Thursday, September 17, 2009

I think I might be in love . . .

Who's the lucky guy, you ask? I wish I knew. Until he comes along, I will be content to be in love with . . . plums. We started out in a love/hate relationship which quickly grew into a school girl crush and has now become a full blown love affair. The more types of plums I try the more smitten I become with them.


This week the object of my affection is a basket of prune plums I picked up in an effort to stock my freezer with summer fruit for the inevitable lack there of in the coming months. My plan was to quarter them and individually freeze them on a tray before tossing them into a zip loc bag to hang out in the freezer for a while. That was the plan. Then my friend (and neighbor) Yewande called me to arrange a cooking date. Knowing me oh-so-well she inquired as to what fruit, if any, I had lying around and was pleased to hear of my basket o' plums. She quickly appeared with a few cake layers she had lying around and two beautiful fresh figs from the tree in her yard (sigh, I wish I had a fig tree in my yard).


We proceeded to cube and toast the cake layers in the oven until they were golden brown and my apartment smelled sweetly of butter and vanilla. Then came the preparation of said plums. I assumed they were prune plums as they were a dark, bruised purple color and oblong in shape. I was quite surprised when I cut into them and discovered a vivid green interior. I was even more surprised when I timidly tasted a sliver and found them to be sweet, through and through. To my delight the skin was lacking the characteristic mouth puckering tartness I so dislike. However, I am now unsure as to what kind of plums they were. Hopefully I can snag another basket tomorrow and bend the farmer's ear for more information.



Since our cake was already baked (twice) we opted for cooking the fruit alone and topping it with the crumbs at the very end to prevent them from growing too toasty. We debated among spices, would it be clove or cinnamon? Allspice or nutmeg? Ultimately, after tasting the slivers of plum, we concluded it would be a shame to hide their flavor and simply tossed them with a little brown sugar, a splash of red wine vinegar for acidity, and topped each ramekin with a wedge of fig for good measure.


As the fruit bubbled away in the oven we sat, ogled over pastry books, and talked shop (I love that I have friends who are just as big of food geeks as I). In fact, we nearly forgot about our plums amidst all the chattering, though were reminded by the jammy scent wafting across the room. With a peek we assessed the plums were ready for the application of crumbs (that rhymed!) and with a few more minutes in the oven both were hot, toasty, bubbling, and crying out for a generous dollop of freshly whipped cream before being devoured with nothing more than the sound of spoons digging for more and the occasional sigh of contentment.



Plum Crumble
Yields 6 4-oz ramekins


1 pint basket of plums, pitted and quartered
3-4 Tbsp brown sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit
1 tsp red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
left over cake, such as pound cake or butter cake, cubed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scatter cubed cake on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat (not mandatory, just makes clean up easier). Toast in the oven until golden around the edges and dry to the touch. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl mix your plums, brown sugar, and vinegar. Taste for sweetness. Pile fruit into individual ramekins, or a casserole if you are making one large crumble. (Top with figs if you are lucky enough to have a fig tree in your yard, or know someone who does.) Lower the oven temperature to 375. Bake the fruit, uncovered, until tender and the juices are bubbling. Remove from oven, top with cake crumbles, and pop back in the oven for a few minutes, just to rewarm the cake and let it soak up some of the juice. Top with a generous blob of lightly sweetened whipped cream and savor the moment.

(I had 1 crumble that sat in my fridge for a few days before I got around to eating it and it had a decidedly more pronounced plum flavor, so if you can wait to eat at least part of your crumble, you will not be disappointed. It is best re-warmed in the oven for a few minutes to take the chill off the fruit and re-crisp the cake.)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

All good recipes start with butter.


Ok, not all, but most.


The weather in Brooklyn as of late has felt more like fall than end of summer. This has caused my roommate and I to crank up the oven on occasion in hopes of a hot meal. He has been particularly keen on baking frozen gourmet pot pies, and was so excited about his pot pie one night he urged me to pick one up at the store the next time I was there.


There are times that I stand in the frozen food aisle of the grocery staring through the frosted glass and dreaming of a pot pie, a spicy enchilada, or a single serving of macaroni and cheese. I stand and look wistfully at the enticing pictures on the box but deep in my heart I know it will not taste nearly as good as I hope. So I close my eyes, turn, and march on gathering the rest of my groceries.



This week I decided I've endured enough pot pie abstinance and set out to make my own. A real pot pie. Made in a pot. Ok, in a casserole dish, close enough.


