Sour cherry pie

As promised, here's a picture of the cherry pie I made on Sunday. It's rough - P and I have to finish it before we leave for Connecticut tomorrow! I think that means pie for breakfast...

For those interested, I made this from a recipe in Baking Illustrated. I didn't make a lattice crust - I wasn't feeling that adventurous - but it was delicious nonetheless.

Cocoa zucchini bread

I'm the crazy person who decides to bake something the day before leaving for vacation, when there's already a long list of things to take care of. Why? Well, we had some zucchini left from last week's box, and I didn't want it languishing in our crisper for another week. I had visions of it being shriveled and moldy when we came back. As luck would have it, our friend Ginny had just emailed me a recipe for zucchini bread with cocoa that she'd been trying out with her zucchini down in Connecticut. How could I resist?

A quick word on quick breads: there's something about this type of "bread" that makes it seem easier to make on a weeknight when you're in a rush. This is considered a bread because it's traditionally baked in a loaf pan, and it's quick because it doesn't use yeast as a leavener - instead, it uses baking powder or baking soda (or in this case, both). For me, it feels quick because there's no butter in the recipe - I don't have to wait for the butter to come to room temperature to cream it, so there's no planning ahead involved.

My only change to the recipe? Rather than use a loaf pan I used an 8 x 8 Pyrex pan. My pet peeve with quick breads in loaf pans is that by the time the middle is cooked, the outside can be quite dry. It also takes longer to bake and to cool to room temperature when cooked in a loaf pan. My change of cooking vessel, I suppose, makes it less of a bread and more of a cake - but I like cake, and it has vegetables in it, so why complain?

This recipe came to Ginny courtesy of her fellow carillonneur Paul Butler. Thanks, Paul, for this recipe!

Champlain Valley Fair Blue Ribbon Zucchini Bread
source: Paul Butler

Note: making 1 1/2 times this recipe works well in a 9 x 12 pan

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (Paul uses white whole wheat)
(for chocolate zucchini bread, substitute 1/2 cup cocoa powder for the flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups white sugar (you can use 2)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium zucchini, grated (about 2 cups)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large loaf pan, or 8 x 8 pan. Sift flour, baking soda, baking power, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. (If you're in too much of a rush to sift everything, just sift the cocoa; that can be lumpy.) In a medium bowl or the bowl of a mixer, whisk together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract until light and thick-looking. If using a mixer, switch to the paddle attachment. Add the dry ingredients and mix briefly enough to moisten. Add the zucchini and walnuts, if using. Stir to combine but do not over mix.

Bake about 1 hour until a cake tester comes out clean. If using a loaf pan, the pan will be very full but that's okay - put a cookie sheet beneath if you're concerned about spillage. If you're using an 8 x 8 pan, bake for approximately 40 - 45 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack.

Deconstructed deconstructed lasagna

After many days of meaning to make the lasagna tart posted on 101 Cookbooks, I have given up trying to get up the wherewithal to make a tart. (Instead, I've made a sour cherry pie...I can always find the energy to make desserts!) Instead, I took the same ingredients, and made a free-form pasta dish with it. Call it my deconstructed deconstructed lasagna.

Deconstructed Deconstructed Lasagna

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
1/2 onion, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 zucchinis, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 28 oz can tomatoes (whole, crushed, chopped; whatever)
1 cup (or more) ricotta cheese
2 Tbsp chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste

1 pound of pasta (or less - it depends on how "saucy" you want your pasta.)

Boil water for the pasta. Salt the water well, and cook pasta according to directions on package to al dente.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large, shallow pan. Saute garlic and onion until soft and a bit browned. Add red pepper flakes (more if you like things hot; a pinch just makes things interesting). Add can of tomatoes. If they're whole, mush them up with the back of a spoon. Cook for 10 minutes on medium until bubbling and tomato-sauce looking. Add zucchini; cook through in sauce. Remove sauce from heat; stir in ricotta and basil. Serve with pasta.

This would probably be even more delicious if it were baked (making it a deconstructed-deconstructed-reconstructed lasagna). If I were going to do that, I would undercook the pasta a bit, mix with the "sauce", put in a greased pan, and top with grated mozzarella. Then I'd bake it at 350 degrees until the top was bubbly and brown.

Check this out!

My first piece for Beer and Butter Tarts has been posted! This is a new blog on food issues relevant to Canadians by the same people who do TasteTO, which is my favorite blog about food in Toronto. I've written a review of Mark Bittman's newest cookbook - check it out!

