this year. Blueberries forever denote a Maine summer and last weekend it seemed the perfect time to remind ourselves that summer is still technically here despite it being Labor Day. Old time deserts often have strange functional names and so does this classical New England desert: Blueberry Grunt or Blueberry Slump, a stovetop blueberry desert with steamed dumplings.  Presumably the name was to imply the impending state of the overstuffed diner.  

                                                    Blueberry grunt

In a 10-inch-deep pan with a lid, place 4 cups fresh (or frozen) wild blueberries, ½ cup water, 1/3 cup sugar, ¼ cup maple syrup, 3 tblsp. lemon juice, 2 tsp. grated lemon rind, ¼ tsp. ground cloves and ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg. Cook with occasional stirring until the berries release their juices and the mixture comes to a boil.

Dumplings: mix 1 cup flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tblsp. sugar, ¼ tsp. salt. Add 3 tbslp. unsalted butter cut in small pieces and using your fingers rub it in the flour mix. Stir in lightly ½ cup milk and mix just until the flour holds together. Drop ¼ cup measures of the dumpling mix in the bubbling blueberries. Cover with the tight-fitting lid and simmer for 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the dumpling comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature in small bowls, topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

The autumn equinox arrives September 23 this year, which means we have close to three weeks to still enjoy summer, when “the living is easy”!

    (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)