Month: August 2018

Peach Pancakes

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I’m not a big texter, so I surprised my husband Sunday morning when I sent him a text. “Pancakes prepped.” He appeared in the kitchen within minutes. “And they’re going to be peach pancakes,” I said. We’d never had peach pancakes before, but it’s an excellent idea. The pancake recipe came from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. It’s a basic batter with lots of melted butter. I cooked them in a big cast iron pan. First, I followed the instructions to make four small pancakes at one time, but it was too hectic. Pouring one decent size pancake gives enough time to place pieces of peach as the bubbles form on the surface. And flip. Serve them up with maple syrup and bacon. Have seconds.

Plum Upside Down Cake

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Plums call out for being cooked into something sweet. Last night it was an upside down cake for the yellow plums I bought at Sport Hill Farm Market in Easton, CT. First, cut the plums in half and remove the pits. Then let brown sugar and butter bubble in a 9-inch cast iron pan, until it becomes syrupy, and place halved plums in pan in one layer, round side down. Next, the light, buttery batter. Pour over plums. Put the skillet in the 350 F oven. Bake 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit for 5 minutes, loosen edges of pan. Look for a large round flat cake platter and realize you don’t have one. No worries. Rectangular platter to the rescue.  Flip the cake onto the platter. The cake is light, rich, and the sweet layer of caramelized plums has a tart note. Even though I’m not a “dessert person,” I had two slices because how often do you have something this good?  This cake is dangerous.

What We Do Sundays

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I’ve lived in many places, but I’ve always come back here to southern Connecticut. It’s a beautiful place, and a maddening place, filled with interesting people, and overlapping circles. One group of circles is people who care about food.­ Sunday, I drove from my house in Fairfield to Sport Hill Farm in Easton. As soon as I stepped out of my car, I saw my neighbors. Their four-year-old daughter was talking to the chickens, and their baby boy gave me a shy, lopsided smile from his perch in his father’s arms. “We just bought a loaf of Michael’s bread,” Kate said, referring to my husband’s Fairfield Bread Co. “We came back for more apricots because they were so good.” It’s a great year for apricots, and Sport Hill has “imported” lovely ones from Red Jacket Farm in New York State. Plump, golden and rosy, their flesh is sweet, skin tart, and consistency perfect, like a childhood memory of the way fruit used to be. Inside the barn, Michelle was behind the counter, and I hope that meant that farmer Patti Popp, the …