More on the Farmer’s Market side-dish theme… bean last time, peas this time. I am calling this one “Peas + Pears” — peas for the freshly shucked, perfectly “pearl” sized peas from the farmer’s market this morning and pearls for the pearled couscous and the perlini mozzarella. It’s sweet and savory, got a variety of textures and I think would go great with a seafood dish — salmon or scallops come to mind. This is super easy and quick to make, so it didn’t heat up the kitchen too much!
I seem to be on a little bit of a “side-dish” tangent these days. There is such an abundance of yummy veg at the farmers market. These here are just your run of the mill green beans , but I made this “bacon panko crunch” that make it both textually different and bacony. And what’s not to love about bacony, right?
(can also be called: Rødgrød, or rode Grütt, depending on where you are from)
Switching gears here from something that is “typically Maine” (my Corn, Bacon and Lobster Chowder, previous post) to something typically “northern German”. Or maybe Northern European, because as I did my research for this dessert, I found that a number or Scandinavian, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc all had similar dishes. This is what in German is called Rote Grütze. It’s a fruit/berrry compote, slightly thickened, with predominantly red fruits and berries (“rot” is red in German). I used strawberries, raspberries, red and black currants but you could also use cherries (sweet or tart), plums, blueberries or blackberries.And I am sure I am missing some. It’s sweet and tart and very refreshing. I made a mascarpone whipped cream, but also can be served with just cream (unwhipped), ice cream or a custard sauce.
I’ve been in Maine these last few days and decided to do a “from scratch” project: Corn Bacon and Lobster Chowder (recipe: ). By “from scratch”, I mean we bought the lobsters “off the boat” in Winter Harbor, then cooked the sea bugs ourselves and then made the lobster stock, then dealt with the corn and finally made the chowder. It was a bit of an “all day affair” but I have to say that the chowder was pretty spectacular. Perfectly seasoned, full of fresh corn, potatoes, bacon and lobster and super creamy. Normally I am not all that impressed with my own cooking, but this was great. Very pleased.
Before we end strawberry season for the year, I did attempt to “lengthen” the season by making jam. I am good at making jam; it’s usually quite delicious. This year, the berries were sweet, so I went with a low sugar jam variety, and added vanilla bean paste as an extra “bump” in flavor. Makes about 6 jars.