Tuesday, August 26, 2008

When Life Gives You Strawberries.... Make a Pie!


Evidently I'm both blog lazy and pie crazy. I haven't had much access to internet lately, so I've been slacking on the blogging. However, with all that extra free time I have found a new hobby...pie making! I loved the apple pie so much, I thought I'd try out a strawberry pie. Considering I've never EATEN a strawberry pie....I think it turned out ok.

To make the crust, I used the same recipe as in the apple pie:

Preparation time: 20 min Baking time: 8 min
Yield: Pastry for 1 (2-crust) pie or 2 pie shells

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold LAND O LAKES® Butter (I got mine right out of the freezer, and it worked perfectly)
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water (again, used the freezer)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract


Combine flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened. (This part was a bit difficult for me to understand, basically you just want tons of tiny pieces of butter with flour clumped on them, or at least that's what I did, and that method work nicely for me. You will have to get your hands dirty on this one :-) )

Divide dough in half; shape each half into ball. Flatten slightly. Wrap each ball in plastic food wrap; refrigerate. (While it's refrigerating you can make the pie filling)

Roll out 1 ball of dough and place in pie pan. Bake the bottom layer for 10 minutes or so, depending on your oven.
For the filling, I investigated the basic practices of strawberry pie filling and discovered I needed to go buy some corn starch. The rest is just what I figured would be a tasty combo.

4-6 cups of cut strawberries
1/2 c to 1 c of granulated sugar
1 Tbsp of vanilla (I'm a little vanilla obsessed)
3 Tbsp or more of cornstarch. I honestly didn't measure, I just kinda threw it in there from the box.
1 Tbsp of lemon juice
1 c of water
Using a potato masher, smash up 3 cups (or more...whatever you're feeling) of strawberries. Don't puree..just mash. Place them into a large pan. Add the water, sugar, and cornstarch.


Cook on medium, stirring frequently until you get a delicious tasting, syrupy mixture. Toss in the lemon juice and vanilla. I made the mistake of not mashing them until I was cooking it, AFTER I realized they'd cook down better mashed. Don't make my mistakes.











When the filling is sufficiently delicious by your standards, pour it into a different dish to cool. By now the pie crust should absolutely be finished baking, and you should let it cool. Pour the cooled filling into your cooled pie crust, and put the rest of the cut strawberries on top.


The next part is a bit of a predicament, and I haven't yet figured out a solution. I'd love your comments about it! Since the strawberries are already cooked and hopefully forming a gelatin like texture, you don't want to stick them back in the oven. But I like a pie with a full crust on top! Problem. I rolled out the second ball, put it on top, and baked the pie anyway. Sure, it was a little runny when I took that first slice, but the flavor didn't change. Do what you feel. Isn't that what baking is about?


I got a little frivolous and carried away with decorating the pie, but I had fun doing it. I ate a slice, took the pie to work the next day, and came home with an empty pie pan! It really was delicious. I can't wait to try my hand at some fresh-picked blackberries. Here are a few more pie pics:


The pie! And the leaves. I know, ridiculous, right?
Take a slice out of the pie!
Nobody said baking was good, clean fun. Just good fun.
Definitely NOT clean.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Ensalada de Pasta


On a hot Summer day, the craving for pasta is usually met with disdain at the thought of eating some steaming dish of noodles. A delicious and often healthier option to fettucine alfredo or spaghetti and meatballs is ...Pasta Salad!
2-3 cups of Penne Pasta
Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic
Cherry or Grape tomatoes
Mozzarella
Orange Bell Pepper
Boil pasta and two cloves of minced garlic until pasta is al dente. Cool thoroughly.
While pasta is boiling, julienne the bell pepper and saute it in a very small amount of olive oil. I thought this might draw out the flavors of the bell pepper better. After it is pliable, dump into the pasta.
Gently stir in a splash or two of balsamic vinegar, a Tbsp or so of olive oil.

Cut the mozzarella (however much you want...we all like different ratios) into small pieces. Mix with pasta.

Cool dish, and cut tomatoes in half and add to your plated salad. I like to keep them separate until just before I eat the dish, because I don't want it to become runny or tomato-y.

I like my bites to include two pieces of pasta, several strands of bell pepper, one half of a tomato and 1 bite of mozzarella.

Delicious with ANY wine.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Crab Apple Pie

Several days ago I finally ate one of the apples from the trees in our backyard. They're crab apples, which evidently some people don't like. But seeing as how I'm partial to the more sour apples, I LOVED them. I ate another one immediately. Then I began dreaming up ways I could incorporate them into cooking. And what better way than a homemade apple pie?!

I've never made apple pie filling, let alone a pie crust, so I was a bit nervous. I stole two recipes from the internet, changed them up a bit to fit my taste, and went to town.




















The Crab Apple Tree

The Pie Crust - most pie crusts I found called for Crisco or shortening, which I didn't have and didn't want to go buy. But I did have a brand new box of Land o Lakes butter (which is a family favorite due to a joke my dad would do with the box..but more on that later). I just happened to find a recipe on their website.

I added a teaspoon of vanilla (it could've used two, but you'll need to put in a little bit less water if you do this) and a tsp of cinnamon.
Preparation time: 20 min Baking time: 8 min
Yield: Pastry for 1 (2-crust) pie or 2 pie shells


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold LAND O LAKES® Butter (I got mine right out of the freezer, and it worked perfectly)
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water (again, used the freezer)


Combine flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened. (This part was a bit difficult for me to understand, basically you just want tons of tiny pieces of butter with flour clumped on them, or at least that's what I did, and that method work nicely for me. You will have to get your hands dirty on this one :-) )

Divide dough in half; shape each half into ball. Flatten slightly. Wrap each ball in plastic food wrap; refrigerate. (While it's refrigerating you can make the pie filling)

For 1-crust pie, roll out 1 ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into 9-inch pie pan; unfold dough, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pan. Crimp or flute edge. Fill and bake according to pie recipe directions. (Store your rolling pin in the freezer and coat it with flour before rolling out the dough. Unless you like a doughy mess, this is a good technique)

For 2-crust pie, roll out remaining ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold dough into quarters. Place dough over filling; unfold. Trim, seal and crimp or flute edge. Cut 5 or 6 large slits in crust. Bake according to pie recipe directions.

Pie Filling - Almost every recipe I found said to use UNPEELED apples, which I'm usually against, but I was pressed for time and recipe said I could...so I did.

6 cups of cut apples
1 c of granulated sugar
1 Tbsp of flour
The juice from half of a lemon (be sure to roll the lemon before you cut it, this helps the juice come out)
1.5 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c of water
2 tsp cinnamon





1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt; toss together with apples.










2. Pour apple mixture into pastry-lined pan. In a small bowl, combine water, lemon juice and vanilla; sprinkle over apples. Dot apples with butter.








Cover with top crust, crimp edges to seal and cut 3 slits in top crust to let steam escape. (Ok, we didn't have a rolling pin...so I used a bottle of liquor stored in the freezer as a makeshift rolling pin. It did it's job, but the crust doesn't look as pretty as one might want it to. )








3. Bake 10 minutes; then reduce heat to 375 degrees F and bake about 45 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

This pie was DELICIOUS, and I don't think I'm just saying that as the proud person that cooked it. I took it to a dinner party that night, and they enjoyed it. The next day I took the rest of it to work, where they all enjoyed it too.




Maybe it's not something that qualifies for "Plating for One," but every entree deserves a delicious dessert, so it'll be good to have on hand. I recommend eating it with either cheddar cheese OR ice cream (but not both...)