That vintage feel inspired this canned tart cherry pie, which I’ve flavored as my grandmother and mother did, using cherry kirsch or kirschwasser, an old-timey liquor of German origin. If you don’t mess with alcohol, a quarter teaspoon of almond extract will also be just fine. Or you can use both for a little more complex flavor. I also use one of my favorite crust recipes, which replaces the water with ice-cold vodka. The alcohol evaporates totally, leading to a loftier pastry. One last tip: be careful with the cherries. The goal is to fold them into the gel at the end and leave them mostly whole. They are very delicate. I change up my crust design every time, using a pizza cutter and ruler to cut the dough if I want to weave it into a lattice. If you want inspiration for that, let the internet be your guide.

Vintage tart cherry pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

For the crust:

1 cup (two sticks) salted cold butter

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

3 tablespoons sugar, divided.

3 to 4 tablespoons ice-cold vodka

For the filling:

3 14.5-ounce cans tart cherries in water

1 cup granulated sugar

Juice of one half a lemon, about 1.5 tablespoons

1 tablespoon cherry kirsch (you can also sub or add in 1/4 teaspoon almond extract)

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons salted butter

One egg, beaten

Sugar for sprinkling over the top

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Make the crusts one at the time. Using a food processor, process one stick of butter with one cup of flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar until it forms a meal. With the blade running, drizzle cold vodka in until it just begins to coalesce into a ball. Pull it out of the bowl of the food processor, press into a disc, wrap it in parchment and put it in the fridge. Repeat. If you refrigerate the pie dough for more than 15 or 20 minutes, you’ll need to let it soften up a little on the counter before you roll it.

Next, make the filling. Drain the cherries, reserving the liquid. Place 1/2 cup of that liquid in a separate, lidded jar. In a sauce pan, combine the remaining liquid, sugar, cinnamon and kirsch or extract over medium heat, bring it to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves and it begins to simmer. Meanwhile, add the cornstarch to the jar of juice, cover and shake well. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the boiling mixture, turn down the heat and and whisk until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat, fold in the cherries and add lemon. Stir in the butter until it melts. Let it cool to room temperature while you roll out the pie dough. Warm filling will really mess with a lattice crust, in particular.

Ready a 9-inch pie pan. With a floured rolling pin, roll out one disc of dough several inches larger than the diameter of the pan and gently lift and press it in place. Fill it with the cherry filling. Roll the second disc to roughly the same size. If you choose to make a lattice top, I recommend searching for a video. I sort of like to freehand it, but for a tidier look, build the crust on parchment and lift it onto the pie. Pinch the edges all the way around and crimp them. Brush the pie with beaten egg. Place on a sheet pan to catch any extra filling and bake for 20 minutes, before turning 180 degrees, and, if it’s getting too brown, tenting it gently with foil. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until you can see the cherry filling bubbling around the edges. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

The post For this year’s holiday feast, try a vintage tart cherry pie appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

We will meet, write freely together and give feedback via zoom for six 55-minute sessions, beginning at 6 a.m., January 9 to February 13. The workshop is open to 12 participants. This class has no homework and we are creating all new material, so it isn’t a place to work on projects already in progress, but instead a generative exercise in finding the seeds for new work. The cost is $225 per person. ($25 off for Yukon Island writers). You must have a working computer and internet connection. Bedhead welcome. Coffee recommended.

To sign up or ask questions, email me.

The post Looking for inspiration?Join me for guided winter morning writing sessions appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

Here’s how that story starts: “At a shelter in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Arthur Lake, 74, was still dealing with the shock of his new surroundings. Cars buzzed along one of the city’s main thoroughfares with loud mufflers and booming stereos.

Mr. Lake and his family recently evacuated from Kwigillingok, a tiny Alaska Native village along the Bering Sea nearly 500 miles away. There, homes and businesses on the soft, grassy tundra were connected by boardwalks, and men had been out hunting bearded seals and other marine mammals to get ready for the winter.

“That’s where we belong,” Mr. Lake said. He has been to Anchorage many times. But, he said, ‘it’s not home.'”

Read the rest.

The post For NYT: For Alaskan Evacuees, Home Is Gone, With No Return in Sight appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

Say what you want about that, but those earthy, buttery caramelized onions, the broth-soaked bread and that delicious toasted cheese cemented a life-long soup love. Recently, after I stumbled on an old Harry’s menu, I went on a re-creation mission.

The first order of business was to collect eight broiler-safe ceramic soup bowls, the kind with the little handles, which was actually pretty easy at Goodwill. This is, of course, optional, as you probably have something in your cabinet that can stand the broiler, but it was just a festive touch. Next, because it’s peak farmers market season, I bought some fresh onions. Then I set about making soup.

