Pork Roast with Apples, Carrots, and Asian Plum Sauce

I just got finished putting a pork roast in the crock pot.  I thought I’d better start documenting it before I forgot the measurements.  If you’re reading this post, it turned out awesome! 

As I was having coffee this morning, I was thinking about what to do with the roast that I had thawed in the frig.  I just bought a big bag of organic apples and just yesterday I peeled a bunch of my small carrots from the garden.  Supplied with adequate caffeine, the brain began spinning.........  Let’s put it all together in the crock pot and see what happens!!!

For some reason, all my creativity was used up on the ingredients today and I could not come up with a super snappy name for it.  If you have any ideas, let me know.  Here’s the details:

Pork Roast with Apples, Carrots, and Asian Plum Sauce

2 ½ - 3 pound pork roast - I used a sirloin tip roast, a loin roast or any meaty roast would be good

4 cups peeled carrots, cut into 3" long by 1" thick pieces
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 large apples, cored and chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1 cup Asian Plum Sauce* - purchased or homemade - my recipe follows
* Don't have Plum Sauce?  Here is a perfect alternative - an equal amount of whole berry cranberry sauce.

Rinse and pat dry the roast, then brown it on all sides in a little olive oil over a moderately high heat.

Browning the meat adds lot of flavor.

Once the roast is browned, remove it, turn the heat down to low, add a little more olive oil and the chopped onions.  Caramelize the onions over low heat until they are translucent and a delicate brown color.  Sprinkle the salt, thyme, and sage into the onions.

Lightly caramelize the onions and add the herbs

 


I put my carrots on the bottom.  Then put the roast on top of the carrots, poured the caramelized onions over the top of the roast, and then added the chopped apples on top of that.

Carrots-roast-onions-apples

After I dumped the onions into the crock pot, I put the Asian plum sauce in the skillet to warm and to continue deglazing the skillet.  I wanted every little bit of flavor from the browning, caramelizing, and the herbs into the crock pot.  

Top it off with the sauce

Once everything else was in the crock pot, I poured the Asian plum sauce over the top and turned the dial to high to give it a kick start.

After about an hour, turn the crock pot down to low and let it cook for about 5-6 hours or until you are ready to serve.

This would be equally good served over a bed of wide noodles or rice.  I chose to make the rice today.

As mentioned above, whole berry cranberry sauce will make this dish equally as good and there's no need to search the stores for plum sauce.  This recipe made enough for a family meal or if you're only one or two, generous left overs.  It had a delicious sweet flavor with the mingling of the sweet carrots and apples.  A perfect compliment to the pork roast.

Enjoy!




Here is my recipe for the Sauce:

Asian Plum Sauce

This is a condiment that you can purchase at your local co-op or grocery in the ethnic food section, but it is easy to make if you have a supply of plums.  Plums seem to be abundant in the Missoula valley in the fall and last year someone gave me a bucket full.  I had already made more jam than I knew we would eat in several years so I decided to make plum sauce.  We have enjoyed it with many dishes, including stir fries and just over noodles.

 8 cups plums, pitted and chopped - skins on
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup apple juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

In large heavy saucepan, bring plums, onions, garlic, and apple juice to boil a over medium heat - reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender.

Add sugar, vinegar, salt, and spices and continue to simmer until it reaches the desired sauce consistency.

Fill and seal canning jars and process in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes, or freeze in ½ pint containers.

Hearty Black Bean Soup

The weather has taken a turn towards winter and a hearty winter soup seems in order.  I hear from some people that they’ve never found a good black bean soup recipe and from others that the ones they have tried are too spicy for their family’s taste.  
Give this one a try.  I’ve worked on this recipe over the years to both simplify it and to combine some family friendly flavors.


