I turned to this great recipe from Nigella Lawson for my contribution to my aunt's 93rd birthday party. However, she called for cherry preserves, which I didn't have, but I did have some excellent organic blueberry jam, as well as some dried blues to garnish the tops. So here's my Chocolate Blueberry Cupcakes, with cheers to Nigella.


125g soft unsalted butter

100g Ghirardelli double chocolate chips

300g blueberry jam

150g caster sugar

pinch of salt

2 large eggs, beaten

150g self-raising flour



for the icing:

100g Ghirardelli double chocolate chips

100ml whipping cream

36 plump dried blueberries



Preheat the oven to 350.

Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the blueberry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.

Scrape and pour into silicon muffin liners in a tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

When the cupcakes are cool, put the chocolate chips and the cream in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and then whisk by hand till thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and place 3 dried blueberries in the center of each.

Makes 12. Garnish with birthday candles and Bluebell ice cream, if desired!

My MIL gave me this great cast iron dutch oven for Christmas. It weighs a ton! I christened it by making one of our favorites, French Onion Soup. Nothing caramelizes an onion like cast iron!


French Onion Soup

6-8 large onions, cut horizontally (I used a mix of yellow and red)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 qt good beef broth
1/4 cup white wine or 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I've used both; good b. vinegar is better)
2 tbsp (total) chopped fresh thyme/oregano/italian parsley
S & P to taste (lots of P!)

Crusty whole grain bread
Sliced swiss or havarti

Heat olive oil in your cast iron pan of choice, then slowly roast the onions over med heat, stirring only occasionally. When those babies are nice and caramelly brown, deglaze your pan with a little of the broth, scraping the bottom to get all the good bits. Add the rest of the broth and wine/vinegar, bring to a boil, then simmer until you can't stand to wait anymore (10 min to 1 hour, depending on the hour and your appetite).


To serve, place a slice of crusty bread in the bottom of an oven-proof bowl and ladle the thick soup on top. I like to go ahead and cube the bread to make it easier to spoon it out, but a single slice is more traditional. Cover with a slice of cheese, then broil for 3-5 minutes. Serve piping hot!

More bread, a salad on the side with local cauliflower and pecans, and red wine makes a meal!

Here's Sunday's harvest from our garden. I made potstickers/Asian pork dumplings with ground pork from my favorite pork farmers, seasoned with the homegrown scallion, cilantro, garlic chives, and a little bit of cabbage. Most of the cabbage became a slaw, seasoned with an Asian vinaigrette (sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce). Man, it's great eating locally!



The cauliflower and egg will get used later this week...

For years my mother has made these awesome cranberry muffins during the holidays. The batter is really excellent, and the tart berries explode when they are baking. Anna loves them, and will lobby to buy fresh cranberries at the store just to get these muffins. Colin likes the batter but tries to pick out the sour fruit (impossible). Anthony is not a big fan, but I am!

Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:


● 2 cups flour (I often substitute 1/2 cup with whole wheat)
● 1 cup sugar
● 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
● 1/2 tsp baking soda
● 1 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated!)
● 1 tsp cinnamon
● 1/2 tsp ginger
● zest of one orange
● 1/2 cup shortening (non-hydrogenated!)
● 3/4 cup orange juice
● 1 tbsp vanilla
● 2 eggs, beaten
● 1 1/2 cup cranberries (aw, go ahead and add the whole bag!)


Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients and orange zest. Cut in shortening with pastry blender (you can use two knives). Stir in juice, vanilla and eggs. Fold in cranberries. Spoon into 18-24 foil muffin cups in the tin. (I recently got some silicone muffin liners and I LOVE them! Nothing ever sticks, and they are reusable!)

Bake at 350℉ for 25 minutes or until golden.