Mid Pie Music Festival

Maybe you noticed, but it's been a minute since I posted about pie. After sailing through number fourteen, I realized that maybe all the butter and sugar was getting to me, and took a break. A ten day break. And by break, I mean cleanse. By cleanse, I mean I did the Advocare 10-Day Challenge with my gym (the best ladies gym in the Cincinnati area. Go check out Bella Forza Fitness! No, I'm not getting paid to tell you about this!)

These meal was super healthy, easy, and cleanse-friendly!

The Advocare system is a series of various weight loss supplements and workout enhancers. I figured I could use the challenge, and so for 10 days I had no sugar, no processed food, no alcohol (!), no mushrooms, fried food, or dairy. I ate five small meals consisting of complex carbs, fruit, veggies, lean meats, and nuts and beans. I kicked up the workouts - using the Spark supplement helped a lot, especially because I don't ingest much caffeine. Deprivation kinda sucked... but the feeling of accomplishment after was worth it.

 For me, it wasn't about losing weight, but about trying something new. I'm looking forward to continuing to tone up and push myself during workouts - ESPECIALLY because there are four pies left to my personal baking challenge!


Coincidentally, the last day of the cleanse was the first night of MidPoint Music Festival. It was fantastic timing. How did I celebrate? Pie is definitely the right answer. Surprisingly, the Pear Ginger Crumble was relatively healthy - very little sugar and (relatively) small amounts of butter - AND it's gluten free!

Larry and His Flask was the best performance I saw all weekend.

The crumble topping is made with quinoa. It was just sweet enough, and the candied ginger gave the pears a balanced kick. My sister came down for Friday and Saturday of the festival, and we enjoyed pie in between sets, alongside some fantastic Bakersfield tacos and pre-concert drinks.

The festival this year didn't have as many headliners, but we managed to find some really fun bands to jam out to. Great weather, fun friends, and the freedom to roam made for an incredible weekend experience.


Pear Ginger Crumble - adapted from this recipe

Takes about an hour to make
Serves eight

it tasted better than it looked. Promise.

Here's what you need:

• 2 1/2 to 3 pounds pears (about 5 large ones), peeled, cored and sliced
• 2 tablespoons raw brown (demera) sugar, preferably organic
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped candied ginger (or 1/3 cup, if you like a kick)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or the seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot

1 batch quinoa-oat crumble topping

Here's what you do with it:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 2- or 2 1/2-quart baking dish. In a large bowl, mix together the pears, sugar, lemon juice, candied ginger, vanilla extract or seeds, and cornstarch or arrowroot.
• Scrape the fruit and all of the juice in the bowl into the baking dish. Set the baking dish on a baking sheet for easier handling, and place in the oven. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the liquid syrupy. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool if desired.
• About 30 minutes before serving, spread the crumble topping over the pear mixture in an even layer. Bake 20 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is nicely browned. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Here's how to make the topping:

Put this in the food processor and pulse until ground - 

• 1 1/4 cups gluten-free rolled oats
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour (grind quinoa in a spice mill to make the flour)
• 1/3 cup unrefined turbinado sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)

Add 6 TBS cold butter, cut into pieces and pulse until crumbly. Spread it on a baking sheet and put in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Store in the freezer-  is great warmed up over raspberries.

Diner-en-Blanc 2: Electric Bugaloo. Some things are worth the effort.

food, bubbles, friends. check check check.

The excitement that ran high this weekend is finally slowed enough to wrap my head around. Slowly, the apartment is getting put back together after the frenzy of activity had bits and pieces strewn from one end to the other. Dresses and pants washed and put away. Champagne flutes stored for the next special occasion. They never mention whether Cinderella had a giant pumpkin guts and mouse-horse mess to clean up when she returned from the ball, but I feel her pain.

