Recipe Note

Cut a cube (stick for those who don’t speak cube) of butter into two cups of whole wheat flour laced with a half cup each: flax meal, wheat germ, and raw sugar. Leaven with two teaspoons of soda. Perk up with a pinch of salt and red chile. Stir in a cup of buttermilk that should yield a ball of semi-sticky dough ready for chilling.

Once the dough’s cool enough to hand, roll it out on board dusted with flour. Cut the cookies into wedges, paint with oil, sprinkle with more of your chunky raw sugar and red chile. Bake for ten or so in a medium oven. Cool on racks.

Details

~New to cutting butter into a floury mix? Pastry cutters or forks keep the
butter cool while you work, but I prefer my clean hands. The goal is to wind up with flattened bits of butter that will turn the cookies in the direction of a flaky pie crust.

~Oil to brush on the tops instead of melted butter? It was a necessity call. Butter might have been nice, but I used all I had in the dough.

~Cooling cookies on racks keeps the bottoms from getting soggy. Mom taught me that, and the racks pictured were hers.     …tak, Mama

Home Made Pie Crust

Use two parts flour to one part fat for your crust. In the pie pictured, I used two cups of unbleached white flour (departing from my usual whole wheat pastry flour) and two or three pinches of salt to two cubes of cold butter pared off in thin bits with a knife. That way the butter is fairly easy to work into the flour by pressing the bits flat with your fingers and not putting too fine a point on things (see the details below). Then little splashes of ice water, using your hands to help the dough come together gently.

The idea with pie crust is to let the dough press itself together without stirring per se. Your hands are more guides than they are mixers. So just keep sprinkling water around on the parts that are still dry until the dough forms into a nice soft mound.

For this much dough you’ll have enough for a bottom shell and a small sugar cinnamon tart or something fun like that for the kitchen helpers. If you want to make a two crust pie, use 3 cups of flour and 3 cubes of butter. Then form the dough into 2 soft balls.

To roll your crust out, flour a board and a rolling pin–or even a wine bottle if a pin’s not around. Turn the dough fairly often and keep dusting with flour so things don’t stick.

I think you’ll be surprised at how easy pie crust is. The main trick is getting a dough that holds together by using just enough water to pat things together. That way you avoid trying to work with a dough that cracks because it’s too dry–as well as a dough that simply has more water than it needs.

Bake your pie in a hot, 425 degree oven for ten minutes to jump start the bottom crust. Then back the heat off a good hundred degrees for a slow cook on the filling. Check your pie now and again, and turn it, since if your oven’s like mine it’s hotter at the back. Pies are done when the tip of your sharp knife signals soft fruit within or a custard-type filling that lets the knife slip out clean.

Details

When I worked at My Mom’s Pie shop way back, I’d make pies during my off hours and take wedges into the owner, Jean McLaughlin. Her main tip was to not get up tight about working the fat into the flour perfectly. And I did find that my crusts got flakier when I didn’t worry about the little pea-sized bits and left rather big shards of butter here and there. I got two thumbs up from Jean too, who wondered if I was planning on opening my own shop.

Latina Peaches

For these peaches, pass on the ginger and step away from the bourbon. Instead grab some limes, red chile, and salt. Yep. Latina Peaches take a deep curtsy south of the border. Here’s to you and su familia, Argelis.

Recipe Note

Dress perfectly ripe peaches with a little finely minced garlic, red chile, sugar, salt, and a liberal squeeze of lime.

Details

~If you have a mortar and pestle, pounding garlic is light years easier than fine mincing.

Hippie Kitchen, p. 106

Grandma-GK’s Rhubarb Pie

There’s the clump of rhubarb Grandma planted out back. Then there’s decades of listening to Prairie Home Companion’s Garrison Keillor talk about how Beebop-A-Rebop Rhubarb Pie “takes the taste of humiliation out of your mouth.” Between Grandma and Beebop-A-Rebop, I had to give a nod to the institution of rhubarb pie.

Recipe Note

Use a ratio of two parts flour to one part fat for your crust. In this case, I used two cups of unbleached white flour and two or three pinches of salt to two cubes of cold butter pared off in bits with a small knife. That way the butter’s fairly easy to work into the flour by pressing the bits flat with your fingers. Then little splashes of ice water, using your hands to help the dough come together gently. All the recipes I consulted call for glass, nonreactive pie plates for rhubarb, so I used one, although as you can see, I set it in a giant cast iron pan to help the cause of getting the bottom done.

