baking for parties

I'm much more into pies and pastries than I am into cakes. There's not much in the world that's more perfect than a (good) apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and my love for warm-weather pies knows no bounds, including cool weather. However, pies are a bit of a pain - making dough, rolling it out, fitting it into a pan, and then handling whatever process the filling calls for. After all this, a standard 9" pie pan only serves eight good-sized slices. In this past summer season of cookouts and parties, that would have had me making three or four pies to serve just part of my extended family.

The solution, it would seem, is to simply make bigger pies - this way, you still do everything once but yield 30-50% more deliciousness, and it's really not any harder to roll dough out to ten inches than to nine inches.

I've found that one of the easiest ways to bake large quantities of dessert - as well as lend a nice-looking uniformity to the table - is to use a 10" springform pan or pastry ring in place of your usual pie or cake pan. This gives the pies straight, elegant edges, and makes them look more professional (when you order a piece of pie at a restaurant, it's often cut from a 10" - or larger - straight-sided pie). I like to cut mine into 16 pieces, which allows party guests to go easy on dessert, or to try a couple of different flavors.

A tale of summer rolls and lessons learned

I made summer rolls. It's not the easiest or quickest food to make but they are so good that when you're done you've forgotten how long it took to make them all. They are also a meal you can easily eyeball all the ingredients for, and this is how I cook and this is why I cannot bake. Details of my trials after the jump!

One Night

The other night was a night of making. It was also a night of testing out a new lighting set-up with my camera and tripod.

I made pickles and cheese straws from Smitten Kitchen. Happy Birthday, Dad!

I made the mini pies from this recipe (indeed one has the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts on it!). This is the second or third time I've made them, and I think it's one of the best ideas I've found. The one with the flags was for my friend Holly (she's fantastically fantastic). The flags are just Japanese masking tape folded in half over a tooth pick. With an Exacto-knife, cut off one point of the tooth pick, fold the tape in half and cut out a triangle from the end of the tape.

The plums and blueberries for the pies are from the BPMA's farmers market. They're trying to get a year-round space in Boston; check out their new video and spread the word (PS, I do some work for this group - they're great)!

The soup is tomato soup with a poached egg and toast from Martha's Whole Living - I'm an egg-on-toast devotee and variety enthusiast.

It was a full night.

food: watermelon 3 ways

I'm one person and I am who I live with (I'm my favorite roommate so far!) (co-blogging company excluded) (and you too, Kathy) (and you too, Julie). So, making food and not getting sick of it after eating six portions of it, or having it go bad if heaven forbid you don't eat it back-to-back-to-back is a struggle. And I have as-of-yet unrealized fantasies of really cleverly conquering this challenge. But every now and then I act in a way that leaves me feeling a bit proud. Now, this is by no means clever. In fact, I see it more like, "Wow, this should really always be your baseline way of thinking - but well done, anyways!"

The most critical part of this was not buying an entire watermelon. Not only will I have less to have to eat but it is much easier to carry home. I bought a half of a medium-sized water melon and did the following:

1 Watermelon Sorbet I used about half of the watermelon for this, and cut it into cubes, soaked in simple syrup and will freeze. Later I will toss it in a food processor with a bit of water and make a frosty sorbet-esque treat.

2 Spiked Watermelon Bites I took half of the remaining half and cut into cubes as well. I then drizzled a bit of simple syrup and Campari over these. Refridgerate and have yourself a cool happy hour treat after a humid walk home from work.
3 Watermelon Slices Simple. Sliced the remaining quarter into thin slices for general snacking at work.

I've now got three different ways to eat a managable portion of something. May this not be the last time I think in what should be my baseline way of thinking ...

recipe: peach-blueberry cobbler

No, cobbler isn't pie, strictly speaking. But pie is cobbler's closest cousin.

Fruit cobblers are incredibly varied. Wikipedia has a surprisingly ridiculous entry on the dish, which features the phrase "the Slump, the Buckle, and the Sonker." Here in the US, cobbler usually features a rolled pastry, a biscuit-like pastry, or a cake-like pastry. Each has qualities to recommend it, but my recipe is for a buttery cake-like pastry, and it's delicious and really easy. The most tedious part is peeling the peaches, and there's a trick for that.

Radishes!

This is a quickie!

Inspired by a recipe for this yoghurt/mint/pea dip, I bought radishes for the first time! The dip also has parmesan in it which gives it the buttery taste that compliments radishes so well.

Black Gold, aka Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

Iced Coffee. So good. I'm glad we all agree. Cold brewed ice coffee is the best that there is. It's smoother, less bitter and just delightful. If a place cold brews their iced coffee, they'll likely advertise it; it takes a bit more work but it's worth the effort. Most places brew hot coffee double strength. Ugh (coffee snob).

It's easy enough to cold brew at home, too. You can buy the Toddy system here, but I like to find ways to not acquire more kitchen appliances than I need to. For one, my kitchen is 5.5' by 6.5' and secondly, on principal, if I can do something with things I already own then that's how I'll do it.

The science is simple:

1 lb course ground coffee + 10 cups cold water

Soak over night, filter and voila, cold brew iced coffee. Here is the system I've got going.

recipe: chocolate cream pie

Pie season continues apace! Today is chocolate cream pie, which might be my very favorite thing to eat.

