Savory Clafoutis

I don't know if there is such a thing as a savory tooth. There should be. Even as a child I preferred cheese to pie, didn't much care for chocolate, and never ate all the candy I got at holidays. That was before I knew cheese was a perfectly acceptable "dessert", before I met dark chocolate, and the reason why I never got cavities. 

This recipe is a take on the Cherry Tomato Clafoutis by Marc Matsumoto (Fresh Tastes blog on pbs.org). I totally understand his curiosity in transforming a sweet into a savory. I'm still working on savory meringues, but that's a toughie since it's the sugar that provides so much of the structure. Anyhoo, being summertime in Wisconsin, tomatoes are in season. The cherry mater plants on our patio are really producing now, and his recipe seemed just the thing. 

Savory Clafoutis 
Adapted from Cherry Tomato Clafoutis, Marc Matsumoto, Fresh Tastes blog on pbs.org

4 eggs
3/4 cup half and half
1 oz flour (I used my own gluten-free flour blend)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tblsp minced basil (we're growing Boxwood Basil this year; kinda lemon/spicey)
2 cups-ish vegetables (cherry tomatoes from the patio)
1 1/2 oz grated cheese (mixed cheddar/jack, because that's what I have)
1/2 oz parmesan, grated
Butter/grease for the pan (we often save bacon or goose grease to cook with)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease an 8-9 in pie or cake pan. 
2. Whisk eggs and half and half. Whisk in flour, making sure there are no lumps. Whisk in thyme, salt, and pesto. 
3. Pour egg mixture into greased pan. Drop in the vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes (don't overbake or it will be dry; like a roast, pull it out just before it's done, and it will continue cooking while it rests). 
4. Rest the clafoutis for 10 minutes before slicing. 

We had ours for brunch. It shared plates with a Stone Fruit Crisp. But that's another story. 
______________


And afterward...

Pretty Porch Plantings Provide Pleasing Picture

Perfect!!

(ahem...)

We dress up our part-shade front porch with several container gardens each year. I spend weeks thinking about the right color combinations. And then... we go to the candy store (a.k.a. nursery)... and my plans get abandoned like last week's weeds. So many plants and colors and possibilities and too many ideas, it overwhelms my senses and we come home with something completely different. 

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The goods. Small but beautiful and so, so healthy. 

We've used the matched pair of blue ceramic pots for a few years and recently inherited the three others from downsizing family. The colors coordinate well, and being glazed ceramic, they don't dry out too quickly. 

Just planted. And apparently just watered. 

Two months later, and all growed' up. Couldn't be happier! 

What luck with your container gardens?

Dilly Garlic Beans

Pickles were never a favorite when I was younger. Too bitter, too tart. My maternal grandmother made outrageously good pickled beets though, and I still love sweet/sour over just sweet or just sour.

These days I enjoy eating pickles almost as much as I love making them. They are by far the easiest, most tweakable thing to put up. While you can't really change the acid and/or sugar balance too far and still keep them safe, you can add all sorts of vegetables and spices. 

Dilly Beans "before"

These Dilly Beans were totally inspired by the recipe by Marisa McClellan at Food in Jars. Even so, I looked for every green bean dill pickle recipe I could find, and made a big spreadsheet comparing all the ingredients to find the common themes. What can be changed, what is mandatory. It's my first try at Dilly Beans, and the scientist in me can't help herself (hey, it's a new kitchen protocol! You geeks out there, and you know who you are, know exactly what I'm sayin' - am I right?!). 

Deciding on the common-theme green bean dill pickle recipe (1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon kosher salt; process pints for 10 minutes), I added a garlic clove, couple tiny dried red chillies, and a few black peppercorns to each jar. The hard part now is waiting a couple weeks before trying them. The Bloody Marys will have to wait.

Dilly Beans "after"

There were no cucumbers

Well, no bushels of cucumbers at pickle-making prices. So we came home with this lot instead:

We spoke with the farmers, and our Wisconsin summer has been too cold. Tomatoes and cucumbers will be another couple weeks. Beans and beets, however, look grand.

Looking at that haul, I can't help but see pickles. Maybe I should have that looked at.

