This week our test kitchen is filled to the rafters with peachy, plummy, cherry, nutty goodness. It’s stone fruit season, and it seems that everyone’s busily trying to figure out what to do with those baskets of jewels. We even discovered some surprises on that list of drupes, including coconut and almonds. This is why we love playing in the kitchen, because we always learn something new, and hope that our investigations give you some fresh knowledge, too.

And though we didn’t realize it, we have a slew of stone fruit recipes, from Gingered Peach Tarte Tatin and Cardamom Rice Pudding to Classic Mexican Mole to the Love & Honor Cocktail. Yes, we’ve covered all our bases.

Those recipes, along with a bit of history, can be found in our newest test kitchen dossier, Stone Fruit: Drupey Drawers of Goodness. Come on, the title was screaming at me. Now go read and cook something.

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Here’s what our other Summer Fest cohorts are doing this week with stone fruits. Go take a peek and leave a comment or recipe. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood.

Margaret Roach: Away to Garden
What is stone fruit, anyway? Plus: Clafoutis revisited

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour/The Blog (Scripps)
Savory Stone Fruit
@mbuffardi

Alison Sickelka: Food2 blog (Scripps)
Peachy Party Foods
@ali_s

FN Dish: Food Network
Paula’s Perfect Peach Cobbler

Healthy Eats: Food Network
Puttin’ Up Peach Pickles, Compote and More

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks.com
Blueberry Peach Smoothies
@cateomalley

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
A Summer Fruit Whatchamacallit – Not a pie, not a crisp, but delicious
@paigeorloff

Diane and Todd: White on Rice Couple
Riesling Poached Pluots
@whiteonrice

Kelly Senyei: Just a Taste
Peaches & Cream Cupcakes
@justataste

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Ginger & Vanilla Poached Peaches
@chefcaroline

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Grilled Peach Parfait and Coconut Peach Gazpacho
@carondg

Tigress in a Jam
Nectarine Preserves with Summer Savory
@tigressjampickl

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Stone Fruit Slump
@edability

Judy: Divina Cucina
Chocolate Amaretti Baked Apricots
@divinacucina

Shauna Ahern: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
Gluten-Free Peach-Blueberry Buckle
@glutenfreegirl

Tara: Tea & Cookies
Making Peach Jam

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
Peaches
@pinchmysalt

Food Network UK
How to Poach a Peach

Marilyn: Simmer Till Done
Cherry Apricot Pie with Ginger-Almond Crunch

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer (and probably longer), a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:

7/28: Cukes ‘n Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit
8/25: Tomatoes

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!

We are delighted to participate in the third annual Summer Fest, an idea put together by Margaret Roach at Away to Garden and Deb Puchalla at Scripps.

A bunch of us have come together to run amok at farmer’s markets and our own gardens for the summer, eagerly tasting nature’s jewels still warm from the morning sun. Every Wednesday from now through the end of August we’ll be featuring a roundup here and on all the participating blogs listed below, so get ready for a feast of summer indulgence. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood. Full details of how it all works are at the end of this post, so we hope you’ll come and play in our giant virtual kitchen!

We’re kicking off the festivities with Cukes ‘n Zukes, which seem to be overflowing the baskets at farm stands everywhere right now. Here’s what we have for you to nibble on:

• Our summer squash dossier will give you a quick primer on zucchini and its brethren, as well as some delicious recipes for zucchini bread and my father’s special sofrito, the mere smell of which brings me right back to childhood — and his massive garden.
• Chef Mark’s Chilled Cucumber Mint Soup, perfect for the unrelenting heat of this summer, as it offers a bit of cooling refreshment to a weary system. The soup is featured in our Gilded Fork: Entertaining at Home cookbook if you’d like some ideas for building it into a summer menu.
• Lastly, I’m toying with cucumber as beauty enhancer over on Food Philosophy, so come take a look-see.

Now, when I said there were a bunch of us, I wasn’t kidding. Feast your ideas on what to do with all those Cukes ‘n Zukes:

Margaret Roach: Away to Garden
Why size matters — and smaller is better (includes pickling tips/tricks, and freezing the excess)

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour/The Blog (Scripps)
10 things you didn’t know you could make with zucchini
@mbuffardi

Alison Sickelka: Food2 blog (Scripps)
Zucchini Appetizers
@ali_s

Michelle Buffardi: Food Network
Paula Deen’s zucchini bread

Elizabeth Gray: Food Network
Cuke Salad & Lighter Cuke/Zuke Ideas

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks.com
Indian Cucumber Wraps
@cateomalley

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
On excess! Why I hate zucchini (plus pickling commentary).
@paigeorloff

Diane and Todd: White on Rice Couple
Stuffed Cucumbers with Prosciutto and Feta
@whiteonrice

