Rhubarb (Peach) Pie

So...I haven't posted here in a really, really long time. What can I say? I got distracted. And cooking feels like a hassle to me when I have to photograph everything. But I've been sitting on these photos for months now, and I have no excuse for failing to share this recipe.


Pie is my very favorite dessert in the world. All that fruit feels virtuous, plus it's one of those rare foods that seems daunting but is easier than it appears. Lots of people have told me they couldn't make pie. I get it. All that stuff about "cutting in" and not letting gluten form in the crust probably sounds as mysterious to a lot of folks as "proofing yeast" and not overkneading bread dough sounded to me. But just like I managed to turn out a decent loaf of bread my first time, you can do the same with pie.



This is my grandma's pie crust recipe, and she made the best pies in the world. The secret is in the liquids: vinegar, unlike water, prevents gluten from forming when you work the dough (gluten makes the crust tough and chewy), and the egg keeps the crust from falling apart when you roll it out.


Grandma Frieda's Pie Crust

3 cups flour (unbleached, all-purpose, unsifted because I'm lazy)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups butter (or, if you can find it, fresh lard)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon vinegar
up to 5 Tablespoons ice water

1. Mix flour and salt. Dice the butter into 1/2 inch cubes (this makes the next step easier and faster, which keeps the butter colder, which prevents gluten formation).

2. Cut in the butter. You can use a pastry cutter or two knives, but I prefer to use my hands, picking up handfuls of the mixture and rubbing it between my hands. You're finished when the mixture resembles small peas.

3. Beat the egg with the vinegar and mix in. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time until you are able to form a ball with the dough.

Yields four 8 or 9 inch crusts (two double-crusted pies), or three 10 inch crusts.

Rhubarb Pie

Saran or other plastic wrap
2 10-inch pie crusts from recipe above
7 cups rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar
pinch salt
milk or egg white

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450. Place Saran wrap on counter. Dust with flour. Place one crust over it, dust with flour, and roll out. Place in a 10-inch pie plate, preferably glass.

2. In a large bowl, mix rhubarb, cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Place in pie crust.

3. Roll out second crust. You can just place it on top and poke some vents in it, but I like to make a lattice crust. Using a butter knife, cut into 3/4 inch strips. Use two of the longest strips to make a cross in the center of the pie with the vertical strip on top. Add two more horizontal strips, top and bottom, above the vertical strip. Continue to work outward to the edges of the pie, folding the strips back as needed. Here's a video, in case, like me, you can't visualize anything spatial.

4. Brush the top crust with milk or egg white. This makes it shiny and pretty.

5. Bake 10 minutes at 450. Turn the oven down to 350 and bake an additional 50 to 55 minutes, until the crust is golden. Remove from oven and let cool at least 10-15 minutes before cutting. Best still warm from the oven, but good for breakfast too.



Since rhubarb season is long over and we are right in the heart of peach season, I suggest using them instead:

7 cups peaches, peeled and sliced.
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch



Tune in next time to hear about the travails of trying to eat well in a non-air-conditioned apartment. Or, why I haven't been cooking much the last few months.

Pork Chops with Apple Chutney and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

A classic dish, ever so slightly modernized. I love apples with savory pork products and make all sorts of variations on the apples and pork combo every fall. (Okay, 90% of this is apples sauteed in bacon lard, but whatever.) I realize that it's May, but it's supposed to snow tonight, so cold-weather food feels appropriate.

I've ordered the recipes for this meal in the order you should start preparing them. Sauce comes first, because it's easy to keep warm if it's done too early. Start by preheating your oven to 400.


Apple Chutney
Serves 4
I'll confess, I've never made this before, but I wanted to get apples and onions into one dish, so here's what I came up with.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 apples, cored and sliced*
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons plus one pinch sugar (I prefer brown, but white works too)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1. Heat the olive oil over low-medium heat in a medium saucepan while you dice the onions. Saute the onions with a pinch of sugar (to help them carmelize) until they are golden in color, stirring frequently.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring frequently until the apples are mushy, 20 minutes minimum, or up to 40 depending on how mushy you like your sauce.

