Homegrown CSA

I was over at my mom's house the other day, harvesting the extreme bounty of her yard. At one point, I was up on the roof, picking the oranges that were too difficult to get from the ground or a ladder. We ended up with four large paper bags of oranges, and the tree was still full of them. We also picked quinces, pears, figs, and grapes, and I snipped some fresh herbs before leaving, because, you know, they tend to come in handy.

Spent the next two mornings drinking copious quantities of fresh-squeezed orange juice, though I still need to wash out the terra cotta that rubbed off on my pants as I was climbing around on the roof.

Pretty plum

Not unripe, just green. Thanks Monterey Market!

Apricot and cherry galette

Though it's counterintuitive, my CSA farm box has caused a softening of the middle as of late. I currently sport a small innertube of fat that wasn't there before I started receiving weekly shipments of gloriously sweet and juicy fruits that were so ripe they needed to be used within a day.

Inspired by summer fruits, I turned to the two cookbooks that are more likely than any others to the root of my diabetes diagnosis in a decade or so. Tartine and Macrina.

This apricot and cherry tart featured a flaky crust and fruit that required very little sugar so the fruit flavors could really shine through. I love what happens to the flavor of apricots when they're baked. They go from being sweet but timid to bold and complex. Like getting a shy art history student drunk.

I started with the Tartine flaky tart dough recipe, which relies on a very simple ingredient list of a teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cup of very cold water, three cups plus two tablespoons flour, and one cup plus five tablespoons cold unsalted butter. Incorporating these ingredients requires strong arms and a big rolling pin, and then there are various pauses for chilling the dough, but the end result is great. Flaky and delicate, though I did have a slight problem with crust shrinkage.

Sauteed figs

Such pretty sauteed figs. Such a nice camera that I got to borrow to take photos of Thanksgiving food.