5 posts tagged “pie”
Husband and I have spent the last two weekends relaxing at home. The first at my parents' and the second at his. Don't you love summertime? Thanks M and D. Thanks MIL and FIL.
Few things mark the much anticipated arrival of spring: obviously the calendar, sprouts of daffodils and tulips out of the earth, birds chirping, the need for a sweater in the morning but not in the afternoon, and asparagus' sudden dip in price at the supermarket.
Thought I'd try an asparagus tart. I didn't have the one ingredient that would have made this tart spectacular...puff pastry. Despite that, this was a decent recipe. It looks much prettier than it tasted. Don't get me wrong it was fine, just not impressive. If you're going to try it, pack as many asparagus spears in as you can. The bites loaded with asparagus were 100% better than those without. Also, I left out the tarragon and used a dill havarti cheese instead of the recipe's parmesan. This was a good substitution in my opinion. Here's the recipe I loosely based the filling on:
I love Thanksgiving. I would go as far to say that it is my favorite holiday. It's strange, I'm not a huge fan of the traditional meal...don't get me wrong I go back for seconds, so I don't dislike it. It's a holiday where the focus is on counting your blessings, however, the focus seems to be on the food too, and I like food. I love Thanksgiving!
This year, I contributed a cheeseball. Who doesn't love a cheeseball?
Tabicakes' Cheeseball
Mix together:
1 1/2 packages (12 oz.) cream cheese, softened
approximately 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
few sprinkles dried dill weed
chopped fresh parsley
Serve with crackers or veggies.
I also attempted one of my favorite desserts: Tarte Tatin. This turned out well, however I didn't get that great of a photo, so I decided to share a photo of all of the desserts from our family Thanksgiving. Mmmm... After the first tasting we decided it needed a caramel sauce, so mom whipped up a sauce for the leftovers. Delish!
Desserts clockwise from top left:
German Chocolate Ooey-Gooey Butter Cake
Pumpkin Pie
Whipped Cream
Cherry Pie
Tarte Tatin
Double Pecan Pie
Sour Cream Raisin Pie
I cannot take credit for this beauty. My mother is the designated pie-baker in our family. This one is peach, plum, apricot, and blueberry, I believe. I'm not a pie person, but this was excellent with a scoop (or two) of ice cream.
My husband and I are so lucky to have two great mothers! We weren't lucky enough to spend yesterday with both (love you mom), but did get to spend the day with and fix dinner for my husband's parents. We had a good time and as you will see we had good eats!
THE MENU:
Wedge salad
Marinated flank steak and shrimp (surf and turf on a budget)
Crispy smashed new potatoes
Green beans with mustard vinaigrette
Lemon chiffon pie
We use this marinade for the flank steak often. It's a recipe from my mom, not quite sure where she got it, but it's tasty.
FLANK STEAK MARINADE
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. oil
2 T vinegar
2 T water
3/4 t. salt
pepper
garlic clove (smashed)
DESSERT! Sometimes I fall in love with a picture in a cookbook without really looking at the ingredients of the recipe. The was the case for The Weekend Baker's (by Abigal Johnson Dodge) Lemon Chiffon Pie with Pretzel Crust. I'm not a pie fan, but it looked so good and so creamy! My husband was skeptical of the recipe, but I convinced him this was the one (I can be a bit pushy at times). After I got started making the pie, I too became skeptical and just knew I would be eating humble pie instead of lemon chiffon on this one. The recipe uses ricotta cheese and egg whites for the airy creaminess instead of whipping cream in other recipes. The horror if this tasted borderline healthy!
It was time for dessert. We dug in. Both my husband and I looked at each other after the first bite. With raised eyebrows we agreed, it was good. Phew, I slipped through. Of course, the whipped cream and blueberry sauce might have helped.
In my opinion the real winner here was the pretzel crust (much better than a typical graham cracker). Though the filling was quite good, it may not be my go-to lemon chiffon, but the crust will definitely be something I make again.
PRETZEL CRUST (from the Weekend Baker)
3 1/2 c. salted mini pretzels
1/4 c. sugar
12 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Have ready a 9-inch pie plate. Combine the pretzels and sugar in a food processor and process until the pretzels are medium-fine crumbs (some small chunks are okay, as they add crunch). Add the melted butter and process briefly until the crumbs are evenly moist.
Dump the crumbs into the pie plate. Use your fingers to pinch and presss the crumbs evenly on the bottom, inside edge, and rim of the plate to cover completely. Press down firmly to make a compact layer. Set aside. This crust doesn't need to be baked. Just pour the prepared pie filling in.
