Rhubarb Custard Pie

Some friends asked if we wanted some rhubarb. I said yep and my husband went to get it.  He came back with a ginormous pile! I processed and froze most of it...but not all of it! One of my favorite pies is rhubarb custard pie. It is super easy and a delicious way to get your veggies? I added a pistachio for no real reason but to do something different.  It is just fabulous without it, and I am not sure it added anything to it, but it looked interesting and pretty and that is important...right?
I am back to using my mom's pie crust recipe. I have tried others, but they just don't do the job as well as this one!

Rhubarb Custard Pie
1 unbaked pie shell
3-4 cups of rhubarb, cut up into nice little pieces
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs beaten to within a inch of their lives
1 cup heavy whipping cream, ya boy!!
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt

Put the rhubarb in the pie shell.
Mix all the other ingredients together and pour over the rhubarb (yes, it is seriously that simple)
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 and then lower to 350 and cook another 40.
Pull it out and cool and put vanilla ice cream on it and devour!

When I use my frozen rhubarb I will make sure it is thawed and patted extra dry and maybe add another tablespoon of flour.

Pie Crust
Combine
2 1⁄2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
Cut into flour with a pastry cutter or knife until it looks like cornmeal
Combine
1⁄4 cup cold water
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 egg, beaten
Add liquids to dry ingredients with a fork until dough sticks together. Divide into two balls. Place ball
between two pieces of waxed paper. Place upside down pie pan on top of rolled out dough and flip over.
Remove last piece of waxed paper. Fit loosely into pan and trim edge 1⁄2 to 1 inch beyond edge. Crimp
edges with fingers. Fill and bake according to recipe. If baked pie shell is needed, prick bottom and sides
well with a fork and bake at 375 degree for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 2 9-inch
pie crusts.

Buttery Onion Soup

You heard me. Butter+Onion+Soup...oh and + mozzarella cheese....this is what heaven tastes like. That sounds weird, but whatever. It is sooooo goooood! I have always liked french onion soup, but I have to say I love this onion soup even more! So if you like soup and butter, and onions aaaaaannnndddd mozzarella cheese...then here you go!

Buttery Onion Soup

2 cups thinly sliced onions ( I used sweet onions)
1/2 cup of butter, cubed
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk (I replaced some with cream...boy howdy)
2 cups mozzarella cheese (you can use less if you are boring)
salt and pepper until it tastes awesome
I also added a couple dashes of savory, because it smelt good.  Other herbs would be great in it also. experiement a little. 

• In your favorite soup pot...cook onions in the butter on low heat until tender and transparent, about 20 minutes. I always add a dash or two of salt also. Because I love the to taste test and tast testing buttery salted onions is like majorly rad. 
• Stir in the flour and cook for another minute. Slowly add broth and milk; cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly. Reduce to low and add cheese, salt, pepper and other herbs. Stir until melted but do not boil.
• See that was easy!!
• 
  

Roasted Chicken in my Oven makes me Happy!

I always loved buying a rotisserie chicken. They were hot and tasty and you could make a wonderful bone broth with them. Out here in rural r us, reasonably priced groceries are just not as available. I started buying whole chickens at Costco and freezing them to roast in the oven.  I had been using a very good recipe from Barefoot Contessa, but then this one came up from New York times that caught my eye. It said to use rhubarb, but I didn't have any, but I had blackberries and thought they might go well with chicken....and boy howdy they did! So my husband declared this chicken a triumph and bonus it made an incredible broth for what become chicken noodle soup. So Bon Appetite!

Roast Chicken with Blackberry Sauce

For the Chicken:
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3/4 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 large garlic clove, grated or minced
1 whole chicken, cleaned out (which means reach in that cavity and pull out the neck and gizzards..so gross)
3 thyme sprigs (I just used dried thyme..but I am going to plant lemon thyme and use that!)
1 purple onion, sliced into rings, salted and put to the side.

In a small bowl, combine salt, ground coriander, lemon zest, ginger, pepper and garlic. Rub it all over chicken, including inside the cavity and under the skin. Stuff Thyme springs into the cavity (or just shake some dried herbs in it)

Place chicken in pan, and marinate, uncovered, in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or preferabley overnight (I did 3 hours and it was awesome)

When ready to roast the chicken, heat oven to 425 degrees....that's hot baby...generously pour olive oil over the chicken. Put blackberry sauce on top of the chicken.  Roast for 20-25 minutes and then lower the temperture in the oven to 400 degrees. Place onions around the chicken. Roast for another 25 -30 minutes until the skin is golden and the internal temperature in the breast registers 165 degrees.
Let rest for as long as you can stand it up to 10 minutes. Slice and add gather the blackberry sauce as a garnish. mmmmmm.....

Blackberry Sauce
1/2 cup blackberries, crushed
1/8 cup chicken broth
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon lemon thyme

Boil together. and simer until thick.  5 minutes.

