Chocolate Blackberry Pudding

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm, Fair Valley Farm, and Tiger Lily Art Company:

Blackberries and cantaloupes (make this chocolate blackberry pudding) 

Shiro plums from SLO Farm (make zwetschgenkuchen)

eggplants (make grilled eggplant with tomatoes and mint)

tomatoes, including romas, and 10 lb flats for $20 (freeze a big batch of sauce)
Anaheim chile, red hot cherry peppers, assorted pepper bargain bags (make romesco sauce)
cucumbers and Costata Romanesco zucchini (try shredded)
cutting celery (or leaf celery or smallage) (read more about this celery here)
new potatoes, beets, carrots, and kohlrabi (try this kohlrabi salad with harissa)
assorted herbs including Italian parsley and 1 lb bags of basil (make pesto)
fresh spring garlic and onions
kale, chard, and a variety of lettuces (make kale paneer)
bietola (Italian chard/beet green, make saag panner salad)
dried beans and grains from Camus Country Mill (pick up some lentils for mujaddara)
jams, salsa, and pickles from Sweet Creek Foods
pastured chickens from Fair Valley Farm (try slow cooker Pueblan Chicken Tinga)
floral arrangements from Tiger Lily Art Company

This is turning out to be the summer of the pudding. First I discovered tapioca flamingos. Then, before one of my son's swim lessons a few weeks ago, I bought him a chocolate pudding to help tide him over before dinner, and as it happened that lesson turned out to be the watershed during which he finally transitioned from flailing to swimming. He, of course, attributed his new skills to the pudding and was convinced that he would need a steady supply to keep himself afloat in the future. 

Although I didn't want to endorse this logic, I also felt that it wouldn't hurt to have a good homemade chocolate pudding recipe in my repertoire. I tried out one from food52 that proved to be a keeper. It uses tapioca flour instead of cornstarch ("just what we need in the house is yet another kind of flour" my husband commented wryly) and is all assembled in a blender. The addition of fresh blackberries before the pudding sets produces a decadent dessert that tastes as good as walking on water. 

Chocolate Blackberry Pudding

adapted from Alex Talbot's recipe on food52
makes 8 small puddings

2 large egg yolks
3 Tbsp tapioca flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk (or use 3/4 cup heavy cream and 3/4 cup reduced fat milk)
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (60% or more cacao)
1/2 pint blackberries
lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)

1. Put the egg yolks and tapioca flour in a blender and blend on low speed until a light-colored paste forms. You will need to scrape down the sides of the blender jar a couple times, but don't worry if you have some tapioca flour dust that doesn't get incorporated.

2. Combine the sugar, cream, milk, salt, and vanilla in a saucepan set over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then remove it from the heat. Turn the blender containing the egg and tapioca mixture back on low. Quickly and carefully, pour the hot milk mixture into the blender and increase the speed to medium. The heat will cook the egg yolks and allow the tapioca to thicken to the consistency of thick mayonnaise.

3. With the blender running, add the chocolate in stages so it is emulsified into the pudding. When all the chocolate is added, strain the pudding into 8 small serving glasses or bowls (I used small canning jars). Add 1/8 cup of blackberries to each glass and gently tap so that the berries become submerged, or press them down with a spoon. Let the pudding cool to room temperature before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely. Top with whipped cream and more berries if you like.

Chia Seed and Buckwheat Pancakes

Lately I've come across a number of recipes using chia seeds (the very same seeds that produce the green afros on chia pets), and I was curious to taste them. I found that they have a nutty, slightly smokey flavor that reminded me of buckwheat, which inspired me to pair the two together in these pancakes that have become a new family favorite.

If you get the impression from this blog that my family eats a lot of pancakes, you are correct. We like them hardy with oatmeal and pears, rich with cottage cheese, and pillowy with teff and ricotta. These chia seed and buckwheat ones are deliciously light and flavorful. The soaked chia seeds soften up and absorb liquid, like tapioca, binding together this buttermilk batter such that it needs just a minimum amount of flour, making for tender cakes. I've used half buckwheat and half white wheat flour, but I imagine one could use another flour, like sorghum or teff, instead of wheat for a gluten-free version. This morning we topped them with blackberry sauce and hardy kiwis from our garden. And, caught up in the spirit of Halloween, we had a few jack-o-lantern kiwis and pancake people with huckleberry smiles. 

