Peach Pie

It's hot as hell and humid, too. Just the same, I took the bus down our local farmer's market to buy peaches as I was determined to make a pie today. Yes, it's kind of crazy to have the oven on in this weather but once I have my mind set on making something, it's pretty hard to stop me. The peaches looked better than they were but it worked out okay. I made the pastry yesterday so today I just had to roll it out. I cut the dough in half and rolled out one half to fit the bottom of a nine-inch pie plate. I put that in the refrigerator while I rolled the second half out into a large round. I put the round on a baking sheet then popped it into the refrigerator. I bought a large pot of water to a boil and cut a cross into each end of the peaches. I plunged them into the boiling water and almost immediately transfer them to a bowl of ice water so that I could slip off the skins. Unfortunately, the peaches were not free-stone so cutting them into wedges was messier than I would have liked. After peeling and slicing them I decided I didn't have enough so I took out a bag of frozen sliced peaches that I had from some recipe testing I'd done a few months ago. I thawed them and added them to the other peaches. I tossed the peaches with a mixture of tapioca I had ground in a spice grinder, a little cornstarch and about a cup and a quarter of sugar. I added some vanilla and just a touch of salt. The oven was set at 375°F and I had smartly lined a baking sheet with foil to catch any juices that overflowed. I filled the lined pie pan with the peach mixture then topped it with the rolled out circle that was on a baking sheet. I crimped the edges and brushed the top with a little milk. I sprinkled over about 2 tablespoons sugar and baked the pie for 30 minutes. Then I turned down the heat to 350°F and cooked it for another forty-five minutes. That's my peach pie! Hope it's good. Meanwhile, I thought I might as well start dinner. I browned some chicken thighs that I had marinated yesterday in lemon, garlic and rosemary. After they took on a nice golden color, I removed them to a plate and poured out some of the fat. I added a couple of chopped onions to the skillet and them over medium heat, stirring vigorously to pick up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. I poured in a little white wine and cooked the onions until most of the liquid had evaporated. Then I stirred in a cup of rice, some more rosemary and a couple of cups of chicken stock. I poured this mixture into a Le Creuset pot and put the thighs on top. It baked with the pie for thirty minutes. How i just have to re-heat it for dinner. That's my cooking adventure for today. Going out to lunch and dinner tomorrow so I get the day off! Hopefully the heat wave breaks tomorrow, too....

I'm only human!

My chicken thighs were good. Our good friend, Paul, called around 6:00 and wanted to know what we were doing for dinner so I invited him over. It worked out well. He bought a nice bottle of wine, some cheese and a baguette. After a glass or two of wine with some hummus I had on hand, we had melon and cottage cheese to begin with. (If I'd know we were having company I would have gotten some good prosciutto to go with the melon). The thighs came out just as I had hoped they would --- nicely browned, lemon-scented with rosemary and a nice pan-juice sauce. We had some cooked carrots, broccoli and green beans with the chicken and the couscous I mentioned yesterday. Next we opened another bottle of wine and had salad with the cheese that Paul picked up on his way over. There was a fresh "crottin" from Chavagnal and another, firmer goat cheese Paul likes called "Drunken Goat" and a Pont l"Eveque....It was perfect. Luckily I had the cherry tart to serve for dessert, along with some ice cream. For an impromptu dinner that I started putting together at 6:00, it wasn't bad. My friend, Susy, sent me a box of lemons from her tree in Arizona a few months ago. It was the best present I've gotten all year. They were delicious....I made many lemon goodies in the weeks that followed but my favorite was the limoncello. I carefully grated about twenty of the lemons, avoiding the bitter white pith. I soaked the zest in vodka for about two months then strained it. I mixed the lemon-flavored vodka with a simple syrup, bottled it and set it aside for two more months. We tasted it for the first time when Wes' niece, Dawn, who lives in Australia, was here last week....I served some ice cold in a chilled glass to Paul last night after dinner and he thought it was very good. Thanks, Susy---I'm reminded of your unyielding thoughtfulness with every sip of the limoncello...You're the best.....Going out to dinner tonight so I don't have to cook today...."Eat at home" is my mantra but I have to admit that it's nice to go out with friends from time to time and not have to worry about what to cook. I'm only human! More tomorrow.....

And Bob's your uncle........

The tart I made yesterday was a bit of a disappointment, mostly because the fruit had no taste. The cherry pie I made the other day so good because the sour cherries were bursting with flavor. These sweet cherries from California look nice but they don't make you want to sing. Anyway, the new tart is wet and sweet. Wes liked it so it's not a loss. The lesson here is that a fruit tart is really only going to be as good as the fruit you use. I made granola today. I've been on this kick for almost six months now, ever since my friend, Beth, brought me some that she'd made when she and her husband came over for dinner last fall. I've taken her recipe and tweaked it and tweaked it and tweaked it. What have I learned? Unrefined coconut oil is my favorite fat and maple syrup is my favorite sweetener. Beth uses olive oil and that's really very good but the texture of the cereal is awfully nice when you use coconut oil. I've tried adding a little butter, too, and while it tastes wonderful, it's a little too rich. Beth says to use brown rice syrup and that's perfectly fine but i like the texture of the granola when you use maple syrup. My next best favorite sweetener is brown sugar. Honey didn't work for me. It was too sticky whereas with the maple syrup, the ingredients stand apart better and makes it all crunchy. I'll do a more complete post about it later. Halas, I digress. I just marinated some chicken thighs for tonight's dinner. I trimmed fat thighs then made a twiggy paste out of garlic, coarse salt and rosemary using my mortar and pestle. I smeared the thighs with this mixture then put them in a ziplock bag and squeezed a lemon into the bag. In a couple of hours I'll brown them on top of the stove then put them in the oven to finish cooking. I'll take them out, put them on a plate and cover them with foil. I'll pour off the fat and deglaze the pan with some white wine and add some chicken stock. After that reduces, I'll add some lemon juice. Sounds good, n'est-ce pas? I have some leftover cooked couscous that I'm going to mix with soaked currants and toasted pine nuts. I'll put that in a buttered ramekin, put them in a pan and pour in boiling water to cover about halfway up the sides of the ramekin and put them in the oven until I'm ready to serve the chicken. I'll cook some tender green beans I bought yesterday to go with it all and ... Bob's your uncle!!! Until another day....

Stuff that's about to go bad......

Haven't done this in a while. Thought I might give it a go again, even though it's been five years! I made a pie today from recycled goods. At the market last week, I bought about $20 worth of sour cherries and the next day, decided I should do something with them. So I made a pie. It was good. I had some leftover pastry so today, I decided to roll it out to fit a tart mold. I had some sweet cherries in the refrigerator that needed to be used so I pitted them, mixed them with some blueberries that were about to go bad along with ground tapioca, cornstarch, sugar and a little cinnamon. I put that in the tart shell and topped it with a simple streusel mix and baked it I'll let you know how it comes out. I love using up what's about to go bad.