by Suvir Saran
All our friends thought we were mad when we told them we were buying an honest-to-goodness farm four hours north of New York City, but we knew that this was the right choice for us, even if it did mean weeding in Ralph Lauren. For the first few weeks, family and friends helped us move in and transition the farm into our new home. Then life returned to business as usual—I packed up and left to tend to the restaurant in the city and then to travel to a conference. Charlie was alone in our new home. Which was wonderful … until he had to run out on an errand. He went to lock the door and realized that the house had no locks! Not even one! Now, we’re all for being free in the country, but locking the door, well, that was a comfort we weren’t ready to let go of.
Everything happens more slowly on country time, and so it took weeks to get the locks installed. During that time, poor Charlie was petrified of leaving the house open. After days upon days of being housebound, he finally had to let go of his fear and just leave. When he returned home, he had to check every room, closet, and corner before he deemed it safe to sink into a chair and relax.
We found ourselves in a slightly different situation when it came to the safety of our livestock. When we invested in nearly 150 goats, sheep, alpacas, geese, ducks, chickens, and guinea fowl, we were naive in our understanding of one of the most basic facts about having animals in the country: protecting them from predators.
From the beginning, even before our beautiful four-legged kids grazed the property, we found that the question most people asked was whether we owned a gun. In West Virginia, where Charlie grew up, they practically hand you a rifle along with a rattle— hunting is a part of the lifestyle. In India, however, guns are highly controlled. I maintained that educated and civilized people living in the twenty-first century did not need guns, even if they were living in the countryside. So we did not and, would not, own a gun, end of story.
Well, it’s amazing how quickly perspectives change when a roving pack of hungry coyotes decides to set up camp on your land! While playing tour guide in NYC to Charlie’s grandma, we received a phone call from a longstanding hobby-farmer friend whom we had put in charge of our farm until we returned. She said that one of the kid goats had died. She was in a panic. The experience was so traumatic for her that she left our farm and animals in the charge of someone else for the remainder of the agreed-upon time and stored the dead goat in the corncrib—where we keep our animal feed!
We quickly returned home and began to sort through the ordeal, starting with cleaning out the corncrib (we scrubbed it from top to bottom to ensure that no animals would get sick, just in case the goat had died from a disease) and ending with a site inspection of the farm, which is when Charlie noticed that the electric fence that controls the perimeter was flashing big zeros. He walked the fence line and discovered that an apple tree had split and fell right smack on it. I didn’t connect the nonworking fence with the death of the goat until a few days later, when shopkeepers, neighbors, and delivery people reported coyotes in our field. Charlie raced out to the barn and, wouldn’t you know it, our alpacas, which protect livestock much like sheepdogs, weren’t hanging out close to the barn where they usually are but were instead guarding the periphery of the pasture. Once we saw them charging real live coyotes, we deduced that a pack must have gotten into the field when the fence was down. When we repaired the fence, we had inadvertently trapped them in our pasture. We couldn’t be sure that a coyote had killed the goat, but, nonetheless, we made it our mission to get the coyotes off our land before there was another incident.
We bought a rifle. Within a few days, Charlie picked off the coyotes (I did shoot the rifle a few times, but my aim was horrible), and we’re happy to report that we haven’t had a predator on the farm, or a need to use our rifle, since.
Autumn Pear and Cranberry Cobbler
This cobbler’s breathtaking fuchsia color is only a preamble to its devastatingly delicious flavor bolstered by two unusual additions: a pinch of cayenne pepper and ground black peppercorns. These spices provide a little back heat that counters the sweet and tangy cobbler filling beautifully—if you didn’t know there was cayenne in the cobbler, you’d never guess it.
The beauty of cobbler is that just about any fruit you could imagine tastes delicious in the filling. Feel free to substitute apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches, or plums for the pears, or use all berries. Fresh early-summer sour cherries are a delightful substitute for the cranberries, as are any kind of berry from wild strawberries to gooseberries and even spring rhubarb.
Serves 8
FOR THE FRUIT
5 ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears, peeled, cored, and cut into thin wedges
2 cups/300 g fresh berries (like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries)
1 cup/110 g fresh cranberries
1 cup/200 g sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
Zest of 1 lemon, plus juice of ½ lemon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground black peppercorns
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
FOR THE TOPPING
1 large egg
3 tbsp whole milk or heavy cream
1 cup/115 g all-purpose flour
4 tbsp/50 g sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp/85 g frozen butter, cut into small pieces
Heavy cream, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/gas 5.
To prepare the fruit: Combine the pears, berries, and cranberries in a large bowl and toss together with the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, spices, and salt. Transfer the fruit to a large pot and cook over medium-high heat until the fruit breaks down into a jamlike consistency, about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Spread the fruit into a 9-by-11-in/23-by-27-cm baking dish, and set aside.