I mentioned in the key lime post that this pie is complicated - and I think I misspoke. It's actually very simple, but with a few more steps than the ridiculously-easy key lime. Won't you join me on this delightful trek toward hyperglycemia? It's worth it.

Granola and Sewn Parchment Bag

I'm a big fan of granola. For about the last year I've come to make it almost every other week as a big bowl of plain yogurt, granola and fresh fruit has become one of my staples. This is post is a double whammy. BAM. BAM. One, my favorite granola recipe and two, a granola giving gift bag project. An easy to make bag from parchment paper for when you don't have tupperware to spare, glass jars to part with or because you look for any reason to use your sewing machine. Go, granola, go!

recipe: key lime pie

Today is the first day of summer, and I gladly welcome the beginning of pie season. I know that apple pie signifies Thanksgiving and Christmas for some, and that the Brits eat meat pies all through their long winters. But in the south, summer calls for cool, creamy pies – pies that are easy to make. It's pie season!

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to post about a pie every week. They’re easy; the most difficult is the chocolate cream, and only because it has several different components. Today, though, I’ll start with the easiest one of them all – key lime.

places: Boston Farmers Markets

Tis the season! Here in Boston, when it's the season - it's on. Antique markets, outside cafes, picnics at one of many parks, kayaking or sailing on the Charles, train rides to beaches... and farmers markets. The farmers markets in Boston are wonderful. There are many, many throughout the city and Brookline, Cambridge (yes, these are not the City of Boston), and Somerville. You can find a list of all the farmers markets in Massachusetts here. But I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the ones most local and dear to me which are those in Boston proper. The markets, for the most part, operate on different days of the work-week so there is usually one up and running at one of these locations.

recipe: Sour cream coffee-cake

My grandmother passed away a little over a month ago. She was one of my favorite people. She was funny, and a great antique-hunt partner; she found the old blankets that I used to decorate our living room.

She also left me some really great recipes. This one is really easy, it smells incredible while it's baking, and it's totally satisfying with a cup of coffee or as a dessert. Grandmama, who always had a guest in her kitchen, drinking coffee, called it Saint Timothy cake.

Non Dairy, Non Banana, Non Strawberry Smoothies

I'm no scientist, but the basic smoothie formula is a lethal poison. How everyone else is immune, I don't know. And I don't know the specifics about what it is about each of these ingredients: dairy, banana, strawberry, and in what combination they are most lethal because I've tried soy substitutes to no avail. But whenever I 'give it another go' and have a smoothie, one that everyone else can enjoy, I die. I've done myself a great disservice by not doing more work in enjoying the smoothies out there don't include these toxins.

recipe: Pecan sticky buns

My love for Martha Stewart is unequivocal and well-known. Her Baking Handbook is fantastic. The techniques are sound, the basics solid. But Martha, you let me down with the sticky buns. Though the dough and filling were great, the tops and sides were rock-hard, and threatened the fillings of several brunch guests.

Not to worry. Since that fiasco, I fixated on sticky buns. And I have developed the perfect recipe.

recipe: Stuffed eggplant

I'm a terrible cook, so you can be sure that any recipe I post here will be easy. This recipe is hard to mess up, you can add or subtract any ingredients you like, and it's healthy and cheap. It's also pretty enough to serve to guests, and can be made vegetarian without really losing flavor or substance. Win-win for the aubergine!

recipe: cranberry-almond biscotti

This recipe is easy, delicious, and not so bad for you. It's great with a cup of coffee or tea, or to bribe a neighbor to keep your ridiculous dog for the weekend.

recipe: peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Time for an easy, sweet recipe. You can whip up this dough in less than ten minutes, and it bakes in twelve. You can make it during a party (I did this weekend). These cookies are big, and have a soft, chewy texture, like the ones from a bakery or a good deli.

Read on for the delicious, easy, salty-sweet, all-American instructions.

Three recipes in one: almond cookies, tortoni, and apple crisp

In the spirit of prolonging sugar's powerful grip on my body's major organ functions, let me introduce you to the magic that is tortoni. Tortoni is a rich, yet somehow light, frozen mousse. It's incredible.

The beauty of these recipe is that, in order to make the tortoni, you first make easy almond cookies - which you'll sample while making the tortoni - and once you have the cookies and the tortoni, why not go ahead and fix the apple crisp, too? It's perfect for a cool March night.

Copy-cat granola

There's a cart in the College of Architecture that serves coffee to black-clad instructors and bleary-eyed students whose fingers are too paralyzed by Sobo glue to operate a French press. The coffee cart is run by a ridiculously successful cafe and bakery in Atlanta, so the baristas also dispense really good cookies and sandwiches.

I snuck out of an interminable review one day to rustle up a compact, calorie-rich snack. On the coffee guy's recommendation, I picked up a "nutrition bar," a weird granola-Power Bar hybrid. It was so good, I spent the next few days (post-review, I had time on my hands) trying to replicate it.

Peanut butter-chocolate mousse cake

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! That day of all days when I try to convince Allen that I can cook a full meal, one with more than two food groups. Since that generally ends in failure (although Huey the Pup will eat well, as long as he likes char), I'm going to stick with a blog entry about something I know: baking.

I'm not sure what wine pairs with peanut butter. Schlitz, maybe.