Justify Pie . . . Or Not

The “justify pie” idea started when Meg read the latest “Martha Stewart Living” and saw the upside down lemon meringue pie recipe. This was at least 6 weeks ago (or three blog posts), and we have been trying to work this pie into every meal since.

Meg is a bit obsessive about lemon meringue pie. She has actually refused to go back to a once favorite,  local restaurant (that shall remain nameless), because it was sold without the lemon meringue pie recipe! No kidding. 

Upside Down Lemon Meringue Pie
Source: “Martha Stewart Living”, May 2014
Active time: 50 minutes
Total time: 12 hours
Serves: 8

Crust
Unsalted butter, softened, for pie plate
4 large egg whites, room temperature
¼ t cream of tartar
1 c sugar

Filling
8 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 c sugar
1 T plus 1 t finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
¼ c plus 2 T fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
1 c heavy cream

Topping
1 c heavy cream
1 T sugar
1 lemon, for serving

Preheat oven to 300’ with rack in center.  Lightly brush 1 9-inch pie plate with butter.  Whisk together egg whites and 1 T cold water with a mixer on high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds.  Add cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form, about 1 minute.  Gradually add sugar and beat until thick, glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes.

Transfer egg-white mixture to prepared pie plate; spread along bottom and up sides to form crust.  (Don’t spread past rim of pan.)  Bake meringue until crisp and light golden on outside, about 40 minutes.  Turn off heat and let cool in oven 1 hour, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks in a medium saucepan (off heat) until thickened and pale yellow, 1 to 2 minutes.  Whisk in sugar and lemon zest and juice.  Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture is very thick, about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface of curd.  Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Whisk curd until smooth.  Whip cream with a mixer on high speed until soft peaks form, about 30 seconds.  Working in batches, gently fold whipped cream into curd.  Fill meringue crust with lightened curd; smooth top.  Refrigerate, loosely covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
Whip cream and sugar with a mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 40 seconds.  Spread over pie.  Finely grate lemon zest over top.  Slice with a chef’s knife, wiping blade between cuts, and serve.
 

We felt that a salad was required to justify the pie.  We included plenty of protein and feel really good about that. This salad is our take on a salad that Sue eats on a fairly regular basis at another local restaurant (not the missing pie restaurant). Their recipe uses fried chicken strips, but we oven baked ours with crispy panko coating. Otherwise, the ingredients are the same. Oh yes, and we made a killer garlic and blue cheese dressing for it.

Sue & Meg’s “Fried” Chicken Salad
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials  05/31/2014
Serves 2

Breading for chicken:

½ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup flour
¼ cup cornmeal
½ tsp. granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp. or to taste ground chipotle 
½ cup milk for coating
Vegetable cooking spray

Salad ingredients:

4 chicken tenders, sliced into 1 ½ - 2 inch strips
1 cup cherry tomatoes
½ cup chopped red onion
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
2.25 oz. can sliced black olives
2 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 head  Romaine lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
Blue Cheese dressing (see our recipe)

Combine breading ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Dip chicken in milk, toss in bag until well coated.
Place on silicone coated baking sheet or rack. Spray with vegetable oil on both sides, (we used a “Misto”). Cook in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes turning once halfway through cooking.
Allow time to cool chicken slightly before adding to salad.

In a large bowl, combine lettuce, chopped onion, tomatoes, cubed cheddar, and olives. Divide onto two plates. Arrange sliced chicken strips, eggs, and crumbled bacon on top of greens. Serve with dressing on the side.

Salad before dressing

Salad with dressing

Meg & Sue’s Garlic Blue Cheese Dressing
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials  05/31/2014

½ cup whipping cream or half and half
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 large clove garlic, grated
¾ cup crumbled blue cheese

Combine all ingredients except blue cheese in a bowl and whisk until combined. Add blue cheese and stir.

Serve in a bowl to ladle liberally onto salad. This makes a thick dressing. If you prefer a thinner dressing add a bit of milk. 

Killer Garlic Blue Cheese Dressing

Please note the choice of Cava with this meal. Meg actually suggested it (after telling Sue earlier that we couldn’t have it with every meal). Her excuse was that it would go really well with the pie, and Sue went along without any arm twisting. Have we mentioned that we purchased a case of this Cava and split it? It went very well with the salad.

