Black and Blue Pie

This whole post is about to get super Portland on you. Like Portlandia-esque Portland. This is a pie I made for my tattoo artist as a tip for my last tattoo. I made it with local berries. And local flour (hey Bob's Red Mill). And local butter (Tillamook). Also I'm wearing black and red flannel right now.

This pie is also super good. It looked great the first time, so I made it again. You should use whatever end of season berries you have and make this. Decorate it any way you want. Maybe put a bird on it? I dunno.

Black and Blue Pie:

Makes one 9” pie

½ recipe best pie dough in the universe

Filling-

3 c. blackberries

3 c. blueberries

2/3 c. – ¾ c. sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Dash nutmeg

Dash cinnamon

Topping-

2/3 c. all-purpose flour

3 Tb. brown sugar, packed

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

Dash allspice

Dash nutmeg

6 Tb. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Make the pie dough! Roll it out how you do and put it in a 9-inch pie dish. Refrigerate while prepping everything else. If you have extra dough like I did after trimming, use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes with the remainder. Refrigerate alongside pie crust.

Whisk sugar, lemon zest, nutmeg, and cinnamon together. Add berries and toss to coat. Add lemon juice and toss to coat again. Let sit at least 10 minutes.

While your berries are sitting, preheat oven to 375 and make the topping. Whisk together all dry topping ingredients. Add in melted and cooled butter and mix with fingers until blended evenly.

To assemble your pie, remove formed dough from fridge, scoop in berry mixture, and sprinkle topping as evenly as possible.

Bake pie for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and your topping has become golden. If it is browning too quickly, cover top with foil. Place a baking sheet on the rack below your pie to catch any bubbly juices.

Let cool on wire rack until you can handle it enough to deliver to your tattoo artist. Or your friends out back. Or your mouth.

I really enjoyed this pie – but it was more like a cobbler because as you might see from the recipe above, I did not add corn starch to the berry mixture. Do that. Add about 2½ tablespoons corn starch to the berry mixture to help gel some of those juicy, juicy berries.

Overall, though, this was a great pie – easy to make, fun to decorate, and a great gift.

You've got a little summer left. Give this pie a try.

And now I'm done with summer pie recipes. On to the fall pies!   

Peach Pie

Summer isn't quite over yet. Sure, the leaves are falling off of the trees, kids are back in school, and the unofficial end of summer has passed, but it's going to be 90 on Saturday here in Portland, so no, summer isn't over yet.

And summer means pie. Today and tomorrow will be my last two summer pie recipes. For this summer. Probably.

Let's start with peach pie. Take my very favorite pie dough recipe, fill it with summer stone fruit (you can count on Smitten Kitchen for bad ass pie fillings. And pies, if you want to just do everything Deb did), and bake. Plus I made a lattice top for the first time ever.

Peach Pie modified from Smitten Kitchen:

Makes 1 9” pie

1 full recipe best pie dough ever (no arguments) 

Filling-
About 3½ lb. peaches (approximately 6 large, 7 medium or 8 small)
1 Tb. fresh lemon juice, from about half a regular lemon
¼ c. granulated sugar (use 1/3 c. for a sweeter pie)
¼ c. light brown sugar (ditto)
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
Few gratings of fresh nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 Tb. minute tapioca, ground to a powder, or 3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch

Finish-
1 Tb. milk, cream, or water
1 Tb. coarse or granulated sugar

Make the pie dough. Then prep filling. Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Prepare an ice bath. Make a small x at the bottom of each peach. Once water is boiling, lower peaches, as many as you can fit at once, into saucepan and poach for two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to ice bath for one minute to cool. Transfer peaches to cutting board and peel the skins. In most cases, the boiling-then-cold water will loosen the skins and they’ll slip right off. In the case of some stubborn peaches, they will stay intact and you can peel them with a paring knife or vegetable peeler and curse the person who made you waste your time with poaching fruit. These were my favorite recipe directions ever.

