Seasonal Cooking

Summer cooking takes advantage of the wide array of garden fruits and veggies. Fruit pies have become my favorite in the past few years.....mainly because of the ease of making a consistent pie crust.

Seems that every cookbook has its own version of a pie crust. Browsing the recent Cook's Illustrated, I find they've come up with another version of the quintessential pie crust.

There is little difference between Cook's Illustrated recipe and Jacques Pepin's pie crust which he's been making for 50 years. Both use all butter, ice water and flour. Some cookbooks suggest a combination of butter and lard/shortening. Shortening is hydrogenated soy or cottonseed oil with all the good parts destroyed in the process. Alton Brown of FoodTV uses 3 parts butter to 1 part lard in his crusts. The one I use calls for salt and sugar added to the flour before addition of the fats. All the recipes I've seen, except Pepin's, suggest resting the pie dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Pepin states that if the processing is kept to a minimum, the dough should be ready to roll immediately. I use his method. Experiment and find the right combination for you.

Oven @400°. For a two-part pie dough place ½ cup of water in a measuring cup and add 3 or 4 ice cubes. Take 2 cups of flour (scoop and scrape) and place in a processor. Add a pinch of salt and sugar. Pulse to mix. Cut 12 ounces of unsalted butter into ¼" slices and then quarter these pieces. Add to processor and pulse 4 times for about 1 second (count 1001). Measure 1/3 cup of iced water and splash about half into the processor. Process for about 5 seconds. Flour should just about come together. Splash about 1 to 1½ tablespoons more. Process until dough comes together into a ball. Stop at this point. When the dough is pinched and it holds its shape, remove from processor and place on a floured surface.

Divide the dough into two parts. Roll one part into a 12" circle to fit your pie plate. Place into the pie plate and cut a piece of parchment paper big enough to place on top of the dough. Add a bunch of beans for weights and place in a 400° oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven, remove parchment and weight, wash with a mixture of 1 egg beaten and 1 teaspoon of water. This will waterproof the shell from the liquid of the filling. Bake an additional 7 minutes. I use this process for all baked and unbaked pies. It makes the crust crisper for the baked pies.

Two fillings I recently used from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Pie and Pastry Bible are for a peach pie and one for a blueberry pie. Both fruits are ripe for using in pies in my locale now. Her pie crusts are different from those above,so try it if you like them.

For the peach pie, use 2 3/4 pounds of peaches (about 8 medium - I use 9 or 10), peeled, pitted and sliced thinly. Macerate the peaches in a 3 quart non-reactive mixing bowl - stainless or glass - by adding 1 tablespoon lemon juice (juice of ½ lemon), ½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix gently and let stand for a minimum of 30 minutes up to 1 hour. Transfer peaches to a colander over a small saucepan to collect the almost 1 cup of juice.

Reduce the liquid to 1/3 cup until syrupy and lightly caramelized. Transfer peaches back into the mixing bowl used for macerating them and add 4 teaspoons cornstarch and ½ teaspoon almond extract. Mix until all traces of cornstarch are dissolved. Pour syrup over peaches, tossing gently. Transfer mixture to pie shell.

Roll out pie dough to fit on top or alternatively, cut into strips ½" wide for a lattice top. Top pie with your choice topping, place in 425° oven for 45 to 50 minutes. After 30 minutes, if using a lattice top, cover the edges with foil to prevent overbrowning.

Let pie cool on rack at least 3 hours before cutting.

House Chores

Things have been pretty hectic around here for the past several weeks. Started a project to insulate a part of the back entry that the contractors negliently overlooked many years ago. The temperature soared here in the tundra so my work days were cut back to 3 hours or so.

Also, over the many years I have collected about 350 vinyl 33 rpm assorted jazz/vocals. Unfortunately, in my youth I abused the devil out of my vinyls. And in todays world, or at least mine, playing a vinyl is a posterior pain. Therefore, the vinyls were stored.

Improperly, so our kids told me. One of our children's friends borrowed a couple of albums, cleaned them up and sent the results. Got rid of most if not all of the youthful abuse to those selected vinyls. Pretty impressive. That started the process for me to do the same. Our daughter's boyfriend has a bunch of knowledge concerning the electronics world. At first, it was suggested to record directly from a cd with an audio cd burner. However, after reading an article in the local fish wrapper, I investigated a program by Diamond Cut Products.

