Mmmmmmm, fresh melon and prosciutto.  A cure for a hot day.

I love doing my saturday marketing, but it kills me when I can’t use everything before it spoils.   So this week I took sunday to cook up some things that I knew would get me through the days where a fresh dish just wouldn’t happen between work and swimming and other activites.

A few loaves of bread had been getting stale, so a bread pudding came to mind.  I’d had a rosemary bread pudding a few months ago at a fantastic local restaurant, and the memory is still in my taste buds.  For this one I used my market zucchini and a few sprigs of my window-box tarragon, and fresh Cherry Glen chevre  to top it off.

I know this will be a great lunch later this week, maybe with a bit of the arugula salad I have sitting on the top shelf of the fridge.

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Summer desserts don’t take much work – the beautiful fruit of the season does most of it for you.  I was so sad to see the last few pints of strawberries on the tables at the farmers market this weekend (though all the cherries made up for it!) that I wanted to do something special with my last few perfect fruits.

The cherries put me in the mind of a clafoutis, where custard cushions and surrounds the delicious juicy fruit.  It only takes a tiny bit of sugar to fill the flavors out, and it makes a beautiful pie plate for any summer fruit.

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I love lemon curd.  Love love love love.  Sweet, creamy, tart, lovely on scones or toast or in tarts.  And it is far easier to make than I would have ever imagined, so my little bag of Meyer lemons went to very good use.

I’ve been adding it to plain yogurt or spreading it on my breakfast most mornings.  I think pastry might be next.

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I love a dessert that is simple and delicious, and this is my go-to tart for whatever fruit is looking good that day at the market.  It’s very non-finicky – whirl the crust together in a food processor, press it into the pan, and fill with slices of your favorite fruit, tossed with just a bit of sugar.  No muss, no fuss – just fabulous fruit.

I recommend a quick sprinkle of powdered sugar on top (I mix it with cinnamon for apples) just to add some color.

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I’ve been thinking about this recipe since I first made it for Christmas Eve dinner.  I admit it – I’m obsessed.  But sweet potatoes take so much of the starchy heavyness out of gnocchi (though they are still quite toothsome) and the ricotta further lightens them up.  Then sage and brown butter, plus a few slivered almonds?  Elegant, and delicious.

I also loved that the gnocchi could be made several hours in advance – a lifesaver for this mutli-course meal.  (They were a first course – to follow was my mothers beef braciole, roasted beets and kale, and my Nana’s fig cakes)

This was a first attempt at pasta making for me – not as scary as I had feared. I’m still guessing at the purpose of the fork in rolling out the dumplings, but they looked about right, so I was happy.

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Apple butter was a staple at my preschool – on mini-bagels or bits of rice cake, the sweet, brown, gooey stuff was an alternative to the regular doses of peanut butter.  But I grew sick of the over-sweet grocery store variety, and when the fall gave me a big bag of farmstand mixed apples, I decided to try out making my own.

These gave me two opportunities – to use the last of the real cinnamon I bought in Israel, and to try canning for the first time.  I used both the clamp jars in the photo and more standard ball jars, and a basic water bath technique I found various places online.

They’ve been a big hit with my holiday gift recipients, and I’m still eating jars of it now – often with my favorite Cherry Glen cheeses (their Monocacy Ash is nothing short of exquisite)

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My boyfriend, a Cincinnati native, is visiting this week.  He was all amped up for the Bengals football game this afternoon, and determined to master a classic food of his home city – the Cincinnati Chili.  This particular food combines a sweet-ish beef chili with spaghetti (two-way), cheese (three-way), onions or kidney beans (four-way, five-way with both).  I’d had it before, at both Gold Star and Skyline, and was a definite convert.  But now, having had it at home, in his particular recipe, I don’t know that I can go back to the fast-food…except for for Coneys at 2 A.M.

It can’t quite erase the pain at seeing the Bengals lose and continue their 19 year streak…but it comes close.

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And my last installment!  It’s actually only 11 cookies, but frankly, I am cookied out.  So I thought I’d finish with something pretty, simple, and highly gift-able.

The peppermint crackles have crushed starlight mints in them, along with a touch of peppermint extract.  I added bits of candy canes to the top for a special flare.

It’s time for actual Christmas, and the eating of cookies.  Happy holidays, all!

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Dried mustard in a cookie?  Really?

Yes, really.

These spicy, complex little cookies are nearly perfect – a lovely crumbly texture, balance of flavors, and not too sweet.  They could easily be dressed up with a coat of icing or drizzle of chocolate, but I love them just as-is.

I’ve also fallen in love with my tiny star cookie cutter – it makes 1-inch or so cookies, that are perfect for single bite snacking.  Yum.

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