Hello Summer, Hello Rain, Hello Cherries!

I know the Memorial Day weekend is supposed to be the unofficial start of summer, but it’s feeling much more like late March.  Still, I had cherries on my mind, hoping to make a Fresh Cherry Tart to bring to the East End summer retreat of my college roommate Ford McKenzie. 

But, with the chilling wind and drizzle, I’d convinced myself that perhaps it was just a bit too early to be in the warm weather mindset and too soon to enjoy the juicy cherries that grace the start of every summer season.

I walked the aisles of the grocer in search of ingredients for a substitute dessert, and nearly stumbled on the produce manager stocking a shelf with – you guessed it – fresh cherries.   The weather be damned.  My dessert was meant to be. 

This Fresh Cherry Tart from Everyday Food is a great option for someone who didn’t want to work too hard this weekend (me).   The baked graham cracker crust is ready in minutes, and filled with a sweetened base of cream cheese and heavy cream whipped into soft peaks.   The cherries are not cooked, so it’s really just a matter of artfully arranging the fresh fruit atop the tart filling. 

Perhaps the most time-consuming job is pitting the cherries.   I tried a cherry pitter, but the slice on the fruit was not as clean, so I used a paring knife and pitted each cherry by hand.   You might recall that Ford McKenzie is a fashion maven, so presentation actually does count.  

While we’re likely to be wearing sweaters this weekend as we hover over the barbecue grill to stay warm, this Fresh Cherry Tart offers a sweet taste of the summer season ahead, and hopefully the balmier weather to come.  

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Perseverance and Raspberry Hunting at Restoration Farm

After a two-week absence from Restoration Farm, the raspberries seem to be in scarce supply. It is a bit like a treasure hunt. I’m entitled to one quart over a fourteen-day period, but I must dip under thick clusters of leaves and weave my way through thorny bramble with the hope of finding a hidden gem.

As is often said, “seek and ye shall find.” The raspberries are small, and there are few but they are available. At first, it’s like dropping pennies in a bucket. But, I am determined that I will keep searching until I accumulate enough raspberries for a small tart – perhaps the only raspberry tart of the summer.

At times I consider giving up, but I push myself to look a little harder. There will be no tart without a little perseverance. Sometimes, I pass a section that I think I’ve picked clean and discover there is still another raspberry to pluck. Or, has another just now ripened in the heat of the morning sun?

Diligence is rewarded. It takes almost a full hour before I’ve gathered enough raspberries - slightly less than a quart, and just enough for one rustic tart.

These hard earned berries can’t be overdone. So I choose the simplest of tart recipes from Deborah Madison’s “Seasonal Fruit Desserts.” The recipe is called “Lindsey’s Austere Berry Tart” - nothing more than a jammy red raspberries and a buttery shortbread crust.

It probably took more time to pick the raspberries than it takes to eat the tart, but it is worth savoring – a delicious bite of the berry patch.

Meanwhile, the blackberry bushes at Restoration Farm have fruited, and are slowly working their way towards ripening.

©2011 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

First Tart of Summer and Life Musings from the Berry Patch at Restoration Farm

There is something miraculous about picking berries in the morning sun and eating the first tart of summer that same evening.

It’s not just that you hand-picked each berry and that each one was warm to the touch as you tugged it from the branch. It’s not only the place where the berries grow, and the historic and community associations conjured up by the location. It isn’t just that you know the people who planted the berry field, and the legacy they’ve created. And, it’s more than the fact that you made the tart crust from scratch and painstakingly tucked each berry into perfectly aligned rows.

It’s the experience of all of those things coming together in that sweet crush of tart, ruby red berries and buttery shortbread crust, so pleasing on the tongue. It’s sharing the tart – just out of the oven – with family, and sharing the story of that tart – from morning to evening – with them.

At the berry field at Restoration Farm, the raspberries are running wild. Long gangly branches are clustered with shimmering, blush-colored berries. Some are still ripening and others are begging to be picked.

The sun is on my neck, and I can hear the cows “mooing” on the nearby Powell Homestead. In the berry field there are families and individual who have gotten out early – before it gets too hot – to fill their baskets and pails with berries.

As I work to fill my container – imagining the rustic tart these berries will become – it occurs to me that in so many ways, the art of picking raspberries is kind of a metaphor for life:

Don’t pull too hard. When the raspberries are ready, they will slide right into your fingers.

Be patient. Hand picking may be time consuming, but before you realize it, your bucket will be filled.

Talk to people in the berry patch. You might have something to share, and you might learn something from them, recognizing that you’re all part of a community

Breath. You can actually smell the raspberries growing on the brambles if you take the time.

The best berries are hidden underneath. Take a minute to change your perspective, bend down and look under the branches. Explore, and you will be rewarded handsomely with fat, ripe raspberries.

Savor the sweetness. Eat the tart slowly, experience the exquisite simplicity of its flavor, and remember the moments and experiences that brought it to the table.

July 3rd marked “Culinary Types’ fourth birthday and this is my 392nd post. Looking back, I see that the very first post was about an attempt to create a classic Gateaux Fraisier that almost failed spectacularly. An early lesson from the kitchen. Thank you for reading throughout these four years. Nearly 400 posts later, there are still tales to be told, because food is our common story.

T.W. Barritt

©2010 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Berry Picking at Restoration Farm and Blackberry Raspberry Buttermilk Tart

It is perhaps the most anticipated edible event of the summer season, and no, it is not the premiere of Julie & Julia. The blackberries and raspberries are ready for picking at Restoration Farm.

For months, I’ve been anticipating the first picking. Everyone with a berry share has been allocated a quart of any combinations of blackberries, raspberries or ground cherries. I ramble into the berry patch and note that it looks a bit like a jungle - vines and branches everywhere.

It has been raining, and crystalline water droplets cling to the fruit. There are some sugar-craving bees hovering about. Other than that, I am alone. I am surrounded by bramble. I feel a little like the title character in Robert McCloskey’s children’s book, Blueberries for Sal.

I start to pick, plunking one jewel-like fruit at a time into my quart container. The blackberries are plump and inky black.

The raspberries grow on gangly branches and shimmer deep rose and ruby red.

For some time, I have intended to celebrate the first picking of berries with a quintessential summer fruit tart – not something baked that would alter the composition of the fruit, but a recipe that would accentuate their just-picked, finger-stained freshness. I choose this recipe, and replace the suggested blueberries with a combination of the blackberries and raspberries.

The iridescent black and red fruit is scattered atop creamy-white buttermilk custard and bursts with the sweetness and tang of late summer.

It was well worth the wait.

©2009 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved