Um . . . oops August already

Well, I won't start with the excuses. Just let me share what we've been up to all month while I haven't been blogging.

I look forward to this market all year, but unfortunately due to the extreme heat and lack of sufficient shade at the venue - it was a bit of a bust. I have vowed to go next year early in the morning and without children. Yes, July in Santa Fe has been hot as well . . and I've loved every sweaty minute of it. Not a huge fan of cold weather. We went two days with a broken swamp cooler and I think there may have been a small amount of complaining, but other than that we're golden. One way to cool off: a dip in Cochiti Lake.
Our new neighbors finally moved in next door. There are now 5 little boys and one girl living on our cul-de-sac and what a brood they are. Most of the time it's great and of course our boys love it, but very little peace and quiet around here anymore (not that there was much to begin with.)


I finally finished the Old Red Barn quilt along quilt. It's ok - not my favorite, but I had fun doing it and seeing other's quilts in the group. I was able to make a second quilt out the scraps and some of Aunt Ginny's fabric she gave me a while back. I ended up liking this one alot actually, especially with the chenille and rickrack.

I've yet to quilt this one because I needed to move onto to other things - my eyes got tired of looking at the same fabrics. Also, making a quilt start to finish - although a wonderful process - takes a long time. I needed a little instant gratification to get my creative juices flowing again. So I started making pillows . . .

and more pillows . . .
I'm far from done - my plan is to have that nice green couch smothered in pillows. I like being able to start a finish a project in less than a day and it's giving me good practice on my machine. I highly suggest a smallish something for when you are feeling burnt out or uninspired. It gave me the boost I needed to finish all my other projects dangling around out there and on shelves in my craft/laundry room.

Hmmm, what else . . .

Finn taught himself how to ride his bike without training wheels. Go Finn!

It was such a trip. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I see Finn through the kitchen window getting on Orion's (neighbor) bike and just taking off! I love everyone clapping and cheering in the background.

Andy picked a monster 15 oz porcini mushroom on a recent hike of his. For real.

I attempted to make homemade essential oils from yummy things in our garden - rose, lavender, lemon verbena. Yeah - not so great. Pretty sure they're headed for the garbage can. If anyone knows of the right way to do this, I'd love some pointers. I'd like to eventually use the oils to make some soap or candles or something. Well, it seemed like a good idea anyway.



I've started collecting recipes for strange/quirky/funny sounding pies from some old cookbooks I've found and borrowed. The best two so far are Funeral Pie and Reconciliation Pie. The recipes themselves don't sound very appealing, but really it's the names of the pies I'm most interested in. Please send along any you might know of; I'm thinking of making an art quilt with each square depicting the name of the pie and an illustration.

And speaking of pie . . . what in the heck happened to July's Pie of the Month? So here it is - but without a photo, but it looks similar to the pie of the same name in my previous post.

Peach Creme Fraiche Pie

1 unbaked pie crust
6 peaches, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt

To make creme fraiche: place 1 cup heavy cream and 1 TBS buttermilk
in glass jar with a lid. Shake well and let sit at room temperature for at
least two days, depending on the climate of your kitchen, until it has thickened
and smells mildly tangy and sour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the above ingredients
together and pile into unbaked pie crust and top with the streusel (recipe
follows.) Bake for about 45 -60 minutes until the bottom crust has
browned. If the top is getting too dark, cover with foil.

Streusel Topping:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 oz unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 eggs, whisked

Mix everything except the eggs together until it is crumbly and resembles a
course meal. Add the eggs and mix until it starts lumping together
loosely. Sprinkle over top of filling.

I actually make this as individual crostadas using small tart rings, but I'm sure it will be just as good in a pie shell. And it goes without saying that you must have very ripe, fragrant peaches to make this worth your while - not to mention a gallon of vanilla ice cream (or caramel would be yummy too).

And Chaco's getting big (and a little less perfect). He's lucky I'm already in love with him because he's turning out to be quite the hand full. I'll be Netflixing the Dog Whisperer DVD very soon. But really, to me, he's fantastic and he gets me out walking - and still sleeping on pillow by my bed every night . . . aaaaaaaw.

Damn Fine Cherry Pie

For June's pie of the month I wanted to make a cherry pie Agent Dale Cooper would be proud of. What did he say? This is where pies go when they die? So I think I did it - but only because I was lucky enough to have just picked sour cherries from my neighbor Rob.

I don't even like cherry pie normally because I usually just think of that goopy, sweet, sticky filling of the store bought variety. Well, this one is all together different. But I must emphasize that you've got to use sour cherries to make it rock your world.

Damn Fine Sour Cherry Pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Crust:

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cute into cubes
5-7 TBS ice water


Filling:

1 cup sugar
3 TBS cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
5 cups pitted cherries (I used about 2/3 sour and 1/3 Bing cherries)
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
1/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 TBS milk
sugar for sprinkling

For Crust:

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and
pulse until the largest bits are pea-sized. Add the chilled water, by the
tablespoon until the dough holds together if pressed. Divide dough in two pieces
and form into a flat disk shape and wrap in plastic. Chill for about 10-15
minutes or overnight. Let soften some before rolling.

Roll out dough #1 and transfer to a pie plate and trim the overhang to 1/2
inch. Roll out dough #2 and using a pastry wheel or knife cut 3/4 inch wide
strips. Reserve while making filling.



For Filling:

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl. Rub vanilla
bean seeds into sugar mixture. Sir in cherries, lemon juice, and vanilla extract
(if using). Let macerate for about 5 minutes or so. Strain out cherries and pour
into bottom crust. Spoon out some of the syrup from the bowl over the cherries
if you want your filling more loose. I prefer it a little tighter so my crust
doesn't get too soggy. Arrange the pie dough strips on top forming a lattice and
fold the bottom crust edge up over the strips and crimp to seal. Brush the
lattice (not edges) with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp. to
375 bake until top is browned and filling is bubbling - about 1 hour. Let it
cool some to set before cutting. I served it with Vanilla Ice Cream.

These kids were made to clean my house while they waited for this pie. I guess it was worth it.

Take Me There (and Pie of the Month!)

The April/May issue of ReadyMade magazine features an article about a place I thought could only exist in my dreams - an actual pie-shaped piece of land devoted to producing crops for making pies and other baked yummies . . . all tended by students and all trucked to Mission Pie in San Francisco (yet another pie themed destination to add to my list.)

The owner of both Mission Pie and Pie Ranch, Karen Heisler, sharing her bit of pie wisdom says, "Pie means community." The article goes on:

". . . pie always tastes richer when it's served with a scoop of
metaphor. Pie signifies the good life . . . it's an edible embodiment of nature's bounty and the reassuring comforts of domestic life. Pie brings people together; no one bakes a pie without plans to share it."

I'm truly inspired - what great seed for my pie book!


And speaking of pie (rarely am I not speaking of pie), I'm actually going to introduce May's Pie of the Month before the 31st!!

Rhubarb Pie

with Lemon Scented Almond Frangipane

unbaked pie crust
about 6 or so stalks of fresh rhubarb, chopped
3/4 # unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 # almond paste, room temp. - the best you can find
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
2 TBS all purpose flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp lemon juice
about 3-4 TBS melted butter
about 1/3 cup granulated sugar

In a food processor, cream the butter and almond paste until it is completely smooth. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, lemon juice and zest, and salt and process until mixed together. Fold in the flour. Spread the frangipane filling in the bottom of your chilled pie crust. Toss the chopped rhubarb with the melted butter and sugar to coat. Press the rhubarb in to the filling, covering the top of the pie up to the rim. bake for about 45 minutes until the frangipane is brown and the crust is golden ( once again, nice to have glass pie plate so you can make sure it has browned thoroughly on the bottom.)

I'm serving this as an individual crostada at the restaurant - with a buttermilk panna cotta and rhubarb sorbet. I think it would be awesome with a buttermilk ice cream so I'll search for my recipe and include that on my next post. I know some of you think you may not like rhubarb much, which is exactly why you should try this recipe because I'm convinced you'll change your tune. That tart rhubard marries perfectly with the rich almond flavor and the bright lemon zest.
Say asta la vista to the standard strawberry rhubarb pie (I think cooked mushy strawberries in pie filling is just all wrong) - go for a nice fresh strawberry sauce or ooh maybe strawberry buttermilk ice cream. Oh yeah.

Pie of the Month -- April!

Last week we invited my lovely cousin Stephanie over for Andy's Green Chili Stew as well as her new "friend" Scott and his almost 5 year old daughter Sylvie - the perfect opportunity to try out my mom's recipe for Lemon Chess Pie (which she actually got from one of her friends but I can't remember who so as far as we're concerned it's just Grammary's pie recipe.) I was considering trying it out for my Spring menu at the restaurant but I ended up with another rhubarb dessert that turned out great too - I'll share that one later. But back to our Chess Pie. It was awesome; we devoured it! I think Scott ate four pieces, but who's counting? And the rhubarb was an excellent accompaniment - so fresh and tart, yet earthy mmmmm mm!

Lemon Chess Pie

• 9 " unbaked pie crust
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 TBS all purpose flour
• 1 TBS cornmeal
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 4 oz melted butter
• 2 TBS lemon zest
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake for 50
-60 minutes until set. Best served at room temperature.

My pie took the full hour of baking time and although it is set, it will still jiggle a bit. The top should be nicely browned and it's nice to have a glass pie plate so you can see that the crust has browned as well. Definitely dish it out at room temp - I thought my leftovers got a little too sticky in the fridge and the cold makes it lose it's comforting quality.

And please try the compote if you can find some really good rhubarb. It would also be delicious with any fruit that you enjoy with something lemony.

Vanilla Bean Poached Rhubarb

• 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 cup water

In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar, vanilla bean, orange zest,
and water. Bring to a boil and immediately toss in the rhubarb. Lower the heat
to a simmer and cook rhubarb until it is just tender but still retains its
shape. Remove the rhubarb from the pan with a slotted spoon and allow to cool.
Reduce the leftover syrup until it thickens slightly. Cool the syrup and then
pour over rhubarb.

Hope everyone likes this one! Thanks for being patient with me this month - we've had alot going on. Feels good to be writing again, though. And thank you for your thoughtful comments about Lu dog. Feels strange to not have her lying out in the grass while we were playing just now. Finn, without saying a word about it, has started carting around all the doggy stuffed animals we have. Funny how kids have their own way of expressing themselves.

Makin' Whoopie

Yes, today we went retro and finally made the NY Times whoopie pie recipe from a couple of weeks back. In truth, these can hardly be placed in the pie category, but hey that's the name, so I'm sticking with it and making it the pie of the month for crying out loud. These suckers are tasty let me tell you and easy breezy too.

The kids had fun. Finn was much more interested in the raw batter as you can see. Mom and Dad both like to eat raw cookie dough and cake batter so no surprise there. Both their faces were covered with chocolate by the end of our baking lesson - that's the way it should be, right?

Hopefully, ya'll can read this. The only change I made is that I added chopped semisweet chocolate to the batter because it just didn't seem chocolaty enough for me, which turned out great I think. Oh, and I didn't have a full cup of buttermilk so I added a little plain yogurt and heavy cream to top it off and that seemed to be a suitable substitute.

Basically, the cake part tastes like a chocolate muffin top - but once you add the buttercream frosting it rises to a whole other level of goodness. You just kinda sink into it's soft cloud-like texture. I don't know, maybe I'm swayed by the cooky, inexplicable name, but I loved it.

Also, these babies turned out "ginormous" as Finn would say. It makes much more than six and I would actually make the scoops of batter smaller next time. I also wanted to use a piping bag and a star tip to make the frosting a little more attractive, but I oddly don't have any piping bags at home.

