Sonoma Country Life

Tuscan-Style Grape Torte from the Vineyard Kitchen

Adpated from Jamie Oliver's Torta di Nada, I can't resist whipping up one of these beauties when the tiny, little purple champage grapes appear in the market late summer.

In keeping with a liking for knowing where our fruit is from these days, Three Sisters Organic Champagne Grapes are grown in the Central Valley at the Soghomonian family's Fresno farm.

Tuscan-Style Grape Torte from the Vineyard Kitchen

4 farm fresh eggs

9  ounces of sugar

7 ounces of melted, unsalted (Clover) butter

4 fluid ounces of extra virgin olive oil (I used our house oil from the Ridgeway's annual custom crush at McEvoy Ranch)

6 fluid ounces of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

14 ounces of white, organic wholewheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

pinch of salt

zest of a lemon

zest of an orange

1 pound of fresh champagne (or muscat) grapes

Heat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9 1/2 inch, square baking dish and line with parchment paper. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy, adding butter, oil, milk and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, lemon and orange zest. Mix thoroughly. Let sit for five to 10 minutes. Fold in a half of the grapes into mixture and piour into baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the remaining fruit on top, pushing down into batter, gently. Bake for a further 30 minutes or more until golden brown on top. Allow to cool before serving with ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream.

 

 

Bumble Bee Lavender Loaf Cake

July in Southern Sonoma County and the lavender is at its absolute best. Bush after bush scents the rocky hillside, as bumble bees have a field day before they buzz off into the woods at the top of the hill to make wild honey in natural, un-tampered hives wedged into fallen tree trunks off the beaten track.

Cooking with lavender takes a steady hand. Just a tad of the dried, chopped, aromatic wonder will suffice to infuse a summer-time loaf cake, cookies, ice cream, you name it, it all sounds good.

I chose a favorite family recipe for a tasty, simple Madeira Cake, perfect for infusing with a tiny, half teaspoon of dry lavender foraged from the vineyard pathways.

Bumble Bee Lavender Loaf Cake

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 cup of baker's sugar

3 large, farm fresh eggs

2 cups of organic baking flour

3 teaspoons of baking soda

5 ounces of milk

1/2 a teaspoon of finely chopped, dry lavender

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Cream butter, sugar until light and fluffy, adding eggs, one at a time, along with 3/4 of the flour and baking powder in batches until thoroughly blended. Add milk and the rest of the flour, beat. Stir in lavender. Add to baking pan and bake in center of oven for 50 minutes. Cool, remove from pan and paper, present with a sprig of lavender on top  and serve with freshly whipped cream, slices of white peach or berries.

 

 

 

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes - Farmer's Market Season in Southern Sonoma County

There's a post-it note on the blueberry bowl in my fridge, forbidding random pilfering. Post-it notes have been appearing all over the kitchen these past few weeks as my three sons have each taken to ramping up their own individual baking prowess for the purpose of so many end of session class parties.

It's been fun to step back and watch these culinary adventures take shape and form amidst a cloud and surface coating of flour as thick as Icelandic volcano ash. So far, so good,  they've cleaned up after themselves and I've witnessed platters and tubs of snickerdoodles, espresso brownies (JC class in that case, not junior high!), secret recipe house scones, whisked out of the house without so much as a crumb to spare.

But its blueberry season that calls for the irrestibly homemade, come Memorial Weekend. And what better way to celebrate the start of blueberry season (or any berry for that matter), than a batch of blueberry pancakes for breakfast?

Head down to the Farmer's Market in Petaluma Saturday afternoon or Wednesday evening and pick up a punnet or two.

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes with Petaluma Farmer's Market Fruit

Serves 8 

2 cups (King Arthur) all purpose flour

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

6 large eggs

2 cups of (Clover) buttermilk

4 tablespoons (Clover) unsalted butter, melted (reserving a little for the pan)

3 cups of fresh market blueberries

 

Sift flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and powder into a bowl. Beat eggs in a jug or small bowl and add buttermilk and 3/4 of the melted butter. Mix into flour. Heat a non-stick pan over a medium-high flam, adding a dab of the remaining butter to coat. Add sufficient batter for pancake size of your preference and sprinkle on blueberries with each. Cook each pancake around three minutes, flip and cook a further minute or so. Serve with maple syrup or how about with a twist of lemon and a sprinkling of sugar?