Kelly Senyei: Just a Taste
Cucumber & Sesame Salad (includes step-by-step illustrations of slicing cucumbers on a mandoline)
@justataste

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Cucumber Salad
Marinated Summer Squash Salad
@chefcaroline

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Cucumber and Radish Confetti Soup
@carondg

Tigress in a Jam
50 Ways with Cucurbits
@tigressjampickl

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Cucumber Mint Sorbet with Lime Shortbread
@edability

Judy: Divina Cucina
Fried Zucchini Blossoms (and more!) from Italy
@divinacucina

Shauna Ahern: Gluten-Free Girl
Cucumber, Dill & Mint Popsicles
@glutenfreegirl

Tara: Tea & Cookies
Stuffed Zucchini, Zucchini “Noodles” & Pickles

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
Grilled Zucchini with Lemon & Olive Oil
@pinchmysalt

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer (and probably longer), a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:

7/28: Cukes ‘n Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit
8/25 Tomatoes

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!

by Hank Shaw

Chef Mark pays a visit to Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee plantation in the United States. Marty Amaro shows us around the fields, explaining the growing process, and into the factory, where we see some of the roasted coffee being packaged.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & Accommodation provided by the Hawaii HTA as part of the “So Much More Hawaii” tour.

Jennifer and Chef Mark explore the Wychwood Barns Green Market in Toronto. with Mark Trealout, a farmer and organizer of Kawartha Ecological Growers, a coooperative of farms from the area northwest of Toronto. We learn about some of the great farm-grown produce, dairy, and baked goods at the Green Barn.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Toronto. All opinions expressed are those of the participants.

This past February, an article came out in the Village Voice about foie gras (Is Foie Gras Torture?), and whether or not ducks are being tortured to produce this delicacy. The debate has raged on for years, which sparked my initial rant in The Duck Stops Here. What I think author Sarah DiGregorio brings to light with this piece, however, is something that applies universally to food, and in my opinion, is a method we should all use: Know where your food comes from. Know how it’s produced. One of the leading doctors raging against the foie gras machine has never actually set foot on a foie gras farm; she simply perpetuates the propaganda from assumptions.

If you’ve ever watched a PETA video, of course the images are disturbing. That’s their purpose. PETA is going to sensationalize whatever they find in order to make a good video, because they have a very specific intent: They want you to stop eating animals altogether. And that is their prerogative, but when they are harassing members of the public (and their children!) they become their own terrorist force. Bricks have been thrown into restaurant windows, and patrons have been harassed on their way in the door. And you all know about the pies that get thrown. Are they following the equation that two wrongs make a right? How is that going to help, exactly?

I’ve met many artisanal farmers over the years, and to a person they care passionately about their work, their livestock, and for raising them in a humane way. In the end, it makes the food taste better. A stressed out cow or duck is going to have some very tough meat for you to chew, so it is in the farmer’s best interest to keep his livestock calm and happy.

Hudson Valley Foie Gras seems no different. I’ve talked to Marcus Henley, the farm’s manager, numerous times over the past few years, and he has invited me to come see for myself. I haven’t yet had the time to do so, but I will get there, because I want to know where all my food comes from. I’ve done the same with heirloom tomatoes, cows and pigs. I invite you to do the same.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Photo: Kelly Cline

We join Chef Lidia Bastianich at the NY Botanical Garden’s Edible Garden as she demonstrates some great recipes using fresh garden herbs and vegetables. Here she makes a savory crostata filled with rice, zucchini & ricotta cheese.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Here’s this week’s CSA Newsletter, which I write for Hawthorne Valley Farm. They supply my Inwood CSA here in Upper Manhattan, as well as the Riverdale, Bronx CSA. I’m posting these newsletters which I create for my local group here because I’m participating in “Cooking Away my CSA” a group where we all post what we’re doing with our CSA shares to help inspire others to find new ways of cooking up their veggies!

This week I include recipes for Eggplant Catalana, Kasha & Kale, Green Beans with Mushroom Madeira sauce, Lemon Basil Potato Salad and Butter Baked Corn.

Download the PDF here or click the images below: September 10th Newsletter

Video of our visit to the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire. We glimpse the Welsh Black cattle, and tour the unique double walled garden.

www.gardenofwales.org.uk

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Here’s this week’s CSA Newsletter, which I write for Hawthorne Valley Farm. They supply my Inwood CSA here in Upper Manhattan, as well as the Riverdale, Bronx CSA. I’m posting these newsletters which I create for my local group here because I’m participating in “Cooking Away my CSA” a group where we all post what we’re doing with our CSA shares to help inspire others to find new ways of cooking up their veggies!

This week I include recipes for chunky celery soup, serafino’s sofrito, herb-roasted root vegetables, Genovese style green beans, & flatbread with winter squash.

Download the PDF here or click the images below: September 3rd Newsletter