I’ve never been a huge cherry fan, but after getting reacquainted with fresh Rainier cherries I thought maybe I’d give some other varieties another try. This past weekend at the market, I picked up a quart of yellow-tinged Queen Anne cherries, slightly tart like the Rainiers. Another stand had signs saying last week for gooseberries. I’d never had gooseberries, so I snatched them up. Fortunately I read a well-timed post from The District Domestic warning about the tartness of green gooseberries before biting into one too eagerly. I decided to combine them with the cherries for yet another new-to-me experience, a cherry clafoutis. This French baked custard recipe has numerous intrepretations to choose from. I decided to start with The Garden Apartment’s fusion of Julia Child’s and Foodbeam’s recipes… I used buttermilk and more eggs, so it turned out something like this:

Recipe: Cherry-Gooseberry Clafoutis
Adapted from The Garden Apartment and others.

Ingredients:

• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups berries (1/2 ea. gooseberries and Queen Anne cherries, halved and pitted)
• 1/4 and 1/3 cup sugar
• powdered sugar

Instructions: Toss berries with 1/4 sugar and let stand (adjust to taste; I’d use less with sweeter cherries). Preheat oven to 350*. In mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk butter, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, almond extract, sugar, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter into buttered baking dish and bake 4 minutes or until batter begins to set. Remove from oven and spread berries over batter, then pour on rest of batter. Bake for another 50 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and enjoy! (Makes 6-8 servings.)

Notes: Next time I will probably use less or omit the butter, as it turned out a little oily. Also, I would use a tart pan next time as the pan I used was much too deep. (Didn’t affect taste, but not as photogenic as it could have been!) This not-too-sweet clafoutis would be a great base for other fruits or berries too - I might try it with blackberries later this summer.

Farms/Producers: Ingredients from Dupont Circle Farmers Market, including cherries from Toigo (PA) and eggs from Smith Meadow (VA).

wood ear, originally uploaded by foodietots.

I was overwhelmed by the variety at the mushroom lady’s stand last week at market, so grabbed the Wood Ears because MamaBird had recently mentioned them. The description noted they were good in stir-fry, so I put together this dish with the bunch of white radishes I just couldn’t pass up. The husband isn’t a big radish person, but ate this without complaint.

About Wood Ear Mushrooms
Wood Ears look a bit like giant, wrinkly ears, growing out of trees, hence the name. They are mild flavored, firm and chewy when fresh, but soften when cooked. Often used in Asian cooking, they are also believed to have medicinal (blood thinning) benefits.

Recipe: Stir-Fried Wood Ear Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 pt. wood ear mushrooms, tough spots removed
1 bunch white radishes, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly slices
handful spring onions or chives, cut into 1″ pieces
approx. 1 t freshly grated ginger
2 T butter
1/3 c dry white wine
2 T soy sauce
kosher salt & pepper

Instructions
Melt butter in saute pan over medium-high heat. Add shallot and radishes and cook until radish begins to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add ginger, spring onions, wine and soy sauce, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook about 8 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and mushrooms are tender. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Served with arugula salad and grilled buffalo steaks.

This week’s market bag: ground beef, boneless pork shoulder, gouda, zucchini, red peppers, staymen & jonagold apples, romaine lettuce mix.

On the menu: tricolore beef & rice pilaf, roast pork, apple pie, grilled gouda & apple sandwiches.

Recipe: Tricolore Beef & Rice Pilaf

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Making homemade baby food is quick and easy. It tastes better, is fresher and healthier and most importantly, you control what’s in it. Here are ten quick tips to get you started:

1. Start fresh. Organic produce is best, or make sure you use a vegetable wash if you can’t or don’t want to buy organic.

2. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment: a pot with steamer basket & lid, something to puree with (hand blender or food processor), ice cube trays, plastic wrap & plastic baggies or freezable containers.

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Parents today have an overabundance of options for their new babies, from designer clothes and strollers to infant gyms, music and language classes. But when it comes to feeding their babies, many parents see the meager offerings on the grocery shelf and figure Gerber organics is the best they can do. Few parents realize that making baby food is neither complicated nor time-consuming. If you can boil water, you can make fresh, homemade baby food!

I love to cook, and became convinced of the importance of eating organic food while pregnant, so it was only natural for me to decide to make my son’s food. There is also a family history of diabetes so getting him off to a healthy start was very important to me. Studies show that children’s food preferences are formed by 2 or 3 years of age. When the average toddler often lives on a diet of pasta and PB&J, it is easy to see how so many kids grow up “picky” eaters. Today, with the prevalence of processed foods, more than half of children under the age of 3 do not get the recommended daily amount of necessary nutrients. Exposing your baby to a wide array of healthy options from the start is the best way to encourage healthy eating habits.

For me, the proof came at a friend’s baby shower. The “name the baby food” game featured a typical selection of jarred baby foods. Not only was it disturbing to see how hard it was to identify each flavor, but the participants were literally gagging at the taste. If grown adults can’t stand the taste of commercial baby food, why would they feed that to their babies?

Up next, tips for making your own homemade baby food.