The Dinner in White returned to Cincinnati for a second year. This time around we were much better prepared. Combining efforts in a group of six helped make for a more streamlined, less harried process. Best of all, the friends we gathered were genuinely excited about the event, and put time, money and effort into preparation. Liz and Kelly sewed chair covers. Dana created exquisite table arrangements. Ali came from Indianapolis. Keith splurged on champagne. We had a pre-planning meeting, divvying up tasks and food preparation and discussing hairstyles. I haven't put this much work into an evening since Duct Tape Prom back in 2004.

Our hard work paid off. Despite the annoyance of walking our stuff PAST the event location to get to the meeting spot (and then turning around and going right back), once the table was set up and the first bottle of bubbly popped, I couldn't imagine a more magical night. Balloons and jazz music floated gently through the trees, and as the sun went down, candles and twinkly lights lit the scene.

For Keith to spend his last evening in Cincinnati in Washington Park - the crown jewel of the neighborhood we both love so much (and have spent years living, working, and playing in) with good food, friends, and dancing was a pretty great send-off. At the end of the night we all felt really lucky to have been able to partake of it.

Freakin tart. You are So FRANCH!

Obviously I had to make a pie for this enchanting evening. I picked the fussiest, French-est one on the list - Raspberry Hazlenut Tart. It required French butter (did you know that's a thing? apparently it has a higher melting point), hazelnut flour, yet another Loose Bottomed Tart Pan (thanks to my friend Margaret now I have one of my own!) and two days of preparation. I was nervous I was going to mess it up - or drop it en route to the picnic - but neither happened.

This pie is seriously ridiculous. If you don't wish to try it out, readers, I don't blame you. First you make the pâte sablée  then refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Everything must be sifted, and measured out with a digital scale. Using special butter, making a hazelnut cream, pre-baking the shell, even down to finding fresh raspberries in September - who would bother with such an undertaking? Is it worth it?

And maybe, this is the question that everyone is ultimately asking of Diner-en-Blanc. It is easy to stand back and ridicule. To scoff at the pretentiousness of those with the ability, means and desire to pay for the privilege to drag their own stuff to the middle of a park. There are many examples of people spending money on something that seems ridiculous. Skiing, manicures, and football games, to name a few. 

Gatsby-style. With dirty feet.

Should I feel bad about spending my time and money in this way? I wish some of the proceeds for DeB went to charity, but after chatting with a friend who helped put it on, I know that no one is making a profit on it. It's really expensive to rent facilities, purchase insurance and security, lights, sparklers, and more. I budgeted in a big way for the night - borrowed and combined costs where I could, found my dress at a thrift store, made things by hand. I wonder if it's as much of a "show off your wedding china" society-type event in other countries. We Americans tend to make things more complicated than necessary.

Color me naiive, but maybe the goal of this event was simply to create a magical evening. That's what it was for me and mine. Lifted up on good music, bubbles, and the exhilaration of a shared experience with people I love, the night is one of my favorites in recent memory.

It's obviously not for everyone - but that's how it works sometimes. Not every event, new bar, restaurant, or the like is going to appeal to every person - but it's important for the vitality of a city to have a healthy mix of all things. I don't spend a lot of time at Mixx or Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill - but I am glad they exist, if for no other reason than to bring people in. Maybe we can all take a page from Sly and the Family Stone - different strokes for different folks.

Check out more pictures!

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart - from this recipe

Takes about 1 hour 15 minutes, plus 24 to 48 hours’ chilling. (It took me longer than this, but I am no French pastry master.)

