Summer | Lemon Blueberry Crumble

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All that lemon Pledge is making me hungry!

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I grew tired of drinking blueberry smoothies two days into making them. The only antidote to all that healthy eating (while not wasting the blueberries I'd picked) was something extra sugary and buttery.

Enter: the lemon blueberry crumble.

I've adapted a Smitten Kitchen recipe because I don't always have refined sugar or cornstarch at the ready for baking, substituting brown sugar for white sugar without changing the ratios.

• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• zest and juice of one lemon
  
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 6 tsp flour
  
  
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough should be crumbly. Place half of your dough into the prepared pan.
  3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, flour (or 3 tsps of cornstarch, if you have it) and lemon juice. Mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares, or the blueberries will ooze out.
  5. Refrigerate the crumble, or give away to friends who love lemony, tart desserts.
  

NOTE:
The original recipe simply called it a "blueberry crumble", but the amount of lemon zest and juice involved overpowered my delicious, freshly-picked blueberries, so the name change was a must - but it still tasted good, according to my guinea pigs friends.

A few days in the fridge mellowed out the tart lemon flavor of the crumble. Next time, though, I'll make one with just half a lemon (or maybe none at all) to get more of a blueberry flavor. I'll try some cinnamon on it as well.

Stay tuned!

Summer | Pattypan Squash Sauté Fail

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Only the magic of post-processing makes this look like food.

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A few weeks ago, I picked up a few random summer vegetables from the farm down the road. Among these was something calledpattypan squash, which looked like little yellow UFOs (how darling!) and were rumored to taste just like zucchini.

I visited my online recipe guru on a hunt for zucchini recipes, the closest thing I've encountered to the pattypan squash, finding some instructions for her quick zucchini sauté that seemed simple and fool-proof, requiring only oil, almonds, and julienned zucchini.

I dutifully sliced the pattypan squash, sauteed the almonds in olive oil until they turned golden-brown, and then paused to take in the scene.

It was not a happy scene: an unidentifiable gel was oozing from the squash, resembling the goo that comes off okra or aloe.

The recipe states, "The only two things that matter are that the almonds get brown and toasty in the pan, and that you only cook the zucchini for one minute." ONE MINUTE?! Nuh-uh, sister! Not with that weird goo stuff! I cooked it for at least ten minutes (10:00).

Now, I realize that my "1000% more fire" approach went against the recipe's main tenet, but recipes are meant to be tweaked - especially in in the face of mucky food oozings.

The original recipe also suggested that I could add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the dish. Faced with the prospect of this dripping yellow disaster, my version NEEDED cheese. Lots of cheese.

Maybe it was the extreme over-cooking. Maybe it was the pattypan squash. Maybe it was me. Whatever the cause, the dish was not pleasant.

Final verdict: don't eat pattypan squash.

Ever.

Strip | Strawberry Shortcake

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Life has become a little complicated this month what with finding new jobs, moving, and being ill, so I've put my plan for a cross-country strawberry shortcake pilgrimage this summer on hold. Rest assured, these little setbacks haven't prevented me from gobbling up strawberry shortcake whenever I come across it.

My latest find is offered at Strip, an independent steakhouse in Avon Lake, OH. It's a unique version of my favorite dessert, featuring a large slice of angel food cake with a dollop of strawberry cream (strawberries whipped into cream until it's airy), a scoop of french vanilla ice cream, sliced strawberries, and whipped cream. It's not a light dessert, but it is so delicious that I thought of the biscuit version I had at Howley's in West Palm Beach only halfway through the bowl.

The verdict? I prefer an old fashioned biscuit base or even a chiffon cake base for my strawberry shortcake. The biscuit provides a more savory counterpoint to the strawberries' sweetness, but Strip's rendition is definitely worth eating again.

If you go on a weekend, call them or go to their website for reservations. The restaurant is housed in a restored barn in historic Olde Avon Village, a neat place to visit if you're in the area and would like a boutique shopping experience in a quaint, rustic setting.

Strip Steakhouse
36840 Detroit Road
Avon, OH 44011-1570
(440) 934-9900

What to Grill Today | Pizza

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Looks like the best pizza I've never had.

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My sister and her fabulous could-be-a-chef boyfriend have a delicious tradition of making grilled pizza when the weather is right in Miami. The photo above is their latest creation: grilled breakfast pizzas, eaten poolside.

They'd get more "foodie points" if they made their own dough, but they buy it from Whole Foods, which is the next best thing. They roll the dough out to the desired thickness and throw it on a cured, pre-heated grill. The dough puffs up when heated, so they pop it, flatten it, and flip it over. That's when they sauce it or add other toppings.

The pizza on the left has sliced baby 'bella mushrooms, bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese, and home fries. The pizza on the right has their home-made chunky marinara, fresh spinach, home fries, egg, sausage, and cheese.

Everyone invited to these impromptu poolside pizza parties swears by the pizza. I expect to have a few made for me the next time I grace them with my presence, which means a full report for my readers!

Summer of Berries

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Stand-in strawberry photo until I have my own!
Via Bigberto.

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I haven't been following the health nut diet I proposed for myself back in April, and now that it's almost summertime, I'm getting panicky at the thought of bathing suits. I feel deeply that I'm too young to wear a one piece.

Luckily, summertime also means that strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries -all preferred fruits- will be in season. Follow my logic: I shouldn't have any trouble taking a fresh, healthy, and organic approach if I'm eating what I enjoy.

Also, making strawberry shortcake, blueberry pie, and raspberry jam is still better than not ingesting any fruit, so, there's berry picking to be done!

I've found several farms west of Cleveland to fuel my strawberry shortcake obsession health kick. I'll be doing some picking, some photographing, and cooking with what I find at these farms:

Red Wagon Farm

Chance Creek Blues Organic Blueberry Farm

Voytko Farms

Aufdenkampe Family Farm

Want to find a few farms close to you? Visit Pickyourown.org.