The preparation time says 1 hour, but I don't think it even took us that long so this is a great last minute treat if you already have all the ingredients. You can always make time for whoopie I suppose.

Sort of Pie for February

While we were in Florida recently, one of my top priorities was to sample the regional specialty Key Lime Pie. Unfortunately, I didn't quite have the time to scour every nook and cranny for a great piece of pie and that is sad - because the one we tried our very first night in town was pretty awful. (This photo, by the way, was not the awful one and I did not taste this particular pie.)

The up side is that I'm serving a lime ice cream on the menu right now that I swear is quite frankly the S_ _ _T . . . or the bomb, whatever. It is like the smoothest, creamiest key lime pie filling you've ever tasted and since I like that particular pie partially frozen anyway it works out. So I may have been disappointed but I am certainly not deprived.

I took some home yesterday and sandwiched a scoop between two ginger snap cookies. It was pretty good, but actually I think that if I had made a crumb crust from the cookies and molded the ice cream into a pie, it would have been even better. I'm not big on frozen cookies so while trying to soften them enough to eat, the ice cream melted a little too much and it turned out to be a fairly messy experience - which is a no-no in my book.

See, I do not like to do battle with my food -- so every dessert that I test for work I have to actually eat (not just taste) the final, composed dessert with all its components to make sure it will be accessible to the diner. Granted, there is a time and place for playing with food and really digging in. But, I'd rather the flavors and textures not have to compete in a wrestling match if you know what I mean.

ANYWAY . . . I did, however enjoy the presentation of the ice cream sandwiches on my new, adorable lime green and robin's egg blue vintage melamine dessert plates from http://www.vindeelyndee.etsy.com.Thanks Marnie! I adore them!

So for this month's pie of the month I'm giving you the recipe for Key Lime Pie Ice Cream, which is delicious served as is or you can try my suggestion with the gingersnap cookie crumb crust ( we serve it with pineapple beignets which is pretty good too.)

8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
zest and juice 6 regular limes (not little key limes) to equal 6 oz lime
juice
4 oz unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar
4 cups heavy cream
2 TBS vodka

Combine the first five listed ingredients in a large sauce pan and whisk over medium heat until it thickens and just begins to boil. Strain the resulting lime curd through a fine mesh strainer. Add the remaining sugar, cream, and vodka and chill thoroughly before churning in an ice cream machine. When it is done, either pour into prepared pie crust (topping with sweetened whipped cream if you'd like) and freeze or just freeze in a container with a lid.

Notes:

• Slice the pie while frozen and then allow the individual pieces to sit at room temp for about 5 minutes before serving.
• Please do not be tempted to use any kind of bottled lime juice, even if it says fresh and you bought it at Whole Foods or even if it says it is "real Key lime juice" - the fresh squeezed regular supermarket limes are far superior and you need the zest anyway. Bottled juice is what gives a lot of pies that strange, off flavor.
• To zest, I use a Microplane and I strongly suggest you get one if you don't have one already.
• Cuisinart makes a fairly affordable ice cream machine ($50) that works great, especially for home use, but we used it at the restaurant with great results before we finally got our kick butt $1500 Italian gelato machine.
• If you think making your own ice cream is too much trouble, please just try it some time and you will be amazed at how easy it is to make something so much better than you can buy and that you can trick out however you want with all kinds of ingredients and flavorings.
• Why vodka? Because vodka does not freeze it keeps the ice cream from turning rock hard and you won't have to let it sit on the counter for twenty minutes before you scoop it. Commercial ice creams have all sorts of weird stabilizers in them to keep them soft.

January's Pie: Coconut Cream

That's right, I'm starting a pie of the month gig and I'm sneaking in this recipe for January just before the month ends. We've been serving these little babies at the restaurant since October and they've been hugely popular. I think what really makes the difference is that we fill the prebaked pie shells with the coconut custard to order and bake the meringue to order so the crust stays nice and crisp and the meringue doesn't "weep" all over the pie after sitting for a while. One thing to note here is that although I love meringue, I prefer this pie with a whipped cream topping so I'm going to provide that in the recipe. I'll also give you my meringue as well so you can choose - or you can save it to use as a topping on a different pie.

