Quiche! I've been saving this week's pies for the Ian's staff trip to a Brewers game on Monday, but I totally forgot that I brought back the quiches!
I brought Ben with me to the farmer's market on Saturday (July 23rd) and he helped me pick out some baller ingredients for a quiche. We got some fingerling potatoes, swiss chard, green onions, crimini mushrooms, Hook's Gorgonzola cheese, and a nice big tomato.
This one's with the same pie crust as usual, baked at 375F for ten minutes with pie weights and then ten more without them.
I cut the potatoes into small pieces and boiled them. Nothing fancy.
Then I sautéed the onions with a couple tablespoons of butter, adding the mushrooms once the onions started to soften. As the mushrooms started to soften, the swiss chard went in as well, chopped small, stems and leaves alike. Once all that is sautéed and beautiful, it went into the crust with the crumbled cheese. Some of the potatoes went on top, at which point I had already basically filled up the whole crust. Then I topped it all off with a few nice, big slices of tomato.
I used the same eggy mixture as with a few quiches before: 2 eggs and 2 yolks; 1 1/4 cup of half and half, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, and a bit of nutmeg. after I poured it in, it seemed to find a crack or two in the crust and some of it just leaked out. Oh well.
Baked for 30 minutes or so, and then I brought it in to work. Everybody chowed down on it, and everyone had good things to say. I think it was fantastic. Tons of stuff going on in there, and man was it good.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The last (for now) experiment
This one is pomegranate.
They're a little trickier to juice, but here's what I did. Slice the top and bottom or the pomegranate, and score the sides top to bottom four to six times around. Submerging in a bowl of cold water, break it apart by planting your thumbs next to each other on one end, fingertips on the other, pulling apart with your fingers. Then gently remove each juicy little pod by rocking it out of the pithy stuff. The good stuff will sink while the waxy stuff that tastes like an empty coffee cup floats, so once you've removed all of the seeds just get rid of all the stuff that floats. Drain off the water and put the seed pods into a blender or food processor. 30 seconds should be plenty. Then strain it out to get rid of the seed bits, leaving just the juice. Take a half-cup of this juice (I used three pomegranates but had some left over, so two might have done the trick) to your fruit curd recipe, and voilà!
This one was also a little odd, but delicious. It tasted not entirely unlike pomegranates, but also tasted slightly like blueberries. The purple-ish color that the fruit curd turned out was also reminiscent of blueberries, so you could prolly fool your friends into thinking it was a Blueberry Meringue Pie. Makes me want to try that too, so maybe next week I'll get a whole load of blueberries at the farmer's market.
They're a little trickier to juice, but here's what I did. Slice the top and bottom or the pomegranate, and score the sides top to bottom four to six times around. Submerging in a bowl of cold water, break it apart by planting your thumbs next to each other on one end, fingertips on the other, pulling apart with your fingers. Then gently remove each juicy little pod by rocking it out of the pithy stuff. The good stuff will sink while the waxy stuff that tastes like an empty coffee cup floats, so once you've removed all of the seeds just get rid of all the stuff that floats. Drain off the water and put the seed pods into a blender or food processor. 30 seconds should be plenty. Then strain it out to get rid of the seed bits, leaving just the juice. Take a half-cup of this juice (I used three pomegranates but had some left over, so two might have done the trick) to your fruit curd recipe, and voilà!
This one was also a little odd, but delicious. It tasted not entirely unlike pomegranates, but also tasted slightly like blueberries. The purple-ish color that the fruit curd turned out was also reminiscent of blueberries, so you could prolly fool your friends into thinking it was a Blueberry Meringue Pie. Makes me want to try that too, so maybe next week I'll get a whole load of blueberries at the farmer's market.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Citrus again
More along the same lines: Grapefruit this time, for Wednesday, July 20th.
So if you've figured out the way this works, you'll know that it's basically just a half-cup of grapefruit juice and a tablespoon of grapefruit zest to change this recipe.
