I heart Paula Deen. She’s just one of the bazillion reasons I heart the Food Network. Her southern drawl, her unbelievably amazing kitchen that I’d actually kind of like to live in (please, thank you), her down-home raunchiness… it’s all part of the (as my friend Hitch would say, “GLORIOUS!!”) Savannah-wrapped package.
I don’t know why I’ve never made this recipe before. I’ve watched her make this at least a handful of times on TV. And, it must be one of her favorite recipes, too, because I see it around all the time: in her magazine, on Food Network’s website…
That’s right, friends. It was finally time for the Fresh Fruit Tart.
And, as per (my) usual, I morphed two recipes together. I used Paula’s recipe for the crust and filling. Hers suggests using various kinds of fresh fruit, which I’m sure would make it both delicious and pretty. But, my friendly neighborhood SweetBay had limited items to offer. So, I opted for strawberries only. The strawberries down here are amazing right now, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong (and, I didn’t).
As far as the glaze, though, I used the one from Ina’s Strawberry Tart recipe. It was just apricot jelly and water, and it made a lot less (it doesn’t take much to glaze this tart), so I went that way instead.
And, BEHOLD!
Check out this bad boy!
Yeah, buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t know why - for all these years - I’ve been so intimidated by making a pie. It just seemed so, I don’t know, daunting.
But, I’m here to tell you.
It’s totally NOT DAUNTING!!
I had plenty of coaching from my Mom, though. And, she willingly handed over her killer crust recipe that came from, get this, a pie CLASS. That’s right, a pie class. So, it’s probably all secretive and stuff. Well, not anymore. I’m here to spread it all over the interwebs. I give you…Blueberry Pie.
“Never Fail” Pie Crust
4 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 cups Crisco
1/2 cup cold water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. white or cider vinegar (all I had was white wine vingar, and it worked fine)
1 egg
Combine flour and salt; cut in Crisco with pastry blender until it is very well mixed almost to a dough. Beat the egg with a fork; add egg, sugar, and vinegar to the cold water and stir with the fork. Pour liquid all over the top of the flour mix–mix with hands until the liquid is mixed in and make a ball of the dough (do this as efficiently as possible so that you don’t have to handle it too long–the heat from your hands can affect the process). Cut the ball of dough into four equal pieces. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour–can refrigerate for a long time or freeze it. This makes enough for two double-crust pies.
Blueberry Pie
pastry for double-crust pie
4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup sugar
3 T. flour (or cornstarch)
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
dash salt
butter
egg white for bottom crust
2 tsp. lemon juice
Mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon zest, salt. Put mixture in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it’s thickened, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn. Cool.
Roll out the bottom crust (between two pieces of floured plastic wrap) and place in 10″ pie dish. Beat the egg white with a fork until a bit foamy–brush some egg white over the crust. Add the cooled filling, sprinkle with lemon juice, dot with butter (I used about 2 tablespoons), add rolled-out top crust, seal, crimp edges, and vent top. Sprinkle the top crust with sugar to make it look all sparkly. Wrap aluminum foil (shiny side in) over the edges of the crust so they don’t brown faster than the rest of the pie (you can take foil off about 10 minutes before it’s done baking to brown the edges more).
Bake at 400 for 35 to 40 minutes. Enjoy!
Posted on 26 November '08 by colorcodedc, under Sweet. No Comments.
Ok, ok. Not THE first Thanksgiving. More like MY first Thanksgiving.
When I first bought my plane ticket home for Thanksgiving, CK decided that he wasn’t going back to the ‘Burgh for Turkey Day this year. Flights were too expensive, and when he first moved to Florida, he didn’t usually come home for Thanksgiving anyway. He has some relatives up in Gainesville, and he’d typically drive up there to be with them for the holiday. He’s not one to get sad about that sort of thing either, so it never seemed like a big deal.
It looked like he got a little bummed as time went by, though, so I suggested we invite a couple friends over and have our own Thanksgiving here at the house before I fly home next week.
See, I’ve always wanted to experiment with Thanksgiving dishes (hello, I’m the dork who sat eagerly in front of the TV the other night for Ina Garten’s “Dear Food Network” Thanksgiving special!). But, in my mind, there is NO room for experimentation on the actual holiday. I need Mom’s stuffing, Mom’s mashed potatoes, and Mom’s gravy (those are really the only things I’m concerned with on Thanksgiving anyway…the turkey? Meh. Not a huge fan. I mean, if something’s going to make me fall asleep on Thanksgiving, TRUST me, it’s going to be the wine).
Now, my faux Thanksgiving is TOMORROW already, and I’m starting to completely freak out a little bit!
My little Butterball turkey breast is dutifully thawing in the fridge, but I have NO IDEA if it’s going to be thawed in time to bake.
I don’t know where my meat thermometer is.
I don’t OWN a roasting pan (do I HAVE to use one??).
Is the turkey breast even big enough to feed four people??!?
!!!!!!!!