A couple pounds of chopped rhubarb—or enough to mound nicely into one large pie shell—takes a little less than a cup and a half of sugar and around a third cup of thickening like tapioca flour or just regular flour. Use a nonreactive bowl to keep the rhubarb from darkening. Then a little bold spice is fun. I used allspice that I ground fresh in the coffee grinder. And once I got the lattice on and painted with a wash to make it shine—an egg white stirred up with a little water—I sprinkled more allspice on the crust as well.

Bake in a hot, 425 degree oven for ten minutes to jump start the bottom crust. Then back the heat off a good hundred degrees for a slow cook on the fruit and the top crust. Check your pie fairly often and turn it, since if your oven’s like mine it’s hotter at the back.  Pies are done when the tip of your sharp knife signals soft fruit within.

~When I worked at My Mom’s Pie shop way back, I’d make pies during my off hours and take wedges into the owner, Jean McLaughlin, for critique. Her main tip was to not get up tight about working the fat into the flour perfectly.  And I did find that my crusts got flakier when I trusted the dough and myself more.

~I started getting two thumbs up from Jean as well, who wondered aloud at one point if I was planning on opening my own pie shop and turning into her competitor. I didn’t do that, but I kept up with the pie making, even learning to flatten the rim of the crust some after you crimp the top and bottom crusts together. That way the edges won’t burn and there’s no need for those strips of aluminum foil some want you to mess with.

~This pie is the only one I’ve made in decades without using 100 percent whole wheat pastry flour. That’s because the person I was making it before had a delicate tummy that required pasty things instead of whole grains. So, if you’re in the whole wheat or other whole grain flour groove, know that pies turn out great without a speck of white flour.

Rolled Up Pancakes

They’re called crepes today, but when I was growing up we just called them rolled ups. Mom made them on weekends because although they are easy, they do take time. If you give these a try and get some confidence going, know that they’re great for corralling cooked vegetables as well.

Recipe Note Dreamland film

Beat in one egg for every cup of milk you use. Sprinkle in a little whole wheat pastry flour at a time and whisk. The goal is a silky batter comparable to a thin gravy. Add a pinch of salt and some vanilla, and let it set ten minutes or so.

Bring your pan up to medium heat and oil with a dab of butter. Then get ready to be quick on the draw. Ladle on some batter, very quickly lift the griddle, and swirl the batter around to coat the surface. Cook until the edges start to lift. Flip the thin pancake so the other side gets golden brown as well.

Details

~Mom, and Aunt Kirsten Wilson who was also known for her rolled ups, used white flour for theirs. But once I got swept up in the late-1960s and its Appetite for Change—a phrase coined by Warren Belasco as the title for his book on “how the counterculture took on the food industry”—I’ve favored whole wheat pastry flour.

~Buckwheat flour also works as the world of blini makers well know. Actually, finely ground flours from the range of whole grains will work in rolled ups: cornmeal masa, quinoa, brown rice, millet, you name it.

~The secret to rolled ups is being quick once the batter hits the griddle.  It takes some practice, so expect rolled ups that look more like maps than perfect discs at first. Even these, though, will work since the edges are hidden once you roll them.

~It’s often the case that you have to go back and add more milk or flour to get a batter that flows just right.  With patience, though, you’ll find that making this special breakfast is not hard—only so time consuming that if you’re cooking for a crowd you’ll inevitably want to get two griddles going.

~When I was young we ate rolled ups with butter and sugar, but these days a filling of warmed poached fruit and cottage cream sends me over the top. Sometimes I’ll even go for pear wedges and beanpaste (p. 33).  Then again, there’s the Scandinavian way that Aunt Kirsten favored: butter and raspberry jam—or the more traditional lingonberry.

Stuffed Dates

Recipe Note

Pit the dates and fill with some good room temperature cheese. Then top with a pecan or sliver of jalapeno pepper.

