Our latest podcast episode features Beth Dooley, Wisconsin State Representative Francesca Hong, and Odessa Piper. These chefs and perennial food advocates discuss cooking and baking with perennial ingredients, favorite recipes, and suggestions for being engaged and “curious eaters” in a recorded session from our 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering in Madison, Wisconsin.

Recommended Cookbooks: 

The Perennial Kitchen – Beth Dooley
The Sioux Chef – Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley
Chili, Clove, and Cardamom – Beth Dooley and Gary Paul Nabhan
The Market Kitchen – Odessa Piper 
Koji Alchemy – Shih and Umansky (fermenting fruits)
Flavor Flours – Alice Medrich (10-12 Chestnut flour recipes)
Rage Baking – Katherine Alford & Kathy Gunst
Corsica – Nicolas Stromboni
The Chestnut Cookbook – Annie Bhagwandin
Book of Difficult Fruit – Kate Lebo


Perennial Recipes:

Hazelnut Blue Cheese Coins (Beth Dooley)

Makes 25 to 30 

Hazelnut flour is drier than other nut flours and can often be inconsistent. Pay attention how the dough feels. It should be stiff. Use your hands to shape the coins and press them a little with your palms.

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 ounces blue cheese
  • 1 cup hazelnut flour
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • Pinch salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Cream together the butter and cheese, then mix in the remaining ingredients to make a stiff dough. Shape the dough into a thin log(s) about the diameter of a quarter. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate overnight. 

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the rolls into coins and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove and cool on racks before serving. Store in airtight containers.


Cheong (Francesca Hong) 

A Korean fruit syrup with roughly one part sugar, one part fruit. (See link for recipe.) Can be made with blueberry, aronia, or other perennial berries. 



Rye-Aronia Brownies with Black Currant Jam  (Odessa Piper)

A dense, chewy brownie with a black currant jam ‘thumbprint’ center

Yield 20 cookies scaled at 1oz each

  • (3oz) ¾ cup whole grain rye flour
  • ½ tsp sea salt 
  • (.75 oz) ¼ cup Cocoa powder
  • (3.75oz) 2  eggs, warmed in the shell in hot tap water
  • (5oz) ¾ cup sugar 
  • (4oz) 1 stick unsalted butter
  • (3oz) ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • (2oz) ½ C dried Aronia berries (Pumice from juiced berries delivered from Viroqua) 
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract 

For thumbprints  

  • (2.5oz) ¼ C Black Currant jam (includes some extra)

Instructions

  1. Set eggs in the shell in a small bowl and fill with hot tap water to warm them
  2. In a pot with a heavy bottom combine butter, chocolate chips and the dry aronia berries and set on very low heat until chocolate is melted. 
  3. Add vanilla into melted chocolate butter and stir to all combine 
  4. In a different bowl whisk rye flour, salt and cocoa powder together and set aside
  5. In a separate bowl or a stand mixer, use whisk to whip the warm eggs for ½ minute, then add the sugar and whip on high for 3 minutes or until the eggs are nearly tripled in volume.
  6. Stop mixer and use a rubber spatula to fold in half of the butter-chocolate-aronia mixture to temper the eggs, followed by the remaining half. 
  7. Shake the Rye-Cocoa over the chocolate-egg mixture and gently fold in to combine.
  8. Chill dough for at least 1 ½  hours until dough has firmed up
  9. After chilling, portion into 1 oz balls.  
  10. Preheat oven to 350. 
  11. Line baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. 
  12. Place dough balls 2” apart   
  13. Press a deep indentation in the center of each dough ball and fill with ¼ + teaspoon currant jam
  14. Bake for 10 minutes. 
  15. Pull from oven when dough is still slightly molten in center.

Refrigerate brownies before serving  for optimum texture