Archive | February, 2012

Ruby Red Grapefruit Pie (Community Project!)

28 Feb

I’ve been in a phase where it’s all about the short cut.  With a new job and now a cold to go with it, the past two weeks have been all about taking the easy way out.

I hit bottom this weekend when I was standing at the sink staring at two non-stick pans that had set up shop days earlier.  One had met it’s match with some sloppy joe and the other sported the remainder of some overcooked scrambled eggs.  These pans had been taunting me with threats of stuck-on grease each time I entered the kitchen, to which I only responded with a cold shoulder.

I stood, staring at the pans again, and could not summon the energy to wash them.  Instead, I remembered (thanks to an infomercial earlier that morning) that word on the street was that non-stick pans are not good for you and the coating could emit harmful chemicals.  I had been meaning to transition to more stainless steel pans!  Of course, I will just throw these away and it will motivate me to remember to buy new pans.  Voila!  I grabbed a trash bag, stuck the food-laden pans inside and carried them out to the bin leaving behind a clear sink (I should mention that I also added a plastic kid plate that was caked with ketchup – come on, I can’t have BPA seeping into my children’s chicken nuggets!).

My choice of pie experiment also reflected my state of being this weekend.  I didn’t want to tackle anything too fussy and my cold had me craving citrus like crazy.  This felt like the perfect time to begin formulating the pie I have been fantasizing about – a refreshing, creamy, ruby red grapefruit pie.  With a now clear sink and clean kitchen, I began whipping up my first attempt.

Calling all pie lovers – I need your help!

Calling all creative pie lovers – I’m on a mission to create a recipe for an amazing grapefruit pie.  There’s a version floating around out there that calls for grapefruit segments and gelatin, but that’s not exactly what I’m after.  I think (and I stress think, because I’m not quite sure I’m thinking of the right thing), that I’m aiming for something in the family of key lime pie.  Creamy, tangy, popping with grapefruit flavor, but refreshing and not overwhelmingly sweet.

So, here’s what I did…

Ruby Red Grapefruit Pie

Ingredients

1 homemade or store bought graham cracker crust

1, 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 Tablespoon grapefruit zest

Directions

If making a homemade graham cracker crust, prebake crust at 375 for 12 minutes until brown.  Cool completely.

 

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, yogurt and grapefruit juice.  In a small bowl, whip egg yolks until creamy and add to milk mixture.  Fold in grapefruit zest.

Pour into prepared pie shell and bake at 325 for 15-17 minutes.

Watch closely – you want to remove the pie when the filling is just set and tiny little bubbles form on the surface.

Can you see the tiny, tiny bubbles?

Remove from the oven and cool completely.  Place in refrigerator to chill before serving.  Cover with a thin layer of fresh whipped cream if desired.

Here’s the thing – this was a good pie, although I totally went overboard with the whipped cream.  Sadly, it wasn’t quite what I was thinking.  It was a little too rich and not as firm as I had anticipated (maybe another egg yolk?).  Actually, the part that seemed too rich was the graham cracker crust.  I’m stumped – I really think there’s a good pie somewhere in here, but I need to keep brainstorming on what the perfect combination is.

So, that’s where you come in.  What is your vision for a grapefruit pie?  Let’s put our heads together and come up with an amazing recipe!  Back to the drawing board…

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

21 Feb

Although I have spent the past year up to my ears in pie, I have not been inspired to make a tart.  Tarts just seem so high maintenance – so pristine with their tight little crumb and perfectly filled shells.  It’s like they are the fancy older sister of pie.  The one from the Upper East Side, with a big job and a crisp, pressed suit who comes home to see the crunchy little sister with the non-profit job who lives in t-shirts and jeans.  To me, that’s the difference between a tart and a pie.

My time to conquer the tart has come with the latest Tuesdays With Dorie challenge:  Chocolate Truffle Tartlets.  You can find the recipe at the site of one this week’s hosts:  Spike.does.stuff. You can also visit Tuesdays With Dorie to see how others fared.

