Ground Cherry Tarts with Ricotta, Honey, and Pine-Nuts

These ground cherries come straight from my garden. A member of the same family as gooseberries and tomatillos, I’ve been hooked since a farmer at the Union Square greenmarket thrust a tiny "strawberry cherry" into my hand. The reason why is that they taste exactly like Cap’N Crunchberries. I kid you not. If you find any at a greenmarket in your city, try them and see. If you were never a big sugar-cereal fanatic and perhaps desire a daintier description, their taste is reminiscent of pineapple with a pleasant tartness you might find in a plump, garden-fresh tomato. My point is that they're good. Really good.

Ground cherries can be expensive, which is one of the reasons I chose to grown them. They’re lovely if you peel the husk off and pop them as you’re cooking other things, but I’d never actually cooked with them before this week. I had some ricotta leftover from a recipe for stuffed zucchini-blossoms, and so I took out a leaf of puff pastry from my freezer and started playing around. I thought of what is ideal with ricotta: honey, pine-nuts, some lemon zest and a bowl of freshly-husked ground cherries.

This recipe is dead-easy and takes all of 30 minutes to complete, start to finish. It’s an elegant end to a dinner with friends, and if your guests are like me, they’ll be marveling about how much this dessert reminds them of Cap N’ Crunchberries. 

Ground Cherry Tarts with Ricotta, Honey, and Pine-Nuts

I chose to sweeten these tarts with honey, as ground cherries are already quite sweet and I try not to add sugar whenever possible. The result is a subtly sweet tart, with blistered ground cherries, toasted pine-nuts, and nice, lemony ricotta.

Ingredients:
4 4x4 squares of puff pastry
1 cup ground cherries, peeled from their husks, with a few left out for garnish
3/4 cup of ricotta, drained
1 lemon
3 Tbs. of honey
1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup of raw pine nuts

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degreed Farenheit.
2. Place the 4 puff pastry squares on a large sheet.pan.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the ricotta, honey, and salt. Grate the lemon zest over the bowl, then roll the lemon on the board to loosen the juices. Juice 1 half of the lemon into the bowl, and whisk again. Taste, and if it’s not quite to your liking, juice the other half. Be careful not to add to much liquid or the puff pastry will not rise!
4. Place a good dollop of the ricotta mixture in the center of each tart, leaving 1/4-1/2 inch border. You may have some filling leftover, just save it for breakfast the next morning. (I enjoyed mine with some peach slices). 
5. Distribute the ground cherries among the pastry squares. Sprinkle 1 Tbs. of pine nuts over each tart.
6. Bake the tarts for 12 minutes, or until the ground cherries have blistered ever-so-slightly and the edges of the tarts have puffed, risen, and turned slightly golden.
7. When they’re ready, remove from the oven and transfer each tart to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Best if eaten the day of.
YIELD: 4 servings.

Back from San Francisco w/ Sherry Roasted Chicken and Peaches.

I'm back from a short vacation in California's Bay Area. I've only passed through San Francisco on tour, when I'm typically rushing around to find parking for our mini-van, or lugging around unwieldy gear. When a few friends of mine told me they'd be in the area for a short spell, I jumped at the chance to visit. It's never been a place that opened itself to me easily, one geared more towards the intrepid traveler than the gear-addled touring musician. It took a day or two, but before long, I was riding around the bus and taking to the city like a fish to water. 

A few things stuck out to me. I stayed in the Mission, where I'd never spent more than half an evening, and snacked on lengua tacos and the delicious donuts at Dynamo. I had a caramel del sel donut for breakfast; a glorified raised cake drizzled with sticky burnt caramel. I'm not usually a donut person--but the batter was light, fluffy, and slightly citrus-y. I've been craving that same donut ever since.

I brunched at the greasy-spoon on 24th called St. Francis, treked to a free farmer's market before hitting up a D-I-Y fair, and sampled the whirling-dervish flavors of ice cream like Peanut Butter Curry at Humphrey Slocombe. I wandered around Japantown at a J-Pop Festival, happily slurping ramen in pork broth (newly converted since my last go at it at Momofuku in NY), and somehow still found the time to eat peaches, tamales, and sip Blue Bottle Coffee at the Ferry Building Market. I people-watched over by the caviar bar, loitered about the Aquarium (which was obnoxiously touristy, but worth it just to glimpse those incandescent jellyfish).

But let's rewind a little. I said I had some peaches. I almost overdid it on the peaches. I was eating peaches every day. Since I've returned, I've incorporated some nectarines into my diet, too, but not without a few peaches here or there for good measure.

