Local Apples and Pears

Our source from nearby Glen at the farmers market. VaLi pears (spicy asian) and Nittany apples.
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Autumn Color

The Secret Ingredients Plan

Pears! Maybe I got a little carried away, but they had an assortment of Asian, d'Anjou, Bosc, and Red Bartlett. I have them out in the kitchen ripening. Thinking about freshly sliced Asian pears with the salad greens and a Dijon vinaigrette. Maybe some toasted walnuts? Since I have so many, they will also be featured in the dessert. Probably baked in a rustic galette with blueberries and cream.Apples. I really enjoy the wide variety available at the farmers market. Seems like everyone wants Honeycrisp now, and I don't really understand why. So these are Nittany, a very firm and tart apple. I had a pie in mind until I bought all the pears, so now I am thinking of the traditional pork chops smothered with a pan-sauce of apples, cider vinegar etc. Maybe some thyme.

Brussels Sprouts and Kale. Just had some success par boiling and then grilling the sprouts, but then what to do with the Kale? I like the slightly bitter flavor of both of these, but having them together might be overpowering. Maybe the kale can be roasted until crispy and be part of the appetizer?... this morning I found a recipe for hashed sprouts with lemon zest on Mark Bittman's blog that will take the flavor in a different direction and allow the kale to go into mashed potatoes with some leek (and old Dutch recipe that I grew up with called stumpot.)

Roasting the butternut squash and making a soup with ginger and sage-infused croutons sounds like a good way to round things out.

This Week's Secret Ingedients

Winter squash, Sprouts, Leeks, and Italian Cauliflower from Boeve Farm. Organic Salad Greens and Kale from Eaters Guild, Nittany and Courtland apples and a wide variety if Pears from Fenville. We're off to a good start.
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What would you call this?

Completed the stainless cables for trumpet vine (front) and holly (back.)

So, is it an Arbor? a Pergola? Pergatorium? Coffee percalator?....
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What's in Season

They called this Italian Cauliflower.
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Signs of Seasons Change at Castle in the Country

As I walk through the woods here, the Canada Geese are honking to each other overhead, making quite a racket. There must be at least a hundred overhead, flying in multple V-shaped groups against the overcast sky. Then they are gone and all you can hear is the wind.

Aiko the Poodle is chasing squirrels, but they seem more annoyed than usual. They are urgently gathering acorns and hickory nuts. Two of them are scolding us from the tree tops as I stand and write this.

Fall is here.
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Tuscan Kale

Tonight's dinner featured Tuscan Kale that had beed coated with olive oil and roasted in the oven until crispy. Kale chips!
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Paw Paw fruit

Found a few Paw Paws on the taller plants. Hope to have a taste when they ripen.
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Our coffee thingie

The Flavia machine and coffee/tea packets. We have recently added a few teas such a white tea and orange, rooibos ,malawi, and chai. More info at www.myflavia.com.

We seem to be accumulating these from family and friends who don't want to purchase the unique packets-we are up to 4 machines.
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Grilled B Sprouts

Dinner included grilled Brussels Sprouts-very tasty!

Powerwashing the Porch

Fixing last fall's botched paint job.
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Amaretto Cherry Focaccia

Focaccia, normally a savory flatbread steeped in herbed olive oil, becomes a sweet pastry by using light oil, dried fruit, and a topping of sugar. We make it in a smaller pan, which results in a taller, softer bread. The retarded rise (placing in the refrigerator overnight) allows better bread flavor development. Time is always the secret ingredient with bread.
This is a variation of Peter Reinhart’s Sweet Raisin Focaccia, from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice


Serves: 8-12

Ingredients:
2 ½ C Bread Flour
1t salt
1t yeast
3 T Light olive oil (not extra-virgin. Any light vegetable oil will do, actually)
1t Cinnamon
1t Vanilla Extract
1 C water (plus a few tablespoons more if needed)
1 ½ C dried cherries
½ C Amaretto
½-1 C water
½ C additional oil
2-3 T granulated sugar
Sliced almonds for topping

Procedure:
1. Place cherries, Amaretto, and enough water to cover in a sauce pan over low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat an allow cherries to absorb liquid and cool down for at least one hour.

2. Combine flour, salt, yeast, cinnamon, vanilla, and the 3 T oil in a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook. Add water (I start by decanting the water the cherries have soaked in-this will color the bread red.) Allow the mixer to knead the dough until you have a smooth, sticky ball, adding more water if needed. A good indication is that the dough sticks to the bottom of the bowl but not the sides. (If mixing by hand, you will need to knead within the bowl since this is a wet and sticky dough.)

3. Turn dough onto floured surface and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Stretch to dough out to at least twice its size and spread the cherries evenly over the dough.

Then fold it, letter style so that all the cherries are inside the dough.

4. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes and repeat the stretching/folding steps. Allow to rest 30 more minutes and repeat the stretching/folding for the third time.

5. After waiting 30-60 minutes more, place the dough into the baking pan (I use a 10X12 inch pan) that has had ½ of the olive oil poured into it. Pour remaining olive oil over the dough. Using only your finger tips, stretch to dough out towards the sides of the pan. Do not worry about getting the dough all the way out to the corners, it will stretch better as it relaxes in the refrigerator. It will look like too much oil, but the dough will absorb it as it bakes.

6. Refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 3 days.)

7. Remove from refrigerator and allow to warm up and rise for 2-3 hours, occasionally stretching it to fill the pan with your fingertips. It will still look like it is swimming in oil. Traditional focaccia should be about one inch thick at this point, but ours is twice as thick. If you like it more crusty and crispy, use a larger pan to stretch to dough thinner.

8. Place in a pre heated 450 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes, turn and bake an additional 10 minutes until golden brown and delicious.

9. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool for an additional 15 minutes. You will note most, if not all, of the oil has been absorbed by the bread.