Cornmeal and Kale Spoon Bread

Every American Thanksgiving, my mom has made what is one of my favorite dishes: Spoon bread. Composed of cornmeal, butter, eggs, and milk, I've always thought of it as a denser, slightly wetter cornbread - and perfect as a side for all things Thanksgiving. I've seen it more eloquently described as a heavy souffle or a savoury pudding - it's a bit like polenta or cornbread in taste, but lighter in texture than both. As I love all things corn, this is something I could eat every day.

When I moved to Canada, my mom's spoon bread recipe was one of the ones I asked her to copy and mail to me so I could do my own American Thanksgiving in Canada. And for every year but the last - when there just wasn't room in my oven - I've made spoon bread at my American Thanksgiving. But why just relegate it to a holiday dish?

I had originally thought I'd make soup with the kale this week. My last week's kale attempt - boiled briefly, then generously salted and buttered - wasn't anything I wanted to make again. With the heat, though, hot soup is the last thing I want to eat. So I searched Epicurious for some alternative uses for kale.

The recipe I was most excited about was Cornmeal and Kale Spoon Bread. One of the people leaving comments on the site was right; this recipe does generate a lot of dirty dishes. I boiled the kale last night to save a step (and a pan) today, but tonight it still generated, oh...2 bowls, a frying pan, a saucepan, and the dish it's baked in.

As for the taste? You'd never really know there were vegetables in it - the flavors all blended together. The roasted red peppers and green onions just melted in, and I wish the cheese had been more assertive. It was a sharp cheddar, and even though we put in more than the recipe called for, the dish wasn't very cheesy. The spoon bread did poof up while cooking, like a good souffle (though not as high), so the texture was light.

Would I make it again? Possibly. I'm undecided if having a larger proportion of vegetables in it would make it better, or just like a strange vegetable casserole bound together with some corn mush. It was tasty, though, and inoffensive; it might be appropriate as a side dish if I'm at a loss for something to make later in the summer. As much as I love spoon bread, it might just be best in its purest form.

This week's haul

Here's what was in this week's box. For once, all are things I have a good idea of what to do with them - the challenge will be coming up with something interesting.

- a big head of broccoli
- a red potato and a white potato
- 2 more pickling cucumbers (now I have 4, since I didn't use them last week!)
- a green pepper
- a tomato
- red cabbage
- a giant head of lettuce
- green beans & purple beans
- carrots
- 2 zucchini
- a small box of pink currants

The one thing in here I've never cooked with are the currants (assuming the purple beans are like green beans - they similar, differing only in color). However, as pastry is my most favorite thing to try (as anyone looking at my shelf of cookbooks can attest), incorporating these into something shouldn't be a problem. At least I think so...

I still have the radishes from last week, and most of the cabbage and the zucchini. I have plans for the zucchini from last week, which I'll post tomorrow, since that's when we're having it for dinner!

Coffee cake

Does this recipe include things from the CSA share? Not necessarily...but it's fantastic and easy, and allows for a lot of creative freedom.

While I was growing up my stepmom would make a great coffee cake - but when I tried to make it a few years ago, it came out like a dry brick. I probably baked it too long; it seems that every apartment I have is cursed with an oven that runs hot. After the research assistant in my lab, Donna, brought in what was an incredibly tasty coffee cake, I had to try again. This is the kind of coffee cake you could eat many, many pieces of and just want to keep eating. I asked her for the recipe, and she knew it off the top of her head - clearly, this is a classic in her house.

I've played with the recipe a bit, but only in terms of the coffee cake flavoring. Cinnamon sugar is traditional (and delicious), but you can substitute other spices, or even fruit, between the layers of cake. The version in this picture? Rhubarb compote in the bottom filling layer, then a mixture of white and turbinado sugars and cinnamon in the top two layers. P says this one is the best one yet. Trust me: you'll want to lick the plate.

Donna's coffee cake

for the cake:
1 cup butter (2 sticks, or half a pound)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder

for the sugar/spice filling:
3/4 cups sugar (half white sugar and half brown works well)
2 tsp cinnamon (substitute any other of your favorite spices)
optional: 1/4 cup toasted chopped nuts

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Dissolve the baking soda into the sour cream. Add 1/3 of flour and baking powder to mixture, then half of sour cream mixture; alternate flour and sour cream, ending with flour and baking powder. Mix only until ingredients are just moistened after each addition - do not overbeat. Combine the sugar(s), spice(s), and nuts in a small bowl.

Pour 1/3 of the mixture into a greased tube pan or bundt pan. (A tube pan works better for getting the cake out and not losing any of the topping.) Sprinkle 1/3 of the sugar mixture over the batter. Layer the batter and sugar twice more, ending with a layer of sugar on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 - 60 minutes. Be sure to watch it carefully - test the cake 10 minutes early to ensure you do not overbake.

Some possible alternatives:
- Cardamom instead of (or combined with) cinnamon; a dash of fresh-ground (always fresh-ground) nutmeg would be a tasty addition, as well.
- Try using sugar with larger crystals (such as Demerara) or darker color (like a dark-brown sugar), or even granulated maple sugar in the sugar filling.
- Toasted slivered almonds, with an additional 1/2 tsp of almond extract, makes for a more almond-flavored cake. Almond paste in one of the layers could also be a delicious addition.
- Berries, or compote, spread into one of the layers. Be sure it's not too wet - this will interfere with the cooking of the cake.

This week's haul

Here's what was in this week's box:

- White potatoes
- Green onions
- Kale
- Zucchini
- Beets
- Green beans
- Peas
- Red cabbage
- Tomatoes
- Summer radish
- 2 pickling cucumbers

We also picked up some more of the sausage that came with the first week's box - with the kale and the potatoes, I think it's time to make soup again. The sausage is a smoked farm sausage, and while there's enough for the soup, I'll also be trying to think of other ways to use it.

And since it was a weak moment while picking up the vegetables, we also picked up some hand made corn tortillas from AlbaLisa Gourmet Food. I've been meaning to try to make tortillas for some time, but have had neither the equipment nor the time (and for those thinking I could make them without a tortilla press, yes, you're right, but I like kitchen gadgets). The taste of these hand made ones will hopefully inspire me.

I'm getting some inklings of what to do with the rest of the vegetables - but what about the summer radish? According to Kathleen, the owner of Culinarium, Mervin the head farmer says it's hot and goes a long way. Any suggestions? I'm thinking it could be grated into a slaw with some of the cabbage and the kohlrabi we have left, but beyond that, I'm not sure. Suggestions in the comments are appreciated!

Update: I'm starting to wonder if this radish is a daikon radish. Another great thing about this CSA share is that I'm trying new vegetables - and I thought I was relatively well-educated about food. I've added a photo of the radishes above - they don't look exactly like the daikon radishes I see in the grocery store, but I shouldn't really expect them to, without the pesticides and fertilizers and all...

Garlic-chili paste (or how to make veggies more exciting)

In a valiant attempt to use a great deal of the CSA vegetables before the next crop arrives tomorrow, last night I threw together a vegetable stir-fry with whatever seemed appropriate in the fridge for a stir-fry:

- green beans
- a red pepper (no, not from the CSA, but in the fridge nonetheless)
- green onions
- spinach
- garlic scapes
- ginger

What made this dinner delicious - and worth making again - was the addition of Lee Kum Kee Chili Garlic Sauce. After sauteeing everything up to a suitable tenderness, I just added some soy sauce and a generous spoonful of the chili garlic sauce, and you'd have thought I slaved over the sauce on the stir fry for ages.

The sauce isn't really hot - honest. If it were, I would not be singing its praises. It had just enough heat to make the dish interesting, and was simultaneously sweet and garlicky and vinegary. Which makes sense when you look at the ingredients. Sure, it's not that low in sodium, but a small spoonful in a large pan of veggies can't add up to that much salt per serving. I seem to remember a version of it being offered as a topping for some onion pancakes P and I had at a Chinese restaurant in Edmonton, and when I make the pancakes again, this will definitely be on the table with them.

As an encore use, tonight I sauteed the zucchini from last week's CSA, and at the last minute added a bit of the chili garlic sauce. Delicious! The only danger now is that I'll use this condiment so much we'll get sick of it...though that doesn't seem likely that soon.

Chicken soup

P has a fever. He's been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks, so hopefully this is its last hurrah. Even if it is, though, a fever merits a batch of homemade chicken soup.