Unlike the strangeness of the watermelon, this one definitely tasted just like grapefruit. I think it worked really well. Folks at Ian's who tried it agreed on the whole.
I don't know what else to say. Try it!
So if you've figured out the way this works, you'll know that it's basically just a half-cup of grapefruit juice and a tablespoon of grapefruit zest to change this recipe.
Unlike the strangeness of the watermelon, this one definitely tasted just like grapefruit. I think it worked really well. Folks at Ian's who tried it agreed on the whole.
I don't know what else to say. Try it!
I took a break.
From Saturday the 9th to the following Saturday, no pies were baked. I had to deal with some insanity regarding my rent (which I think I mentioned earlier, as I was writing a post during this time), and there was already too much pie in the house, so I was just catching up on eating.
BUT THEN
Pies returned. Monday the 18th was another in the series of fruit curd and meringue experiments. This time: Watermelon.
Now, I know watermelon isn't a very traditional juice or pie or anything even close. But bear with me here. It's all exactly the same as the lemon and clementine varieties, except you use a half-cup of fresh-squeezed watermelon juice. Just cut out the watery flesh of a watermelon, and squish it. Strain out the seeds and pulp, and you're ready to go.
I have to say, the flavor was strange. Not strange as in non-delicious, just not what I expected from watermelon juice. I had a bunch of extra juice and drank it during my shift at work, and it shared the weirdness. I brought the pie in to work as well, and they enjoyed it. It certainly was tasty.
BUT THEN
Pies returned. Monday the 18th was another in the series of fruit curd and meringue experiments. This time: Watermelon.
Now, I know watermelon isn't a very traditional juice or pie or anything even close. But bear with me here. It's all exactly the same as the lemon and clementine varieties, except you use a half-cup of fresh-squeezed watermelon juice. Just cut out the watery flesh of a watermelon, and squish it. Strain out the seeds and pulp, and you're ready to go.
I have to say, the flavor was strange. Not strange as in non-delicious, just not what I expected from watermelon juice. I had a bunch of extra juice and drank it during my shift at work, and it shared the weirdness. I brought the pie in to work as well, and they enjoyed it. It certainly was tasty.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
And now for something...
different. Not completely, I guess, because it's still a pie.
My friend Anna sent me this recipe and it looked so good I just couldn't wait. Too bad I didn't have a food torch. It was still super delicious even without the brûlée top. There is one thing I think I would like to try if I make this pie again: flambéing the top with rum or some such liquor. It should serve the same purpose as the torch, I just didn't think of it until the pie had been eaten.
This is the Apricot Mango Crème Brûlée Pie.
The recipe uses a sweet pastry crust rather than my standard all-purpose one, so I went for it. It's basically the same process, but with some powdered sugar thrown in.
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cubed
ice water in a spray bottle
Flour, sugar, salt into a food processor, then some butter, then the rest of the butter, then some water, and repeat the water until it's just wet enough to stick together nicely. Dump into into a bag and squish it all together, then into the fridge for thirty minutes or so. Then roll it out and transfer to a pie plate. Then to the freezer for about fifteen minutes, and finally into the oven. 375F should do nicely, ten minutes with pie weights and ten or so more without. Then reduce the oven to 300F. Hooray, pie crust.
1 cup mango in small pieces
1 cup apricot, also small pieces
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Now, my fruit was a little underripe, especially the mango. If necessary, go buy your fruit a couple days early. Those stone fruits are often enough sold well before they are ripe. Then, in a saucepan, heat the honey on medium and add the fruit. Sprinkle the cornstarch over and stir it in well. Cook about 15 minutes or so, until the fruit is broken down a bit and it's all pretty thick. Pour into the bottom of the crust.
