As I mentioned in my last post, I have been inspired by the farmer's markets lately. Combine that with a trip to my grandparents' house for Father's Day (and my grandpa's LOVE for pie), and I knew I had another pie project on my hands.
After consulting with my dad, I learned that my grandpa's favorite pie is strawberry rhubarb. Having never had a strawberry rhubarb pie that I actually liked, I was a little worried about how I was going to make a pie for him that he would like and that I could be proud of.
After much searching (and a stop at the market for f-r-e-s-h ingredients), I began my pie project. And boy, was I pleased! I cut down on the ratio of rhubarb to strawberries, so I could hardly taste the rhubarb itself...it just adds a tart note in each bite. But I'd venture to say that the strawberries steal the show...
Ingredients
For the crust:
See here for directions on making some goo-oo-ood pie crust
For the filling:
2 pints fresh strawberries
3 medium rhubarb stalks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Zest and juice of half a lemon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
2 tbsp. butter
1 egg white
Directions
1. Make the pie crust according to the directions at the above link.
2. Preheat the oven to 4oo degrees.
3. Remove the stems from the strawberries. Slice each strawberry in half, and then each half into fourths. If you find some small strawberries, just halve them.
4. Remove the ends from the rhubarb, cut in half lengthwise and dice into cubes similar to the strawberries.
5. Place strawberries and rhubarb in a medium mixing bowl.
6. Zest and juice half a lemon into the bowl.
7. Add the sugars, salt and tapioca pearls. Combine with a large spoon or spatula.
8. Roll out your bottom pie crust and place it in a well-greased pie dish.
9. Spoon the filling into the pie and spread until evenly dispersed.
10. Cut the butter into cubes and place them over the filling around the dish.
11. Lattice the pie with the second half of your dough. Use the tines of your fork to make decorative marks around the outer crust of the pie.
12. Separate the egg white into a small bowl and add a touch of water. Whisk together with a fork, and using a pastry brush, spread the wash over the pie crust.
13. Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil.
14. Bake for 20 minutes.
15. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes, removing the foil when there are 20 minutes left in baking time.
*Note: as the pie cools, the tapioca will act to stiffen the juices and create a thicker filling.
My only regret is not getting a photo of my grandpa and I eating the pie. It was a hit!
Summer is officially here...and I couldn't notice it more than when I'm walking through the local farmer's markets downtown. It started off slow, but each week now there are more and more veggies, fruits, flowers, jams, pastries...I look forward to my stroll through the market every week. If you're in downtown Chicago...or in a nearby neighborhood...check out this site to find the days/times of your local market. You won't regret it!
Early on, I noticed stands full of sweet cherries...starting off small and then growing bigger and bigger. I know people often think of cherry pie as a little tart, and probably because most traditional cherry pies use sour cherries. A little tart is good...but I love my cherry pies sweet sweet sweet. So here's my recipe for a pretty simple but oh-so-tasty homemade cherry pie.
Ingredients
For the crust:
(see my recipe for homemade Cinnamon Apple Pie for directions on how to make an easy, flaky homemade crust)
For the filling:
2-3 pints of fresh sweet cherries (depending on how big your cherries are)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. almond extract (you can use vanilla, but I think the flavors of cherries and almond go hand-in-hand)
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter
1 egg white
Directions
1. Make the crust (see the link above).
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
3. While the oven heats up, you'll want to pit your cherries. This is perhaps the most labor-intensive part of a truly homemade cherry pie, but it's totally worth it. Canned cherries really just don't measure up. So, unless you happen to have a cherry pitter on hand (which, in that case, you probably have your own recipe for cherry pie), here is an easy way to pit cherries by hand: set a cherry down on a cutting board and, with a large knife, gently push down on the cherry. The flesh will break open, and you can easily split the cherry the rest of the way in half and pull out the pit.
*Note: wear an apron and make sure nothing is too close to the cutting board. You're going to get some cherry juice out of these suckers and you'll have yourself a nice little mess to clean up. But I promise, it's worth it!
4. Once the cherries are pitted, make sure each is also halved. Place them in a medium mixing bowl.
5. Zest the lemon and add zest to the cherry bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the bowl.
6. Add the almond extract, sugar, salt and cornstarch, and combine with a large spoon or spatula.
7. Grease the pie dish and roll out the first half of your dough to form the bottom crust. Poke holes with a fork to allow steam to escape during baking.
8. Place the filling into the pie dish and spread until evenly dispersed. Cut the butter into small cubes and place sporadically over filling.
9. Lattice the top of the pie with the remaining half of dough. Crimp the edges decoratively with a fork by pressing the tines of the fork into the outer rim of crust.
