Tuesday, September 22, 2009

making pie easy as pie

Mark Bittman comes through again.

Here's a really easy way to make pie crust. The key is, instead of rolling the dough to fit the top of the pan, you simply cut it into triangles and throw it haphazardly on top. Though not as classic, the final result is still pretty, and it tastes delicious.

Bittman officially calls it "Stone Fruit Patchwork Bake":
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into about 8 pieces, more for dish
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, more for rolling
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar [or to taste - depends on how sweet the fruit is]
3 pounds peaches, seeded and sliced (about 5 large)
1 cup cherries, stones in or pitted
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice.

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees and butter a 9-by-13-inch or similar-size baking dish; set aside. In a food processor, combine 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, the salt and 1 tablespoon sugar; pulse once or twice. Add butter and turn on machine; process until butter and flour are blended and mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, about 15 to 20 seconds. Slowly add 1/4 cup ice water through feed tube and process until just combined. Form dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic and freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (You can refrigerate dough for up to a couple of days, or freeze it, tightly wrapped, for up to a couple of weeks.)

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl toss fruit with remaining flour, 3/4 cup sugar and lemon juice; place in baking dish.

3. Put dough on a floured board or countertop and sprinkle with more flour. Roll dough into a 12-inch round, adding flour and rotating and turning dough as needed. Cut dough into 3-inch-wide strips, then cut again crosswise into 4-inch-long pieces. Scatter pieces over fruit in an overlapping patchwork pattern.

4. Brush top of dough lightly with water and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Transfer to oven and bake until top is golden brown and juices bubble, 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool; serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Here's a link to Bittman's helpful (and humorous) video.

I used peaches and blueberries. Here's the result:


And here it is served with homemade vanilla ice cream:

field notes from the kitchen


Name: Fatali Chili
Description: small chili pepper, relatively fat, turns yellow when ripe
Directions:
1.Cut very very small slice of chili, put in mouth. Notice first the interesting and pungent flavor. Note next a bit of heat. Appreciate that this pepper, unlike the previous chilis you've gotten from your CSA, is not bland. Next notice that there is a LOT of heat. Immediately spit very very small slice of chili into the garbage can. Wonder why mouth won't stop burning for next 20 minutes despite drinking several glasses of milk. Observe that this is the first pepper you've eaten that makes your gums hurt.
2. Successfully convince wife to eat even smaller piece of pepper, with same results.
3. Unsuccessfully convince brother in law to eat pepper
4. After two days, compost remaining chunk of pepper, ponder fate of the two others you foolishly picked at the farm on saturday
5. blog about experience

Thursday, September 3, 2009

A Typical Waltham Fields Pick-Up





















We finally got around to taking a picture of our Waltham Fields CSA weekly share!

Our haul, clockwise from top left: carrots, Verrill Farm corn, collards, in the colander - Genovese basil, Thai basil and parsley, tomatillos, several kinds of hot peppers, cucumbers, red onions, zucchini, and watermelon. In the middle are globe eggplants and summer squash (including a pattypan squash).

We've also picked our own green, yellow and purple beans, husk cherries, raspberries this week, and strawberries. We've gotten a couple tomatoes saved before late blight got to it, kale, chard, sweet yellow onions, shallots, green bell peppers, kohlrabi, green garlic, potatoes, and beets. I'm sure I'm missing other items, but overall we've been very happy with our CSA (and having a place to put our weekly compost, too, even though our compost bucket is incredibly funky smelling now).