Do You Know What I Love About Fall?

PIE!!!

Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie...especially the most awesome pie in the whole world:

French Apple Pie!

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Thanks to my Mom for introducing us to this wonderous creation.  This fall I have found that it is especially delicious when made using fresh, local apples.  Specifically, Mutsu, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, or a combination of varieties.  I would love to taste a pie made completely with the super-tasty Arkansas Black apples, but I only have a few and they are so good fresh!

If you have "The Gift" like my Mom, you can make your own pie pastry.  For the rest of us, the pre-rolled Pillsbury pie crusts are pretty darn good!  Here is how you can make your own 8 little slices of heaven from Betty Crocker's recipe circa 1978:

French Apple Pie

Pastry for a 9" pie

Pie Filling:
3/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. Ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Ground cinnamon
Dash of salt
6 c. thinly sliced tart apples (about 6 medium)

Crumb Topping:
1 c. All-purpose flour
1/2 c. Packed brown sugar
1/2 c. Firm margarine or butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Line 9" pie plate with pastry.
Combine dry ingredients for pie filling in a large bowl; add apples and stir to coat.
Turn into pastry-lined pie plate.

Combine Crumb Topping ingredients with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly.
Spread evenly over apples.

Bake for 50 minutes, cover topping with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.
Best served warm.

Notes:

• I am not a huge nutmeg fan, so I use about 3/4 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg in the filling.
• I put the apples in the pastry about a cup at a time and spread them out to evenly cover the pastry and to lay flat.  (Purely aesthetic and obsessive, re. Me).
• I add salt and cinnamon to the topping as well.  About 1/8 tsp and 1/4 tsp., respectively.  Maybe a dash of nutmeg, too.
• Any apple will do.  This pie is perfectly delightful when using Red Delicious (when the Produce Box provides you with 16 of them in one week!)  However, it does take on a completely different attitude when tart apples are used.  It's up to you.
• A surprisingly tasty pie resulted from me forgetting to put the salt in the apple filling.  I sprinkled it on top of the (Red Delicious) apples and added some salt in the Crumb Topping for good measure.  There was a great contrast between the sweet, spicy apples and slightly salty topping that was really nice.

Enjoy!  And remember:

Who needs cake when you can have pie?!?

Recipe: Creamy Pasta Primavera

I made a variation of one of my favorite invented recipes that I think came out really well.  It was tri-color rotini pasta with julienned carrots and zucchini in a creamy sauce with shredded Parmesan cheese, lemon zest and fresh parsley. Sounds decadent, but guess what makes it creamy?  Hummus!

I came up with adding the hummus to pasta sauce partly to create a lighter version of the garlicky cream sauce I love so much and partly to punch up the protein when Sweet P had less teeth.  The vegetables were easy, thanks to my awesome new julienne peeler from Pampered Chef.  That is, it was easy once I figured out how to use it without julienning my hand.  It was supposed to be a vegetarian dish, after all.

I imagine this would be good with just about any vegetables and any shape pasta you like.  Add some chicken or shrimp and dinner is done!

Initially, I had hoped the vegetables would get twisted into the rotini and therefore consumed along with the pasta.  Unfortunately, the toddler is always smarter than me.  I think some of the veggies may have accidentally been ingested, but she still won't eat the green noodles.  Next I think I'll try the cut spaghetti I found at the store so everything will be essentially the same shape.

Update!  It took me so long to get the original picture off of the camera that I have tried the recipe with the cut spaghetti.  For those with picky eaters, the majority of the zucchini just disappeared into the pasta.  You would never believe that there was a whole giant zucchini in the bowl.  It's not as pretty because I didn't have any herbs on hand beside rosemary (which was already on the chicken), but Sweet P loved it!

I did my best on the amounts, but I am of the "that looks about right" school of measuring.  If all else fails, taste it.  Faincy chefs say they never serve anything without tasting it first.  Simple, yet effective.

Ingredients:8 oz pasta
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 medium carrots, julienned
3 cloves of garlic, minced (more or less depending on your preference)
1 large or 2 medium zucchini, julienned
1/2 cup hummus
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
pasta water or chicken or vegetable broth
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or whatever herb you have available)
salt
pepper

Cook pasta as directed on package.  While the pasta is cooking, saute the carrots with salt and pepper in olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet for 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more before adding the zucchini and a bit more salt and pepper.  Cook for a few minutes more, until carrots are softened.

