In June’s edition of Keeping It Fresh, Charles visits the Templeton Saturday morning farmers market. The 6-8 week cherry season is here and this visit inspires a couple of seasonal cherry recipes: Rustic French Cherry Clafoutis & Pennsylvania Dutch Cherry Soup. Then Charles interviews Antonio Varia from Buena Tavola Restaurants who is just getting underway with a new project; Allesina Fine Cured Meats. His first offerings are several varieties of artisan, small batch salamis. Soon to come from this project are chicken and turkey sausages, proscuitto and pancetta. They are available at the Templeton farmers market and soon at the Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo markets. Listen to June’s Keeping It Fresh here:
Cherry recipes from Keeping It Fresh
Jun 1 2011Cherry season comes and goes quickly, so here are some ideas for celebrating the peak of the season. Any variety of cherry will do, like Chelan or Brooks (I like to mix them for the cherry tart)
Quick Rustic Cherry Clafoutis (French Whole Cherry Tart)
1 generous pint basket of cherries – any varietal, cleaned, stemmed, unpitted (The pits are a little awkward, but the cherries taste better with the pits – but pit them if you must)
2 Tblsp butter
1/3 cup sugar (plus 3 Tblsp)
a pinch of ground cinnamon
fine zest of 1/2 lemon
2 eggs, separated
3 Tblsp flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup non-fat yogurt (traditional ingredient – heavy cream)
powdered sugar as garnish
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Melt the butter on medium heat and add the whole cherries with 1/3 cup sugar, the cinnamon & lemon zest. Stir and stew the cherries for about 5 – 7 minutes until softened and caramelized. Pour into a 9″ pie plate.
Meanwhile beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt to form stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with 3 Tblsp of sugar until light and pale yellow. To the yolks add the flour, vanilla, almond extract and yogurt (cream) and beat until well blended. Fold in the egg whites gently until just incorporated. Pour this batter over the cherries, smoothing to cover. Bake in the upper half of the oven for 20 minutes until browned. Let cool and dust with powdered sugar. Cool until you can handle the pie plate. Cut carefully around the edge of the clafoutis and invert a plate on top. Flip onto the plate. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve as dessert, or for a light sweet breakfast.
Pennsylvania Dutch Hot or Cold Cherry Soup
2 1/2 lbs pitted cherries (Save the juice from the cherries as you pit them)
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 Tblsp all purpose flour
6 Tblsp sugar
2 cups red wine (sirah, zinfandel, merlot)
fine zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
sour cream/creme fraiche for garnish
Rough chop the cherries (a food processor is fine – do not puree) combine with the reserved juice.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the flour and stir until the “roux” is straw colored. Add the cherries and sugar, stirring thoroughly to cover the cherries with the roux. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add 2 cups of water, the dry red wine, lemon zest spices and salt. Bring slowly to a boil. Remove from heat. Cool for cold soup or serve immediately garnished with creme fraiche.
“Keeping It Fresh” with host, Charles Myers, on KCBX Public Radio
Mar 2 2011In this month’s edition of Keeping It Fresh, Charles discovers the first releases of local olive oil at area Farmers Markets. Join him as he visits Lone Oak Olive Oil’s grove and hears about the intricate details involved in growing, harvesting and pressing olive oil from Arroyo Grande with owner Phil Langston.
Listen to the show with the following link:“Keeping It Fresh” with host, Charles Myers, on KCBX Public Radio
Jan 5 2011In this month’s edition of Keeping It Fresh, Charles visits with the owners of the new Meze Market and Wine Cafe’ in Railroad Square in downtown San Luis Obispo. The owners, Jason and Carry, are both from the local wine industry and bring their experiences living in Europe as inspiration for the meze and charcouterie served at their new cafe’. Authenticity is at the heart of their efforts to bring hard-to-find European meats, cheeses and wines to SLO. Listen to the show with the following link:
“Keeping It Fresh” with chef/host Charles Myers on KCBX Public Radio
Dec 1 2010In this month’s edition of Keeping It Fresh, Charles visits the new Sunday morning certified Farmers Market in the parking lot of Kennedy fitness on Tank Farm Road in SLO. It runs from 10am to 1pm and features several growers who don’t attend other local markets. Also, the market was full of winter squash, so Charles shares some new recipes for butternut squash gratins. Use this link to listen to “Keeping It Fresh”.
“Keeping It Fresh” on KCBX Public Radio with chef/host Charles Myers
Sep 1 2010In this month’s edition of Keeping It Fresh on Public Radio, KCBX, chef/ host Charles Myers chats with Christine Hance, organizer of Savor the Central Coast- a celebration of the culinary & agricultural bounty of the central coast sponsored by Sunset Magazine. Hear about the various dinners, tastings and events throughout the county as well as the exhibition “kitchen garden” installed at Santa Margarita Ranch. The event lasts from Thursday Sept 30th through Sunday October 3rd. Listen to the audio file below, link to the podcast or visit the KCBX website
