FARMVILLE

BLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE ~ Annual FARM TOUR

The Blue Ridge has got to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth. It's

fertile, too, producing some of the best food in the world.

Last weekend I got to meet my meat.....goats, sheep, cows. I also got to meet

some of the farmers behind all the tasty veggies offered at the Watauga Farmers market.

And, yes, just like a kid I got to pat some very cute, shorn alpacas this past weekend. Stayed away from the donkeys, those cute little thing that farmers use to protect their livestock from coyotes, bears and cougars. Turns out donkeys can be quite ferocious and show their, well, ass!

I also got to tromp down rows upon rows of staked tomatoes, step over and around bright yellow globes of fall pumpkins, cantaloupes and watermelons, and peer into drying sheds of garlic and growing "tunnels" that protect cantaloupes and tomatoes, esp. from rain damage.

Chicken "tractors" and this chicken mobile home provided quite the lovely fowl housing.

The BRWA's annual Farm Tour was such a blast this year, with ten farms spread over 3 counties. Each farm was a model of sustainable farming, an ode to a way of life that these lucky few have embraced.

Apple orchards, honey hives, sunflowers, purslane and potatoes were on display, with farmers talking and explaining over and over to each visitor what their farm was all about. This is a great way to put a face and a place to the food that you eat. I strongly encourage you to find farm tours that are being staged near you, all across the country.

Charles Church of Watauga River Farm in the beautiful Valle Crucis community is one of my favorite farmers. Perhaps he reminds me of my Daddy, the farmer. I just know that he is smart and funny, and to sit and shoot the breeze with him is a delight. A lifetime ago he grew tobacco on his farm, but after the buyout program, he opted for help with the Golden Leaf Foundation to turn his acreage into an organic garden. That takes guts, time and commitment. I admire him for that.

Squash, potatoes, and zucchini were lined up in ice chests for sale. Someone asked about beets, and his helper said, "Oh, I'll go pull you some." Get some for me, I shouted.

How fresh is that?

Charles said too much rain had been a problem for him this growing season. And he will have no broccoli this fall, due to his plant provider. Five acres of broccoli has always been one of his main income-producers. Meanwhile, he has some terrific looking pork products, including a spicy sausage, for sale.

At Tumbling Shoals Farm, Shiloh Avery and partner Jason Roehrig showed us their growing tunnels, as well as the slips of fall crops they had started from seed in their greenhouse. They've cut out that middleman, the plant starter, so they won't have Charles' problem. But that requires a lot of man or woman hours, too. Shiloh is looking forward to December and January when they can actually leave the farm together for more than 24 hours.

BEETS ME!

I was in a pickle, so to speak, as to what to do with such fresh beets. Pickle them? Roast them for a salad? Or stack them with goat cheese? Or sandwich them between puff pastry with chevre? All of those recipes can be found in my latest, THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

I laughed when I remembered my friend who told me that she had never eaten the roots. She thought they were inedible, and so just went for their green tops and threw the dirty things away.

I roasted those babies in a 400 degree oven for about an hour, or until fork tender. Then rubbed them with a paper towel, to keep my hands from turning "beet red," to release them from their skins. So much easier than peeling before cooking.

Now, I'll chill them, then slice them onto a salad with chevre and toasted pecans or walnuts. Or at least what's left of them. I admit I downed a few while peeling. A girl can only show but so much restraint!

BRAGGING RIGHTS

Here are two nice pieces about THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, one about my appearance at the Mount Holly Farmers Market, right outside Charlotte. The other is from the Boston Globe, and all about Tomato Pie. Another blog at another time, I promise.

http://www.carolinaweeklynewspapers.com/story/20100806/author-bringing-passion-local-food-farmer’s-market

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2010/08/11/tomato_pie_is_more_than_just_garden_variety/

COASTAL TERROIR

Manteo Farmers Market, Saturdays 8 to 12

COASTAL GOODIES

You just have to love a farmers market where you can pull your dinghy up at the dock and get farm-fresh provisions. In Manteo, NC, every summer Saturday morning, farmers and their brokers set up tables under a huge sprawling oak and tents, and barely have time to display the blueberries picked from 50 year old bushes, or cantaloupes from Rocky Hock, or creamer potatoes from Camden County before customers like myself starting buying. Note, go early.

