Blueberry Pie!

FIrst, my apologies to my readers for not updating this blog with new ideas.The hospital work and the divided attention to my many endeavors have compromised my curating my food blog. But it is not that I do not have any topics to discuss. In fact, I have taken multiple images and video clips for the next installment. However, the format I adopted for the blog is tedious that I cannot keep it up in a timely fashion and which then brings us to the second point.

 

Starting with this installment, I decided to forgo with the video portion of the article. I find that no matter how much editing of the instructional video I do, there are always complaints in the presentation or the editing or the script etc. On my part, they are time consuming to make and it is just disheartening to find the negative comments on my YouTube channel. And besides, it is the reason why I delay the release of my next article.

 

Therefore, I'd show the full instruction of my recipes here on this blog using detailed photographs and if there are any questions, feel free to write on the comments section and I would respond to them. In this way, I keep the forum controlled within one site.

 

Anyway - on to this installment.

 

Blueberry Pie!

So summer is finally here. And I find that there is just an abundance of fruit in sale prices in the supermarkets. My sister just visited me a month ago and bought some cute small McIntosh apples which she did not consume and I decided to make some Apple Blondie Cake. But I am reserving that for the next installment. Meanwhile, I bought some blueberries and made blueberry pie and tonight I just served them to my nurses in the hospital and the reviews were just surprisingly good.

 

"I need to have that recipe," one said. "I don’t normally like pie. But seeing that, I just decided to have a slice!"

 

As mentioned in my last article on apple pie, there are two things that make it - obviously, the crust and the filling. It is in the complementary taste and texture that make pie and therefore, as much as the filling is important in defining the flavor of the pie, still the crust is what makes pie. And the way to make pie crust is as basic as a proportion that I have already defined in my head: 1 stick butter:1 cup all purpose flour, salt and sugar depending on the purpose of the pie and ice cold water. 

 

Blueberries. Note that blueberries are usually very sweet without much character. It is much like eating sugar and therefore, to bring its flavor forward it has to have a tartness that is not in the fruit in the first place. This is where lemon juice comes handy. The sour lemon juice would mix with the sweet blueberries contrasting each other and therefore brings forth the remaining delicate flavor of the blueberry. And because blueberries are rather juicy, cooking it would release its juices making it watery. This is where a half a cup of flour comes in. Then, do not forget cinnamon to bring some spice and butter to make it hearty.

 

Without further comment, I am presenting to you my recipe of my hit Blueberry Pie.

 

Blueberry Pie:

 

Pie Crust:

• 2 sticks (therefore 1 cup) butter, cold but soft
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar (or to taste)
• ¼ - 1/3 cup ice cold water

 

Blueberry filling:

• 2 pints (2 small containers) fresh blueberries
• 1/4 (to taste) cup of lemon juice
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 stick butter, cold and sliced
• ½ cup all purposed flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

 

Procedure:

 

To make pie crust:

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cut butter into slices and place them on top of the dry ingredients. Using two blunt knives (e.g. table knives) "cut the butter" through the dry flour so that the butter resembles pie sized particles surrounded by the flour. At this point, place ¼ cup of ice water and carefully using the fingers, lightly incorporate the liquid into the flour and butter mix making a solid but non-resilient dough. When carefully inspected, one can see the specks of butter in the dough. Do not knead the dough. The point of this is to make a flaky pastry and this can be achieved if there are specks of butter in between the flour that later would melt away as heat is introduced in the oven.
3. Divide the dough 2/3 and 1/3. Wrap both with wax paper and chill for about 10 minutes until easy to handle.
4. At this point, turn on your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Getting the larger dough and flattening it in between two sheets of wax paper, flatten further and equally using slight pressure from an inside to outside motion with a rolling pin. Lift the dough still between the sheets of wax paper to see whether it will fit the pie pan.
6. Remove one of the sheets and place on the pie pan. Chill this again in the refrigerator while making the filling.

Butter, cold but soft, is placed on top of the dry ingredients...

and using two blunt knives, it is cut into small pea sized
particles which are surrounded by the flour.

 

Add ice cold water...