Halve and pit the peaches, then cut into about 1/3-inch thick slices. You’ll want 6 cups; it’s okay if you go a little over. Add to a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. In a small dish, stir together sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cornstarch until evenly mixed. Add to peaches and toss to evenly coat.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Yell peach pie assemble! Then put it together yourself because this is a pie, not a giant cartoon robot fighting force. Flour counter, unwrap your first dough (if the two pieces look uneven, go for the smaller one) and put it in the middle and flour that too. Be generous. Start rolling your dough by pressing down lightly with the pin and moving it from the center out. You’re not going to get it all flat in one roll or even twenty; be patient and it will crack less. Roll it a few times in one direction, lift it up and rotate it a quarter-turn. And that’s what you’re going to continue to do, roll a couple times, lift the dough and rotate it. Re-flour the counter and the top of the dough as needed–don’t skimp! You should be leaving no bits of dough on the counter and none should be stuck to your pin. If at any point, the dough starts to get sticky or soft, it’s warming up and will only become more difficult to work with. Transfer it back to the fridge for a few minutes (or even the freezer, but for just a minute) to let it cool, then resume your rolling process. I have an amazing marble slab that I got for my birthday. If you do also, put this in the fridge while before working on your pie dough – it's amazing.

Once your dough is a 12- to 13-inch circle, transfer pie dough to a standard pie dish by folding it gently into quarters (making no creases), arranging the folded corner into one quadrant of the bottom of your tin and gently unfolding it to fit over the base. Trim the overhang to one inch.

Scoop filling into bottom pie dough, including any accumulated juices (they contain the thickener too, also: tastiness). Roll out your top pie dough using the same procedure, until it is 12 to 13 inches in diameter. If you’d like to make a regular lidded pie, use it as is, cutting some decorative vents in the pie lid before baking. To make a lattice-top pie, cut the pie dough into strips anywhere from 1/2 to 1-inch wide with a pastry wheel, pizza wheel or knife. Arrange every other strip across your pie filling in one direction, spacing the strips evenly. Fold back every other strip gently on itself and add the longest remaining strip in the other direction. Fold the strips back down, repeat with the other strips until a full lattice-top is formed. Trim the lattice’s overhang to the diameter of the pie dish’s rim (i.e. no overhang; only the bottom crust will have that and this is a case of do as I say, not as I do, because I totally forgot this detail when I was making the above pie). Gently fold the rim of the bottom crust over the lattice strips and crimp decoratively. Follow these directions carefully – I managed to make a pretty lattice top pie on my first go, so these have to be good directions.

Finish pie by brushing with milk, cream, or water and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake pie for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crust is set and beginning to brown. Reduce oven temperature to 375 and bake pie for another 30 to 40 minutes, until filling is bubbling all over and the crust is a nice golden brown. If the pie lid browns too quickly at any point in the baking process, you can cover it with foil for the remaining baking time to prevent further browning.

Cool pie for three hours at room temperature before serving. I know you won’t listen to Deb — there’s hot delicious pie to be eaten, after all — but if you’re concerned about the runniness of the pie filling, keep in mind that the pie filling does not fully thicken until it is fully cool. Deb is right. You should wait. Pie can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge; from the fridge, it will be even thicker.

From the fridge, you might find yourself standing in front of it, door open, eating pie directly from the pie plate. Maybe. I'm not saying that's what happened over here. Don't worry about it. Do worry that you're not eating this yet. Go finish off the season with this pie.

Or the one I post tomorrow. Or both. Up to you. Pie is great, so I won't judge.

Raspberry-Lemon Shrub

Summer is coming to an end. Well, supposedly. It was over 90 degrees today, so it doesn't really feel like it. Soon enough, though, all those tasty fruits of summer will be less abundant. Let's get at them while they're still everywhere and so so good.

Shrubs are awesome. They're fermented fruit, vinegar, and sugar. So easy to make and great with sparkling water – or in cocktails, if you're in the mood.

Go enjoy the last bits of summer! Sit on a porch and sip this.

Raspberry-Lemon Shrub via Reclaiming Provinical:

Yield: approx. 2 cups syrup

2 c. raspberries

Zest of 1 lemon

10 black peppercorns, slightly crushed

1½ c. sugar

1 c. white wine vinegar

1 c. apple cider vinegar

Combine raspberries, lemon zest, peppercorns, and sugar in a bowl or jar, stirring to evenly coat the fruit. Allow mixture to sit for around 1 hour, then crush until everything is nice and broken up. I used a potato masher. Cover and let sit for 24 hours. At room temperature is fine, but feel free to stick it in the fridge too.