Our Unsolicited and biased opinions:

We love chipotle and adding it to the breading base gives a nice smoky kick to the chicken. You can omit it if you are not a fan of chipotle, or add something that you like.

 

The combination of all the ingredients in this salad is like a party in your mouth! Add the blue cheese dressing and you elevate it to a jamboree ... break out the party hats (and the Cava).  It has everything, the crunch of the lettuce, red onion, bacon and the chicken and the lusciousness of the cheese and olives, not to mention the blue cheese dressing. We didn’t think about the pie once while we were eating this salad.

 

Being the critic/fan of lemon meringue pie that she is, the next one of these that Meg makes will be totally different.  Here are the things that she would do differently:

• Increase the amount of lemon juice in the curd. It was not tart or lemony enough to our taste.
• Don’t add whipped cream to the curd for the filling. (The filling doesn’t gel properly after adding the cream.)
• Make the meringue into individual servings rather than a pie crust. This crust did not come out of the pie plate as advertised.

This is a very sweet dessert; too sweet for us and a disappointment.

 

However, the path to this pie lead us to a wonderful salad. Find your happiness where you can. We will live to “justify pie” another day.

Croque Monsieur!

May is “National Grilled Cheese” month. We wonder who decides these kinds of things. Not that we are questioning the wisdom of a month devoted to grilled cheese! As confirmed cheese heads we are ready, willing and able to support it.

This seemed like the perfect occasion to make Croque Monsieur. The picture that accompanied the magazine recipe had us salivating. Bubbly, gooey, ham and cheese, throw on a bit of béchamel and seriously, what’s not to like?

We did wonder what “Paris ham” was.  Google to the rescue, we found out it is a French charcuterie recipe for ham that is cooked slowly in its own juice, and wrapped in its skin. We opted for deli Black Forest ham since a trip to Paris was not possible.

Béchamel, ham and cheese!
 

Ready for the oven.

Croque-Monsieur
Source: “Bon Appetit”, May 2014
Makes: 4

Béchamel 
¼ c ( ½ stick ) unsalted butter
¼ c all purpose flour
1 1/3 c whole milk
2 T whole grain mustard
½ t freshly grated nutmeg or ¼ t ground nutmeg

Assembly
1 ½ inch thick slices country-style bread (8)
6 oz ham, preferably Paris ham (about 8 slices)
3 oz Gruyere, grated (about 1 ½ c)
1 t herbes de Provence

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foamy.  Add flour and cook, stirring, until mixture is pale and foamy, about 3 minutes.  Gradually add milk, stirring until mixture is smooth.  Cook, stirring, until sauce is thick and somewhat elastic, about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and nutmeg, season with salt.

DO AHEAD - Béchamel can be made 1 day ahead.  Let cool; press plastic wrap directly onto surface and chill.

Preheat oven to 425’.  Spread bread slices with béchamel, dividing evenly and extending all the way to the edges.  Place 4 slices of bread, béchamel side up, on a parchment-lined baking sheet; top with ham and half of cheese.  Top with remaining slices of bread, béchamel side up, then top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with herbes de Provence.  Bake until cheese is brown and bubbling, 10 -15 minutes.

DO AHEAD – Sandwiches can be made (but not baked) 1 day ahead.  Cover ; chill.

Croque Monsieur in all its glory!

For something green and in an attempt to present a healthier appearance to this meal, we selected baby arugula for our salad. We used our basic vinaigrette recipe which has good olive oil, white wine vinegar (in this case), garlic, Dijon, salt & plenty of coarsely ground black pepper. You can find several iterations of our vinaigrette in previous postings if you need exact amounts.

After careful perusal and consideration of Sue’s chilled wine we chose this Courtney Benham 2010 Edna Valley Reserve Chardonnay.  As chardonnays go it was soft and not oaky. We liked it with the Croc Monsieur.

And in another attempt at being health conscious, there are berries for dessert. Granted they are marinated in Limoncello and are topped with   ricotta-whipped cream, but they are berries.