Hearty Black Bean Soup

2 ½ to 3 cups of dry black beans (or 2-3 cans of black beans)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic               
1 large onion chopped
2 carrots finely diced or shredded
½ pound ground venison, lean beef, or turkey (optional)
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
1 Tablespoon dried cilantro or parsley
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes or equivalent home canned

Begin by quick soaking the black beans.  Check the beans for small stones, rinse, and place in a large pan with 2-3 quarts of water.  Bring the beans to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave it set for 1-2 hours.   This method is preferred to the overnight soak as it removes more of the small chain carbohydrates that cause some people digestive problems.
After the beans have set, drain and rinse the beans under running water.  Return the beans to the pan with enough water to cover the beans by an inch or two.  Do Not add salt...Cook the beans for 60-120 minutes until they are done.  Add water as necessary.  As beans age, they lose moisture causing the cooking times to increase.  Fresh beans cook faster!
If you have a pressure cooker, an essential tool in my kitchen, you can cover the beans with 1 inch of water, bring up the cooker to pressure, and cook for 5 minutes.  Let the pressure reduce naturally.
There is the third alternative, if you prefer not to bother with cooking the beans yourself, or if you are in a big hurry, you can use 2-3 14oz cans of black beans instead.
Set the beans aside and begin to prepare the rest of the soup.

Browning optional meat, saute onion, garlic, carrot

Add the olive oil to a soup pot and begin to lightly brown the meat (optional).  Add the onion and cook until it is translucent.  Add the garlic and diced carrot and saute briefly.

Add the cooked beans, taco seasoning, cilantro or parsley and the 28 oz can of diced tomatoes.  Taco seasonings are not all created equal.  Some have high salt content, particularly the ones in envelopes.  

Combine all ingredients and simmer

While these are ok to use, be sure to check taste before adding additional salt.  I use a bulk organic taco seasoning from Frontier and it does not have salt.   I usually add about 2 teaspoons of salt at this point but if you are using canned beans or salted taco seasoning you will not need this much salt.  The best measure of how much salt you need is to taste.  Add small amounts and taste again.
 
Once all the ingredients are in the pot, cover the soup and let it simmer for at least an hour to blend all of the flavors.

Serve the soup in your favorite soup bowls and you can accompany it with a few corn chips for crunch.

Like every soup, this soup gets even better the second day so make a big pot and take a day or two off cooking!

Enjoy!

Ginger Carrot Soup

I always wait until we've had a frost to harvest the carrots.  The story is that this time of year they convert some of their starch into sugar.  They are definitely sweet! 
This year we went straight from 70 degree days and very cool nights to 4 inches of snow on the ground.  When I realized the snow was coming, I quickly dug my bed of carrots and got another record harvest.  53 pounds of bright orange carrots out of one raised bed.  
Last year I was able to keep them well in a crisper drawer for months, but I've got too many this year for that.  I gave a few bags away to friends and family and today I made a delicious Ginger Carrot Soup. 

I originally got this recipe from my friend Jen and then made a few changes.  We had it last Thanksgiving as a first course and it was delightful.  My biggest word of caution with this soup is don't add salt until you taste it at the end.  I made the mistake once of using a salted stock and it changed the flavor dramatically.  The flavors here are delicate and require just a small amount of salt added at the end to balance the flavors.

Ginger Carrot Soup

1 stick unsalted butter
1 large sweet onion - chopped
3 pounds of carrots peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon fresh peeled and shredded ginger root
5 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 cups half and half or heavy cream 
In a heavy bottomed pan, saute the onion in the butter until tender and translucent.  Add the carrots, ginger, and 2 1/2 cups of the stock and simmer until the carrots are tender. 

Allow the cooked carrots and onions to cool until they can be  handled.

Puree in batches in a food processor or use an immersion blender to make quick work of the hot ingredients without the need to cool.

Add the coriander and the orange juice concentrate.  The orange juice concentrate was my addition.  The original recipe called for grated orange peel and I found that had a bitter taste while not giving it the intensity of orange flavor.  So, I tried a couple of different things until I landed upon the orange juice concentrate, which adds just the right amount of flavor and sweetness without the bitterness of the peel.  Stir in the remaining cups of stock and add the half and half or heavy cream.

