Monthly Archives: May 2011

rhubarb bonanza

Posted in pie by

Rhubarb!  A coworker of mine gave me a generous bunch of it last week along with a few recipes so I am going to share the wealth here with you. 

I must admit that even though I have sampled my share of rhubarb pie and rhubarb cake over the years I have never actually done anything with it.  Shameful!  It is so plentiful this time of year and so delicious, not to mention so easy to work with that there is really no excuse for not baking it into everything you possibly can.  Today I opted to bake a pie with it. 

Every pie starts with a crust.  I chose a simple and classic crust from my mom’s 1973 version of the Betty Crocker cookbook with pages that are stained and yellowed and falling out, but  it still works.  Only 4 ingredients in this crust: flour, canola oil, dash of salt, and water.  So easy!  No need to ever buy one of those pre-baked crusts when it can be done so easily (and cheaply) at home.

Once you get the crust rolled out and in the pie pan put in the refrigerator until you are ready to fill it.

Meanwhile, mix up an egg with sugar and flour for the filling.  That’s it.  Easy again!  Then add some of that beautiful chopped rhubarb to it.

Now you are ready to put this deliciousness into the pie shell.  But you’re not quite done yet… there is more deliciousness to put on top! 

A little brown sugar, flour, and butter, because as I often say: butter makes everything better.

The finished product was a big hit at the Memorial Day cookout I attended this afternoon. 

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Rhubarb Crisp Pie

  • 2 cups cleaned rhubarb cut in ½ inch pieces
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Beat 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1 egg until creamy.  Stir in rhubarb and pour mixture into pie shell (see recipe below).

Mix ½ cup brown sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons flour, and 2 tablespoons butter with fork.  Pour over top of pie.  Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

One Crust Pie Shell (from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook)

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Measure flour and salt into bowl.  Add oil; mix until particles are size of small peas.  Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, adding until flour is moistened and dough almost cleans side of bowl.  (If dough seems dry, 1 to 2 tablespoons oil can be added.  Do not add water.)  Gather dough together and press firmly into ball.

Shape dough into flattened round.  Place flattened round between two 15-inch strips of waxed paper.

Roll pastry 2 inches larger than inverted pie pan.  Peel off top paper.  Place pastry, paper side up, in pan.  Peel off paper.  Ease pastry loosely into pan.

the best pancakes in the whole wide world

Posted in breakfast by

February can be a very long and bleak month, but I never minded it too much when I lived in NYC for two reasons: hot chocolate month at City Bakery (more on that in a future post) and pancake month at Clinton Street Baking Co.  Clinton Street makes the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted and lucky for me, they have a cookbook in which they share their magical recipe:

I’ve never not had to wait for a table at Clinton Street, even on a weekday morning after a huge snowstorm, and I think the above images illustrate why.  It seems that the secret to their pancakes is the fluffiness, and this fluffiness is a result of separating the eggs and whipping up the egg whites before mixing.  Genius.

This process takes a little longer than your typical pancake batter but it is well worth it.

After pouring the batter onto the hot griddle you can add blueberries if you like:

Or raspberries:

Or you could add blackberries.  Or chocolate chips.  Or… you get the picture.  Have fun with it!

And then enjoy them without ever having to wait for a table.

“Neil’s Pancakes” from the Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook by Dede Lahman and Neil Kleinberg

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder, plus 1 teaspoon
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 large eggs, separated
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • ¾ cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus 2 teaspoons unmelted for the griddle
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Blueberries or raspberries, optional

Measure and sift all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the yolks, milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined.  Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture.  The result should be slightly lumpy, yet combined to form a batter.

Whip the egg whites in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer until they reach medium peaks (soft in the middle).  Be careful, you don’t want to overwhip the egg whites.

Gently mix half of the whipped whites into the batter with a large rubber spatula.  Then gently fold the remaining half into the batter.  Remember: this batter should be slightly lumpy and have large parts of egg whites not fully incorporated: it should look like whitecaps in the ocean with foam on top.  (The batter will last a few hours in the fridge without deflating too much.)

Heat a griddle to 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease the hot griddle with the remaining butter.  Drop ¼ cup (approximately 4 tablespoons) of pancake batter on the griddle and cook to set.  Add berries if desired.  Never add the fruit to the mix; always add
the fruit to the pancakes once they’re on the griddle.  When you see bubbles start to form on top, lift the pancake halfway up to see if it’s golden brown and crispy on the edges.  If ready, flip the pancake.

When the pancake is golden brown on both sides, remove with a spatula.  Repeat with the remaining batter and filling, cooking several pancakes at a time.

i scream, you scream, we all scream for…

Posted in gluten free, ice cream by

One thing you should know about me before we get too far into our blog/reader relationship: I love ice cream.  I mean I love ice cream.  I love it so much I have been known to eat it twice a day and yes, maybe even three times a day during a particularly hot summer.  (Don’t judge.)  In fact, my first job was at a soft serve joint and fifteen years later I still say it was still the best job I ever had… Ice cream just makes people happy.