Usually I come home from the Outer Banks laden with freshly picked crabmeat and heads-on shrimp from the Pamlico Sound, or soft shells if they're in season, or fresh blood-red tuna.

This time space in my ice chest was shared with Mattamuskeet Sweets, the sweet Spanish-style onion grown near Lake Mattamuskeet where tundra swans and Canadian geese congregate during the winter. This sweet onion's season was cut short this year due to the hot, hot weather, and then rain that July brought. None were available at any of the markets I checked, and so I called. Out of luck, I made a note to go online and order a box early next summer. www.alligatorrivergrowers.com Thank heavens my friend Della had a big bag on her porch and shared a few with me.

COASTAL TERROIR

Not terror, as in pirates swarming the waterfront, but terroir, a French term that essentially means the growing conditions - the "where," the type of soil, the amount of moisture perhaps from being close to the sea, and breezes, the amount of sunlight, etc.

North Carolina's coastal plain, particularly those counties that abut the sounds created by the Outer Banks, our "barrier islands," have a terroir that's particularly good for melons, onions and potatoes.

Rocky Hock is a small community near the banks of the Chowan River, right before it dips down and becomes the Albermarle Sound. The soil there is light and dry, sorta like beach sand, and doesn't hold water. That could be a problem for other veggies, but it's perfect for melons. The last week of June and usually through the end of July is their prime harvesting time. Rocky Hock cantaloupes are sweeter, like I remember the Charentais or Cavaillon melons of France. Their flesh is firm and crisp, and a bit longer-lasting. Ditto for watermelon. I have almost eaten a whole 10-pounder all by myself this last week! Sweet and juicy...dribble down the chin juicy....and did I say sweet, esp in the heart of the watermelon? And with seeds that could help me win a spitting contest (I think seedless varieties are not as flavorful.)

Rocky Hock melons are just about gone for the season, for the same reasons - July was so very hot and wet.

TATERS and PEACHES, TOO

But you can still stock your larder with some of the creamiest creamers and white potatoes from Camden County, a skinny sliver of land that juts from Virginia, bordered by the Pasquotank River which flows into the Albermarle. This northeastern corner of North Carolina is potato country, with over 5,000 acres devoted to growing the tubers. The terroir is similar to that in Rocky Hock, with sea breezes and sandy soil.

Currituck County is tucked between Camden Co and the Albermarle Sound, and faces the beaches up past the last real road in Corolla. Take a ferry over to Knotts Island, and you can find "peaches at the beaches." The last weekend in July is when the annual Peach Festival is held. I apologize for not letting you in on it sooner :>(

GAZPACHO

My favorite treat this summer is SUN GOLD TOMATOES. Tiny, sweet, "pop them in your mouth now" treats, they made a terrific gazpacho. I was thrilled to find a recipe using them in Thomas Keller's latest cookbook, AD HOC AT HOME. The founder of the famed French Laundry in Napa, Keller is of course a proponent of cooking local and seasonal, although he doesn't mind searching the globe for the very best ingredients and spices.

I took some liberties with his recipe for Sun Gold Tomato Gazpacho, substituting our wonderfully crisp, sweet Southern pickling cukes for Armenian or English cucumbers, the Mattamuskeet sweet for a regular onion, and used a combo of smoked sweet paprika and hot chili pepper in place of the piment d'Espelette, and champagne vinegar instead of sherry. In other words, I used what I could find at my markets and in my pantry.

The result? A gazpacho made in heaven. Creamy and smooth, redolent of that sweet tomato taste. We all loved it.

****RECIPE**** SUN GOLD TOMATO GAZPACHO

1/2 cup cold water

1 medium garlic clove, crushed and peeled

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped sweet onion

1 pint sun gold tomatoes (12 ounces)

2 small pickling cucumbers

1/2 large yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and coarsely chopped

1/2 large red bell pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon sherry or champagne vinegar, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon chili powder (or use 1/2 teaspoon piment d'Espelette

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced chives

1. Place water in a medium bowl and add onions and garlic. Pull out 2 tomatoes per diners, then cut the tomatoes in half, over the bowl, catching any drips. Add tomatoes to the bowl.

2. Peel the cucumbers. Slice one cuke in half, then coarsely chop. Add those to the bowl. You'll use the other cuke as a garnish.