So, my menu currently includes: the aforementioned allegedly-big-enough turkey breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing, salad, (a possible vegetable dish? I still haven’t decided), and blueberry pie. Oh, and cheeseball for an appetizer…(yum!). Four of those things are things I’ve never made before. I’m down with the mashed potatoes…no problem. I think the stuffing will be fine (hopefully), and even the pie isn’t freaking me out at all…even though this is my first pie since I made one in a cooking class in high school. The gravy will be an adventure, but it can’t go that far wrong, right? (I said, “right??”).
I guess when I talk it out, I’m really just intimidated by the turkey.
Unnaturally intimidated.
What the H? It’s just a stupid bird for God’s sake (um, he he…sorry, turkey gods. Please don’t have your way with me tomorrow).
CK bought a bunch of wine, though, and we’re also having these glasses of deliciousness. So, how bad could it all really taste?
Wish me luck!!
It’s time for trick-or-treat again! Nights filled with costume-clad little ones, chocolate-induced sugar highs, and, naturally, anal retentive behavior.
My Mom was just reminding me tonight how, when I was little, I used to come home from trick-or-treating, set up shop on the living room floor, dump out all my candy, and SEPARATE IT INTO PILES SORTED BY CANDY TYPE.
Dudes. This problem is bigger than I thought.
I totally remember doing it, too. Milky Ways in one pile, Sweet Tarts in another, a pile of Powerhouse bars to give to my Dad (do they even make those anymore? I don’t remember what those had in them…it must’ve been filled with nuts, though, for me to have had such an aversion to them), Mounds bars to give to my sister, Reese’s peanut butter cups to give to my Mom, etc. etc. I mean, how hilarious is that? I can completely remember putting all of it back in my bag, too, after the organizational process (p.s., where the hell were you on the Excel thing in 1985, Microsoft?!?). I tried to keep everything with its little candy family and even put different bags within my trick-or-treat bag in order to keep the organization in tact.
Awesome.
If I hadn’t been so busy stuffing my face full of $100 Grand bars, I probably would have been creating a list to cross reference against the previous year’s candy…and creating a chart showing the correlation of type of candy collected to type of costume worn.
I’m kidding.
Kind of.
Posted on 29 October '08 by colorcodedc, under OCD, Sweet. 4 Comments.
Oh my gosh, dudes. I made the BEST cupcakes!
Coconut.
Cupcakes.
But, ah, let me back up. First thing’s first. I’m addicted to the Food Network.
Like, seriously addicted.
It’s weird. It was kind of a gradual thing with me. I’ve always liked to cook and bake, but I never really got into the shows about it. I always thought that cooking shows on TV were just boring old Donna Reed types who were strict about the “rules” and had the personality of…well, of someone who cooks on TV.
I remember the first time I really watched the Food Network, though. I had gone over to my sister’s place, and she had Paula Deen’s show on. Paula was making peach cobbler. Enough said. Between the deliciousness that was the cobbler and the awesomeness that was Paula, I was hooked. That was probably, oh, eight years ago.
Now, I like to watch it for the recipes and for the chefs that I love…and for its general food fantasy qualities. Aside from actually sitting and watching the shows, I even like to have it on just as background noise. The sound is like little food elves are hanging in my living room with me planning a holiday party.
Ahem.
Anyway, what was I saying?
I love Ina Garten. Sure, she says “fabulous” too many times, and sure, she acts like everyone has a house in the Hamptons and can afford all the specialty stores she frequents. But, I can’t hate. Girl used to work in the White House. And, she built a specialty food store into a successful business that she eventually sold to her employees. That’s heart.
So, really, the coconut cupcakes. They’re AMAZING. And, I’m not even a huge fan of coconut. They’re not overwhelming at all, though. I ended up making only half the recipe because, between CK and me, there was no way we would should go through all those cupcakes. As it was, I stuck a bunch in the freezer because half a recipe made almost two dozen cupcakes.
The batter was kind of thick, but since the recipe called for 5 eggs, halving it was, well, let’s just call it a little tricky.
I think I may have baked them a little bit too long, too, since the tops were kind of hard (but, I didn’t have any toothpicks, so it was hard to tell if they were done in the middle). But, the smell in here when they were baking…
Heaven.
And, the icing. MY GOD THE ICING. It made the whole cupcake. (And, it made a ton, so be prepared to freeze some icing for future indulgence). I decided to sprinkle extra coconut only on some of them (it’s a texture thing…I’m ok with coconut inside…but, for some reason, not on top).
So, please. Go find your inner Ina. You know it’s in there…
My Mom ROCKS. In the midst of my homesickness, she sent me a surprise Smiley Cookies package! And, they weren’t just any Smiley Cookies. They were STEELER Smiley Cookies!
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t rip open the box and eat one on the spot. Before lunch. It felt - and tasted - like a giant hug from home. And, to top off the deliciousness with more awesome, she sent me an “I Take Mine Black ‘n Gold” coffee mug that has already worked its way into my morning routine.
Now, completely unrelated to my Mom’s great deed, I feel that I have to make something public.
Do you know that Eat ‘N Park makes CLEVELAND BROWNS SMILEY COOKIES??!?
Yeah, ME EITHER. As far as I’m concerned, if you have the words “flagship” and “Pittsburgh” in the same sentence on your website, you should not be making anything that involves the color combination of orange and brown.
For shame, Eat ‘N Park. For shame.
