Nectar

I've had an insatiable craving lately for homemade jam and bread. The bread thing I have down. The jam thing... not so much. I've never made jam before. But upon recommendation we found ourselves at Zimmerman's filling baskets full of berries in hopes to create our first jam. This berry farm - hidden in the valley of a beautiful range - proved to be an experience we now hope to follow every summer. The girls loved searching through the trellises for plump and vine-ripened blackberries while I sought out what remained of the raspberries. In the end, we plucked about 1.5 pounds of raspberries and over 5 pounds of blackberries.

Following the sugar to fruit ratio in The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, we created two delightful concoctions... Raspberry Nectar - replacing half the sugar called for in the recipe with honey and topping with a bit of Irish Whiskey. This jam set perfectly and I loved the ease of the authors frozen spoon method to check for doneness. Our second was Black Rose Jam - I thought of the name before I knew what I was going to do - but it came together beautifully - a little loose - but delicious. I also loved the ease of these recipes - most of the Blue Chair recipes do not call for pectin making the cooking time a bit more critical. As a new jam maker there are some lessons learned - each noted at the end of the recipe - but I am so in love with the process and the idea of endless possibility. And I would love to hear any tips you might have - I see a lot of jam in my future...

 

*Note: In terms of the quantities of berries - we cooked what we picked - so change amounts of ingredients based on what you pick/buy.

RASPBERRY NECTAR

1.5 pounds of fresh raspberries

1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. sugar

4 oz. Bushmills Irish Honey Whisky

Start by placing a plate with several metal spoons in the freezer for checking the jam later.

As we picked our berries at a farm that does not spray their plants at all - we brought home a lot of little critters on our berries. We did go through each berry to ensure the little ants and beetles didn't end up in the jam. Once picked over, combine all ingredients in a large heavy bottomed pot and stir over low heat until everything is combined. 

Gradually turn up the heat to bring to a boil and continuing to stir constantly, keep the mixture at a boil for about 15 minutes. When the time has passed, take a spoon from the freezer and using an additional spoon, add some of the jam to the frozen spoon. Replace in the freezer to rest on the plate. Wait 5 minutes and remove the spoon from the freezer. The bottom of the spoon should be room temperature and if you tip the spoon, the jam should not run. If it does, cook for a bit longer and check again. When the jam is ready, can immediately. Here is a great canning tutorial.

*WHAT I WOULD CHANGE: Next time, I would add the whiskey just before checking for doneness - I felt like the flavor of the whiskey was cooked off.

 

BLACK ROSE JAM

5.5 lbs. blackberries

1 c. honey

2.5 lbs. sugar

4 oz. lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 c. rosewater

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot EXCEPT for the rosewater (lesson learned!) and coat evenly over medium heat. Once the sugar dissolves, slowly (yet another lesson - cranked up the heat on this one and it boiled over!) bring to a boil and stirring constantly, boil for 20 minutes. Add the rose water and boil another 5 minutes then using the spoon method above, check the jam for doneness. Jar immediately.

*WHAT I WOULD CHANGE: I think it depends on your heat - as we boiled over, we may have not allowed the jam to boil enough after we removed it from the heat to clean up our mess. In the end, this jam was runnier than the perfectly set up Raspberry Nectar - but we'll find good use for it!

 

Again - would love to hear your jam making tips! And in the meantime... summer jams...

SUMMER JAMS

Take Me Home : Golden Animals

Swamp Music : Lynyrd Skynyrd

Walk A Mile : Holly Golightly

Birds of a Feather : The Civil Wars

Blue Ridge Mountains : Fleet Foxes

Little By Little : Lay Low

Sky Open Up : The Watson Twins

Kick Drum Heart : The Avett Brothers

Maybe Mine : Good Old War

Daddy Sang Bass : Johnny Cash

Golden Bird : Levon Helm

Won't Be Me : Vetiver

Up On Cripple Creek : The Band

Moonshine Sonata : Black Oak Arkansas

Midnight Rider : The Allman Brothers Band

Listen here.

p.s. ALSO incredibly honored to be asked to talk about my favorite cookbooks over at 101 Cookbooks - thank you SO much Heidi!

p.p.s. and BIG NEWS - my new shop, CISTHENE will open a pop-up store tomorrow morning - sort of a teaser of what's to come in September! 

