Double Berry Pie

This recipe comes via Epicurious who borrowed it from Nepenthe's restaurant book, My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur.

Also, there were no raspberries (originally this was a triple berry pie!) so I included the original recipe below, but, in my version, just did strawberries and blackberries.

Finally... I know it's hard. But let this puppy cool down a bit before serving it so it actually sets and doesn't have the consistency of a crumble.

Ingredients

For Pie Dough:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
Pinch salt
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

For Filling:

3 cups fresh strawberries
3 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (I used whiskey)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon


For Crunchy Topping:

2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup whole oats
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup walnuts
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter


Directions

For the dough:

Combine the flour, butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until the butter resembles small peas. Drizzle in the cream a little at a time, pulsing until the dough just comes together. Add more cream if needed. Alternatively, you can use a pastry cutter or your own fingers to mix the ingredients together and finish by using a wooden spoon or spatula when the cream is added.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and gently pat it into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.

For the pie:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough (it may need to soften for 5 or 10 minutes first) into a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate, trim any ends hanging over the side, and flute the edge with your thumb. Chill until ready to use.

For the filling, wash and hull the strawberries. Cut them in half and place in a large bowl. Add the blackberries and raspberries and toss with the Grand Marnier (or whiskey). In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Add to the berries and gently toss.

For the topping, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, walnuts, and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles small peas. To make by hand, cut the butter into the flour and sugar, using a pastry cutter, or your fingers. Finely chop the walnuts and add to the mixture.

Fill the chilled pie shell with the filling and cover thoroughly with the topping. Bake for 1 hour, until bubbling and golden brown on top.

Allow pie to cool and set. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream...it's all delish!

Warm Lentil Salad

Adapted from the Fresh 365 site... go visit, you won't be disappointed!

I substituted a few items (sliced almonds for walnuts, spinach for lettuce, feta for goat cheese) and it was all good in the hood.

Ingredients

For the Salad:

1 1/2 cups green or yellow lentils, rinsed
3 cups water
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1-2 t salt
Packet of baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or sliced almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons minced red onion
Crumbled feta or goat cheese

For the Dressing:

2 tablespoons minced sun dried tomatoes
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon salt


Directions

In a saucepan, add lentils, water and thyme leaves. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer 20-25 minutes, until lentils are just tender. Meanwhile, in a jar or small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Remove lentils from heat when cooked through, and gently stir in salt, to your taste.

Divide spinach leaves among bowls. Top with lentils, nuts, red onion and cheese. Drizzle dressing on each salad, to taste. Garnish with additional thyme leaves if desired. Serve immediately.

Scones

Adapted from Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food," these puppies are seriously easy to whip up. Also, I usually make a batch and keep them at work for a great breakfast, even in the midst of craziness.

Besides being nice and crunchy around the edges and they're not too dense or sweet. Instead of dried apricots, try dried cherries, cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips, fresh blueberries, or, my next choice when I make these scones, frozen cranberries.


Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or whole-wheat pastry flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups cream
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (you can use regular sugar or the darker, all-natural sugar aka Demerara sugar, which is what I used)
1/2 cup dried fruit (optional, and of your choice) or, alternatively, fresh berries or frozen ones.


Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Measure, and mix together in a large bowl the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Stir in the cream, and mix until the dough just starts to come together, it will be wet and sticky. Stir in (optional) the fruit at this point, if you wish. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly, just until the dough is brought completely together and the fruit is well-distributed.

Pat the dough into an 8-inch circle, and brush with the melted butter. Sprinkle the dough with the sugar, and cut the dough into 8 wedges. Place wedges approximately 1-inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment, wax paper, or a silicone liner.

Bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown along the edges.

Sweet Potato and Spinach Gratin

Adapted from SmittenKitchen

The original recipe called for Swiss Chard, but I just used a frozen bag of spinach, and it was delish.

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 frozen block of spinach (thawed in microwave, extra water squeezed out)
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1.5 cups half and half or whole milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 tablespoons flour
1 gigantic sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley (optional)
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme (or dried)
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) coarsely grated Gruyére or Parmesan cheese

Directions

Cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter in a wide 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add spinach, pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned. Season with salt and pepper then transfer greens to a colander to drain well and press out liquid with back of a large spoon.

Make sauce: Combine half and half or milk and garlic in small saucepan; bring to simmer; keep warm. Melt two tablespoons butter in a medium heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, whisking, one minute, then slowly whisk in half and half/milk and boil, whisking, one minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper and allow to thicken.

