apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sorbet. Lemon or mint or basil.

Any tips on grilling using the stove for those of us who don't have outdoor grills?

I've been waiting for an open thread to ask about mulberries. We have this mulberry tree in our back yard and we hate it. However, as we can't cut it down, we've been trying to make the best of it. There is a mulberry wheat beer that is in its final stages of brewing and last weekend I made a mulberry cobbler... the thing is... the cobbler wasn't that flavorful. It's a recipe I've used with other berried and LOVED. But not this time. Upon eating it, one could tell it was made from dark berries, but that was about it. Is there anyone out there who likes mulberries? Do you have any recipes for them that you've tried and liked? If they shade the veggie garden, make the back yard unusable for the entire month of June AND taste bland, I'm gonna start fighting to cut it down.

How about hot dogs -- you know, the all-beef browned on the outside juicy on the inside kind. What could be more American?

chris, hear hear! i use a grill pan, but, it just ain't the same
my solution, make friends with people who DO have backyards ;-)

hey cara, i seem to remember that with mulberries you need to be sure to add lemon or orange juice when you cook them because they're low in acid & they need the acid to pop the sweetness when they cook so they don't bland out. i made a blueberry pie last nite, maybe you could use the same technique to make a mulberry pie? i like it for the summer because it combines half cooked fruit with half fresh fruit, so you can sugar and spice up the cooked part but still get the freshness of the raw fruit. i cooked approx 2 cups of fruit with 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 3/4 c sugar, 1/4 cup liquid (i used water but you can sub fruity white wine, liquer, white grape juice, orange juice) a tsp of cinnamon. bring to a boil and then cook over medium heat until the mixture's thick and clear. take off heat, let cool, add 1 tbsp butter, 1-2 tbsp lemon juice, combine with 2 cups fresh fruit & spoon into prebaked pie crust. (i use the one from trader joe's that comes in a box & you unfold when i don't have time to make my own)

Abby,
That pie sounds delish:)

Ann,

I tried to "girll" summer squash in my broiler last night. It was ok, good but not great, and I almost burned myself a couple of times. I'm going to post about my experience on my blog soon!

I think a grill pan for the stove would be better.

I just want to share some sites I've found recently-the source of some great recipes; for example, Squash Blossom & Gruyere Soup (may be served hot or cold)(recipe linked to my name). The site opens to a great travel article on Jamaica with some amazing photos of Jamaica, Jamaican food etc):
travelerslunchbox.com
Indian food recipes, techniques,links etc at:
http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/
Thai food, travel and Thai recipes at:
thaifoodandtravel.com
Warm weather sometimes makes me crave spicy food!

hmmm. good to know, Abby. I saw a recipe for mulberry rhubarb pie and thought that sounded good, but I wanted to taste as much mulberry-ness as possible. And it sounds like that backfired. Lemon must be the trick.

I have a little square cast iron grill pan that I LOVE. I often use it to grill zucchini, asparagus, sqaush, endive, bread for crostini and sandwiches, as well as various meats. I highly recommend having one.

Grant --
Great idea on the grill pan. Is it Le Creuset or what is it? Where did you buy it?

Chris,

I am not sure what Grant's is but Lodge is a very good brand of cast iron pans and their pans are a really reasonable price, i.e. $20.

Lobster Rolls!

My husband and I have a tradition that we make lobster rolls on all of the big summer holidays so we get to have them on three days over the summer. (We have another tradition of hitting a seafood festival in Charlestown, RI the first weekend in August each year where we often have them again, so I guess that technically we have them four times, along with some of that delicious clear clam chowder).

For hot dogs or lobster rolls I highly recommend the honey wheat hot dog rolls from Whole Foods. We put a little bit of butter on the sides and grill them and then place our special lobster meat salad inside. It's such a treat and we've really enjoyed the tradition. (now on year three!)

i'm sorry, i got so excited about my upcoming lobster feast that i did not properly read the title here...but i will look for my lobster salad recipe to share!

I don't remember where I got my grill pan but it WAS very inexpensive. I think I got it at like Bed, Bath and Beyond or something. I'll look when I get home.

I have an unrelated, possibly stupid question. If one were to make, say, peach ice cream, do the peaches absolutely HAVE to be ripe, since they are going to probably get cooked down and pureed and folded into the custard. All the peaches I've been buying lately never seem to get ripe. Any thoughts?

grant,

here's a trick i heard about for ripening fruit: put it in a paper bag with an apple, fold it up & leave it for a day or so. apparently apples emit some kind of gas (ethelyne i think) that hastens the ripening of stuff around them.

re: your question: my experience suggests that it depends on what you mean by ripe. my own personal rule of thumb is that if i wouldn't eat it out of hand -- if it's cottony and flat tasting -- no amount of doctoring is going to make it taste good. however, if it's hard but it smells peachy, then you're cool. am i right in remembering you're in la? if you are, there've been really killer peaches (and other stone fruit) at the larchmont farmer's market (sun) and i'm betting the other markets around town will have the same

Grant-I'd want to use ripe peaches for better peach flavor(which probably means buying them when it's peak season for them).
Check out section on Buying and Storing Peaches on this page:
http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/facts/peaches.htm
Some points mentioned: avoid greenish tinge, store at room temp., etc.

Wow! So much I've missed out on whilst I've been busy!

Cara ~ I was sent a recipe for kompot which is basically Polish cherry soup that included mulberries. Its on my site somewhere.

Grill pans - I bought a Martha Stewart one ages ago and LOVED it. It was SO cheap, but really did give that fresh grilled taste to things that I totally missed whilst living in an apartment. I'm actually considering buying a panini maker instead now, but I'm not totally convinced that the expense would be worth it.

Grant - I just read an essay on fruit in "The Man Who Ate Everything", particularly about ripening. The apple in a bag trick does work with some stuff, but he says that that generally fruit that is picked underripe really won't become much sweeter along the way (with a few exceptions to the rule). Ethylene gas may soften the fruit but the flavour won't improve much. (Hope I'm remembering correctly - I don't have the book sitting here with me right now).

Happy Canada Day to the Canadians in the room, and Happy Independence Day to all y'all Americans!

eric,

just a clarification - kompot is not a soup but a traditional polish/jewish beverage, often served as a dessert (if you like, you can eat the remaining fruit from your cup with a dessert spoon)

Eric - Thanks. That is good to know. I bought some peaches at my local farmers market a couple weeks ago and i just left them on the counter to ripen. (It's been quite warm here lately) They started to get very soft and yet when I cut into them, I couldn't pry the fruit away from the pit and when I tasted it, it was really hard toward the center and didn't have much flavor. It was not sweet at all. I wonder if this farm just had a bad crop. I picked up some pluots yesterday at the same market but at a different stand. Hopefully these are ok.

Chris - I checked to see who made my grill pan and it is a Lodge and as I said before, I just love it.

Thanks for the clarification Natasza! Much appreciated.

Hey Grant, I find the same thing happens all the time. Now that I've read that little essay, I take a much closer look at the fruit I'm about to buy. Basically, the rule of thumb according to Steingarten is that the stem end should look really dry as though the fruit were ready to drop off on its own. That's a good sign its ripe and should be tasty.