Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Macho Nacho Pie
Macho Nacho Pie
Macho, Macho Man......la la la la la la la laaaaaaaaa....... :-)
Yes, this is the song that went through my head as I made at this savory pie.....
Such a yummy pie....super easy peasy to make and full of great flavor! Dont be afraid to jazz up this pie to your liking. I added corn to the recipe but later thought about also adding chopped green peppers or even a little salsa or some diced green chilies.
Go ahead and be a "Macho Man" and make this recipe into your own!
Nacho Pie
(recipe adapted from Taste of Home)
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef - ground turkey or chicken can be easily substituted
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce
1/2 cup canned corn
2 Tbsps taco seasoning
1 tube (8oz.) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips, divided
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheese - Mexican blend, cheddar or monteray jack all all great cheeses to use
Directions:
1. In a large pan cook beef and onion over medium heat.....
Cook until beef is no longer pink. Drain any fat. Stir in tomato sauce, corn and taco seasoning....
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
Cook until beef is no longer pink. Drain any fat. Stir in tomato sauce, corn and taco seasoning....
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
2. While meat/tomato mix is simmering prepare pie crust. Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles. Place triangles into 9" pie pan with points of triangles towards the middle of pan. Seal all perforations together as you press crescent rolls onto the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.
3. Sprinkle 1 cup crushed chips onto bottom of crust......
Top with meat mixture and then layer carefully with sour cream....
Sprinkle with grated cheese and then the remaining crushed chips....
Top with meat mixture and then layer carefully with sour cream....
Sprinkle with grated cheese and then the remaining crushed chips....
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.....
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve with extra sour cream and a scoop of salsa.
Enjoy!
Happy Nacho Pie Baking!
This post has been linked up to Eat at Home Cooks.
Available link for download
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
matcha buttermilk chess pie
matcha buttermilk chess pie
Last October, I dragged Erlend out to Gowanus to pick up a couple slices of pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds. It was my first time at the pie shop, missing previous opportunities to go there (first when it was closed for the holidays, second when I had to abandon a Brooklyn breakfast crawl early to catch my flight). From the outside, the bakery lived up to its hype, with its mismatching tables and chalkboard menu giving it a twee, cozy vibe.
Because it was October and no fruits were really in season, they didn't have too many fruit pies to offer. Instead, they had a handful of buttermilk custard based pies, including a matcha buttermilk pie. Matcha (that is, green tea powder) is one of my favorite ingredients to bake with as it can give classic baked goods an interesting, unique twist (case in point: this recipe for matcha marble pound cake, or these matcha white chocolate macadamia cookies). It can be tricky to work with though — too much can make desserts too bitter, too umami (sometimes it can taste like seaweed!), and too little can be bland.
I'm sorry to report that, despite the brilliant green color of Four and Twenty Blackbirds' matcha pie, all three of us (Erlend, my friend Julie, and myself) found the pie too flavorless. There was no hint of matcha flavor in the custard at all — it seemed like Four and Twenty had played it too safe and ended up with a custard that was too bland. I returned back to San Francisco with a new goal of trying to create my own matcha buttermilk pie that would live up to my standards.
It took a few tries to get the recipe right. I first started experimenting with the buttermilk chess pie recipe in their cookbook, assuming that this was the recipe that they'd created their matcha pie with (though they also had a chamomile buttermilk pie recipe that the matcha pie could have been based on, so maybe I'm just flat-out wrong, which would make this entire post moot... but whatever).
The first iteration turned out to be... fine, just fine. The custard, which I'd spiked with three tablespoons of matcha, was far more flavorful than the version I'd had in their shop. The bigger problem was the crust. Since I'd recently discovered the magic of lard pie crusts, I'd foolishly decided to use one as a base for the matcha custard pie and it just didn't work. Together, the custard and the lard crust was almost... savory. Blegh.
So for the second iteration, I went with an all-butter crust. Even though I'm still a bigger fan of lard crust ('cuz even despite the icky factor, they're seriously much easier to work with), the all-butter crust's flavor and richness complemented the matcha custard far better. The weird, savory taste was completely gone.
But interestingly enough, the all-butter crust highlighted some problems in the matcha custard that I hadn't noticed before when it was paired with the lard crust. The original recipe from the cookbook uses both sour cream and vinegar (for some reason), both of which were overpowering the delicate flavor of the matcha. Not wanting to add more matcha, I decided to replace the sour cream with crème fraîche (its much milder sibling) and omit the vinegar entirely. And BOOM. Third time around, I think I nailed it.
