PIE STYLE I started learning to cook – like most – with ramen noodles. I thought I was quite the thing adding mushrooms or garlic or parmesan. Faced with the rare occasion of cooking for company, I had 3 three signature dishes: shrimp fried rice, twice baked potatoes and spaghetti – all served with an iceberg lettuce-based salad topped with what I called 1000 Island dressing or as McDonald’s calls it, special sauce. No company, no fried rice. I lived on Chinese food, leftover Chinese food and tuna salad. I flirted briefly with salad stuffed in a pita with feta and Italian dressing. I went on like this for 15 years. Then I got married, moved to the county and was forced to get down to business. I started with meat and potatoes, moved to casseroles and onto Cordon pale-Bleu. [Or pale Cordon Bleu] ]. I taught myself to can, fruit, vegetables, salsas and relish. By the time, I moved from the farm I could can have canned newspaper and sell sold it at the Farmer’s Market. When I started catering reunions, it was inevitbleinevitable I’d have to tackle desserts. Baking and pastries are the most difficult of the culinary arts. There is room for negotiating in cooking. There is lots of play in grilling. Baking and pastry requires a lot of precision in measuring and cook time. Still it was time to conquer the Bundt, pie and muffin pan. In the movie, Waitress, the lead character pours her heart into baking to avoid her unsatisfactory marriage. Since it is fiction the writer came up with fictional creations such as: Spanish Dancer pie which we are only told has a potato crust. Or “ I CAN’T HAVE NO AFFAIR BECAUSE IT’S WRONG AND I DON’T WANT EARL TO KILL ME PIE” – vanilla custard with a whole banana. Hold the banana … I decided to come up with my own pie recipes. Who would know if I got it wrong? During our abundant fig season I made a “Don’t Give a Fig Pie.” At a dinner someone brought a “Damn Good Pie.” I took out the pineapple and renamed it “Humble Pie.” Pies are a great place to start in the realm of desserts; ,whether your recipe or a traditional one. The dimensions are fixed. No need to worry about multi-layers or soufflés falling. I’ve included an easy recipe here. Note: Recipes may not have been kitchen tested, except by my patience. 3 min. cheesecake 1/3 cup lemon juice 8 oz cream cheese 8 oz condensed milk Let set up in the refrigerator. Add fresh berries macerated with a bit of sugar, lemon curd or jam. Edited by Lisa Yarnell
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 04:18:27 +0000
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