Saturday, March 14, 2015

Apple Rhubarb Strawberry Pie - Happy Pi(e) Day

Juicy apples, sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb, tossed with sugar and baked, bubble out pinkly through the flakey pie crust, saying “Slice me, eat me. Go, go get your fork!” 

I have no idea what age I was when I first learned about pi, that is to say π or the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which turns out to be a number that starts 3.1415 and goes on forever and ever and ever in a pattern-less, never-repeating type way. We certainly never celebrated Pi Day that I can recall and, for once my memory hasn’t failed me because according to a little quick research (Thanks, Wikipedia!) Pi Day was first officially celebrated in 1988, more than two years after I had already graduated from university and had deliberately stopped thinking about math concepts in any concerted way.

This a special year to celebrate Pi Day, because today, as happens only once in each century, is 3/14/15 - at least in the US way of writing dates month first - so I am delighted to join our pi and pie loving organizer, Terri from Love and Confections and 18 fellow food bloggers to bring you 20 fabulous pies.

(P.S. If you set an alarm for 9:26:53 a.m and p.m. you can celebrate twice today to the ninth place! This may call for a cocktail!)

A note about the fruit amounts: All in all, I used a little more than two pounds or one kilo of fruit before peeling, hulling, etc. If you have less rhubarb, add more apples or strawberries. How much of each is completely flexible but I’ll give you my amounts as a guideline. Do keep in mind if you go with all rhubarb, you are probably going to need more sugar though. That stuff is pretty tart.

Ingredients
Double recipe of shortcrust pastry – from this link here or use your own favorite crust recipe for a two-crust pie.
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 apples (about 11 oz or 315g)
3 long stalks rhubarb (about 14 oz or 400g)
1/2 punnet strawberries (about 11 2/3 oz or 330g)
3/4 cup or 150g sugar plus a little extra to sprinkle on the pie before baking
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1-2 tablespoons milk

Method
Make the dough for the pastry and divide it into two balls, one slightly bigger than the other. Wrap them in cling film and put them in the refrigerator.

Peel and chop your apples and toss them in a big bowl with the lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.



Cut the brown ends off the rhubarb, if any, and cut the stalks into chunks.



Hull your strawberries and halve the big ones. Little ones can be left whole.

Pile the rhubarb and strawberries into the apple bowl and pour in the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir well.



Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Remove the bigger ball of dough from the refrigerator and roll it out in a circle. Fold it over your rolling pin and ease it into your 8 in or 20cm pie plate – not deep dish.

Dock it with the tip of a sharp knife or the tines of a fork.



Add in the sugared fruit and dot the top with the butter in several small pieces.

I forgot the butter in this shot, but not in the pie!


Roll out the second ball of dough in a circle and fit it on top the pie.  I am a fan of shortcrust so I trim very little of the excess and fold the rest under the edges with the bottom crust and then crimp the dough all the way around the pan. If you want to trim yours more and then just stick the bottom and top together by crimping, that works too. Use a sharp knife to cut a few slits in the top to let the steam out.



Brush the crust with the milk and sprinkle it with a little sugar.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 50-55 minutes or until the crust is golden all over and a little juice is bubbling out the slits in the top crust.



Enjoy!




Many thanks to Terri from Love and Confections for hosting this fun event! 

Twenty fabulous pies to celebrate! Come join us!  



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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Bacon-wrapped Smashed Redskin Puffs

Small red potatoes, cooked to tenderness then smashed flattish, covered with bacon and fried till crispy. You can serve these as a side dish but they also make a fabulous main course alongside a big salad or vegetables.

 Food Lust People Love: Small red potatoes, cooked to tenderness then smashed flattish, covered with bacon and fried till crispy. You can serve these as a side dish but they also make a fabulous main course alongside a big salad or vegetables.

It’s Blogger C.L.U.E. Society time again, where I am assigned a blog to poke around in and find a recipe to make which fits our “clue” or theme. Which, this month, is potatoes. While I’m not the diehard fan my mother is – her last meal on earth would be potatoes and more potatoes of every recipe and description – I am quite a fan. I was also delighted to be assigned the blog A Day in the Life on the Farm, written by my friend, Wendy, a retired police officer who has taken up the life of a leisurely farmer. HA! Yeah, that was a joke. What she does do, between chores, is cook some pretty tasty dishes.

