Pear, Gorgonzola, and Mesclun Salad

Mesclun, according to Wikipedia, is just essentially mixed greens. In case you were wondering.

Salad and I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship. Truth is, I love salad and hate lettuce. I don't know where this came from. The salad of my youth was a side dish and was simple-- iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, possibly some radishes-- and I was happy with that. But the salads of my adulthood have become more complex, cumbersome affairs that I am more likely to want to eat as a main dish rather than as part of a whole meal.

As a result, if a salad is as simple as this one, I find it lacking which is really too bad because the simplicity of this salad is nice-- just pear, gorgonzola, lettuce. And even that would have been too fancy for the old family budget. Yet, I want it to have chicken, toasted walnuts, and chopped dried apricots.

Because I think that salad-- meaning the below plus the above-- would be divine.

Note: I made a half-batch, and lacking vinaigrette, tossed a teensy amount of orange oil with some olive oil and a little nutmeg over it all which was just fine, and maybe drove the wanting for apricots.

From Mark Bittman's Thanksgiving in three hours:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/19/dining/the-minimalist-give-thanks-in-three-hours-from-scratch.html?pagewanted=4&src=pm

Ingredients:

4 large pears, about 2 pounds
1 T. lemon juice
6 oz. Gorgonzola or other creamy blue cheese
12 C. mixed greens, washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces

1 to 1 1/2 cups any vinaigrette

Directions:

1. Peel and core the pears; cut them into thin slices, and toss with the lemon juice. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

2. Crumble the Gorgonzola into small bits; cover and refrigerate until needed.

3. To serve, toss the pear, cheese and greens together with as much dressing as desired. Serve immediately.

Yield: 12 servings.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 215 calories, 15 grams fat, 11 milligrams cholesterol, 425 milligrams sodium, 4 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate.

Lemon Cream Scones

The second of my apricot scone recipes. I used fresh lemons straight off the property lemon tree so I think these will be quite tangy and flavorful. The reviewers on Epicurious pretty much make this as is and all rave about it, so I'm excited to try these scones out tomorrow at breakfast! The only change I made to this recipe is using about 1 1/4 C. apricots instead of 3/4.

From Bon Appetit May 1996, by way of Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Cream-Scones-1923

Ingredients:

2 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. plus 2 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 C. chopped dried apricots (or more!)

1 1/4 C. whipping cream

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 425F. Mix flour, 1/4 C. sugar, baking power, salt, apricots, and lemon peel in mixing bowl. Add whipping cream and stir until dough just forms.

2. Turn dough out and lightly knead on floured surface. Form dough into 10" diameter 1/2" thick round. Cut into 12 wedges.

3. Transfer wedges to baking sheet. Combine remaining 2 T. sugar and 1 tsp. lemon peel in small bowl. Brush scones with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Bake scones 15 min. until light brown.

4. Note: Can be prepared 1 day ahead, cooled, wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature.

Apricot Sour Cream Scones

You can never have enough scones, right? I'm actually in California and on a hiatus from my scone-per-day diet, but in planning a little breakfast triple date-o for Saturday scones came up as an option and could I resist an opportunity to try out a few new scone recipes? I could not! Of course I made the lemon blueberry scones, they are the best. I also had two new recipes that wanted apricots, so even though three types of scones is excessive for six people, I figured I could make both and freeze the leftovers for the Robber to enjoy after I'm gone back to NY.

Practically every Epicurious reviewer stated that the recipe as written is too dry and they added extra liquid. I took the advice of one reviewer and added an additional 1/3 C. whipping cream and found that was sufficient. I also didn't have quite enough sour cream for 2/3 C. and topped that out with perhaps 1/4 C. buttermilk. I will tell you: the dough was delicious. So sour and yet sweet with the brown sugar. I, along with most reviewers, also doubled the apricots. Other reviewers substitute in any old dry fruit that they want with these. There was controversy as to the need for the glaze, I of course froze mine and didn't try the glaze out but I include it below.