Originally, the berries were going to be topped with some yogurt, and then Meg found this recipe in Bon Appetit, and the yogurt was down the drain, so to speak. Meg wants it noted here that she did not have to twist Sue’s arm.

We have been talking about making ricotta for some time, and this recipe presented the opportunity. Hmm, does this sound like we are trying to justify the topping?

Ricotta Cheese
Source: “Bon Appetit”, April 2014
Makes: about 1 cup

2 c whole milk
1 c heavy cream
½ t Kosher salt
2 T fresh lemon juice or distilled white vinegar

Bring milk, cream, and salt just to boil.

Remove from heat, add acid (lemon juice or white vinegar) and stir until mixture curdles.

Line a fine-mesh sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth, set over bowl.  Pour milk mixture into sieve and chill until ricotta is thick.  It’ll keep for three days.

Ricotta Mousse with Limoncello Berries
Source: raleys.com
Prep: 10 minutes
Serves: 6

½ c heavy whipping cream
¼ c powdered sugar, divided
½ c ricotta cheese
6 T limoncello, divided
½ t vanilla extract
6 c mixed berries (halved or quartered if large)
Finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Beat cream and 2 T powdered sugar in a medium bowl until stiff peaks form

Beat ricotta with remaining sugar, 1 T limoncello and vanilla in another bowl until light and fluffy; carefully fold in whipped cream.  Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve.  (May be prepared several hours ahead.)

Marinate berries in remaining limoncello while mouse is chilling.  Place berries in t dessert cups or small bowls and top each with a large dollop of mousse.  Top with lemon zest, if you like.

Berries, oh my!

We are posting early today, because we are attending a reception for a fellow fused glass artist at a local gallery. This meal was easy and quick. The sandwiches can be assembled, wrapped, and baked when ready to serve. The béchamel, ricotta and whipped cream topping can also be made ahead. It’s a pretty impressive dinner when you are short on time. Not to mention yummy.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

The Croque Monsieur is fabulous! It’s rich, cheesy and totally satisfying. We made the full recipe, so we each get leftovers. There was even extra béchamel – good for something yummy later. The whole grain mustard in the béchamel added so much flavor to the sandwich. We cut our sourdough bread in about 5/8 inch slices instead of the prescribed 1 ½ inches. More stuff, less bread. We lightly toasted the bread when the oven was preheating. The béchamel didn’t need salt, but a good grind of coarse black pepper was added to the top of the sandwich before baking!

The process for making ricotta is very straightforward, and the results are worth the small effort.  
There are a couple of things worth mentioning that caused a bit of consternation.  First of all, things boil at lower temperature here at 4,500 feet, so the first heating of the milk was probably not quite hot enough.  Then there is the lemon juice versus white vinegar…ever notice that all lemons don’t have the same pucker power?  There are requirements for vinegar, which make it a more reliable source of acidity.

Meg noticed that there wasn’t much curdling going on using the lemon juice and probably “not hot enough” milk.  Allowing what she thought was a reasonable amount of time, she opted to bring the mixture to a boil again.  After removing it from the heat and still not seeing the curdling thing happening, she added 1 tablespoon of distilled white vinegar.  Wahoo!

Instead of using cheese cloth, Meg used nifty sieve gizmos lined with a fine plastic mesh that she uses to make yogurt cheese.  They worked like a champ!

The texture of this homemade ricotta is so creamy and tangy and is nothing like the store bought version.  We loved it!

For cakes and other cooked dishes, buy packaged ricotta, but for recipes like the berries we prepared this week, by all means make your own.  You will be very pleased with the results and with yourself for making your own cheese.

In our opinion the lemon zest is not optional. Believe it or not, the berries were the stars in the dessert. We are so lucky to have access to exceptional produce.

We are so happy someone decided to make May National Grilled Cheese Month!

 

Chilaquiles y mas

We are so excited that it is margarita time again!  Not that we can’t enjoy them whenever we want, but since we are celebrating Cinco de Mayo it is a requirement, right?

This became our favorite margarita recipe after making it for last year’s Cinco de Mayo blog. We are including the recipe again; so you don’t have to waste any time searching the blog. 