 

 

 

Southern Sonoma County Soda Bread & Hot Spots for a Petaluma Saint Patrick's Day

Thank you Cameron for the super snaps of Sonoma County's own Keenan Irish Dancers, performing at Petaluma Moose Lodge's annual St Patrick's Day dinner this past weekend at 300 English Street.

The dedicated troope will take to the boards at McGuire's Irish Pub on Kentucky Street in downtown Petaluma, on Saint Patrick's Day evening.

With 18 beers on tap, McGuire's is certain to have a drop of green beer on hand for the occasion, not to mention the Shamrock Sliders, Celtic Calamari, Bangers and Mash and of course, Corned Beef and Cabbage.

If the fine art of exercising the gray matter is top of your list, alongside a pint of Guinness to help with articulation, grab a group of your smartest party buddies and head on down to Aqus Cafe at Foundry Wharf for Lesley's monthly Trivia Quiz Night 7 pm to 9 pm with its appropriately Irish-twist.

I've seen the prizes - let's just say that Guinness fans should start sharpening the celtic factoid department in readiness. And if you simply can't get enough of the green, Aqus Cafe hosts a Celtic Night with live music every single first Thursday of the month. I've also heard talk (through a translator!) of popuar Irish Language classes at Aqus for the seriously intent - though I'm sure that being able to speak the lingo when on locale in the Emerald Isle, is a smooth move for some memorable hospitality.

Sonoma County Soda Bread

1 tablespoon of butter (cubed)

4 cups of white flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup of buttermilk

Rub butter into flour. Add salt and soda. Mix well, by rubbing between fingers. Add buttermilk and form a soft dough. Knead dough lightly with floured hands and turn onto a flightly floured baking sheet. Flatten slightly into a 1 1/2 inch thick disc and make a cross in the center with a floured knide. Bake for half an hour at 425 degrees F.

Sonoma County Guilt Free Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

OK, maybe not entirely guilt-free, but not nearly as naughty as the average cupcake. If calories cost you, cut them back with this sweet bite of chocolate-banana combo goodness. Treat those you love to bake-off this Valentines Day and the extras (with a little self-restraint) will last for brown bag lunch treats all week.

Sonoma County (Relatively) Guilt Free Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

2 cups (King Arthur) all purpose organic flour

 

3/4 cup sugar, divided

 

1/4 cup  natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (Scharffenberger)

 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

8 oz low fat plain (Clover) yogurt

 

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana

 

1/3 cup all vegetable canola oil

 

1/4 cup fat free (Clover) milk

 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

3 egg whites

sliced strawberries

 

Pre-Heat oven to 350°F.

Line muffin pans with unbleached, chlorine-free paper baking cups (available in any grocery store worth its salt).

Take a good-sized bowl and stir together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a smaller bowl, mix yogurt, banana, oil, milk and vanilla.

Beat egg whites into soft peaks in a mixer bowl and beat in the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Keep on beating until mixture peaks stuffly.

Spoon yogurt mixture into flour mixture until dry ingredients are combined. Gradually stir in egg white mixture.

Fill paper cups 3/4 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan, cool and sieve a light sprinkling of powdered sugar on top. Serve with sliced strawberries for extra pizazz.

Equal Rights for the Traditional English Christmas Cake

Even though I am the only one of five household members who will actually admit to harboring a penchant for an afternoon slice of traditional English Christmas (heavily brandied fruit) Cake with my cup of tea, come December, the young men of the house still can't resist our family's annual, late October ritual of a stir and a wish of this much-mocked (State-side) seasonal treat in the makings.

