Pie night!

It's embarrassing how long it's been since I've updated here.  Bad Victoria.  But I got pie anyways.  I went to a pie night tonight, and got to visit with folks I don't see hardly often enough AND stuff my face with tasty food.  Win and win again.

These pie nights have been occurring for 12 years, I was told.  I hope to attend many more.  There are themes sometimes, and tonight's was "The Pie Night That Should Not Be," which meant we all made pies that were odd combinations of ingredients or just outright odd.  The winner of the night was the chocolate bacon bourbon pecan pie.  There was grape pie and avocado and carmelized onion pie with green olives and hair pie and taco pie and mock apple pie and strawberry lemonade pie and a bunch of others I am forgetting. There were more than 20 but less than 30 pies.

Before (not all pies had arrived when I took this shot):



After:



My contribution was a chili chocolate custard pie with cinnamon chocolate cookie crust and cinnamon whipped cream.

I started with this recipe here, and made a few adjustments along the way.

Chili Chocolate Custard Pie

Sugar cookie crust:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Another 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons heavy or whipping cream

1) Cream together butter and first amount of sugar with a mixer.
2) Add egg, the other 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla. Mix well. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
3) Add flour, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon and cream, and mix until the dough comes together into crumbly little bits.
4) Form the dough into a disk about 4 inches in diameter.
5) Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Crust Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 F.
2) Roll dough to about 1/8 inch thickness.
3) Place in a pie plate (9 to 10 inches in diameter). Use your fingers to press it into the plate.
4) Trim off any excess dough so that there is about 1 inch of overhang all the way around.
5) Use your fingers to roll the overhanging dough onto the edge of the pie plate, and then crimp.
6) Use a fork to poke small holes all over the bottom and sides of the dough.
7) Place a sheet of parchment over the dough, and fill with pie weights or dry beans.
8) Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 F, or until the edges are golden brown and lacy.
9) Remove parchment and weights, and bake for another 5-8 minutes until the bottom is brown and delicious looking.
10) Remove from oven and cool to room temperature on a wire rack. You can turn off the oven, you won't need it again in this recipe.

Chili Chocolate Custard Pie Filling

Ingredients:
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Guittard dark 60% cocoa)
5 egg yolks
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon chili powder

Custard Directions:
1) Put chocolate chips in a large bowl with a sieve or fine strainer set over it (it's okay if the strainer is touching the chocolate).
2) Combine egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan, and whisk well.
3) Add cream, chili powder and half-and-half, and, stirring often, bring to 175-180 F on an instant read or candy thermometer over medium to medium-high heat. (If you don't have a thermometer, dip a wooden spoon in the mixture and draw your finger across the back. If it leaves a clear path, it's done.)
4) Pour hot cream mixture through strainer onto chocolate. Let sit 1-2 minutes to melt.
5) Stir well to combine, let sit 5 minutes.
6) Add vanilla and mix well.
7) Pour into cooled pie shell. Tap pie plate gently against the counter to even the filling out and pop any bubbles.
8) Chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, and up to 72. Do not cover the pie, or the crust will get soggy.

Whipped topping

Ingredients
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon extract

1) Combine cream and sugar in a mixer. If you don't have a mixer, just put it in a bowl and use a hand whisk.
2) Whip on medium speed until frothy, then increase to high and whip the cream to medium-stiff peaks.
3) Decorate!

I went to three groceries and couldn't find cinnamon extract, so I improvised:

I dissolved 2 cinnamon candies in 1 shot of 100-proof vodka and whipped that into the cream.

I am now going to succumb to pie coma.  G'night!



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A holiday breakfast tradition

Another food post, two in a row! Most folks skimp on or completely breakfast and lunch because they'll have "more room" for Thanksgiving dinner. This isn't a good practice. Eating regularly, if a bit lighter than usual, is healthier than starving yourself all day and then glutting out on a huge feast. So I usually start the day out with something guaranteed to get folks in the house to eat - my egg nog coffeecake. I used to use the Bisquick recipe, substituting egg nog for the milk in the recipe, but what happens when it's Thanksgiving morning and you're out of Bisquick? You improvise with (luckily) tasty results!



Egg Nog Coffeecake:

Cake:

2 cups flour, sifted
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup eggnog
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

½ cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer pecans, but have also used hazelnuts to good reviews)
4 tablespoons softened butter
½ tablespoon cinnamon
½ tablespoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325F

Mix sifted flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Blend in milk, 2 tablespoon melted butter, eggs, and vanilla, mix well.

In separate bowl, cream softened butter with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Fold in chopped nuts.

