Pe-can, Pe-cahn, Pe-kin, it doesn’t matter how you say it, to most of us it means deliciousness. In general, pecan pie consists of corn syrup, eggs, spices and pecans. But I was looking for something more than a sticky sweet pie with nuts (excellent though that may be). Like my not-pumpkin pie recipe , I wanted to mix things up a little. A reinvention of this popular pie, taking what we love about it and adding something more. First off, the crust. Guess what? You don’t need pastry for this pecan pie! I decided to go with a graham cracker crust. Graham crackers, with their honey ...
ALL ABOUT PIE: PUMPKIN PIE UPGRADE
For Thanksgiving this year you could: Buy a premade pie crust, open a can of pumpkin, open a can of evaporated milk, throw in some eggs and some spices and be happy. Make your own pie crust and proceed as above. Do something completely different and make a pumpkin pie but better! I am not a food snob. If you chose to go with option a, that’s fine with me. But I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin pie so every year I find myself searching for something that will make the pumpkin pie fans happy and that I will like too. This year I think I found it. The secret? It’s not ...
ALL ABOUT PIE: FRUIT PIES (APPLE AND PEAR)
Apple Pie My mother took the phrase “Mom and Apple Pie” to heart. I don’t know if it was because we lived near an apple orchard or if she had a genuine love for apple pie but we ate a lot of apple pie growing up. Fortunately she made a great apple pie. Her apple pie was filled with apples, not flat thin slices but big chunks of apple. Her pastry was a high dome of crust over cinnamon, sugar and apples and nothing else. To me this is how an apple pie should be. (And apparently to my children as well. Once my daughter was looking at table full of pies brought to a Thanksgiving ...
ALL ABOUT PIE: THE PASTRY
Welcome to part one of All About Pie! This is intended to be a fun way to get you to the Thanksgiving table with a lovely homemade pie. I promise I will always show you the finished cooked pie (because it always looks great before you put it in the oven) and I will share my mistakes and lessons learned as well as my successes. On to pie! Pies were an important part of my upbringing. My mother made wonderful pies for every occasion. My father loved her mince pie, a carry-over from the British traditions of her family. My oldest brother loved her lemon meringue pie with its tart lemon ...
CRANBERRY CHERRY BUTTERNUT SQUASH MUFFINS
Yesterday I decided it was time to inaugurate my new oven. Which of course meant that once I was ready to get baking I discovered I had to wash all the parts and run it for two hours at a high temperature to burn off the factory oils. But once that was done I was ready to go. It’s pumpkin season, have you noticed? Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin candy, and more, fill the stores and shops and pages of magazines. But is it pumpkin flavor? No. It’s pumpkin spice. That’s because, to my mind, pumpkin doesn’t actually taste like much so we add lots of flavoring to ...
COOKING WITH FRIENDS: BUFFALO CHICKEN MACARONI AND CHEESE
It’s hard to believe that I am sitting at my desk in the library of my new home! In front of me is a huge window which looks out on the front of my house. It’s 4PM and the sun is pouring in the other window to my left while Peat, my cat, sleeps on the sofa behind me. It is almost a year ago exactly that I started working on the design and layout of the renovation, nine months since we started the demolition and one week since I met the movers at my front door. Three days ago this room was piled high with boxes. My daughter, Abby, and I spent most of Saturday opening, shifting, sorting ...
OTT0LENGHI’S EGGPLANT WITH BUTTERMILK SAUCE AND POMEGRANATE
This is a big week for me. I am moving into my new home! It’s kind of hard to believe the day is here at last, especially as the place is still crawling with painters and cabinet makers, but Caine says it will be done when the movers arrive and he is always good for his word. So I hope you will excuse me if this week’s offering is not one of my recipes but that of Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli-British chef, whose stated mission is “the idea of celebrating vegetables or pulses without making them taste like meat, or as complements to meat, but to be what they are.” Ottolenghi brings ...
Butternut Squash and Chicken Chili Because It’s Fall Y’all!
I had lunch the other day with some friends from England and we found ourselves talking about the long days of summer and the equally long nights of winter in that country. While they were all about loving the July and August evenings whose extra daylight hours keep the day alive until late in the night, I prefer the early darkness of fall and winter which gives me permission to sink into the cozy laziness of pajamas, tv and evening relaxation. For someone who enjoys the change of seasons so much, September and October were tinged with sadness for me when I lived in the tropical heat of ...
SUPER CHEESY LASAGNA WITH VEGETABLES
Oh, the poor underrated vegetable. Too often seen as an accompaniment to meat and fish, the vegetable is maligned by children (and some adults) who refuse to eat them, or even to take one bite. And to add insult to injury the secondary definition of vegetables is “a person having a dull or merely physical existence”. This is so unfair! Think about the smell of onions caramelizing in butter, imagine pizza without tomatoes, steak and potatoes without potatoes, chili without beans! My family will tell you that, while I am not a vegetarian, I do love all types of vegetables. And I love the ...
MURRAY COOKIES: THE EVOLUTION OF A RECIPE
I have been making these cookies for at least 50 years. Actually, I realized the other day that I don’t know when I first made them. When I was little my mother baked them for us. When I got older I made them with her. Somewhere along the way she stood back and I made them myself. These cookies however are not the same as my mother’s. Over time they have changed and been adapted until they became what they are today: a mixture of butterscotch and chocolate chips in a soft, sweet and salty oatmeal batter. This is my most requested recipe. And this is the story of how they became ...