A few years ago I started making ice cream with my mom’s Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment and discovered that much like everything else in life, ice cream is even better when it’s homemade.  And what’s better still– my mom gave me the ice cream maker attachment because I was the only one using it.  Suh-weet.

This batch starts with espresso beans.  Espresso beans and a meat tenderizer.

After showing those espresso beans who’s boss you put them in a pot with whole milk.

Next you beat egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and fluffy:

Meanwhile you strain the espresso beans and return the espresso-flavored milk to the pot over low heat and then add the egg yolk/sugar mixture in parts while stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  It is very important to stir constantly otherwise you might wind up cooking the eggs… Not good.  I’ve done that before.  No one wants cooked egg bites in their ice cream cone.

It is important to completely cool mixture before adding to ice cream maker so you can either refrigerate it for an hour or so or put in a mixing bowl that is submerged in a larger mixing bowl that is filled with ice to cool.  This is also the stage in the game where you add heavy cream and instant espresso.  Once cool, you stand back and let an ice cream maker do the work.

Another great way to enjoy this ice cream?  Well, do you remember those Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies from earlier in the week?  You might be thinking  “Oh no you didn’t…”  Oh yes I did.

Espresso Gelato (from www.marthastewart.com)

  • 1/3cup espresso beans
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons instant espresso

Place espresso beans on a cutting board, and gently crush them using a heavy saucepan or a hammer (be careful not to pulverize the beans). In a medium saucepan, heat milk and coffee beans. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, and remove from heat. Allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain mixture, and reserve milk; discard solids.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at medium-high speed until very thick and pale yellow, 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, return milk to heat, and bring to a simmer.

Add half the milk to egg-yolk mixture, and whisk until blended. Stir into remaining milk, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat, and immediately stir in cream. Pass mixture through a strainer into a medium mixing bowl set in an ice bath until chilled, stirring from time to time. Stir in instant espresso, then freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. (Note: I added chocolate chips 2/3 of the way through the churning process in my ice cream maker but it would be great without them or with other mix-ins.  Oreos?  Genius.) Transfer to an airtight plastic container and store up to 2 weeks.  (I read somewhere that it’s a good idea to cover the top of the ice cream with plastic wrap before putting the lid on the container to prevent ice crystals from forming.  Not sure if this is always true, but so far so good for me.)

twist on a classic

Posted in cookie by

This may look like your standard, run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookie but it is not.  Oh no.  In a belated nod to Cinco de Mayo I decided to make Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies.  What makes them Mexican, you ask?  Cinnamon and a touch of black pepper.

The cinnamon and pepper add a nice touch of spiciness.

As they might say in Mexico: delicioso!

Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies (from www.epicurious.com)

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla. Sift next 6 ingredients over butter mixture; beat just until blended. Mix in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden brown but still soft to touch, about 10 minutes (for crisper cookies, bake 12 minutes). Let stand on sheets 3 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

mid-week treat

Posted in drink by

Last week I ate at an Indian restaurant with friends and had some of the finest Masala Chai Tea I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying.  Now, I’ve definitely sampled my fair share of chai tea over the years and used to buy cartons of the pre-made liquid kind from the grocery store, but after researching recipes this weekend I realized how easy it is to make from scratch.  And since I am always a fan of making things from scratch whenever possible I couldn’t resist.

Making the tea did require a trip to the spice section of the grocery store to buy ingredients in whole form: cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, and black peppercorns.  Making the tea also gave me a chance to use the mortar and pestle my mom gave me for Christmas.  And I am always looking for an excuse to bust out the mortar and pestle.

I wish the masters of the interweb could figure out a way to transport scent through our computers because man oh man if you could smell it while the spices were steeping!  It was awesome– sweet and spicy at the same time.

After straining the spices you add milk, a bit of sugar, and finally the tea.

This cup is for you:

Masala Chai Tea

(Adapted from Indian Masala Chai recipe found on www.food.com )

servings

Update

  • 4 whole cloves
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
  • 4 black peppercorns
  • 3 cups water
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 black teabags (I used decaffeinated but certainly caffeinated would be fine too)

In a mortar crush the cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, and black peppercorns, or use a coffee grinder.

Transfer the crushed spices to a small saucepan, add the water and ginger and bring to a boil.

Remove the pan from the heat, cover and let steep for 5 minutes.

Add the milk and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil.

Remove from the heat and add the teabags.  Cover and let steep for 3 minutes.

Stir the chai, and then strain it into a warmed teapot or directly into teacups.