I love rhubarb. I love it for it’s old fashioned vibe. I love it for it’s color, striking tartness, and even for it’s moderate shelf life. I also love it for showing up so darn early in the spring and sticking around for several months. And I too was at first intimidated by those long,… Continue reading How to deal with Rhubarb
Category: Pies & Tarts
Leek Bacon and Gruyere Tart
This frenchy-french-french tart has the lusciousness of fall written all over it. Spectacular for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, it is also glorious with a crisp green salad. And it freezes really well. So with it almost taking as much work to make one as to make two, do just that and stock yourself with… Continue reading Leek Bacon and Gruyere Tart
Peach and Custard Pie
This is a peach pie my grandmother has made for years. I adore the visual of the entire peach halves, that always elicits at least one gasp of admiration when set down on the table. With peaches stunningly sweet this time in the season, I also really appreciate the addition of the custard-like filling,… Continue reading Peach and Custard Pie
Fresh Strawberry Pie
So here is another recipe handed down from Catherine the Great. No, not the Empress of Russia, but my maternal grandmother–one of my first cooking influences, and for whom I am named. I make this pie at least once a year. I can’t keep myself from it as soon as I see quarts of local… Continue reading Fresh Strawberry Pie
Asparagus Ricotta Galette
As hinted at earlier this week, asparagus is bustin’ out all over on our micro-farm. One of the very first signs of a long season of fresh food from the gardens, this perennial faithfully returns each May, basically without us having to do a thing. (That’s my kind of garden vegetable!) Since it is never… Continue reading Asparagus Ricotta Galette
Blood Orange and Clementine Galette
Soon after I finished culinary school a wise and wonderful chef and cookbook author asked me, as I was first meeting her, what kind of food do you cook? I was a little stumped. I was just out of a year of cooking little other than classical french cuisine. And a year of cooking predetermined recipes… Continue reading Blood Orange and Clementine Galette
Pie Crust 101
Bleached flour, partially hydrogenated lard with BHA and BHT, wheat starch, water, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and sodium propionate (preservatives), Yellow 5, and Red 40. Butter, Flour, Salt, Water, and sometimes an egg. The first is a list of just some of the ingredients of a popular, store-bought, ready-to-unroll, pie crust. The second is what… Continue reading Pie Crust 101