I have to be honest – this challenge came very close to squashing my dreams of perfecting the art of French pastry.  I came out of the gate strong, making a chocolate dough for the tart shell.  Flour – check.  Really good cocoa – check.  Sugar – check.  5 Tablespoons of butter – FAIL.  It was supposed to be 8.

See, the recipe for the chocolate dough was on a different page than the tart recipe.  Midway through the dough, my page flipped back to the main tart recipe and I read 5T of butter from the chocolate filling recipe on accident.  I was totally oblivious to this, even as I dumped a dry pile of crumbs onto my work surface.  Honestly, did I really think this mess was going to form into dough?  Yes, I did.

I knew something wasn’t right when the recipe instructed me to do the French fraisage technique to bring the dough together.  Little by little, you take your crumbs and with the heel of your hand, smear it across the work surface to stretch the butter.  This is supposed to create a delicate, flaky dough.  But, when you have not used enough butter, this technique is nearly impossible.  Rather than create a delicate dough, you just make your hand sore and sprain your finger from all the poking and patting (seriously).

I was determined to not let this dough get the best of me.  I smooshed, I smeared, I was the definition of overworking the dough.  I was still clueless to the fact that I was missing 3 Tablespoons of butter.  I refrigerated the dough and returned to prepare the tart pans.  What I pulled out of the refrigerator was not dough – it was a hard, dry hunk of chocolate something.  I broke it into as equal pieces as possible, but I was certain that I was not doing Julia Child proud.

I was too far into this to turn back.  Using all of my strength, I tamped out circles with a rolling pin and lined the pans with dough.  By the end, I was feeling like there was hope left for these to be edible.

I baked the shells and turned my attention to the filling.  This recipe is not for the person who just kind of likes chocolate.  This is a prove your devotion to chocolate, beyond chocoholic recipe.  Not only is there a chocolate crust, but there are three types of chocolate – bittersweet, milk and white chocolate.  Not to mention 8 egg yolks.

Gooey mess of melted chocolate and butter

Perfect light yellow ribbon of whipped egg yolks

I combined the melted chocolate with the whipped egg yolks, chopped chocolate and chopped biscotti and spooned the mixture into the cooled tart shells.

After the tarts were baked and cooled, I removed them from their pans.  The result was better than I expected.  They stayed in tact and made for a very pretty presentation.  The taste?  Well, the crust was pretty good considering the butter issue.  But to be honest, these were way too chocolatey for me.  I liked the rich taste and the chunks of the biscotti, but two bites was more than enough.  I just know there’s a chocolate fanatic out there that would love these!

Apple Cherry Crumb Pie

12 Feb

I always have the best results when I don’t over think things.  Take my hair, for instance.  The days that I’m late, half-showered and furiously drying my hair to get out the door are usually the days that people tell me my hair looks good.  “What did you do to your hair?” they will ask.  And my answer is always the same – I have no idea.

On the other hand, the days that I plan and try really hard to do my hair tend to be a disaster.  I learned this in a big way a couple of years ago.  The night before I had an important meeting, I decided that my hair needed to be totally revamped.  I was nervous about the meeting and my split ends were just not going to cut it (no pun intended). I decided to get a very last minute cut and ended up with a 7pm appointment at Fast Eddie’s Chop Shop (red flag #1).  The night started out with promise – the place was edgy and the stylist’s name was Emily.  She was new (red flag #2) and eager to style my hair.  She washed my hair and started to cut.  All of a sudden, the lights went out (red flag #3).  The entire street blacked out and we couldn’t see a thing.  I sat there, with a half-cut wet head praying for the lights to come back on.  The emergency lights cast a blue glow across the studio as I watched the clock close in on 8pm. Word soon reached us that there had been an accident on a nearby street which had knocked out blocks of electricity.

