It's hard to explain the sense of attachment I have to my grandparent's house. I still feel the same sense of wonder and excitement I felt as a child at that house whose garden provided my very own wonderland to be explored. During Easter me and my cousin decked in matching outfits would pretend we were fairys, announcing our elemental powers. We would dance around the garden, chasing dragonflies, making daisy chains, and jumping off the pick-nick table onto a tire swing hung from a huge moss laden tree (which is still there to this day).
These experiences have stayed with me and as I run from the main house to the smaller guest house, across the lawn surrounded with such an array of flowers cascading their long necks onto the edge of the grass, I feel as if I was a little girl again. I feel as if I was Alice in her wonderland garden, and I am able to replenish that child-like spirit that is so easy to lose as you grow older.
But perhaps you are wondering what any of this has to do with food. Well, one of my favorite past-times while enjoying the summer weather is to bake delicious desserts such as puddings and pies and ice cream, which I did liberally during my last stay. The first weekend of our stay we were to celebrate my Grandpa's 80th birthday and my Grandmother's 75th birthday, so my mom and I together set about making three delicious pies. I was in charge of the Sour Cherry Pie, which was a wild success, as well as a large Dutch Apple Pie which was savored over the entire weekend. My mom baked an apricot pie in the style of her ever-popular pear pie which has a sort of yummy custard froth that is poured over the pears and baked creating the most decedent smelling and tasting pie. If you are interested in any of these recipes, the Sour Cherry Pie can be found in the Williams-Sonoma's American cookbook which also has a very delicious recipe for chocolate-chip cookies. You can find the Apple Pie recipe in the Joy of Cooking; use the apple pie recipe except for the part about the second crust top and instead use Strudel 1 recipe for the topping.
After the big celebration, early in the week my cousin, sister, mother, grandmother, and I had the random inclination to drive up this very regal looking driveway on the way back from a hike and to our surprise, there sat a very large castle winery called Castello di Amorosa which we had no idea was there previously. Even my grandmother who had lived in the Napa Valley for some long years, had never known it was there. We also realized, being guiltily of watching the Bachelorette show on T.V., that this castle was also where one of the final episodes of last season had taken place. Full of curiosity we decided to return the next day in our summer dresses to take pictures and to explore the castle.
The next day we paid the entrance fee which also including a free wine tasting and juice for minors. We toured the beautiful castle which we all remarked, made us feel like we were in Italy. When we were through walking around the castle turrets, the large fully-painted dining hall, and the various other rooms we were allowed to walk through, we made our way down to the wine tasting room. There was also a large selection of objects and books and colorful pasta to buy which I had fun looking through. And as I was looking through the cookbooks with my cousin and sister, I came across a very appealing looking cookbook entitled Farmers' Market Desserts by Jennie Schacht. I opened to a random page to find the most decadent dessert staring up at me: Orange Cupcakes with White Chocolate-orange Butter cream. I flipped to another page and it read: Roasted Pumpkin Pie in a Maple-Pecan Crust. Page after page were filled with such yummy and outrageous sounding desserts that I just had to purchase the book, which I did.
On the way back to my grandparents, my cousin and I crooned over even the strangest sounding concoctions and planned the next few days of dessert adventures. First up, we decided to create the very daring recipe: Avocado Velvet, a kind of avocado pudding with syrupy blueberries and whipped cream on top. We were slightly speculative of the taste but we decided to go for it. We followed the directions precisely, processing the avocado with sugar, lime, salt, and cream into a smooth, thick pudding. We made the simple syrup and tossed sprigs of mint and blueberries into it. Served in little bowls, we handed out the concoction tentatively and dipped our spoons in with hesitation only to be greeted with the most delicious combination of flavors. While the pudding itself was not exactly the most appealing tasting pudding alone, the blueberries and syrup and whipped cream made the pudding come alive and become something so utterly decadent. It was a very pleasant and fresh surprise. My grandmother was the most pleased, being a huge avocado lover herself.
The next day we took on our next challenge, Grilled-Fig Sundaes with Balsamic "Fudge". In the morning I made the Balsamic "Fudge" which essentially is a balsamic reduction with dry red wine and sugar added which a sweet and tangy sauce. Later, we picked rosemary sprigs from the garden and stripping the needles away, created skewers which we passed through the backside of halved figs sprinkled with olive oil, salt and pepper. We then proceeded to create our own french vanilla ice cream which turned out extremely well, although there was hardly enough to go around. Next we grilled the figs on the grill and served them next to the ice cream, the balsamic fudge drizzled on top. We served the interesting array with more confidence this time and were again, blown away by the flavors presented in the presentation. The sweetness of the figs and the ice cream balanced with the tangy balsamic was an unbelievable combination, a delightful mix of sweet and savory flavors.
This cookbook exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to try many many more of the recipes presented here. For now, I will share with you the recipe for the Avocado Velvet:
from the Farmers' Market Desserts cookbook by Jennie Schacht
Recipe makes about 4 servings
You will need:
-1 pound (about 2 large) firm-ripe avocados
-6 Tablespoons granulated sugar
-2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1 cup half-n-half, very cold
-2 Tablespoons water
-1 spring mint, about 3 inched long, plus extra leaves for garnish
-lightly sweetened whipped cream
The Velvet:
1. Remove the skin, the pit, and any brown spots from the avocado flesh and measure about about 1 cup packed avocado. Add the avocado, 3 Tablespoons of the sugar, the lime juice, and the salt into a food processor and blend until very smooth and thick. Add the half-n-half and blend completely until very pudding-like. Taste and add more sugar if you would like. Refrigerate the mixture for 2 hours or up to a day.
The Bluberries:
2. Add the water and the remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar into a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the mint and 3/4 of the blueberries and toss until the syrup completely covers the berries. Store in an air-tight container at room temp. for up to an hour or in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Together at last:
3. Stir the remaining blueberries into the cold pudding. Remove the mint spring from the sugared blueberries. Serve the velvet into four small bowls, add a dollop of whipped cream to each, divide the syrupy blueberries between the bowls, and garnish with a fresh mint leaf, whole or cut into ribbons.
Serve and Enjoy!!
Who would ever think that avocado and blueberries would work so well together!
Happy Cooking!
-Kristin
