The Jolly Fox
Find Food & Frolic.
Ono Organic Farms.
I always need my farm fix. Even when I’m in a faraway land, I must know where the goods are grown. On my last trip to Maui, I visited Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm, Kula Country Farms, O’o Farm and the Maui Gold Pineapple Farm.
This time around I was so excited to visit Ono Oragnic Farms. If you could pick the spot furthest away from where our condo is, it’d be Ono Farms. Situated on a gorgeous volcanic hillside, just past Hana in Kipahulu. Truth be told, I don’t enjoy driving to Hana. The drive is beautiful for sight-seeing, but it takes SO long to get to Hana because of all of the slowwwww tourists. I’m not exaggerating when I say they drive about 13 mph. You can’t zoom around on Hana Hwy, but you can do a lil better than 13 mph. Anyhow, despite the long slow drive, it’s worth it for numerous reasons. The Hana side of Maui is the wet side, so beautiful, luscious green jungles and waterfalls abound. I could go on about why you should visit, but the best reason would definitely be Ono Organic Farms.
A Long Overdue Strawberry-Kiwi Pie.
Where do I begin? I did not intend an almost month long hiatus. I returned from Maui, got my bearings and then boom, my computer broke. There’s a first time for everything I guess. I have always had good luck when it comes to electronics and I’m happy to report I’m really not used to having to have things fixed. Like sent away and fixed. My computer is back in my life, for now it seems. So here I am with a new post and recipe for you.
I was excited to be visiting Maui in (almost) Spring time as I knew Kula Country Farms would be open for strawberry picking. I raced over there one day before they closed to grab some berries. It was raining, which I don’t mind, but no berry picking pictures because of the wetness.
Smokey Ulu Corn Chowder.
This Monday, I am off to Maui again. I like to call it “little island joy” in my head. I keep dreaming of tropical food, farms, surfing in Kihei, laying on the beach with a book…and pina coladas. And lilikoi margaritas. And everything about Maui. Because it’s lovely and the best kind of special.
In honor of my trip I’m going to leave you with a recipe that I have been meaning to post forever, Smokey Ulu Corn Chower. It’s savoury delicious. Warm, smokey and very filling. If you want to be overly and uncomfortably full, make up some Hawaiian Bread to dip in this bowl of gold.
Smokey Ulu Corn Chowder
Ingredients:
coconut oil
1 8 oz package smokey tempeh (aka tempeh bacon), chopped into bite size pieces
1 sweet onion, chopped
4 c cooked breadfruit (ulu), diced
2 c vegetable broth
2 c corn kernels (about 4-5 ears if using fresh)
4 c canned coconut milk (I used the lite version)
1 1/2 tsp smoked salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Method:
In a large pot (like a dutch oven), heat a little coconut oil and cook the tempeh until almost crispy. Add the onion and cook an additional few minutes, until it starts to soften. Add the breadfruit. Now add the broth and simmer everything for around 5 min. Add the corn, coconut milk, salt and pepper. Taste for salt and add more if you want. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer about 20 minutes and serve hot.
Serves about 6
Preservin’.
For the last two years I have been experimenting with creating and infusing some homemade liqueurs and such. I made apple brandy in 2011, nocino, sloe gin, limoncello and brandied cherries in 2012. Now I have a batch of homemade coffee liqueur (Kahlua) infusing in the pantry, brandied kumquats and a 90 proof limoncello going (thanks to the Saving the Season: Citrus class @ Institute of Domestic Technology). I’m looking forward to when I can get out this spring to pick elderflowers, so I can make my first batch of elderflower liqueur.
Texas Strawberry-Habanero Pie.
Strawberry season is almost upon us kids. Temecula Valley Strawberry Farm will be opening on March 1st and my Chandler strawberry plant (who is aptly named Chandler) is already blowing up with berries. Chandler has been with me for many moons now and he makes strawberries almost all year long with only a few dormant months in between exploding with berries. He’s a weird one, but I love him and the fruity delights he provides me with. Since he’s only one plant, I always eat the berries as snacks. There are never enough at one time to make any kind of recipe, but one day I hope to have enough space so Chandler can have some friends. Until then, it’s all about farm trips and the far mar for me.
I have seen various concoctions for strawberry preserves/spreads paired with hot peppers. I actually sampled a pencil-eraser sized dollop of strawberry-ghost pepper jam that had my mouth pretty steamy for a while. Probably not my first choice for toast, but pretty good all the same. That gave me the idea to bake a Texas Strawberry-Habanero Pie. Strawberries generally don’t make the best pies all on their own because they are so juicy, but I figured I’d give it go and see if I could make the pie work. I’m happy to report that while it was ever so juicy, it was not a soggy mess. Joy. Pie joy.
