Gram Goodine’s Blueberry Cake

Tags

fresh blueberries, gram goodine, Kippy Rudy, kippy rudy blueberry cake, maine blueberry cake, wild maine blueberries

Dear GrowingUpJulia Readers,

I am pleased to announce that today I am posting our first guest post from the fabulous Ms. Kippy Rudy. I’ve been very busy with campaigning and to keep me fueled, Kippy has been kind enough to keep dropping off food for me. My favorite treat is her blueberry cake. Wild Maine Blueberries are one of my guilty pleasures. I can eat pint after pint. My mother used to run a commercial blueberry field and I grew up learning how to rake them and process them. Although, I always got in trouble for eating about half of what I harvested. So naturally I have an extreme fondness for anything blueberry. That’s why I asked Kippy if she would be willing to jot down her blueberry cake recipe. So without further ado I present “Gram Goodine’s Blueberry Cake.”

Kippy Rudy

Mattie has been busy campaigning and has sadly had little time to cook.  So without her around to interfere and try to improve upon the recipe with shaved chocolate or imported figs, I decided to make my great-grandmother’s blueberry cake and post it for you all to enjoy.

Now we should be clear on a few things. Blueberry cake is a traditional Maine summer dessert, made with the small, sweet wild berries that cover our mountains and fields every August (or earlier this summer). While you can find blueberries in other places – and even the grocery store – I have never seen blueberry cake anyplace else. And you certainly can’t make it with those giant cultivated blueberries that look as though they were doused in steroids but lack intense the flavor of our native berries. Some things are just best they way they have always been.

Secondly, I did not come from a family with generations of traditions and heirlooms and favorite recipes. This is it for the recipes that go back past my mother. I am told that others in the family had not asked Gram for the recipe, which I attribute to laziness and lack of curiosity. So when I finally asked, it took a little prodding, including the encouragement of her sister, my Aunt Ruth. She wrote it down and Ruth grabbed it. Having made the cake her entire life (and she was well into her 90s at the time), Ruth immediately noticed that Gram had altered the recipe.  I just don’t think she could bear anyone replicating her legendary blueberry cake. Ruth corrected the ratio of flour and it was given to me, with both sisters’ notes.

So in honor of Gram Goodine and all the proud women who wanted to be generous with their favorite recipes but just couldn’t bring themselves to do so, I give you traditional Maine blueberry cake.

Kippy’s daughter, Arden, making Blueberry Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• 2 c fresh wild Maine blueberries
• 2 c flour (Gram said 3—I wouldn’t trust her though)
• 2 c sugar (I find it works well with 1 ½)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 c milk
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• ½ tsp vanilla

Dust the blueberries in flour and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a second bowl.  Combine mixtures, and when thoroughly blended, add the blueberries. Pour into a greased 9 inch square baking dish and bake for 45 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  When cool, sprinkle top with sugar.  

Every summer I make dozens of the cakes (two to four at a time) and freeze them for the winter. They store and defrost beautifully and I can easily mail them frozen to my daughter away at school. Just hold off on the sugar sprinkled on top until you are ready to serve.

Gram Goodine’s Blueberry Cake

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2012 Maine Senate Primary Campaign Drinking Game

Tags

#mepolitics, #mepolitics drinking game, 2012 Maine Senate Primary Campaign Drinking Game, Andrew Ian Dodge, Angus King, Benjamin Pollard, Bill Schneider, Bruce Poliquin, Charlie Summers, Cynthia Dill, Debra Plowman, Jon Hinck, Kippy Rudy, Maine politics drinking game, maine senate drinking game, maine senate primary drinking game, Matt Dunlap, Rick Bennett, Scott D'Amboise, Steve Woods

2012 Maine Senate Primary Campaign Drinking Game!

It’s gonna be a long race, we may need some sustenance to get through this. So next debate, forum or hand shake opportunity, grab a stiff drink (coffee or coffee brandy, it doesn’t matter) and sip along. We are all in this together.

This is all in good fun, and we encourage everyone to add to the list and hope the candidates will drink along. (We really do respect and love all the candidates. Well, except for you Bruce. We’ve got our eyes on you! Seriously…just release your campaign finance report!) And please, drink responsibly. It is never OK to drink and drive or to vote under the influence.

Love,
Matthea and Kippy

TO PREPARE:
Go online and watch a video or listen to audio of one of the events that has taken place so far. By all means, we encourage you to go to an event! But it would be rude to stage a drinking game at the rear of any public affair. Having said that, if you do manage to pull it off in public, please try and film it and share the results. (To be honest, we’re probably there with you. Just ask us to stop filming the candidates and to turn around….)

Assemble a group of friends for the occasion with your favorite beverages of choice (again, lemonade works fine—it’s the spirit of camaraderie that matters here not the spirits themselves!) If you cannot all be together, we suggest texting, tweeting, conference calls or skype to connect. Every year we play the State of the Union drinking game with friends across the country, and it is remarkably satisfying (an unlimited texting plan may be needed, trust me).

