Pecan Pecan Pie!

In honor of my mother who will be in the U.S. in just a couple of days! her favorite, Pecan Pie.

Pastry for 9-inch one crust pie
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare pie pastry.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy; gradually add brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add corn syrup, pecans, salt, and vanilla extract; stir until well blended. Pour into pastry-line pie plate.
3. Bake approximately 40 to 50 minutes or until the pie center has a slight jiggle to it when shaken. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack before cutting and serving.

I realized that nowhere in my blog is there a pie pastry recipe to link to. Here's a great one from Simply Recipes: Perfect Pie Crust Recipe

Using that basil: Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad and Bruschetta

When I moved to San Diego I started my "garden" and planted a few different herbs in pots on my balcony. One of them is a basil plant that just kept getting bigger and bigger! I had no idea that basil plants get this big (I don't have much experience with gardens, let alone herb gardens, but love plants and want to someday have my own real garden, y'know, in the ground). Anyway, so to prune my basil bush a bit I made a couple dishes for tonight that involve lots of basil.

Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad

The pesto was actually made by a friend, and pesto is very much a personal taste thing but I guesstimated the amounts he used, make your own tweaks as appropriate.

Pesto: Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 medium sized garlic cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pop the ingredients in a food processor and presto! you have... pesto.

Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad: Ingredients
1 cup pesto
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 lb chicken breast
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook the macaroni. Set aside and let cool.
2. Marinate the chicken breast with the pesto in a plastic zip top bag so you can really smear the pesto around all over the chicken breasts.
3. Heat a pan with olive oil. Sear the chicken breast on each side for about a minute or two. Then cover with a lid until cooked through, being careful not to burn the pesto covered chicken.
4. Cut up the cooked chicken in 1/2 inch pieces, mix into pasta. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper.
5. Feel free to add more pesto, olive oil, salt and pepper, again personal preference.

Bruschetta

2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup basil, packed and chopped
2 Tbsp walnut, chopped (optional)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
Baguette

1. Mix tomatoes, onion, basil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.
2. Preheat the broiler.
3. Cut Baguette in diagonal slices about 3/4 inch thick.
4. Place one layer of bread on a pan, drizzle with olive oil, and toast until lightly brown.
5. Spoon tomato mixture onto each slice of bread and serve.

Berry Cherry Pie

For the first time in Winnie history I made a pie just wingin' it by the seat of my pants. I have to say, I am happy with the results. Granted I didn't make my own crust, I bought the store-bought, bring-to-room-temp-and-unroll kind, but the filling I ad-libbed and took notes. Here's how it goes.

Berry Cherry Pie
1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie
3 cups cherries, pitted**
1 cup mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup white wine
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Make pastry and refrigerate (or let pastry come to room temperature).
2. Macerate (basically, marinate) cherries in sugar, wine, flour for 1 hour. Drain and reserve liquid.
3. Roll out pastry shell and put in bottom of the pie dish. Pour in cherries, cover with the reserved liquid. Cover with top pastry shell. Make sure to cut slits to vent. Lattice top crust if preferred. Brush crust with milk.
4. Bake 30-35 mins until lightly browned. Cool before serving.

I've never actually had Cherry pie before so am not sure if the liquidness is common. If you prefer less liquidy filling I suggest simmering the reserved liquid over the stove to a more goopy mixture before adding it to the pie.

** Oh, P.S. I hand pitted my cherries because I had a whole bunch left over that weren't being eaten. From what I've heard you can buy pitted cherries by the can in any grocery store, or I believe there are pitting "machines" out there. Manually pitting my cherries was not the highlight of my day. By the end it looked like I had slaughtered something, my hands were so covered. I'm talking drippings down practically to my elbows drippings (alright, alright, maybe not all the way to my elbows....) But whaddya gonna do to save a buck or two (or twelve)? Hand pit cherries.
I had used a paring knife and halved the cherries. I read somewhere, of course after I had baked my pie, that using a plastic straw is a good way to pit cherries "by hand" and still keep them whole.

"I didn't have a cherry pitter, so my husband came up with a great, cheap solution after seeing me pitting the cherries with a knife (very tedious, and it halves the cherries which doesn't like as nice as whole cherries in the pie): plastic straws, like the kind you get at any fast food place. Hold the cherry in one hand and gently push the straw through the top of the cherry until you feel the pit. Gently push the pit through the bottom of the cherry. Do this over a bowl to catch the pits and the juice; put the pitted cherry in another bowl."

Voila!

Ziti-batiti

For dinner tonight I made a baked ziti with sausage and spinach. Can you tell that I like sausage and spinach? I kind of improved a recipe that goes something like this:



Baked Ziti
1 lb penne pasta
1 lb Italian sausage, casing removed
3 cups of your favorite red sauce (or Quick Marinara Sauce recipe below)
1 1/2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 cups mozzarella, grated
salt & pepper to taste
crushed red pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt generously, and boil the pasta until al dente. Drain.
3. While pasta water is boiling, brown casing-less sausage. Mix in large bowl with chopped spinach. Mix in red sauce, cooked pasta, parmesan, and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper. Mix well until combined.
4. Transfer to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Cover with remaining 1 1/2 cup mozzarella. Cover with tin foil.
5. Bake 15 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking until lightly browned on top.

QUICK MARINARA SAUCE

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 medium onion, diced (about 3 tablespoons)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 1/2 cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes in puree, (one 28-ounce can), roughly chopped
Sprig of fresh thyme
Sprig of fresh basil
2 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion and garlic, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the herb sprigs and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
2. Remove and discard the herb sprigs. Stir in the salt and season with pepper to taste. Use now, or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.