All About Pie: Primers, Tips & Tricks

Photo Credit: Williams-Sonoma

When it comes to baking, pies are in a class all their own.  From mastering the perfect dough, to blind baking, to avoiding common mistakes, to yielding (and decorating) the best crust ever, I've gathered the essentials to ensure your pie-baking expeditions are better and more scurmptious than ever.

William-Sonoma's Pie Primer serves up everything you need to know to master a perfect dough and yield a beautifully delicious pie--again and again.

Bon Appetit reveals the six common pie-baking mistakes--and how to avoid them.

Martha Stewart rounds things out with a Pie Crust 101 tutorial for fail-proof results.

With these pie essentials in tow, you'll be all set to indulge in...Happy Baking!

Chilled Red Pepper Soup

So there I was recently--in my kitchen and trying to decide what to cook for dinner.  Oftentimes my taste for something will steer me right away, but on this occasion it wasn't happening.  So I did what any card-carrying food lover would do next--I reached for my sources of inspiration, specifically my Ottolenghi cookbook.  I hadn't cooked from it yet, so I decided that it was time that I finally break it in.

As soon as I could tear myself away from all the glorious dessert recipes (that's honestly what drew me in most when I considered buying this book), I stumbled upon a perfect, warm weather recipe--a chilled version of Red Pepper Soup.

 I'm quite the fan of Red Pepper Soup and my usual preparation, until now, had been a warm, roasted red pepper version.  But hey, it's Spring and the temperatures are rising, so a chilled fresh red pepper version sounded like the refreshing fare I especially crave this time of the year.

Peppers, herbs, aromatics, spices and seasonings combine for a beautiful puree accented with the texture of fresh vegetables stirred in at the end.  Finished off with a garnish of more fresh herbs--and my special addition of a scrumptious, flaky puff pastry crouton--rounded out this simple, yet satisfying, soup.

Happy Eating!

Chilled Red Pepper Soup
Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi The Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 large onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 sage leaves, finely chopped
4 large red peppers
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 clove garlic, crushed
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
Fresh parsley, chopped
Puff pastry dough
1 egg

Method:
Peel the onion and chop it coarsely.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion and sage and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent.

While the onion is cooking, halve the peppers lengthwise.  Take a pepper half, remove the seeds and white flesh, and cut it into 2/3-inch/1.5 cm dice.  Set aside.

Remove the sees from the rest of the peppers, coarsely chop them, and stir into the saucepan with the onions.  Add the salt, bay leaves, cumin, sugar and red pepper flakes.  Saute for another 5 minutes.  Add the stock and bring it to a gentle simmer.  Cover the pot and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes.

Once the peppers are soft, remove the bay leaves from the soup.  While still hot, use a regular blender or an immersion blender to puree the soup until it is totally smooth.  Leave to cool down a little.

Once the soup is just warm, stir in the diced red pepper, lemon zest, and garlic.  Leave until it becomes room temperature and then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.  Remove soup from the fridge half an hour before serving.  Stir well, taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Sprinkle over a generous amount of chopped basil and parsley and top with a crouton.  Serve and enjoy!

Flaky Croutons
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll out, thawed (but chilled) dough on a lightly floured surface.  Use a biscuit or cookie cutter for desired shape and cut dough into individual croutons.  

Place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and using a fork, prick holes into the dough.  Brush with egg wash (1 egg beaten) and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake in oven until golden brown on top, about 8-10 minutes.  Remove from oven, serve and enjoy! 
    

{Savor the Season}: Summer Fruit Crostata

Summer Fruit Crostata

Now that Labor Day has passed, the official wind-down of Summer has begun.  But before bidding it a formal farewell, I plan to savor it a bit longer.  After all, the tastes of Summer are some of the brightest and most refreshing--and deserve to linger for as long as absolutely possible.

Stone fruits and berries happen to be some of my favorite summer indulgences.  Known to frequently devour them on their very own, I had no qualms recently in taking things up a notch by bringing them together with homemade, buttery pastry to yield one scrumptious dessert (and next day breakfast).  Summer Fruit Crostata, to be exact.

Perfectly ripened and sweet peaches and plums, along with sweet-tart blackberries, were my fruits of choice for this scrumptious, yet amazingly simple and rustic, treat.  I love crostatas and this time around decided to substitute my go-to apple version with what's freshest and in season now.  Summer. Fruit. Pastry.  Three little words that yielded delight with each bite--and made this Summer one that I'll always savor.

Happy Eating!

Summer Fruit Crostata

Ingredients:

For the pastry (makes 2 crostatas):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated or superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) ice water
 

For the filling (makes 1 crostata):
1 pound firm ripe peaches, peeled
1/2 pound firm ripe black plums, unpeeled
1/2 pint fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Method:

For the pastry:

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and toss quickly (and carefully!) with your fingers to coat each cube of butter with the flour. Pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board, roll it into a ball, cut in half, and form into 2 flat disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. If you only need 1 disk of dough, the other disk of dough can be frozen.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to the baking sheet.
 

For the filling:

Cut the peaches and plums in wedges and place them in a bowl with the blackberries. Toss them with the tablespoon of flour, tablespoon of sugar, the orange zest, and the orange juice. Place the mixed fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.  Gently fold the border of the pastry over the fruit, pleating it to make an edge.

Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. Let the crostata cool for 5 minutes, then use 2 large spatulas to transfer it to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten