Cherry Lattice Deep-Dish Pie

It's cherry season. 

Doesn't that just send you running to the grocery store!?!?..... I guess it's just me. And Mr. S. 

Quick story! When Mr. S and I first got married, we would go to the grocery store together all the time. We called them grocery dates. One fall day, Mr. S wanted some fruit. The cherries (from some country in South America no doubt) looked really good. He grabbed a bag, weighed it, put the price sticker on it, and handed them to me. The cherries were over $14 for a smallish bag. I looked at him and said "You really want cherries?" He casually said yeah, so I put them in the cart... Thinking that I had either married a moron or Mr. Big.

When we got to the register and the lady rang us up, he was flabbergasted that our bill was so high. He mentioned that when we got into the car, so I pulled it out and showed him. $14 for cherries. He hadn't even looked at the price when he grabbed them, weighed them, and tagged them. Doh!

Mr. S has now committed the price of cherries to memory. He knows seasonal highs and lows. And the low was reached last week. 

Back to pie. We bought a truckload (almost) of cherries, so the only rational solution to use them all up was pie!

Start out with the crust. Use the Smitten Kitchen Pie 102 recipe. Literally step for step.

Dries get put in a biiiiig bowl. You'll need the space. 

Next, chunks of super cold butter get cut in with a pastry cutter. 

Add some ice water.

Just a 1/2 cup. 

Stir it in quickly - just till the dough begins to form clumps.

Using your hands, gather it up into a ball. Quickly. The name of the game is - don't touch the dough! The more you touch it, the tougher it will be.

Divide the ball in two.

Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and a half. Seriously. Let it chill. Pick up that book you've been meaning to read. 

Next, make the cherry filling. It's super easy. Dump everything in a bowl. Stir. 

Roll out your first dough ball. 

Drape it into the pie dish. Then fill it with the cherry mixture.

Roll out the second ball. Cut the circle into strips. Use every other one to make stripes on the pie.

 

 Take the other strips and weave them into the first set.

Pinch around the edges to seal. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Then at 350 for another 30.

Until it's golden brown and bubbly. Let it cool for at least 2 hours.

Slice and nosh. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Cherry Lattice Deep-Dish Pie

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Crust:

Smitten Kitchen Pie 102 recipe. Literally step for step.

I may have also added a few grates of nutmeg and some almond extract.

Cherry Filling: (if you've got a regular pie plate, reduce the cherries to 4 c., cornstarch to 4 tsp, etc)

6 c. pitted sweet cherries

6 tbsp corn starch

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/3 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

10 grates of fresh nutmeg

Make the crust as Deb tells you to. Including the resting period in the fridge. Don't skip it. 

While the dough is chilling out, make up the filling. Dump everything in a bowl and stir. Preheat  your oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out the first half of the dough, leaving the other half in the fridge. Make sure it's bigger than the pie dish. Hanging off the edge a little is a-ok.

Pour the cherry mixture into the crust-lined pie dish. If you don't like your pies wet, leave most of the sugar juice in the bottom of the bowl. If you don't mind things a little soupy, pour it all in.

Roll out the second dough ball. Make it slightly larger than the pie plate too. 

Use a sharp knife and cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch strips. Taking every other strip, lay them an inch and a bit apart, one way across the pie. Take the strips you've got left, weave them into the pie. Over, under, over, under, etc. 

If you run out of dough strips, cut off some of the overhanging parts of strips you've already woven in and pinch them together to create another strip. No one will notice any wonky looking strips.

Trim off the excess dough and pinch all the way around the pan, creating a crimped edge. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then back the oven off to 350 and bake another 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cherries are bubbling away. Allow to cool for at least 2 hours. 

Enjoy!

Blue Cheese Dressing Biscuits

There are some ideas that shoot down like bolts of lightening. Altering your very core. Ideas that give you a new perspective on life. 

This is one of them: Use salad dressing to make biscuits. 

Many of the store-bought dressings I like now a days are from the refrigerated section and are yogurt based. Which means.....

BISCUITS!!! Ranch biscuits, blue cheese biscuits, the options are ENDLESS.

They totally have some sort of dairy in them. Cream, sour cream, etc. Why not sub in something like blue cheese dressing???

Now that I've blown your ever-loving minds, here's the quick and easy -

Drys - flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Cut in shortening and butter. Use your fingers to integrate it till it looks like coarse sand.  Make a well in the middle.

Get out the dressing. Mine was the yogurt based kind. Not sure if regular dressing works, if you try it, let me know!

Measure out a 1/2 cup. Add some half & half. Then some blue cheese crumbles to kick it up a notch.

Pour the wets into the well in the drys. Mix it together with your hand real fast.

Toss is out onto the counter.

Pat the dough out into a 1" high circle and dig out your grandma's biscuit cutter (or the one you picked up at a garage sale in Iowa for a nickle).

Quickly cut out your rounds and put them on a cookie sheet.

Bake until golden brown. Yum!

Blue Cheese Dressing Biscuits

Makes approx. 1 dozen

2 c. flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp  baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp cold butter, cubed

2 tbsp shortening

1/2 c. yogurt-based blue cheese dressing

1/2 c. half & half

3 tbsp blue cheese crumbles

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add in butter and shortening. Work in with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Dig a little well in the middle.