Crazy Trillium

There's a saying about poison ivy that goes "Leaves of three, beware of me." It's only partially useful though because a lot of plants in the wildwoods have leaf trios, like trillium and shamrocks. Who doesn't love shamrocks?!  Poison ivy is more like "Leaves of two opposite with one extra hanging on the end, uh, stay away". Not as catchy.

We are blessed to live close to a major wooded park system along the Lake Michigan lakefront, and the trails are plentiful. A ten minute walk can take us to the beach, or up along narrow cliff trails where we can see the lake through tree-tops 80 feet up. I think "wow - this is just like being up-north and walking along the big lakes" and then I remember I am walking along a big lake. Instant transport away from urbanity.

We spotted crazy dense patches of trillium out hiking the other day - shades of white to deep pink - beautiful!!

Trillium 

These are growing mixed with a rue of some sort; see the tiny ferny leaves? The rue will bloom soon, after the trillium are done. We are in the process of naturalizing the woodland garden in our backyard, and hope it looks like this some day.

Really tiny feet

When my parents moved from their country home into a condo, the one garden plant my mom insisted on taking was her orchid. Mom is an epically avid gardener, and after 30-some years of these particular gardens, the orchids were her prize. I recall scrambling for time in the last days of moving, grabbing a shovel and a cardboard box, and digging where she said "Dig". The orchid-containing dirt clump made it to my garden where I unceremoniously shoved it into some likely ground and hoped the roots would make it.

Fast forward through a particularly harsh Wisconsin winter, I frankly forgot where I had stuffed the clump. I spotted "something I shoved in the ground" coming up, ID-ed them as the orchids, was pleased (and relieved) they survived. Now that they are in full bloom, I totally get my mom's dedication to them. I'm shocked at how much I want to just stare at these; they look too exotic to be growing in this crazy scragly wooded plot we call a garden. I wander into the backyard as often as sanely possible to just ogle them. I would be charged with harassment if they had anything to say about it. In my defense, how can you not be totally awed by this?!

Yellow Lady-Slipper Orchid (Cyprimedium parviflorum)

(Beautiful photo credit to my husband and his mighty camera - he's my macro mac-daddy)

At the right angle, it really does look like a tiny shoe. Maybe it's the size of orchid blooms that makes us think of tiny fairy-folk. On that thought, we also have orchid hats to offer. The yellow ones go nicely with the slippers, although these purpley-pink ones would work in a cheerful jelly-bean theme kind of way.

Lilac Fairy Bishop's Hat orchid (Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee')

The hat size seems out of proportion to the shoes though (we could think of this for the dainty fairy with honkin' big feet - maybe she'll be a tall fairy and grow into them). Yesterday when we went to the candy store for pot goodies (we live in Wisconsin people, so think plants for the front porch containers), we found yet another orchid (I know, right?!). A Bishop's Hat in white. Three or more is a collection, so with five types in the yard, we are officially orchid collectors now. Cool.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Yesterday, the SouthEast Wisconsin Master Gardeners held their annual plant sale. I did my homework ahead of time, poring over the 12 pages of plants offered. We managed to get at least one of almost everything on our short list, including another Woodland Poppy! Even the Cinnamon Flakes Birch tree that I knew I wanted but wasn't sure (i.e. had no idea) where it would go. It doesn't get very big and has really cool-looking bark, so I want it close to the house where we can see it. We're testing locations; this looks likely:

Cinnamon Flakes Birch possible backyard location 

We placed the other newbies out and about in the gardens where they will go. Noted with irritation that the deer are hungry - time to spray anti-deer stink. It/they ate most of the astilbes, chomped some hostas, Tiarella and even some Bloodroot. The bites that really chapped my arse are those on the Bishop's Hat and Lady's-Slipper orchids - WTF!! It only takes a couple bites to figure out they aren't tasty, but it only takes one or two bites to ruin the plant. I'm particularly miffed about the Lady's-Slippers; the plants came from my parents home and I'm keen for them to survive.

Anyhoo, we spotted a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak in our ravine. We saw him, had no idea what it was, and dashed into the house for binocs & a bird book. I've heard both the chirp and the song without realizing it; the song is likened to a robin with opera training, or one that's just really happy. That's what I've heard - a robin singing its heart out. I don't know how we ever missed spotting a bird as big and distinctive as this before.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/rose-breasted_grosbeak/id