Margarita

By Erika Kotite • January 23, 2013 • 9 Comments
Source: Food 52
Serves 2

4 ounces tequila
2 ounces Cointreau
2 ounces fresh-squeezed lime juice (plus spent lime rind)
1/2 ounce agave syrup
Ice
Coarse sea salt
Additional lime wedges (for garnish)

Mix tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and agave syrup in a shaker or large measuring cup filled partway with ice and stir or shake until thoroughly chilled.

Spread salt on a plate. Rub rims of two rocks glasses with the spent lime. Turn glasses upside down in the salt. Fill glasses with ice and pour in the margarita liquid. Add lime wedge to each.

Salud!

To go with the first batch of margaritas we chose spicy garlic shrimp. 

Garlic Shrimp with Chiles de Arbol

Source: “bon appetit”, May 2014
Servings: 6 appetizers

1 lb small shrimp
½  c olive oil, divided
4 finely chopped garlic cloves, divided
2 crumbled dried chile de arbol (or ¼ t crushed red pepper flakes), divided
bunch of flat leaf parsley
salt to taste

(This is cooked in two batches.)

Peel and devein the shrimp. 

Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 2 finely chopped garlic cloves and 1 crumbled dried chile de arbol.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is barely golden, about 1 minute.  Season half of the shrimp with salt and cook until just cooked through, about 1 minute per side; transfer shrimp and oil to a bowl.

Repeat with the remaining shrimp, oil and chiles.  When the shrimp are cooked, return the first batch of shrimp and oil to the skillet, season with salt and toss in some chopped flat leaf parsley.
Serve with crusty bread.

Sue recently returned from a vacation in Oregon with this “Mexico, The Beautiful  Cookbook” in hand. It was published in 1991, and is a “coffee table” book with beautiful pictures and fascinating information not only about the food, but also the various regions of Mexico.  She is seriously considering not returning it to the rightful owner.

 

We chose the chilaquiles recipe because neither of us had cooked with tomatillos. The challenge, (isn’t there usually one?), was finding the epazote, which is a green leafy herb. It looks somewhat like baby dandelion leaves.

Ever adventurous, we decided to ignore the online descriptions, which included “gasoline like” taste and the alternate name “wormseed”. We found it in a local market, (Marketon), that caters to Hispanic shoppers. They had both fresh and dried epazote.  We tasted the fresh herb, and it indeed had a slight gasoline taste at first bite.  In this recipe, the epazote is cooked briefly in the sauce and then removed. So we decided to go for it.

Chilaquiles Verdes
 
Source: “Mexico, The Beautiful Cookbook”, Collins Publishers San Francisco, 1991
Serves: 6 main courses, 8 as first course

“ The Aztecs combined their leftover tortillas with chiles and herbs to create chilaquiles, which in their Nahuatl language means just that – “chiles and herbs in broth.”  Chilaquiles can be prepared ahead up to the point of adding the sauce to the fried tortilla pieces.

1 whole chicken breast, about 12 oz
5 cloves garlic
1 T plus 1 t salt
½ onion
7 sprigs parsley
6 chiles serranos (or to taste)
1 ½ lbs. tomates verdes (tomatillos), husks removed
¼ onion
½ c chopped cilantro
1 T oil
16 corn tortillas, preferably day-old
Oil for frying
1 small sprig epazote
1 c thick cream (crème fraiche)
½ c crumbled queso fresco or queso anejo (feta cheese)

Place the chicken in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover.  Add 2 cloves of the garlic, 1 T of the salt, ½ onion and the parsley.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender.  Remove and shred the chicken, reserving 2 cups of the stock.

Place the chiles and remaining 3 cloves garlic in boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the tomatillos, cook 5 more minutes and drain.  Transfer the chiles, garlic and tomatillos to a blender, add the remaining onion, then puree.  Add 1 t salt, the cilantro and 1 cup of the reserved stock, and process briefly.  Set aside.

Heat 1 T oil in a skillet, add the sauce and sauté for 5 minutes.  Correct the seasonings, lower the heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes.  If the mixture is too thick, dilute with more chicken stock.
Cut the tortillas in half and cut each half into 3 pieces.  Place ¼ inch oil in a large skillet.  When it is very hot, add one third of the tortilla pieces and fry, stirring constantly, until they are golden and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes.  Transfer to a colander. Repeat until all the tortillas are fried. Drain and set aside.