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar for brûlée topping
Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl and combine the cream, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan. Heat just until it boils, stirring constantly. Then turn off the heat and let it cool for about ten minutes. Very slowly add the cream to the eggs while whisking them. Once it's fully combined, pour it over the fruit in the crust. Pop that bad boy in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes until the edges are set. The center will still be a bit wobbly, but it will set as it cools. Stick it in the fridge for at least two hours. Just before you serve the pie, pour the sugar in an even layer over the pie, and flame it up in whatever method you like. Using a kitchen torch is prolly simplest, but if you pour a little bit of liquor over the sugar and light it up, I think it would work nicely. Just be careful with the open flame as such.
Like I said, I hadn't come up with the work-around for the torch and my fruit wasn't quite ripe, but man that was a tasty pie. The custard was super creamy and rich. The fruit was a little crunchy, but still, yum.
My friend Anna sent me this recipe and it looked so good I just couldn't wait. Too bad I didn't have a food torch. It was still super delicious even without the brûlée top. There is one thing I think I would like to try if I make this pie again: flambéing the top with rum or some such liquor. It should serve the same purpose as the torch, I just didn't think of it until the pie had been eaten.
This is the Apricot Mango Crème Brûlée Pie.
The recipe uses a sweet pastry crust rather than my standard all-purpose one, so I went for it. It's basically the same process, but with some powdered sugar thrown in.
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cubed
ice water in a spray bottle
Flour, sugar, salt into a food processor, then some butter, then the rest of the butter, then some water, and repeat the water until it's just wet enough to stick together nicely. Dump into into a bag and squish it all together, then into the fridge for thirty minutes or so. Then roll it out and transfer to a pie plate. Then to the freezer for about fifteen minutes, and finally into the oven. 375F should do nicely, ten minutes with pie weights and ten or so more without. Then reduce the oven to 300F. Hooray, pie crust.
1 cup mango in small pieces
1 cup apricot, also small pieces
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Now, my fruit was a little underripe, especially the mango. If necessary, go buy your fruit a couple days early. Those stone fruits are often enough sold well before they are ripe. Then, in a saucepan, heat the honey on medium and add the fruit. Sprinkle the cornstarch over and stir it in well. Cook about 15 minutes or so, until the fruit is broken down a bit and it's all pretty thick. Pour into the bottom of the crust.
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar for brûlée topping
Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl and combine the cream, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan. Heat just until it boils, stirring constantly. Then turn off the heat and let it cool for about ten minutes. Very slowly add the cream to the eggs while whisking them. Once it's fully combined, pour it over the fruit in the crust. Pop that bad boy in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes until the edges are set. The center will still be a bit wobbly, but it will set as it cools. Stick it in the fridge for at least two hours. Just before you serve the pie, pour the sugar in an even layer over the pie, and flame it up in whatever method you like. Using a kitchen torch is prolly simplest, but if you pour a little bit of liquor over the sugar and light it up, I think it would work nicely. Just be careful with the open flame as such.
Like I said, I hadn't come up with the work-around for the torch and my fruit wasn't quite ripe, but man that was a tasty pie. The custard was super creamy and rich. The fruit was a little crunchy, but still, yum.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Citrus is easy
So the next entry in The Fruit CAME: Clementine.
Since these are all basically the same recipe, the post for each will really only be what I changed, as well as some reactions to the pies.
To turn the Lemon Meringue into Clementine Meringue, I substituted some clementine juice for the lemon juice and orange zest for the lemon zest. Clementines are significantly more difficult to squeeze. After two or three I devised a way to squish each half of a clementine against the flat of my widest knife that worked pretty well. Clementine zest, on the other hand, is pretty much impossible to come by. Instead, I went with an orange. That worked out well.
In my opinion, this pie was a little too sweet. The tartness of the lemon curd is just about my favorite thing ever. But don't write it off based only on my opinion; Marty at Ian's says this is his favorite pie out of all those I've brought in. Everyone who tried it liked it. It was definitely worth the experiment.
Since these are all basically the same recipe, the post for each will really only be what I changed, as well as some reactions to the pies.