Reduce heat and add the hummus, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Begin adding pasta water or broth and mix until a sauce has formed.  (this would be a good place to taste and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice.)  Stir in the Parmesan cheese and parsley, reserving some for garnish.  Stir in the cooked pasta, adding more water or broth if it is too dry.

Put in a serving dish and garnish with remaining Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Fancy Salad

Grandad (Papa) and Grammy (Yea-Yea) came out this weekend to visit their Sweet P.  We made our way down to the State Farmers Market on Saturday and I was inspired by all of the beautiful and delicious things I found there.  More on that in another post.  And, yes, I know that most or all of the produce I bought was not grown locally.  I'm okay with that for now.  Slowly, slowly I will consider the buy local thing for produce.  I'm not quite ready to only eat within the growing season, forsaking all else.

For dinner Saturday night I made a salad similar to one I've seen made on one the the approximately 9.5 million cooking shows I've watched.  First, the most beautiful, green and healthy-looking Boston lettuce I've ever seen, $5.00 for two giant heads.

Then toasted pecans and dried cherries because I didn't have any dried cranberries.  Finally, I broiled some rounds of goat cheese to put on top.  I think I overbroiled them just a tad, but they sure were pretty. I know it looks like a scallop in the photo, but it was goat cheese.  Add balsamic vinagrette and enjoy (with the sparkling wine we never drank at New Year's).  Yum!

Recipe of the Week

I have something a little different for this weekend's recipe: a recipe for an ingredient!

The first time I visited Denmark in the spring of 2007, I was taken to a gourmet food shop in Copenhagen where I found a small packet of herb salt and a Weck jar.  Perfect for a souvenirs in my opinion - small, relatively inexpensive and practical.  The Weck jar is now the happy home of my brown sugar (and my brown sugar bear).  I put the salt in my sea salt grinder when I got home and starting grinding it on everything.

It's awesome on scrambled eggs.  I found that out when all I could manage for breakfast every day for about three weeks near the end of the first trimester was one egg scrambled in butter with the herb salt.  I don't really remember what was in it besides rosemary, but I recreate my own now with my favorite herbs.  Try it with your own favorite combination, but I highly recommend the rosemary.  It adds a tasty kick to vegetables, rice, eggs, you name it.

Herbed Sea Salt
*amounts are approximate

1 cup coarse sea salt
2 tbsp. dried rosemary leaves
1 tbsp. dried thyme leaves
1 tbsp. dried basil leaves

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  Grind over everything!

Shredded Brussels Sprouts

I like Brussels sprouts.  I like them steamed.  I like them roasted.  I really like steamed sprouts cut in half and broiled with some butter and parmesan cheese on top.  However, unless they are doused with butter and cheese, I pretty much only want one serving.  I made the recipe below recently, had seconds and seriously considered thirds.

The lemon juice neutralizes what I call the fart taste.  Or, as my more mature friend Kate says, the sulfur taste.  Anyway, the lemon juice brightens the flavor without making it sour or even lemony.  I loathe caraway seeds with the very fiber of my being, so I chose the poppy seeds.  They made the dish visually interesting and every once in a while you would actually chomp down on one which was kind of nice, but they certainly could be left out with no damage to the dish.  If you choose to use the caraway seeds, that is your choice.  I promise not to judge you....much.



Shredded Brussels Sprouts

1 pound fresh Brussels sprouts
3 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. poppy seeds or caraway seeds
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Rinse sprouts, trim stems and remove any leaves with spots.
Thinly slice the sprouts.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
Cook the sprouts just until wilted but still crisp-tender (about 3-5 minutes).
Add the lemon juice, seeds, salt and pepper.
Toss and serve.

Notes: I cut each one into 4 or 5 slices which worked fine, but it might be better a little thinner.  Also, the picture looks like they fell apart more than mine did, maybe the stem should be trimmed a bit so the outer leaves will fall off during cooking.

Adapted from Redbook October 2009 issue