An immersion blender makes the job quick and less messy.

I actually prefer the heavy cream to the half and half, but being calorie conscious is always an issue.  I've found that I can also use half low fat milk and  the rest non-fat Greek yogurt and that works well too, with fewer calories. 

Warm the soup gently.  You do not want to bring it to a boil.

Balance the flavors with a little salt and if needed a tablespoon of brown sugar.

The flavors of this soup are at their peak when it is well warmed, but not hot, so be careful not to overheat it.

This soup makes an excellent first course, or with a chunk of bread and butter and/or a side salad is a full meal.

You can garnish it with a sprinkling of fresh chopped herbs or the way I love it garnished is with a scoop of Greek yogurt.

Like all soup, it is even better the next day so make plenty and refrigerate the leftovers for another day.

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

My husband could eat butter cream icing from a bowl with a spoon any day of the week, but it is the main thing that I don’t like about cake.  I’ve found a delicious way around dealing with icing and that is the old fashioned upside down cake.  I’m going to give you two versions of this cake so that you will be free to experiment with any fruit you like.  It seems like such a great answer to never having to deal with icing again.  I make them frequently with whatever fruit I have on hand or that is in season.

I make a version of this cake with my frozen Flathead cherries that is beautiful and delicious too.  If you’re using frozen fruit or canned fruit, be sure to drain the fruit before using it in this recipe.  There are just 2 basics steps to this recipe.  The topping, which goes into the pan first, and the cake.

Upside Down Cake

Begin all cakes with a generous spray of Pam or similar vegetable spray on the 9 x 9 x 2 inch deep square pan or a pan that will accommodate the cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Heat the butter, sugar, and vanilla to make a sauce.

The topping:
4 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (for caramel apple) OR 3/4 cup white sugar (for other varieties)
1 teaspoon of vanilla (for caramel apple) OR 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice (for other varieties)

Melt the butter, sugar, and vanilla or lemon juice in a small sauce pan over low heat until the sugar melts and the mixture bubbles.
Pour into the prepared pan and coat the bottom of the pan.

Layer the fruit on top of the sauce.

2-3 Apples or fruit of your choice
Add a layer of apples or any fruit to cover the bottom of the pan.  (Apples, cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, and pineapple of course) Fresh apples like I used can have a double layer or overlap significantly as they do shrink.  Other more moist fruit won’t shrink.

 



The cake:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of milk (or use apple cider for the apple cake)
1 ½ cups sifted flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar.  After this becomes light and pale, add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.

Continue beating adding ½ the dry ingredients, then the milk, and follow with the other half of the dry ingredients.
Spoon the batter onto the top of the fruit and bake until the cake is well risen and golden brown.  At around 45-55 minutes, the cake will be firm to the touch, a tooth pick inserted into the center will come out clean, and the cake will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Apples shrink so add twice as many as you think.

Have a plate or platter ready to receive the cake.  Run a knife around the edges to make sure it is free.  Immediately upon removing it from the oven, invert it onto the plate.  Leave the pan inverted for a few seconds, up to a minute and then gently lift it off.  Should any of the fruit have stuck to the pan, you can quickly transfer it back to the cake.

Allow the cake to cool and serve with a little whipped cream.  You won’t miss the icing.

Fire Roasted Marinara Sauce

 Fire roasting gives a slight smoky flavor to whatever you roast and so I thought it might be just the perfect way to start my marinara.  This sauce is made from tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and a few peppers, freshly plucked from the garden.

Some people call it spaghetti sauce, or Italian tomato sauce, but marinara has a nice ring to my ear.  One theory suggests the sauce was invented by the Spanish in the mid 16th century.  Because of the high acid content of tomatoes, the sauce was resistant to spoilage, making it ideal for lengthy sea voyages and thus sprang the name marinara.  Whatever the name, fire roasting does add an additional element of flavor to the tomato.