I am not adding a picture, cuz the ones I took look terrible...but I will add one when I do it again.

Chicken Pot Pie for the Family

                                   Chicken Pot Pie

You know what I love? Yes, I do love that, and that and yes, lots of things…but I really love chicken pot pie! Just ya, soooo good. Luckily my family likes it also, so whenever I have leftover chicken, I make an excuse to make chicken pot pie. So tonight, I am making chicken pot pie (yes, I am just typing chicken pot pie as much as possible)

Planting taters!

Of course I like anything that starts with sautéing an onion, garlic and various and sundry vegetables. Sometimes I add potatoes from the huge bags that keep showing up from generous famers, but I didn't this time. I don't know why? I got to watch them plant potatoes last week in the field next to me! So cool. So anyways...here we go!

Recipe and stream of consciousness commentary:

In a large saute pan on medium heat add:

1 teaspoon of oil and a pat of butter (I just love the taste of vegetables and butter)

½ onion, chopped (and if you can hunt and gather it from a field near by your house, go for it …ps it was legal they had already harvested…we just hunted and gathered what was leftover)

2 garlic cloves, minced or pushed through that cool garlic press thing…I guess it is called a garlic press, who knew?Probably you...

Sauté those for a bit and then add:

3 carrots peeled and diced

3 celery stalks, chopped

½-1 cup of peas (just depending on your love of peas and how much is left over in the freezer

Once all these veggies are soft and fragrant (ps I add a pinch of salt to them as they cook down)

Add:

¾ cups of flour and stir it into the vegetables for a minute

Stir in:

 2 cups of chicken broth

½ cup milk (I had some sour cream so I put a dollop of it in also

Add salt and pepper to taste and viola! You made your own cream of chicken soup with vegetables!

Turn to medium-low and stir until thick and bubbly. If too think add some more milk and cream.

Add 2 cups of shredded or diced chicken and stir baby stir.

Pour into pie crust. Add top crust and put 4 slits in the top so it won’t explode.

Cook at 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes, and leave it warming in the oven until your husband comes home from work.

 

Butter Pie Crust

I usually make a different pie crust that you can find on here somewhere. But, I didn’t have shortening and did I mention I love butter…so I am trying this one.

It works for one 9-inch double pie crust…aka the top and the bottom, or two bottoms or two tops

Start with 2 ½ cups flour

Add:

1 teaspoon of salt

1 Tablespoon sugar (the recipe says optional…whatever, sugar is never optional in my world)

Mix it a bit and add:

1 cup very cold butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

Use a pastry cutter thing or a couple of knives and cut the butter into flour mixture until crumbly and pea size

Add 8 tablespoon of ice water

Press the dough into itself using a rubber spatula. The crumbs should begin to for larger clusters. The dough should start holding together.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place in a mound on a semi clean surface. Kidding! It should be mostly clean and move the magazines and mail a little further away from where you plopped the dough, or they will be doughy too…maybe a friend had this experience. Perhaps.

Work the dough just enough to form a ball. Cut ball in half and wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge

When thou art ready to roll, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. I like to put it on parchment paper, cut parchment paper is the bomb and make it easier to transfer to a pie pan without a disaster. (See title of blog)

Roll, roll, roll that dough until nice and round. Make sure it fits upon the pan and slowly slide in on. (you can sing the entire last sentence to the tune of row, row, row your boat…just sayin’)

For better directions see the originator of the recipe at:

https://www.inspiredtaste.net/22662/flaky-pie-crust-recipe/

Blackberry Pavlovas and me

I have never ever not ever heard of a pavlova until...duhn duhn duhn duhn...Great British Bake-off. I still didn’t plan on making one because if it was on GBBO (wonder if that is the acronym they use or if it’s GBBo or GBB-O WTBBCS...we the bomb cooking show) it is probably over my head. Nevertheless, after each episode I go through and Pinterest the heck out of stuff they made...cuz dreams.

So back to the today...sort of...I made my own pasta last week. It uses a lot of egg yolks and I had a egg whites left over...what to do with them?? Hmmmm.... google how to use egg whites? Great idea. It says pavlovas....go to Pinterest and see if you pinned any after GBBO? Another superb idea....ahhhh yes...there it is! 

So in conclusion, I decided on this pavlova recipe and it was so much easier than I imagined and so much more difficult to eat cuz...it’s crispy and marshmallowy and blackberry-creamy. So what I’m saying is...make it and revel in the messy deliciousness! Ps pavlovas were named after Anna Pavlova a Russian Ballerina...but why tho’?

Yes, I used my finger to clean the extra cream off the plate...it’s the right thing to do. The wrong thing is I didn’t get all of it!

Pavlova with blackberry compote from fifteen spatulas

1/2 cup egg whites at room temperature (for seriously and I was unbelievably patient and did get it to room temp. Go me!)