After 24 hours, mash the mixture again, trying to crush the fruit as much as possible. Let it sit for another 24 hours.

Add the vinegars and stir well. Store at room temperature for 7–9 days, giving it a good stir each day. When finished, pour the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, then transfer to a clean jar or container. Store syrup in the fridge.

For drinks, add 1 part syrup to 2.5–3 parts sparkling water or mix it in with your favorite cocktail. I think this would make for a killer Moscow mule.

Mini Pear Pies

The reason I hardly ever blog is I have this baby guy and he takes up a lot of my time and when he's sleeping or otherwise occupied with block stacking or chasing the dog around, I tend to zone out on silly phone games or cute pictures of animals on the Internet. So not blogging. I do think about it, though, and I continue to take pictures of the food I make (a thing I still do when not helping a baby stack blocks or be nice to the dog who puts up with a lot from a small thing that tries to climb on him all the time). Another thing I do is hang out with a great group of moms. So baking + hanging out with moms = trying to show off and bring tasty things to meet ups. I haven't done this in awhile, but this was an early hit.

I should probably try to show off again. And blog. But you know, block stacking.

Mini Pear Pies slightly modified from Mogwai Soup:

Makes 12 mini pies

World's greatest pie dough

5 pears, pealed and chopped

½ c. sugar

Peel of one lemon

1 Tb. lemon juice

Pinch of ground ginger

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of allspice

2 cardamom pods, crushed

Pinch of salt

1 Tb. of corn starch

A few Tb. of water

Butter or oil

1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water

Make your amazing pie dough. Roll it out. Let it rest in the fridge. While you prep the filling, let the dough get to room temp and then roll it out. I used a not often used martini glass (a confluence of watching a lot of Sex and the City and turning 21) to cut out the bases and a drinking glass to do the tops.

Add all the filling ingredients except corn starch to a saute pan and cook on medium heat. After 10 minutes add the cornstarch and cook for 5 more minutes, if it is thickening too much you can add a few tablespoons of water. Cool off a bit before filling your pies.

Butter or oil the cups of a 12 cup muffin tin. Push in the bottoms of the pies, curling them up over the edge about ½ inch. Put about 1½-2 tablespoons of filling into each pie. Go for too little at first rather than too much. You still need to seal them. Cover with the tops and seal the edges with a fork. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar.

Bake it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking after 20 or until nicely golden brown.

Cool in pan until you can push them out and cool on a rack. Transfer to some happy mommies or, you know, your mouth. Good times for everybody! Plus they look really fancy.

Whole Lemon Bars

I am still taking pictures of food, editing them, and working on blog posts. Unfortunately, then this all languishes in a folder on my computer and takes a very long time to make it to the Internet. My goal for the next month or so is to clear out this backlog (finally) and try to post a little more regularly. Because I like it and I like to share.

Blame mom brain. It's a real thing.

This is another fantastic recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (have you checked it out yet? I've given you a lot of time). Less fussy than most lemon bar recipes, it is not in any way less delicious. Go impress your friends and make this now.

Whole Lemon Bars via The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook:

Makes 16 way too delicious squares

1 c. all purpose flour

1/3 c. sugar

¼ tsp. salt

8 Tb. unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus extra for greasing pan

1 small-to-medium-sized lemon (about 4½ oz.)

1 1/3 c. sugar

8 Tb. unsalted butter, cut into chunks

4 large eggs

2 Tb. cornstarch

¼ tsp. salt

Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Cut two 12-inch lengths of parchment paper, and trim each to fit the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan. Pres the first sheet into the bottom and up the sides of your pan in one direction, then use the second sheet to line the rest of the pan, running it perpendicular to the first sheet. Lightly butter exposed parts of parchment or coat them with a nonstick cooking spray. Set the pan aside.

To make the crust, blend the flour, sugar, and salt together in the work bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is powdery, but if firmly pinched, will hold the pinched shape. Turn the dough crumbs into the prepared baking pan and press the dough evenly across the bottom and about ½ inch up the sides. Prick the dough all over with a fork and bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Should any parts bubble up, gently prick them again with a fork. Leave the oven on.

To make the filling, cut the lemon in half. If the widest part of the white is ¼ inch thick or less, continue to the next step. If any part of it is thicker than ¼ inch, however, remove the skin and pith from half the lemon by placing the lemon cut-side-down on the cutting board, cut downward and discard it. The second half, even if just as thick, can be used as is.