The main labor of French onion soup is caramelizing the onions in butter. The process takes about an hour over low heat. I think the best flavor comes from mixing a couple types. After that, you add wine and sherry. You can add dry white or red wine but the menu description from Harry’s says red. Then you add beef broth and, because I like it, I add rosemary. I am not sure about how authentically Harry’s that is. At this point the soup can be taken from the heat and refrigerated for a few days or even frozen for a few months. I used sturdy, bakery-made French bread — note: the super light grocery store stuff will not hold up in this recipe — but you can also use a hearty sourdough, which is sometimes easier to find. Harry’s soup used a mix of Gruyere and Parmesan, but lots of recipes use Gruyere only. I think the best price you’ll find on a block of Gruyere is at Walmart. And you can, if you want to be really true to Harry’s form, finish it with some chives.

Harry’s Restaurant tribute French onion soup

Serves 8

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

A mix of 3-4 large yellow, white or sweet onions, thinly sliced into half-moons

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup sherry

3/4 cups dry red wine

8 cups beef broth

2 sprigs fresh rosemary (optional)

8 1/2-inch slices good quality French or sourdough bread

1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

1/2 cup grated or micro-planed Parmesan cheese

Chopped herbs, like thyme, rosemary or chives, to garnish

Method: Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottom 10- or 12-cup Dutch oven or soup pot. Turn the heat to medium low, add onions and sauté until they are softened and translucent, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat lower and carmelize, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes to an hour. If the onions are sticking or appear to be browning unevenly, splash a little bit of wine, stock or water in the pan and scrape the bottom. When the onions are done, they should be a rich brown and somewhat jammy. Add sea salt and pepper to taste. Now add the wine and sherry and bring to a bubble. Add broth and whole rosemary sprigs, bring to a simmer and allow to cook for 25 minutes. Remove the rosemary and remove from heat. You can stop at this point and refrigerate the soup, covered, if you’re making it ahead. About 15 minutes before you’re ready to serve, gently begin warming the broth over low heat, position your oven rack 6 to 8 inches from the heating element and preheat the broiler. Once the soup is warm, ladle it into oven-safe bowls. Place a piece of sourdough in each bowl and cover completely with cheeses. Place the bowls on a sheet pan — you may have to work in batches — and slide under the broiler, watching carefully, for 2 to 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown. Garnish with herbs or chives. Serve immediately.

The post Remember Harry’s Restaurant French onion soup from the ‘80s? Here’s a tribute recipe. appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

Here’s how it starts: “Drive three hours south out of Anchorage, through two mountain passes, down a highway dotted with rural churches and the occasional moose, and you’ll arrive in Kenai, a seaside town world famous for its salmon fishing. But in Alaska, the area is also known for a specialty made at the 50-year-old butcher shop called Echo Lake Meats.

On the package, the dip is labeled “World Famous Jalapeño Cheese Spread,” but in Kenai and the neighboring town of Soldotna, people refer to it as “Echo Lake cheese dip.” To everyone else in the state, it’s just “Kenai dip.”

“You find very few people of any age bracket that haven’t had it or don’t love it,” said Erick Watkins, who owns the shop with his wife, Holli.”

Read on.

The post For NYT: This cheesy dip is a closely guarded Alaskan secret + recipe appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

Here’s how the story begins: Amid the hubbub of President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Alaska summit last week, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, posting on social media, posed a provocative question.

“Alaska is a leader in fresh caught wild salmon. We could also be a leader in the farmed salmon industry. Why not do both instead of importing farmed salmon from Scotland?,” he wrote, sharing an article about the value of fish farming in Scotland, where Atlantic salmon are raised in net pens in the ocean. “This would be a great opportunity for Alaska.”

The answer from scientists, wild salmon advocates, restaurant people and regular salmon-eating Alaskans has come swiftly, full of alarm and often along the lines of one of the early commenters on his post, who wrote, “Are you insane?”

Love for wild salmon cuts through partisan politics. No food is more important to the state’s culture, diet, identity and economy. As such, Alaskans don’t look kindly on farmed fish. It’s tough to find it in stores and few, if any, restaurants serve it. Farming salmon and other finfish has been banned since 1990 over concerns about environmental threats to wild stocks and economic competition. But Dunleavy, who has become increasingly interested in Alaska’s food security since the pandemic, is curious about bringing in fish farms.

Read on.

The post For ADN: Raising the idea of salmon farms in Alaska, Gov. Dunleavy swims against a tide of skeptics appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

Here’s how the story begins: On a plot carved into a forest of white spruce and aspen near Glennallen, Lakota McRoberts strolled through a collection of raised garden beds earlier this summer, calculating how many neighbors she might feed.

“I’d like it to be probably three times the size,” she said. “But last year we were able, in August, to feed 148 families, which is like 258 individuals, to give them a pretty decent basket.”

McRoberts, 25, who also works for the food bank at the Copper River Native Association, is part of the newest generation of a tribal gardening movement that’s grown quickly in recent years, driven by compounding concerns about food security in mostly Indigenous communities at the northernmost end of America’s grocery supply line.

