Fruit of our Land

Well, our land doesn't produce very much fruit because, and I'm very ashamed to admit this, it's not very maintained. We just sort of let it go, and now that we actually want to do something with it, it's HARD! All those weeds! At least one of my good friends, who took one look at it, said very nicely, "Your yard is, um, very organic..." I will take that as a compliment. But we do have one wild cherry tree that produces fruit. I didn't even think it was edible, but my husband said it is so every summer I pick those cherries and use them to make kampot, or home-made juice, if you will. These cherries are extremely sour so I personally wouldn't eat them just like that, but they make a really good kampot.

So yesterday I decided to pick these cherries. They are sly little buggers though! First of all, they're the same color as the leaves of the tree so they're hard to see, and second, most of them are in the very top branches. I picked what I could reach, which wasn't much. I did consider climbing the tree, but then I got this image of me sprawled on the cement, berries strewn in every direction, and my daughter hollering at the top of her lungs next to me, and that was enough to change my mind. So I made use of what I picked and added other berries from my stash at home to make quite a refreshing pot of kampot.

Kampot can be made from any assortment of juicy berries or fruit. I wouldn't use bananas (they're more mushy than juicy), though. It's really easy and I never measure what I use so here is a measure-less recipe.

Kampot

an assortment of berries or fruit such as apples, plums, peaches, nectarines, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, etc.

sliced lemon or orange

sugar

1. Fill about 1/4 of your pot with your desired fruits and/or berries. I used my wild cherries, Rainier cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and lemon.

2. Add about 1/2 sugar. I always start with 1/2 cup because fruit has it's own natural sugars which will be extracted as the fruits boil.

3. Fill the rest with water. Bring to a boil on high heat. At this point you can taste the kampot and add more sugar or lemon juice to adjust sweetness to your taste. In this recipe I ended up adding 3/4 cup more sugar (those wild cherries were really sour).

4. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

5. Cool completely. Strain through a mesh sieve. Chill in the refrigerator. Enjoy.

This weekend my husband went fishing and caught two King Salmon so I knew he'd take care of the dinner. I let my hubby deal with the fish, he's really good with, but I had to make something for dessert. Last week I went blueberry picking with my daughter and we gathered 17 lbs. of berries and they were yummy! So of course, I had to make a blueberry dessert. I'd already made blueberry muffins and a blueberry coffee cake, but there is one Russian blueberry dessert that I absolutely love and make every summer with the freshest berries I can find!

Blueberry Vareniki

makes about 30

1 cup water

1 egg

2 tbsp. sour cream

pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1. In a large bowl whisk together the water, egg, sour cream, and salt. Add flour and mix. When it gets really doughy, turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead until elastic. Return to bowl, lightly cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

2. Prepare to assemble the vareniki by placing the berries in one bowl, and the sugar in a second bowl, close at hand. Cover another plate with saran wrap and lightly flour. This is where you will place your assembled vareniki. The saran wrap and flour will prevent the vareniki from sticking to the plate. You may need a couple more prepared plates. I ended up having to use three.

3. Divide dough into three chunks. Roll out one chunk into a thin sheet. Don't make it too thin because it may tear, and you don't want it too thick because then the vareniki will be too doughy. It's hard to say, but after several tries, you'll probably figure out how thin you like it...

4. Using a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out round shapes. The remaining dough (the part that didn't make it into a round) can be added to the next chunk of dough and rolled out for the next batch of circles. I don't like wasting dough so I make use of every bit of it.

5. Place a dough round in the palm of your hand. In the center, place 4-6 berries (all depends on the size of the round) then add about 1/2 tsp. of sugar. Fold one side of the round over to make a half-circle and crimp the edges with your fingers. Place on prepared plate. When you have a plate-full of vareniki you can stick them in the freezer until they harden, then transfter to a Ziplock bag. Keep vareniki in the freezer until ready to use.

6. To cook vareniki, bring a pot half-full of water to a boil. Drop in vareniki. Reduce heat to medium-high and let them boil for about 5 minutes. Take them out with a slotted spoon and place in bowl. Add a little butter (about 1/2 tbsp) and stir gently. The butter will keep them from sticking to each other. Sprinkle with sugar on top and serve.