Honey Caramel Peach Pie

This is the real deal. Summer, in a crust. While I know some who object to pie because it's runny and messy, I believe that's a strength. And this pie is runny and messy. The caramel will spill across your plate, and the peaches will slide around, but the crust remains crispy and buttery, and it's heaven. This is a fairly labor-intensive recipe by my standards, but it's well worth the effort.

Honey Caramel Peach Pie
adapted from this recipe from Gourmet

 Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup plus 1 to 4 tbsp ice water

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. 
2. Blend in butter with your fingertips until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some  pea-size butter lumps. 
3. Drizzle 1/3 cup ice water over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.  
4. If the dough doesn’t hold together, add more ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, stirring until just incorporated, then test again. The dough should not be sticky. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough. 
5. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. With heel of your hand, knead the dough a few times in a forward motion to help distribute fat. There should be no large chunks of butter left, but small ones are okay.
6. Gather dough together and press into a ball. Divide in half and form into 2 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Filling:

• 3 - 4 ripe peaches
• 1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp lemon juice (fresh from a lemon is best)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp milk

1. Peel the peaches. This can be done easily by blanching them: Cut an X in the bottom of each peach, then drop them in boiling water for 15 seconds. Transfer them to a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking, then peel them.

1. Cut peaches into 1 inch thick wedges.
2. Toss the peaches with flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place aluminum foil over a large baking sheet. You'll place the pie plate on this in case of spillage.
4. Bring 1/2 cup sugar, honey, and water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Brush down sugar from the sides of the pot. Boil without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until dark amber, about 5-10 minutes.  
5. Remove from heat and add butter, swirling pan until butter melts. Pour over fruit and toss thoroughly. The caramel may harden, but will melt again in the oven, so don't worry about it.

1. Remove chilled disks of pie crust dough. With a rolling pin or anything vaguely cylindrical, roll out the dough into a thin, flat circle between two pieces of was paper. The first should go into the pie plate, with the edges just reaching the edges of the pie plate. The second will go on top, so hold onto that one for now.
2. Place filling in pie plate with dough. Make sure the filling is evenly spread. Place other rolled out pie crust round on top. With a fork, press the edges together along the circumference of the pie. This has the added benefit of making your pie look very pretty.
3. Brush the top with the milk, and sprinkle with sugar. Cut three "vents" in the top crust with a knife.
4. Bake pie on the foil-lined baking sheet for 20 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees, and bake until the crust is golden and filling is bubbly--about 50 more minutes.

Happy baking!

Vegetarian Quesadillas with Guacamole

Quesadillas are a great quick meal. You can mix them up with almost anything, and leftover vegetable filling can also go into another dish. This recipe takes about 20 minutes, and tastes great with fresh summer veggies. The vegetables can be sauteed more or less, depending on how crunchy you like your veggies. The times listed below should give you soft onions and mushrooms, with slightly crunchy peppers. Add peppers before mushrooms and cook for several minutes for softer peppers.

Vegetarian Quesadillas

• 1 tortilla
• 1 bell pepper, your favorite color, diced
  
• 1/2 onion, diced
  
• 1 handful mushrooms, diced
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• pinch cayenne pepper (more/less to taste)
• pinch red pepper flakes (omit to avoid spicyness)
• pinch chili powder/ground chipotle (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and stir occasionally to keep from burning.
2. Cook until onions begin to soften, and add peppers and mushrooms. Cook until soft, another 5-8 minutes. Continue to stir occasionally.
   
3. Add spices, and let cook in, stirring, for another 1-2 minutes.
4. When vegetables are soft, remove pan from heat. While burner is still hot, toss tortilla on the burner to char lightly. Let one side sit on burner for a few seconds, then flip using tongs, a fork, or your finger (be careful not to touch the hot burner!)
5. Fill tortilla with sauteed veggies, and top with guacamole (recipe below.)

Guacamole (1-2 servings)

• 1 ripe avocado*
• 1/2 medium tomato, diced (optional)
  
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• pinch cayenne pepper
• pinch chipotle power
  
• pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste

*A ripe avocado will be soft, but not mushy. When squeezed with the skin on, it should give a little under your fingers. It should be easy to mash with a fork.

1. Mash avocado using a fork or potato smasher. Leave chunks, or mash until smooth, depending on your preference.
2. Add spices and lime juice, and mix.
3. Add tomato and mix.

Handy trick: to keep avocado or guacamole from oxidizing, leave the avocado pit with the leftovers.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

This is really a fall recipe, but as we're having some cool summer days up here in Maine, I hope you'll forgive me. The truth is that pumpkin is great pretty much any time of the year, and pumpkin in baked goods tends to keep them from being too dry, even after a few days. Plus, they're dang pretty.


Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
via here, slightly adapted

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (soft)
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 0z--not quite a whole can) pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 cups flour (the original recipe recommends cake flour, but they were great with all-purpose)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup buttermilk*

*If you don't have buttermilk, you can use 1/2 cup of regular milk mixed with 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, and you have buttermilk! Check out other buttermilk substitutions here.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with muffin papers.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until light in color. If you're doing this by hand, it might take a little while.
3. Beat the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl.
4. Mix egg mixture with butter mixture a splash at a time, incorporating completely into the butter before adding more.
5. Add pumpkin and blend.
6. Whisk all dry ingredients together. (That's the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.)
7. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk alternatively to the butter mixture, mixing well after each addition.
8. Fill the liners with batter. You should be able to make 24 cupcakes with this recipe, or fewer if you want them to be larger.
9. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
10. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Icing

• 7 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup of maple syrup*
• slightly less than a cup of confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

*Depending on the kind of maple syrup you're using, you might end up with thicker or runnier icing. If your icing is too runny, you can add more confectioner's sugar. In that case, you might want to cut the sweetness with a few drops of lemon juice. Alternatively, you can call the icing a "glaze" instead, and then it is totally acceptable for it to be runny.

1. Mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
   
2. Add maple syrup and sugar, and mix well.

Happy baking!

TBM Pasta

Tomato, basil, mozzarella. This combination always makes me think of summer--ripe summer tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil fresh from the plant. It's simple to make, it's delicious, and it makes great leftovers. Here's my baseline recipe; alter as you wish!

Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Pasta

Mix together:

• 1 lb. pasta, cooked and drained
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella
• handful fresh basil, finely chopped
• a splash to a glug of olive oil (vary the amount to taste)
• salt and pepper, to taste

Easy as pie, tastes like summer. Happy cooking!

Best Yellow Cake + Buttercream Frosting

Why hello there! It's been a while.

Yesterday I made this cake for a staff party. I have to thank Smitten Kitchen yet again for this one. I could reprint the whole recipe, but since I didn't really alter anything, I'll just direct you right to it. It's an easy cake from scratch, and it turns out great. It was a little different making it in a bundt pan rather than two cake pans (if you have cake pans, I think it turns out better that way), but it did work, and made three cupcakes in addition! If you're like me, and don't have access to buttermilk, check out easy substitutions here at Good Life Eats.

I made my own frosting, and didn't use the one in the Smitten Kitchen recipe. Like a lot of my recipes, my buttercream one is pretty imprecise. I generally alter proportions based on taste as I go, but here are the guidelines:

Buttercream Frosting

Mix together:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature (soft)
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk (use more/less depending on the consistency you're looking for)
• 4 drops lemon juice (this cuts some of the sickly-sweetness, but shouldn't make it taste lemony)

I dusted the cake with unsweetened cocoa powder, which cut some of the sweetness of the frosting (and covered up some, ahem, cosmetic mistakes on the cake.)

There are tons of ways to vary this frosting, too. Here are some simple ones:

• Lemon frosting: Add more lemon juice--around two tablespoons. You might need to add extra sugar if the consistency gets too runny.
• Chocolate frosting: Add 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and leave out the lemon juice. You might need to add a bit more milk if the frosting gets too stiff.
• Mocha frosting: Follow instructions for chocolate frosting, and substitute strong black coffee or espresso for the lemon juice and milk. You can also add espresso powder.

Happy baking!

Salads, a la you!

Salads are great. They are an excuse to throw everything you like over greens and make something fresh and delicious that won't weigh you down. I recently made this great salad with:

• mixed greens
• crumbled blue cheese
• dried cranberries
• dry roasted almonds
• citrus ginger dressing (store-bought)
  

and later made a great variation with avocado as well.

You can make salads with anything you like, but for optimal taste and texture I like to use:

1. Greens, obviously! Spinach, arugula, mixed greens, lettuce, whatever you like.
2. Other vegetables: cucumber, tomato, mushrooms, carrots...
   
3. Cheese: blue cheese and goat cheese are classics, but brie is also good, or feta, or parmesan.
4. Something crunchy: almonds, walnuts, wasabi peas, red onions, etc.
5. Something sweet: pears, dried cranberries, strawberries, etc.
   
6. Avocado. Anytime, anywhere.
   
7. Dressing: vinaigrette works for pretty much everything, and I'm loving this citrus ginger deal. It brings out the sweetness in the salad, and goes really well with cheese, oddly enough. I tend to avoid creamy dressings because they make salad taste like mayonnaise, and are harder to match tastes with.
   

Putting in a protein (beans, tofu, seitan, falafel, chicken, or bacon are all good possibilities) is a great way to get rid of leftovers. Some people also like something salty, like olives, and I find that's generally best done in place of something sweet.

Dressing are really easy to make, too. A standard vinaigrette might consist of:

• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• garlic, pressed
• pepper
• strong mustard
• a little bit of honey

and proportions can be adjusted as you wish. They also keep pretty well if you make a jar and use only a little at a time. But they're also easily purchasable for quick salad-making.

That's my salad schpiel. If you want a far more detailed one, check out Mark Bittman's amazing salad encyclopedia on The Minimalist. I'm hungry just reading it!

Happy cooking!

Shrimp with Peanut Sauce (now with pictures!)

This recipe would have been improved by having peeled shrimp--that way the sauce is on the part of the shrimp you're actually eating. It was still delicious though! The recipe is for the shrimp and sauce, but I made it with chopped broccoli and served it over rice.







Shrimp with Peanut Sauce
loosely adapted from this recipe from Bon Appetit

for the sauce:

• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• splash of chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk
• juice from half a lime
  
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce (you can substitute chili powder and garlic if you don't have this)

for the shrimp:

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• splash of oil (I used sesame oil, which was delicious)
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, toasted (Note: nuts are really scary to toast. They do nothing for a while, and then they burn in 10 seconds. Watch them like a hawk!)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
  
• 20 large shrimp, peeled

1. Sauce: put all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend. If you don't have a food processor, they can be mixed by hand with a fork or whisk. The consistency should be thick and creamy. Feel free to adjust flavor if you want more peanut butter, more coconut milk, etc.
2. Shrimp: Put a splash of oil in a large frying pan with the minced garlic. Saute the shrimp over medium-high heat until they are pink and all the way through, and no longer translucent. Sprinkle with chili powder.

1. 3. Add the sesame seeds and peanuts. Saute for a minute or two more. The sesame seeds should get a bit toasted. If you're adding a vegetable, you should do so at this time.

4. Once the shrimp are cooked, pour the sauce into the pan. Let the sauce simmer and cook the shrimp in the sauce, stirring so that the sauce doesn't burn in the bottom of the pan. Cook for 5 minutes more.

Serve over rice or noodles (soba noodles would be great) and enjoy!