So without further ado, the recipe for the matcha buttermilk pie Four and Twenty Blackbirds should be serving. No need to trek out to New York, no need to trek out to Gowanus. Their same pie, just better, fresher, and homemade.
You're welcome.
Some baker's notes:
- Matcha is available online, or in Asian grocery stores and specialty tea shops. Matcha tends to come in two different grades — ceremonial or culinary. Don't go for the ceremonial variety; it's used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies and made with young tea leaves that give it a much more delicate flavor than the culinary variety. Plus, it's significantly more expensive too. Stick with the culinary grade!
- In general, when baking a pie with a liquid-based filling (like custard or cream), you'll need to "pre-bake" the pie beforehand. Pre-baking, also known as "blind baking", basically gives the crust the additional baking time that it needs to turn into the crispy and flaky pie crust that we all know and love, since custards and creams usually don't need as long to bake. Also, pre-baking helps to prevent the pie crust from getting soggy, which is incredibly important — you don't want a sad, soggy-bottomed pie! Unfortunately, pre-baking also sucks up a crazy amount of time since there are a ton of steps that require working the dough and letting it rest appropriately. Whenever I bake a pie, I always break it up into three days. If I want a pie by the weekend that has a crust that needs prebaking, I make the pie crust on Thursday night (and let the dough rest overnight), roll it out on Friday night (and let the shaped and fitted dough rest overnight), and finish it up (pre-baking, making the custard, and baking one last time) on Saturday. It sounds like a marathon, I know, but for somebody like me who works a full-time job in addition to blogging, I find that it actually gives me more time back for the weekend.
- Also, to prebake the pie, you'll need some sort of pie weight to hold the crust down during its first bake. You can buy classic pie weights, or, if you don't want to spend money on something so specialized, you can substitute with a heat-conductive material liked beans or rice. The beans/rice will get a little toasty in the oven, but will still be edible!
- It took me many, many, MANY times filled with trial and error until I finally got comfortable with making pie crusts and started getting the results I wanted. This recipe for salty honey pie from last year contains a great summary of all my best pie baking tips — it's worth a read if you're embarking on one of my pie recipes, helping you understand why I'm so persnickety about the temperature of the ingredients and why I do things the way that I do.
Available link for download
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
maple pear pie with a cream cheese crust
maple pear pie with a cream cheese crust
When I told folks that I was moving to New York City, I usually got two reactions. The first, usually from friends who either lived in New York or had spent a significant amount of time there, was one of disdain and/or confusion. "Really?" the current residents asked, crossing their arms as if to defend the territory I was clearly about to usurp on. "Why?" The former residents usually smirked at me. "Good luck," they wrinkled their noses, before detailing the many, many reasons why they decided to leave the city, usually involving some combination of steep rents, smelly garbage, extreme weather, and the sight of too many people pooping their pants in public.
The second group, however, was far kinder. Usually these consisted of friends who had visited for a handful of days, or had never been but only seen experienced it through books, TV shows, and movies. "Oooh, you should get a loft like the one in Friends!" one of my acquaintances exclaimed, gleefully oblivious to the very scary reality that is the New York real estate market. Several of these friends promised to visit, forwarding me lists like "The Best Rooftop Bars in New York City" with the words "LET'S GO!" I imagine they saw me traipsing around the city in the style of Sex and the City, running in heels to different events every night with an iPhone in one hand and a cupcake in the other.
But here's the dirty truth: it's all of those things, yet none of those things.
Because mostly it's boring.
Okay, okay, before you guys get all up in arms about me saying that New York City is boring, it's not. Not really. There's a lot to do here. There are so many restaurants, museums, shows, and for the first few months I got here, it definitely seemed that I was going to an event — not a party, but an event — every night.
The reality of New York is that it's somewhere between the two camps of what I described above: there's the glamor, the glitz, and the celebrity alongside the grit and the grime. Because sure, there are comped dinners at Eater 38 restaurants, bike rides along the glittering Manhattan skyline, and random celebrity sightings at Equinox. But there's also getting yelled at by taxi drivers, standing in line in heels for a shitty table in a VERY loud restaurant, and having to haul bags of groceries on the crowded L-train during rush hour. And after several months of juggling work, chores, and events alongside the daily grit of New York City, I've retreated back to my shell, where the jars of flour and sugar are very clean and organized and nobody is yelling or shrieking for any random reason. Days are now spent working, Netflixing, sleeping, and maybe leaving my apartment for an event once a week. IF I feel like it.