Farming advocates in Alaska say shipped-in food has always been expensive, but the supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fragile nature of stocking village groceries. Meanwhile, climate change has upended subsistence salmon fishing, derailed hunting and even left berry patches barren, making wild food harder to harvest. Volatile global economics, the threat of tariffs and shrinking support for government food assistance further heighten concerns. All of that, plus a post-pandemic bump in government funding for small agriculture projects, has stoked community food-growing projects from Metlakatla to Tyonek to the Yukon River to Kiana to St. Paul Island.

For McRoberts, who grew up in Glennallen, the community’s hunger feels urgent. Read on.

The post For ADN: As climate change upends subsistence, Alaska tribes and villages turn to gardens appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

First recipe on the list: re-creating an unforgettable zucchini-blossom pizza I had while visiting family last summer in Italy, made with torn pieces of burrata, savory grilled zucchini, caramelized shallots and lots of fresh basil. This one goes perfect with a very cold Aperol spritz, a few friends and a sunny late-summer night.

I like to make a lot of pizza on the grill in the summertime, and I have to admit I often cheat, forgoing homemade dough and instead buying it at the Moose’s Tooth takeout counter. My second favorite local dough comes from New Sagaya, though it’s not always available. Both doughs handle really well, taste great and go for between $5 and $7 a ball. I get an extra ball and make the first pizza with just sauce and cheese for the kids to get the grill to the perfect temp. You can, of course, always make your own dough using your favorite recipe, just be sure to flour it well when you roll it out.

The main labor of this recipe is all preparation and can easily be done in advance. Grilling the actual pizza takes 10 minutes. I have been getting mini burrata balls for a very good price at Costco lately, but they are also often available at Fred Meyer and Fromagio’s. If you can’t find them, a good fresh mozzarella will do just fine.

Grilled zucchini flower-burrata pizza

Makes one 14-inch pizza

Ingredients:

One roughly 12-ounce ball of homemade or store-bought pizza dough (if buying it at a restaurant, this would typically be a dough ball for a medium pizza)

One medium shallot, thinly sliced into rings

One medium-size or two small-size garden zucchini — about 12 ounces total — cut lengthwise, 1/4 inch thick

1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoons olive oil

Two tablespoons homemade or store-bought pesto

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Four small/”mini” burrata balls or two regular-sized burrata balls

Four large zucchini blossoms, cut in half, stamen removed

1/3 cup fresh basil cut into thin ribbons

Kosher salt

Pepper

Red pepper flakes and extra virgin olive oil to garnish

Instructions:

In a small frying pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil and begin to caramelize your shallots over medium-low heat until soft and brown, about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, start the grill, aiming to get it to a medium temperature of about 350 degrees. Brush the zucchini with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place the slices perpendicular to the grill grates and grill for roughly three minutes a side, so that the slices are soft, cooked through, have grill marks and a little char on the edges. Remove from the grill, brush the grill clean, close it and allow it to return to 350 degrees.

Put grilled zucchini in a bowl and place it on a topping tray you’ll eventually carry with you to the grill to assemble the pizza. Mix the pesto with olive oil in a small bowl and put it on the tray with a pastry brush. Prep your zucchini blossoms, add them to the tray, along with your Parmesan, burrata, basil and salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil and a large grill spatula. Set your prep tray near your grill.

Next, on a piece of parchment paper, roll or hand press your pizza dough so that it’s about 12 to 14 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Set that on a cutting board and carry it to the grill. Open the grill, pick up the parchment and carefully flip the dough onto the center of the hot grate. If you need to, gently pull it or reposition it with your hands so it keeps its round shape. Close the grill for three minutes and then check for doneness on the bottom side and cook a little longer if needed. The grill-facing side should be hard-cooked and slightly charred in places and the other side will have lots of bubbles. If there are super large bubbles on top, pop them with the spatula; otherwise, once the dough is cooked on the grill side, flip it over. Working quickly, brush the cooked side with the pesto oil, sprinkle with Parmesan, arrange zucchini and zucchini flowers, tear burrata balls into semi-equal pieces and distribute, sprinkle with basil and close the grill. After three minutes, check for doneness — the cheese should be melted, and the edges of the crust should be crisp. Importantly, lift the bottom with a spatula, it should be hard and starting to char. If it isn’t, leave it for a minute or two more, but be careful. Your nose will tell you if it’s starting to char too much.

Using a spatula, pull the pizza off the grill onto the cutting board. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with red pepper flakes, lash with olive oil, slice and serve immediately.

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The post For NYT: At the Alaska Summit, an Unlikely Local Dish Gets a Cameo appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

I helped first with a story about Alaska’s relationship to Russia since the cold war.

And then I helped with a story about Anchorage’s Ukrainian refugees.

The post For NYT: Coverage of the Putin/Trump summit appeared first on Julia O'Malley.