Oh holy garlic and olive oil and salt. Where have I been? Why has homemade pesto not been in my life for longer?! It is beyond all superlatives. But let’s try: creamy, fragrant, garlicky, salty, smooth, fresh, rich. Please go to your kitchen and make some now. It is worth every 10 of the minutes it will take you. It’s actually worth way more. I always loved eating “pesto pasta” when I was cooking for myself at uni but it was always obviously out of a jar. I don’t know many students who were whipping out their blenders. This just takes the biscuit. Homemade is what it’s all about!

Okay, I think there was something else I wanted to talk about. Oh yes…

So this year I got really bummed because I missed out on signing up for a CSA on time. Bah. We were organized-ish but when it came time to part with $350 all at once…well, it just wasn’t happening. Sad.

The alternative? The Farmer’s Market! You’ve been hearing about it all week and here’s why it’s brilliant. It may not be as fun a surprise as receiving a box of unique goodies each week, but a surprise it still is. And fun it definitely is.

You trot along maybe expecting strawberries, but guess what! You’re too late already! Better buy some snap peas instead because there’s a zillion of those suckers. I like that you get to support multiple farmers too. I try to spread the love at the market and never buy too much from one vendor. Wandering round the stalls, meeting the farmers and making what is essentially 100% impulse buys is my kind of good time.

I also love love love seeing what’s in abundance, going with the flow and just picking up what’s fresh.

So, farmer’s market, round three! After making blueberry crumb bars and zucchini and olive french breakfast cake, I was kind of on a roll. I have been wanting to try my hand at making pesto for a while and I thought I’d start out with an easy and simple version so that I have a basic foundation to build from. I recommend using this recipe as your starting point if you’ve never made pesto before – it’s super easy!

Basil Pesto

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 6 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves (almost a blenderful)
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (if using immediately)

Directions

1. Wash basil leaves and pat dry.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine toasted nuts, basil leaves and garlic until well-combined. While machine is running, pour in olive oil in a slow, steady stream, until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
3. If using immediately, stir in grated cheese. If freezing, spoon into an ice-cube tray for individual portions, or larger containers such as yogurt containers. To defrost, allow to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, and stir in cheese.

I had some immediately with pasta and it made such a bloody delightful late evening summer supper that I am pleading with you to make this NOW. Like tonight. Go and find some basil and just do it. Don’t forget a cold glass of white wine! Perfect.

The rest of it I froze (without cheese) – to use again, simply thaw and add parmesan.

For other homemade ideas you might want to try:

> homemade tomato sauce
> homemade hummus

What jarred or store-bought thing have you made at home? Or what are you itching to try?

I’d love to make romesco sauce!

Sigh.

This tart had the potential to be epic. I had such high expectations! You know what I was thinking about while I was making it? The process took an hour and a half – way longer than I am usually willing to cook for – and I was thinking about how I would tell you this but reassure you that it was totally worth the effort.

Well.

It might have been, if The Collapse hadn’t happened. Everything was going so swimmingly. This is a bit of a fussy recipe for me. Not difficult, just time consuming and full of different steps. But all the steps go together really easily and you’re never waiting for anything – in fact, it times out pretty perfectly.

So.

I was getting super excited and everything was going so well. I was proud of myself! And then at the crucial last moment, literally as my awesome husband was pulling into the drive way from a soccer game (I smiled to myself and was all pleased about the timing) I tried to slip the tart from baking sheet to plate….and The Collapse happened. The entire tart base just crumbled and collapsed. Guess I need to work on my pastry skills!

Anyway.

Shit happens. My tart fell apart. What are you gonna do? You’re gonna take it outside with some knives, forks and wine and dig into the mess that was The Collapse.

Still delicious. Still worth you trying to make. Just do a better job than me at the pastry, okay?

Awesome.

On another note, whilst at the market this weekend I asked one friendly farmer to tell me the difference between rainbow chard and swiss chard (which the original recipe called for). The answer was “basically nothing”. Rainbow chard just has more varietals of the same chard. And it’s super colourful.

Don’t be scared of blue cheese. It’s SO GOOD. Especially with (crumbled) pastry as its vehicle.

