Sights and Tastes of Early Summer

Yes, I am still here. After overwhelming myself by creating my own blogging deadlines and expectations, I needed some time off. I love writing about food. When it got to the point I resented it, temporarily, I needed to stop and start again when something began blooming inside of me, telling me things like "Betsy, this rhubarb is so beautiful, don't you just want to share it with the whole world and make them see how fantastic it is?" The answer to that very obscure internal question was Yes. Summer is arriving slowly and food ecstacy is becoming as abundant as sunshine.

Seasonal eating has been a challenge, but immensely rewarding. It has been a long winter of kale, chard, squash, potatoes, and thank heavens bag after bag after bag of greenhouse grown microgreens from Green Edge organics. At the first appearance of snap peas in early April, my girlfriend can attest to the child like delight I beamed as I skipped toward the table and snatched them up. Every week there has been something new, and it is very much like I am eating strawberries, asparagus and rhubarb for the very first time. Once you become as much of a seasonal eater as you can without dancing the line of malnourishment, you appreciate things so much more. Those first strawberries, while not overly sweet or juicy, were so pleasing to bite, to chew, taste and swallow. It's a sense of satisfaction only foodies know, but something from which I wish many more people could derive such simple joy.

Two weeks ago I was leisurely strolling through the breathtaking Athens Farmers Market with my list in hand, scribbled with all the usuals--Crumbs Bakery 10 Grain, Birdseed Bagels, Lettuce, Laurel Valley Country Jack, etc.--when I glanced over at a woman carrying a beautifully woven basket over her forearm. Inside the basket my eyes spotted clear, plastic quart sized boxes glowing red from the seed studded, green capped strawberries held carefully inside of them. Disbelief for a moment, then I was on a mission to find where that woman had ascertained those berries. Moments later I found myself paying premium prices for an early variety of strawberries called "Sweet Charlies." From them came five or six mornings of strawberry dressed whole grain cereal, strawberry slices adorning a peanut butter slathered bird seed bagel, and one delightful seasonal favorite, strawberry rhubarb tart.

I love springtime in Southeast Ohio, because the food availability is like summer in Cleveland. I've come home with pounds of rhubarb which turned into tender tart morsels baked and drizzeld with honey over yogurt, lemon-rhubarb bars (made with Morgan County lemons from Mr. Cherry's fine lemon trees), strawberry rhubarb tart, blueberry rhubarb pie and a "shut your mouth" delicious Rhubarb-Lemon-Blueberry upside down cake. I've come home with 3 quarts and one pint of strawberries, which in addition to what I listed above also made a fresh strawberry tart for my father, as it is his favorite. I've come home with bags of green house cherry tomatoes and cucumbers which found themselves in every salad from here to eternity, including the fattoush I concocted last week. I've come home with giant, stalky bunches of green onions, bright red, and white radishes, skeins of dill and mint, and pint boxes of dirt flecked snap peas, all of which have made some unique, insatiable spring salads.

Welcome summer. Welcome food. Welcome inspiration. I've been waiting for you. Please remember to buy local, seek out local food, go an extra mile for fresh eggs, find a farmer who will sell you his apples, because I guarantee you it's worth every extra step. And from Queen Honeybea in her summertime glory, always remember to eat well, because you not only deserve it, you are worth it.


Queen Honeybea's Lemon Rhubarb Bars. Zingy and tart, with a hint of ginger in the whole-wheat shortbread crust, crafted from homemade Snowville Creamery butter and a dash of their rich 2% milk. Slices of these will be attending the Memorial Day Chesterhill Produce Auction with me.


A springtime treat, crispy and tangy Queen Honeyea's Fattoush Salad, with local microgreens, mesculin mix, greenhouse cukes and tomatoes, fresh mint, lemon zest, toasted whole-wheat pita chips, bright green onions, slivered red onions, topped with homemade falafel and lemon-tahini-yogurt dressing.


Fresh Strawberry Tart, with slivered berries from the Chesterhill Produce Auction and a whole-wheat butter crust...the perfect end to an unseasonably hot May day.


Blushing sweet and tart Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, topped with flaky flowers in celebration of spring blossoms.


Finally, my latest concoction: Queen Honeybea's Lemon-Rhubarb-Blueberry Upside Down Cake. A velvety lemon olive oil cake topped with chunks of tangy rhubarb and bursting bites of sweet, popping blueberries, with just a hint of cinnamon. Find the recipe below.

Queen Honeybea’s
Lemon-Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Topping:

2 TBS. extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS. sucanat (unrefined brown sugar, or regular dark brown sugar)
¼ tsp. cinnamon
A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 ½ cups chopped rhubarb (about ½ inch pieces)
1 TBS. chopped lemon peel
½ cup blueberries (you could use any berries here, depending on the season)

Cake:

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
½ cup organic white spelt flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 TBS. lemon zest
½ cup plain, low-fat organic yogurt
½ cup organic evaporated cane juice
½ cup local, raw honey
2 large free range eggs, 1 large free range egg white
2 TBS. lemon juice
¼ tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using 1 TBS. of the olive oil, brush the bottom and sides of a 9 inch cast iron skillet to coat. Add the second TBS. of olive oil to the bottom of the pan and place inside the hot oven for 2 minutes, to heat the oil thoroughly.

2. In a small bowl, mix the sucanat, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the hot oil. Top with the chopped rhubarb, lemon peel and blueberries. Then sprinkle the remaining half of the sucanat mixture over top.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, honey, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla. With an electric mixer, beat until well combined and fluffy. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat again to combine. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture, with the mixer running, until completely absorbed and incorporated.

5. Pour the cake batter over the rhubarb and berries in the skillet. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until well browned, the cake appears set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

6. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, then using a large serving dish, invert the cake out of the pan onto the dish. Cool completely and serve with ice cream, whipped cream or yogurt.