3. Add yellow pepper to the bowl, and toss all together. Let sit and "marinate" for at least five minutes.

4. In the meantime, prepare the garnish. Cut the remaining cuke into a very fine dice. Ditto for the red pepper. Refrigerate, separately, until ready to serve.

5. Transfer the vegetables to a blender (or as Keller recommends, a Vita-Mix). Start on low speed, then increase the speed until the mixture is thoroughly blended.

6. Put a fine meshed strainer over a bowl. Pour the tomato mixture into the strainer and press until all the juices are out. Discard the tomato skins and other veggie remains.

7. Rinse out the blender jar, and then add the strained tomato mixture. Add the vinegar, the paprika/chili powder, and season with salt and pepper. Blend to combine.

8. Then, with the blender running, slowly add the olive oil through the top opening, blending until the gazpacho is "velvety smooth."

9. Taste, and add more vinegar or spices or salt and pepper if needed. Refrigerate in the blender jar until cold, or for up to 2 days.

10. When ready to serve, give it a whirl or two to blend again. Pour the gazpacho into individual serving bowls or cups. Garnish with a sprinkle of the diced cucumber and red pepper, and the tomatoes, halved, saved for the garnish. Serve and enjoy!

VACATION BLUES? TART IT UP!

Rum Point, Grand Cayman

MY TRIP'S OVER, SO HERE'S HOW I COPED.....TARTING IT UP. . . ..

What's not to love about blueberries? Hardly a calorie, high in antioxidants, full-flavored. Easy to work with, easy to pick or find during the summer months, versatile in tarts or on granola or in salads, or even in barbecue sauce, like the spicy blueberry rib sauce I love at Twelve Bones in Asheville, NC....and I'm working on duplicating that here, too.

But here's my fav......a very tart lemon curd topped with fresh blueberries.

And, it's easy. Just take it a step at a time. Zest and juice the lemons. Make and bake the crust, then while that's chilling, cook the lemon curd. Be sure to strain it, as shown, for that removes the lemon zest and leaves the curd smooth on the tongue.

While the curd is cooling, wash and dry the berries. Then it's child play, dropping berries until you couldn't possibly add another blue bomb.......Chill or just dive into it!
RECIPE...........LEMON CURD and BLUEBERRY TART, from my first book, THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands.

For the Pastry:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/4 cup flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch fluted tart pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine butter, vanilla, lemon zest, sugar, and salt. Graduallly stir in enough flour to form a soft ball of dough.

3. Place the dough in the center of the prepared tart pan. press the pastry evenly over the bottom and up the sides, using your fingertips.

4. Place the tart shell in the center of the oven and bake until pastry is lightly browned, about 15 to 18 minutes.

5. Place on a wire rack and cool before adding the lemon curd.

For the Lemon Curd:

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice, strained (from 5 to 6 large lemons)

pinch of salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1//2-inch cubes

1. In a large sauce pan, whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice, and pinch of salt.

2. Add butter, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping sides and bottom or pan. DO NOT BOIL.

3. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the mixture is the consistency of loosely whipped cream, thick enough to coat the back of the spatula and leave a trail when a finger is drawn through it.

4. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the pre-baked pastry shell.

To finish the tart:

1 1/2 pint blueberries, rinsed, picked over, and patted dry

1. Allow the tart to cool to room temperature, about 1/2 hour.

2. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the top.

3. Refrigerate, for up to one day.

4. When ready to serve, remove the outside ring from the tart, and let sit at room temperature for 20 t0 30 minutes before serving. Best eaten the day it is made.

P.S..................

Let me show you why I have not posted lately.....below is my husband standing on top of Grandfather Mountain, where we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary.

And then we spent a week snorkeling, drinking beer, eating conch ceviche, conch fritters and red snapper on Grand Cayman with our friends. Great getaway!

RED, WHITE & NOT BLUE

Chevre on toasted baguette, with ripe tomato and basil.

RECIPE BELOW

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENTS

Nope, that's not a misspelling. Today, with more and more big box groceries, bookstores, and WalMarts, we consumers need to support our local, independent merchants now more than ever. Sure, you may have to pay full price for a hardback book, but in the long run, we all pay in so many ways. Keep the independents in business, and we'll have more diversity and a stronger, local economy. That's my 4th of July message!