In a small bowl (or measuring glass), mix dressing, half & half, and cheese. Pour into the well of the other mixture. Incorporate with a few swift strokes.

Dump mixture onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a 1" thick round. Quickly cut biscuits and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Not Quite Mama Ninfa's Green Sauce

Like any good Houstonian, I grew up with a long list of heros: Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas; Willis Carrier, inventor of air conditioning; Mama Ninfa, creator of fajitas and green sauce...

There's something special about that sauce. When coming back to Texas from out of state (or country) trips, I've often requested to be met at the airport with Mama Ninfa's green sauce and chips. The fact that my parents see nothing odd at all about this makes it even more awesome.

I'm not claiming that I've got it figured out. Someone else did, which is where I got the base of this recipe, but it's not quite right. It's still really delicious, which is why I'm telling you about it, but it's not truly perfect. As soon as God lets me know the secret recipe, I'll tell you.

This is a perfect sauce for dipping chips. Or quesadillas, flautas, smallish pieces of cardboard....

Start with tomatillos, jalepenos, garlic and an onion.

Quarter the onion and wrap up the garlic in it's own foil pouch. Char everything off under the broiler.

Add them to a blender with the avocado.

Blitz until creamy.

Pour into a bowl and add the sour cream, cilantro, and salt.

Transfer to your serving vessel and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for at least an hour.

Unwrap, garnish, and taste....

Serve to your adoring fans!

Not Quite Mama Ninfa's Green Sauce

Makes 4-5 cups

Adapted from The Washington Post

1 lb tomatillos, husked and washed  (about 10)

2 jalapenos - or more if you like it spicy

1 medium onion

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and bundled together in tin foil

3 avocados

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. cilantro, finely diced

1/2 tbsp salt (or to taste)

Turn your oven's broiler to high. Quarter the onion, and place it, the jalapenos, garlic foil package, and tomatillos on a sheet pan. Broil for 15-20 minutes, until charred slightly. 

Scoop out the avocados, add to a blender with the charred veggies (take the garlic out of the foil, of course). Blend until smooth.

Gently fold in the sour cream, cilantro, and salt. Add more cilantro and salt to taste. 

Strawberries-on-Sale Ice Cream

There's a magical moment every summer. You can smell it as soon as you walk into the fruit and veggie section of the grocery store. Mountains of ripe strawberries!!!

And - bonus - they are typically in super big containers and super cheap. Bring. It. On.

These berries are almost to the too-ripe point. They just melt in your mouth and taste exactly like the strawberries you remember from childhood.

But you have to use them fast, or they grow little hairy afros. And become friends with that container in the back of the fridge that you've been ignoring for the last 3 months....

So -

Ice Cream!!

Strawberries - chopped to smithereenes

Add vanilla, lemon juice, and sugar.

Mix it up, mash it up, and chill it out. Overnight, that is.

Now, the custard base. Egg yolks get stirred with sugar. 

Cream, sugar, and half and half meet in a saucepan.

Stir and wait until it steams and bubbles.

While you're waiting, set up your bowl in ice bowl contraption -

Once the cream is warm, temper your egg yolks. Use a whisk - not a fork. Learn from my mistakes.

Since the eggs are tempered, you can whisk them into the cream.

Now, cook until it becomes custardy and coats the back of a spoon. Don't let it boil!!!

Strain that custardy goodness (to get any scrambled egg bits out), into the bowl over ice.

Stir until cool.... then cool some more. In to the fridge it goes for a overnight rest!

After one tense strawberry-ice-cream-is-so-close night's sleep, blend up those berries.

Create fun patterns in the custard....

Then into the ice cream maker she goes!

Dishes of strawberry ice cream stir up the best memories.

Strawberries-on-Sale Ice Cream

Makes 8 cups or 64 fluid ounces when frozen

Adapted from The Former Chef

 1 1/2 lbs very ripe strawberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. heavy cream

2 c. half and half

5 egg yolks

3/4 c. sugar

Rinse and hull all the strawberries. Dice them very fine. Place in a bowl with the tablespoon of sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mush around with a fork or spoon. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight.

Place a medium sized bowl in a large bowl that is filled with ice.

In a small bowl, mix the egg yolks with the 3/4 c. sugar. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream and half and half to just below a simmer. You should be able to see steam rising and bubbles around the edge.

A quarter cup at a time, pour 1 cup of the warmed cream into the eggs to temper them. Whisk as you add the warm cream so the eggs don't scramble.

Once you've tempered your eggs, whisk them into the pot of cream. Stir gently until the cream becomes custardy and coats the back of a spoon. Don't let it boil.

Pour the custard into the medium bowl in the ice bath. Stir to help release heat, until it comes to room temperature. Cover and chill overnight.

When you are ready to make the ice cream, blitz the berry mixture with a stick blender or real blender. Make it nice and smooth. Add the berries to the cream and mix well.

Pour your chilly berry cream into your ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Pour into a container and freeze in the freezer to harden. Scoop and top with more sliced berries.