I was in a mild state of panic, but Emily assured me that we could do this (red flag #4).  By the glow of the emergency lights and a flashlight she continued to cut my hair.  I went home with a wet head, tired and ready for bed (it was 10pm).  Needless to say, I woke up the next morning, showered and dried my hair.  It was awful.  Just terrible.  Uneven with a hint of a mullet.  I was devastated, but had no option but to summon some confidence and go to my meeting.  Then, I crawled back to my regular stylist and confessed that I cheated on her in the name of vanity and begged her to fix it.  $80 later, my hair was short but at least the mullet was gone.

I keep learning this lesson time and again in various parts of my life.  Over thinking and trying too hard cause me to lose perspective and get caught in the weeds.  How many times do I need to learn to simply rely on my instinct and relax?  I have no idea.

The point of this story?  Apple Cherry Crumb Pie!  When I make pie, I’m very focused.  I read and re-read directions and over think everything.  Recently, I had accomplished all of my planned pies and had one recipe of dough left.  Not wanting it to go to waste, I started scouring my cupboards and fridge to see what I could come up with for a pie.  I had 4 apples, one can of Oregon Sour Cherries and some oatmeal.  Apple cherry pie with an oatmeal crumb topping!  I chopped and stirred adding a dash of this and a sprinkle of that.  Not a care in the world entered my mind as I effortlessly made this pie without following a recipe.  What resulted was an amazing pie that everyone who had a piece said was my best one yet.  “How did you do it?” they asked.  I have no idea.

But, I’m going to recreate it and share it with you!

Apple Cherry Crumb Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe for a 9 inch pie crust (or best of both worlds pie dough)

4 Apples (2 Granny Smith, 2 Jonagold or Fuji)

1 can Oregon Sour Cherries (the kind canned in WATER!  NO SYRUP)

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch

1 squeeze of fresh lemon juice (barely a teaspoon)

Oatmeal crumb topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) cold unsalted butter but into 1/4 inch pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 400

Prepare your crust.  Roll to a 13 inch circle, place into a 9 inch glass pie pan. Gently tuck the dough into the pan and sculpt the edge.  Place in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch. Set aside.

Peel and slice apples into 1/4 inch thick slices.  You can cut some of the slices in half so that the apples lay more compactly.  Toss with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest.  Place in a large dutch oven (or large skillet) and cook, covered, over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  Stir often and remove from heat when apples are soft but still hold their shape.  Place apples into a colander over a bowl to remove excess moisture.  Let cool to room temperature.

Open Oregon Cherries and drain well.

While waiting for the apples to cool, make crumb topping.  Put the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse several times to mix.  Scatter the butter over the top.  Pulse repeatedly until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Empty the crumbs into a large bowl then rub them together between your fingers until you have large, buttery crumbs.

Turn apples and cherries into a bowl.  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and toss with the remaining sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch mixture.  Give the mixture a quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice (you don’t want too much) and turn the mixture into chilled pie shell.

Place the crumbs on top of the pie and gently press them into place.

Place the pie on the center rack of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and the juices bubble.  Use a pie crust shield to prevent the crust from browning too much if necessary.  Let cool for at least an hour before slicing.  May this also be the best pie you’ve ever made!

Tuesdays With Dorie: White Loaves

7 Feb

I’ve taken back Tuesday.

Tuesday is such a bummer of a day.  It does not have the cache that Monday has.  Manic Monday.  Oh, looks like he has a case of the Mondays.  I’ll start on Monday.  Hop on Facebook on Sunday night and see how many posts mention Monday.

Wednesday has the unfortunate status of hump day, so that right there will allow it to live in infamy forever.  Thursday is the warm-up for the weekend and Friday is the golden child.  TGIF, baby.  Saturday and Sunday are awesome because for many of us, we don’t have to work, and they are filled with the promise of getting everything done you’ve been trying unsuccessfully to accomplish all week.

What does poor Tuesday have to offer?  Tuesdays With Dorie!

