From the garden

Well after a hot and dry summer my garden harvest has started. So, far two spaghetti squash, two single serving size of red peppers, one single serving butternut squash, and one sugar pumpkin, three pumpkins are still on the vine waiting to ripen. Well, there is always next season.

No fail pie crust?

Salted butter cut lengthwise

The only two tools needed

Knead the butter

Roll it out into a rectangle

Fold into thirds

Roll it out into a rectangle again

Form a disk and let it rest

Form two discs let it rest and it is ready to use or freeze

How is this possible? OR, is this possible? I try very hard to get the perfect pie crust but it in not easy... if you have tried you know what I mean. Too wet, too tough, not flaky, and just plain bad. It seems that it should not be that hard but it can be tricky. I have in the past used my trusty food processor to make pie crust. Pulse the butter(unsalted) and flour and salt to get small pea size crumbs.... then slowly add ice cold water but not too much to make a sticky dough and of course not mix it too much or it will be tough. What ever that means. I found this recipe on Chez Pim blog and of course I was intrigued. No fail. Now that I am on the hunt for the perfect "state" fair pies I want to perfect my pie crust. So here we go. I have not made a pie today the pie dough is put away in the freezer until I find a traditional pie recipe  or something that catches my eye to create a Blue Ribbon winner.
The first thing that was different was the use of salted butter then you use your hands to knead the dough. You roll and fold the dough just like puff pastry dough. It seems easy enough and it was. Simple ingredients- flour, salted dough and water, knead and fold and there you have it.
So, it will stay in the freezer until I make the decision on the pie for my great "state" fair pie adventure.

It's Apple Dumpling Day

Apple Dumpling from Brown's Brew Pub in Troy, NY

Enjoy! With or without ice cream it's your choice.

Make room for...

When I rearranged my work area in my kitchen I purged many of my cookbooks. But old habits die hard. I did make room in my work space but it seems that new cookbooks are finding their way into the new space.  So here are my new acquisitions-- Patisseries Paris photographs by Alison Harris published by The Little Brookroom, next Pairs Patisseries: History, Shops, Recipes, forward by Pierre Herme published by Flammarion, and last around my french table by Dorie Greenspan published by Houghlin Mifflin Harcourt.  That is it for now....

Comfort food: Mac & Cheese

The ultimate comfort food? Mashed potatoes, chicken and dumplings? For me it's Mac & cheese. I have a long love affair of this food. It all started with the blue box. I ate this all time growing up. To me THIS was macaroni and cheese. Then I grew up, and moved to the macaroni and cheese with Velveeta. When I met my mother in law I was introduced to homemade mac & cheese. WOW! This is what I want to eat all the time- forever!!! It is a simple recipe to make. Elbow macaroni, cheese, I use several types of cheeses, sharp Cheddar, white Cheddar, fontina  or what ever you prefer, and a little milk. These ingredients together make the best comfort food for me. If I make a 9 x 13 pan I can eat the entire pan in a sitting, so I don't make it that often anymore. Now, I make individual servings in small ramekins. Hmmm, I have macaroni in the cupboard, cheese and milk in fridge, I think I know what we are having for dinner!

Donut peach donuts

My food adventure this week is making and of course eating donut peach donuts. When I first saw this recipe I was curious, what are they? and what a weird name. The donut peach, is actuatly the name of the peach. Who knew? I was lucky to find these peaches at the farmers market last Thursday. Time was running out, this was the last week for these peaches. Ok, let's fry 'em up. Core the peaches and drege them in batter. This batter happened to be a light beer batter I found on the internet. I used Mythos beer. Fry for a few minutes in oil until golden brown and now you have deep fried donut peach donuts. This recipe is adapted from lunchatsixpoint.com