Fire Roasting

Two more helpful reasons to fire roast are the removal of additional moisture, and if you want to remove the skins, they can be picked up in your fingers and tossed aside - no need to blanch and skin.

To get started, I took about 10 pounds of San Marzano tomatoes from the garden.  I washed them, cored them, sliced them in half lengthwise and removed the seeds.  I took a couple of onions and sliced them into ½ inch slices, and I cored and sliced lengthwise a couple of peppers.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Fire Roasted Marinara

10# fresh Italian paste tomatoes like San Marzano’s
2 large onions
4-6 cloves garlic minced
2-4 green peppers
2-3 Tablespoons fresh minced basil (1 TBS dried)
2 Tablespoons minced oregano (1 TBS dried)
1/2 cup olive oil - divided
3-4 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1-2 Tbs sugar (optional or to taste)

Fire Roasted Peppers and Onions

Bring your grill to about 350 degrees with medium heat.  Put 1/2 the olive oil in a dish and brush the inside of the tomato with olive oil and place on the grill cut side down.  Quickly fill the grill with tomatoes and close the lid.  The temperature will have dropped to 200 degrees or below.  Wait until the temperature rises to 350 again.  Quickly open the grill and brush the top side of the tomatoes with olive oil and then check the first tomatoes that you put on.  They should have grill marks on them.  Using a spatula, quickly flip them over and close the lid again, waiting for the temperature to get back up over 350 degrees. 

Have a rimmed pan or bowl to put the roasted tomatoes into as juice will continue to run out after you take them off.  Remove the roasted tomatoes from the grill to the rimmed pan and let them cool.  Roast the other vegetables in the same way, brushing them with olive oil and leaving them on the grill to show a little black char marks, but not totally blackened.

Once the tomatoes are cool, you can use your hands to pluck the skins from the tomatoes if you wish, or you can just leave them on as they will be chopped up in the next step.

Add the chopped garlic and herbs to the sauce.

Drain off the liquid from the roasted tomatoes and reserve this liquid. Put the tomatoes into a food processor and pulse to chop finely.  Add the processed tomatoes to a large stock pot with the other 1/2 of the olive oil. Process all of the rest of the ingredients roasted and not and add them to the stock pot.

Thick sauce ready to be cooked

Simmer the sauce for 60-90 minutes stirring frequently. It will be thick and you will need to watch so that it does not burn.  Add the salt, pepper, sugar, and the juice that you reserved from the roasted tomatoes to suit your taste and thickness.

 





You should end up with about 6 pints (12 cups) of sauce.  You can place that into hot pint jars, seal them and put them in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes or you can cool the sauce and then put it into freezer bags in portions for future use.  Just like the pesto recipe that I gave you last month, there is no end to the uses you will have for this sauce, so make plenty!   

The Glory of the Harvest

 It’s the time of year when we count every night that passes without a frost as a bonus.  Here on the side of the mountain northwest of Missoula, we live in a special little micro-climate that affords us many weeks longer growing season than our neighbors in the valley.  I’m grateful for every growing day I get.

I have a bumper crop of tomatoes that are ripening on the vine.  Soon I’ll be canning marinara, harvest soup, and eating them for breakfast - lunch - and dinner, knowing it will be a long dry spell for fresh tomatoes.  The onions and garlic are already harvested and drying, the potatoes and carrots will be next.

Beautiful Millionaire and Prosperosa Eggplant

Today I harvested a few eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and some peppers to make my ratatouille.  Ratatouille is just another word for a vegetable stew.  Mine is simple and only takes a few minutes to prepare a big pot to enjoy for at least a couple of meals.  This stuff is so delicious that I also can it in quarts for use all winter.
   
Ratatouille
2-4 Tablespoons olive oil
1-2 Medium sweet onion
1-2 Medium eggplant
1-2 Medium red or green bell peppers

Large diced veggies

3-4 Medium green or yellow zucchini
4-6 Cloves of garlic
A handful of fresh basil and oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1-2 Tablespoons sugar
3 14oz cans of diced tomatoes (canned tomatoes are ok to use as they come in the can without draining) or 4-5 cups of fresh garden tomatoes that have been peeled, seeds removed, and excess water drained off.  If using fresh tomatoes, just do them first and let them drain in a 
colander while preparing the rest.

