Today was (is?) my Dad’s birthday. It’s also summertime and the currants are ripening by the minute. So, for his birthday “party” (ok, it’s just a small group of friends) I made this chocolate torte with red and champagne currants, i.e. Chocolate Monterosa Cake. As I always say, I am not great with cake decoration, but the flavor was amazing!
So, it’s summer and I have gone berry picking a number of times. This always means that I make jam, to carry on the intense summer flavors to the rest of the year. This year, I made a few more kinds than usual, so I am putting them all in one “Triple Berry Jam” post. Pick whichever one you like and make some yourself. The Cran-Strawberry is refreshing, the Black Current + Port Wine also works well as an accompaniment to wine and cheese and the Raspberry Rhubarb? Well, that one I managed to get most of the seeds out so no picking at your teeth after breakfast. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine randomly mailed me pecans from her family farm in Tennessee. Wow, I don’t think that I have ever had pecans quite so fresh.
Well, after shelling all of them (more time consuming than I anticipated!), I didn’t quite know what to do with them. I contemplated just snacking on them until they weer all gone, but decided to make something after all. So, what to make? I ended up making this Salted Bourbon Pecan Brittle which is super yummy. Next time I might add in some maple syrup too, could be yummy too, right?
So looping back to the last of the “Use up all those extra eggs!” dishes that I made last week, here is one more. It only uses 4 eggs, but that was (along with all the other stuff that I made) enough to use up the overload. This is a cross between cheesecake and pie, the best of both worlds, and in this case, topped with blueberry compote, although you could swap that out with other flavours too!
One of the other things that I have made on my recent strawberry kick is this Spicy-Smokey Strawberry BBQ Sauce. I’ve made a similar Roasted Strawberry and Chipotle BBQ sauce before — this one is a little smokier and a little spicier. And these crazy ribs…. which are phenomenal (recipe is here). Obviously the BBQ sauce also works on wings, for pulled pork, brisket, etc. Yum!