To turn the Lemon Meringue into Clementine Meringue, I substituted some clementine juice for the lemon juice and orange zest for the lemon zest. Clementines are significantly more difficult to squeeze. After two or three I devised a way to squish each half of a clementine against the flat of my widest knife that worked pretty well. Clementine zest, on the other hand, is pretty much impossible to come by. Instead, I went with an orange. That worked out well.
In my opinion, this pie was a little too sweet. The tartness of the lemon curd is just about my favorite thing ever. But don't write it off based only on my opinion; Marty at Ian's says this is his favorite pie out of all those I've brought in. Everyone who tried it liked it. It was definitely worth the experiment.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Lemon Meringue (and ensuing madness)
You'll notice there was not a Quiche Saturday in there. I'm sort of at a loss for quiche inspiration, so they'll be on hiatus until we get a new round of interesting veggies I can play with.
So I skipped forward to Monday, July 4th. (Technically, the fourth is when I baked the berries-that-are-not-all-berries pie, and the Lemon Meringue was the following day. Pies have all been off schedule for a while, but they've all been accounted for (except quiches)). I realized that even though I had baked this pie last year, it was after the blog side of things had fallen into disrepair. So I decided to revisit it.
Not only that, but I decided to play around with this one in the next series of pies. I wish I had a snappy name for it. How about 'the Fruit Curd and Meringue Experiments.' The Fruit CAME for short.
Anyway, Lemon Meringue is the first because it is the recipe that all those to follow are based on.
This starts out with the standard pie crust; in fact, this recipe is the rest of the Good Eats episode from which my pie crust method comes, I Pie.
Bake the pie crust blind at 425F for ten minutes with your pie weights and ten or so more without.
Beat your meringue up while it's baking. Beat 4 egg whites (the yolks are in the lemon curd part, so keep them around) with a pinch of cream of tartar. After they get to stiff peaks, slowly add 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) of sugar. (I say eight tablespoons because it's easier for me to add that in bit by bit. If you had a stand mixer you could just slowly pour in a half cup as it's running, but I have to set down my hand mixer to add the sugar so I go by the tablespoon.) After it's all been added, beat for a few more minutes, until you can rub a small amount of meringue between your fingers and there's no grit from the sugar. Cover and stash in the fridge until everything else is ready.
4 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is where it's at)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons butter
A helpful instrument for this recipe would be an egg timer or stopwatch. Three times while cooking the curd, you'll be letting it boil for a full minute, so any implement that you can use to time out sixty seconds will make this quite a bit easier.
Beat the egg yolks in a mixing bowl until they lighten slightly in color. Combine the sugar, water, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then continue to cook for sixty seconds while stirring.
Remove from heat and temper the egg yolks by adding a whisk-full at a time of the hot mixture to the eggs, beating together and working quickly. After quite a few whisk-sized transfers (shoot for about a third of the hot stuff) return the saucepan to the heat and add the tempered eggs to it. Bring to a boil again, then cook for sixty seconds for a second time.
Turn the heat down to low and add the lemon juice, zest, and butter. Stir slowly until fully combined then return to a boil. Cook for a third sixty seconds after it's boiling. Then pour the curd into the pie crust.
Beat up the meringue one more time, for about thirty seconds. Top the curd with the meringue and let cool for at least two hours. Overnight is prolly best.
I LOVE this pie. Like whoa. Strong contrasts in both flavor and texture make the pie experience great. Crispy crust, creamy filling, fluffy meringue paired with the sweet-tart flavor combo: YUM.
So I skipped forward to Monday, July 4th. (Technically, the fourth is when I baked the berries-that-are-not-all-berries pie, and the Lemon Meringue was the following day. Pies have all been off schedule for a while, but they've all been accounted for (except quiches)). I realized that even though I had baked this pie last year, it was after the blog side of things had fallen into disrepair. So I decided to revisit it.
