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Happy Father's Day Dear Reader. It began a day early at my house with the boys cleaning up the front and back yards for their Dad early Saturday morning. Hours later, the weeds were pulled and the grass was cut. They also cleaned the barbecue until it shone. Then off the three of them went shopping. Our cousin Andrew is getting married this July and our youngest son needs a new suit for the occasion. He won't stop growing! Sixteen years old, six foot three and size thirteen shoes. He's the little brother in age, but the slightly bigger brother in size. I work to fill the fridge. You think I'm kidding but I'm really not. Sunday morning, for Father's Day breakfast I made homemade hashbrowns and a lovely mushroom omelette. No recipes needed....I parboiled the potatoes and the browned them in a bit of vegetable oil with diced onion, garlic, salt and pepper. I sliced some cremimi mushrooms, grated a bit of cheddar and added that to three eggs and a bit of cream. Easy peasy. Sliced a nice ripe tomato for some colour on the plate and put on a pot of coffee. But the culinary star of the day was tonight's dessert. Now I will admit that it was a bit time consuming to make, but I have to say, it was worth it for the rave reviews I received tonight. My husband isn't really one for desserts. I think that may have changed tonight. He declared it was the best dessert I have ever made. Ever. He also said it was the best apple pie he has ever had. Ever. Those are huge compliments from my fella. Through the years, I have asked for blunt honesty regarding my cooking. I would rather know the truth than waste my time making something that he didn't enjoy. As for the boys, the sparks were flying from their plates as they devoured it. Kudos indeed! Now I have to tell you Dear Reader, there was a time when I wouldn't share recipes. In fact, I have a cranberry sauce recipe that I used to guard like my life depended on its secrecy remaining intact. Every Christmas, rather than share this gem, I would make jar after jar and give it to those who asked for the recipe. (Lucky for you, I plan on sharing it with you later this year). Although I am a changed woman, I wasn't sure if I should share the apple pie recipe with you. Not because I have reverted to my old ways, but because it comes from another food blogger. I thought perhaps it would go against blogging etiquette to do so. As I am still new at this, the last thing I would ever want to do is offend a fellow blogger, but after poking around her blog today, I was relieved to read that she is just fine with it and in fact appreciates it as long as a few simple rules are followed. I hope I did her proud and I encourage you to check out her wonderful blog, Smitten Kitchen. This isn't just any ordinary apple pie...it is a deep dish pie that doesn't disappoint. Trust me when I tell you it is worth your time. Start with the pie dough and while it chills prepare the filling. All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 tbsp sugar 1 tsp salt 16 tbsp butter (half pound) very cold butter 1/2 cup ice cold water Using quick pulses, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Dice butter and add to dry ingredients. Pulse in processor until butter is combined into pea sized clumps. Transfer to large bowl and slowly pour water over mixture and stir with fork until combined. Knead dough taking care to work quickly to keep dough from warming up. Flatten dough into disc shape and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Allow to chill for two hours before rolling out. When you are ready to roll the dough, sprinkle your counter top with flour and place the unwrapped dough on top. Start rolling out the dough, taking care to keep moving it a quarter turn after a couple of rolls. If necessary, sprinkle more flour on counter and rub flour along the length of your rolling pin to keep dough from sticking. Roll out to 16 inch round. Carefully fold into quarters and place corner into centre of 9" springform pan. Open up and press into pan, leaving a one inch overhang around the edge. Deepest Dish Apple Pie Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook Filling 5 pounds apples (3 pounds golden delicious and 2 pounds apples of your choosing...I used Royal Gala) 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg Streusel Topping 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 8 tbsp (quarter pound) butter, melted Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To make the filling, peel, core and quarter the apples. Slice each quarter into 1/4" slices and place in large bowl. Toss with lemon juice. In separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Sprinkle over slice apples and toss to coat evenly. Pour apple slices in three additions into prepared pie crust, smoothing out apples between additions. This is the only way they are all going to fit! Bake for 30 minutes. While it is baking prepare the streusel topping. Melt the butter for the streusel topping. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, flour, salt and baking powder. Pour melted butter over mixture and stir until lumpy. Once the pie has baked for 30 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Remove pie from oven and sprinkle streusel topping over top of pie. Bake pie for another hour. Let pie cool for 20 minutes before slicing. Loosen clamp on springform pan. With oven mitt on, push pie up and through the top of the ring and place on large platter to catch the juice while slicing. You might need an extra pair of hands to do this...I did! Enjoy with your favourite ice cream. Today and tomorrow. It is so huge you will probably have leftovers! Surprisingly we did....
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