Whole Wheat Berry Danishes

One very delicious blog I follow called Seven Spoons recently posted a recipe for a rhubarb danish. Naturally, I had to begin baking immediately. With no rhubarb in the house, all markets and grocery stores closed, and my beloved rhubarb plant abandoned at our old house (along with my berry patch and perennial herbs - waaaah!) I had no choice but to use the berries in my fridge.

The blogger who created the danish recipe apologizes that it is tricky and time consuming but I didn't have much of a problem. I made a few adjustments and am very pleased!

Whole Wheat Berry Danishes

6 T milk, warmed
1 egg
1 tsp dry yeast
1 drop almond extract
1 heaping cup whole wheat flour
1 pinch sea salt
1 pinch cane sugar
1/2 cup very cold butter or coconut oil, diced up
coarse sugar for finishing

In a small bowl, mix milk, egg, yeast and almond extract together.
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar and butter together. Cut the butter, using two knives, into smaller and smaller pieces until it's basically lumpy sand.
Pour the wet into the "dry" and mix.
Place in the fridge, covered, overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 375.
Place dough on the floured surface and roll into a rectangle. Fold in half, and roll back into the same shape. Fold again and roll, repeat.
Cut the rectangle into 4 equal servings. For each, place a handful of blueberries and raspberries, a pinch of sugar and a dash of lemon juice down the middle line. Alternatively, spread a line of berry jam down the centre. Then, like you're making a soft taco, roll the edge with the berries inside until you have a large cigar shape. Make 3 large cuts along the top, and bend into a barely "C" shape. (This danish style is called a Bear Claw and it reminds me of working at Starbucks.)

Place on a lined baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse sugar. (These have a tendency to stick so buttering the tin foil or parchment may be a good safety net.) Bake until golden (about 20 - 25 minutes).

Wild Foraging

Forage: To wander in search of food or provisions.

It's unbelievable what delicious bounty our city has to offer for free if we'd only look for it. My friend Brad has a secret spot for wild asparagus. A nature hike near my cottage turned up fiddlehead ferns long before I knew they were one of my favourite vegetables. Almost every forest contains copious amounts of rhubarb. And you'll find an unreal variety of edible berries within our city. You can eat dandelion leaves, sorrel and nettle to name a few.

Yesterday I picked a quart of saskatoon berries from a tree outside my work. I ate a few and then made the rest into jam. The only tricks to eating wild edibles are finding them and confirming that they aren't poisonous. Sources tell me that all wild berries with a crown are edible. Typically if I see animals eating them it's a pretty good sign - but a quick check at the library and a test on my lip a few hours before the big chow down is my standard protocol.

Rhubarb Crumble

Wow, short of the fiddlehead pasta I've been really slack on posting seasonal recipes! This was brought to my attention with the new books I've been reading:

and

So in all my guilt I've decided to post a recipe. Really after this one I'm not that far behind. I don't have anything brilliant to show you about asparagus (just cook it lightly and eat - can't get any better) so with fiddleheads, asparagus & rhubarb down I'm on to June which of course brings to mind strawberries so I'll see what I can do about that one soon! Roots are also available right now but because they're so easily stored I say enjoy them all year round.

Here's my favourite rhubarb crumble.

Preheat the oven to 350.
In a large bowl combine 3 cups chopped rhubarb, 2 medium apples chopped, 1 egg and 1/2 cup maple syrup. Sprinkle in a few nice warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Pour into a large baking dish.
In that same bowl (don't bother cleaning it) combine 1 cup flour (I've tried this recipe with 3/4 cup rice flour and 1/4 cup tapioca starch - it was great), 1/2 cup sucanat or brown sugar and a pinch of sea salt. Then cut in 1/2 cup cold butter or Earth Balance.
Crumble this mixture over the fruit and bake for 45 - 55 minutes.



There's no picture. We ate it all right away. Every time.