There are two steps to my soup: first, make the chicken broth; second, assemble the soup. Homemade chicken broth is easy with a slow cooker. I have two sizes of slow cooker; for this, I use my smaller one, since the large one would make way too much for my apartment-sized freezer. The best slow cooker cookbook is, without a doubt, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two: For the Small Slow Cooker (or its larger cousin, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook), by Beth Hensperger. This cookbook was perfect for cooking for myself while living alone. I always had homemade frozen meals in the freezer, and it works equally well for cooking for me and P.

Now, for those of you thinking "why on earth would I own a slow cooker?", these recipes are more than just cocktail meatballs and nastiness made from onion dip mix and cream of mushroom soup. This cookbook has easy recipes that ask for things that are in a typical, well-stocked kitchen. The ribs I mentioned in the last post were made in a slow cooker - and were made using a recipe from this cookbook.

Now, assembling the soup is really just a process of adding what I like to chicken soup to a pot with the broth. Chicken, carrots, celery, and egg noodles - that's it. I like a chicken soup with lots of stuff in it, so the proportion of ingredients to broth is nearly 1 to 1. I briefly sauteed the carrots and celery in a bit of butter; added the broth, brought it to a boil, and added the noodles. Just before the noodles were done, I added the already-cooked chicken to the pot to warm it through. I used chicken thighs, which were roasted with the skin on for moistness, but any leftover chicken will do. I then added salt to taste. You'll notice that the recipe below for broth does not call for salt - I like adding it whenever I'm actually using the broth so I have more flexibility with the dish's saltiness.

Here's the recipe for the broth. It is modified from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two: For the Small Slow Cooker, because I am even lazier than the recipe originally demanded. I generally set up the slow cooker just before bed and wake up in the early morning wondering where the chicken smell is coming from. Not a bad way to be woken up!

Chicken Broth
makes 6 - 8 cups

1/2 pounds chicken on a bone (thighs, wings, drumsticks - pull of as much skin as you can. Enough bones to fill the slow cooker will work, too, if you've been saving chicken carcasses.)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered
2 stalks of celery, cut into pieces so they'll fit in cooker
3 or 4 whole black peppercorns
1/2 bay leaf

Place all of ingredients in slow cooker. Add water to cover by 2 - 3 inches. Cover and cook on low for 10 - 12 hours. When cooking is completed, cool slightly and drain through strainer, or colander lined with cheesecloth. Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, until fat rises to surface. Pull off plastic wrap; most of the fat will stick to it and come with it. Scoop off the rest of the fat; use immediately, or freeze.

German potato salad

The presence of the red potatoes in the CSA share this week was just asking for me to make a German potato salad. I first fell upon the recipe in high school, I believe, excited that it didn't include mayonnaise - at the time, I didn't like it. (Honestly, I've only recently come to appreciate its charms.) And a potato salad recipe with bacon? How can that be wrong?

Now, I'm not even going to pretend that this recipe is better for you because it doesn't have mayo. However, as you may have noticed across the stories on this blog, I don't much care if something is "better" for you. Just delicious.

We had our friend Craig (whose very good blog is here) over for dinner on Thursday night. Slow-cooked barbecue ribs; potato salad, and corn bread. No green salad; sorry, folks, but some meals just don't demand them. For dessert? Blueberry slump - I had to at least show someone in person how delicious this odd-looking (and sounding) dessert really is.

I had also made Mark Bittman's pea dip the night before, thinking it would be a nice starter while I finished making dinner. Dinner was ready just as Craig arrived, though, but it was no big loss...the pea dip was just okay. Imagine mushed up peas with a hint of cheese, some chunks of pine nuts, and not much other flavor. If you're a pea-lover, go for it, but for now it's sitting in a bowl in our fridge, waiting to go bad enough for me to throw out.

In any case, the rest of the meal was delicious, and I converted Craig to the religion of blueberry slump. Here's the recipe for the potato salad:

German potato salad
adapted from New Best Recipe

2 pounds small to medium red potatoes (1 to 2 inches in diameter), scrubbed and halved if small, or quartered if medium)
Salt
6 ounces (about 6 slices) bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup of onion)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tbsp whole grain mustard (German-style is good, but Dijon mustard is fine)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves

Place potatoes, 1 tbsp salt, and water to cover in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of potato cooking water, then drain the potatoes. But the potatoes back in the pot to keep warm.

As the potatoes are cooking, fry the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving 1/4 cup of the bacon grease in the pan. Add the onion to the skillet; cook until softened and beginning to brown. Stir in sugar until dissolved; add vinegar and potato cooking water; bring to simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced to a cup.