Chia Seed and Buckwheat Pancakes
(makes about 32 pancakes)

1/4 cup chia seeds
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
3 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
butter for cooking pancakes

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chia seeds with the buttermilk. If you'd like the seeds to be very soft, you can soak them in the buttermilk overnight, but they will soften up quite nicely in about ten minutes (about the time it takes from starting the batter to making your first pancakes). Mix in the eggs and canola oil.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients. Then gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are just combined.

3. Heat a griddle or large skillet (I prefer cast iron) over medium heat. Melt a small pad of butter to grease the surface. Spoon out dollops of batter with a soup spoon and allow to cook until the batter loses some of its raw pale color and bubbles stay fixed. Flip with a spatula and cook for a minute on the other side. Both sides should be nicely browned. Transfer to a warm plate, and cook the rest of the batter. Enjoy with fruit toppings and maple syrup. 

Plum and Berry Galette

This artistic spread of golden shiro plums and berries from SLO Farm inspired a fruit galette, in celebration of our twelfth wedding anniversary. My daughter had my husband look up official twelfth anniversary gifts, and decided that a good approximation of the recommended pearls was a selection of blueberries picked from our backyard bushes and presented in an elaborate handmade construction paper box. Some of them made their way into this tart.

I used a galette dough adapted from Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson. I mixed the sliced plums and their juices with a modest amount of sugar, vanilla extract (a vanilla bean would have been nice if I'd had one) and cornstarch. My daughter rolled out the dough and then we ladled over the fruit and crimped up the edges. My one mistake was to bake this on a baking sheet without a rim, because a fair amount of sugary juice seeped out and pooled on the bottom of the oven, where it proceeded to burn and fill the kitchen with smoke. Certainly not the first baking disaster in 12 years of marriage.

With a good airing out of the kitchen and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the galette was delicious.

Plum and Berry Galette

Galette dough
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (such as Camas Country Mill's Soft White Winter Wheat flour) 
1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
8 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
3 Tbsp ice water, or more as needed
1 tsp fresh lemon juice


1. combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to mix.


2. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the food processor. Pulse about 10 times until the butter is cut into pea sized pieces. Add the liquid and pulse again briefly. Feel the dough and if you can press it together into a clump with your hand, you are done. Otherwise, add a little more water. 


3. Transfer the dough onto a silicone mat or sheet of saran wrap. Pat it together into a ball, then flatten it into a disk, wrap it up and let it chill for at least an hour. You can make the dough a day in advance.


Galette filling
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 plums

1 cup berries, such as blackberries and blueberries

1. Adjust the oven rack to the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Use parchment paper to over a 12 inch wide baking sheet with a rim around the edge, or grease well with butter.


2. Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, vanilla. 


3. Roll out the chilled galette dough to 13 or 14 inches in diameter and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of the sugar mixture on the dough, leaving a two inch rim bare.


4. Slice the plums into a bowl, collecting the juice. Toss with the remaining sugar mixture with the plumbs. Lift the coated plums out of the bowl and arrange on the galette dough, leaving a rim. Distribute the berries on top, then pour the remaining sugary plum juice over the fruit. Fold the outer edges of the dough over the outermost fruit. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 20 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving (if you can wait).

Fresh Fruit Crepes

SLO Farm had a glorious selection of berries at the market last week. With berries as delicate as these, it seemed a shame to cook them, so I decided to incorporate them in some fresh fruit crepes. I used Julia Child's crepe batter recipe (from The Way to Cook) and an iron crepe pan (a much appreciated gift from my sister-in-law).

For one batch, I layered in lightly sweetened sour cream, sliced nectarines, and blackberries.

These made for a delicious brunch.

Late that evening, my husband use the remaining batter to make some dessert crepes, which he sprinkled with semi-sweet chocolate chips and raspberries.

There's nothing more decadent than warm melted chocolate and fresh berries.

Fresh Fruit Crepes
makes 10-12 crepes

For the crepes

1 cup flour 

1 1/3 cup milk

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp melted butter

1. Blend batter in a blender or with an immersion blender until very smooth.

2. Melt a pad of butter in a nonstick pan, and when the butter foams, pour in a small ladle-full of batter, swirling the pan so that it just coats the pan.  Cook until the white batter has all turned a more golden color.  Flip with a spatula.

3. Layer in fillings on one half of the crepe as the second side cooks. Fold in half and slide onto plate.

Filling ideas

1. Sweetened sour cream (~4 Tbsp sour cream with 1 tsp sugar), sliced nectarines, and blackberries.

2. Semi-sweet chocolate chips and raspberries.

3. Nutella and pear slices.

4. Raspberry jam and sliced peaches.

5. Apple slices sauteed in butter with a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar.