Category Archives: pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Feb 28 7 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Blood Orange Rhubarb Crumble

I’m a big fan of crumbles.  By definition, a crumble is a fruity pie-filling like base with a brown sugar/flour/butter top crumbled over it.  These are frequently made with apples, oftentimes referred to as crisps.  Whether you call it a crisp or a crumble and whether you fill it with berries or rhubarb, they’re just so delicious.  This one was no exception.  I set out to make a rhubarb crumble for a nice dinner this weekend.  Usually with rhubarb pies and crumbles the rhubarb is paired with a citrus juice, typically lemon or orange.  So I was so excited when I got to the grocery store and saw blood oranges.  I thought, how perfect!

Unfortunately when I got home the reality hit that the produce sorters at the market needed to reevaluate their process.  All three pieces of fruit I purchased labeled “blood orange” were in fact, not.  Just regular oranges.  Luckily for me I had some blood orange juice in the fridge, so all was not lost.  Though in the future I may pick out my citrus a little more carefully.  A blood orange is an orange with a bright red center, a mutation of the sweet orange.  Because of this it is beautiful, a little sweet, and the perfect compliment to the tart flavor of the rhubarb.

I also learned from Nigella Lawson (via Deb of Smitten Kitchen), that adding a little baking powder to the topping of your crumble increases the crumble to fruit ratio without having to up the butter content, which was exactly what I was looking for.  It was yummy, beautiful, and the perfect way to welcome in March.  Which, it turns out, is not the same thing as welcoming spring.

Blood Orange Rhubarb Crumble

filling:

5-6 rhubarb stalks

2 blood oranges

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp orange zest

topping:

1/2 cup oats

1 cup flour

1 stick butter, melted

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp orange zest

Clean and chop your rhubarb.  Place in baking dish.  Add the juice from 2 blood oranges.  Add zest, sugar, and corn starch.  Toss.

In a separate bowl combine melted butter and all other topping ingredients.  Stir.  It should be solid and clump together and on your spoon.  Use your fingers to crumble over the top of the fruit.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  Serve with ice cream.

**also, stop by VINOTECA if you’re near DC and feel like attending a food blogger’s happy hour!**

Jan 06 7 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Marshmallow Meringue Sweet Potato Pie

Tonight I attended a potluck for D.C. foodbloggers at Union Row in D.C., hosted by an array of area food bloggers.  It was good times.  It was actually super different times because while Dan and I are both social people (theoretically) we’re not big on the D.C. scene, we mostly just stay cloistered in our tiny apartment eating pie.  So when we are confronted with 30-40 REAL. LIVE. HUMAN. ADULTS. we’re struck (or maybe I’m just speaking for me) with paralyzing social anxiety. Whatever, Dan is fine and I’m a dweeb.

As it is Dan and I are working on eating more seasonably and locally (see the new life list), but since some of the attendees have blogs completely dedicated to seasonal local produce and the likes, I figured my contribution better be seasonally appropriate.  Since we’re just coming off the high of the holiday and my new motto for losing the cookie weight is “fatties don’t deserve treats” I was stumped about what dessert to bring.  And then I said screw it, you’re a southern food blogger and tonight you’re representing your people.  And my people love butter.

So I opted for a sweet potato pie topped with a marshmallow meringue.  Go big or go home, right?  I chose this combination for a few reasons.  First of all, we had my (delightful) friend Julia over a few weeks ago and she was telling me that she uses this Bill Neal recipe for sweet potato pie where you whip the egg whites separately into a frenzy and then fold them in so that your pie has more fluff and height.  And I love fluff and height.  Secondly, we watched the White House Iron Chef special last weekend and the winning team did a meringue topped sweet potato tart that looked awesome.

I’m not usually one for marshmallow topped sweet potato pie but I polled Dan and the internet and the results came in overwhelmingly for the fluff.  Which leads me to my next point, which is that marshmallow fluff has to be the most disconcerting ingredient I’ve ever worked with.  It’s one of those 50’s-era things that I always envision being eaten in space.  Like Tang.  But when combined with egg whites and sugar it was just fluffy and lovely and browned in a very pretty way that made it both impossible to transport and delicious.

It did dawn on me that pie was maybe not the best dish to bring.  For one, regular size pies (as opposed to cup pies) are not finger foods.  I wasn’t aware that this was a fingerfood event beforehand, so the whole pie thing sounded like a great idea.  In reality I could have chosen a less messy dish.  I was just really tired of cookies.  Secondly, I put this in one of my favorite pie dishes, which meant that when Dan and I were ready to cloister ourselves at 9 I had to take half an uneaten pie home with us.  Great for us but this guy gave me the stink eye as we were leaving like I was being stingy with my food.  All in all, it was fun to meet some local food bloggers, get outside of our shell for once.  We even met someone that looked like Kara Thrace from BSG (geek alert)!

Marshmallow Meringue Sweet Potato Pie

For pie:

2 to 3 sweet potatoes

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup cream

1 tsp vanilla

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Ginger

Pie crust (recipe here or here)

For meringue:

4 egg whites

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp white sugar

1 7oz jar marshmallow fluff

Peel, cut, and boil the sweet potatoes so that they’re tender.  Drain and put them in a large mixing bowl.  Use a masher or fork to mash them completely, leaving no chunks.

Cube the butter and stir it into the hot potatoes.  Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the potatoes.  Set aside the whites.  Add the vanilla, spices (not cream of tartar), and brown sugar.  Stir in cream.

In a stand mixer or with a hand blender whip the egg whites and cream of tartar.  Whip until frothy.  Add white sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and whip until stiff.  Fold into potato mixture.

Spread pie crust into a dish and pour filling in.  Bake at 475 for 15 minutes and 350 for 1 hour.  Allow to cool.

When the pie is cool, start your meringue by whipping egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla.  When it’s frothy, add in sugar one tbsp at a time, until it is stiff.  Fold in the fluff.  Spread over pie.

Bake at 375 for 6 minutes, or until the peaks have browned and the meringue is firm.

Dec 25 0 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Almond Pear Crostada

I was going to write a post about how this Christmas was the first I’d ever spent away from both of my parents, and how while I had a great time with my new family I was still sad about not being with my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my cousins.  How at this time of year it’s not the presents that matter so much as the tradition, the comfort, the stability of being with people that you know love you even when you’re caught eating cookies in your bed watching bad tv.  In fact, more often than not, they’ll join you.

But I’m sitting here with my husband, belly full of potatoes au gratin and steak, watching him kill zombies (mutants?) on the playstation, and I feel really grateful.  Even though part of me is in Durham with my parents, or in Ewing with my grandparents and extended family, the rest of me was here today, enjoying an amazing Christmas with family that has come to mean so much to me.

I know this is incredibly sappy, but it’s Christmas and if you ever read my father’s blog you’d know that I come by sappy naturally.  It’s just that Christmas brings out the sentimental side of people, helps you to overlook some of the bad.  Like right now I’m able to block out the drive home in the fog and freezing rain and just remember watching my father in law play princesses with his granddaughter, using a very menacing voice to play the part of Maleficent.  Or the speakerphone call I got from my family where I couldn’t really tell who was talking or what they were saying, just the general sentiment that they loved me.

So… Merry Christmas, internet.  I hope that on this day, whatever it means to you, that you’re happy and with family.  This is the time of year to bite your tongue when your grandfather says something insensitive or when your sister eats the last oreo ball.  This is the time of year to appreciate the little time we have with our family.  Even if all you can do is call your mom and tell her about the best pork shoulder you ever ate.

Almond Pear Crostada

2 bosc pears

3/4 cup slivered almonds

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp almond extract

1 egg

1 pie crust (recipe here or here)

Heat your oven to 350.  Spread almonds out on a baking sheet and toast for 3 minutes.  Set aside.

Roll out your pie dough.  Spread almonds evenly over the center, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border on all sides.

Slice your pears and toss in flour, sugar, extract, and nutmeg.  Layer in a circular pattern, stem facing towards the center.  Fold the dough up over to form the crostada shape.  Brush exposed dough with egg.

Bake for 40 minutes.

 

Nov 28 0 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Grape Salsa (The Wedding Post)

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So you knew this was coming, the post where I would rave about how wonderful my wedding was and how happy I am to be married to the world’s best fried rice maker (not that my opinion is biased or anything, that rice is damn good).  And it’s all true.  The wedding was wonderful and I am so happy.  But it wouldn’t be, you know, my life, if everything went as planned.  And now that I have all the photos and the craziness of the Springpad Thanksgiving contest is over, let me map out it out for you.