Cut your lemon halves into thin rings and discard any seeds. Toss the lemon rounds, flesh and peel, in the bowl of the food processor, add the sugar, and run the machine until the lemon in thoroughly pureed, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and again run the machine until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides of the work bowl as needed. Add the eggs, cornstarch, and salt and pulse the machine in short bursts until the mixture is evenly combined.

Pour the lemon mixture over the crust and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is set. You can test this by bumping the pan a little; it should only jiggle slightly. Look for the lemon bars to turn light brown.

Let the pan cool completely on rack or in the fridge. Gently cut around the outside of the parchment paper to make sure no sides have stuck, then gently use the parchment sling to transfer the bars from pan to cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

Gooey. Lemony. So so good.

Kale Caesar Salad with Grilled Goat Cheese

Kale is everywhere. It's hearty. It's good for you. I seem to get it in my CSA every week. I do love kale, but sometimes it starts to be a little much. You need to do something different with it. Hence taking a caesar dressing and using raw kale leaves. And since I was by myself, I got to put a bunch of goat cheese on it. Though I mentioned in the tapenade recipe about using Thai fish sauce as a replacement for anchovies, I learned it first when making this. I made it for one as an entree, but it could easily work for two as a salad course.

Kale Caesar Salad with Grilled Goat Cheese:

(Caesar Dressing modified via 1,000 Mexican Recipes)

Serves 1

Dressing-

½ c. olive oil

2 Tb. red wine vinegar

1 Tb. lemon juice

2 Tb. Thai fish sauce

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

¼ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

½ tsp. freshly ground pepper, or to taste

2 slices hearty Italian bread (like ciabatta), cut into chunks

2 Tb. olive oil

2 tsp. dried herbs (oregano, basil)

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Large handful torn kale leaves

3 oz. chevre, divided

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. panko

Olive oil

Make the croutons first. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss bread cubes in olive oil, herbs, and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 10-15 minutes.

Make the dressing by placing the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, Thai fish sauce, garlic, and mustard in a food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined. Add the Parmesan and black pepper. Blend until creamy and smooth. This make enough for a few salads, but I love caesar dressing so much I needed to make it all. It keeps well for up to 3 days, so just go for it.

Cut the chevre into 1 ounce chunks. Place chunks in egg to coat, then roll them in the panko. Heat a pan over medium heat until oil is shimmering. Add the coated goat cheese and cook until bottom side is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn over and cook until golden, about 1 minute more. Remove from heat.

Dress kale, toss throughly, and top with goat cheese and croutons.

Tangy, crunchy goat cheese and earthy kale are a fantastic combo, especially with the zip from the caesar dressing. I might be able to eat this every week.

30 Before 30: Bow Tie Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (#14)

Aaron made more of his amazing corned beef and I decided to make a whole lunch out of it. When thinking deli food, deli cookbooks are the way to go. This is an easy recipe to go with any fabulous lunch.

Bow Tie Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes via The 2^nd Ave. Deli Cookbook:

Serves 6

1 lb. bow tie noodles

1½ c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped into ½” pieces

¼ c. very finely chopped red onion

2 Tb. finely chopped scallions

½ c. extra virgin olive oil

1½ Tb. red wine vinegar

1½ Tb. balsamic vinegar

1 Tb. fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. very finely chopped garlic

3 Tb. very finely chopped parsley

1½ tsp. sugar

½ tsp. paprika

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper

Cook bow tie noodles, rinse in cold water, and drain. Set aside.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl, and toss thoroughly. Serve chilled.

Fast. Easy. Tasty.

Recipes Complete: 14

Recipes to Go: 16

30 Before 30: Salmon Meuniere (#1)

I love, love, LOVE sockeye salmon. It makes for delicious lox. It makes for delicious dinners. It basically makes for delicious everything. I usually just bake it with lemon and butter and call it good, but since I'm doing my 30 before 30, I wanted to try something new. Well new resulted in very similar flavors. It was fun anyway, as are most Alton Brown recipes.

Very rarely do I have to double a recipe. The one posted below is for one. Double everything and turn up the heat a bit.