To make the topping: Whisk together the egg and milk and set aside. Place the flour, 2 tbsp of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is worked in and there are no bits larger than a small pea. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients while pulsing until all of the liquid is added and just a couple of dry patches remain. Transfer the dough to a large bowl and work by hand once or twice just to combine.
Break the dough into 12 small chunks and arrange them over the fruit. Sprinkle the biscuits with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. Bake the cobbler until the biscuits are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve with heavy cream, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.
Apple Upside-Down Cake
When I was a young boy in India, my grandmother, Nani, was famous for her pineapple upside-down cake. She’d somehow whip it up effortlessly just before serving dinner, bake it while we ate, and then serve it, still hot from the oven, after our plates vanished from the table. Charlie and I continue this wonderful tradition of fresh-from-the-oven desserts when we entertain. Delicious sweet treats need not be complicated or filled with drama, and that is why this recipe is one of our favorites. Charlie often puts it together (he is the baker in our family) as the last thing that happens in the kitchen before dinner is served, and then we bring it out to the dinner table, still in the cast-iron frying pan, and flip it out to a chorus of oohs and aahs. It’s a great dessert to make while others watch, not just to show off how easy it is to make, but also to give them the confidence to re-create it in their homes. If you don’t have a cast-iron frying pan, buy one! It is a sound and inexpensive investment—I also use one to make Grandma Mae’s Biscuits. If you remain stubborn, then make the caramel in a medium saucepan, pour it into a 9-in/23-cm cake pan, add the apples, and proceed with the recipe as instructed below.
Serves 8
14 tbsp/200 g unsalted butter
1½ cups/300 g dark brown sugar
½ cup/120 ml tangerine, orange, or blood or
ange juice, preferably freshly squeezed
½ cup/120 ml cognac
3 firm-fleshed apples like Granny Smith (our favorite is Belle de Boskoop), peeled, halved, cored, and chopped into 1-in/2.5-cm cubes
1½ cups/190 g whole-wheat pastry flour or cake wheat flour, sifted
½ cup/100 g granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
½ cup/120 ml milk, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas 6.
Melt 6 tbsp/85 g of the butter in an 8-in/20-cm cast-iron frying pan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved, then pour in the citrus juice and cognac, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and then turn off the heat. Add the apples in an even layer and set aside.
Melt the remaining 8 tbsp/115 g butter in a microwave or small saucepan and set aside. Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg until it is very foamy, 1 to 1½ minutes. Whisk in the milk and vanilla, and then whisk in the melted butter.
Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk together until they’re just combined. Pour the batter over the apples and place the frying pan in the oven. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 5 for minutes. Run a paring knife around the edges of the cake. Place a rimmed plate or circular serving platter over the top of the cake (the plate should be a few inches wider than the pan to catch all of the caramel) and invert the cake onto the platter. Slice into wedges and serve.
VARIATION: PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
Drain a 12-oz/340-g can of pineapple chunks, and use them in place of the apples.
Farm Yarn:
Apples Galore
In Washington County, fall desserts are all about showcasing apples (as you can tell from the many apple desserts in this chapter). Each October, our neighbors Judy and Ron DeWitt host an apple-pressing party at their home. It’s an autumn tradition that I salivate for as soon as I start twisting apples off our trees. In the fall, they invite all the neighbors over to their beautifully restored home to turn Pippins, Northern Spys, and Cortlands (among other varieties) into the most delightfully spry and refreshing apple juice. It’s so full of natural sweetness and pure apple flavor that once you taste it, you’re spoiled forever.
We go to several orchards—including our own where Pippins hang low from the trees—for apples in the fall. Some, like Honeycrisps, we save for eating, while others, like Belle de Boskoop and Northern Spys are earmarked for pies, tarts, and apple butter. This is a short list of our favorite local apples and what we use them in the most.
Washington County Apples
Belle de Boskoop: Aromatic and perfumed, this is an apple that is lovely in tarts and pies, as well as in apple butter.
Cortland: A slightly tart New York native that resists discoloring after slicing. Like the Northern Spy, this is a great apple for pies and crisps.
Fortune: Rich and spicy; we like to eat these raw and add them to salads.
Ginger Gold: A late-summer apple with a slightly spicy flavor. Very nice in pies, tarts, and the Spiced Rhubarb Jam.
Honeycrisp: Supercrisp, juicy, and sweet. Our favorite eating apple.
Mutsu (crispin): Nice, crisp, and with a slightly spicy flavor, it’s a good pie apple.
Northern Spy: Another apple indigenous to New York. Known as the best apple for pies because the slices keep their shape, even after baking.
Pippins: Tender, firm, crisp, and juicy; another great apple for baking and for making apple butter.
Rhode Island Greening: Extra-tart and juicy. Great in pies (use instead of Granny Smith apples) and just about anything.
Winesap: Extra-firm with a beautifully deep red skin. Lovely with cheese and in salads.