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar 

1.5 tsp red or white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chantilly Cream (aka whipped cream with vanilla)

1 cup heavy whipping cream (I accidentally grabbed half and half and had to run out in the middle of cooking pavlovas to grab cream!😮)

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Blackberry compote (aka cooked berries with sugar)

12 oz blackberries (or whatever berries you have or desire!)

1 Tablespoon sugar (the author said optional...hahaha)

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

Zest of lemon (I didn’t do this because I used bottled juice) 

To make he pavlova:

First position

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and use parchment paper to line a baking sheet cuz parchment paper is the bestestestest.

Second position:

Whip those egg whites....with the cream of tartar and salt. Stand, hand or real hand mixer...whatever just mix until foamy. About 60 seconds for those using electricity.

Third position (do you get me hilarious reference to ballet yet?)

Time for the rest of the stuff! Add sugar, cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla and whip on high until it is irresistibly glossy with stiff peaks.

Plié (hey, it only takes one person to think I’m funny and I count as 1)

Take a big soup type spoon and get a big ol’ dollop of this silky, creamy stuff and make a nice round nest. Swirl it and make it look purty. Only about 1.5 inches tall and 3 or 4 inches across.  You should be able to make six.  Try to keep them far apart from each other because honey, they grow! 

Allégro

Bake these puppies aka pavlovas for 10 minutes and then turn down the oven to 300 degrees and cook for another 40 minutes (and if you need to run out and buy your heavy cream, now is the time)

The pavlovas will expand turn lightly toasty tan and crack a bit.

When the 40 minutes are up, turn off the oven but prop open the door and let the pavlovas slowly cool in the oven ( and don’t keep opening and closing the oven door because you keep forgetting you are leaving it open on purpose and remembering you are leaving it open and then forgetting again...maybe true story)

Chantilly cream and a pretty face...or something 

Pour the cream into a bowl and mix it until thick and then add the sugar and vanilla and mix until you can’t stand it any longer and have to taste test it...I mean until it forms nice soft peaks that need to be tested repeatedly with your finer...I mean spoon, I mean...just lick the beaters.

Blackberry Compote (not to be confused with compost)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium for 8-10 minutes until soft and juicy. I also mashed them down.

Now for the fun part...Plating!

Place each fancy pants pavlova onto a plate. Dollop your delicious chantilly cream on top and then add the compote. Ta-da!

Now you feel all fancy and stuff!

Ps we eventually used a knife to cut through the marshmallowy inside. Just a tip!

Let me know if you try it!

https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/pavlova-with-white-zinfandel-blackberry-compote/

Roasted Sweet Potato and Chickpeas

I pinned this recipe from http://avocadopesto.com/2014/07/20/sweet-potato-chickpea-salad-gluten-free-vegan/  because I love, Love LOVE roasted sweet potato.  I made a few changes, but it is delicious!  So enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled, and diced,
• 2 tablespoon coconut oil
• salt, pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp ground cumin (or to taste)
• ½ medium red onion, diced
• 2-4 cloves garlic minced
• large handful parsley or cilantro, chopped
• 1 lemon, zested
• ½ a lemon, juiced

Instructions

1. Heat pan over medium heat and add oil. Cook diced sweet potatoes until lightly browned on all sides and cooked through. Add salt, pepper to taste and half the cumin powder .  Remove the sweet potatoes and add the chickpeas to roast. 
2. In a large bowl , garlic, onion, and parsley.
3. To the bowl add the sweet potato, chickpeas with the lemon juice and zest,
4. Toss to combine. Add additional olive oil (up to one tablespoon -- optional).

Vegetable Quiche

I had a friend at work give me a piece of the quiche that she made.  It was so good, and then I got the craving for more!   I happen to be watching my parent's house while they were out of town, which means that I am the collector of the chicken eggs.  Then, someone at work donated a bunch of hatch chilies, so I grabbed a handful and I grabbed all the other vegetables I had in my house and voila...quiche!!!  Now I have something to eat for lunch all week!  woohoo!!!


Vegetable Quiche

2 pie crusts
10 eggs
3/4 cup greek yogurt
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1/3 of an onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tomato chopped
2 handfuls of spinach, kale or other leafy green (I used one that had spinach, kale and collard greens)
1/3 of a red bell pepper chopped
1/2 cup chopped roasted green chilies
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and red bell pepper to the oil. Saute for 3-4 minutes, add garlic and saute another minute. Add spinac, tomato and green chilies and cook just until spinach starts to wilt. Turn off heat and set aside. Spinach will continue to wilt.
3. Place Greek yogurt in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add eggs, two at a time, whisking after each addition until smooth. Add grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Pour egg mixture into prepared quiche dish. Top with spinach mixture (much of the spinach mixture will sink into the eggs).
5. Bake in a preheated oven until eggs have set, about 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.