Salmon Meuniere via Good Eats – The Early Years:

1 8 oz. skin-on sockeye fillet (or trout, if you're into river fish)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tb. canola oil

2 Tb. unsalted butter, divided

1 Tb. capers, drained but not rinsed

1/2 medium lemon, juiced

2 Tb. finely chopped parsley

Put a 12-inch skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat, avoiding non-stick.

Season flesh side of salmon with salt and pepper. Dredge fish with all-purpose flour. I followed Alton's tip here to put a 1/2 cup per fillet into a lidded rectangular container, cover with the lid, and gently shake it. Shake off the excess flour and move along. So much easier than regular dredging!

Add oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to hot pan. The butter will melt, then foam, then turn light brown. My pan was a wee bit too hot and the butter proceeded almost immediately to medium brown. It was a nuttier flavor and good, but not my intention.

Add fish to pan, flesh side down. Gently jiggle the pan to make sure there's not sticking. Cook until a golden crust forms on the fish, about 2 minutes. If the fat in the pan starts smoking around the edges, drop the heat a bit.

Using a slotted spatula or fish turner, flip the fish away from you and jiggle a little harder than before and cook another 2 minutes or until the meat facing up starts to flake or separate.

Remove fish to a plate. Add the remaining butter to the pan and when it melts, add the capers. Fry them for 30 seconds, then kill the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Swirl until sauce thickens slightly from the flour.

Pour the sauce over the salmon and garnish with parsley.

The one big benefit to this recipe as opposed to my old stand-by was how much faster it was. Oh, and who can say no to crispy salmon skin?

Recipes Complete: 1

Recipes to Go: 29

Sticky Lemon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze

One of the things I love most in this world is breakfast. Because I live in Portland, that means I join the throngs of people in love with brunch and, inevitably, waiting in line for brunch (seriously though, Screen Door is that good). Now that I've got a little man with an interesting sleep schedule (read: baby time is weird), I'm not doing so much standing in line. Though these tasty twists on a sticky roll are a bit time consuming, I think the steps would fit well into random baby sleep schedules. My glaze came out much thinner than is featured in the original, but was still very delicious. The bright flavor is perfect for winter mornings.

Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze via The Kitchn:

Makes 12 large breakfast rolls

3 large lemons, at room temperature

For the dough-
1 envelope (0.25 ounces, or 2½ tsp.) active yeast

¾ c. milk, warmed to about 100°F (warm but not hot on your wrist)
½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft, plus 3 Tb. more for roll assembly
¼ c. white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4½ c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 large eggs

For the sticky lemon filling-
1 c. sugar
¼ tsp. freshly-ground nutmeg
½ tsp. powdered ginger

For the lemon cream cheese glaze -
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar

Zest and juice the lemons. Divide the zest into three equal parts. One part will be used in the dough, a second part in the filling, and the final part will be sprinkled on top of the baked rolls for appearance and flavor.

Divide the juice into two equal parts, and set aside. Half of the lemon juice will be used in the lemon-sugar filling for the rolls. The other half will be used in the glaze.

To make the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let it sit for a few minutes or until foamy. With the mixer paddle, stir the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour into this milk and yeast mixture. Stir in the salt, nutmeg, and one part (1/3) of the lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough.

Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and pliable.

Lightly grease the top of the dough with vegetable oil, and turn the dough over so it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled — about one hour.
In a small bowl, mix 1 cup sugar with the nutmeg and ginger, then work in the second part of the lemon zest (1/3) with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles soft sand. Slowly pour in one part (1/2) of the lemon juice, stirring. Stop when the sugar and lemon juice form a thick, clumpy mixture like wet sand. (You may use all of the reserved half of the lemon juice; you may stop before completely adding that half of the lemon juice, depending on how much juice you got from your lemons.)

To assemble the rolls, lightly grease a 13x9-inch baking dish with baking spray or butter. On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large yet still thick rectangle — about 10x15 inches. Spread the dough evenly with 3 tablespoons of very soft unsalted butter, then spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Stretch and pull the dough taut as you roll, to keep the lemon sugar firm inside. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls. Pinch the bottom of each roll closed to help keep the lemon sugar inside, and place each one, open and cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.

Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap or a towel, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise for an hour before proceeding with baking.)

Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190°F.