If you want to play live, follow our tweets of events at: @growingupjulia or @kippyrudy

Optional item: Bring your personal copy of the US Constitution, which most of the Senate candidates claim to carry on them at all times!  We suggest getting a laminated waterproof copy to survive the duration of the campaign season.

Bill Schneider and Matt Dunlap kicking back after a long debate

TO PLAY:
We begin by toasting our dear Senator Olympia; all together now, “Thank you for serving so long and boy, are we going to miss you!”

Make sure everyone has copies of the Cues list below and take a drink every time one of the cues occurs.

TO WIN:
If you reach the end of the event, and have still not curled up in a fetal position, and you actually know for whom you will cast your vote, you win!

If you reach the end and are convinced to run as an Independent for US Senate or to launch a write-in campaign, you automatically LOSE.

Then make sure you go vote in the Primary on June 12. [click here for polling locations]

CUES, TAKE ONE DRINK WHEN:

• Charlie Summers goes on for more than 60 seconds, gets off message, and begins to contradict what he said earlier in the day. (lean forward, and take a sip.)

• Cynthia Dill reminds you that she does in fact have ovaries, and she is not afraid to use them.

• Angus King mentions laptops, wind energy or the good old days with Jesse Ventura. (If you don’t know what this means, then you weren’t around when Angus was governor.)

• Scott D’Amboise mentions hunting or the second amendment or that he was the only Republican with the courage to challenge Olympia.

• You realize that Matt Dunlap is the only Democrat running who is from outside of the first congressional district (ie “Portland!”)

• Rick Bennett tries to convince you that it’s OK to be sort of moderate on some issues, really, and you are left wanting to give him a hug and tell him there’s no shame in being sane.

• Bruce Poliquin mentions defending the constitution (but not the state one he has been violating).

• You begin fanaticizing about Andrew Ian Dodge and Oscar Wilde having drinks together at the Savoy.
  

  Andrew Ian Dodge enjoying a drink with Oscar Wilde

• Steve Woods mentions the Red Claws and you wish you were watching a game with him rather than watching the debate (and he still manages to sounds like the most reasonable person on stage).

• Bill Schneider says something macho (jumping out of planes, special forces, West Point…) and makes all the other candidates look like a bunch of wussies.

• Jon Hinck looks like he is trying to keep himself from banging his head against the desk/wall and you want to offer to buy him a drink to make it better.

• Debra Plowman re-writes women’s history.

• Benjamin Pollard mentions RFK and then says something that makes you wonder why he is registered as a democrat. (Did I mention RFK? He’s an inspiration!)

• You would rather be with Angus on his cross-country road trip then listening to this candidate forum.

• Charlie Summers mentions American exceptionalism or some other reference to “what’s good for America is good for the world.”

• Bruce Poliquin says he is the only conservative with a proven record even though he has never been elected to any office in a popular election.

• Matt Dunlap rolls his eyes, sighs, or makes some other absurd facial gesture (or plays with an electronic device) during the remarks of an opponent.

• Andrew Ian Dodge defines the word “libertarian.”

• You drift into imagining Cynthia Dill singing, “It’s getting real in the Whole Foods parking lot.”

• You read a tweet by King Angus III and wish he were running for office.

• You listen to Charlie Summers and wonder if it’s hard for him to remember which office he is running for this time.

• Andrew Ian Dodge makes you wish he would write a science fiction novel based on the Senate campaign.

• Debra Plowman is beginning to remind you of Herman Cain.

• Charlie Summers flashes that winning Ken Doll smile. Sooooo dreamy…. (wait, what was he saying?)

• You wish Cynthia Dill was staging a bake sale again. Seriously we need munchies and I’ve got a spare $20,000 for a cookie.

• Scott D’Amboise speaks and you wonder what on earth his campaign has done to spend $500,000.

• Bill Schneider mentions how and why he will defeat the forces of evil, I mean Obamacare.
  

  I bet even Ronald Reagan would have needed a drink after this primary!

• Bruce Poliquin tries to convince you that by weakening the Maine State Housing Authority he is helping the homeless.

• Cynthia Dill mentions unions.

• You are at a GOPforME forum and Phil Harriman asks a new question for once…

• Debra Plowman reminds us that she has been fighting the “good fight” since the early 1990s.

• You want to convince Steve Woods to speak up and hire a campaign staff.

• Benjamin Pollard says something to suggest that organic local farming is an alternative to the Affordable Healthcare Act.

• Andrew Ian Dodge shows up wearing a tie.

• Right now you would pay to see Cynthia Dill defend birth control from Debra Plowman in a fight in front of Planned Parenthood.