I've never really been an outdoor kind of person. I used to get bored lying on a beach and was convinced I would get ticks if I went hiking - or eaten by a bear. After our first camping trip through South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana with the girls a couple of years ago, I've come around to enjoying the outdoors. I will never forget sleeping under the stars in Montana - it was if the Gods dropped diamond-dust upon their ebony cloaks. Our move to the mountains of Western North Carolina has been yet another inevitable step in my blooming relationship with nature. Never have I lived where there is so much to do... outside. We are surrounded by secret swimming holes, gushing mountain streams, canopies of quiet wilderness, trails that wind bewitchingly through the forest floor and waterfalls that drown the sound of all else. 

 

One of the things I love most about where we live in Asheville is that we don't have to leave our neighborhood to access the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you are unfamiliar with this stretch of road, it has been widely hailed as one of the most beautiful and scenic drives in the entire world. I drive on it as much as possible to access the Southern part of our city - but it's meant for those long, heady weekend drives - the kind that you stop every few miles to photograph the quiet glory of the Smoky Mountains or follow a seemingly hidden trail to an open field in the clouds. This weekend, we drove down to the Pisgah National Forest, ate a picnic lunch next to a mountain stream, then rock-hopped and splashed our way through pools of gentle rapids. These day trips quell my wanderlust a bit, the pressing weight I feel - the desire to explore land anew far from home - I'm feeling rather lucky right now that we have so much exploring to do right here.

 

Our picnic and day trip was in honor of my husband's birthday. He loves my chicken rice, so I came up with an incredibly easy and quick way to put this dish together and take it where we want to go. While it lacks the incredible depth of the original, the flavors are strong and it’s a fine substitute when time is short. It's little bit of a culture clash, but it works, and even the girls devour it. I also made a simple summer grape salad with ginger to compliment the flavors of our chicken - and most likely the most unattractive chocolate covered frozen bananas ever - but they were delicious.

CHICKEN RICE INSPIRED QUINOA (i really need a better name for this)

1 c. quinoa

2 c. water

1 T. minced garlic

1 T. minced ginger

1 green onion (finely chopped)

Place the water, quinoa, garlic, ginger and green onion in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a slow boil. Once it begins to boil, stir a bit, cover and turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook 15 - 20 minutes until the water is absorbed and you see a white, spiral like thread around each grain. Pour out the quinoa into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

1 organic rotisserie roasted chicken

Pull the white meat off the bird in bite-sized pieces and add to the quinoa in the mixing bowl. Discard the bones, or better yet - create a stock for later use!

1 T. crushed ginger

1 clove of garlic

5 T. grape seed oil

2 T. rice vinegar

2 T. ponzu

1 T + 1 t. sesame oil

1 1/2 t. chili oil

2 T. honey

1/2 t. red pepper flakes

zest and juice of 1 lime

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix for 5 minutes - or until thoroughly combined and thickened.

Pour the sauce over the quinoa and chicken and coat thoroughly. We've tossed in fresh peas or broccoli as well to brighten the dish up a bit. We chill ours thoroughly and toss it into a cooler - it's the perfect all-in-one dish for picnics.

 

GRAPE AND GINGER SALAD

1 bag of green grapes, rinsed and cut into halves

2 large handfuls of spinach, cut chiffonade

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

2 T. fresh minced ginger

Toss everything together and chill. It's that easy.

Happy picnicking!

A quick peek at some Polaroid outakes for a book I'm working on with one of my favorite people and co-conspirators, Ashley English. She is writing a pretty phenomenal book about handmade and collaborative entertaining for Roost Books - and I'm lucky enough to get to photograph it. Lucky because in order to shoot this book - she is throwing parties all year long that must be attended and captured. Yes, so rough. I'll share peeks from time to time as I can.

And speaking of Ms. English, if you're not reading her Small Measures posts over at Design*Sponge you're missing out - every time we shoot these together I am so incredibly inspired - I love that about working with her. One more tag team effort we've got going on... Ashely's piece in the new issue of Foodie Crush!

Have a great weekend - it's Den's birthday so I think there might be some picnicking, berry picking and hiking on the agenda if the weather allows...