Possibly Persimmons. Possibly Persimmon Bread.
Persimmons. The first time I had one I bit into an unripe Hachiya persimmon. The tannins and my tongue did not agree. At the time, I was ignorant of the differences between our two main persimmons, the Fuyu and Hachiya. The Fuyu can be eaten like apples, while the Hachiya pretty much have to become mushy to be edible.
Either way, they’re both delicious and one of the only fruit crops abundant in late fall/early winter. I did some research and found a couple of leads about a nice little persimmon operation out in Moorpark. I recruited my farm friends and we set out to find this farm. I had no real concrete information. No farm name, phone number, or hours of operation. Just a random address and two tips from the internet.
As luck would have it, we happened upon a few tattered signs for persimmons. We followed them and found ourselves at Ellie’s Persimmon Farm. The orchard is planted on a hillside, so it can be a little treacherous. The orchard is mostly Fuyu trees with some Hachiya sprinkled in at the top. The persimmons were perfect, organic and cheap. There is no admission fee and you can eat as many as you like and no one seemed to mind that we brought a pup.
Yingst Ranch + Pear, Quince & Wild Blueberry Pie.
Back before I went to Hawaii I made one last farm trip. I wasn’t sure if we’d find the super secret persimmon farm (future post) I had heard about upon my return. So, what I’m saying is this could have my last CA farm trip of the year. I had been wanting to pick some pears, but unfortunately all of the farms I knew of that offered u-pick pears had lost most of their pears to frost. The leftover pears were snatched up right away. I thought I was out of luck when I called Yingst Ranch and they happily reported they had pears.
Awesome.
A couple of friends and I made the pilgrimage out to Yingst and delighted in pear picking. We also picked a few random apples and plums we found hanging around.
Before running off to Maui, I decided on a vegan version of this pie from my favorite place, Eat the Love.
I love that quince turns pink when you cook it. I also thought the blueberries added a nice touch. 
This was a really lovely day. We went thrifting near the farm and each of us found some rad treasure. But, this post is like this day and pie; quick. I’ll be back to tell the story of that secret persimmon farm real soon.
Kona Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Let’s get one thing straight; I don’t drink coffee. Not because I don’t like it, but it gives me the shakes and keeps me awake and jittery. Bothers my stomach too. However, every now and then I like to enjoy a little coffee. I mean…literally a little because more than 6 ounces would destroy me.
The Big Island of Hawaii is pretty famous for its Kona coffee. I haven’t been to the Big Island since I was little, but I remember my parents getting coffee in Kona and I remember it smelling really, really good. I decided I wanted some Kona coffee to incorporate into dessert and to make some homemade Kahlua with. I bought some organic medium roast Kona old style from Kuaiwi Farm.
PS.
These cookies taste like those chocolate brownie frappuccinos that Starbucks used to sell.
Kona Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/4 c AP flour
1/3 c Kona coffee beans, ground
1 tsp baking soda
1 heaping c Earth Balance
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer, dry
2 tsp vanilla
1 ½ c chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with a silpat or parchment.
Combine the flour, coffee, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of your standing mixer, cream together the Earth Balance and both types of sugar. Add the Ener-G and vanilla, mix. Slowly add in the flour mixture and run the mixer until just combined. It may seem a little dry, but that is okay. It should stick together if you pick some up and squeeze it together. Fold in the chocolate chips. Dampen your hands and grab tablespoon size scoops of cookie dough and form them into cookies. Press them down just a bit as these are not really going to spread. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Cookies have a very tender, yet delicious crumb and lots of crunchy coffee ground bits creating a really lovely texture.
Kalua “Pork” Jackfruit Quesadillas.
I’ve never eaten Kalua pork. It’s popular in Hawaii and from what I’ve read it’s smoked pulled pork. Since jackfruit makes such a great pulled pork substitute, I thought I would dump a bunch of stuff in my slow cooker to try and create some kinda smoky jackfruit. I don’t have measurements, but I used a combination of:
2 cans young green jackfruit in brine, rinsed, drained, extra moisture squeezed out
vegetable broth
pineapple juice
liquid smoke
Hawaiian sea salt
Maui turbinado sugar
garlic powder
I cover the jackfruit with liquid and let it cook in the slow cooker until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 6 hours I’d say.