Spoke with a couple of the guys at Diamond Cut who were very helpful to me. Eventually I bought the program plus some ancillary products necessary for me to complete my mission. For the past couple of weeks I have worked with DC6 and the personnel at Diamond Cut. The process to restore is a lot more involved than the journey that takes you to that point. The learning curve is not shallow but the results are worth the effort.

Since our kids have both expressed an interest in the vinyls, I am sure that they will be equally eager to get copies of the restored versions. At any rate, once again I am enjoying the sounds of my youth without the scratches, crackle and hiss.

Banana Cream Pie

Is there a better way to get one's daily supply of potassium than through a big helping of banana cream pie? Maybe, but why deprive yourself of the pleasure of this one? My wife's art colleague calls it the banana cream pie diet.

The first recipe I tried was from the Joy of Cooking, circa mid 20th century. It was simple enough but the filling was too thin and the pie ran when at room temperature. Also, a lot of cream pies not only call for cream in the filling but also the topping. My sweetie thought a meringue would be a nice touch. Always nice when someone is looking out for your belt size.

The next recipe I looked at was one by entertainer-disguised-as-chef, Emeril Lagasse. This dude really loves bananas. For a 9" pie he uses 9 bananas cut into ½" pieces. That's more potassium than most people get in a year. I do like the filling, however, which seems to be just about right.

So, it's modification time in the kitchen. We just finished the first pie... It was well received. Now on to the second recipe. This place is quickly becoming a local test kitchen but no one here seems to object.

For the pie dough: Oven @400°F. Chill ¼ cup of water by placing several ice cubes into a measuring cup and fill with water. Next weigh 6 ounces, about 1 cup, of all purpose flour and add it to your food processor. Add pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Take 3 ounces of butter, cut into ¼" to ½" slices and then quarter the slices. Place into the processor bowl and pulse 4 times. Do the same with 1 ounce of lard, place into the processor bowl and pulse 3 times. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and pulse 4-5 times. Dough should just start to come together. Add another tablespoon of water and run processor until dough comes together into a ball.

Remove from processor bowl onto a well-floured surface and roll to fit a 9" pie pan. Place into pie pan, cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to fit into the pie pan on top of the dough and come up the sides about 3 inches. Wax paper is a substitute. Spray the bottom of the paper with a food spray, place on top of dough and fill with a weight. I use dry beans... the same beans for the past 10 years. Bake for 35 minutes, remove from oven and remove the weight and paper. Save the weight for the next time. Make an egg wash with 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water. Mix well and wash the pie dough with a pastry brush. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Click here or the title to get the filling. As I mentioned earlier this is adapted from Emeril's recipe from FoodTV. I use only 2 cups of heavy cream. You can use another 2 cups of heavy cream for the topping. Follow the instructions for the meringue in the recipe and sub the cream top. You can use 1 teaspoon of vanilla instead of the bean. Save the egg whites for a meringue top.

Frittatas

Frittatas are the Italian version of an omelette. Or it could be my sister-in-law's version: the add whatever's-in-the -fridge to the eggbeaters recipe. I thought there had to be a better way to make this seemingly simple Italian dish and at the same time trying to keep it on the level of an omelette.

About a year ago, Sandy D'Amato of Sandford's Restaurant in Milwaukee, wrote about a trip he had taken to Trieste, Italy. It was asparagus season and this delightful vegetable was every where. Sandy shared his Asparagus Frittata with his local fans. I clipped the article and finally made it this past week. My only explanation for waiting so long to try this was fear of add-whatever to 'beaters.

Try this easy, delightful meal. Had to substitute local bacon for the pancetta, unfortunately. Pancetta is cured but not smoked bacon. If you have to make this substitution, be wary of the first addition of salt. Also, put under a hot broiler for 3 minutes. 4 seems to make it too dry for me.

New York Style Cheesecake

Stick-to the-roof-of-your-mouth-capabilities: that's New York Style Cheesecake . It is pure, unadulterated cheesecake with no fancy ingredients added either to the cheesecake or placed on top of it. It's made with pure cream cheese, cream, eggs, and sugar, writes Linda Stradley at her web site What's Cooking America.I was first introduced to Turf's cheesecake when they were shipping from 85th street and York avenue in Manhattan. Didn't have to go across town to get the cake at their restaurant since I lived at 83rd and East End. I think they made the quintessential stick-to-the-roof of your mouth cheesecake. I remember that there was no crust on the ones I ate, but I don't know if that is NY style, or Turf's variation.