Not only that, but I decided to play around with this one in the next series of pies. I wish I had a snappy name for it. How about 'the Fruit Curd and Meringue Experiments.' The Fruit CAME for short.
Anyway, Lemon Meringue is the first because it is the recipe that all those to follow are based on.
This starts out with the standard pie crust; in fact, this recipe is the rest of the Good Eats episode from which my pie crust method comes, I Pie.
Bake the pie crust blind at 425F for ten minutes with your pie weights and ten or so more without.
Beat your meringue up while it's baking. Beat 4 egg whites (the yolks are in the lemon curd part, so keep them around) with a pinch of cream of tartar. After they get to stiff peaks, slowly add 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) of sugar. (I say eight tablespoons because it's easier for me to add that in bit by bit. If you had a stand mixer you could just slowly pour in a half cup as it's running, but I have to set down my hand mixer to add the sugar so I go by the tablespoon.) After it's all been added, beat for a few more minutes, until you can rub a small amount of meringue between your fingers and there's no grit from the sugar. Cover and stash in the fridge until everything else is ready.
4 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is where it's at)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons butter
A helpful instrument for this recipe would be an egg timer or stopwatch. Three times while cooking the curd, you'll be letting it boil for a full minute, so any implement that you can use to time out sixty seconds will make this quite a bit easier.
Beat the egg yolks in a mixing bowl until they lighten slightly in color. Combine the sugar, water, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then continue to cook for sixty seconds while stirring.
Remove from heat and temper the egg yolks by adding a whisk-full at a time of the hot mixture to the eggs, beating together and working quickly. After quite a few whisk-sized transfers (shoot for about a third of the hot stuff) return the saucepan to the heat and add the tempered eggs to it. Bring to a boil again, then cook for sixty seconds for a second time.
Turn the heat down to low and add the lemon juice, zest, and butter. Stir slowly until fully combined then return to a boil. Cook for a third sixty seconds after it's boiling. Then pour the curd into the pie crust.
Beat up the meringue one more time, for about thirty seconds. Top the curd with the meringue and let cool for at least two hours. Overnight is prolly best.
I LOVE this pie. Like whoa. Strong contrasts in both flavor and texture make the pie experience great. Crispy crust, creamy filling, fluffy meringue paired with the sweet-tart flavor combo: YUM.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Improptu Pie
The pie for Friday, July 1st was a surprise, even to me. I hadn't made anything until Monday, and Ben, a friend of mine, brought some of his friends over to hang out for a bit. Then they told me that they were having a baking adventure. Cake, cupcakes, and cookies would all be in attendance, so I figured, 'why not add a pie?' They were well stocked with all sorts of berries, so we made ourselves a Many Berry Pie.
It started out with a double helping of your good ol' pie crust. This time, though, no blind baking. The whole thing bakes together. Just roll out both halves of the crust and put one into the pie plate. Freeze them both together until it comes time to assemble the pie.
For the fruity insides, you'll want about 4 cups of assorted berries. We used about two cups of strawberries and two-thirds of a cup of each blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. 'But Hats,' you might say, 'those are not botanically berries! Aside from blueberries, you're talking about aggregate fruits! You should call this the Berry and friends pie.'
Oh well. We can call it the Many Berry(-of-which-most-are-botanically-not-berries) Pie. But that's a mouthful, and I'd much rather have a mouthful of pie.
4 cups of berries (or things like it)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup minute tapioca
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, cubed and chilled
Liven up the tapioca mix with a splash of water and let stand for five minutes to soak it all up. I do this because the bits occasionally end up on top of the fruit and stay relatively dry throughout the rest of the process. When this happens, you end up with little crunchy tapioca bits. It almost feels like pie bones. Not fun. Then toss the sugar and fruit with the tapioca and spices (that's everything other than the butter). Let stand for fifteen to twenty minutes, to let some juices soak out. A few minutes before you've finished letting the fruit soak, pull the pie crusts out to let them approach room temp (otherwise the top crust will be too frozen and will not cooperate when you try to assemble the pie). Transfer the fruit mixture into the crust, then dot with the cubed butter. Place the other crust on top and seal together by pinching along the edge. I made a fancy lattice top by slicing the crust into inch-wide strips and laying them over the top, weaving them together to make it all beautiful.