10. Separate the egg white into a small bowl and add a little water. Mix with a fork and spread over the top of the pie crust with a pastry brush. This ensures the pie will have a golden brown finish.
11. Cover the edges with foil and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
12. Lower the heat to 375 degrees and bake for another hour until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling at the edges. Remove the foil from the edges of pie when there are about 20 minutes left of bake time.
In keeping with the L.O.V.E. for Greek food (and to accompany the side dish I prepared for a dinner date with my sissy), I found this recipe for spanakopita (spinach triangles) by Ina Garten...and it was so delicious! Make a bunch of these and freeze them - they cook up perfectly right out of the freezer (just extend the cooking time by 10 minutes) and hit every taste bud just right :)
Ingredients
1 package frozen spinach, thawed
4 cloves garlic
1 bunch scallions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 pound crumbled feta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh parsley
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper
2 sticks butter, melted
1 package phyllo dough, thawed
Directions
1. Open the package of frozen spinach and, over a strainer, squeeze out as much excess water as possible. Set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Mince the garlic cloves and slice the scallions. Add to the olive oil and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Add the pine nuts and frozen spinach. Season very generously with salt and pepper, and saute for 3 more minutes.
4. Chop the parsley and set aside.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the parsley. Let the mixture cool slightly (to avoid cooking the egg you're about to add).
6. Once cooled, add the feta cheese. Whisk the egg in a small dish and add to the spinach mixture. Stir to incorporate.
7. Melt two sticks of butter in the microwave, and set aside.
8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
9. Once the filling is ready, open the phyllo dough.
*Note: even though the package will say that the dough is "tear-resistant," it's not. So if you open your package and the dough has some tears in it, or it tears while you're working with it, it's not a problem. The butter you will be spreading on it will close up those tears just fine.
10. Take one sheet of phyllo dough and cut it in half lengthwise so you have two long strips. Place one of the halves to the side.
11. Take the other half and cut it in half again lengthwise so you now again have two long strips.
12. With a brush, spread some melted butter on one of these strips. Then place the second strip on top to make one thicker layer, and brush again with melted butter.
*Note: you don't need a lot of butter, so just lightly coat it or you might end up with a greasy finished product.
13. Spoon one tbsp. of the spinach mixture onto the left end of the strip, about one inch from the edge.
14. Fold the bottom left corner of the strip over the mixture until it meets the top of the strip. Push down gently so the dough sticks to itself.
*Note: if a little of the spinach mixture oozes out the side, it's okay. You're going to fold these little guys like mad, so it'll all be wrapped up eventually.
15. Now, you should see a little triangle beginning. Take it and fold it over along the right edge (where some filling may be oozing out of). Now, you have a thicker triangle.
16. Continue folding over, maintaining the triangle shape.
17. Now, you've got a nice little spinach-feta pocket.
18. Repeat this with all of the dough or until the filling is gone, cutting one sheet of phyllo dough at a time.
*Note: some guidelines state that you should cover your phyllo dough with a damp towel while it waits to be used...but I neglected to do this and it turned out just fine.
19. Once all your pockets are created, brush them with the remainder of melted butter. This ensures that they get nice and golden brown in the oven.
20. At this point, you can bake some or all of them, or throw them in the freezer for a later date. If you are going to freeze some, layer them with wax paper and place in an airtight container.
21. To bake, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.
*Note: if you're baking frozen ones, bake for 35 minutes until heated through and golden.
Add on top of that dinner plans with my beautiful sister, who studied abroad in Greece a couple summers ago, and our mutual love for anything that includes vegetables and feta...and I knew I'd have to rise to the challenge of making some Greek food of my own.
But where to start? My sister is basically vegetarian, I don't care for lamb (one of the few meats in this world that I just don't like at all, but happens to be all over Greek menus)...but I had a meal to prepare. Then, the proverbial lightbulb. Start with an appetizer - duh!
My favorite appetizer from the Greek Islands restaurant in Chicago's Greektown is this garlicky, olive-oily spread that the serve alongside some fresh roasted beets. As a lover of all things garlic, this is seriously my version of heaven on a spreader. So I sought out a recipe to make it at home...
And alas, thanks to Saveur magazine...Pantzaria me Skordalia (roasted beets with garlic-potato spread). I tweaked it slightly (more garlic, please!) and substituted some ingredients for ones that I had on-hand. And I halved the recipe...which still resulted in a pretty large amount (considering it's so garlicky, even master-garlic-consumers can only use a little at a time).