T-Shirt from Sterling Bridge Dairy, Floyd Co, VA

CELEBRATE CHEVRE

So it's got a French name, but fresh goat cheese is All-American. Goats are such a trip. They can be "hired" to clear fields....they love kudzu! And climbing on cars. And at Caromont, in Esmont, VA outside of Charlottesville, Gail Hobbs-Paige's goats line up, in the exact same pecking order, every day, twice a day, outside of the milking parlor. www.caromontfarm.com

Here she's with some of her new kids, weaned from their moms so that their milk can be turned into mild and creamy cheese, some dusted with herbs, others with a layer of ashe, still others aged for a bit then washed in a local vinegar, produced from local wines, from Virginia Vinegar Works.

TASTY CHEVRE from NC

Ripshin Dairy, from Love Valley, is sold at the Watauga County Farmers Market. Love Liza's chevre with lemon, and with lavender. www.ripshindairygoat.com

Three Graces makes lovely chevre flavored with a variety of herbs. Look for them at Asheville's tailgate and farmers markets. www.3gracesdairy.com Also, Spinning Spider has been making chevre for quite a few years, with lovely aged cheeses, esp that I have enjoyed. www.spinningspidercreamery.com

Looking Glass Creamery, near Asheville, hopes to make the area "the Napa Valley of cheese." Jennifer Perkins was the "sheep technician" at the famed Blackberry Farm resort, where she tended the goats during the day and experimented with cheese at night. Now, she's producing a fantastic variety of aged and creamy cheese. www.ashevillecheese.com

One of the oldest goat dairies in the Piedmont is Celebrity Dairy, where you can also take a peaceful retreat at the Inn, built among the pastures where goats and chickens roam near Siler City and Pittsboro. Fleming Pfann's cheeses are exceptional, especially those aged and/or herbed.

At just about every farmers market throughout the Southeast, you'll find a goatherder and their cheese, or soaps. Indulge, and enjoy.

LACTOSE INTOLERANT?

Here's something to cheer up those of us who suffer from gas, bloating, or worse with cream, milk or some cheeses: Goat and sheep cheeses are more easily tolerated by our lactose sugar intolerant tummies. And, the harder the cheese, the better for us, too. Check out the explanation given by Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

WAYS TO USE CHEVRE;

- Spread on toasted bread, then top with herbs, or tomatoes and herbs, or roasted sweet peppers

- Add to sauteed vegetables and pasta, while all is warm

- Crumble over spinach or variegated lettuces

- Drizzle chevre with honey, for a sweet treat, esp when served with fresh figs or peaches

In THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, you'll find some outstanding recipes using chevre, like Roasted Beets, Rosemary and Chevre in Pastry; Warm Goat Cheese and Artichoke Spread; Fried Green Tomato Napoleon with chevre as one of the layers; and Tomato Ramekins with Goat Cheese.

Here's one I'll share from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK that came about one evening at the beach when we were racing to prepare our sunset cocktails. I threw together what I had on hand....as lots of cooks do. The results were worth repeating.

Crabs and Goats Cocktail Spread

1 cup backfin crabmeat

1/4 cup bottled cocktail sauce iwth horseradish

1/3 cup chevre

juice from 1 lime

1 tablespoon chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

crackers, crostini or toast points

Mix all ingredients together. Spread and enjoy!

THE HEAT IS ON!

MY MARKET GOODIES

Small, tailgate markets need our support in order to draw more farmers and more customers. So instead of heading out on Saturday morning to my town's bigger markets, I hit the North Raleigh market off Durant Road. I find about a dozen or more tables laden with organically-grown produce, pasture-raised meats, free-range chicken and duck eggs, and freshly roasted coffee from Muddy Dog Roasting Co. I also bought their bag of "roasted" yellow corn meal, which promises a more robust, nutty flavor. I can't wait to make some polenta or cornbread with it.

Thick, meaty pork chops from pigs who will soon have a portable pen, or "pig tractor," came from Little River Ranch near Hillsborough. Free-range eggs, Mountain-variety tomatoes, a great head of lettuce, and yellow squash got me real excited. So did the fingerling-style potatoes - red, purple and creamy white. And the first of the season peaches! Cling peaches will be in by next week, I understand.

Grilled squash, 'mater sandwiches, a frittata, pork chops with the potatoes, peaches sliced on my granola, and a heavenly-fresh lettuce salad are what's on the menu at our house this week. Can't wait!

CHARD, ARUGULA, SPINACH taking the heat.......