As I poked around in Wendy’s potato posts, it became apparent to me that my eyesight is failing. I have an annual checkup each summer but here we are in only March, and these contacts just aren’t quite working for me anymore. When I saw the first photo of her smashed redskin potato puffs crisping up in the frying pan, I thought, “Oh, my goodness, brilliant, she has wrapped the smashed potato with bacon!” Upon enlarging the picture, I realized that was just the red of the potatoes. But then I HAD to wrap them in bacon. There wasn’t any other choice. 

Let me say that if you are not a bacon person, I’m not sure we can be friends. Wendy’s original potatoes are still brilliant. The smashing opens the skins so the fluffy insides can fry up crunchy and crispy and more-ish. They would be an excellent addition to any meal!

I intended to serve these as a side dish, just as Wendy did, but with the addition of the bacon, I changed my mind and made them the main course, with a lovely mixed salad on the side, perfect for a meal when meat doesn’t have to be the center of attention. Since the salad was so big, we still only each ate two of the potatoes.

Ingredients
Small redskin potatoes – about 2 per person
1 slice of normal smoked streaky bacon per potato (Not thick cut.)
Handful chopped green onions to serve
Cayenne pepper – optional

Method
Boil your potatoes in a large pot of water until tender, testing with a pointy knife at about 20 minutes. Cook a little longer if you still feel resistance in the middle.

Yeah, I know I said two per person and we are only two people at home but who boils only four potatoes?
Exactly no one.


Drain the water from the pot and leave the potatoes to air dry, and cool a little, uncovered in the hot pot.

When your potatoes are cool enough to handle, but are still quite warm, heat a non-stick skillet on the stove over a medium flame.

Lay one piece of cold bacon on a plate and top with a potato. Use the potato masher to smash the potato till it is kind of flattish and about the same size as the masher.



Fold the ends of the bacon over to cover the smashed potato. With a spatula, lift the bacon-wrapped potato and place it - overlapped bacon-end side down - in the heated pan.


Continue until all the potatoes are smashed and wrapped with bacon, adding as many as you can comfortably fit to the pan and leaving the rest to wait on the plate.

Overlapped bacon end side down to start.


You don’t want to crowd your pan too much because these need room around them so everything can get crispy, instead of just steaming. Also, room to maneuver makes turning them over easier.

When the overlapped bacon on the bottoms are sufficiently browned and sticking together, use a spatula to gently turn the smashed potatoes over. If little pieces of potato try to detach, just push them back where they belong with the spatula.

Push down gently on the smashed potatoes with your spatula to reflatten them occasionally.



Cook until both sides are crispy then remove the smashed potatoes to a warm plate to keep warm. Sprinkle with a little cayenne, if desired.  Continue cooking until all your potatoes are done.

Sprinkle with the chopped green onions to serve.

Food Lust People Love: Small red potatoes, cooked to tenderness then smashed flattish, covered with bacon and fried till crispy. You can serve these as a side dish but they also make a fabulous main course alongside a big salad or vegetables.


Enjoy!



Many thanks to this month’s host and organizer, Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake.



One potato, two potato,
Three potato, four,
Five potato, six potato,
Seven potato, MORE!

Here’s the list of this month’s Blogger C.L.U.E. participants. Follow the links to see which blog they were assigned and which great potato or starch recipe they have recreated.


Pin these Bacon-wrapped Smashed Redskin Puffs!

Food Lust People Love: Small red potatoes, cooked to tenderness then smashed flattish, covered with bacon and fried till crispy. You can serve these as a side dish but they also make a fabulous main course alongside a big salad or vegetables.
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Posted by at 4:10:00 AM 0 comments
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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Khobz Mzaweq - Moroccan Decorated Bread #BreadBakers

Khobz Mzaweg or decorated yeast bread is a specialty loaf from Morocco, so called because of the pattern created with a sharp blade, the shiny egg yolk wash and the sprinkling of both sesame and nigella seeds before baking.
 


I had a friend ask me yesterday, wasn’t it kind of expensive, running this blog, buying the ingredients and then, often, giving the baked goods away? I explained that, aside from the dishes I do share, we eat everything that is baked or cooked in my kitchen, most of what you see written about here was breakfast or lunch or dinner. Also, I do make pocket change money from folks who use my Amazon affiliate links to make a purchase. But the most valuable part of this space for me is the way it stretches me to try new recipes, different ingredients and unusual methods. 