Before serving, heat the sauce and add the epazote. Add the tortillas and stir carefully so as not to break them. Add the shredded chicken and top with cream and cheese. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese melts.

 

Verde sauce in blender

Homemade tortilla chips

Shredded chicken in sauce

Chilaquiles

The salad recipe is also from the above cookbook.  They had us at avocado. We hear that there are people who don’t like avocado. Really!?

Ensalada Mixta con Aderezo de Aguacate
Source: “Mexico, The Beautiful Cookbook”, Collins Publishers San Francisco, 1991
Serves: 6

1 large head of Romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 ½ large avocados, cut into thick slices
2 large, firm, ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
3 green onions, sliced (optional)

Dressing
2 T mayonnaise
6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
¼ c chopped onion
1 T lime juice
½ t dried thyme
½ t salt
¼ t freshly ground pepper
1 bay leaf
½ avocado, peeled and pitted
½ c water
1 c corn oil

To make the dressing, puree the mayonnaise, garlic, onion, lime juice, thyme, salt, pepper, bay leaf, avocado and water in a blender.  With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream until the mixture forms an emulsion, about 2 minutes.   Chill.
Arrange the lettuce on a platter and top with the avocados and tomatoes.  Cover with the dressing, garnish with the green onions and serve immediately.

Somehow we knew we would want something cool and soothing for dessert. The mango lime sorbet was the answer.

 

 

Mango Lime Sorbet

Source: marthastewart.com
Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Makes: about 3 pints

2 pounds ripe or overripe mangoes (preferable Champagne)
1 t finely grated lime zest, for sprinkling
½ to 1 t lime juice
pinch of coarse salt
lime wedges for garnish

Peel mangoes and cut flesh away from pits; discard pits.  Cut mango flesh into 1 inch chunks and spread in a single layer on a plastic-wrap-lined baking sheet.  Freeze mangoes, uncovered, until hard, at least 8 hours; once hard, mangoes can be transferred to plastic freezer bags and kept frozen up to 2 months.

Remove mangoes from freezer and let soften slightly at room temperature, about 15 minutes.  Place mangoes and salt in a food processor; puree until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.  Pulse in juice to taste.  Serve immediately, scooped into bowls and sprinkled with lime zest and garnished with lime wedges.

**Alternate preparation:
Freeze mangoes until hard.  Put through a “Yonannas” machine.  Stir in lime juice and salt to taste.  Scoop into bowls and serve.

 

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

The shrimp recipe called for small shrimp, and for once we followed the recipe. Next time, we will use larger shrimp, and use Maldon salt to finish the dish. The salt really brings out the shrimp flavor. The chile de arbol is immediately noticeable but mellows as you eat the shrimp. If you don’t want the heat, this may not be the dish for you, because we think the chile flavor is essential.  Sue says “you could take the seeds out”. Meg says “too much trouble”.

 

You know how we are always telling you that a dish isn’t spicy, well listen up, because guess what, the Chilaquiles ARE spicy. The recipe called for 6 serrano chiles and did not specify removing the seeds; so we didn’t. Next time we think we would use 3 chiles with their seeds. The depth of flavor in the sauce is wonderful, but we both agreed that it was just a little too hot.  Our other critique is that we would serve the tortilla chips separately. We suppose that would make this not true chilaquiles but we loved the crunchy tortilla chips.

 

The cooked epazote added another dimension to the sauce. We were a little surprised after tasting it raw, but would definitely cook with it again. 

 

The salad was a nice counter point to the heat of the chilaquiles. The dressing makes about two cups, and you will want to make the full recipe. It is absolutely delicioso.

 

We are now fans of fresh bay leaves. They are aromatic and so much more intense then the dried ones. They made the dressing extra special.

Fresh bay leaves

Meg used her “Yonannas” machine to make the mango lime sorbet.  She froze chunks of mango earlier this year when they were in season and has been waiting somewhat impatiently for the opportunity to make this sorbet. Basically this sorbet is straight mango and a touch of lime juice. No added sugar. Totally refreshing and creamy.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!