Details

~While I often pick a cheese from the family of blues, lately I’ve been on a roll with caramelized goat cheese from Norway. Gjetost (YET-ost), it’s called–and people are loving it. Really they are, and there’s a reason for that. The stuff is creamy and rich and unctuous when served at room temperature–one of the undiscovered lovelies of the cheese world right under our noses.

~I can’t think of more festive and healthy offering. A nugget of caramelized goat cheese nestled into a Medjool date and decorated with what-have-you.

Bob’s Polenta Waffles

Whoever thought waffles could be made from straight polenta without eggs or anything. These gorgeous golden waffles are crunchy and chewy and homey and good. Thanks to Bob Goforth’s inventiveness on this one. It’s a great big wow of a winner in my kitchen.

Recipe Note

Spoon cooked polenta (freshly made or leftover) into an oiled waffle iron and bake. Enjoy with fresh fruit or check your pantry for a jar of home canned peaches. Or treat the waffle like toast and have it with scrambled tofu—or for lunch with soups and salads.

Details

~I use one part polenta to two parts salted water. My polenta usually turns out pretty thick but I’m firm with the waffle iron lid in order to work the pretty yellow porridge out to the circumference. The waffles bake beautifully and release easily from the oiled surface.

~If you’re using leftover polenta, stir enough water into it to get a batter you can pour into your iron.

On Polenta

Bob and his wife Beth cook like I do and break all the rules. In other words we’re busy working people and don’t have time to stir polenta the requisite thirty to forty minutes on which so many insist. To make his waffles Bob said he stirred the polenta five to ten minutes. That’s about what I do as well.

I suppose one reason I’m cavalier on polenta is because I lived ten years on the Navajo and Hopi reservations. By day I was a public school teacher, but by night I was in the kitchens of the local women where I stirred up my share of cornmeal.

So I think of polenta as simply the coarse ground meal it is, a grade that can take longer to cook than a fine grind if you want super creamy results, but one that works with shorter times as well.

Cottage Cream

This concoction is as smooth and splendid as its name. Spooned on breakfast cereals, cottage cream supplies more protein than milk or yogurt.

As the old timers used to say: It’s delicious. It’s nutritious. It will make you feel ambitious!

Recipe Note

In the blender add enough milk or water to a carton of cottage cheese to get things whirling. That’s it except for flavorings if you want. Vanilla, lemon juice, almond extract. Most anything, even plain, is nice.

Details

~The trick to making cottage cream is getting it thick enough, a process helped by a blender with some oomph. Most household blenders have three hundred fifty watts, enough power for smoothies and such but too flabby for thicker blends. I upgraded to five hundred watts without having to go a specialty store. Another approach is to work unplugged and use a spoon to force the cheese through a large sieve, a technique that yields superlative results.

Dipped Strawberries

My family’s style with strawberries is pretty pedestrian. Usually berries and ice cream, a shortcake, or berries with a little cream and sugar. Then again, for me it’s often just eating them whole–plain, red, sweet, and juicy.

But Laura just got home from family doings surrounding her nephew’s high school graduation, and she told me about the strawberries dipped in dark chocolate that her mother, Dolores, did. I’ve seen dipped berries so many times, of course, and they did sound good. Still I probably wouldn’t have bothered were it not that I thought they’d make good copy here on the blog. What I didn’t realize is how easy they are. No need to save making these for special occasions. Dipped strawberries are a quick weeknight treat.
Recipe Note

Melt dark and white chocolate on low in separate heavy bottomed pans. Trim the tips off the berries, twirl the fruit in the chocolate, and chill on wax paper or a buttered plate.

Details

My store sells dark chocolate hunks in the bulk bins. I also nabbed some white chocolate chips to give those a try. From there it was just warming the chocolate in pans on the stove since I’ve no microwave. Then simply a dip and twirl with the berries (once I cut off the tiny tip end like Laura’s mother did so they’d sit up all pert and pretty).

The dark chocolate was easier to work with than the white chips. I suspect the chips aren’t pure chocolate and thus whatever they are adulterated with made the brew a bit thick and not as spready and glossy as the dark chocolate was.

Laura said she and her mom liked them best chilled down rather than warm, so that’s what I did. Set them on wax paper on a plate and put them in the fridge. Then after dinner, out they came. Oh my. It was worth the trouble and then some. Everyone of those puppies went down like elixir from the goddesses.