First I used it to make a sandwich.
Then I saw a recipe for a pulled pork and goat cheese quesadilla and I really wanted to make a version of that.
I love this tofu chevre recipe, so I made a batch of that. I also went and bought some Daiya for good measure. The mozzarella or jack wedge would both work. I sautéed some sweet onions and cut some chives from my garden. I layered the ingredients onto a whole wheat tortilla and heated it in my panini pan. The result was a fine quesadilla. I know there are sort of a lot of elements for just a quesadilla, but worth it.
Bergamot Orange Semolina Cake w/ Olive Oil & Thyme.
Last year I saw this cake on Eat the Love. All of the components really jumped out at me, as Eat the Love recipes often do. I start reading the flavors and in my mind I’m going down the ingredient list saying yes. Yes. YES. Oh, I make right now! Honestly though, everything on Eat the Love is inspired, but this one was destined to be in my mouth immediately. Well, boo to me. It was May and while I was scuttling around town collecting the very last of the season’s blood oranges, I knew it would be absolutely impossible for me to find bergamot oranges.
Firstly, they are an extraordinarily rare fruit to find. This is not something you will likely ever see in a grocery store or even at the farmer’s market. They are most popular in Italy where they are commercially grown and I believe they’re also grown in the south of France and tiny handful of other places. Of course one of those places is California because California is amazing. For years and years I did not appreciate living here. I was always grumbling about our traffic and distinct lack of seasons, but I’ve evolved and now a deep appreciation lives inside of me for this gorgeous and unique land. I could still do without certain things, like all the Hollywood douche types I’m surrounded by, but what this lovely place may lack in people’s humility, it certainly makes up for it with the best tasting, best looking fruit and veggies in this grand country. And the best weather…..hence our fabulous fruit and veg.
So here I am in wonderful California and naturally there is a charming little farmed named Pearson Ranch up in Porterville that grows bergamots as well as lots of other great citrus. I placed an order for bergamots over the phone thinking I would be getting something like a dozen. Little did I know that I would come home and find a giant crate of them on my doorstep. I ended up with about 30 or so oranges and began getting a little nervous. I only had plans for one cake….which I needed like 2 or 3 oranges for. I started researching what else I could do with these fruits and could not find much. Then it hit me….Kevin West! Kevin West writes this amazing canning and preserving blog called Saving the Season. He is a master preserver and also teaches classes at The Domestic Institute of Technology (join me in February’s citrus workshop!). I feel like I knew from his blog that he lived in LA, so I took a chance and emailed him. To pick his brain and to see if he would like some of the oranges in exchange for some information and ideas. I was delighted to hear back from him and we discussed bergamots and various other bits about canning and such. I do my fair share of canning, usually small batch stuff because big batch stuff overwhelms me. My favorite things to make are liqueurs and preserves, although I’d like to do more pickles and would love to try my hand at beer making someday. Anyhow, Kevin was an absolute plethora of knowledge as well as completely delightful person. He gave me a jar of boysenberry jam—which suited me so well. It was the first flavor I fell in love with as a kid that wasn’t regular ol’ strawberry or Welch’s grape jelly (which I now think is NASTY.) Kevin was nice enough to mention me in his own blog and he’s posted an amazing recipe for bergamot marmalade. Pearson Ranch is still taking orders for crates of bergamots. I’m not sure if they ship nationwide, but California orders arrive in 1-2 days. I got about 30 oranges for around $40 which is a STEAL in my opinion. It’s a lot to spend on fruit, but if you’re into baking, preserving or just rarities in general, it’s a must. Plus, the people over at Pearson are the nicest and the friendliest, so give them a call and they’ll set you up nice.
As for me, I now have bergamot sugar infusing, as well as simple syrup, plus some juice for freezing and some finely grated zest for dehydrating among other things. But on to the cake. This is a delightful and delicious cake. It’s very Italian tasting to me….semolina and olive oil will do that I guess. Perfect for dessert or for afternoon tea.
Bergamot Orange Semolina Cake w/ Olive Oil & Thyme
vegan edits:
Sub out 4 eggs for 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of Ener-G Egg Replacer dry–do not mix with water
Sub out the Greek yogurt for equal parts So Delicious Greek Style Coconut Milk Yogurt
*For those of you who do not eat honey, you can use agave or Bee Free Honee for the glaze. I used blueberry honey from Temecula Berry Co.
*Use a high quality olive oil for the cake
Otherwise, mix and bake according to directions in the original recipe found here.
The Jolly Fox 