The pie looked good, but I did not get to try it. By the time we had finished all of the baking for our baking extravaganza, it was like 2 in the morning, so we opted for sleeps.
It started out with a double helping of your good ol' pie crust. This time, though, no blind baking. The whole thing bakes together. Just roll out both halves of the crust and put one into the pie plate. Freeze them both together until it comes time to assemble the pie.
For the fruity insides, you'll want about 4 cups of assorted berries. We used about two cups of strawberries and two-thirds of a cup of each blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. 'But Hats,' you might say, 'those are not botanically berries! Aside from blueberries, you're talking about aggregate fruits! You should call this the Berry and friends pie.'
Oh well. We can call it the Many Berry(-of-which-most-are-botanically-not-berries) Pie. But that's a mouthful, and I'd much rather have a mouthful of pie.
4 cups of berries (or things like it)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup minute tapioca
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, cubed and chilled
Liven up the tapioca mix with a splash of water and let stand for five minutes to soak it all up. I do this because the bits occasionally end up on top of the fruit and stay relatively dry throughout the rest of the process. When this happens, you end up with little crunchy tapioca bits. It almost feels like pie bones. Not fun. Then toss the sugar and fruit with the tapioca and spices (that's everything other than the butter). Let stand for fifteen to twenty minutes, to let some juices soak out. A few minutes before you've finished letting the fruit soak, pull the pie crusts out to let them approach room temp (otherwise the top crust will be too frozen and will not cooperate when you try to assemble the pie). Transfer the fruit mixture into the crust, then dot with the cubed butter. Place the other crust on top and seal together by pinching along the edge. I made a fancy lattice top by slicing the crust into inch-wide strips and laying them over the top, weaving them together to make it all beautiful.
The pie looked good, but I did not get to try it. By the time we had finished all of the baking for our baking extravaganza, it was like 2 in the morning, so we opted for sleeps.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Dream Pie come to life?!
This backlog needs to get caught up! I will do my best to crank these out. In fact, I will stick two pies in this post (because one of them I have already sort of explained).
That would be Wednesday, June 29th's pie, Chocolate Strawberry Banana Pie. Don't get your metaphorical panties in a bunch; that Monday's will follow. I'm only getting out of order because that one actually has a whole recipe with it. This one is basically just the Chocolate Pie from a couple weeks earlier (whose meringue's failure you may remember inspired an egg imbalance), but with two kinds of fruit instead of the meringue. It was pretty tasty, but the extra moisture in the fruit made the custard set in a strange way.
Back to Monday the 27th for the remaining entry in Strawberry Banana Week(-and-a-bit), a Strawberry Banana Cheesecake. This was my first attempt at a Franken-recipe, using a banana cheesecake recipe and a strawberry cheesecake recipe. I think it turned out quite well, though next time I would use significantly less lemon juice in it. The tartness overpowered the banana flavor. I will do my best to reproduce the recipe that I created.
The crust was, as usual, graham cracker. I believe I used a slightly reduced recipe from the full size, 33 cracker squares version. I'm thinking I likely went with about two-thirds or three-quarter-ish, something like 22 cracker squares and 6 tablespoons of butter with 3/4 tablespoon of sugar. Bake that bad boy at 350F for ten minutes or so.
10 oz strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Prep this strawberry stuff first. Start out by slicing the strawberries up in little pieces, then toss them with the sugar. Let them sit in a strainer over a bowl for a couple hours or so to let the juices drain out. Squish the fruit to get as much of the juice out as possible, then take the juice over medium-high heat to reduce. Puree the solids, and mix them back into the reduced juice with the lemon juice. I think it's possible I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of 2 teaspoons, which would explain the overly tart result. Who knows.
