I want to always be thankful for good food. When I say “good” I mean fresh, whole, natural, pure. Like this melon I bought at the Woodbine Farmer’s Market. It had a huge bruise on the side it was sitting on. I knew the guy couldn’t sell it at this full price so I pointed out the bruise and asked how much. He smiled and said $1 and this big ugly melon that I was thankful for came home with me. Only I wasn’t thankful enough to eat it and it went forgotten until Wednesday.

I cannot stand to throw away food. Not because people are starving, but because it is a direct reflection of my food stewardship. It took a lot of time, water, energy, love to grow that melon and it should have its purpose. It is such an attitude as this that keeps the farmer’s market alive and encourages the farmers to bring as much as they grow to market, even when the food isn’t perfect. Good food is not supposed to be uniform or perfect because it is grown, not manufactured. So what does one do with imperfect produce? Melon is a particular challenge for it’s not suitable for jam, jelly, or pie.

What would Alice Waters do?

Alice Waters of Chez Panisse became famous, making simple fresh, local, good food delicious, taking particular care not to alter its nature, but only to embellish. She has changed the face of food worldwide, by encouraging the least fuss using the very best food she can find. If there were part of that melon that was good, she would find a way to use it.

In quite the fashion of Alice Waters, I didn’t want to do anymore than necessary and I only wanted the true melon flavor to jump out. So often store bought melons are bland, picked before their time, and people don’t know what a good melon is supposed to taste like.

This melon was so flavorful, juicy, sweet, it didn’t need any sugar. You could smell its goodness. In keeping with the rules of play, I only added my own ground pepper, but infused the sorbet with lime basil, which I had purchased at a different farmer’s market and is now growing freely in my garden. I purposely chose not to add a single other ingredient. No sugar. No alcohol. This would have to rely on nature’s pure taste. And, this was a good decision, as it is the most flavorful melon sorbet I ever ate. In the above picture, it looks icy, as I let the machine run too long. If you take it out earlier, it’s smoother as below.

What I like most about this experience is that I had the chance to take something simple and keep it simple. As I did this I realized a good life does not have to be complicated. Good things are just good. It’s always a heart issue. Another person might have seen the melon and tossed it all away, only focusing on it’s bruise. But, I saw the good in that melon and knew that this flaw could be overlooked, cut away and the pure, delicious fruit of the melon could be enjoyed.

Tell me do you waste food and then feel bad about it?

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No Sugar added Melon Sorbet with Lime Basil and Fresh Black Pepper

Refreshing melon sorbet with lime basil.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 3 hours hours

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 ripe melon cut up, skinned, seeded
• handful Lime basil or try some freshly squeezed citrus of choice
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Place cut up melon in food processor and process at high until you have pureed.
• Press through a sieve to remove pulp. Add in about 8 leaves of lime basil (or squeeze some fresh lime). Allow basil to sit in juice and refrigerate for several hours.
• Remove basil and process in ice cream maker according to directions.
• Serve with fresh lime basil and fresh ground black pepper.

The post No Sugar added Melon Sorbet with Lime Basil and Fresh Black Pepper appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

There a million ways to make a fruit tart and I hope to experiment with them all. This is not just any tasteless tart you can find at the grocery store. It’s full of surprises such as lime basil and blackberry syrup.

I found lime basil at my local farmer’s market this spring and I was very impressed by how much lime fragrance this plant puts off. It’s not subtle. It’s bright citrusy zing hits your nose immediately. I used it to infuse flavor into some blackberry syrup that I drizzled over the tart and chopped up a handful to throw in the flour for the crust. You could also use lemon thyme.

Had I been thinking this through, I might have added some lime juice to the custard and some more lemon basil leaves into the butter and then re-chilled it. Layering flavors is the best way to boost a dessert that has several components.

Brush pastry with blackberry syrup. You can also use a raspberry jam or some other kind of flavorful jam before adding the pastry cream. Continue to brush berries with syrup (or jam) after the tart is assembled.

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Blackberry Tart with Lime Basil

A delicious summer tart combining summer fruits and summer fruits, blackberries and basil.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• One Tart Shell recipe below
• 1 pint blackberries 2 pints if not using raspberries
• 1 pint raspberries
• 1/4 cup jam or preserves I used four fruit berry preserve; you can use berry or apricot
• handful lime basil finely chopped
• Pastry cream recipe below
• Small handful of lime basil torn into pieces
• !Pastry Crust:
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg yolk
• covered. Once frozen wrap in foil.
• Pastry Cream Ingredients
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 7 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

• TART SHELL
• Butter a tart pan that has a removable bottom.
• Pulse flour, sugar, salt in food processor for a few seconds. Add butter. Mix for about 30 seconds to one minute (it will look like coarse oatmeal). Add egg yolk. Pulse for 20 seconds. Dump onto counter. Bring together, making sure all ingredients are incorporated. Press into tart pan. Freeze uncovered. Once frozen, wrap in foil.
• To Bake: Bake at 375. Butter shiny side of foil. Place that side onto pastry. Bake frozen for 25 minutes. No need for pie weights.

Pastry Cream Instructions

• Get out a small and a medium sized sauce pan.
• In small sauce pan, boil milk. Remove from heat.
• In large sauce pan, mix egg yolks, sugar and corn starch. Incorporate on low heat, adding in 1/4 cup of hot milk. Continue whisking (an electric beater with a whisk wand works like a charm), and gradually add in remaining milk, boiling mixture for one minute. Immediately remove from heat.. Add in vanilla. Allow to sit for five minutes.
• Add butter. Cool completely, before assembling.
• FRUIT
• Wash and rinse fruit well, removing all stems. Dry fruit.If blackberries are very tart, add 1 - 2 tablespoons of sugar and allow to sit for an hour at room temperature. Add raspberries at very end, as they are more delicate.
• ASSEMBLE
• Spread pastry cream onto tart crust.
• Top with berries of your choice. Heat preserves or jam with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush fruit with pastry brush. Refrigerate. You can make this one day ahead. I like to make the cream and the tart crust the day before and assemble a few hours before serving.
• Top with lime basil.

The post Blackberry Tart with Lime Basil appeared first on Spinach Tiger.