Blue Cayenne

Lovely. Such a nice word.

This cake is lovely. It’s pretty. The swirl of berries inside makes it beautifully appetizing. And, most importantly, it is delicious. 

Right now, we are in the midst of a bountiful berry season here in Southern California, so this is the perfect cake to make for berry season. And, because it is a large cake, it is the perfect cake to share. As with most cakes, I enjoyed the crumb of this cake on the second day but it does stay moist for several days on your counter.

This cake also can be frozen to prolong your enjoyment of the cake and to take away the temptation to eat the whole big cake at once. 

On second hand, what is wrong with eating the whole cake at once? (Just asking for a friend.)

This recipe is adapted from one that appears on a wonderful baking site called Sally’s Baking Addiction. You can find the recipe here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

Suddenly, the scent of plums
on a mountain path:
sunrise!
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Plums are in!  I’ve got to agree with the delightful Basho haiku above. Plums are all good things–even sunrises.

As you know if you read this blog, I love stone fruits. Plums and cherries are my favorites. 

Beyond their sweet and tart flavor, plums are downright healthy. According to WebMD, eating plums can help you heal, slow bone loss and address anxiety. What’s not to love about this fruit?

Over time, I’ve written a number of posts here about stone fruit recipes. Here are some links:Blue Cayenne Plum Recipes. Pictured below is a photo of Marian Burros’ famous plum tort and a photo of a plum cobbler. The recipes for both these desserts can be accessed through the preceeding link or by typing in plums on Blue Cayenne’s search box.

This recipe is adapted from the recipe for  Yossy Arefi’s Cherry and Poppy Seed Yogurt Cake in her wonderful cookbook Sweeter Off The Vine. You can find her cookbook at your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

What do you cook when life throws you a curve?

Comfort food. Mushrooms. Wild rice. Butter.

As I convalesce after recently breaking my knee while gardening (I know. I know. It was a real klutz move.), I have been focused on food that is easy to prepare, familiar and delicious. 

This New York Times recipe by Shellie Holmes and Ligaya Mishan caught my fancy. . 

I had a lot of trouble finding the wild rice for this recipe, though. Trader Joe’s, my usual source, said it was a seasonal item.There was none in the big supermarkets here either. So, it was Amazon to the rescue. I ended up buying a cultivated wild rice raised by Minnesota’s Red Lake Chippewa Nation.  It made sense to buy Indian rice; wild rice has been a staple food for  indigenous people for thousands of years. (Red Nation has a direct website but I found it pretty glitchy. I hope to buy from them directly in the future. )

As you probably know, wild rice is only a distant cousin of the rice we commonly consume. It’s long grains are harvested from cool-climate water grass in the Great Lakes region of North America. According to food historian and food expert Harold McGee, wild rice is the only cereal from North America to have become an important food. He describes the cereal as having a flavor that is “earthy and green, flowery, with tea notes.” Does that sound wonderful or what?  

I’m thinking this wild rice (absent the mushrooms) also would be a wonderful bowl for breakfast, dressed with a bit of maple syrup and sprinkled with pecans. 

Here’s the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.