• You want to remind Bruce Poliquin that the last time he ran for office he came in 6^th out of 7 candidates, but out spent his opponents by thousands (how’s that for fiscally conservative, Bruce?).

WATERFALL!! (JUST DOWN THE WHOLE DRINK) IF:

• Bill Schneider departs from the Conservative agenda.
• Cynthia Dill departs from the Progressive agenda.
• Bruce Poliquin ever answers a question.
• Bruce or Angus even show up.
• You fully understand why Chellie Pingree, Mike Michaud, John Baldacci and Kevin Raye were smart enough to stay out of this race.
• You want to forget the whole thing and wish you could just convince Olympia to stay.

Poliquin, Steve Woods, Jon Hinck and Scott D’Amboise enjoying a strong whiskey on the rocks.

Hollandaise and the Feminist Easter Bunny

Tags

Butter, Du Bose Heyward, Eggs, Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine, Hollandaise, Hollandaise Recipe, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, Julia Child's Hollandaise, Kippy Rudy, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

An image from DuBose Heyward's "The Country Bunny"

Easter in my household is a distinctly feminine affair.

The holiday starts the night before with a reading of our traditional Easter book, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward. My mother has read it to me every Easter and my grandmother read it to her as a child. The story is a heartwarming tale about overcoming hardship and negativity. In it a little girl bunny dreams of growing up to be the Easter Bunny, but all the boy and aristocratic bunnies mock her and tell her to go back to the country and raise little baby bunnies. It is a magnificent feminist children’s book written in 1939 by the same man who wrote the opera Porgy and Bess. If you have not read it then check it out: The Country Bunny on Amazon

When I was younger I would bounce out of bed in search of what the elusive Easter bunny had left. Now I bounce out of bed to prepare Easter brunch. This holiday I was lucky enough to have Benjamin and Kippy staying at the house.

Mimosa

Kippy and I were in charge of brunch and decided to meld our traditions. The menu consisted of Fresh Fruit, Mimosas, Asparagus with Mornay Sauce, Kielbasa and Eggs Benedict/Florentine covered in a sumptuous Hollandaise sauce. Or at least that was the plan.

The first part of the menu went off without a hitch, then it came time for the Hollandaise. Hollandaise sauce is as elusive as the Easter bunny and generally as satisfying as the sugar rush he leaves behind. I’ve seen people quiver with both desire and fear when discussing Hollandaise. My college roommate swears that her heaven would be floating in a vat of the stuff.

“In these fat-fearing and egg-fearing times, I think we may be forgetting just how good hollandaise is, with its voluptuously silken texture and its lemony-buttery flavor.” – Julia Child from Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home

Hollandaise is an utterly sinful culinary delight; well it is if you can pull it off. Hollandaise is the true diva of sauces. All to often and easily this magnificent sauce can go wrong and you’re left with a curdled soup of yolks and butter.

Emulsion: noun. A mixture of two or more liquids that are not soluble in one another. One is suspended as small droplets in the other.

Hollandaise is an emulsion sauce, like Mayonnaise. It is completely dependent upon the ability of the egg yolks to absorb the butter and flavors. The egg yolks hold the butter in suspension to create a creamy and decadent sauce. But if it goes array the emulsion fails and the eggs curdle and separate from the butter.

In a hurry I grabbed the first recipe I found out of Julia Child’s Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom.I used her directions but went with the traditional method of making the sauce over a double boiler. Kippy and I furiously worked together while balancing the task of cooking the meat and slicing the rest of the ingredients. We tried to be careful, following the recipe and we treated it with love! Yet somehow before we knew it we had a sad curdled Hollandaise starring up at us. But no! What happened? We clarified the butter. We thought we had cooked everything right!

Hollandaise Gone Wrong!

Naturally, my mother managed to stroll into the kitchen during our moment of culinary failure. Peeking into the pan she chuckled and suggested a new cookbook for us and grabbed Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home. Julia has a different method with softened butter, no double boiler and clear instructions from Jacques about cooking the yolks or “sabayon”.

Sabayon: noun. A light, frothy mixture made by beating egg yolks with water or other liquid over gentle heat.

Our biggest mistake was patience; we had rushed the emulsion.  When cooking the yolks make sure you whisk them thoroughly but don’t beat them into a fury. The key here is to cook and thicken the yolks. Next make sure you add the butter slowly. Give it time to absorb and adapt to the butter. We had much better luck using chunks of warmed/softened butter than with the melted/clarified butter. Traditionalists, like Jacques Pepin, swear that using clarified butter results in a thicker Hollandaise. Our version, with the softened butter, was exactly how I like it and I could not imagine it being any thicker. It simply doesn’t seem worth the time to bother with the other methods involving double boilers and clarified butter. Another big difference was the size of the saucepan. We used a far to large pan the first time and the volume of the pan didn’t match the amount of yolks. Using a smaller pan gives your greater control. It really is a capacity issue! Also this recipe took very little time and was much easier than blender Hollandaise recipes.