Up in the cooler ranges of the Blue Ridge, markets are still featuring some of the cooler weather greens, like rainbow chard, collards, or spinach. I expect you better grab some fast before the hot weather does it in.

Last week I was in Galax, VA at the town's Book Festival sponsored by Chapters Bookshop. I found some gorgeous rainbow chard at the market, so for my demo of a recipe from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, decided to do May Greens Farmer's Market, a recipe shared by Shiloh Avery of Tumbling Shoals farm, who sells at the Watauga Farmers Market in Boone.

Just about any green can be sliced into ribbons or a chiffonade, then sauteed with onions, mixed with feta and hot pasta. It's a simple and easy dinner, fast food, if you will!

RECIPE

1 package spinach linguine or other fresh (or dried) pasta

salt

splash olive oil

1 bunch (4 to 6 cups minimum) chopped rainbow chard or other green

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 bunches green onions

5 to 6 ounces feta cheese

freshly ground pepper

1. Cook pasta in a pot of salted boiling water with a splash of olive oil. If pasta is fresh, be careful not to overcook. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, separate the stems from the chard leaves. Coarsely chop the stems. Stack the leaves on top of one another, roll them like a cigar, and coarsely chop.

3. Heat the 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large,heavy skilet. Saute the onion and chard stems (not the greens!) in the oil for about 6 minutes or until getting just tender.

4. Add the chard greens and salt. Cook until wilted.

5. Add the drained pasta and the feta cheese and continue cooking for another minute, until the feta begins to melt. Add ground black pepper and serve.

Makes 3 to 4 servings.

recipe copyrighted

TWELVE BONES, Asheville

The First Couple choose their first meal in Asheville to be at Twelve Bones. Ribs, Mac & Cheese, greens, corn pudding . . . which sounds like a fine Southern meal to me. I love Twelve Bones' Blueberry Chipotle sauce on ribs, and the jalapeno cheese grits grits are to die for.

Seems President Obama liked his first visit to Twelve Bones so much that he had to take the missus there while on their honeymoon-like getaway. See the video for yourself, HERE

A second location for Twelve Bones has been opened in Ayden, down Hendersonville Rd, and is open for Sat lunch. As you can see from above, the old service station draws a crowd looking to fill up.

SANDHILLS FARM TO TABLE COOPERATIVE is a marvelous organization bringing boxes of farm fresh food weekly to members in the Southern Pines vicinity. You will enjoy their newsletters chock full of ideas and recipes for dealing with the season's bounty, written by an old newspaper buddy and excellent writer, Jan Leitschuh. To get the newsletter, email Jan HERE.

FARM TOURS .....

Charles Church, of Watauga River Farms, is one of my favorite farmers. He's been farming on land that butts right up to the river there in Valle Crucis since he "could drag a bucket across the fields." Ever resourceful and innovative, he gave up farming tobacco and learned to produce potatoes, beans, squash and "you name it" organically. He's also raising pigs the old fashioned way, on pasture, and produces beautiful chops and terrific sausage.

And he'll be among the ten farmers featured in this year's High Country Farm Tour by the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture on August 7 and 8th from 2 to 6 pm. That's gorgeous country folks, and a beautiful way to spend a summer's day.

Also check out the Asheville area's Family Farm Tour sponsored by the ASAP on June 26 and 27 from 1 to 6 HERE. It's a huge tour, with over 30 farms included, in some of the most bucolic scenery in the world!

RHUBARB QUEEN........

Susan Boylan of Otus Branch Farm near the gorgeous rural community of Todd, NC, shared her recipe for Rhubarb Mint Chutney for THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK. When we tested the recipe, we served it with grilled salmon, and it was an unusual and absolutely delicious relish. Spicy yet balanced with a bit of sweetness. Ditto with roasted pork. I must admit I had never had rhubarb unless in a pie sweetened with lots of sugar and strawberries. This chutney is marvelous!

This past weekend, Susan helped man a booth at the Watauga Farmers Market sponsored by the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, who welcomed both me and my cookbook. An intern from Appalachian State, Kristen, made up several chutney batches and served it on top of slices of baguette from Stick Boy Bakery in Boone, and slices of Ashe County Cheese, also featured in my book. Along with samples of Apple Spice Cake, we drew a taste-ful crowd!

