chicken with morels, rhubarb galette, pickled hatch chilies, and a long overdue post!

Fall has arrived in Alaska.  I love this time of year.  The mornings are crisp and cold, the leaves are beginning to turn, and my flowers are just about ready to call it a season.  

It was a doozy of a summer.  The weather in Alaska was nothing short of spectacular.  Seems like wherever I’ve been (which feels like EVERYWHERE this summer) the sun was shining and the berries and mushrooms have been plentiful. Life has been very good, if not very, very busy.

Lobster roll nirvana

My summer has largely been spent getting from Point A to Point B.  From Barrow to Sitka, from Bethel to Delta Junction, and a few stops in between.  I even snuck down to the lower-48 for a spell (where I located a delectable lobster roll in Minneapolis.  MINNEAPOLIS- of all places.  Who knew?!)  In fact, I'm writing this post as I'm flying the friendly skies back home.

Like so many other folks, my summer got away from me and my life refuses to slow down.  As I was picking the last of the plump raspberries off the plentiful bushes that line my backyard, I suddenly realized that as my life seems to have evolved this year, so must my little blog.  Finding time to cook is not a problem.  Cooking is my therapy after a long day on the job.  For me, it’s like breathing and sleeping.  And without it, I’m just not me.  

But finding the time to write recipes, take photos (which for this amateur blogger is not an insignificant amount of time), and publish new posts has proven a bit more difficult.  So I’m just going to improvise!

Oh, I’ll still post recipes and pictures- don’t you worry.  Some of the recipes will be my own, but many may just highlight recipes that I’ve tried and loved and want to share with others. My pictures may not be as carefully staged and styled to perfection, but they'll still be my own.

This summer in Alaska has truly been a delicious one, and I wanted to share some of its culinary highlights.  It began on a foraging expedition with friends Renee and Michael for wild morels. I posted last year about my foray into mushroom foraging.  After last year’s beginners run, I was totally excited to tackle fungi foraging this summer.  And I’ve done so with gusto!  

Wild morels- one of my favorite adventures all year!

Creamy chicken with morels, photo by Renee

Morels are a tricky mushroom.  Prized by chefs for their earthy, meaty flavor, they’re also fairly elusive to foragers unless you know where to look.  A brief internet search will tell you that they thrive in sparse forests recently struck by wildfire.  They only grow in springtime, so get out there early next year.  They.  Are.  Worth.  It. 

My friend Renee is a fabulous home cook, who's  culinary skill and technique exceed my own.  The woman is stealth in the kitchen.  We turned this incredible bounty of morels into a truly astounding dish: Creamy Chicken with Morels, (recipe courtesy of our guru Ina Garten).  My mouth still waters thinking about that meal.  I cannot wait to hunt for morels again next spring!

While I was home with my family in Fairbanks for Fourth of July, my sister Holly and I threw together this Rhubarb Galette, courtesy of our pal Martha.  It has a cornmeal crust that is TO DIE FOR and comes together very quickly.  My only modification is that I swapped out half the ice cold water for ice cold vodka, because I’ve learned that it makes a flakier crust.  Just trust me on that (or don’t, and Google it for yourself!)

Rhubarb galette with a cornmeal crust.

Juneau was chock full of salmonberries this year (Juneau friends— is it like this every year?!)  I’ve said before, but it bears repeating, that I have a nearly insatiable enthusiasm for foraging wild edibles.  It's difficult to locate my "off" switch when you turn me loose on a berry patch.  I located these jewels in a friends backyard.  While I was excited at the idea of converting them into jam, the delicious treats didn’t make it through the night as we gobbled them up like candy.  Not quite too pretty to eat!

SALMONBERRIES!

One of the very best parts of my summer was spending time in Bethel with my friend Valerie and her beautiful family.  Valerie and her Yu’pik ancestors have been harvesting the land in Western Alaska for thousands of years.  Val taught me the traditional way of processing and smoking wild salmon, just as her mother Tilly taught her, and Tilly’s mother before her.  Just look at the beautiful salmon in her smokehouse!

My happy place: smokehouse on the Kuskokwim River

With the swift work of her ulu, Valerie quickly processed the salmon we caught by setnet.  My job was to tie up the strips of salmon to hang in the smokehouse.  I’m proud to say that I excelled at this task.  I tied up salmon LIKE IT WAS MY JOB.  And it was…for two whole hours.  I ate so much smoked salmon that weekend that I nearly made myself sick.  Zero regrets.

Working through our bounty in Bethel.