This is what you need:

FOR THE PÂTE SABLÉE:

• 290 grams all-purpose flour (about 2 1/3 cups), plus more for dusting
• 35 grams hazelnut flour (about 1/3 rounded cup)
• 110 grams confectioners’ sugar (about 1 cup)
• 175 grams French-style 82 percent fat butter, such as Plugrà (6 ounces), plus more for greasing pan, at room temperature (I found 7 oz of Presidente at Dean's Imports)
• 3 grams fine sea salt (about rounded 1/2 teaspoon)
• 3 grams vanilla extract (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 80 grams egg yolk (about 5 yolks)

FOR THE TART:

• 30 grams whole hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (about 1/4 cup)
• 70 grams hazelnut flour (about 3/4 cup) (couldn't find hazelnut, had to sub chestnut)
• 70 grams confectioners’ sugar (about 3/4 cup)
• 2 grams cornstarch (about 3/4 teaspoon)
• 2 grams cake flour (about 1 teaspoon)
• 70 grams French-style 82 percent fat butter, such as Plugrà (2 1/2 ounces), at room temperature
• Pinch of sea salt
• 2 grams vanilla extract or paste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 12 grams dark rum (about 1 tablespoon), optional
• 150 grams good quality raspberry jam (about 1/2 cup)
• 250 grams raspberries (9 ounces or about 2 cups)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

This is what you do with it: 

• Make the pâte sablée: Sift flour, 35 grams hazelnut flour and 110 grams confectioners’ sugar into separate bowls. Place 175 grams butter, 3 grams salt and sifted all-purpose flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until flour and butter just come together. Add sifted hazelnut flour and confectioners’ sugar and mix on low until ingredients are just incorporated. Add vanilla extract and egg yolks and mix on medium just until ingredients come together. Scrape dough out of bowl and press into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangular block. Wrap airtight in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Unwrap dough and cut into two equal pieces. Wrap one piece and refrigerate or freeze for use in another tart.
• Butter a 9-inch metal tart pan with a removable bottom very lightly and evenly. (If you can see the butter you have used too much.) Place parchment paper or a Silpat on a work surface and dust lightly with flour. Tap on the dough with a rolling pin to make it pliable. Roll dough out gently to about 1/4-inch thickness, frequently rotating it a quarter turn clockwise. Work quickly so dough doesn’t warm up and become sticky.
• Cut a circle that is 1 1/2 inches larger in diameter than tart pan. (An easy way to do this is to use a larger pan or ring as a guide; set it on top of the dough and cut around it.) Very lightly dust dough with flour; use a pastry brush to remove any excess flour. Wrap dough loosely around rolling pin to lift it up from work surface, then immediately unroll it onto tart pan. Gently guide dough down the sides of the pan, making sure that dough leaves no gap between the bottom edge of the sides of the pan and the bottom. Using a paring knife, trim away excess dough hanging over edges. Refrigerate tart shell, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight.
• Assemble the tart: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place hazelnuts on a sheet pan lined with parchment and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, cool for 15 minutes and place in a bag. Seal bag and gently roll over nuts with a rolling pin, just to crush them into halves. Set aside.
• Sift together 70 grams hazelnut flour, 70 grams confectioners’ sugar, the cornstarch and the cake flour.
• Place 70 grams butter, pinch of salt and the vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix at medium speed for 1 minute. Turn off machine, scrape down sides of bowl and add hazelnut flour mixture. Mix at medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually add egg and mix at medium speed until incorporated, no more than 2 minutes. Add rum, if using, and mix until incorporated.
• Remove tart shell from refrigerator. With a fork, poke holes in the dough, 1 inch apart. Spoon or pipe hazelnut cream into bottom of shell. Using a small offset spatula, spread in a smooth, even layer.
• Bake tart for 40 minutes, until cream and crust are golden brown and the tip of a paring knife comes out clean when inserted. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.
• Remove tart from the ring and, with a small offset spatula, spread raspberry jam over surface in an even layer. (If jam is too stiff to spread easily, place it in a small saucepan and warm it slightly first on top of the stove.) Arrange fresh raspberries on jam. Just before serving, distribute roasted hazelnuts among the raspberries and dust with powdered sugar. The tart is best when eaten the day it is made, but can be refrigerated for a day.