Here's Susan's recipe, as printed in THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

RHUBARB-MINT CHUTNEY

2 to 3 stalks rhubarb, finely chopped

1 small chili pepper, seeded and minced

10 to 15 leaves of mint, preferably spearmint, chopped

2 to 3 tablespoons raw or brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine rhubarb, chili pepper, and mint. Gently stir in sugar and salt.

Allow flavors to mellow for at least 2 hours, then adjust sugar and salt to taste. Can by made 1 day ahead and will last up to 3 days in the fridge.

Strawberries....need I say more?

GRILL, BABY, GRILL

I have fallen head over heels for grilled strawberries. I thought the sensuous combo of chocolate and strawberries would always be my true love, but now.....what can I say other than the caramelized stripe of charred sweetness transport a strawberry into a totally different realm?

Last summer we grilled peaches. Grilled pineapple slices remain a favorite. But strawberries? Never imagined that until I tasted one at the Asheville City Market at their weekly demo and tasting booth, which featured this Saturday Knife and Fork, a new restaurant in Spruce Pine.

EAST DOES IT

Recipes for grilling strawberries usually call for them to be wet, then rolled in sugar and then grilled. Many called for balsamic vinegar, so I decided to give that a try. Granted, my balsamic vinegar is not the real thing that costs as much as the price of a fancy dinner out for just one small bottle. Which means that the cheap balsamic I buy is mostly caramel-colored vinegar probably sweetened with brown sugar, which means a perfect coating for grilling strawberries!

I heated up my grill pan, since my outdoor gas grill was indisposed. I dipped the berries first in the balsamic vinegar, then rolled them first in white sugar. (I bet you could place the berries on a skewer, and roll them in sugar all at once.) The result with regular sugar and the balsamic vinegar was pretty good. When I rolled the berries in brown sugar, however, there was more caramelization going on in the grill pan, and the taste was oh so marvelous! I found that only a minute of heat on either side was more than enough.

The result? The berries pooled their sweetness into the plate. The berries are softened just a tad, with a somewhat crunchy bit of caramel on the grilled stripe. Which made me want to just stand there and fill my face rather than save any for tonight's dessert. I'm going to make a shortcake of some sort to serve them with.

SHORT SEASON

From the mountains to the coastal plain, there will be a short season of strawberries this year, due to the weather. Mainly the fault is with the rain, which is not a friend for strawberries when they are ripening in the fields. In fact, I should have known better than to purchase fresh, local berries this morning, what with our recent heavy rains. They were very soft and had a watered down taste, not as intense as those who roast in the dry sun, and I wound up being able to use only half of the basket.

I remember from my 4-H days, when I planted 100 plants for my growing project. The first year, I was required to pinch off the white blossoms, which meant no berries that year. (They don't do that anymore, I understand.) The second year, I'd go out to my berry patch with my bucket and plunk myself down and eat all within reach until I was almost too sick to pick any more!
STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE TART

So, this gorgeous tart is one of my all time favorites. Chocolate and strawberries, what could be better? Serve a little framboise with it, and yum! You'll also find the recipe in THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands.

I've increased the filling to fit my tart pan a bit better. I like to use a removable-bottom tart pan for its ease in serving, and follow the sweet pastry dough recipe given by Julia Child in THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING. If the strawberries are large, slice them in half. Or use just small, whole berries placed bottom up.

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces

4 tablespoons heavy cream

1 9-inch pie crust, baked

1 quart (4 cups) whole,fresh strawberries, hulled (large ones halved), rinsed and dried

2 tablespoons strawberry or red currant jelly (not preserves)

1 teaspoon water

confectioners' sugar,sifted

sprigs of lemon verbena or mint

1. In the microwave or a double boiler, slowly melt chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently. When thoroughly melted and mixed, stir in cream and beat with spoon until combined.

2. Spread mixture into the baked tart shell.

3. Immediately place small berries with bottoms up, or large ones sliced in half with rounded side up, starting in the center, in a patterned circle covering the chocolate.

4. Melt jelly and water together in the microwave,stir, then brush the tops of each strawberry with that mixture so that the berries will glisten. Be careful not to allow jelly mixture to pool on the chocolate.

5. Refrigerate for about an hour or two, or up to six hours. Remove from fridge about 30 to 45 minutes before serving so that the chocolate layer can be sliced. Sprinkle confectioners' sugar over the top of each slice, and garnish with the lemon verbana or mint.