I figured Fanny Farmer would be the place to find a good old fashioned chicken pot pie recipe, but alas there was no such thing under "pot pie". Then I thought to look under chicken, for I think the woman has a whole chapter of things to do with chicken and was sure there had to be a recipe to glean from. Sure enough, under "chicken pie" there it was. I guess hers wasn't made in a pot either.


It was, in fact, easier than I anticipated. Granted I made my pie dough earlier in the week at work. Still the assembly was quick and the pie was delicious! I have just added a new dish to my winter reportoire and I can't wait to make it for a couple friends who are expecting babies in the near future. I imagine it would be great "new parents" food for those times where you are exhuasted and starving and there is not a crumb to be had.



The following is a good rainy day project, although I made it on a perfectly good, somewhat sunny day, the cool temperature and breeze was all the inspiration I needed for this warming dish. I realize it is a little involved because it calls for making pastry, but this is why a rainy day is ideal. For really, what else do you have to do than stay indoors and piddle about the kitchen? Or, if you are really on top of things you can prepare your pie dough in advance and pull it out of the fridge or freezer when the mood strikes.


Fanny's recipe calls for pre-cooked chicken and vegetables stirred into a bechamel-like sauce, covered with pastry or biscuit dough and baked. I wanted to save a couple steps by not individually pre-cooking my vegetables and went a different route.



First I poached my chicken in lightly salted water. As it cooled in order to be cut, I made my bechamel and then tossed in all my vegetables and cooked them gently in the sauce until they were al dente. Together the cubed chicken and sauce went into a casserole and were hidden under pastry, although I like the idea of biscuits on top and plan to try that next time. Into the oven for a mere 30 minutes and voila! A homemade pot pie! Puts my roommate's little store-bought pie to shame . . .



Chicken Pot Pie


1 recipe of The Best Pie Dough (below)


2 or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 small carrots, diced

3 ribs celery, diced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 yukon gold potato, peeled and diced

3/4 c frozen peas

1 1/2 Tbsp flat leaf parsley, minced

1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves

salt and pepper to taste


6 Tbsp butter

1/4 c plus 2 Tbsp flour

2 c chicken broth

1 c heavy cream


Prepare pie dough and place in the fridge for at least 90 minutes to chill.


In a small pot place chicken and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt, cover and cook over medium low until cooked through. Remove and let cool.


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large skillet melt the butter, add the onion and cook just until tender. Sprinkle in the flour and stir. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Slowly add cream and broth while whisking so it stays creamy and doesn't lump. (I only had 1 cup of chicken broth and 3/4 c. cream on hand so I made up for the rest of the liquid with water from poaching the chicken.) Once it is creamy add your remaining vegetables and cook over low until al dente. They don't need to be fully cooked, but they do need to be somewhat soft. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and parsley. Cube cooked chicken and combine with the sauce. Pour into a 3 quart casserole dish and set aside.


Roll your pastry out on a floured surface so it is large enough to drape over the sides of the casserole. Fold it in half, brush off any excess flour and transfer to top of baking dish, then unfold. Trim off any excessively long portions of dough. Fold the edge under and crimp. The edge of your crust should be inside the walls of your casserole, not on the rim. Brush with a little egg beaten with a pinch of salt. Cut a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Pop in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and bubbly.



Best Pie Dough

This really is the best pie dough recipe I've found in my years of baking. It is from a little cookbook out of the Northwest called the Alice Bay Cookbook.


1 1/3 c all purpose flour

1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

1/4 - 1/3 c water


Cut butter into 1/2" pieces. Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Place all ingredients in the freezer for about 15 minutes. If you have a food processor I recommend using it as it makes this dough a breeze. If not you can cut the butter in with a pastry cutter or two knives.


Pulse flour, salt, and butter until the butter is in small pieces, about the size of a lentil. (I know other recipes say "the size of a pea" but I actually think that is a little too big.) Drizzle in water as the food processor is running just until the dough begins to clump and move around the bowl. If you are doing it by hand pour in a little water, mix with a fork, pour a little more, etc. You just want the dough to come together into a ball without over working it. It will be easier to roll out if the dough is slightly wet and tacky as opposed to dry and crumbly. Cutting the butter in sufficiently will also help in bringing the dough together with less water.




Flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 90 minutes or up to 3 days. If you plan to make it further in advance just wrap it well and throw it in the freezer. Pull it out a few hours before you want to use it and thaw in the fridge. You want the dough to be cold when you roll it out. Yields 1 single crust pie.