Blueberry Cobbler

Cobbler is the lazy man's pie; that's my snobbish maxim. But I'm not above making it, as it is perfect for large parties. This is a variation on a recipe from the St. Louis Post Dispatch that was published at least a decade ago. Making cobbler is much less work than making pie (especially if you only put crust on the top), but it's just as satisfying to eat. I took this to a BBQ, and it got rave reviews (including my personal favorite, that it was "off the chain"). 

Gather blueberries, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, unsalted butter, and half and half (or milk, provided it's at least 2%). Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash 10 cups of blueberries thoroughly and make sure all the stems are removed (this is the most tedious part of making this cobbler, because about one in every ten blueberries has a stem attached, so you have to carefully examine them).  Then put the blueberries in a 9" by 13" glass or ceramic dish. 

Next, pour 6 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon salt over the blueberries and mix carefully.

Then dot the blueberry mixture with 2 tablespoons of butter and set it aside while you make the dough.  

In a bowl, mix with a fork 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cut in 1/2 a stick of butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture looks like this:

Then pour in half a cup of milk or half and half, mixing as you pour.   

Now you will have a crumbly mixture that you can gently form into balls.

Gently form twenty dough balls (roughly the size of golf balls), which should contain about 1 tablespoon of dough each. Place them on top of the blueberry mixture. You will have five rows containing four dough balls (dough balls? I feel there should be a more eloquent way for me to describe that...).

Bake for thirty minutes or until the dough is golden brown and the blueberries are bubbling. It will come out looking like this and smelling amazing.

Blueberry Cobbler

For filling:

10 cups blueberries

6 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/2 a teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For topping:

1/4 (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk or cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

For filling:

Thoroughly clean blueberries and place them in a 9" by 13" glass or ceramic dish. Gently mix in cornstarch, sugar and salt. Dot with unsalted butter and set aside.

For topping:

Mix flour, sugar, and salt with a fork. Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender or with two knives (until the butter is in roughly pea-sized pieces). Add milk and mix with a fork. Form the dough into balls, about 1 tablespoon each, and place them about a half-an-inch apart on the blueberry mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and the blueberries are bubbling. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream. 



Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I am a major blogging slacker, but I haven't given up on this blog just yet. In my defense, I've been busy doing better things than blogging, like going to Paris, where I ate delightful pastries and pretended that if I wear a scarf I can pass as European. 

In short, the blog has been justifiably neglected. Not to mention April and May give us the best weather Missouri has to offer, so I decided to soak up the sixty-degree days when I could. Now that it's miserably hot, I might redouble my efforts with this blog. Or perhaps I will slack into blogging oblivion... 

Several weeks ago, I made strawberry rhubarb pie (when a display at Whole Foods told me to make it). Rhubarb is a rare find at your average grocery store, but it's common at places like Whole Foods and at farmers' markets. Needless to say, this pie can get a bit expensive, but it is worth every penny.  The best pie I've ever eaten was strawberry rhubarb pie at the Flying Star cafe in Albuquerque. When done right, this pie is sweet, tart and the desired soft-but-not-runny texture. 

As usual, I made two pies because one is never enough. So I gathered two containers of strawberries and five stalks of rhubarb, which is more than enough for two pies.  I also gathered sugar, tapioca, butter and salt.

I tried a strawberry huller for the first time when I made these pies. Switching back and forth between the huller and a knife slowed me down; it was more efficient (though admittedly a bit more wasteful) to chop off the top of the strawberries before slicing them in half.

Then I cut the rhubarb into one-inch pieces. It's fine if the rhubarb is a bit green; the pie will still look and taste amazing.

 The red filling looked very pretty.

 Until I added half a cup of tapioca.

And two and a half cups of sugar. 



Then I added the filling to a pie dish that I lined with my tried-and-true pie crust and dotted the filling with two tablespoons of butter.



And I made a lattice crust for a classic look.



Then I brushed the crust with egg whites and sprinkled it with one tablespoon of sugar. This pie is an excellent candidate for a topping of coarse white sugar (which is how it was made at the Flying Star Cafe).  You can get this sugar at fancy stores like William Sonoma and Sur la Table.

When the pie came out of the oven, it had the perfect rustic look I am going for with a classic pie like this.  The touches of red filling make this pie look quite appetizing.

And when cut, this pie came out in perfect slices that were not runny. It was delicious with vanilla bean ice cream.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (for one pie)

Tried-and-true pie dough
2 1/2 cups strawberries
2 1/2 cups rhubarb
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup tapioca
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (alternatively, leave out the pinch of salt and use salted butter)

Remove the stems and cut strawberries in half.  Chop rhubarb into one-inch pieces.  Mix with sugar and tapioca. Add a pinch of salt. Roll out pie dough and line the bottom of a pie dish with it. Pour in filling and dot with 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter.  Roll out the remaining dough, and add a pricked or lattice top.  Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is soft but not mushy.

Enjoy!

15 Glorious Songs About Pie

http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/15-glorious-songs-about-pie

Chicken Pot Pie

At long last, here it is - chicken pot pie - just in time for...next winter.  Chicken pot pie seems like soul food to me, so naturally I listened to the most soulful artist I know - Al Green.  Alas, I was so enraptured by his smooth voice that I forgot that I'm actually supposed to post my recipes on this blog.

I made up this recipe as I went along (so I am working out some kinks as I write this post).  The day before I made this, I prepared 2 chicken breasts as described below.  Then I started with a roux that consisted of 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of flour.



I melted the butter over low heat, then added the flour and whisked.  Then I used about a cup of chicken stock to thin the roux into a gravy.  I didn't think of it, but I should have also added 2 tablespoons of milk or half and half.  I continued whisking and added a dash of salt and several dashes of white pepper.

I kept that simmering over low heat, stirring occassionally, while I chopped 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, and half of a white onion.

Next, I diced 2 chicken breasts that I cooked the previous day (drizzling them with olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper, and baking them at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes).  I added the chicken, 1/4 cup of frozen peas, and the chopped veggies to the gravy and mixed.

I set this aside while I rolled out my tried-and-true pie crust, lined the bottom of two individual pie dishes with it, added the filling, and covered the top. 

Much to my surprise, I made exactly enough filling for two individual pies, so I was like:

Next, I pinched the edges shut and trimmed the excess dough, then brushed the top with egg whites and sprinkled the pies with salt.

Finally, I baked it at 425 degrees for 45 minutes, until the top was golden brown and the filling was bubbly. 

Chicken Pot Pie (makes 2 individual pies)

2 chicken breasts or three thighs
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons half and half or milk
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
Half of a white or yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup frozen peas
Tried and True pie crust
1 egg, separated
Salt and white pepper, to taste

Drizzle chicken with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees until cooked through.  Set aside to cool.  Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat and whisk in flour.  Add chicken stock as you continue to whisk, then add half and half or milk.  Allow gravy to simmer, stirring occassionally while you dice the carrot, celery, onion, and chicken.  Add the diced vegetables, chicken, and peas to the gravy and mix.  Set aside.  Roll out pie crust and line 2 individual pie pans with it.  Pour in filling, cover with the top crust and pinch the edges.  Vent the top crust with a knife or fork.  Brush the top with egg whites and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 425 for about 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. 

Best served piping hot with an ice cold beer. 

How-to Tuesday: How to Separate Eggs

I'm really slacking on my how-to Tuesday posts, so here, at long last, is a new one.  I recently had to explain to my brother over the phone how to separate eggs, and I realized that it's a bit difficult to describe verbally.  So here is a visual tutorial on how to separate eggs.  Basically, you break an egg in half and pass the yolk from one half of the shell to the other until the sticky, snot-like whites have fallen into a bowl and all that is left in the shell is the yolk.   Getting the hang of this takes some practice (and even with years of practice, my technique is not refined), but there is no need to buy a special tool in order to separate eggs.

Nerds Celebrate Pi Day...Eat Pie

Check it out here, here, and here.

Apple Pie Pops

I realized recently that I haven't written about music on this blog for a while, even though I've been listening to some good stuff.  In the past few months while baking, I have listened to A Night at the Opera countless times (it's too good to begin to praise), Some Nights by fun. (why bother?), and I went through a week of nothing but Whitney Houston and Eminem (because some weeks, your inner Slim Shady just wants to dance with somebody).  The point is, when you do a project like this that involves time-consuming, detailed work, you need to have a few good albums queued up. 

So a few months ago, Groupon told me that I needed this:



Actually, Groupon told me I needed two of these, but they never sent the second one.  Curse you, Groupon!

And really, how could I resist?  (I'm certainly aware that using this device narrows the audience for this post, but I happen to know at least one other person who owns a pie pop maker.)  So I decided to make apple pie pops.  First, I made the crust (I made my tried-and-true crust, but I think a butter crust would be better).

I diced 4 apples into very small (1/4 inch) pieces. It would have been easier to use a food processor, but I didn't realize that until someone more clever mentioned it.  Duh!

Then I mixed it with 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

I rolled out the dough until it was as big as possible and 1/8 inch thick, and I cut as many rounds as I could.

And I placed them in pie pop maker, put the stick three quarters of the way into the pie pop and topped it with 1/2 a tablespoon of the apple mixture.

Then I added the top crust and cooked according to the instructions (3 minutes, or until the light on the pie pop maker told me it was done).

And they came out looking like this:

Which looked like something that would be cute for a baby shower:

And they are obnoxiously adorable in clear plastic bags that are tied with a silver ribbon (I bought these bags at Michael's).  These would be cute to send to friends for a holiday.

These lacked flavor because there just wasn't enough filling in relation to the crust.  So these need a filling that packs a punch - like fig!  Next time, fig pie pops...

Apple Pie Pops

Butter crust

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and shredded in the food processor or diced extra small

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel the apples and use a food processor to shred them, or dice them into 1/4 inch pieces.  Mix in sugar and cinnamon.  Roll out the dough, using ample flour, until it is 1/8 inch thick.  Cut rounds (a circular cookie cutter was included with this device) and line the pie pop maker with them.  Then insert the stick until it is three quarters of the way into the pie pop.  You will need to hold the stick in place while you put 1/2 a tablespoon of filling on top of the stick (this is a rather tedious process, but you have to work fast because this machine gets very hot).  Top with the top crust, close and cook according to instructions. 

Enjoy!