Belated Berry Loaf

 Our family was in two different places for the occasion of our son Harvey's 27th birthday, so we decided to celebrate belatedly. The rule in our house is that we get whatever kind of cake/pie/dessert we want for our birthday. When he mentioned something in the berry and/or lemon category, all eyes (including mine) turned toward me. I love this category! 

Pamela had already done her part by harvesting some blackberries from the very prickly bushes that have overtaken much of the grounds at Cloverfield. This will be our last season in Bridgewater, as we are consolidating our households to Whalinghouse, our little weekend home by the sea. But I digress (per usual).

In this case, I started with a google search of the key ingredients ("raspberry" is a better search term than "blackberry" for some reason) and landed at AllRecipes, where I would usually have started such a search. I found its Lemon-Black Raspberry Bread to be the simplest option and I followed it nearly to the letter.

My small exceptions: 

• I "greased" the loaf pan with a lemon-infused olive oil.
• I zested two lemons (with a carrot peeler) and then squoze both of them for lemon juice. I poured that juice through a strainer to catch the seeds.

As with many posts on this blog, I realized that the final product would not make an interesting photo, but this tableau of the dry ingredients appealed to me (pun intended).

Loaf, in progress

As I write this, the loaf is on the counter and the glaze in the fridge, as we head out for futher celebrations -- to see the elephants of Newport! 

Mango Trifecta

Once Pam noticed that today was National Mango Day (as she is the one who usually remembers to check the National Day Calendar), we swung into action. We both celebrated, but since I am far more obsessive about tropical fruits than she is, James is the writer on this momentous day. 

As Pam mentioned over dinner, I had mango for all three meals today. Yes, we are people who tend to eat three actual meals most days. 

Our breakfast was an unusual weekday pancake and bacon breakfast, but with our very usual Chobani yogurt. I have the mango cup quite often, as I did today, with Pam's delicious home-made granola.  

We had a light lunch of fresh mozzarella, fruit salad, and crumpets (the muffin, not our dog). Pam made the fruit salad with estate-grown blackberries and a mango vinegar. We also opened a jar of Melinda’s Whole Fruit Preserves Mango Habanero Pepper Jelly to put on our buttery crumpets. It packs a punch -- even we Southwestern types were glad of the butter and soft cheese to cool down this jelly!

And now to the main course. I first checked this blog for mango-chicken recipes, but found only stir-fried and fried-rice recipes. They are all good (feel free to search), but we were in the mood for something else. 

So I went to AllRecipes (as I often do) and found a simple Orange Mango Chicken recipe. I started some rice and then followed the recipe almost to the letter, except that I used half the chicken it calls for, twice the mango, and was a little heavy with the spices. I cooked the sauce long enough to reduce it considerably -- I will just use less juice next time.

I seasoned the chicken while it was still in our indispensable cast-iron skillet, and I returned it to the skillet along with the sauce to make sure it was warm at then end. I then put the chicken on each plate of rice and spooned the fruit and sauce over it. Using local, organic chicken probably helped to make this a tender, delicious way to finish the day! 

And in this case, my own photo was blog-worthy!

Pam's Sublime Turkey Burgers

Sometimes you just have a good idea and have to implement it. The inspiration for this recipe came from the fresh mint growing in our garden. I have used mint before in turkey burgers, and remembered that I also have drizzled said burgers with lemon juice. I took this idea to the next level by making my own mayonnaise using lemon-infused olive oil.

For two burgers I used:

1/2 lb. ground turkey
a few dashes each of salt and pepper
about a dozen fresh mint leaves, minced
a few shakes of crumbled feta cheese

Patties were hand formed and cooked on the stovetop.

For the mayonnaise I used

1 uber-fresh local egg gifted by a friend
1 dollop of lemon-infused olive oil
1 dollop of basil-infused olive oil
a few shakes each of salt and pepper

The ingredients were put in the blender and mixed until emulsified. The result was a bit heavy on the olive oil taste, so I added some more salt until there was a better balance. 

Burgers were placed on sesame buns and topped with the mayonnaise.

We enjoyed this on the back deck with some white wine and potato chips. Bats and birds helped to create an ideal atmosphere. The evening was complete when we got to watch the best back-yard lightning-bug show so far this season.

Chicken Breasts in Cherry Sauce

I adapted this recipe from the New York Times Cooking Pages recipe Duck with Cherries and Red Wine Vinegar. Besides substituting chicken for duck, I also substituted Dr. McGillicuddy's Cherry Liqueur for the Cognac (it seemed like the thing to do when I found the almost empty bottle in our liquor cabinet).

I was pleased to discover that we had all the other ingredients on hand (or at least reasonable facsimilies thereof) so I didn't need to do any shopping.

I started by grinding the fennel, clove, peppercorns, and bay leaves in our handy spice grinder. Our allspice was already ground so I just added that to the mix after. The breasts were seasoned and left for several hours to meld.

I started the sauce ahead of time as well with red wine vinegar, Malbec, sugar, chicken broth, cayenne pepper, fresh ginger and salt.

Once it was time to prepare dinner it didn't take long. The chicken breasts were placed in a skillet and cooked on each side for seven minutes. I finished the sauce with butter, more sugar, whole (pitted) cherries, and the cherry liqueur. 

The chicken breasts were sliced, plated, and served with cherries and sauce. I air fried some frozen sweet potato fries as a side dish, which made for a very colorful presentation. The meal was paired with the same Malbec I used in the sauce.

Very tasty!

A Birthday Celebration

James turned 61 last week - a cause for celebration! He always likes to have a cake made with lemon so I found a recipe for Lemon Ginger Bundt Cake online. I think our baking powder may be past its prime because the cake didn't rise as much as I would expect. It was still good. No one complained.

For the birthday dinner I prepared Creamy Fish with Mushrooms and Bacon from the New York Times cooking pages. We picked up some Halibut from our favorite fishmonger Kyler's Catch in New Bedford. I substituted sour cream for the heavy cream but otherwise followed the recipe. The meal was served with Kyler's fresh baguette (a must whenever we go). It was enjoyed by all.

Maple-Baked Salmon

A most appetizing dish (mine looks even better than the NYT photo!) pictured here with Greek Lemon Potatoes

Living as close as we do to the Atlantic Ocean, seafood is a perennial favorite of ours. Living in New England also makes us big fans of maple syrup. What choice did I have than to make this? From the New York Times Cooking pages Maple-Baked Salmon was a crowd-pleaser (the crowd in this case being me and James). We also are big fans of cilantro (which I know for some is a non-starter). We loved all the flavors and will definitely make again.

Marry Me Chicken

Although James has already married me, this dish looked tempting enough to make him realize he would marry me all over again. It worked.

 https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024503-marry-me-chicken