Rustic Double Apple Tart
This free-form rustic tart showcases apples in two ways: first, with a cushion of long-cooked and silken apple butter, and second, with a top layer of crisp fall apples that are sliced extra thin so they absolutely melt in your mouth when you eat them. My tart dough takes on an incredible yellow color thanks to egg yolks from the girls in the barn and Kerrygold butter from Ireland. Simple, rustic, and delicious, an apple tart is one of my staples for fall dinner parties.
Serves 6
FOR THE PASTRY
6 tbsp/85 g unsalted butter
12/3 cups/185 g all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
¾ tsp kosher salt or fleur de sel
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp sugar
FOR THE TART
1/3 cup/80 g apple butter store-bought or homemade (see recipe)
2 tart, firm apples
1 tbsp unsalted butter, frozen
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp cream or milk
Vanilla ice cream for serving
To make the pastry: Slice the butter into small pieces, place them in a bowl, and put in the freezer to chill. Pulse together the flour and salt. Whisk the egg yolk with the cold water and set aside. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture and pulse until the dry ingredients are mealy with nuggets no larger than a small pea. Pulse in the liquid just until the dry ingredients look sandy and then turn the mixture out onto your worksurface. Bring the dry ingredients together with your hands, kneading lightly until it can be pressed into a mound (if you tap it, it should break apart). Transfer the mound to a large sheet of plastic wrap, wrap it tightly, and lightly knead to make a solid, flat disc. Chill the dough for at least 45 minutes or up to 3 days.
Heat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas 6. Unwrap the dough and place it on a generously floured worksurface. Roll it out to a 9½-in/24-cm circle. Fold the dough into quarters and transfer it to an 11-by-18-in/28-by-45-cm baking sheet. Sprinkle the top of the dough with the sugar and continue to roll it on the baking sheet until it becomes a somewhat roundish 12- to 13-in/30.5- to 33-cm rectangle.
To prepare the tart: Evenly spread the apple butter over the dough, leaving a 3-in/7.5-cm perimeter at the edge. Peel, core, and halve the apples, and then, using a mandolin or a sharp chef’s knife #/# in/2 mm thick. Arrange half of the sliced apples in concentric circles over the apple butter so that they slightly overlap.
Using a mandolin or the large-hole side of a box grater, grate the butter into fine shavings. Sprinkle 1 tsp of the sugar over the apples and follow with half of the butter shavings, all the lemon zest, and 1 tbsp of the lemon juice. Layer the remaining apples over the first layer, sprinkle with 1 tsp sugar, all but a few pieces of the leftover butter, and the remaining 1 tbsp lemon juice. Cut the remaining apple half into 1/8-in-/3-mm-thick slices by hand, and then arrange decoratively over the top. Fold the edges of the dough up and over the apples, overlapping the dough as you work your way around the tart. Tuck the last few bits of butter into the apples. Brush the edges of the dough with the cream, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp sugar.
Bake the tart until the apples are singed at their edges and the pastry is golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving, preferably with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Cognac-Cured Fruitcake
One of my favorite childhood memories is actually a smell—the sweet, alcohol-laced fragrance of this incredible fruitcake made by Shashi Auntie, who lived next door to my family in New Delhi. Every November, she’d begin soaking dried and candied fruits in rum or brandy to make stacks and stacks of fruitcakes that would fill her house as the weeks progressed, all to be given away to friends and neighbors as Christmas gifts. When I moved to New York City, as soon as the temperature dropped and the leaves began to fall, I developed an insatiable craving for Shashi Auntie’s fruitcake. I got her recipe and s
tarted baking them to give away to my friends and colleagues in my new home. Two of my closest friends, Nitin and Mamta, ate with such gusto that I decided to always have some on hand to offer as a treat when they visited. Wrapped in cognac-soaked muslin, dusted with superfine sugar, wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, and stored in a snug airtight plastic container, the cake would last for up to a year so long as I replenished the cognac, sugar, and coverings every time I removed a slice or two. The longer it aged, the higher proof it became, making our visits evermore spirited as the year progressed!
Now that we live in the country, Shashi Auntie’s fruitcake has become even more of a staple. Charlie and I start soaking the fruits in the fall so that come holiday time, we can make delightfully decadent high-spirited fruitcakes to eat, give, and serve throughout the season. This recipe yields three cakes: one to save, one to give, and one to sample! While we always use good cognac in our fruitcake, you can feel free to substitute lessexpensive brandy or rum if you prefer.
Makes 3 loaves
1 lb/455 g mixed dried and/or candied fruits (like apricots, candied citron, candied lemon peel, candied orange peel, candied or dried cherries, craisins, currants, dates, figs, and raisins)
8 oz/225 g mixed toasted nuts (like almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts)
1¾ cups/420 ml cognac, plus more as needed
1¼ lbs/570 g plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
52/3 cups/720 g all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
