Strawberry and Raspberry Oat Squares

What goes better with summertime than berries?  And what goes better with berries than oatmeal?!  (Well, probably many things, take sweetened cream for instance, but that's neither here nor there!)  Earlier this year, I was so pleased to find the website smitten kitchen -- it's quite a wonderful and adventurous recipe blog.  I highly recommend it.  In May the author wrote about a recipe she created for strawberry rhubarb crisp bars.  I took the idea and ran with it.  And the end result was delicious.  Not really a bar, nor are they really crisp.  But boy are they scrumptious!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup (or more) strawberries, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.  
2. Place oats, flour, brown sugar, and baking soda into an 8-by-8-inch square baking pan (I actually prefer a baking dish that is a little smaller); mix. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients, and stir until clumps form.  Set aside 1/2 cup of the crumble mixture.  Press the rest of the crumb mixture evenly in the bottom of the pan to make the crust.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix the fruit with the cornstarch and sugar.
4. Spread the fruit over the crust.  Sprinkle reserved crumbs over the fruit.
5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until fruit is bubbly and crisp topping is golden.
6. Let cool in pan at room temperature.  Cut into squares.  Serve.  Store leftover squares in the refrigerator.

I've made these squares several times, sometimes with a mix of berries, sometimes in an 8"x8" pan, sometimes with more flour, and sometimes with less baking soda.  Each time I find I prefer the squares baked in a slightly smaller baking dish (a round dish that is about 7.5" in diameter), with a slightly excessive amount of fruit and the ingredients called for above.  The end result, unlike smitten kitchen's strawberry rhubarb crisp bars, are squares that are soft and rich with fruit.  The oatmeal crust has a consistency somewhere between an oatmeal cookie and a graham cracker crust.  The squares are also luxuriously, splendidly, heavy with fruit.  The original recipe was adapted from one for apple crisp bars, so in addition to making the squares with a mix of fresh berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc.), I imagine they might be nice with apples too.  But I like them best with just raspberries and strawberries, since the two really compliment each other well with a mix of tart and sweet flavors. 

This recipe is so simple to prepare, and the squares really are wonderfully delicious.  I love them for breakfast, and even for dessert.  They make a great snack too...  Try them, you'll love them!

Fresh organic berries

The crumb

The crust

Prior to baking

Just out of the oven

Ready to eat

 

Yum

Plum Torte

By all accounts, this is one of the most popular recipes of recent history.  Published first in 1982 in the New York Times, the recipe has been requested (or demanded) yearly by readers every fall.  Its popularity likely stems from its simplicity, and of course from the delicious end result.  It's made with a few basic ingredients and these delicious little Italian plums, which meld into the torte creating a wonderfully gooey plum-cake amalgam.  

I first came across this recipe late last fall, when Italian plum season had just ended.  I waited and waited to make the recipe, having been told that regular purple plums just wouldn't do, until finally another friend assured me that these fancy little Italian plums weren't necessary, and the torte would be just fine (great even) with purple plums.  Hurray!  Springtime plum torte, here we come!

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup unbleached flour, sifted 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 cup butter  
• 2 eggs 
• 7 to 12 Italian plums, pitted and halved; or 4 to 5 purple plums, pitted and cut in quarters
• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) sugar for topping
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350°F. 
2. Sift together flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. 
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy and light in color. 
4. Add eggs to butter mixture, one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between.
5. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture; mix just until combined.
6. Butter a 9-inch springform pan; add the batter to the pan and smooth the top. 
7. Arrange the plums, skin side up, all over the batter, covering it almost completely. 
8. Sprinkle the top with sugar and a light coating of cinnamon. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
9. Bake about 45 to 50 minutes until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into a center of the cake comes out clean (minus a bit of plum juice). 
10. Let cool on rack, and serve plain or with whipped cream. 

The NY Times article indicates that you can also refrigerate or freeze the torte if you like. To freeze, double-wrap the torte in foil, place in a plastic bag and seal.  To serve a torte that was frozen, defrost and reheat it briefly at 300 degrees F.

Purple plums are beautiful this time of year.

Added a few more plums, sugar, and a bit too much cinnamon.