If you are unfamiliar with the work of photographer Tim Robison, I will take acute pleasure in the introduction. Tim's photographs are beautiful, ethereal and conjure memories of strolls through museums consuming works of Dutch masters. He is a southern boy who has recently found himself in New York City - but his love of the South and it's riches permeates in his work. Luckily for us not only can he shoot, he can cook...

Tim says:

"As soon as the weather turns warm I’ll invite my friends over to the house, we sit outside, open a beer and we make these tacos.  You see, I love tacos. Any kind of taco. But especially these pork tacos. They are so easy to make and packed with flavor. The pork comes out fall-off-the-bone tender, the cabbage and bacon add the perfect tang and crunch, while the grilled jalapeno finishes out the taco with the perfect amount of heat. To me these crispy pickled pork tacos taste like summer. I’ll make a quick homemade salsa, some chips and a side of spicy skillet corn and we are set for the night. Try these tacos, I promise you’ll love them!"

 

CRISPY PICKLED PORK TACOS

- 5 to 8 lb pork shoulder or Boston butt.

- One head red cabbage

- One large red onion—or two small

- 2 white onions

- One bunch of cilantro

- 2 medium sized jalapenos

- Couple limes

- 1 lb good quality bacon

- 1 large can crisp sweet corn, or 1 ½ cups fresh corn off cob

- Corn tortillas (flour are ok, but corn is best)

- A good quality dark beer (something you would drink)

- Small bottle of your favorite hot sauce.

 

PORK RUB:

- ¼ cup salt

- ¼ cup pepper

- ¼ cup cumin

- ¼ cup garlic powder

- ¼ cup lemon pepper

- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

- ½ tsp cayenne pepper

Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder.  Evenly coat shoulder with rub and massage in to meat.  Adding any leftover rub on fat-top side of meat.  Place meat in smoker fat side up (or on a medium-hot grill over indirect heat). Smoke for 4 hours, checking every 30 minutes for ample smoke. (Note: I smoke with hickory and cherry wood for nice flavor. Make sure to soak wood several hours before placing over coals.)

Remove shoulder and place in large dutch oven pan.  Chop white onions into large chunks and place around shoulder in pan. Add beer half way up onions (about one bottle). Cover with lid and place in 300 degree oven for 4 more hours checking every hour (oven time can vary depending on size of pork shoulder. If on the smaller size check meat after 3 hrs).

When pork bone removes clean, and meat pulls apart easily, shred into large chunks using forks. (Do not chop or cut meat!) There will be  amazing pan drippings left from the meat.  Remove the layer of grease and spoon the remaining drippings over pork to keep it moist.

 

PICKED CABBAGE SLAW: 

Slice red cabbage and red onions into ¼ inch slices and set aside. 

Warm 1/4 cup white sugar in 1 cup water until dissolved.  Let cool.

Add cooled simple syrup to 2/3 cup of white distilled vinegar.

Dash of salt and pepper.

1 tsp of your favorite hot sauce.

Pour marinade over cabbage and onions, cover and let marinade for several hours in refrigerator (overnight is best.)

 

SPICY SKILLET CORN

Render 1 lb bacon in large skillet until crispy (cast iron works best).

While bacon cooks, char or grill jalapeno until soft and skin blisters.  Remove ribs and seeds and chop finely. 

Remove bacon, let cool and chop into small pieces.

Remove about half of bacon drippings leaving about two tablespoons still in pan.

Heat pan to medium high heat. Add drained corn. Corn should crackle and pop in the drippings. Add about half of the jalapeno (or more to taste) and season with salt and pepper.  When corn begins to char remove from heat and place in bowl. Garnish with bacon and chopped cilantro.  (Note: You want to cook the corn quickly over high heat—less than 5 minutes—If cooked too long, the corn can become chewy and sticky)

To Serve:

Warm the corn tortillas until slightly crispy on the outside.  Place pork in tortilla and top with slaw, chopped bacon, chopped cilantro, crumbled queso fresco and a squeeze of lime. (If you like your tacos extra spicy add some of the remaining grilled jalapeno or some of the skillet corn.)

Enjoy the tacos with good friends and an ice-cold beer (preferably outside).

(photos and recipes by Tim Robison)

 

A quick note about my song selections. These are the songs that remind me of summers in North Carolina - each one relates to a memory I have of being in the mountains. I try to remind myself to slow down in the summers. Its a magical time and I think these songs help me do that. You can listen to these songs while preparing the meal, or while eating - or both!