In 2008, a woman who received Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (ahem, my FAVORITE cookbook.  Ever.) for Christmas, embarked on a resolution to bake one recipe a week and invited other bloggers to join her.  Their project was called Tuesdays With Dorie because they would post their recipes on Tuesdays.  The clan was a closed group, so I have pined on the sidelines to play along ever since I found out about them.

Yes, the baking book is next to the Eat Clean Diet. A girl can dream.

Fast forward to last month on a car ride between work meetings.  I was listening to NPR and to my amazement, Dorie Greenspan was the guest on Talk of the Nation.  As I was desperately trying to call in to tell her how much I want to be her adore her cookbooks, she mentioned that the Tuesdays With Dorie group had completed the book (four years!) and was opening the group again in preparation for their new book, Baking With Julia by none other than Dorie Greenspan.  I was overcome with excitement and could not believe my good fortune to catch this interview.  I raced back to work and promptly did what any good employee would do; jumped on the internet and sent an email asking to join immediately!

So, I’m in!  Two Tuesdays a month I will be posting my attempt at the assigned recipe from Baking With Julia with the hopes of completing the entire book.  You should plan to be my friend in about two years because by then, I should be a darn good baker!  But no worries, the pie obsession continues – just not on Tuesday.

Recipe #1, White Loaves

For the recipe, click here to go to the blog hosting the recipe this week.

As much as I love to bake, I have not dabbled in bread.  That’s my husband’s territory.  In fact, I’m pretty sure these white loaves are my first official attempt at bread.

Of course, I’m reverting back to my college days with the recipe due on Tuesday and I’m up late baking on Monday night.  Some habits die hard.  What a relief to find how simple bread is – six ingredients!  Flour, salt, yeast, sugar, water and butter.  Why am I buying bread at the store?  While making this bread, I was channeling my friend Heather who has embarked on a February Bread Challenge – her version of Pie it Forward – and is reflecting on her experiences through her blog, Abundance Measures. She makes more bread than I make pie, so I figured I could uphold the February bread challenge with my two white loaves.  I’ll eat one and give one away!

It was full steam ahead and things were going great until I was ready for the bread hook.  To my dismay, the bread hook for my stand mixer was too long for the bowl – I had the wrong one!  I think my mother-in-law has mine.  The hook was too long to even lock the mixer into place.  But nothing was going to stand in the way of my first Tuesdays With Dorie post.  I started that unsecured mixer and bread hooked my little heat out.  Truth be told, about two minutes into the 10 minutes it needed to mix, I had to assume a football stance and hold the top of the mixer steady so it would not fling dough out at me. Nothing like eight minutes of taming a wild Kitchenaid mixer.  But I prevailed and the dough was ready for the first rise.

Before Rise

After the first rise

45 minutes later, I cut the dough in half and proceeded to shape the 12 x 9 inch rectangles as instructed.  The first one was a breeze, but I did whip out my measuring tape to be sure I was on target.

Size DOES matter

The second one wanted nothing to do with forming into a rectangle.  I kid you not, that ball of dough kept bouncing back into a heart!

I patted, I stretched, I nearly laid myself across it.  Finally, it came into a shape that was close enough.  I folded the dough as instructed, pinched the seam closed and placed them into their pans to rise for another 45 minutes.

After they had double in size, it was off to the oven to bake until they were golden brown.  The recipe says to stick a thermometer through the bottom to be sure that the internal temperature is 200 – a good tip for avoiding over or underdone bread.  I only had a meat thermometer but I figured if it could make my turkey moist, it could certainly safeguard my bread from over baking.

And then the moment of truth.  They looked beautiful as they baked in the oven and I only hoped that they tasted as good after the shenanigans I pulled trying to stretch one into a rectangle. I followed the tip in the book and took them out of their pans and returned them to the oven for the last five minutes for even browning.  Perfection!  This bread was so good that I went upstairs at 11pm, woke my husband up and made him eat some.  Breakfast on Tuesday will be something to look forward to!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 45 other followers