A trip to Sitka last month resulted in a BOATLOAD of winter and golden chanterelles.  I was excited to learn how to identify them easily so that I know what to look for on future expeditions.  My friend Heather’s adorable mother Benny was totally thrilled to share her love for mushroom foraging with others, and was the ultimate host.  She turned our bounty into both mushroom quiche and cream of chanterelle soup.  HOLY DELICIOUSNESS, BATMAN.  Sadly, I don't have pictures of the food because I was too busy stuffing my face (along with her homemade biscuits- we ate like champs).

Wild golden and yellowfoot chanterelles foraged in Sitka

Milo's version of "blueberry picking"

Of course, no summer in Alaska is complete for any forager without taking a hike up a mountain for wild blueberries!  

Just like last summer, my friend Erica joined Milo and I for a bit of hiking and a lot of picking.  Last year I posted this tasty recipe for blueberry cornmeal cake, which I love.  I think this year I might make blueberry jam with my bounty.  If so, I’ll post it!



Last year I posted a picture of some pickled Hatch chilies that I made and enjoyed all winter.   Another shipment just landed in the grocery stores here in Alaska and several of your have texted me for the recipe.  I just put up another batch last week, and here's the recipe I used.  I eat them with my Taco King takeout so I feel like I'm getting a few veggies as I scarf down my carne asada special tacos.

Pickled Hatch Chilies

This is just a scattering of my summer food adventures.  I plan to make jams for winter soon, and pickle a few more veggies to eat all year round.  I'm even going to take another stab at perfecting rhubarb ketchup- and if I succeed, I'll post it!

Alrighty, Alaska...bring on winter! 

xo h

Rhubarb Crunch

Here in the Last Frontier, it's the season of rhubarb.  With our extreme northern latitude, Alaskan summers are in hyperdrive.  In a place where sunglasses are often required at 10:30 p.m. (that is not a joke, lower 48ers), we produce such freaks of nature like this pumpkin  and this zucchini (nicknamed "Baby"- gotta love a gardener with a sense of humor!) 

**SIDENOTE: Ok, I was just going to include those two links, but then I became entranced with this dude's Alaskan veggie website.  Holy CRAP, get a load of these freaking vegetables!  I mean, the guy grew a 42-pound beet, for the love of all that is holy.**

Alright, so back to what I was saying. 

Because of our summer days full of crazy concentrated 20+ hours of sunshine, you'll see a behemoth that looks something like this in practically every yard in Alaska:

I found this monster rhubarb plant in my Mom's front yard after my sister Holly, my niece Claire and I drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks to visit family for the Fourth of July.   I decided it needed a little pruning, and whipped up a childhood favorite.

When I was growing up, my Mom often made us Rhubarb Crunch and served it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream- a delicious dessert we enjoyed during the hot Fairbanks summers.  Rhubarb is the gift that keeps on giving- once you chop off it's limbs for dessert, it just grows new ones.  And the beauty of rhubarb is that once summer is over, you can freeze any unused stalks and enjoy this treat year round.

This dessert is dummy-proof, which is the only kind of baking I'm really successful at (need I remind anyone about the Flat Stanley birthday cake?)  Usually I wing it, especially since my beloved mother can't write a recipe down to save her life.  But I think it's best to start with a recipe if you've never made something before, and veer off from there once you have the basics down. 

For this tasty dish, simply toss the rhubarb with flour and sugar (it will make it's own "juice" once it cooks).  The crumbly topping consists of flour, butter, pecans, oats and brown sugar.  If you like cinnamon, by all means add a pinch.  But I'm not a huge fan, and my Mom never added it, so I skip it. 

Sprinkle the crumbly topping all over the rhubarb, and bake until bubbly and golden brown.  Mine took 35 minutes flat.

Usually folks call this type of dessert a "crisp".  But Mom always called it Rhubarb Crunch when we were kids, and the name stuck.

This delicious dessert comes out sweet, but not too sweet, and with a healthy dose of tartness.  Therefore, I think a scoop of good-quality vanilla ice cream (think Haagen-Dazs or Breyers) is essential to complete the dish.

The perfect summer dessert, shared with some of my favorite company in the world.  My family.

Me, Holly, Claire, and Milo (Photo by the talented Chris Beck)

Rhubarb Crunch

(Adapted from Everyday Food)


2 pounds rhubarb (about 8 cups), sliced crosswise 3/4 inch thick

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup pecans

1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup old-fashioned oats

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  In the dish, combine the rhubarb, sugar, and 1/4 cup flour until evenly mixed.  Set aside.

2. In a food processor, add the pecans and pulse until the pieces are small but not finely-ground.  Pour into another bowl and set aside.  Combine remaining 1/2 cup flour and the butter and pulse until the pieces are pea-sized.  Add the brown sugar, oats, and the pecans and pulse until combined.  Sprinkle the mixture over the rhubarb.

3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until brown and bubbly.  Serve warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy! xo H