Grease 9x9 glass casserole. Turn batter into greased pan. Sprinkle topping on top.
Bake in preheated 325ºF oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Yields: 9 servings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So many things to be thankful for! My health could be better in some ways, but it could be a whole lot worse in so many others. My husband and I are both employed at things we enjoy. Our daughter continues to delight us. We are blessed with friends who love life, whose company makes us smile. Life is good.

Today, we're going over to a friend's house, so I'm not as buried in food preparation as I normally am this time in the morning on Thanksgiving day.

Here's a couple of my turkey tricks, that I won't be using today. (We'll do a turkey in a week or two because I gotta have my leftover bird!)


(my bird from a few years ago)

1) If you brine the turkey, use equal parts salt and brown sugar. I don't know why, but it seems to make for a better bird

2) Rub a herbed butter mixture on the turkey all over before putting it in the oven, and preheat the oven to 450. As soon as you put the bird in the oven turn the temp back down to 325. This sears the skin and helps keep moisture in.

3) Cook the bird breast-down until the last hour and then turn it over. The juices from the dark meat will seep downwards into the breast and help keep it more moist. Turning it back up for the last hour will brown the skin nicely. (Turkey lifters are a must for this!)

4) Pureed roasted garlic and vermouth in the gravy! NOM!

Today, I'll be contributing appetizers to our shared feast, some of my merlot and my pomegranate pepper jelly along with some goat cheese and fancy crackers, and for the feast I'm making my candied yams. This recipe got me in a bit of hot water the first Thanksgiving I cooked for my not-yet-husband. His mother called, and the conversation went something like this:

M-in-L: "What are you having for dinner?"

Me: "Well, the turkey, of course, with my rice stuffing, and mashed potatoes and corn and candied yams."

M-in-L: "But my son doesn't like candied yams."

Me: "He seems to like this version. It's kind of like a sweet potato pie without the crust. I got the recipe from your ex-husband's wife."

M-in-L: *silence*

Me: *awkward throat clearing* "Anyways...."

I haven't actually made them for several years now, in deference to both our expanding waistlines. Nowadays we usually have mashed yams in place of mashed potatoes and candied yams.

But if you want to go completely over the top, and maybe convince someone (like me) whose idea of candied yams is tarnished by years of having been served yams that were plopped out of the can into a casserole dish and garnished with little marshmallows that this traditional holiday dish can be a sinful indulgence instead of something to try to hide in your napkin, here's the recipe:

Sweet potatoes with pecans



Yams:

3 cups cooked sweet potatoes (or two large cans, drained)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 packed cup brown sugar
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the yams, sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla, and press into a 9x13" glass casserole dish. Cream the butter and brown sugar, then mix in the flour and pecans. Sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

Good Gravy!

Tonight's dinner, pre-carving:



Now that I have your attention, and as a follow-up to the previous post, and to add another entry to my Recipes sidebar, let's talk about gravy. We never had gravy growing up, with the exception of holiday meals at grandmother's, and I don't remember liking or disliking it at all. I probably never ate any, as it would have been brown and gooey, and I was a very particular (well, better to say picky) eater.

When we had a beef roast or such, we'd just use the straight juice from the pan, nothing added. This was usually pretty tasty.

Fast forward to college, where I met this guy that eventually became the husband, and he was from a gravy family. And he taught me how to make it. And it was easy. And it was good.

First step - make a roux. What is a roux, you ask? Well, according to Wikipedia, a roux is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat. I can't give you exact measurements, as I've been eyeballing it for over a decade now, but I start with a splash of olive oil and a spoonful or two of flour, whisked together in a 12" frypan. I've separated out the pan drippings and juices previously, and strained them into a fat separator, like this:



You let it sit, and the fat rises to the top. The hole for the pour spout is at the bottom. You pour till you've got just a little bit of the juice left, and discard the fat. Easy peasy! They come in a variety of materials. The one I have is just like the one pictured, and is actually made from the same plastic they use to make airplane windows, so pouring hot fatty liquid into it isn't an issue.

I let the roux simmer till it starts to bubble and brown, and then add the juice slowly, whisking all the time, until I go from the thick paste phase to the slightly gooey phase. I then let the gravy simmer some more and re-thicken up a bit while I add whatever herbs and spices I want. If there wasn't enough pan juice, I'll add chicken or beef broth to thin it out to the proper consistency. I've never had a lumpiness problem doing it this way.



For chicken gravy, I'll take some roasted garlic and mash it through a sieve, then whisk the pureed tastiness in along with a quarter cup of vermouth, and maybe toss in a sprig of rosemary. For beef gravies, usually adding a little tomato paste if you didn't already cook it in tomato is a good thing. Serve with rice, taters, or egg noodles. Yum!