Originally from Bon Appetit November 1997 by way of Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Apricot-Sour-Cream-Scones-4412

Ingredients:

2 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. packed light brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

5 T. chilled unsalted butter

2/3 C. sour cream (+ 1/3 C. additional liquid)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. chopped dried apricots (I doubled this.)

1 large egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)

Additional light brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Mix the first 5 ingredients and chopped apricots in a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender (or you can freeze it first and then grate it with a cheese grater ala Annie).

2. In separate small bowl, combine sour cream, additional liquid, and vanilla. Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour in liquids. Mix just until wet. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead gently until dough coalesces into formed ball.

3. Flatten dough into 8-inch round. Cut into 8 wedges. (Or you can drop the scones in rounds onto a baking sheet instead.) Transfer wedges to baking sheet. Brush with egg. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

4. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes (or less, watch them closely). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cardamom-Scented Oatmeal Pancakes with Apricots and Almonds

From the Minimalist Blog at the NYTimes. Mark Bittman has this way of convincing you that really, oatmeal cardmom apricot almond pancakes aren't any harder than the usual kind. And don't they look even more delicious in the picture?

I don't always fall for what he passes off as "minimal," but this one taunted me into trying it this Sunday morning. I brought extras to my little teacher development class for a lesson and they were generally well received, although I don't think anyone is a permanent convert from the regular pancake.

I recommend following his suggestion and serving with honey, although maple syrup works too but it has a tendency to overpower the subtle flavors more than the honey. They are not too sweet alone and would also be overpowered served with very sweet fruit like pineapple or canned peaches. Fresh bananas and milk might be a better choice. These would well for a small brunch with friends.

If I made this again, I might increase both the cardamom and the apricots.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cooked oatmeal
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots

Vegetable or olive oil, for frying
Honey, for serving.

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Combine the flours, oats, almonds, baking powder, cardamom and salt in a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and milk; stir in the cooked oatmeal and the apricots until just incorporated. Add the oatmeal mixture to the dry ingredients and stir gently; don’t overmix. The consistency should be that of thick pancake batter; add a little more milk or whole-wheat flour as needed.

3. Put a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. When a few drops of water dance on its surface, add a thin film of vegetable oil and let it become hot. Spoon out the batter, making any size pancakes you like. Cook until bubbles form on the top and pop, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully flip the pancakes and cook until they’re browned on the other side, a couple of minutes more. You may have to rotate the cakes to cook them evenly, depending on the heat source and pan. As they finish, transfer them to a plate in the oven while you cook the remaining batter. Serve with honey.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Apricot Bread

From Beard on Bread, a book I picked up at the library book sale lo these many years ago.

Because I had dried apricots, and because I am on a freezing-bread-and-eating-it-later-because-I-have-a-whole-freezer-to-myself kick.

James Beard says of this bread: Like all of the fruit breads made with baking powder, the apricot loaves are quite rich and have beautiful color and rather tight texture. They also have a wonderful bouquet. Don't be disturbed if the loaves crack slightly in the middle as they bake. This seems to be par for the course.

Ingredients:

1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups dried apricots
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp double-acting baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1) Pour the boiling water over the apricots and let stand until just tender, don't oversoak them. Drain off the water and reserve it (if you don't have enough, add more water until you have one cup.) Roughly chop the apricots.

2) Pour the liquid into a large mixing bowl, add the baking soda, sugar, and eggs, and mix well with a wooden spoon. Then add the apricots, flour, baking powder, and nuts and mix well again.

3) Butter and flour two 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf tins. Divide the batter into two equal parts and pour into the tins. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 45 minutes, or until the breads have risen, are dark in color, and a straw or knife comes out clean when inserted in the center. Cool on racks and serve.


Beard also says: With baking powder or soda breads you will notice that very often the bread cracks across the top, although otherwise it gives you a beautiful even crumb and slice. Don't worry! Such breads are wont to break during the baking period because they are usually somewhat heavier. If you find doughy or hard lumps in the slice it is certain that you did not mix the original dough well.