Begin to saute the veggies

Wash and dry the vegetables.  When it comes to the vegetables, there is no exact measurement, this is just a stew.  I say 1-2 Medium, but in general each vegetable ingredient equals about 3 - 5 cups more or less, when chopped. 

 Put the olive oil in a large pot and start with the onions.  Chop the onions and begin to saute them over medium heat.  As soon as they start to soften, turn the burner off and begin to add all of the rest of the vegetables that are chopped into large 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces.

 

Mince the fresh herbs and the garlic and add that to the pot as well.  Turn the heat back on to medium and stir and begin to cook the vegetables together.  Add the tomatoes and salt and bring to simmer.  Simmer for 60-90 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.

 

Add the chopped and drained tomatoes

Yummmmm!

As the ratatouille is ready, taste it for the appropriate amount of salt and sweetness and adjust to your taste with more salt or sugar.


I serve this over rice or pasta with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese as a hearty main dinner dish.   Enjoy!

Cabbage Noodle Casserole

Every once in a while, we need to be inventive.  I had some freshly made pesto in my food processor, a cabbage and some sweet onions from the garden on the counter, and the need to make a dish to take to a friend.

That's how this all started and here is what I did.  I invented a Cabbage Noodle Casserole.  This dish makes a great vegetarian main dish or a nice side dish.



CABBAGE NOODLE CASSEROLE
(makes 1 large 8 serving or two 4 serving casseroles)

1  head of green cabbage, chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil

In a large skillet, add these first three ingredients and begin to caramelize the onions and cabbage.

As the cabbage and onions turn a nice caramel color, turn off the heat.

In a separate pan, cook just until aldente 4 cups of wide noodles.
Drain the noodles and toss the noodles and cabbage mixtures together.

Add to the mixture 1/2 cup of pesto and 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.

Toss this all together to mix and place in one large or two smaller casserole dishes.

Top with a hand full of Parmesan cheese and place under the broiler to brown the top.  Instead of the cheese on top, some nice Italian bread crumbs or croutons would work as well.

This is totally cooked and ready to eat as soon as the cheese is melted and the top is browned.

 

. 

Got Basil - Got Garlic

Let’s make pesto!  

I've had no less than 3 inquiries about my pesto recipe in the last week, so it sounds like it's time. My basil and garlic are ready to go, so rather than wait another minute, here is my “not so secret” recipe.

Basil and garlic are among those Mediterranean medicinal herbs that are supposed to do great things for your health... and since they are so delicious, why not have them year round!

Traditionally, pesto is made with a mortar and pestle - thus the name pesto.  It is said to have origins in northern Africa, been domesticated in India, and perfected in Genoa, Italy.  Leave it to me to have to come up with my own recipe for the stuff, but I had some modern criteria I wanted my pesto to meet.

 


I wanted something that I could store and it would stay fresh throughout the long Montana winter.  I did not want to use pine nuts as I have had too many with an off/fishy taste.  A lot of the pestos I had tried were swimming in olive oil, thin and runny.  I thought mine should have less oil and more basil.  Also, with a food processor in my pantry, I was not about to use the mortar and pestle method.

This recipe is simple and only takes a few minutes to make, and you can enjoy it until the basil grows again next year.  (PS - plant more basil next year.)

PESTO
(makes about 4 - 5 cups)

4 cups packed (pack as many leaves as you can into a 4 cup measure), fresh picked, cleaned, and dry basil leaves 
(I use both the Genovese and the larger lettuce leaf varieties, The salad spinner makes quick work of the wash and spin, then I lay them out on a towel to dry, fluffing them a couple of times to assist in the drying process.)

6 large cloves of garlic, peeled
2 cups of walnuts
1 1/2 cups of shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese 
2 teaspoons of salt, or to taste
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
       
I start with the garlic and the lemon juice in the food processor.  Once the garlic is finely minced, I add the 4 cups of basil leaves and mince those.
Add the salt, walnuts, and cheese and the mixture will be very heavy.
 

With the food processor running, I drizzle the olive oil into the tube and continue to let it work until the whole thing comes together into a beautiful, creamy, light green color.

I then taste to see if it meets my satisfaction.  You can add more salt, more lemon juice, or more oil to your taste and process again until it is well blended and creamy.

 

Then put the pesto into jars or freezer safe containers that will hold about ½ to 1 cup each.  I use half pints, the tapered jelly jars work fine too.   Put them right into the freezer.  The pesto will retain it’s beautiful, fresh, light green color while frozen.  

Before you plan to use it, move a jar to the refrigerator to thaw.  It will keep for weeks in the refrigerator.  Once opened it will gradually oxidize on the top.  This is normal and doesn't hurt anything.
 
Here are just a couple of suggestions for using your pesto, beyond the linguine that is...

How about spreading it on a loaf of french bread, top with a little mozzarella and broil, or toss it with some new potatoes or green beans, make a green pizza by spreading it on the dough instead of a red sauce - then top with chopped tomatoes and a little mozzarella for a different style Margarita pizza.  I have even known someone that spreads it on a turkey sandwich as a condiment.  Let me know if you discover any great new uses for it, and I will be sharing some additional pesto uses as time goes on.

(Just as I was finishing this post, my husband came in and told me our neighbor was recovering from a fall. I decided to make a casserole for him using the left over pesto and a cabbage I had sitting on the counter - see the next post.)

Whole Sweet Cherry Preserves

A generous person living on the shores of Flathead Lake, allows us to pick cherries each year from her personal orchard.  She has a number of different varieties, but this year she said something that piqued my curiosity.  She said there was one tree that had just plain yellow cherries on it and that no one did anything with those.  That rang a bell in my head and it said, why not?

I checked out the tree and the cherries were just as sweet and delicious as any of the rest, and they were yellow.  I picked about a gallon and a half and thought I would make some whole cherry preserves from them as an experiment.   In the old days, nothing was there without a purpose and nothing went to waste, so I decided to do a little research.

I discovered they were called white cherries, even though they are a beautiful golden color.  They are the major type of cherry used for making maraschino cherries.  The FDA's definition of a maraschino cherry denotes this artificial process: “The term "Maraschino Cherries" is regarded as the common or usual name of an article consisting of cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor.”  Not really very appetizing.  No wonder I have never liked maraschino cherries.  

I also discovered that these trees were often planted as a good cross pollinator for the other trees in the orchard.  That makes a lot more sense because there was only one white cherry tree in Nancy’s orchard.

In case you are fortunate enough to have one of these trees in your orchard or run across some of these white cherries at the co-op or farmer’s market, here is a recipe that I’ve formulated to make a big batch of whole white cherry preserves.  You can also use this recipe to make preserves for any type of sweet cherry and you can easily cut the batch in half.

Whole Cherry Preserves

 1.    Wash and drain, and then pit about a gallon and a half of cherries and toss them in about 1/4 cup of lemon juice. This helps keep them from turning brown while you process them.
2.    Heat them slowly and simmer for about 15-20 minutes to release the juice.
3.    Let cool and remove the cherries from the juice.
4.    Bring the juice to a boil and add 10 cups of sugar (or half of this if you are doing a half batch).
5.    After the syrup has boiled for a few minutes, add the cherries back to the juice and bring back to a boil and cook gently for 10-15 minutes.
6.    Turn off the heat and let stand in a cool place overnight (12-18 hours). This allow the air in the cherries to be expelled and helps the fruit to be suspended in the preserves rather than float on top.
7.    Get 12-15 half pint jars ready with lids and the equipment you will be using.
8.    Divide the cherries and juice in approximately half - I did two 7-8 cup batches.
9.    Sweet cherries do not have enough pectin to gel, even in the long boil process so it is necessary to add pectin.  I used one box of Sure-Jell for each of my batches.  I put my cherries and juice into a stock pot and added the pectin, stirring it into the cold juice.
10.    Then I brought it all to a boil that could not be stirred down and boiled it for exactly 1 minute.
11.    Skim and ladle the preserves into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe rims, attach lids and place in your boiling water bath.  At our altitude I process in the water bath for 25 minutes.  Check your book or the internet for  the processing time for your altitude.
12.    Remove from the water bath and invert on a towel (lid down) until cool.
13.    Once cool, turn the jars over and the cherries will settle beautifully and evenly from the top to the bottom of the jars.