Remember this sauce is very rich. It took so long to recover from that it took this blog entry a week and half after Easter to come to fruition. But you shouldn’t wait for the next holiday to make this truly sumptuous and classic sauce.

The finished Hollandaise on our Eggs Benedict/Florentine

Hollandaise Sauce adapted from Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home

Makes about 1 cup

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 Tbs water
• 1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice (we ended up adding a bit more at the end for flavor)
• 8 ounces of very, very soft unsalted butter. (It must be unsalted butter the sauce needs very little salt)
• Itty bitty pinch of salt
• Pepper

1. Whisk the yolks, water, and lemon juice in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan. Whisk until thick and pale. Set the pan over moderately low heat and continue to whisk at a reasonable speed. Whisking in a figure eight pattern is best in order to keep the eggs from overcooking.
2. Moderate the heat by frequently moving the pan of the burner for a few seconds and then placing it back. As the yolks cook they will become frothy and increase in volume/thicken. When the yolks are thickened and you are able to see the bottom of the pan through the steaks of the whisk (like in risotto) remove from the heat.
3. In 1 Tbs chunks add the soft butter and whisk constantly to incorporate each addition. Work slowly. Do not rush the butter. As the emulsion forms, you may begin to add the butter in slightly larger chunks but always whisk until fully incorporated.
4. Continue adding butter until the sauce has thickened to your preference.
5. Season lightly with salt, pepper and additional lemon if wanted. Whisk in well and then serve.

Lobster and Shrimp Risotto with Kippy Rudy

Tags

Arborrio Rice, Contest, fish stock, How to clean a lobster, How to Video, Kippy Rudy, Lobster, Lobster and Shrimp Risotto, Lobster Risotto, Maine Shrimp

The lobstah!

A few weeks ago, my friend and accomplished cook, Kippy Rudy volunteered to be my first guinea pig for my food blog videos. I had just procured a new camera and was eager to test it out. The blog was barely a few days old and I wanted to see if I could incorporate videos. We decided to feature her beloved Lobster Risotto which she has been perfecting over the past few months.

Kippy Rudy in her kitchen

One night we took over her kitchen and invited over some friends to help with the chaos. Harris and Meredith came over to help, provide comments and keep us laughing and sane. Marina, Kippy’s daughter, helped me light the space and do screen tests. We started around 6 pm and did not eat until 10 pm. It was a long night full of tech problems, giggle fests, wine and learning. All of us were pretty silly by the end.

The next day I downloaded my camera and anxiously realized that I had shot over two hours of video. To top it off you could hear my tripod creaking through the entire shot. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes! In addition you could hear all of us laughing and cracking “that’s what she said” jokes throughout. Would it be ok for something as serious as my fledgling food blog?

So I reminded myself of the true goal of cooking and food. Yes, at its core level food is about nourishment but it is so much more. Food is a common ground; a medium through which we all can enjoy, laugh and come together. Why do I love Julia Child so much? Because she embraced the silly, the mistakes and the adventurous! By golly! This video was not going to win me an award but it would at least document what a great time we had filming it. Kippy had done a top-notch job demonstrating how to clean a lobster and had provided me with a wonderful glimpse into the world of risotto.  The video deserved to be shown.

To fully embrace the silly I’ve decided to add a contest to this post. First person to comment with the correct amount of times there is an outburst from the peanut gallery will win a bag of Aborrio rice! You must use a valid email address to enter and the mother of the author does not qualify for this contest (sorry Ma!).

For the full recipe see below the video.

Kippy Rudy’s Lobster and Shrimp Risotto:

• 5 cups fish stock
• 1 1/4 cup aborrio rice
• medium onion, chopped
• olive oil
• garlic
• 3/4 c white wine
• meat of 1-2 cooked lobsters
• 1 lb cooked Maine shrimp
• fresh parsley (1/4 cup, more to taste)
• parmesan (at least 1/2 cup, more to taste)
• 1 1/2 tbs butter

1. Heat the stock and keep warm on the burner.

2. Add olive oil to heavy bottom pot on medium heat, when hot add onion and saute until tender. Add garlic (I do more garlic than most people, one two or three good cloves, but you can go more mild). Stir and add rice, coating in olive oil of the pan. Stir for a few minutes, then add wine. When all the wine is absorbed, begin adding ladelfulls of stock. Stir continuously, tradition dictates a figure eight pattern. When all the liquid is absorbed, add another ladelfull of hot stock. This process will continue until rice is tender, about 22 minutes.

3. Just before the rice is finished, add the chopped lobster and shrimp. At the end stir in cheese and parsley, and glaze with the butter at end. Garnish with more parsley and cheese.

Lobster and Shrimp Risotto