Ingredients
3-4 large fresh beets
1/4 cup blanched almonds
6-8 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 Yukon gold potato
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. You'll want to start the beets in the oven first, since they take awhile. You can prepare the spread while they're roasting.
2. Cut off the beet root and leaves and rinse under cold water to remove any excess crud.
3. Place the beets in a small baking dish. Drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Pour about 1/2 cup of water into the dish around the beets.
4. Cover tightly with foil and roast for one hour.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the spread. Skin your potato and place it in a medium saucepan filled with generously-salted cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender.
6. Remove to a strainer and set aside to let cool.
7. Blanch your almonds (check out this recipe for instructions). And smash your garlic cloves.
8. Place the blanched almonds in a food processor, along with the smashed garlic cloves, white wine vinegar and 1 tbsp. olive oil. Pulse until it becomes almost a paste. If you have a few chunks, it's okay.
9. Place the cooled potatoes in a medium mixing bowl and mash with a fork. Add the garlic mixture and incorporate, continuing to mash with a fork. Add salt and pepper, then 10 tbsp. of olive oil.
10. Mix quickly with a fork or spatula until well-combined.
11. Once your beets have been in the oven for an hour, remove them and uncover. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool.
12. Once they're cooled enough to handle, you can peel the skin right off the beet. It should slide right off - and don't press too hard, or you'll dent your beautiful red babies!
13. Now, slice 'em up. I quartered each beet and then sliced each quarter in half...so I guess I actually eighth'd the beets...urm, is that word?
14. Spread a little garlicky goodness on each beet slice and enjoy...I mean it...seriously...enjoy the heck out of this. It's so good.
Ingredients
3-4 large fresh beets
1/4 cup blanched almonds
6-8 garlic cloves
1 Yukon gold potato
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Directions
To prepare the beets:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Trim the root end and the leaves off of the fresh beets and discard. Place the beets in a small roasting dish.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
4. Add a 1/4" water into the pan, and cover it tightly with aluminum foil.
5. Roast for 1 hour, or until a knife slides easily into the center of the beets.
To prepare the garlic-potato spread:
6. As the beets roast away, skin and dice the potato into one-inch cubes.
7. Place in a small pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes until they are fork-tender.
8. Blanch the almonds. Take a look at this recipe to learn how.
9. In a food processor, combine the almonds, vinegar and garlic. Add enough olive oil to create a paste.
10. Drain the potatoes and place in a large mixing bowl.
11. Add the garlic mixture to the potatoes, combining well with a fork and adding olive oil until desired consistency (approximately 10 tbsp).
12. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
13. Once the beets have roasted, remove them from the oven and let them stand (still covered) for 30 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
14. The skin of the beets should peel right off.
15. Once the beets are peeled, slice them into eighths and serve alongside garlic spread.
So I'm not sure if you watch the Food Network...or, if you do, if you like to watch Anne Burrell as much as I do. But if you do, it's pretty likely you've seen her cooking with fava beans. So when I walked into my local produce shop and saw a huge bin of fresh fava beans hanging out, I had to buy a bunch and decide how to prep them.
This recipe was inspired by a green bean recipe I learned in a cooking class my friend Jessica invited me to (thanks again, Jessica!).
Ingredients
Fresh fava beans (as many as you like)
Fresh ginger
3-4 cloves garlic
Sesame oil
Salt and pepper
Directions
*If you're using fresh favas, you'll quickly see that you don't just eat them as they come. They need a little TLC...but it's totally worth it. They're so meaty, you'll never look at another bean the same again. So, to begin...
1. Open the favas buy pulling at the string coming out of one end. This should open up the pod along one side. Pop out the favas that are hanging out inside into a medium bowl.
2. Once all the favas have been rescued from their pods, heat a small pot of salted water on the stovetop. Bring the water to a boil.
*Note: make sure to really salt your water, so you can flavor the favas from the inside-out.
3. Let the favas boil for just a few minutes. Then remove them to a bowl of ice cold water (to shock them and stop the cooking).
4. Once the favas have cooled slightly, you need to peel their clear, outer shell. This is easily done by sticking your fingernail gently in one end and peeling back the shell. The vibrant green favas are waiting for you inside the clear shell.
5. Once all your favas have been shelled, it's time to finish the dish!
6. Mince the garlic cloves and an equal amount of fresh ginger.
7. Heat a tbsp. or two of toasted sesame oil on the stove until smoking.
8. Add the favas, and add a little salt and pepper.
9. Add the garlic and ginger, and saute until all the flavors can combine.
10. Serve as a side dish to any asian-inspired dish...or even just some chicken and rice!