While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze. In a small food processor (or with a mixer, or a sturdy whisk), whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the remaining part lemon juice and blend until well combined. This is where mine got thin. I had a lot of lemon juice. The easy correction would be to add in even more powdered sugar, but I think it works out well either way. Add the powdered sugar and blend until smooth and creamy.

When the rolls are done, smear them with the cream cheese glaze, and sprinkle the final part (1/3) of the lemon zest over top to garnish. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, but do serve while still warm.

These were a big hit and a fun, new way to have citrus for breakfast - maybe not in the healthy January way, but in the lazy Sunday way. 

Summer Fruit Galette

Summertime should be easy and so should summer desserts. Galettes are the best thing. Use the fruit you have and adjust the sugar as necessary. Berries will be release more juice, so make sure you fold those edges up nicely and use parchment paper for easy clean up. Below are the fruits I used, but feel free to change it up to anything you like.

Summer Fruit Galette:

Makes 2 8” galettes

1 full recipe galette dough

1 peach, peeled and sliced

2 small plums, sliced

2 apricots, sliced

2 Tb. lemon juice

¼ c. sugar

Citrus sugar for sprinkling

Prep the galette dough, let rest for at least an hour in the fridge, and bring back to room temperature while you prepare the fruit.

Mix the fruit in a medium size bowl. Toss with lemon juice and sugar and let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 400 degree and roll out your dough. It’s sticky, so you’ll need to add flour to your work surface and rolling pin. Work into about 10” circles and transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Take macerated fruit and pile in the middle of each galette circle. Fold over edges to make a crust. Freeform it – galettes are not the time to be super fancy. Sprinkle edges with citrus sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes or until fruit is bubbling and you have a nicely browned crust. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Though I do say this is a summer dessert, I won’t tell anyone if you have some for breakfast. Promise.

(Almost) Perfect Strawberry Jam

Ever have a recipe that doesn’t seem like it’s working out and then it mostly does? This is one of those recipes. By Lucy Baker (of The Boozy Baker that has shown up here and here in the blog), it was cooking strangely and ended up ½ pint short of the yield, causing me to waste a lid. And then it was opened and super delicious and it spreads really well. Yeah. Almost perfect.

(Almost) Perfect Strawberry Jam from Perfect Strawberry Jam via Serious Eats:

Yields 4 ½ pints

1½ c. sugar

2½ tsp. Pomona's Universal Pectin

4 c. coarsely chopped strawberries (from about 2 farm stand quarts)

1 Tb. freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 tsp. calcium water (included in the Pomona's packet)

¼ tsp. unsalted butter

1 c. honey

Whisk the sugar and pectin a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine the strawberries, lemon juice, calcium water, and butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the honey and the sugar-pectin mixture and return the fruit mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard for one minute. This takes a little longer than you might think, hence by comment about cooking strangely.

Remove pot from heat and skim any foam from surface of jam with cold metal spoon. Ladle jam into hot sterilized jars and process them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

It’s great with peanut butter or cream cheese or just on a spoon. Other similar pectin berries can replace the strawberries if you want to check this out right now and you can’t find those late season strawberries anywhere.

Beet Hummus

I had this whole plan to do some things to eat in hot weather, but you need to have cool weather beforehand to make it. Yes, I had a plan even though I haven't posted since June. But it's all super hot again. If you can stand to put the oven on for a bit, say early in the AM or later in the eve, you can have super tasty treats when it just gets so hot that even looking at the oven is too much.

This beet hummus was one of the very first things I starred in my reader. I'm glad I finally got to it. My version was not as vibrant as the original, but I also ended up using candy cane beets that were in my CSA. Still, this is fun, fairly easy, and perfect with cool slices of carrot and cucumber. And crackers. And pita chips.

Beet Hummus from Simply Recipes:

Makes 2 cups.

½ lb. beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed

2 Tb. tahini sesame seed paste

5 Tb. lemon juice

1 small clove garlic, chopped (I did more like 3)

1 Tb. ground cumin

1 Tb. lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)

Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

To cook the beets, cut off any tops, scrub the roots clean, put them in a covered dish with about ¼-inch of water in a 375°F oven, and cook until easily penetrated with a knife or fork.

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired.

Chill and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.

