Strawberries! Gardens... they are the elixir of our soul as well as our body. I don't know what I'd do without a garden. I've been gardening since high school. I don't even remember what got me to plant my first garden, which by the way didn't grow one single plant due to the fact that I put fresh cow manure on the soil and planted right into it! How funny and how smelly! As you can see, my family didn't garden. But I'm forever indebted to whatever/whoever inspired me to do that. The past two months have been a rough stretch. I've never been laid off before and coming off a position I never really liked and/or felt I did well at, well it just made this doubly hard. My luck is that it occurred at the beginning of gardening season. My gardens have been what have gotten me out of bed each day and inspired me to get outside and see life though a positive lens. Without a garden I don't know if that would have occurred so successfully. There's something about playing in dirt (aka soil) and planting seeds and watching them grow. Looking at blue skies, white clouds, listening to birds and bees humming, and feeling the increasing warmth on our skin. While this may sound so cliche it's oh so true. Just imagine. If this is so powerful for an adult imagine what it can do for a child or even someone with a damaged soul.
My niece is a rather special child. She lives with a brother with autism and even though she is the younger, she is his "watcher". She carries so much weight on her shoulders and she does so with such grace. So to watch her in the garden was truly magical and downright spiritual. And to visualize her with her own tomato and basil plants puts a smile on my face each and every time I think about it.
So now I'm inside on another rainy day, reflecting on my sister's visit (she has 4 kids!) and writing about strawberries. And I get to do this as I listen to James Taylor sing Sweet Baby James...."Now the first of december was covered with snow. And so was the turnpike from stockbridge to boston. Lord, the berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frosting. With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go". I love that song; it's my favorite of his. If you've ever spent any time in the Berkshires you would understand why. They are a place that fills you with awe and wonder.
Well back to strawberries. I planted them last year and it was painful to pick all the flowers off when they first arrived. The first year you grow strawberries you pick off all the flowers so the energy gets sent down to the roots to make the roots nice and strong. I had to do that to the blueberries I planted last year too. So this year it was great to watch the strawberries flower and then bear fruit. (I picked the flowers off the blueberry plants again this year. I'll harvest blueberries next year) And it was even better to get to pick our first batch of strawberries with Sarah and watch her shove those huge sweet red berries in her mouth as she did! I think more went into her mouth than into the basket. I do not spray any of my plants so it's quite ok for her to eat right from the plants. But if you go strawberry picking to a strawberry farm, do not eat the strawberries without rinsing them first. Unless you have asked if they are raised organically and without any sprays. Once we picked every last red berry we came in and she rinsed them off and looked for those god awful slugs! Ugh! Slugfest '09 is still in full swing out there! Blasted rain! We are into what I think is week 4 of rain. I use to think I'd enjoy living in the northwest but this past month has cured me of any such thoughts. I miss the sunshine. Sarah then rinsed the berries off just to get any soil or straw that may be clinging on them off. Anyway, once the berries were rinsed off Sarah cut them up and we began to make our pie. See the recipe below for what I believe to be the best strawberry pie ever! And my sister and nieces and nephews agree. But...the secret is to use local, fresh strawberries that ripen on the plant.
Sarah's Strawberry Pie:
1 pie crust - baked at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until slightly browned...Cool
1 quart - @ 4 cups (or more!) - of fresh strawberries, rinsed, caps cut off, and sliced
Mash 1 cup of these up and set aside
**Be sure to eat some as you make this pie so I guess you will need more than 1 quart!
3 TBSP corn starch or arrowroot
2/3 cups honey....try to use local honey
1/2 cup boiling water
In a small saucepan mix the cornstarch and honey and add the boiling water to it. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with whisk, until thick and clear. Add the 1 cup of mashed berries. *Be sure there are no corn starch globbies.
Pour the sliced berries into the cooled pie crust
Pour the honey mixture over top
Chill completely in the refrigerator
Serve with whip cream over top. (See whip cream recipe from Father's Day chocolate pudding post below)
And here's another favorite strawberry recipe - Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake:
This recipe comes from Fanny Farmer. It says that old fashioned shortcake is made with biscuit dough, not cake and is served with unsweetened heavy cream not whipped cream. Perfect for a leisurely Sunday breakfast as well as dessert.
Wash and drain 1 quart of berries (I use more)
Remove stems. Set aside a few perfect berries to garnish the cake. Crush the rest slightly and sweeten to taste. (I warm the smashed berries in a pot over low heat until warm but the recipe doesn't call for that)
Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (I also flour it)
Sift together:
2 Cups flour ( I use 1 Cup whole wheat pastry or 1 Cup of white whole wheat)
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TBSP sugar (I use 2)
Few grains of fresh nutmeg (I use more than a few)
With a blending fork or fingers work in 1/4 cup of room temperature butter
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Stir in, a little at a time, 2/3 cups milk until the dough holds together but is still soft. Turn out on floured board and divide into two parts. Pat or roll out into 9-inch rounds. Put one round in the pan. Spread lightly with 2 TBSP melted butter. Place the other half on top.
Bake 12-15 minutes. Split the two layers apart carefully with a fork.
Spread warm crushed berries between the layers and on top. Garnish with whole berries. Serve with warm heavy cream. (What I do is cut a piece of the shortcake and split in 1/2. I serve each of the halves covered with warm crushed berries. If it's a special occasion I serve with whipped cream on top. See Father's Day post for homemade whipped cream. But for ordinary use I skip the whipped cream. I top with sliced berries.) We like a lot of berries on top.
Enjoy!
Coming next.....peas! And giving some of your garden's produce to those less fortunate.
No comments:
Post a Comment