...and using your fingertips incorporate the water within
the flour-butter mix releasing the gluten.

Further using the fingertips to mix.  Do not knead!

Still incorporating, becoming a solid mass.

And becoming the pie crust we want.

Divide the dough to large 2/3 and small 1/3 portions.
Wrap with wax paper and chill until easy to handle
(about fifteen minutes).

Getting the large portion and in between wax paper,
roll evenly using an in to outward motion
using a rolling pin.

See if it covers the pie pan by measuring the dough,
wax paper on, laying it on the pan.

Only when you are sure, remove one of the wax
papers and...

...lay it on the pan. Chill this in the refrigerator. Set
your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit as you
make the filling.

To make filling:

1. Combine together the ingredients of the filling leaving out first the flour in order to see whether the balance of flavors is right to your taste. One may choose to slightly add more sugar or lemon juice while judging its sweetness and tartness. When the taste is just right, add the flour and mix well. Remove the remaining wax paper from the crust. Place the blueberry mixture on the crust lined pie pan.
2. Using the above technique, flatten the smaller piece of pie crust and place this on top of the blueberry mixture. Fold the edges of the bigger crust to the smaller crust and flatten using the fingertips sealing the two ends together. Pinch serially around the crust edges to have that fluted look. Use the edge of a blunt knife to smoothen the edges.

Wash the blueberries and drain.

With the berries. add sugar, lemon juice, butter and cinnamon.
Taste one of the berries to see if the balance of sweet
and sour is right. Adjust by adding a bit of sugar
or lemon juice according to taste.

Add the flour and mix well.

Roll in between waxpapers, the smaller piece of dough.

Smaller piece rolled flat.

Get tghe crust lined pan and remove the remaining
waspaper.

Place filling in the pan and top with the smaller piece
of pie dough.

The smaller piece of dough covering the blueberryfilling.

Fold the lower edge to the top edge and seal.

Using fingertips, pinch the dough around the circumference.

Evening the edges using a blunt knife by
"pushing" the dough within.

Do not forget to place airvents. Bake for an hour with the last
ten minutes baking after brushing with eggwash and
sprinkling with sugar for frosted look.

Cool and serve!

 

Bake in the preheated oven of 350 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. During the last ten to fifteen minutes of baking brush the top with an eggwash consisting of a well beaten egg mixed with a tablespoon of water and sprinkle the top with white sugar. This will give your pie a shiny appetizing look.

 

Let cool to room temperature and serve.

Apple Pie!

I have been in the mood for desserts lately - and one of my favorites is pies. But pies come in different styles depending on the filling and whether that filling is more custard with a semi solid consistency or solid or mixed.  One of the more solid ones is apple pie and it is a standard and quite easy to make. 

"There, your sample...Mrs. Lovett's meat pies..."
but it's not! It's Apple Pie!

Pies are pies because of one thing which is very important: pie crust. Called "pate brisee" in French, pastry has to be three things: flaky, therefore delicate and lastly, flavorful to complement with the filling. In desserts, this is more sweet, in savory, this is more salty. But whatever the flavor is, the basic way of making pate brisee is still based on the balance of oils and gluten released flour paste. 

I explained before in a post on cakes that there are basic proportions in making cake batter. It is the same in pate brisee. The most important as mentioned, is the creation of a delicate flaky crust and this is achieved through the use of butter. 

Butter, being solid, has the capacity of making spaces of air within thinly rolled flour paste. Because flour paste by itself when baked is a tough structure, the rolling of this mass with butter or solid fats such as lard located in between will achieve the flakiness we desire in pie crust. 

Thus, with that in mind, butter needs to be "cut" into small pieces incorporating its solid structure in the flour then, adding the water to release the gluten of the flour, the mass transforms to a dough that is easily handled and when baked under oven heat, the butter is melts, frying the thinly rolled flour paste, achieving a crusty crunch that is pleasing to the palate. With the filling, the rest is just...well, history. 

The filling is another matter. And fillings usually work perfectly with pate brisee depending on texture contrasts.  In apple pie, the moist solid yet buttery sweet filling works well with the sweet salty crunch of the pie crust. Hungry yet? Well, let's proceed to making! 

