My friend, RunnerSusan, brought me sweet corn all the way from Indiana and that got me hankering for Yankee summer food.

Brats on the grill. Roast corn. Strawberry pie.

You know, up north, where summer is this quiet, balmy time that you can linger outside all day under a tree and hold a grass blade between your thumbs and call to the birds — not spend a month hiding in dark room with the air conditioning running while Ercot pumps so much juice through the grid that it sparks down the line and sets whole counties on fire.

I digress.

Here’s a recipe that accompanied a story I wrote about berry picking for Texas Highways magazine that ran May 2007. The editors asked for it, and despite my admonitions that while I liked food, and cooked food, and grew food, I was not a food writer.

They pushed me just a little beyond my comfort zone by insisting the story just wouldn’t work without some kind of berry recipe. So I dug this little gem out of my recipe box — where all the family heirloom recipes have been stashed, except I remember my mother trying this one for the first time when I was a teenager. (Click to enlarge)

It’ll become an heirloom when my kids make it.

I cannot believe I have not shared this recipe earlier, at least before I shared Parmesean Rosemary Popcorn.

When I was a teenager, I tried to make caramel popcorn by making the caramel recipe in Joy of Cooking and pouring it over the popcorn. We always had to eat it fast, because by morning, the brown sugar returned. Instead of caramel-coated kernels, they would be more like brown-sugar dusted.

When Michael and Paige were in nursery school (we were members of Cornerstone, a longstanding parent coop nursery school in Denton), one of the mothers brought homemade caramel popcorn to a school Halloween party.

It was incredible. I asked her what the secret was, and she said that after she made the caramel, she roasted it for an hour. Here’s my version of her recipe:

Caramel Corn

3/4 to 1 cup popcorn, popped (about 10 cups)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt

Prepare a large bowl and a large cookie sheet by spraying with cooking oil. Pour the popped popcorn in the bowl.

Combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium hit heat. Once the mixture is bubbling, do not stir, but wash down any crystals that stick to the side of the pan with a brush dipped in water. When you see a couple of wisps of smoke coming up from the caramel (after about 3-5 minutes of gentle boiling), immediately pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir well to coat. Pour the coated kernels onto the cookie sheet and roast at 225 degrees for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

I hauled off a 10-pound watermelon from the farmer’s market last week. We ate some straight, the seed-spitting way. We made salad. We made granita. I couldn’t find the melon pop recipe. I thought I’d lifted it from epicurious or Martha Stewart websites, but I couldn’t re-trace my steps.

I remembered that Sam really liked them and when that happens, I usually write it down. Found it in the recipe box last night.

Cantalope, honeydew, watermelon. Any melon will do.

Melon Pops
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup lime juice (or lemon if you think it goes better with the melon you’re using)
1 melon, cut up (about 6 cups of chunks)
Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan and boil to make a simple syrup. Cool. Puree half the melon chunks with half the lime juice. Then add the rest of the lime juice, melon and syrup and finish puree. Pour into molds and freeze.

I really missed Blue Bell Cookies ‘n Cream when we were living in California. Once, on a drive back from a visit to Texas, Mark tried to figure out where the last stop in order to bring back two half gallon cartons. He didn’t want to risk not finding it in Amarillo, so he picked it up before then and packed it in ice. 

If rhubarb is Northern, okra is Southern. Especially okra pickles. I like cooking on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

This recipe comes from an old Martha Stewart Living show, and my instructions assume you know canning basics. If you don’t, read more about here. Here’s a hint from a mistake I made one year falling for that everything-is-big-in-Texas way. Don’t use elephant garlic. It turns blue in the pickling salts.

Pickled Okra
2 lbs. tender okra
1 quart white vinegar
6 T. kosher salt
16 garlic cloves, peeled
8 red jalapeños, (opt.)
8 fresh dill heads
1/2 c. yellow mustard seeds

Wash okra and trim stems, leaving caps.

Prepare 8 canning jars and lids in boiling water bath, according to manufacturer’s instructions. Meanwhile, bring vinegar and salt to a boil with 3 cups of water.

Pull jars from water bath, drop in dill head, jalapeño, a pair of garlic cloves and 1 T. mustard seeds to each jar. Pack okra in tightly, pour over hot liquid, making sure okra is covered and there is about 1/2-inch head space at the top of the jar. Release any bubbles with a clean wooden skewer.

Wipe rims, screw on tops, and process for 10 minutes. Cool for 24 hours before storing. Let mellow for two months before opening. Keep refrigerated after opening.

This is based on a recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook, the first edition (2004) of which I scored on Amazon for $12 because of some kind of production error that made the headings unreadable for people with certain kinds of vision impairments. I hope I never develop that impairment as I age. I adore this cookbook.

Filling:
2 lbs. strawberries, hulled and halved
1 lb. rhubarb, sliced 1/2-inch thick chunks
1 c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
1 T. lime juice
1/8 tsp. salt

Topping:
1 1/4 c. rolled oats
3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 tsp. salt
12 T. unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Stir the filling ingredients in a large bowl and then pour into a 13-inch baking dish. (I use my lasagna pan.) Stir all the topping ingredients, except the butter in another bowl and then crumble in the butter with your fingers. Spread it evenly over the top, bake for 45-50 minutes until the topping is nicely browned and the fruit is bubbling. Serve warm or at room temperature.

2/3 cup hazelnuts
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 T. honey

Toast hazelnuts on a cookie sheet at 400 about 15 minutes. Skins will be very dark. Immediately wrap them in a kitchen towel and rub the skins off. Put the hot hazelnuts in the food processor and process until liquefied (about 5 minutes). Combined the sweet milk, chocolate chips and honey in a bowl and microwave one minute, stir, and return for 30 seconds at a time until the chips are melted. Stir into hazelnut butter and process until very smooth, 3-5 minutes. Pour into glass jar with a tight lid and store in refrigerator.

Here is a great way to savor the return.