Zen and the Art of Cherry Cobbler

There's something soothing about the precision in baking. I'm not normally a exacting person in the kitchen. Eight times out of ten my experiments work out well - the other two times it's generally a quasi-inedible disaster. It's a good ratio, but the other problem with 'a little of this, a little of that, oh what's this random thing I have in the fridge, that would be really good with this other random thing' - is that it's nearly impossible to replicate. Constant reinvention keeps me fresh, but I really need to be better about writing down my successes if I ever want to eat them more than once.

What did you do to those poor cherries?!

Following the recipes from the New York Times page (well, mostly...) is an exercise in mindfulness and stretching my fine motor skills - being more precise, leveling off the dry ingredients, triple checking the wet. Getting fingers and countertops sticky in the process of creation is a wonderful respite from my extremely screen-focused life. And while my previous efforts were solo, this go-round I had help from my fantastic roommate Liz. She pitted two and a half pounds of cherries, surrendering her porcelain fingers to a hue more appropriate for a crazed serial killer.

In honor of my younger sister's 22nd birthday last Thursday I asked her to choose which pie to make this time around. She's had an aversion to birthday cake for about ten years, and consequently always has a pie on her day. I felt it was only appropriate. She picked Cherry Cobbler with Almond-Buttermilk Topping. Which isn't technically a pie. Take it up with the Times, they're the ones who picked the recipes.

This recipe was relatively healthy (considering it's a pie). I appreciated the mix of flours - the almond meal was excellent and contributed to the texture. I didn't have any almond extract, so the trusty bourbon vanilla was substituted. Make some bourbon vanilla, ya'll. Two vanilla beans in a jar filled with bourbon. Let it sit for two weeks. I use it ALL THE TIME and it's so delicious.

At any rate, the cherries were pitted, the topping came together like a dream, and several friends gathered in my apartment to try it out. Though it was late in London (Katy is overseas for the summer as an au pair), I called her on FaceTime and we sang her Happy Birthday from across the pond. There's one serving of the dish sitting in my freezer, awaiting her return. She's pretty incredible and deserves some yummy pie when she gets home from her adventures. It was really delicious. So delicious that I forgot to get a picture of the finished result. 5chw4r7z snapped a pic of the decimated dish.

Okay, here we go.

Cherry Cobbler with Almond-Buttermilk Topping - adapted from this recipe

takes about an hour, depending on how fast you can pit cherries (if you have someone else pitting cherries while you make the topping, then it comes together quickly!)
can be prepared ahead of time and re-warmed later
serves about 8. it could easily be doubled - everyone definitely wanted seconds!

Here's what you need:

(For Filling)

• 1 1/2 pounds cherries, stemmed and pitted (about 5 cups)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract - or bourbon vanilla. And if it's vanilla, up it to a tablespoon.

(For Topping)

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal, also called almond flour or almond powder (1 1/2 ounces)
• 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2/3 cup buttermilk - I used 2/3 of a cup of milk with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice added. Because who buys buttermilk on purpose? Not this guy.

Here's what you do with it:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 2-quart baking dish. Place the cherries in a large bowl, and add the sugar, lemon juice and all-purpose flour. Carefully mix them together with a rubber spatula or a large spoon until the sugar and flour have dissolved into the liquids. Transfer to the baking dish, making sure to scrape out all of the liquid in the bowl.
• Sift all of the dry ingredients for the topping. (If you can't find your sifter, just put it all in the food processor because it's going to basically sift it for you.) Place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and pulse a few times. Add the butter, and pulse to cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Turn on the food processor, and pour in the buttermilk with the machine running. As soon as the dough comes together, stop the machine.
• Spoon the topping over the cherries by the heaped tablespoon. The cherries should be just about covered but may peek out here and there. Place in the oven, and bake 35 to 40 minutes until the top is nicely browned and the cherries are bubbling. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool to warm before serving. Serve warm (heat in a low oven for 15 minutes if necessary before serving).

Seitan isn't Satan, but tofu sure is.