16 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
As with any cheesecake, make sure that everything is room temp before you start. Beat the cream cheese for a bit then add the sugar. Beat those for a few minutes before adding the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Then add the bananas and beat, then half to two-thirds of the strawberry stuff and beat that. Add the vanilla and salt, beat, and finally add the sour cream and beat. Pour it into the springform over the crust, and drop little bits of the remaining strawberry stuff to make it beautiful. Pop that bad boy in the oven for about an hour, until the edges are set but the center still a little wiggly. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the oven.
Quite tasty. Other than reducing the lemon juice, I might also add a third banana. 'Cause bananas are delish, and the banana flavor was a little understated.
That would be Wednesday, June 29th's pie, Chocolate Strawberry Banana Pie. Don't get your metaphorical panties in a bunch; that Monday's will follow. I'm only getting out of order because that one actually has a whole recipe with it. This one is basically just the Chocolate Pie from a couple weeks earlier (whose meringue's failure you may remember inspired an egg imbalance), but with two kinds of fruit instead of the meringue. It was pretty tasty, but the extra moisture in the fruit made the custard set in a strange way.
Back to Monday the 27th for the remaining entry in Strawberry Banana Week(-and-a-bit), a Strawberry Banana Cheesecake. This was my first attempt at a Franken-recipe, using a banana cheesecake recipe and a strawberry cheesecake recipe. I think it turned out quite well, though next time I would use significantly less lemon juice in it. The tartness overpowered the banana flavor. I will do my best to reproduce the recipe that I created.
The crust was, as usual, graham cracker. I believe I used a slightly reduced recipe from the full size, 33 cracker squares version. I'm thinking I likely went with about two-thirds or three-quarter-ish, something like 22 cracker squares and 6 tablespoons of butter with 3/4 tablespoon of sugar. Bake that bad boy at 350F for ten minutes or so.
10 oz strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Prep this strawberry stuff first. Start out by slicing the strawberries up in little pieces, then toss them with the sugar. Let them sit in a strainer over a bowl for a couple hours or so to let the juices drain out. Squish the fruit to get as much of the juice out as possible, then take the juice over medium-high heat to reduce. Puree the solids, and mix them back into the reduced juice with the lemon juice. I think it's possible I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of 2 teaspoons, which would explain the overly tart result. Who knows.
16 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
As with any cheesecake, make sure that everything is room temp before you start. Beat the cream cheese for a bit then add the sugar. Beat those for a few minutes before adding the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Then add the bananas and beat, then half to two-thirds of the strawberry stuff and beat that. Add the vanilla and salt, beat, and finally add the sour cream and beat. Pour it into the springform over the crust, and drop little bits of the remaining strawberry stuff to make it beautiful. Pop that bad boy in the oven for about an hour, until the edges are set but the center still a little wiggly. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the oven.
Quite tasty. Other than reducing the lemon juice, I might also add a third banana. 'Cause bananas are delish, and the banana flavor was a little understated.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Quiche Break
'Cause you know how we roll. Quiche Saturdays are going strong. Of course, this was a while ago.
In the interest of time (and because I'm stressing out about receiving an eviction notice (our rental company's accounting department entered the wrong number at the beginning of our lease, and then yelled at us for not paying the four hundred dollars more every month, but refused to just look at the lease I signed and correct the numbers)) (maybe I should stop complaining), I will just tell you how I made this quiche on June 25th.
Just like the rest of the quiches, the standard pie crust was used. I blind baked it at 375F for ten minutes with weights and ten or so more without.
Then I got improvisational. I used the eggy bit from the Quiche Lorraine recipe (cause it was tasty) with some parmesan cheese, and I diced up a nice fresh tomato from the farmer's market. It was a pretty hefty one. So kinda like this:
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups half and half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
pinch nutmeg
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 large tomato, diced
Mix up the eggs and cream and spices, then whisk in the cheese. Spread the tomato in the crust, then pour the egg mixture on top. Bake for about thirty or thirty-five minutes.