Dating back in Britain to the middle ages and made with honey, spices, preserved fruits and barley mash, the traditional, marzipan and royal icing-topped fruit cake that has graced the festive table in the UK now for centuries was able to be made months ahead of winter festivals thanks to preserving qualities of sugar, rather ironically brought back from the American colonies in the 1500s.

Although, admittedly, it is a bit of a performance to assemble the necessary infrastructure for the long, slow, low-heat baking ritual, at least a couple of months ahead of Christmas, the making of the cake is pretty straightforward.

For Anglophile readers, partial to a slice of Christmas Cake, homemade is always better than store bought and a handful of key items (such as string, brown paper and a tin of black treacle or darkest molasses) may be quite easily stashed at the back of the baking shelf for utilizing year after year. Just in case an American pal or two takes a notion to join me at the tea table with a slice, I've tended, over the past few years to omit including any scary candied peel or glace cherries in my cake.

Southern Sonoma Country Life Take on Traditional English Christmas Cake

9 oz plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 level tsp allspice

36 ounces of small or finely chopped dried fruit of choice (I use a mix of currants/cranberries)

8 ounces unsalted butter

8 ounces drak brown sugar

5 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 level tablespoons of black treacle

2 tsp grated lemon rind

4 0unces slithered almonds

Half a cup of brandy

 

Soak dried fruit in brandy overnight. Line base and sides of an extra deep 8 inch cake tin with double layer of greaseproof paper and tie a double band of brown paper around the outside of the pan, being sure to allow a one inch wider depth of paper at the top.

Sieve flour, salt and spice into a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar and beat in an egg at a time. Stir in treacle, add flour mixture, fruit and nuts. Mix thorouhly and make a wish for the coming year. Turn mixture into pan, evenly and bake at 275 degrees F in center of oven for 4 - 5 hours. Leave cake to cool. Remove from pan. Poor a little more brandy over the top and wrap in greaseproof paper and foil. Store in a cool spot until December. Decorate with a thin layer of rolled marzipan and royal icing  a week before Christmas. Top with holly and festive touches and tie with a big, red ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better than Birthday Cake - Chocolate Raspberry Tart

I don't know about you, but I can't bear to have the oven on in a heatwave - hence no traditional homemade birthday cake for the Italian Husband, today.

Instead, I made a quick accounting of the baking shelf before breakfast and figured out that if I grab a slab of pastry I made a couple of days ago (and conveniently forgot about after sticking it in the fridge to rest), a block of baker's choccie, half full carton of Clover heavy cream, fresh raspberries scooped on impulse during last night's milk run and a couple leaves of chopped mint, I have the makings of a cheekie choccie tart.

Stick a truck-load of candles on it and we'll be good to go sometime much later today when I've mustered sufficient courage to heat the oven. Looks like the last of the 90 degree days during our mid-October, Northern Californian Indian Summer.

I had intended to write about the Sonoma County Board of Supervisor's decision to approve (at least initially) a heavily controversial Dutra asphalt plant at the entrance to Petaluma, opposite Shollenberger wetlands. The thought of chocolate raspberry tart somehow eclipsed my ramblings on contentious issues this morning.

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Pastry

1 1/3 cups of unbleached flour

1/3 cup of powdered sugar

6 oz (Clover) unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon ice cold water

Filling

8 oz raspberries, chopped in half

A pinch of chopped, fresh mint

1 cup of heavy (Clover) cream

6 oz dark chocolate

1 ounce light corn syrup

4 tablespoons unsalted (Clover) butter (cut into small cubes)

 

Make pastry by cutting cold butter into flour and powdered sugar, add egg yolk, ice cold water while forming dough, trying not to handle for too long with bare hands. Wrap and chill dough for a half hour or so. Roll out and line a tart pan, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Heat cream to boiling point, add chocolate, butter and corn syrup, blend. Sprinkle raspberries and chopped mint over cooled tart shell (reserve a few berries for serving). Pour chocolate mixture on top and chill for a couple of hours. Add a sprig of fresh mint for serving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Interview with Frances at Maria Rodale's Farm Country Kitchen

What an honor to have been interviewed for Maria's Farm Country Kitchen. Check out Maria's Rodale's wonderful and hugely read site, featuring yours truly with a few of my own home truths.