*I personally like the texture of the skins, so I leave them on. Peel if you wish, but you're sacrificing flavor for texture.


Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Once the sauce is simmering, cut up 1 sweet potato per person. Toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Roast at 400 until tender, at least 20 minutes or up to 40.


Pork Chops

4 center-cut pork chops
salt and pepper
flour for dredging
2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil

Find the fattiest pork you can. If you must use supermarket pork, try marinating it for up to 4 hours in salted milk, as this will help make it tender.

Rub the pork with salt and pepper, dip it in milk, and dredge it in flour. Heat oil over high heat, then add the pork and cook until golden on both sides. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, turning once or twice, until it reaches an internal temperature of 140** and, if cut into, is slightly pink with clear-running juices.

**The FDA recommends cooking pork to 160, but don't listen to them unless you're pregnant, have a weakened immune system, or like extremely tough meat.


I finished off my meal with braised spinach.

Apfelkuchen

I work for a judge, and every other week, all the judges in the court meet over breakfast, and they rotate who brings food. This week it's our chambers' turn to bring the goodies, and my judge, who knows I like to cook, asked me to make something.

My first thought was to make baked apples tossed in butter, spices, and sugar with granola baked on top. Because I hate cloyingly sweet things for breakfast. But the judge said that many of the other judges liked stuff that was a bit more decadent.

My next thought was to bake a pie...I make good pies, and I love pie for breakfast. Then I remembered that it's March and no fruit is in season. I looked at a bunch of recipes and eventually stumbled across one for coffee cake, which reminded me of this recipe that I became pretty much obsessed with this summer. I made it with peaches, I made it with plums, and then I made it with peaches again.

This being March, I decided to adapt it for apples. I also made Blueberry Boy Bait with frozen blueberries, and it's delicious...very buttery and only slightly sweet, it's an ideal breakfast cake. Plus, it was super easy. To adapt it to our altitude, reduce baking powder to a generous 2 1/2 teaspoons. To make the night before, wrap the pan in foil when you remove it from the oven to keep the boy bait as moist as possible.

Apfelkuchen
Adapted from Gourmet, via Smitten Kitchen.

2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup tepid water (about skin temperature, 90F)
2 cups (267 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (18 grams) all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup sugar (220 grams), divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (124 grams) at room temperature
1 large egg, warmed in shell in warm water five minutes
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 sticks (5 ounces or 142 grams) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and softened, divided
3/4 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c raisins
1/4 c rum
3/4 pound apples, peeled, quartered, and thinly sliced crosswise (about 1 apple)

Pour the rum over the raisins to soak. Stir together yeast and warm water in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about five minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Add two cups flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt, yogurt, egg, spices, and vanilla to yeast mixture and mix at medium-low speed 1 minute. Beat in one stick of the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Beat at medium speed until dough is smooth and shiny, about five minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.) Scrape down side of bowl and sprinkle dough with remaining two tablespoons flour. Cover bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Butter a baking sheet. Cream the remaining two tablespoons butter with the remaining 1/3 c sugar, then mix in the walnuts and raisins. Spread the mixture in bottom of a 8- or 9- inch square (I used a 7 x11, because that's what I had) baking pan. Slice and peel the apple and arrange in one layer in the pan.

Stir dough until flour is incorporated, then spread evenly over apples. Loosely cover with buttered plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Bake until kuchen is golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan five minutes, then invert and unmold onto a rack to cool completely.

Serve with additional yogurt, lightly sweetened, or sweetened crème fraîche.

For an uglier, but longer-lasting, kuchen, dice the apples, mix with the butter, sugar, raisins, and nuts, and fold into the dough before spreading it into a greased baking pan.