This tastes kind of like salsa and hummus got together and made a delicious snack baby.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

This one was the first recipe Aaron saw in Ad Hoc at Home that he really, really wanted to try. There are a lot of steps, so make sure you get yourself organized well ahead of time before digging into this one. It is very, very delicious though and Aaron and I were very impressed with the results as were Corey and Brian.  Best part of this? Corey is not much of a fried chicken fan, but enjoyed this meal. If you’ve been disillusioned by fast food fried chicken, I think this will change your mind. I’m listing a quarter recipe of Thomas Keller’s brine below, but because Aaron wasn’t a big fan of it, you can use any brine you normally use with poultry. Do stuff to your taste. I’m also doing a half recipe as that is what we did. I normally list a full one, but I think you all can figure this out. This makes more than enough chicken by itself.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Ad Hoc at Home:

Serve 4 to 6

4 lb. chicken

For the brine-

1 lemon, halved

6 bay leaves

¼ bunch flat leaf parsley

¼ bunch thyme

2 Tb. honey

¼ head of garlic

Handful peppercorns

½ c. kosher salt

½ gallon water

For dredging and frying-

Peanut or canola oil

½ qt. buttermilk

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the coating-

3 c. flour

2 Tb. garlic powder

2 Tb. onion powder

2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. cayenne

2 tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Sea salt or kosher salt for garnish

To make the brine, combine all of the ingredients in a large pot, cover, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring to dissolve the salt. Remove from heat and cool completely, then chill before using. The brine can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Cut the chicken into 10 pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 breast quarters, and 2 wings. Pour brine into a container large enough to hold the chicken piece, add in the chicken, and refrigerate for 12 hours only.

Remove the chicken from the brine and discard the brine. Rinse the chicken under cold water, removing any herbs or spices sticking to the skin. Pat or let air dry. Let rest at room temperature for 1½ hours, or until it comes to room temperature.

If you have 2 large pots, about 6” deep, and a lot of oil, you can cook the dark meat and the white meat at the same time; if not, cook the dark meat first, then turn up the heat and cook the white meat. Aaron did the latter method. No matter what size pot you have, the oil should not come more than 1/3 the way up the sides of the pot. Fill the pot with at least 2” of oil and heat to 320 degrees. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet. Have a second baking sheet ready.

Meanwhile, combine all of the coating ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer half the coating to a second large bowl. Pour the buttermilk into a third bowl and season with salt and pepper. Set up a dipping station: the chicken pieces, one bowl coating, the bowl of buttermilk, the second bowl of coating, and the second baking sheet.

Just before frying, dip the chicken thighs into the first bowl of coating, turning to coat and patting off the excess; dip them into the buttermilk, allowing the excess to run back into the bowl; then dip them into the second bowl of coating. Transfer to the baking sheet. Your hands will get messy, but it’s worth it.

Carefully lower thighs into the hot oil. Adjust the heat as necessary to return the oil to the proper temperature. Fry for 2 minutes, then carefully move the chicken pieces around in the oil and continue to fry, monitoring the oil temperature and turning the pieces as necessary for even cooking, 11 to 12 minutes, until the chicken is a deep golden brown, cooked through, and very crisp. Meanwhile, coat the drumsticks, and place on the baking sheet.

Transfer the cooked thighs to the cooking rack skin side up and let rest while you fry the remaining chicken. Putting the pieces skin side up will allow excess fat to drain. Make sure that the oil is at the correct temperature and cook the chicken drumsticks. When the drumsticks are done, lean them meat side up against the thighs to drain, then sprinkle the chicken with sea salt.

Turn up the heat and heat the oil to 340 degrees. Meanwhile, coat the chicken breasts and wings. Carefully lower the chicken breasts into the hot oil and fry for 7 minutes, or until golden brown, cooked through, and crisp (as you will with all the pieces). Transfer to the rack, sprinkle with salt, and turn skin side up. Cook the wings for 6 minutes or until done as before. Transfer the wings to the rack and turn off the heat.

Rest the chicken for 7 to 10 minutes before serving to allow it to all cool down. If it is too cool because of the timing of cooking everything, place in a 400 degree oven for a minute or two so the crust is crispy and the chicken hot.

We served these with biscuits, mashed potatoes, and green beans. If you plan it out, this makes for a great weekend meal. At the very least, it’s worth trying once.