Apple Pie 

Pie crust: 

(A tip! Remember the proportions for perfect pate brisee: 1 cup flour: 1/2 cup (therefore 1 stick) butter! For a 9-in. single crust recipe, use 1-1/2 sticks butter and 1-1/2 cups flour; for a double crust recipe, use 2 sticks butter and 2 cups flour.) 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 sticks (1/2 cup butter = 1 stick) butter 
• 3 tablespoons sugar 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 cup (more or less) of ICE cold water 

1. Mix the first four ingredients by using two blunt knives cutting crosswise several times about two minutes until the butter is cut into smaller pieces and evenly distributed within the flour mixture and each butter piece is just well dusted in flour. Water may be added once the butter has been cut to pea sized pieces.  
2. Adding the water slowly, incorporate by gently kneading the resulting dough with the fingers releasing the gluten of the flour thus making it easier to handle. The purpose of this is not to make the dough appear like bread dough rather to release the gluten making the mass semi-resilient and therefore flaky later on for the pie. The dough should be semi rubbery rather than the very doughy appearance that bread dough has. 
3. Divide the dough into 2/3 and 1/3. Chill the dough a bit about three to five minutes just cold enough to handle. In between two pieces of wax paper, roll the larger piece evenly to 1/4 inch thin. Line the pie pan with this dough. 
4. Fill with the filling, the recipe of which follows, then top with the rolled smaller piece, the technique of which is just the same as the larger one. Folding the overhang of the bottom piece upwards meeting the top piece, seal the dough and make some airvents on the top. 
5. Bake for an hour and let cool until ready to serve. If desired, apply some eggwash (beaten egg with about three tablespoonfuls of water) on the top with a brush, sprinkle with sugar then increase the heat to broil for a minute or two until golden brown. 

Filling: 

• 6 medium to large Granny Smith Apples 
• 3/4 cups brown sugar or white if a sweeter feel is desired 
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour 
• 1 stick of butter, cut to 1 inch pieces 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon to taste 

1. Peel and core the apples. Slice them all 1/4 inch thickness. 
2. Combine the apples, flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon and mix well until the apples are well coated with the dry ingredients. 
3. Fill the crust lined pan with the mixture as stated above. 

How to Make a Chicken Dish Without Really Trying (Honey Hoisin Chicken - An Original!)

I was just busy lately with work that I manage to update this site once a month usually on the final day. But in the spirit of leading busy lives and the bitchiness of maintaining a career, I am presenting a dish that caters to just that - making home cooked tasty meals while doing something else: whether be it work, catching up on reading, tending to your brats or even watching your often forgotten TV series! 

The trick here is  maintaining the juices while subjecting the meat to high temperatures that give its caramelization. This results in a dish that is tasty, fork tender yet moist. Yet, the tool should be able to do all that. Usually high heat results in a dry burnt dish. Long low heat usually results in fork tender stews that are quite honestly, tasteless! So how to manage to keep the best of both worlds? The secret? Oven timer cooking using a Dutch oven. 

Hence to quote Ron Popeil, "Set it and forget it!!" 

And I won't say more - I will let the video speak for itself. 

Dutch Oven Honey Hoisin Chicken. 

• 8 chicken thighs, thawed 
• salt 
• pepper 
• 1 head garlic, peeled and chopped 
• 1 onion, medium chopped 
• 4 -5 springs thyme 
• 1 thumbsized ginger, crushed 

1. Set the oven 375 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. In a bowl, combine salt, pepper, garlic and chicken and mix well. Line the Dutch oven pan with the chicken pieces. Top with onions and sprigs of thyme. Cover and bake in the preheated oven, timer cooking mode for two hours. Timer cooking means that the oven would turn itself of once the cooking time is over. 
3. You may just leave the whole setup and sleep until it is dinner time! But if you want to baste it further with flavors, then once the two hours are done just spread on top of the chicken pieces: 

• 1/2 cup honey 
• 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce 

Cover once again. Leave it and serve until dinner time! 

I served this to my nurses - and it was gone in about an hour...