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Recipe: mango sorbet

Lots of things happen in May around here, things like my annual MRI to monitor for breast cancer or the anniversary of my sister’s passing or the typical May snowstorm in the mountains that all of the mountain folk expect and all of the flatlanders can’t believe. It’s when we swap out our snow tires for the summer tires, admire all of the flowering trees in Boulder, and begin the mushroom hunting season.

flowers for kris, every year

my favorite weeping cherry in bloom, in the rain

the rains bring the oyster mushrooms

and if you’re lucky, they bring the blonde morels

met a little garter snake while foraging

That blonde morel was my first one I’ve foraged and there were whoops and hollers and high fives and hugs with my foraging buddy, Erin (she found her first one within minutes of mine). The list of edible mushroom varieties that I want to find is quite short, but now it’s shorter by one. Blonde morels are also known as American yellow morels (the variety we forage in the mountains is a black morel).

I have yet to see any morels hit our markets, but what I am seeing on sale lately are mangoes – especially the ataulfo or yellow mangoes, which are my favorites. The pit tends to be smaller, the flesh sweet and not as fibrous as its red-/green-skinned cousin. After a day on the flats looking for morels under the hot sun, I welcome a nice cold scoop or two of a smooth and refreshing mango sorbet. It’s fruity, it’s tropical, and it’s easy to make. The tequila is a nice way to keep the sorbet smooth as it prevents the formation of big ice crystals. If you don’t want alcohol in your sorbet, you can substitute corn syrup.

water, sugar, mangoes, limes, tequila, and salt (not pictured)

combine water and sugar to make simple syrup

slice and scoop the flesh of the mangoes

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Recipe: braised rhubarb

I was nervous about taking last week off from posting, but felt I could use the break. I think I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Or should. As tempting as it was to skip another week, I’m back at it. Last week was the university’s Spring Break, so we spent it in Crested Butte to squeeze out as many remaining ski days as possible. Neva turned three years old over break, which we celebrated with many of her favorite things like food, orange tennis balls, snow, running, and sleeping in the sun. You can watch her eat her birthday dessert on my Instagram.

happy birthday, little neva!

We received a little powder early in the week on the mountain, migrated to the Nordic trails until they were too worked over by the spring freeze/melt cycle, and then discovered the joys of crust cruising with our skate skis off-trail. It was a good lesson in making the most of every situation. The important thing is to look back on this ski season with gratitude that I was in good enough health to do all of these things in the first place.

such a beautiful sight to behold

getting plastered with snow on the lift

jeremy grabs a fresh line

crust cruising the wide open spaces

Spring in the mountains has been a series of fast moving snow storms alternating with sunshine and blue skies. This pattern can wreak havoc on ski trails as well as running/hiking trails because it’s never all snow or all dirt/rock in spring. More typically you have a combination of dirt, snow, ice, and mud, which is pretty miserable to run and nearly impossible to ski. But I feel so alive as we flirt with the smell of wet forests, spy budding catkins on the aspen trees, and watch sunset later each day.

then it snows and a mama moose and yearling stroll through for a snack

I’ve been waiting over six months to post this recipe for braised (roasted) rhubarb. Living at an elevation of 8500 feet means that we are seasonally out of whack with most of the country (and the world) for much of the year. Rhubarb is popping up all over my Instagram feed, but I know it will be months before my neighbors’ plants even begin to think about producing those brilliantly colored stalks. Those wonderful neighbors gave me some of their rhubarb last September before the first hard freeze. Since I was short on time, I made a super easy spiced rhubarb compote.

rhubarb, honey, orange juice, vanilla bean, star anise, cardamom pods, ginger, salt

slice the rhubarb

scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean

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Recipe: salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread cookies

“Have you tried Alison Roman’s salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread cookie?”

Ellen and I were discussing shortbread cookies when she asked the question. I actually had it on my list of recipes to try, but I hadn’t tried them yet. She hadn’t tried them either, but she didn’t see what all the fuss was about. And there has been a lot of fuss over these cookies in baking circles. I’m always looking for good shortbread recipes because I find those to be the best cookies to ship. Fast forward a week and Ellen is texting me as she recovers from foot surgery. A friend had made the cookies and dropped some off for her convalescence. “They are gooooood.” Okay, I trust Ellen’s tastes, so I set about making a batch to see what was what.

we took some backcountry skiing, because that’s what we do

The first batch I baked was very frustrating. The weights and volume measurements in the recipe didn’t really jive and had discrepancies by as much as 15%. I went with weights, because that’s far more accurate and easier to troubleshoot. The cookies spread too much and too quickly once they went into the oven, which could very well be my altitude (8500 feet above sea level). While the texture and flavor were good, the appearance was unacceptable (for my standards). Even baking the second half of that batch at a lower temperature and for longer resulted in more spreading than I was willing to tolerate, although slightly less. Research on the internet revealed that the New York Times version used more flour. I figured it was worth another shot.

vanilla, butter, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, turbinado sugar, flake sea salt, chunk chocolate

beat together cold butter, sugars, and vanilla

mix in flour until just combined

add the chocolate

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