SUMMER

We Don't Run : Willie Nelson

You Never Know : Wilco

Pearls On A String : Ryan Adams

Animal Tracks : Mountain Man

The Swimming Song : Loudon Wainwright III

Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight : Amos Lee

Window Blues : Band of Horses

The Chorus In The Underground : Great Lake Swimmers

In The House Of Tom Bombadil : Nickel Creek

Blue Skies : Noah And The Whale

Dirty Rain : Ryan Adams

Island In The Sun : Weezer

Romance To The Grave : Broken Social Scene

Sweet Disposition : The Temper Trap

Listen here.

 

I hope you've been having a wonderful summer. We've been on the road a bit - as soon as Den got home at the beginning of the summer, I spent a week in NYC for work, then we took the girls to Myrtle Beach for Ari's 5th birthday - more on that soon - and spent the holiday in Atlanta with my family. We've been trying to spend as much time together as possible - Den's autumn work schedule comes upon us much too quickly and I didn't want us looking back wondering where the summer had gone. I'm sure that those reflections will still tease us at the end of the summer - but as of right now, I feel like we are living a good sun-filled season. The girls - possessing the benefits of my husband's genetic disposition - are all golden skinned; I'm still pale but sun-kissed with freckles galore - we spend a lot of time in swimsuits right now. It's good.

So… Myrtle. Do keep in mind I’m new to the South. If you’ve never been to Myrtle Beach, I would love to say that I am about to wax poetic about the beauty of it all. Alas, that is not the case. It’s Panama City meets… I don’t even know what. There are lovely high-rise hotels cozied up next to places I could swear I’ve seen in horror movies. The beach is not the most pristine miles of sand I’ve walked upon and the food selection was not what I expected of a coastal town. But man did we have a good time (a few shots here). The girls conquered any remaining water fears they may have harbored in the crashing surf (pretty sure that Adie will be ready to learn to surf next summer) and we played skee ball for hours in an old boardwalk arcade, ate ice cream under the stars in the sand and yes, even partook in one of the famous, ridiculously oversized all you can eat seafood buffets and ate crab legs until we could barely walk. Will we do it again? Probably not. I was, and still am, looking for a more quintessential Southern beach experience – something quiet, something ours, something MUCH less commercial. In fact, I’m completely obsessed with this house and am planning on selling a kidney so we can rent it for a week next summer.

Work has been intense and I have such mixed feelings about this - as we all do about balancing work and parenthood and if we are so inclined - taking time for ourselves. It's a lesson I have yet to really learn. But some exciting things have been happening and I look forward to sharing them soon. And we have been cooking - mostly grilling. While I don't have a formal recipe and photos to share with you today, I will let you in on a little secret to the best burger in the entire universe. We've been filling the middle of our ground beef (80/20 - that's important!) with Brie. The cheese is so delicate it almost disappears into the burger yielding the richest of flavors. I glaze the burgers with equal parts olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and maple syrup (whisk all three together then using your hands, baste the entire burger with the glaze). The sugar content makes the outside of the burger crispy and the Brie makes the inside literally melt in your mouth. It's become addictive and we make them at least once a week now. Serve w/ a soft bun and a little whipped up balsamic mayo and happiness will surely follow. See that big smile above? That’s a post-Brie Burger smile.

I have another perfect summer meal coming up soon from a guest... in the meantime, here is our soundtrack to the season... more soon.

I SING I SWIM

Floating Vibes : Surfer Blood

June July : Apartment

Brand New Cadillac : The Clash

Clear Water : Field Music

Saltbreakers : Laura Veirs

I Sing I Swim : Seabear

Sunshine Superman : Donovan

Golden Star : My Brightest Diamond

On The Road Again : Canned Heat

Follow Me Down : Golden Animals

Hook and Ladder : Vetiver

The Wanderlust : Metric

Body of Work : The Mynabirds

Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win : Beastie Boys (featuring Santogold)

Rollercoaster : Black Mountain

Rise To The Sun : Alabama Shakes

The Crystal Ship : The Doors

You're Just A Drug : The Airlines

River By The Garden : Zeus

Summer Loans : The Isles

Cruel Summer : Karen Elson

Listen here.