Remove the skillet from the heat; whisk in the mustard and pepper. Add the potatoes, parsley, and bacon to skillet, and toss to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve while still warm.

This week

This week's bunch of veggies is starting to get more interesting - less lettuce, more other stuff! I am still mourning the loss of the strawberries, though...

Here's what we have to work with this week:
- red potatoes
- carrots
- tomato
- kale
- peas (which we also got last week, but were underneath the green beans, so I didn't find them until after I posted last week!)
- green beans
- lettuce
- zucchini
- green onions

I see a German potato salad in our future, and I'm going to use the peas to make Mark Bittman's pea dip. And who makes a dip without guests to serve it to? Tomorrow night we'll have friends for dinner - I'll report then what the final meal consisted of (and my recipe for German potato salad!)

Blueberry slump

No, it's not blueberry season in Ontario quite yet - but when I want to make a dessert that P just loves, it has to be blueberry slump. This recipe is a family favorite, and while not the most attractive of desserts, it may just be the most delicious. No messing with a crust, it can be thrown together any time, and showcases fresh blueberries in a way no pie or cobbler can.

Blueberry slump is delicious with vanilla ice cream. Whipped cream can be an acceptable substitute, but the coldness of the ice cream with the warmth of the slump is incomparable.

Alice Smith's Blueberry Slump
(with a nod to Helen Hubbard for passing down the recipe)
serves 4 - 6

for the "slump":
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
dash of salt
1 cup water
1 Tbsp lemon juice

for the dumplings:
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk

Bring blueberries, sugar, salt, and water to boiling in large saucepan. Cover; simmer for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice. Meanwhile, mix together dry ingredients, ensuring there are no lumps. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. After the lemon juice has been added to the blueberry mixture, stir the milk into the dumpling mixture until the flour is dampened. Drop the dumpling batter from the tip of a tablespoon into the bubbling sauce, making 6 dumplings - do not let them overlap. Cover tightly; cook over low heat for 10 minutes without peeking. Serve hot.

It is okay to let the slump stand in the pan after the cooking has ended, but remove it from the heat so the sauce does not continue to thicken. This recipe can also be made using frozen blueberries. The recipe also halves easily. Leftover slump is tasty, though it is best served fresh and warm.

Cabbage and carrot slaw

I'm realizing now that tomorrow is Monday, and I've done a pretty bad job of using our veggies this week. What's left? A handful of peas (they were in the bottom of a basket - I didn't find them until this weekend!), the kohlrabi, spinach, a head of lettuce, and most of the cucumber. And I'm not home for dinner tomorrow night. I foresee a giant salad for dinner in our near future...

Dinner tonight? Bratwurst, and some cole slaw I threw together based on a few recipes I checked out. The recipe is below. In retrospect, I could have used the raw kohlrabi in it, as well.

With dinner we also had some amazing onion bread from Patisserie Sebastien (3306 Yonge Street; their website doesn't seem to be operational, but here's a photo of the place). The outside was almost salty, and completely addictive; the onions, though dark, are simply sweet. The inside was perfectly chewy. I wish I'd had the forethought to photograph the chocolate and almond croissants we had from there earlier in the day, as well, because they were equally as amazing - crisp, buttery, light, and just enough chocolate and almond.

The bakery just opened recently, and their selection is limited, probably to accommodate for the smaller volume of customers as they start their business, and to ensure that everything is as fresh as can be. The small fruit tarts look delicious, as do the rest of their assorted pastries and breads. Anyone in the area should definitely check this place out. I know we'll go back for a cup of tea and to sample their other pastries!

Alexa's Cole Slaw
serves 2 (generously; multiply as desired)

1/4 of a small green cabbage, grated
1 medium carrot, grated (approximately the same quantity as cabbage)
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 Tbsp Italian parsley
1 heaping Tbsp sour cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp mayonnaise
2 tsp cider vinegar (or to taste - this thins out the mixture)
big pinch of salt
a few grinds of fresh black pepper

Mix the cabbage, carrot, and green onion in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Taste the mixture; add ingredients as needed. Add to vegetable mixture immediately before serving.

Thai red curry and sichuan green beans

We mixed up our Asian cuisines tonight, going for a Thai red curry and Sichuan green beans. Both would be great vehicles for some of this week's veggies, so why not have them together?