Long after I left the city, my brother would occasionally send me one. Always had to be the plain vanilla type cheesecake, nothing added.

An occasional NY cheesecake is not enough. Somewhere along the way I found this recipe and started making my own. It makes a bunch of cheesecake. This recipe is as close to Turf's as you can get.

Salad Dressings

Salad Dressing. One of the easiest items of a meal to prepare yet one of the most overlooked. Many cooks spend hours in the kitchen preparing one of their best meals.... and then serve the salad with supermarket dressing.

Whether you're prepping for a 30 min. meal, ala Food TV's Rachel Ray, or for the spread that takes several hours to prepare, an outstanding salad dressing takes only minutes.

Vinagrettes are probably the most misunderstood dressing yet the simplest to make. The reason I say misunderstood is people think it's difficult to make...not so. Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of a vinegar or citrus with 6 tablespoons of oil, olive or vegetable. Add seasonings to taste and voila! an easy- to-do topping to your fresh greens. Change the quantity of oil to suit your taste buds. According to Julia Childs herbs of your choice are optional as is dry mustard. I prefer to use a wet mustard such as a Dijon type. Don't forget the salt and pepper. Julia also suggests adding all ingredients to a screw-top jar and shake vigorously for 30 seconds to blend thoroughly.

Another easy salad dressing is Thousand Island which Sandy D'Amato wrote about in recent edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal . It had been years since I had tried a Thousand Island dressing and it was a bottled one from the local supermarket.

Not any more. Sandy suggested that the lowly iceberg lettuce would be an excellent foil for this Thousand Island dressing. Made several hours ahead and chilled, it was just as he described it. His recipe serves four. I always make a double batch. Use it for dipping things like al dente asparagus. Just a couple, of course, since the dressing is a bit on the rich side.

At any rate, try it and let me know. Click the title or here to get the recipe.

Rhubarb Pie

Spring in the tundra (sorta north of Milwaukee, WI) means almost 70 degrees and rhubarb in the garden...even in the grocery stores. Rhubarb is generally eaten as a fruit but it is technically a vegetable (a member of the buckwheat family actually). The only edible portion of the plant are the thick celery-like stalks which can reach up to two feet long.

Mom used to make an excellent rhubarb pie... until she started adding the strawberries, the oranges, whatever was in the fridge. Adding the berries is a tradition in this country, so I've read, but I'm a purist. A neighbor has a small patch of rhubarb and never seems to run out...it was the source of Mom's pies for years and I've discreetly invited myself to carry on the tradition.

Rhubarb is really tart and so is cooked with a lot of sugar. Wash the stalks, trim the ends and slice into 1/2" pieces. Should have about 4 cups. Add 1¼ cups sugar and 3 tablespoons of tapioca ground fine in a spice mill. Combine until rhubarb is well covered.

For the crust put two cups flour into a processor along with a pinch of salt and a bit more sugar. Pulse a couple of time to mix. Add 4 tablespoons of chilled butter cut into small cubes of about ¼" and pulse the processor 4 to 5 times. Next add 2 tablespoons lard cut in small cubes and pulse 3 to 4 times. The mixture should have the texture of small peas.

Add 2 tablespoons of ice cold water and pulse 3 to 4 times. Dough should almost come together. Add 2 more tablespoons of ice cold water and pulse until dough forms a ball. A bit more water may be needed.

Oven @ 400°. Remove dough to floured surface and roll out until 1/8" thick. Remember you will need extra for the top. Cut the dough to fit your pie plate. Spray a piece of parchment paper with food spray and place on the dough and fill with a weight. I use navy beans. The same ones for over 10 years. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and remove beans and parchment paper. Wash the surface of the pie dough with one egg + 1 tablespoon of water. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and add filling. Cut the remaining pie dough into ½" strips for a lattice top. Dot the top of the pie with 2 tablespoons of butter cut into small cubes. Bake for 40 minutes or until nicely browned and bubbly.