Deborah Madison - Seasonal Fruit Desserts: From Orchard, Farm, and Market

Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madisons Kitchen

Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madisons Kitchen

Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from Americas Farmers Markets

The Greens Cookbook

The Savory Way

Vegetarian Cooking

This Cant Be Tofu!

Copyright 2009 by Deborah Madison

All Rights Reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Previously published in hardcover by Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 2010.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Photographs by Laurie Smith
Photographs
by Patrick McFarlin

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data
Madison, Deborah.
Deborah Madisons desserts : from orchard, farm, and market / by Deborah Madison. 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Cookery (Fruit) 2. Desserts. I. Title.
TX811.M23 2009
641.86dc22
2008046618

eISBN: 978-0-307-95623-1

v3.1

For Patrick

As is always the case, a great many people have been involved in the creation of this book, from parents and teachers to farmers and cooks, friends and strangers.

My sweet tooth was first nourished by my mothers baked goods and my fathers Concord grape pie. His botanists appreciation of wild fruits and unusual varieties nurtured my own appreciation of the same long before I made my first dessert. Fruit was always part of our lives, from wild elderberries to secreted pineapple guavas to backyard apricots and front-yard quince.

I would like to think that my affection for sweets was refined by the subtlest of cooks, Lindsey Shere, whom I was so fortunate to work with at Chez Panisse. I am indebted to her love of fruit combined with the sure hand and minimalist sensibility that she so skillfully brings to her desserts.

To those who have shared the fruits they tend with both wisdom and patience, my wholehearted thanks. Among you are Anthony and Carol Boutard of Ayers Creek Farm; Mike and Dianne Madison of Yolo Bulb; Mr. Ben Laflin of Oasis Date Gardens, tender of unusual stone-fruit varieties; Andy Mariani; peach and raisin producer Mas Masumoto; California almond and walnut growers, Marianne Brenner and Glenn Hoffman; Jake West, whose family has for a century grown the most divine melons; and Mr. Ray Pamperin for cracking the subtle little hickory nut. My appreciation also includes Illinois fruit grower, Theresa Santiago; Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle of Boggy Creek Farm; and Colorado stone-fruit farmer, Bill Manning. I am also indebted to grower and seed-saver, Amy Goldman, for all her inspiring books, in particular, Melons for the Passionate Grower, which both inspired and made sense out of the sometimes bewildering (though always enchanting) world of melons.

Many individuals are players in the effort to keep good fruit and the preserves made from them alive. Joanne Neft, who helped bring attention to the worthy fruits of Placer County, in particular the Japanese dried persimmon (hoshigaki) and the satsuma mandarin; my sister-in-law, Dianne Madison, who crafts fine and sometimes unusual preserves from the fruit she and my brother grow; and jam makers, Elissa Rubin-Mahon, June Taylor, and Carol Boutard, and Richard Spiegel of Volcano Island Honey, who distill the vibrant essence of fruit into the most divine preserves and honey. And finally, the many people whose names I dont know who also craft the honey, jams, preserves, and nectars from well-grown fruit and who make our lives sweeter for their efforts.

I also extend my heartfelt appreciation to those who have contributed stories, advice, or an idea; that welcomed box of quince, bag of tiny pecans, an exquisite cheese or an exotic Buddhas hand, a box of satsuma mandarins, a bag of hoshigaki. Among you are Greg Patent, Amanda Sweetheardt, Mandy Johnston, Kate Manchester, Karen Stevenson of Wholesome Sugars, Sylvia Byrd, Tami Lax, chef Kim Mueller, Jamie Madison, plus authors Amelia Saltsman, Ken Haedrich, Sylvia Thompson, Geraldine Holt, David Lebovitz, Lucia Watson, Naomi Duguid, and Jeffrey Alford.

As hard as we try, photo shoots dont always coincide perfectly with whats in season, which means there are, invariably, gaps to be filled. I am especially grateful to Robert Schueller of Melissas Produce in Los Angeles for saving the day with the seasons first persimmons and blood oranges, for always sharing some exquisite fruit that has come into his hands, and being available to answer my questions.

To Laurie Smith, my photographer, a thousand thank-yous for making my food come alive on the page. It is a rare pleasure to work with someone who is always willing to take yet another photo, who wanders into the kitchen and points her camera into a simmering pot, and who bravely tolerates visitations of wasps and bees as she shoots. Our long sessions together would not have been nearly as productive, or as much fun, without the golden touch of Annie Slockum, who is somehow always a few steps ahead us both. Thank you for making long days seem like short ones, and for helping to make a beautiful book.

Thank you also to Sandy Simon of Trax Gallery (traxgallery.com), who made the white dishes we used that fit so beautifully in the hand and handsomely show off desserts of all kinds. Other potters whose works grace these pages include Doug Casebear, Elisabeth Foote, Vicki Snyder, and David Pinto. For the use of Alex Marshalls beautiful blue dishes, I thank Lisa Falls and Amy Cox.

A book would not get made without people who make books. My thanks to my editor, Jennifer Josephy, at Broadway Books and her many assistants with whom Ive worked throughout the duration, especially Annie Chagnot. My thanks also to Peter Gethers and Christina Malach (a giant bow of thanks!) who brought the book through its final moments, and to Elizabeth Rendfleisch and Jean Traina for producing a beautiful book.

A book of recipes, I have found, is most difficult to write when theres no one else in the house to share them with or to issue frank assessments. I am deeply grateful, as always, to my husband, Patrick McFarlin, for being a most supportive companion through this long onslaught of sweets, and his willingness to say when needed, I dont think that this is one of your better desserts. I could not have done it without you!

And finally, my gratitude to Doe Coover, my trusted agent, who shared my vision and shepherded this book from start to finish.

Deborah Madison
Galisteo, New Mexico

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
C ARL S AGAN

In addition to my long and well-documented romance with garden vegetables, Ive had a long-standing love affair with fruit. While I take a great deal of pleasure in cooking with produce, I love making desserts, too. Ive been making desserts since I was about twelve, beginning where many young girls do, with crpes. Years later, at the Zen Center, where my fellow students and I were lusting for sweets, I made countless hotel pans of crisps and cobblers, cakes, and cookies. I made fruit desserts at Greens for the first few years we were open, to supplement the pastries from the Tassajara Bakery, and Ive worked on a few occasions in the pastry department of other restaurants. The dessert area is where I got my start cooking at Chez Panisse, working with pastry chef Lindsey Shere, and its where I spent several years at Caf Escalera in Santa Fe, when I realized that I preferred the quiet concentration of confection to the hectic heat of the line.