Assemble gratin: Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter deep 9×13 baking dish. Spread half of sweet potatoes in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Distribute half of the greens mixture over the cheese, then sprinkle salt, pepper, some of the herbs and 1/4 cup of the cheese over it. Pour half of bechamel sauce over this first layer, then continue with the remaining sweet potatoes, more salt, pepper, herbs and cheese and then the remaining greens, salt, pepper and herbs. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the gratin, making sure the entire dish is covered by the sauce. Sprinkle with the last 1/4 cup of cheese.

Bake gratin for about 1 hour until golden and bubbly, and most of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Ruth's Pancakes

I love the description in The Gourmet Cookbook regarding these pancakes:

"If you need to pull out all the stops for an Extremely Special Breakfast, these pancakes from Gourmet's editor-in-chief are for you. They are rich with butter, and the flavor is incomparable. "

Random Capitalizations... I heart you.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (preferably whole milk)
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2-1 teaspoon salt (I usually do about 3/4 tsp. salt)

Optional: Chocolate Chips, blueberries to put in pancake batter. Also amazing served with fresh sliced strawberries and the crowd favorite, REAL maple syrup.

Directions:

Whisk together milk, eggs, and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a medium bowl, then whisk in butter.

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in another medium bowl. Whisk in egg mixture until just combined.

Heat 1/2 tsp. of oil in a large nonstick skillet, cast iron skillet, or griddle, until hot but not smoking. Working in a batches of 2-3 pancakes, and adding a drizzle of oil between batches, pour 1/3 measurements of atter into skillet until bubbles have formed throughout the pancake and broken to the surface, about 2 minutes or so (this is also the time when you can sprinkle in some blueberries or chocolate chips before they cook too long.) Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until undersides are golden, about 1 minute more. (Lower heat if pancakes brown too quickly.) Serve warm with preferred topping.

*Note, the last time I made these i used only about a 1/2 stick of melted butter and added a big more vegetable oil, which also turned out scrumptious. Do what you will! These pancakes rock. They are also good when refrigerated and re-heated in the oven up to a week later...I know from personal experience.

Cranberry-Apple Crumble Pie

From Gourmet, via Epicurious

Ingredients

For pastry dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening (trans-fat-free)
Rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

For crumble topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

For fruit filling:
2 pounds apples (about 5), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (use a sweeter apple, like Gala to counteract the tartness of the cranberries. I like to throw in a sour apple too, just for fun).
8 ounces fresh or frozen (not thawed) cranberries
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces


Directions

For pastry:
Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 3 tablespoon ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.

(Squeeze a small handful: If dough doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring until incorporated. Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.)

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather all dough together (using a pastry scraper if you have one) and form into a 5-inch disk. If dough is sticky, dust lightly with additional flour. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

For crumble topping:
Stir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until large clumps form, then stir in pecans. Chill until ready to use.

For fruit filling:
Stir together apples, cranberries, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl.

Assemble pie:
Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lower third.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round, then fit into pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under and crimp decoratively. Transfer fruit filling to pie shell and dot with butter. Loosely cover with foil and bake until apples droop slightly, about 30 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Sprinkle crumble topping over filling and bake, uncovered, until crumble is browned, filling is bubbling, and apples are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour more. Cool completely, 2 to 3 hours.


Note: Dough can be chilled up to 3 days and refrigerated (but you must bring dough to almost-room temparature to be able to roll out when you do use it.)

Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

Adapted from Gourmet, September 2009

Ingredients

For Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 pound extra-sharp Cheddar (preferably white), coarsely grated (2 1/2 cups)
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoon ice water
1 tablespoon milk (optional)

For Apple Filling:
1 1/2 pound Gala, Fuji, or Pink Lady apples (3 medium)
1 pound Granny Smith apples (2 medium)
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter


Directions

For cheddar crust:

Stir together flour, salt, and cheese in a large bowl. Add butter and shortening and blend with your fingertips just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 6 tablespoon ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful: If dough doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until incorporated. Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.

Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide in half, then form each half into a 5-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

To make apple filling and bake pie:

Put a foil-lined large baking sheet in middle of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Peel and core apples, then slice 1/4 inch thick. Toss apples with sugar, flour, lemon juice, and salt until evenly coated.

Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining disk chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into approximately a 13-inch round. Fit into pie plate. Roll out remaining piece of dough into approximately an 11-inch round.

Transfer filling to shell. Dot with butter, then cover with pastry round. Trim edges, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Press edges together to seal, then fold under. Lightly brush top crust with milk (or if you don't have milk, use a well-beaten egg white), then cut 5 (1-inch-long) vents.

Bake on hot baking sheet 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 375°F and bake until crust is golden-brown and filling is bubbling, about 40 minutes more. Cool to warm or room temperature.

*Note: dough can be chilled up to 2 days in advance.