So I'm over halfway through my meat-free February!! It has been an uphill battle... I find myself craving things I don't normally crave - BBQ wings for example - but I've had some fun with new recipes and trying new things.

I gave tofu one shot out to eat last week, and it was terrible. I've had it prepared well before (namely at Thai Express in Clifton) - when they saute the tofu in a sauce so it's crispy and flavorful... but not so the last time I had it (at a different Thai restaurant that will remain nameless. There's gotta be better options than tofu! YUCK!

So my main new discovery has been this seitan stuff. Seitan is wheat gluten - wheat flour is rinsed until all the starch dissolves and what's left is this elastic mass that has a similar texture to ground beef. I got some to try at Park+Vine, and it worked out pretty well. I crumbled it and sauteed in in oil, and it was good both in a salad and later as a "phony coney" - cranberry walnut bread (locally made, also from P+V), seitan and cheddar cheese melted in the toaster oven. YUM.

(pics: Upton's Naturals Seitan and spinach salad with raspberries, oranges, honey sesame sticks and seitan)

I've also had good success with beans. For Super Bowl Sunday I made a really fantastic black bean and sweet potato chili adapted from Serious Eats (using Arrogant Bastard Ale), and tonight for dinner I just made the best freakin' black bean burgers of probably ever. Yes, seriously. Ever.

 

See? They were fantastic. 

 Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers

1 16 oz can black beans, rinsed and dried
1 8 oz can chopped carrots, rinsed and dried
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
4 TBS minced garlic
1/4 cup flax seeds (gotta get that protein!)
1 egg
3/4 cup Italian seasoned croutons, smashed
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
seasonings to taste: salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, cumin, garam masala

 1. drain and rinse the beans and carrots, and squish them with a fork in a bowl until they're all mushed.

2. loosely chop the onion and red pepper with a knife, put the pieces into your food processor with the garlic and flax seed. (10 points if your food processor is with the immersion blender like mine). Chop it up until it's really fine, then strain out most of the liquid through a mesh colander or one with small holes.

 3. Combine the pureed vegetable mixture into the bean bowl. Add egg, croutons and bread crumbs. Add the spices a little at a time until the mix tastes good. Stir to combine - the mixture should be easy to work with and not crazy sticky - if it is, add more bread crumbs. Use your hands, you know you want to.

 

4. Form into patties whatever size you like - I made 3 big ones and 4 sliders and some meatballs for later this week. It makes a good amount of food - probably enough for 3 or 4 guys. Bake the patties on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Add a little mozzarella cheese 3 minutes before removing.

I served my sliders on toast with mango chutney and brown mustard. 

No fat, all protein and vegetables and wonderfulness - and it was REALLY filling. Enjoy!!

Meat-Free February

My friends Janice and Andy did a vegetarian diet for the month of January, and it got me thinking. I don't eat much meat to begin with - the occasional slice of bacon/chicken broth to flavor my soups, shrimp, sushi and sometimes burgers when I go out to eat. People often ask me if I'm vegetarian and I say, "I eat what I want!" It makes them laugh, but it's true. I often eat vegetarian meals because they're tasty (and cheap!), but I will answer the siren song of a delicious burger without hesitation.

But we all know how good it is for you, for the planet, for humanity, for the future, to cut back on meat consumption. So I'm going to try it.

I have trouble sticking to resolutions, mainly due to forgetfulness and lack of interest. So I'm thinking I will try not eating meat for the month of February. It's only 28 days, and it will be fun finding new recipes to try out. Of course I'm taking you with me ;)

Yesterday I kicked off my meatless February with a grilled goat cheese and spinach (and Grippo's BBQ chips) sandwich from Tom + Chee. My friend Shannon gave me a recipe for that night's dinner - she calls them "Nom Wraps": tortillas with cream cheese, spinach, sauteed red onion, roasted butternut squash, and sliced green pepper.

They were REALLY nom!! Thanks lady!