I belong to several food bloggers groups that post every month with themes which require me to do some research and, often, delve into other cultures or use ingredients that I may not have tried before. This is so much more than just cooking and eating and writing. It is the life-long adventure of learning.

This month our Bread Bakers host Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories chose seeds as our theme. Now for Bread Bakers, any bread will do, be it yeast or sourdough or even quick bread so the options for a bread with seeds were wide open. I did a quick search online and one of the first recipes that came up was the loaf made for today’s post, khobz mzaweg. 

I had never heard of it before but I couldn’t resist the golden crust with the diamond pattern, scattered with seeds! But here’s the funny thing, as soon as I took the first bite, I knew I had tasted a bread like this before. Nigella seeds aside, it reminded me of the great big wonderful sesame sprinkled Italian loaves that muffuletta sandwiches are served on in New Orleans. Turns out, khobz mzaweg are often used for sandwiches in Morocco as well. Small world.

Khobz Mzaweq - Moroccan Decorated Bread

The recipe for my khobz (meaning bread) and mzaweg (meaning decorated) was adapted from this one on About.com. Make sure you scroll on down to see the other lovely seeded breads my fellow Bread Bakers have created for you today!
 
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups or 315g white flour, plus extra for kneading
1 1/2 cups or 190g fine semolina
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, plus extra for sprinkling on top
2 teaspoons nigella seeds, plus extra for sprinkling on top
1/4 oz or 7g yeast (I used one packet of Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise.)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 whole egg
About 1 cup or 240ml warm water
1 egg yolk – for the egg wash

Method
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or by oiling the center. Or you can dust it with a little fine semolina. I used a silicone mat to roll mine out, then I transferred the whole shebang to the baking tray, so I skipped this step.

In a small bowl, put your yeast, sugar and a couple of tablespoons of the flour. Add in about one third of the warm water and leave to proof for about 10 minutes. If it gets all foamy, proceed with the recipe. If you have no reaction, your yeast is dead. Buy some more yeast and start again.

Foamy and we are good to go!


In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, put the balance of your flour, the semolina, the salt and the sesame and nigella seeds and mix well.



Add in the egg, the oil and the contents of your frothy yeast bowl.  Pour in the rest of the warm water.



Mix until all the ingredients are well combined and you have a soft dough.

Use the dough hook in your machine or turn the dough out onto a clean floured surface to knead until smooth and stretchy. This takes about 10 minutes. I did the kneading by hand because I sometimes find that I have to add too much extra flour to get my bread hook not to stick in the middle of a soft dough.



Shape the dough into a nice ball and place it on your prepared pan (or silicone mat.) Cover with a clean towel and leave to rest of 10-15 minutes.



After the dough has rested, press it out gently to flatten the dough into a large circle about 13 inches or 33cm across. Cover again with the towel and leave to rise about one hour in a warm place. I placed my silicone mat on the baking pan and balanced it over a sink filled with very hot water.



When your hour is almost up, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Whisk the egg yolk with a little water to thin it enough to brush on the dough. A teaspoon or two will usually do the trick.

Lightly score the top of the bread with a very sharp knife or a lame, which is essentially a curved razorblade with a handle. I bought my first one from King Arthur Flour a thousand years ago when they were not yet online and would send out a physical catalog. I carved my order out on stone with a chisel. Or sent them a fax. Same difference now. Seems like it’s gotten some poor reviews but I love mine!



Use a pastry brush to paint the top of the dough with the egg yolk wash.



Sprinkle on some more sesame seeds and nigella seeds to decorate.



Bake the loaf in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until it is golden brown all over and sounds hollow when tapped.



Even the bottom has a lovely color, doesn't it?

Slide it off your pan onto a wire rack to cool.



Enjoy!



After enjoying a sliver or two warm with butter, I allowed the whole thing to cool completely and I probably don't even have to tell you, because I'm sure you know, I went straight out and got my ingredients and I made a muffuletta, right?





Seeds are the beginning of most plant life but they are also the impetus for some great breads this month! Again, thanks to Karen from Karen's Kitchen Stories for the great theme!


#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.


Little hint: If you are going to take photos on the rug, keep a sharp eye out for your helper who might suddenly appear in the viewfinder.


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