When P and I were in Thailand, our most favorite day of the entire month was a hands-on cooking class in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. We still have the cookbook from that day - it's fallen apart, but we keep jamming the pages back in and hoping we can find our favorite recipes the next time we pull it out. Two of our favorites? Pad thai - definitely not the ketchup-flavored garbage you see in most restaurants in Canada - and curry. But while we've made the pad thai and curry recipes again and again, I believe we tried to make actual green curry paste only once, and red curry paste not at all - it's very involved, and requires many, many ingredients. Instead, we've found a high-quality curry and skip the most laborious step.

Not all Thai curry pastes found in the grocery store are of equal tastiness, however. The best we found is Namjai brand, which is made in Thailand. A nice dollop of curry paste is sauteed in a small amount of oil; then add your meat (or shrimp, or tofu), then the veggies, and then stir in some coconut milk. Add brown sugar, fish sauce, and basil to taste. Tonight, we put in some chicken, a sliced zucchini and white onion. One thing to remember, which we forgot tonight, is that it's necessary to stir constantly and not cover the pan. Otherwise, the fat can separate from the liquid in the coconut milk, and cause the curry to appear somewhat curdled. The taste, however, is still delicious - but you can see some of the curdling in the photo.

My recommendation? Find some of this curry paste (red or green) and keep it in your fridge. We got ours on our last trip to Vancouver, but it must be able to be found in Toronto, too. It keeps for a very long time, and makes a delicious weeknight dinner that you can throw nearly any assortment of veggies into.

Now, these green beans are probably a little less authentic than we'd wanted - but after a day at work, finding a Asian grocery store wasn't on the agenda. This recipe includes things that you're likely to have in your pantry. It approximates it well enough, and maintains the freshness of the green beans while giving them a background of salty (soy sauce) and sweet (the green onions just melt, and the small bit of sugar helps, too). Like the fried rice, bok choy, and green onion pancakes, I'd have these any day of the week as a substitute for lackluster Chinese takeout.

Strawberry Cream Pie

In honor of Canada Day, and in order to make something new with this week's strawberries, I decided to do a riff on a strawberry tart that I saw in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Tart shell; pastry cream, and fresh strawberries on top. My version? Sweet tart dough, with a layer of chocolate berry preserves from the Hamilton Farmer's market, pastry cream, and fresh strawberries.

Now, this story really begins last weekend, when we were going to Craig's house for dinner - the same day I bought a gorgeous quart of organic strawberries from Quinte Organic at the Evergreen Brickworks farmer's market. Excited (and without rhubarb to reprise my strawberry-rhubarb pie), I decided to make a tart. I got out Dorie Greenspan's book, made some tart dough, and then proceeded to follow her recipe for pastry cream.

I don't know if it was the fact that P's aunt called when I was in the middle of it, requiring me to multi-task, or that the directions weren't totally clear - but the pastry cream did not gel. Too late to run out and get more milk and eggs, I brought the strawberries to Craig's. A star in their own right, but I was disappointed in my pastry failure.

So, being that today is a holiday - leaving the entire day for baking concentration - I popped the still-frozen tart dough into the oven to bake while making a different recipe for pastry cream, from The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, by Bo Friberg. This recipe calls for 2 eggs, rather than 6 egg yolks (as my previous attempt had), and manages to make only one pot dirty. I carefully followed his directions, and - voila! - delicious, thick pastry cream.

The previously-made tart crust? Not so good. It cracked in a thousand places, rendering it beyond repair. I then went to a different baking cookbook, Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri, and tried out his Sweet Tart Dough recipe. It came out perfectly - a bit sandy in texture, somewhat cookie-like, and sweet (but not too sweet). The perfect support for a schmear of chocolate berry preserves, then the pastry cream, and then sliced strawberries on top.

This pie - and I did it in a pie shell so there would be enough room for all of the pastry cream - was delicious. The pastry cream was light and creamy, and not too sweet; the strawberries were as perfect as strawberries can be, and the jam added a hint of fruity-chocolaty flavor to each bite. This is a pie worthy of breakfast tomorrow, which is good - there's still a lot left! Too bad it's too difficult to transport on the bus into work for my co-workers to share...

P.S. I love Dorie Greenspan, and all of her recipes - I'm guessing my failure with her recipe was due to my inexperience with both recipes, and my inattention while making them. Everything else I've made from her cookbook has been fantastic, and even looks just like the pictures - so please don't base any decisions on using her cookbooks on this one not-so-great experience.