Rainbow Chard, Squash and Blue Cheese Tart
adapted from Jane Baxter from The Guardian

serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 8 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
• 3 tbsp very cold water
• 5 tbsp pecan nuts
• 1 pinch cayenne
• A dash of Tabasco
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 butternut squash
• Olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 small onions, sliced
• 3/4 lb Swiss/Rainbow chard
• 1/2 lb blue cheese, chopped (I use Black River from Wisconsin)
• 1.5 oz grated parmesan
• 20 sage leaves
• 1 tbsp butter

Directions

1. Briefly process the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor, add the butter, pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, tip into a bowl and stir in enough water to make a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for half an hour. On a floured surface, roll into a rough circle, lay on a greased baking sheet, prick with a fork and chill for 15 minutes. In a 400F oven, bake the pastry for 10–15 minutes, until golden brown.
2. Mix the pecans, cayenne, Tabasco and salt on an oven tray and bake for five minutes, until lightly toasted.
3. Halve, deseed and peel the squash, and chop into 1/4 inch cubes. Place on an oven tray, toss in oil, season and bake for 30 minutes, until tender. Sprinkle over the garlic, bake for five minutes, then set aside to cool.
4. Gently sweat the onions in oil for 20 minutes until soft but not brown, and set aside. Separate the chard stalks and leaves. Chop the stalks into less than 1/2 inch pieces, blanch in boiling, salted water for four minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same water, cook the leaves for a minute, remove, refresh under cold water and squeeze out any excess. Add the stalks and leaves to the onions, mix well and season.
5. In a bowl, combine the pecans, squash, chard and cheese. Use this to cover the pastry base, sprinkle parmesan on top and bake for 10 minutes. Fry the sage in butter until crisp and use to garnish the tart.

Onwards and upwards!

What was your last kitchen fail?
Please make me feel better…

Thanks for all your kind comments on my blueberry crumb bars. Despite being ridiculously crumbly and messy to eat, people seemed to love them so that’s pretty awesome.

Can we talk about weekend mornings at home for a moment? Everyone has their routine, their thing that they love to do on a weekend morning when they get to spend it at home.

It might be lying in bed with a cup of tea and a good book; perhaps you like to get up and make a pot of coffee and potter around the house, cleaning up; some of you I’m sure settle into a mammoth session with the weekend paper; others like to rustle up a stellar breakfast, fit for a king.

Here are a couple of things that I like to do when I have a few hours of glorious nothing ahead of me:

I like to stay in my pajamas, unshowered for as long as possible. I like to smell coffee being brewed by my gentleman friend whilst I lazily don’t get out of bed yet. I like to read the weekend paper, especially when I’m living in England and it’s the Observer. I like to do the crossword with my boy while we listen to Aretha Franklin jams.

I like to get up and eat things like this zucchini and olive french breakfast cake with some coffee, feeling all continental-european while I catch up on blogs and news and facebook and all the other silly things I like to do on the interwebs. I made this loaf on sunday after breakfast but I’ll be eating it all week, mark my words.

Why is this breakfast cake French, I am hearing you asking. I asked the same question. Whenever I have eaten breakfast in France it has consisted of pain au chocolat and orange juice or ‘French bread’ (baguette) sliced and served with jam.

However, apparently in the comfort of their own homes, the French are more likely to rustle up something like this – cake salés or savoury cakes. Ham and gruyere is the most traditional so The New York Times says in this interesting article, but this version with kalamata olives, zucchini and goat cheese is honestly delightful.

I plan on eating it for breakfast all week, coffee and orange juice on the side.

Santé!

Zucchini and Olive French Breakfast Cake
from The Kitchn

Ingredients

Makes 9×5 inch 1 loaf

• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan and drizzling
• 1/2 pound zucchini
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• Course salt

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with olive oil. Grate the zucchini on the coarsest side of a box grater. Place the zucchini in a colander in the sink, and toss with 1 teaspoon of salt. Let drain while preparing the rest of the recipe.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the minced garlic with the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. In a separate, medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then whisk in the milk and olive oil. Use a rubber spatula to fold the wet ingredients into the dry until barely mixed. Fold in the crumbled goat cheese and the sliced olives.
3. Press firmly on the zucchini in the colander, p
   ressing out as much water as possible. Quickly fold the zucchini into the batter.
4. Spread the batter in the prepared loaf pan, and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle the top with kosher salt. Bake loaf for about 45 minutes, or until golden and a knife inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached.
5. Transfer to a rack to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around edge to release. Turn out loaf onto rack to firm up before slicing, about 30 minutes; using a serrated knife, cut into 3/8-inch slices, then cut into halves or quarters.

The olive oil in this loaf made it taste so so moist (I actually wish I’d left it in the oven another 5 minutes to really golden up and get that crunchy ‘crust’ going on) and really added a kick of flavour to the olives and goat cheese. The zucchini looked cool but honestly the flavour wasn’t really there.

This is the second Farmer’s Market delight I’ve rustled up from the goods I bought on Saturday, after those blueberry crumb bars. Zucchini and squash are completely in season in Minnesota right now so look out for another recipe soon!

Have you ever made a savoury “cake” like this popular French kind? What would you choose to put in yours?
I think this would be completely rocking with ham or diced bacon and gruyere. Drooling….

AND

What does your ideal lazy weekend morning look like?