Enjoy some now and certainly this winter the sunny color will bring a little sunshine to your toast!

Rustic Tart with Flathead Cherries

It's cherry season here in western Montana and that means Flathead Cherries.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, The Flathead as locals refer to it, is a large valley stretching from just north of Missoula up to the Kalispell-Whitefish area.  Flathead Lake runs up the valley and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states, with over 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline.  The lake moderates the temperatures just perfectly for growing sweet cherries in the fertile foothills around the lake.  

Lapin Cherries

Mostly you’ll find the big dark sweet cherries, Lamberts and Lapins, and many growers also grow the beautiful Rainiers.

Rainier Cherries

Each year we try to go up and pick a lug, or get some from the co-op or local farmer's market.  Those that we don’t devour immediately, get pitted and put into quart freezer bags for later use.  Since the cherries this year are just a few days late, I decided to go ahead and use my last quart from the freezer to make this delicious Rustic Tart.
                   
Some people call this type of pastry a galette, but here in Montana the term Rustic Tart  fits just perfectly.  This can be made with many different types of fruit.  Also try apricots, peaches, or plums.

Start with a rich and flaky crust.  Here is the recipe that I use:

THE CRUST:
1 1/2 cup organic all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus more as needed iced water

Either by hand or using a food processor, incorporate the flour, sugar, salt and the butter, just until the mixture looks like a coarse meal.  This is best accomplished with a few quick pulses of the food processor or by cutting in with a pastry cutter.

Fill a 1 cup measuring cup with some ice and some water and allow to stand for a minute or two.  Then I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to drizzle in 1/4 cup of the ice water (strained, no ice) into the tube while slowly pulsing the processor.  Because we live in such a dry climate, I find that I always need more so as I slowly drizzle more into the processor, I watch for the dough to come together.  You can check it with your fingers to see if it is still crumbly or if it will stick together nicely if you are in doubt.  As soon as the dough comes together, stop adding water and pulsing and turn the dough out onto a floured board.  I fold the dough over 1 or 2 times and form into a flattened disk.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.

Dough comes together

Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

THE FILLING:                                       
Now for the fruit... I drain the cherries because they produce a lot of juice when they are frozen. If you are using fresh cherries just wash and pit before measuring.

About 3 cups of fresh or frozen Flathead Cherries (or fruit of your choice)
1/3 cup of organic sugar
a pinch of salt (optional)
1 rounded tablespoon of organic cornstarch

THE TART:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Beat an egg in a dish with a tablespoon of water. Prepare your pan by covering it with either parchment or aluminum foil. ( I used my pizza pan and I covered it with two layers of aluminum foil.)  Spray the foil lightly with oil.
Roll out your chilled crust into a round about 1/4-1/8 inch thick, and about 15 inches in diameter.  Fold it in half and gently transfer it to the pan, making sure it is centered.  Then open it up again.
Toss the filling ingredients together and dump into the center of the crust.  Spread them out to be about 10 inches in diameter.
Then gently grab the edges of the crust and with a folding motion, take the edges and fold them toward the center, around the crust, making a circle with an open center.
Brush the crust with an egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour or until beautifully browned and rustic!
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for a truly Montana dessert.