I made this dish for the first time just before I left town, and boy, it was something else. I can’t take complete credit. I was inspired by Melissa Clark’s article in the NY times. In it, she takes unripe peaches and roasts them with chicken thighs. Of course, I made a few adaptations. I chose to use the whole chicken, cut into eighths, as everything tastes better when cooked on the bone, and I wanted enough to serve 4. This is a perfect one-pot dish for the chillier summer evenings we’ve been having this week in Portland. The chicken is tossed with a bit of garlic and fresh ginger, roasted for a little while, and then in goes the sherry and the firm peaches, which are at turns buttery and juicy when everything's done. A little fresh basil adds an exotic brightness to counter the deeply savory gravy pooling at the bottom of the pan. It's a simple dinner, but one that celebrates everything that we love about summer, and one I'll be sad to bid farewell to once autumn returns.

Sherry Roasted Chicken with Peaches and Basil

adapted from Melissa Clark's recipe

Use peaches that are very firm if you can’t find green or unripe peaches. 

I like using 4 cloves of garlic, as it adds the kind of punch I crave from such a savory dish as this.

INGREDIENTS:

1 3 1/2 lb. Chicken, cut into eighths (backbone can be reserved for stocks)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 1lb. Firm or unripe peaches, cut into eighths
1/2 cup dry sherry
2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 Tbs. chopped fresh basil
1 inch-long piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. fresh-ground pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with the rack in the middle.
2. Toss chicken with olive oil, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper. Spread out evenly in a roasting pan, making sure the pieces of chicken are skin side up.
3. Roast the chicken until the skin begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Drizzle the sherry over the chicken, and roast another 8 minutes. Toss the peaches over the chicken, and roast another 20 minutes until the chicken is nice and golden brown. Scatter the basil across the dish and serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings.

Peach Bellinis

It's important to have a few tricks up one's sleeve, and one of mine is a bottle of champagne. Prosecco or cava works, too. It makes everything look a little bit more shiny, a little bit more special. It says "I like you, and I'm so glad you decided to come over to my house." 

My sister's been in town for the past week visiting from Boston. We had so many plans, ambitious plans, which we eventually sidelined in favor of picking berries and staying home in the kitchen. You see, my sister is an extraordinarily good cook. I lucked out in the sister lottery, big time. 

We spent one day on Sauvie Island lazing about the sunflower fields, snacking on overripe raspberries and picking peaches. Oh, the peaches! Walking through the orchard was like stepping into some honeyed, ambrosial fog. They were everyhere, the scent of sweet, fuzzy peaches lingering in the gentle gusts of wind that passed through every so often. It was a particularly hot day, and we came back with 6-8 pounds of stone fruit. 

Peaches as ripe as this don't need any sugar. We used the firmer fruit in desserts and a roasted chicken recipe (which I'll be sure to post in the coming week), but this cocktail is a perfect use for peaches that are so ripe they're beginning to get moldy. On a lazy summer day, there's nothing better (or easier), than churning out a quick batch of peach puree, pouring a float of decent prosecco on top, and sitting back in the late-afternoon sun to relax. Cheers!

Easy Peach Bellinis

Use peaches that are very fragrant and musky. For this recipe, I prefer yellow peaches at the peak of their season, and it's especially nice if you have a bunch of peaches that are moldy in places and maybe not attractive enough to use in a tart or a pie. The puree keeps for up to three days in the fridge, and would be just as delicious with club soda in place of the prosecco for a non-alchoholic treat. Another variaton for leftover puree is to make a sweet chilled soup, garnished with dill or perhaps some white-chocolate sauce drizzled on top.

Ingredients for the cocktail:

6 medium-sized and nearly overripe peaches, pitted and quartered

1 Tbs. agave nectar (optional)

1 250 ml bottle of inexpensive prosecco or cava 

Ingredients for the garnish:

6 slices of peach

12 raspberries

6 toothpicks

Directions:

1. Put the quartered peaches in a blender. If they're not overripe, add the agave nectar to sweeten the puree.

2. Blend until the mixture is completely smooth. Turn off the blender and strain the peaches through a sieve over a medium-sized bowl. Discard the pulp.

3. Into each champagne flute, place 1 raspberry, then pour 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of peach puree.

4. Top off each flute with the prosecco*.

5. Make a garnish by spearing a slice of peach and raspberry with a toothpick, the gently perch the garnish on the rim of the glass. Serve immediately.

YIELD: 6 servings.

* To save leftover bubbly, stick a fork in the neck of the bottle. It will keep the bubble aerated for a day or two.