Coconut Cream Pie

Recipe fills a 9 inch prebaked pie crust - make sure it is cooked through on the bottom. To do this line pie crust with foil and pie weights (I use dried beans) and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove pie crust from oven and let it cool long enough for you to safely remove the foil and pie weights; maybe 10 minutes. return to the oven and bake for an additional 8 minutes or so until the crust bottom is golden brown. For a good pie crust recipe search through my quiche post.

1/2 cup sugar

4 TBS cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups whole milk, scalded

4 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded
coconut

2 TBS unsalted butter

Combine the sugar, cornstarch , and salt in a medium size mixing bowl. Whisk in the scalded milk. Set over a pot of simmering water (bain marie) and whisk until the mixture is slightly thickened. While whisking, gradually add the egg yolks into the hot milk mixture (this is called tempering in the eggs, so that you don't scramble them in the process). Place the bowl over a bain marie and cook until it is thick and custard like - stirring frequently so as not to curdle it. When the custard coats your spoon it is ready and you can carefully remove the bowl from the heat and add the vanilla and butter. Whisk to melt butter and add the coconut. Chill thoroughly before filling your cooled pie shell.

Whipped Cream Topping:

1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream

2 TBS sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

toasted unsweetened shredded coconut

Combine cream, sugar, and vanilla and whip until you have a medium stiff peak - at some later date I'll try to include some photos of the difference between soft, medium, and stiff peaks for both whipped cream and meringue. For this pie - if you are making one whole pie and not individual ones, you will need your cream to be stiff enough to slice through without oozing everywhere, yet be careful not to over whip it and start making butter.

So now fill your pie, top it with whipped cream, and sprinkle with the toasted coconut. You should chill the entire pie to set it for at least 45 minutes so you can get a fairly clean slice. Or do what I do and buy some individual pie pans so you don't have to worry about that - just plop a pie on a plate and you're done!

And before I forget . . . the Meringue recipe . . . this is for French Meringue. There are three distinctly different methods: French, Italian, and Swiss and if you'd like to study up on the differences there's a pretty good summation at http://www.baking911.com/howto/meringues.htm.

Meringue

4 egg whites

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Place egg whites in a very clean, dry mixing bowl and whisk on low until it gets frothy and opaque. Now increase the speed to medium and beat until you get smooth medium peaks then start gradually adding the powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time. Then beat on high until you achieve stiff peaks, ie. when you remove the whisk from the meringue it stands up on end maybe only drooping over a little bit. Once again be careful not to over beat - if it looks dry and separated you've taken it to far and, well, you need to start again.

Just a word - this mixture will be whisking for a while so once you add all the sugar go start washing the dishes or something and check it periodically. And also, I use a Kitchen Aid for just about all whisking and mixing that I do so if you're functioning without, I hope you've got some strong biceps and triceps cause you'll be working them.

If you're doing individual pies you can try my method of piping or spooning out little mounds of meringue on oiled parchment paper and putting them in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Then put them on a sheet pan, still on the paper of course, and bake them at 400 degrees until they are golden brown. After about 30 seconds of cooling, they should peel right off the paper into your hand and you can invert it onto the pie.

If you've made a nine inch pie, top the custard with he meringue, making pretty swirls and such with your spatula or knife, and then place the entire pie in the oven to brown the meringue. You'll need to cool it again once you've done this if you care about getting a good slice.

In the photo above the pie is served with a Passionfruit Caramel Sauce and candied fresh coconut. In the fall we did it with a Hot Buttered Rum, which I prefer if I absolutely had to have sauce. But really I prefer this pie, maybe all pie, sans the sauce. Except for presentation, I don't think it needs it. If you are, however, interested in these recipes please send an email; I'm happy to share them and they are not difficult to prepare.