This torte is fabulous, and I have read (here and elsewhere) that it can be made with a number of fruits, including peaches, blueberries, cherries, even currants.  It was apparently called Fruit Torte, originally.  However, when using the plums (and possibly other fruits as well) it's best if you make the torte a day in advance, to let the fruit, juices, and cake come together creating one lovely union.

This recipe is simple, delicious, and now part of American culinary history (see again, the NY Times article).  As a cook from Tarrytown, NY is reported to have written, "The appearance of the recipe, like the torte itself, is bittersweet... Summer is leaving, fall is coming. That's what [the] annual recipe is all about."  Enjoy (any time of year)!

UPDATE: (Oct 2014) I finally prepared the torte with the Italian plums that the recipe calls for, and I actually think I prefer the regular old purple plums.  The Italian plums I had weren't as sweet as I recall the purple plums to be.  So, this just goes to show you, substitutions in recipes can be a good thing! 

Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta, and Mint

I recently found a blog that I wish I had found years ago.  It's called smitten kitchen.  The site is so popular that apparently the author now has a cookbook, highlighting a best-of list of recipes from her blog.  (Yes, this is very Johnny-come-lately of me.)  As you might imagine, the site has several fantastic recipes and beautiful step-by-step photos, which are especially helpful when in the process of cooking.

I found smitten kitchen when I was looking for another recipe (for a certain very well-known NY Times plum torte recipe, which I will write about at a later date), and it felt like fate.  While on the site, I decided to look for a salad with a fresh take, and I found a recipe that includes harissa, which I had never used before.  Harissa is a spicy, pepper-based condiment that is popular in northern Africa.  It has recently made a big splash in Europe, and now in the US.  I imagined that the heat from the pepper would create a nice base for this salad, with lemon and mint to lighten things up, and feta to cool things down.  Sounds great, right?  So, off I went to procure my ingredients and make the dish... and I've gotta say, this salad is fantastic.  I've made this recipe twice this week alone (I'm risking beta carotene poisoning, I know), first as written on the smitten kitchen website, then with a few modifications.  I prefer my version, and include it here.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pound carrots, peeled, trimmed and coarsely grated 
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds or about half as much, ground (I used seeds but ground them first)
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds or about half as much, ground 
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon harissa (adjust to taste, and to the heat level of your harissa)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 1/2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
• feta, to taste, crumbled or chopped into bits

Directions:

1. In a small sauté pan, cook the garlic in the olive oil until slightly golden.  Discard the garlic.
2. Add the caraway, cumin, paprika, harissa, and sugar to the pan with the garlic-infused oil; heat on a low flame until fragrant, about five minutes. 
3. Pour the oil and spices into a small bowl; add the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.  Whisk together.
4. Pour the dressing over the carrots; mix. 
5. Add the herbs; mix. 
6. Let the salad sit to infuse for an hour (or more); store in the fridge.
7. Mix and add the feta before serving. 

This dish is delicious, and bright, and slightly sweet.  The feta is a great addition; it adds a touch of saltiness and, more importantly it smooths out any heat you get from the harissa.  But I have to say, the flavor of the harissa in this dish is very mild and understated, since it seems to meld together with the spices.  The lemon and herbs are more noticeable, lending a freshness to the dish.  Though the highlight of the salad is obviously the carrots, which add a hint of sweetness.  In my initial attempt at making this salad, I was in a bit of a hurry, and I used pre-grated carrots -- this was a big mistake.  I definitely recommend grating whole carrots by hand for this dish; they are so much sweeter and juicier, and the texture can't be beat.  In my experience the smaller, thinner carrots can be a hint sweeter (compared to the larger ones), so I tend to go for these.

As for the harissa, I've tried 3 brands at this point (Les Moulins, Mina, Dea), and they are all good.  Les Moulins has a smokier/sun-dried tomato flavor, while Mina has a more prominent red pepper flavor.  Dea is a bit sour at first, and then the pepper flavor kicks in.  The salad works well with all of them, and I found that the least expensive brand (Dea), at $3 for the tube from Citarella, works just as well as the others do in the salad.  All of these brands are a bit spicy, so if your palate prefers a more mild flavor, definitely reduce the amount of harissa you use or look for a mild harissa (Mina makes a mild version).  You could also make your own harissa, as there are a number of recipes out there to try (for example, see here, and here).

cumin, sugar, caraway, paprika, harissa (Les Moulins)

salad with freshly grated carrots

Enjoy!