PEF BASH Sponsor Clover Stornetta Farms' Peach and Walnut Pancakes

It certainly does take a village (as well as a farm or two) to launch a successful fundraising gala each year and (site sponsor) Petaluma Educational Foundation's scores of friends and dedicated board members are now busy finalizing the glitz and glamor of this year's Rat Pack themed BASH.

But without the community's support in the form of the major local businesses and corporations that underwrite the event, funding the future of major impact and enrichment grants for Petaluma's city-wide students simply would not be possible.

And who better than Sonoma County's beloved Clover-Stornetta Farms to blaze a trail of leadership amongst a core group of companies to present this year's 2010 PEF BASH?

“PEF is one of those organizations that has a clear mission, exceptional leadership, that generates transparent tangible results," says family owned Clover-Stornetta Farms President Marcus Benedetti. "Clover-Stornetta Farms hopes that in some small way we can help perpetuate its reach.”  

In fact, Clover-Stornetta reaches thousands of school children in the south county and beyond each and every day. Clover's extensive dairy products are a favorite amongst Petaluma families.

If you are out of the distribution area for Clover and you fancy your hand at this delicious recipe from the Clover website, feel free to substitute top quality dairy products from your neck of the woods.

Peach & Walnut Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons of sugar
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of baking powder
¼ cup of vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of CLOVER BUTTER, melted
2 CLOVER EGGS
1 ½ cups CLOVER BUTTERMILK
1 ½ ripe yellow peaches, peeled and diced small
¾ cup of toasted walnuts, chopped

Dice the peaches into small pieces, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar, then set aside.

Combine together flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl; create a well in the center. Place the oil, butter, eggs and buttermilk in the well. Mix by hand (do not beat) until all ingredients are completely incorporated; fold in peaches and walnuts.

Spoon ½ cup batter per pancake onto a hot, well oiled griddle; use the bottom of the measuring cup to slightly spread the pancake batter into an even sized circle. Cook until bubbles begin to form, flip pancakes over and cool on the other side until golden brown; repeat process until all pancakes have been cooked. Keep pancakes in a warm, 200 degree oven until all have been cooked.

Serve while hot with warm maple syrup.

West Petaluma Pineapple Upside Down Cake

"Pineapple?" I hear you question. Not at all a local, seasonal find in West Petaluma, CA. Indeed. But a pineapple appeared on my kitchen counter top last weekend after leaving the Italian Husband to his own grocery shopping devices for a few days.

After quaffing several slices after a makeshift dinner following the past few probably too many wine country romps, a good half of the prickly fruit seemed to scream out "pineapple upside down cake". At least to me. I have a particularly sharp sense of hearing when it comes to even the merest whisper of a proper pud, substantial pie, or a sturdy slice of old fashioned cake.

I've no particular form or design to provide in the layout of an 'upside down' base, preferring the free-form effect of a cake whipped up on a whim in a five minute dash to be somewhere else on time. Set the oven timer for 40 minutes and hoped that one boy or another would surface to switch off the buzzer and remove the pineapple pleasure from the oven. It all seemed to work out well. I'm going to serve it with custard because I'm British and funny that way, but you might prefer a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

West Petaluma Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Topping:

5 tablespoons of baker's sugar

1/2 stick unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of pineapple juice (squeezed from a wedge of fruit)

As many fresh pineapple slices as you can fit in the bottom of a cake pan

1/4 cup of dried, unsweetened cherries

Cake:

1 stick of unsalted butter

Grated rind and juice of half an orange

1/2 cup of baker's sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups of baking flour

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix topping butter, sugar and pineapple juice and melt in a hot pan until sugar dissolves. Pour into cake pan and add pineapple slices and cherries. Cream butter, sugar and orange rind, beating in eggs, flour, salt, baking soda and orange juice. Spoon batter over pineapple and bake for 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before inverting the tin onto a platter, letting the hot syrup mixture trickle down the sides of the cake before removing the pan.

Serve warm or cold.