Tag: recipe

Blueberries and Cherries

Marie HaighLeave a comment

On Fridays, Elly and I visit the Pottstown Farmers Market. Two Fridays ago, there were blueberries and cherries for sell. I grabbed 2 pints of each.
My original plan of what to do with the fruit involved a blueberry pie and a bowlful of cherries on the dining room table to periodically nibble. The downside with my plan was that Elly wouldn’t be able to eat any cherries because I would be too worried about her choking on the pit.

While biking home, I came up with plan B: a blueberry and cherry pie. Pies are nothing more than fruit, sweetener and thickener. Yet, I still felt compelled to locate a recipe in order to get the proportions correct. I chose this recipe because it used equal amounts of sweet cherries and blueberries. After reading the reviews, I knew to cut drastically back on the sugar and cinnamon. I added only a little of each and then taste tested the fruit. The fruit was so flavorful and sweet that it didn’t take me long to find just the right balance.

My version of the blueberry and cherry pie:
2 ½ cups pitted sweet cherries
2 ½ cups blueberries
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter
1 recipe pastry for a 9.5-inch pie

Cover pie shell with tinfoil. Weight tinfoil down with dry beans. Parbake pie shell in a 425 degree oven for 12 minutes. Remove tinfoil. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for 12 more minutes or until shell is golden brown.
Mix fruit in a big bowl. Coat with sugar and cinnamon. Taste. Add more sugar if desired. Add arrowroot. Toss to combine.
Pour fruit into parbaked pie shell. Dot with butter.
Cook at 375 for approximately 45 minutes or until bubbly.

More Zucchini Please

Marie HaighLeave a comment

Article first published as More Zucchini Please on Blogcritics.

Beginning last week, the zucchini plant in my garden started bearing fruit. Thus far I’ve made sautéed zucchini rounds, zucchini bread and zucchini chocolate cake. That might be enough zucchini for some folks, but I was hoping for much more.

I’m the sort of person who likes to buy several pounds of a fruit or vegetable that is in season -much more than Dan and I could possibly eat before it all spoils. Then, I sift through my pile of cookbooks searching for ways to use it all up.

I had come across some zucchini recipes I was excited to try: soup, a walnut bread, etc. Mostly, I just want an excuse to bake another Zucchini Chocolate Cake. My, it was so good. The zucchini made the cake incredibly moist. I didn’t even bother to ice it. Though Dan turned his nose up at the idea of putting zucchini in a chocolate cake, he was impressed by the results. Unless you grated the zucchini by hand or someone you trusted swore she put it in the cake, you wouldn’t believe it. You don’t taste the zucchini at all.

The recipe I used can be found here. Though the instructions didn’t specify, I finely grated the zucchini and drained off the excess liquid.  I also made a change to the list of ingredients by adding 1 teaspoon of espresso powder. I learned that little trick from Ina Garten. She always adds coffee to her chocolate recipes to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Well, here’s hoping the current orange blossoms on the plant bear more squash.

Homestyle Asparagus and Bacon

Marie Haigh1 Comment

Article first published as Homestyle Asparagus and Bacon on Blogcritics.

When trying out a recipe I found in one of my cookbooks or online, rarely does my version look as pretty as the accompanying picture. Case in point:

I found a recipe for asparagus wrapped in prosciutto on Cooking Creation blog. Her picture of the asparagus looked like this.

Mine came out looking like this.

In my defense, there are a few reasons my version looks uglier.

1. The heat index was over 100 on the day I tried this recipe out. Dan vetoed standing in front of a hot grill. I was equally opposed to standing anywhere near a pot of boiling water. I steamed my asparagus in the microwave. In order to fit the asparagus into a microwave-proof dish, I first had to cut it up.

2. Not having prosciutto on hand, I used bacon. Obviously I had to cook the bacon first, but I wasn’t about to saute it over a hot stove (see reason #1). I threw the bacon in a 375 degree oven and then went and sat under the AC in the living room. Well, the bacon cooked a bit longer than it should have, so I ended up with crumbled bacon rather than lovely strips.

3. Homestyle cooking is all about comfort. Let the restaurants serve fancy dishes that look more like a work of art than something you would eat. I’ll stick with my dishes than can be eaten in shorts, t-shirt and no shoes.

My hat goes off to Cooking Creation, asparagus and bacon are a wonderful combination of sweet and salty. In a word, it was delicious. Even Dan who isn’t a fan of vegetables, cleared his plate.

Since my version is quite different from the original, allow me to share it with you:

1 bunch of asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces
5 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled
2 tablespoons of water
salt and pepper to taste

Place the asparagus into a casserole dish. Pour the water and bacon overtop. Cover the dish and place in the microwave. Cook for 3 minutes. Stir. Cook for 3 minutes more or until tender. Season to taste.