Foraged Mulberry Buckwheat Buckle

This nice breakfast or tea cake combines two of my favorite things - mulberries and buckwheat flour. I was way overzealous in my foraging last year, and I had pounds of mulberries that needed to be used so I could refill with the new pickings! For an even brighter mulberry flavor, I like to macerate them in a little sugar and lime zest before adding to the cake.

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the Streusel
50 g rolled oats
45 g buckwheat flour
110 g packed brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
57 g (½ stick, or 4 TB) unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Cake
160 g all purpose flour
90 g buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
85 g (6 TB) unsalted butter, at room temperature
150 g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
160 ml yogurt
1 TB fresh lime zest
435 g mulberries (or huckleberries, blackberries or blueberries  . . .)

Procedure

• Preheat the oven to 350 and set the rack in the middle. Grease a 9”x9” pan.
  Prepare the streusel: Combine oats, buckwheat, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, and butter in a medium bowl. Work the butter in with your fingertips until it's crumbly. Set aside.

• Make the cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together the ingredients from the flour through the salt.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium high speed until lightened, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl down after each addition, and beat  until fluffy and light, about 3 minutes. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt . Add the lime zest, and then fold in half of the mulberries.

• Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Scatter the remaining berries on top, and then the streusel. Bake for approximately 40  minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

• Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Limoncello

I make several batches of this each year to give to friends and family during Christmas or as a host gift. This is my go-to recipe for limoncello, and I’ve also made a delicious version using Satsuma mandarins. These adorable bottles from World Market are perfect for gift bottles. To make the limoncello, I use wide-mouth 128oz Ball jars with push-on lids. The recipe comes from Magdalena Borrea, whose original was published in the Washington Post about 15 years ago. It’s a keeper.

Yields approximately 3 ¼ quarts

INGREDIENTS

15-17 large organic lemons (they MUST be organic!)
Two 750 mL bottles of Everclear (grain alcohol) or high-proof vodka
5 ½ cups water
6 cups granulated sugar

PROCEDURE

• Wash and dry the lemons. With a vegetable peeler (a plastic “y” shaped peeler works best), remove only the yellow rind in strips.

• Squeeze the juice from all the lemons and reserve for another use.

• Place the lemon peels in a large Mason jar (4 quart size works well). Add the grain alcohol, making sure the lemon peel is completely covered. Store in a cool dark place (does not have to be refrigerated as long as it stays relatively cool), and shake the jar daily to agitate the lemon peel.

• After at least two weeks, make a simple syrup by bringing the water to a bowl in a saucepan. Add the sugar and then remove the pot from the heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

• Cover and let cool to room temperature. Strain the contents of the Mason jar into the saucepan (use a fine mesh conical sieve) of the cooled simple syrup. Discard the lemon peels, and then transfer the liquid back to the Mason jar.

• Store the jar in the fridge, covered, for at least 3 weeks, stirring or shaking every other day or so. Transfer the limoncello into smaller bottles to give as gifts or for easier storage. Store the bottles in the freezer.

Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

We made Anson Mills’ Carolina Gold Rice and with soupy Sea Island Red Peas, so I thought a skillet cornbread would be the perfect accompaniment. I used the organic, stone-milled red corn from Locke’s Mill in Berryville, Va. This cornbread recipe is vegetarian, but you could substitute the vegetable shortening with bacon grease or rendered leaf lard. The pure and persistent corn flavor in this bread was a revelation. The almost purple color of the freshly milled, coarse corn flour resulted in a beautiful brown colored cornbread. Unique and delicious!

Yields one 10-inch cornbread

INGREDIENTS

3 TB vegetable shortening + 2 TB unsalted butter (half for the pan, half for the batter)
2 cups coarse ground cornmeal
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups buttermilk

PROCEDURE

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the 10” cast iron skillet into the oven.

• Combine the cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and the buttermilk, but be careful not to overmix.

• Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Add the vegetable shortening and butter. Swirl the pan to melt the fat and coat the bottom of the skillet.

• Pour the excess melted fat into the batter and mix in.

• Pour the batter into the prepared skillet (the skillet should be extremely hot!) and place it in the center of the oven. Bake until the center is just firm and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. 

NOTE: This cornbread was delicious also for breakfast the next morning. Cut a wedge of cornbread in half across the equator, and toast it in melted butter in a skillet on the stovetop. Top with melted butter, or for a decadent breakfast, stracchino cheese and a dollop of your favorite jam.

Rhubarb-Apricot Rye Cake

I’ve been mostly staying out of grocery stores and shopping the Arlington, Virginia farmers markets during the quarantine. They are extremely well organized to keep people safe. Gone (for now) are the days of browsing and daydreaming; you have to go to the market with a clear mission and often a pre-order. However, there is still an opportunity for impulse buys, like the stalks of rhubarb at the Lubber Run Farmers Market. I snatched them up, thinking I’d make some version of a classic strawberry-rhubarb tart.

I ended up making a rhubarb compote with some dried apricots and sugar, and then swirling that into a cake batter funked up with some rye flour and studded with chopped candied orange zest.

Makes one 9-inch cake

INGREDIENTS

For the Compote

1 lb rhubarb, roughly chopped into ¼-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white wine
Zest of 1 orange
1 cup dried apricots, cut into small pieces

For the Cake

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup rye flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ sticks butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp almond extract
Juice from ½ orange, plus enough milk to equal 1 cup total liquid
1/4 cup chopped candied orange zest (homemade! recipe TK)

PROCEDURE

• Make the compote. Combine the rhubarb, apricots, sugar, and wine in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil, uncovered, stirring frequently, until the rhubarb has mostly broken down, the apricot pieces are soft and plumped, and most of the liquid has absorbed. This will take approximately 20 minutes. The texture should be jammy. Set aside.

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan (a springform pan works best, if you have one).

• In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

• Cream the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until the butter is light and fluffy.

• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the almond extract.

• With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the orange juice-milk mixture. Add another 1/3 of the flour, the remaining milk mixture, and then the last of the flour. Mix just to combine.

• Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Spoon the compote over top of the batter, then swirl it in.

• Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and the edges just start to pull away from the sides. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack, then turn it out onto a plate.

• Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: The cake is excellent served warm with vanilla ice cream. It’s also delicious room temperature as a breakfast cake with cofffee.