So it's me. I'M boring. But I'm okay with that.
This pie is the tenth installment in my #humhipieamonth series (the one where I'm baking a pie a month — you can read about the origin of the project over on this sour cranberry pie recipe). One of the hardest parts about moving out east has been getting used to what produce comes into season and for how long. In California, stone fruits would still be in abundance! In New York, they're long gone and we're in the heart of apples and pears season. To get into the fall spirit, I sweetened this pear pie with maple syrup and brown sugar. I used a cream cheese crust, which added a nice tangy flavor to compliment the maple flavor. Enjoy!
featured:
linen || salt cellar || candle sticks (short + tall) || server + knife || plates
Some baker's notes:
- For this crust, I used Rose Levy Bereanbaum's cream cheese pie crust from The Baking Bible. According to this Food52 article, the cream cheese in the crust makes a tender, flaky, and super forgiving crust. In addition to the cream cheese, it also uses a combination of actual cream and vinegar for the liquid, with the cream serving to tenderize the crust and the vinegar to relax the gluten formation (the Four & Twenty Blackbirds pie crust recipe also uses this trick). There's also a touch of baking powder, which I think helps keep the pie from shrinking. You can read the rest of her notes about the recipe over on Epicurious. I personally didn't find the cream cheese any more forgiving than a lard crust, but I did like the flavor that it brought to the pie. It did come out slightly paler than my usual lard and/or butter crusts, so if you want a deep golden color, I recommend using an all egg-yolk egg wash.
- In this recipe, I use two somewhat specialty ingredients — King Arthur Flour chai spice mix, and dark maple syrup. The chai spice mix is easily replaceable with any of your favorite fall/pumpkin pie spices; if you really need guidelines for flavor ratios, I recommend checking out this pear pie with crème fraîche caramel recipe from earlier this year. As for the maple syrup, maple syrup used to come in grades (A, B, and C) but merged together last year — you want the darkest maple syrup that you can find (formerly known as grades B or C).
Available link for download
Monday, March 27, 2017
Maple Lime Custard Celebration Pie with a Pecan Biscotti Crust
Maple Lime Custard Celebration Pie with a Pecan Biscotti Crust
A few weeks ago, I instagrammed a picture of this pie with some exciting news: my boyfriend Erlend had just been accepted to one of his first choices for graduate school!
I'm not sure what this acceptance means yet (that is, will we be moving to New York?), but I will say that I'm incredibly proud of him. Since we graduated, Erlend's been struggling to find a job and career track that he's enthusiastic and passionate about. Over the last year or so, I've seen him become more and more excited about his chosen field of study, talking my ear off with crazy facts about the human body learned from books, classes and his internship at the hospital. I now know far too much about how the different muscles in different parts of your body work, believe me.
To celebrate, we went out to dinner at Kachka, Portland's hip restaurant du jour, stuffing ourselves full of incredibly cheesy khachapuri and bowls of beef, pork, veal and onion dumplings. And even though Erlend's never had the world's biggest sweet tooth, I whipped him up this maple lime custard pie because it is my strong opinion that no celebration is complete without a decadent dessert:
Upon first bite, however, I was convinced. A maple custard on its own would have been far too sweet — the lime gave the custard a citrusy, tangy bite that balanced out the cloying sweetness and intensity of the Vermont maple syrup.
And with regards to the rest of the pie, I basically made no alterations to the cookbook's recipe. The pecan biscotti pie crust is the bakery's take on a traditional graham cracker crust, just with crushed ladyfingers and spruced up with some pecans. The only change I made was adding an extra layer of crème fraîche whipped cream on top of the custard, which I did only because Erlend has a fondness for especially tart desserts.
Congratulations again, Erlend!!!
Some baker's notes:
- As I briefly mentioned above, maple syrup in the United States comes in two grades: A and B. Grade A maple syrup is thinner and has a lighter flavor. Grade B is thicker with a richer and bolder flavor. Use Grade B maple syrup if you can! It makes a big difference.
- In a pinch, you can substitute the crème fraîche in this recipe with sour cream. The end result might be a little bit tarter though, so feel free to add in an additional teaspoon of granulated sugar.
- You can make the crust a few days in advance — simply wrap the crust in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. That actually might be the best way to do it, since it's easier to fill the crust when it's cold.
Available link for download
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