Viburnum trilobum 'Bailey's Compact' is planted right outside my potager picket fence. I am impatiently waiting for these native shrubs to grow into a nice hedge. I am also impatiently waiting for the shrubs to produce berries. I can't quite understand it.... no bright red edible berries.... this season or last. Is the tag wrong? Do I need another American cranberry bush viburnum? Until I get it sorted out I am enjoying the vibrant fall color. My last post was about green walls. This plant creates seasonal red walls for the kitchen garden if you are architecturally or spatially inclined.
american cranberry bush viburnum
Viburnum trilobum 'Bailey's Compact' is planted right outside my potager picket fence. I am impatiently waiting for these native shrubs to grow into a nice hedge. I am also impatiently waiting for the shrubs to produce berries. I can't quite understand it.... no bright red edible berries.... this season or last. Is the tag wrong? Do I need another American cranberry bush viburnum? Until I get it sorted out I am enjoying the vibrant fall color. My last post was about green walls. This plant creates seasonal red walls for the kitchen garden if you are architecturally or spatially inclined.
creme caramel baked in pumpkin shells
Cooking is like gardening in that it is a grand experiment. This is my first attempt at creating a dessert baked in pumpkin shells. The theory here is that the shells will buffer the cooking of the custard and will replace the traditional water bath for such dishes as creme brulee or creme caramel. This is fabulous warm from the oven or cold from the refrigerator as a decadent breakfast. (Of course, after eating all the cream, butter and sugar in this dessert you can make use of the leftover egg whites and make a high protein omelet for breakfast the next day -kind of balance out the splurging to assuage your conscience).
custard
3 c. heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 c. milk
1-1/2 C. sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 c. sliced fresh ginger
dash of salt
caramel
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Pour the cream, milk and a dash of salt into a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the milk is scalded. Add the slices of ginger and set aside to steep for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the pumpkins by slicing the tops off and cleaning out the stringy seeds. Clean well.
Bake the pumpkin shells on a cookie sheet in the oven until you are ready with the other ingredients.
Prepare the caramel by placing the brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and enough water in a saucepan to help dissolve the sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil and let boil for a few minutes.
Pour the caramel into the bottom of the three pumpkins.
Pour the cream mixture through a sieve to strain out the ginger. Reheat the mixture until bubbles appear at the sides of the saucepan.
Whisk the eggs and egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl. With the mixer running pour the hot cream mixture into the eggs and sugar. Continue until smooth.
Pour into the pumpkin "ramekins". Place the pumpkin tops to the sides of the pumpkin shells and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, just until the custard is set.
Serve warm or cooled. Quite delicious. I promise it will be eaten. A few days after making this, I went to the refrigerator only to find my dear husband had eaten it all!
pumpkins on the brain
This trio of pumpkins is destined for the oven as soon as I concoct a way to cook an inside out pumpkin pie. I have in mind some delicious delectable baked right in the round orange shell. I cut the tops off the pumpkins revealing the stringy pulp with seeds and am reminded of the very scary haunted houses we made for our friends when we were children. One set up was in our furnace room- the next innocent would be blindfolded and invited to feel the bowls of eyeballs or brains. For the eyeballs we peeled grapes. Perfect. I think for the brains we used cooked spaghetti, which I guess must feel like a brain would. I think now as I am scooping out this fleshy pumpkin pulp that this slime would make a very convincing bowl of brains.
paw paws
Tropical tasting, soft and squishy. Paw paws are a delectable native fruit of the midwest.
