Sunday, July 13, 2008

Blueberry Pie




adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

For the dough
All-purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Unsolted cold butter, cut into small pieces - 1 1/2 sticks (170 g)
Ice water - 1/4 cup
Cold vodka 1/4 cup

For the filling
Fresh Blueberries, picked over - 6 cups (about 3 pints)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Cornstarch - 1/4 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
Cream - 1 tablespoon

- In the bowl of a food processeor, combine flour and salt.
- Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds.
- To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut the butter with a pastry blender.
- With the processor running, add the ice water in a slow steady stream, then add vodka just until the dough holds together.
- To do by hand, mix with a spatula and add water and vodka.
- Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together, it should hold.
- Turn the dough onto a work surface. Divide in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month.

- On a lightly floured surface, roll out one half of dough into a 12 inch round.
- Fit dough into a 9 inch pie plate, predding it into the edges. Trim the edges.
- Chill the pie plate for about 30 minutes.

- Place the blueberries in a large bowl.
- With your hands, crush about 1/2 cup of the berries, mix.
- Add the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and mix.

- Spoon the mixture into chilled pie shell.
- Roll out the other half of the dough and using a small cookie cutter cut stars.
- Place the stars on top of the filling with the tips touching.
- Brush the stars with cream.
- Refrigerate the pie for another 30 minutes.

- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Bake the pie for about 20 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and bake the pie for another 40-50 minutes until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling.
- Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool.
- The pie can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

Comments
- Scrap pieces of dough can be sprinkled with cheese and herbs and baked for about 30 minutes along with the pie. They'll be come amazing crackers to snack on.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Cold Yogurt Soup with Cucumber and Avocado



For 2 servings

Avocado - 1
Cucumbers, peeled and diced - 2 small
Dill, chopped - 2 tbsp
Vegetable broth - 1 1/2 cups
Plain Yogurt - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
Hard-boiled eggs - 2
Salt, pepper

- Cut the avocado in half.
- Place half of the avocado, cucumbers, dill, lemon juice, broth and yogurt into a blender.
- Process until smooth.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Dice the other half of the avocado.
- Dice the eggs.
- Stir the avocado and eggs into the soup and serve.

Comments
- The original recipe called for cooked shrimp intead of egg. It also used green onion and didn't use any dill.
- Lemon pepper went really well with this soup.
- It was light, refreshing and really tasty!!!

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies


adapted from "Barefoot Contessa Parties" by Ina Garten

For 90 small cookies

Butter, room temperature - 170 g
Brown sugar, packed - 1 1/2 cups
Granulated sugar - 3/4 cups
Eggs, room temperature - 2 large
Vanilla extract - 2 teaspoons
Smoothe peanut butter - 1 cup
Flour - 2 cups + maybe 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Chocolate chips - about 2 cups (300 g) or to taste

- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.
- Add the peanut butter and mix.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter. Mixing only until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Frop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper abour 3-4 cm apart.
- Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly.
- Bake for about 17 minutes for small cookies or 15 minutes for big cookies. The cookies will seem underdone.
- Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Comments:
- Original recipe called for 226 g of butter and 2 1/2 cups of flour. I reduced the butter to 170 g, but forgot to reduce the flour and put all 2 1/2 cups in. The dough was quite stiff, but it tasted great. I think that the flour can be reduced to about 2 cups safely, with maybe more if the fough is too thin.
- I used a really small ice cream scoop and got 90 cookies out of it.

Maple-Roasted Bacon


adapted from "Barefoot Contessa at Home" by Ina Garten

Bacon
Maple Syrup

- Preheat the oven to 400F(200C).
- Place a rack onto a baking sheet.
- Put the bacon slices onto the rack and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the bacon slices start to brown.
- Get the rack out of the oven and brush the bacon slices with some Maple Syrup.
- Return the bacon back into the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Serve warm.

Comments:
- This is an AMAZING recipe!!
- After we tried it for the first time, we had 3(!) times in 24 hours, it's that good and addictive!

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce



I don't have the exact measurings for this recipe, but I don't think you need them.

For 2 portions

Broccoli - enough for 2 people
Sour Cream - 2-4 tablespoons
Mustard - 2-4 teaspoons
Milk - 1-2 tablespoons
Cheese, grated - 80-100 grams + more for the top
Salt, pepper

- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Boil the broccoli for 2-3 minutes in salted water, until it's tender but still crisp.
- In a separate bowl make the sauce: combine the sour cream, mustard and cheese. If the mixture is too thick, add some milk. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Put the boiled broccoli into a baking dish, pour the sauce over it, sprinkle with more cheese.
- Bake for about 10-13 minutes until the sauce is thick and the cheese on top melted and started to brown.

Comments:
- The sauce is the same as in Fish baked with Tomatoes in Cheese Sauce, but the dish is completely different.
- It's really easy to make and tastes great!

Fish baked with Tomatoes in Cheese Sauce


adapted from http://www.carina-forum.com/carina/

For 2 portions

Filet of Sole (or any other light white fish) - 2 pieces
Tomatoes, sliced - 2 medium
Sour Cream - 2-4 tablespoons
Mustard - 2-4 teaspoons
Milk - 1-2 tablespoons
Cheese - 80-100 grams
Salt, pepper

- Preheat the oven to 426F (220C).
- Put the filets in a baking dish, salt and pepper to taste.
- Put the tomato slices on the fish.
- In a separate bowl make the sauce: combine sour cream, mustard and cheese. If the mixture is too thick, add some milk.
- Pour the sauce over tomatoes.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the fish is ready.

Comments:
- I taste the sauce, if it's too plain, I add more mustard, if it's too spicy, I add more sour cream. So, number of spoons in the ingredients list is only a guidline.
- I also grate some cheese over the sauce.
- It's a really easy and tasty dish, very helpful on busy nights!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Chocolate Chip Cookies



adapted from "Barefoot Contessa Parties" by Ina Garten

For 55-60 small cookies or 45-50 big cookies

Unsalted butter, room temperature - 170 g
Light brown sugar, packed - 1 cup
Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla exctract - 2 teaspoons
Eggs, room temperature - 2 large
All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Chocolate chips - to taste, about 2-3 cups

- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter. Mixing only until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Frop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper abour 3-4 cm apart.
- Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes for small cookies or 15 minutes for big cookies. The cookies will seem underdone.
- Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool.



Comments:
- The original recipe called for 226 grams of butter!!!! I took a chance and reduced it to 170, cookies turned out just perfect. I would actually maybe reduce it even more to 150 grams!!!
- The more you bake the cookies, the harder they get, so for a chewier, softer cookie, bake less.
- I add the chocolate chips just by hand and I am not sure how many cups there were.
- If you decide to omit the chips, add some extra sugar as the dough is not too sweet.
- Also, the original recipe called for walnuts and although I love nuts in my cookies, I decided against it this time.
- All in all, it's a really good recipe, I actually liked the cookies more the next day!