In the interest of time (and because I'm stressing out about receiving an eviction notice (our rental company's accounting department entered the wrong number at the beginning of our lease, and then yelled at us for not paying the four hundred dollars more every month, but refused to just look at the lease I signed and correct the numbers)) (maybe I should stop complaining), I will just tell you how I made this quiche on June 25th.
Just like the rest of the quiches, the standard pie crust was used. I blind baked it at 375F for ten minutes with weights and ten or so more without.
Then I got improvisational. I used the eggy bit from the Quiche Lorraine recipe (cause it was tasty) with some parmesan cheese, and I diced up a nice fresh tomato from the farmer's market. It was a pretty hefty one. So kinda like this:
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups half and half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
pinch nutmeg
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 large tomato, diced
Mix up the eggs and cream and spices, then whisk in the cheese. Spread the tomato in the crust, then pour the egg mixture on top. Bake for about thirty or thirty-five minutes.
Monday, July 4, 2011
More like Slacker-brary
GEEZ I AM BAD.
A week and a half of no posts!? Punishable by death.
Well, let's just get to it. I've got a week and a half of pies to tell you about! Let's go chronologically, so this is the pie for Friday the 24th. Now, you may remember that it was Strawberry Banana Week. I know, I know, who can remember that long ago? But it was, believe me.
And Friday was the Strawberry Banana Pie. It was pretty good even though I wasn't sure how it would work. I think next time I might try to increase the fruit portion. It was a little short.
The other thing I changed from the recipe was the crumble topping. I used half as much. It was still pretty dry, which is another reason to increase the fruit.
It starts with the standard pie crust again. I blind baked it at 375F for 10 minutes or so with pie weights. It will go back in the oven, so keep the oven on.
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
1/4 cup apple juice (I used apple cider because I already had some in the fridge)
1/4 cup honey
3 ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
The first block goes in a food processor. pulse it up until it's combined, then pop it into the fridge.
In a saucepan, heat the apple juice and honey on medium-low heat. Add the bananas, then once the honey is fully melted, add the strawberries and sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until the fruit breaks down a bit and the mixture is beginning to thicken. Pour warm mixture into the crust, then sprinkle the crumble topping on top. Then back in the oven for about twenty minutes, until golden brown on top. Let cool for 30 minutes or so.
Now let's see if I can crank out the rest of these recipes for you.
A week and a half of no posts!? Punishable by death.
Well, let's just get to it. I've got a week and a half of pies to tell you about! Let's go chronologically, so this is the pie for Friday the 24th. Now, you may remember that it was Strawberry Banana Week. I know, I know, who can remember that long ago? But it was, believe me.
And Friday was the Strawberry Banana Pie. It was pretty good even though I wasn't sure how it would work. I think next time I might try to increase the fruit portion. It was a little short.
The other thing I changed from the recipe was the crumble topping. I used half as much. It was still pretty dry, which is another reason to increase the fruit.
It starts with the standard pie crust again. I blind baked it at 375F for 10 minutes or so with pie weights. It will go back in the oven, so keep the oven on.
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
1/4 cup apple juice (I used apple cider because I already had some in the fridge)
1/4 cup honey
3 ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
The first block goes in a food processor. pulse it up until it's combined, then pop it into the fridge.
In a saucepan, heat the apple juice and honey on medium-low heat. Add the bananas, then once the honey is fully melted, add the strawberries and sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until the fruit breaks down a bit and the mixture is beginning to thicken. Pour warm mixture into the crust, then sprinkle the crumble topping on top. Then back in the oven for about twenty minutes, until golden brown on top. Let cool for 30 minutes or so.
Now let's see if I can crank out the rest of these recipes for you.
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