Memo from me to anyone hanging out in my kitchen: If you happen to notice the spider web on the window sill over the sink, please note, it’s not sloth. It’s science. Sort of.
Every year at the beginning of spider season, my husband adopts one or two of the fledgling orb-weavers and monitors their progress, sometimes for weeks at a time.
He marvels at their elegant web architecture and ponders their various modes of spider behavior.
This has become possible since our pet scrub jay, Dude, who for eight years ferociously indulged a weakness for succulent garden spiders, passed on to his reward.
I have to admit, because it’s an interesting process when viewed from afar — even for the one of us who’s fairly phobic when it comes to spiders — I’m OK with Steve’s hobby. Sort of.
And I must say, this year’s earliest candidate is actually earning her keep up there on the window ledge over the sink. Right now she’s living in the mouth of a stemless wineglass, over an irresistible little pool of vino.
Flies go in, but they don’t come out.
They either land in the wine and simply die a happy death, or they are so intoxicated after imbibing that their wobbly flight sends them straight into our resident spider’s sticky snare.
You see, we were having a bit of trouble with fruit flies. This was weeks ago, and I couldn’t figure out why we were dealing with them so early in the year.
They’re more of a summer phenomenon, as any of you who enjoy the local harvest knows. Whereas, these guys had appeared before strawberry season was even under way.
Could they have emerged from something in the house? A thorough search of the pantry produced not a single likely source for our infestation, so I extended the hunt to the next most likely region: my office.
There, in a neglected corner of the room, stood a suspicious-looking plastic bag. Upon prodding the outer surface a cloud of the offending flies fluttered up through its opening.
Ugh. It was the long-lost collection of tulip bulbs that should have been mailed to my brother last February, now rotten, slimy and hosting a gang of giddy fruit flies.
Which is where Goldie comes in. Oh, didn’t I tell you? Steve likes to name his pet spiders. This one’s called Goldie (“Because she’s gold, of course!”).
And as tiny as she is — no bigger than the little insects she ensnares in her woven, silky threads of doom — she’s put a significant dent in that pesky fruit fly population.
Of course, the day will come when she outgrows her indoor welcome and I will have to gently capture and relocate her to a tomato plant or a rose where she can gobble bugs and live out her spider days in contented bliss.
Meanwhile, with the fruits of summer arriving, I am entering into the season with confidence. Indeed, when the next round of little flies attempts a kitchen coup, I’ve got the secret weapon, and Goldie is her name.
From one of my fellow food writers and cookbook authors, Maryanna Vollstedt, here’s a trio of recipes to really drive those pesky fruit flies crazy.
They’re from one of her popular cookbooks, “The Big Book of Potluck.”
Bon appetit!
Best strawberry pie
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 9-inch Flaky Pie Shell (recipe follows), baked and cooled
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on pie crust and fill with 2 cups of the largest berries.
In a saucepan, crush remaining berries, then stir in the granulated sugar and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened and clear, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add lemon juice, remove from heat, and cool slightly.
Pour berry mixture over berries inthe pie shell. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours. When ready to serve, place the whipping cream in a small, deep bowl and whip with an electric mixer until peaks form. Fold in the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Serve with the pie.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
This is a “no-guess” way to make a pie crust in a food processor. It is fast and easy and always a success. It will make a crust for a 9- or 10-inch pie.
Flaky pie shell
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cold shortening, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, frozen and cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold water
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until dough holds together and starts to form a ball, about 25 seconds. Do not overmix. Gather into a ball and shape into a 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator 1 hour or longer.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough from the center out to the edges, changing the direction with each roll, until the circle is 1/8 inch thick and about 1 inch larger than the pie plate.
Fold the dough loosely in half and transfer to pie plate. Unfold and press gently against pie plate to remove air bubbles. Fold edge under and flute. Prick the bottom with a fork 5 or 6 times and bake until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.
NOTE: If using pie shell for a quiche, do not prick. Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 450 degrees and cool slightly before adding the filling.
Rhubarb has a tart, tangy bite with a fruity aftertaste. It is too sour to eat raw and needs to be cooked with sugar. Happily, its season overlaps with strawberry season, so you have time to make this delicious dessert.
Strawberry-rhubarb cobbler
4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
4 cups 3/4-inch chunks of rhubarb (about 13/4 pounds)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca or 1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
TOPPING:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on top
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a 10-inch pie plate 2 inches deep, stir together strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Let stand 30 minutes.
To make the topping: in a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. With a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in buttermilk and mix well.
Drop the topping by heaping tablespoons in 8 portions over the filling and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake the pie 25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until bubbly and lightly browned, about 20 minutes longer. If the topping becomes too brown, cover loosely with foil. Cool on a wire rack.
Note: If rhubarb is from the garden, discard the leaves; they are poisonous.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Yet another delicious recipe from Maryanna Vollstedt’s cookbook, “The Big Book of Potluck.”
As the flip bakes, a sponge cake layer forms on top, while a lemon pudding lies underneath.
Serve warm or at room temperature, topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries or other berries.
Lemon flip with fresh berries of the season
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
Fresh strawberries, sliced (or other local berries)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. In another medium bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored, about 2 minutes. Beat in sugar, flour, milk, and lemon juice. Fold in egg whites.
Pour the egg and lemon mixture into an 8-inch-square baking dish. Place this dish in a larger shallow pan or baking dish containing about 1 inch of water. Bake until firm and top is golden, about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan holding the water and cool on a rack.
Serve in small dessert bowls, garnished with the fresh berries.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a Corvallis, Ore., food writer, artist and author of “Oregon Hazelnut Country, the Food, the Drink, the Spirit,” and four other cookbooks. Readers can contact her by email at janrd@proaxis.com, or obtain additional recipes and food tips on her blog at www.janrd.com.
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