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photo by emily brodie

Remember that singer, Alanis Morrisette?  Remember that song, Ironic? Remember how the only ironic part about that song is that none of the things she sings about are ironic?  Well, that song was stuck in my head for TWO WEEKS prior to the wedding, particularly the verse about, you guessed it, rain on your wedding day.  And that my friends is exactly what it did.  It poured buckets on my wedding day, dumped from the heavens like the apocalypse.  And everyone kept saying, oh, rain on your wedding day is good luck!  It’s a gift from the gods of weather!  You know what I think?  I think that saying that rain on someone’s wedding day is good luck is the booby prize for brides who get poured on.  Especially brides (like me) who plan an outdoor wedding, betting everything against rain during, you know, HURRICANE SEASON IN THE OUTER BANKS.  Okay, in retrospect it could have been a lot worse.

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photo by elena (my seersucker white cotton dress by threadless design)

But here’s the thing.  I think the rain actually worked in our favor.  For one, the sound of rain on a tent is romantic and added to the whole feel of the event.  Our photographer also got some great photos of me with rainboots and an umbrella trying to work out the details.  Because it didn’t start raining until 4.15 for our 5 o’clock wedding.  Thankfully, eastern North Carolina is flat.  So the rain may have been pouring down outside the tent, but it sure didn’t flood the tent.  It just drained into the sandy soil.  But the best part was the intimacy it created.  People couldn’t wander the grounds, so they were forced to stay under the tent and mingle, dance, partake in our incredible food.  And the rain stopped long enough for us to take pictures outside, so all in all, we’re considering it a win.  Not so much for my white cotton shoes, but that’s okay.

wedding8photo by julia fiore

Consider that the first hiccup.  The second one almost caused the death of my brother and father.  A murder/aneurism, if you will.  So last summer my brother, Ryan, and his best friend, Pierce, bought a very expensive sound system.  As a way to save money we borrowed their system as opposed to renting one.  We also asked Pierce (who is a very talented guitarist) to play the guitar for the ceremony and to manage the music during the reception.  Pierce was unable to come down until Friday after the rehearsal, and despite my brother’s assurances that it would get done, they never made sure the equipment was, oh, functioning.  The day of the wedding instead of setting it up and giving it a test run you know what they did?  They went skurfing.  Surfing in the wake of a motor boat.  I’ll let you guess what happened next.  Picture this: it’s 4.05 and I’m rushing to the wedding site with my bridesmaids.  I get a frantic phone call from Ryan saying guess what! a piece is missing from the equipment!  They have to go to Radio Shack!  It was very much one of those “this is your life” moments.

wedding6photo by julia fiore.  back row from left: megan patrylick, genevieve pigeon, yours truly, lauren pigeon, mary catherine sonntag.  front row: meredith turcotte, tess waldron, maeve waldron

The rest of the drama was unbeknownst to me until after the wedding because I got sequestered out of site (sending my bridesmaids out like minions), but apparently by 4.45 the equipment still wasn’t working and Pierce was missing. And then Ryan told my father to chill out.  His exact words?  Chill out, old man. My poor father (who had already taken two blood pressure pills) was faced with the choice between following his instincts and killing his youngest son or not ruining my wedding.  Thankfully he chose the latter.  The whole wedding was moved under the tent so people were mingling and chatting and thought that the wedding was late because of the weather and the change in location, not the fact that my brothers are idiots who tried to ruin my wedding through skurfing.  It’s not even a real word.

wedding5

photo by elena (our honey by queen mary’s honey in holly springs, nc)

So flash back to me in my hiding place, feeling a lot like the Wizard of Oz (seeing all but not being seen).  I’m in this yellow house on the site, the Beaufort Historic Site.  The house is all 18th century furniture and funhouse mirrors and stuff you’re not allowed to touch so naturally we’re touching it.  I’m in there with my mom (who is drawing eyebrows on my face) my bridesmaids (who are spilling champagne on 18th century ceilings) and my flowergirls (who are posing for the camera like they were born L.L. Bean models).  We get the go ahead to start the ceremony and so people start filing out, all being escorted from the house to the tent under umbrellas.  After the flowergirls get a good head start my dad and I start walking in and I could tell he’s stressed (narrowly avoiding a ruptured brain vein is stressful) and trying to hold his shit together.  We get to the tent and instead of halfway down the aisle where they’re supposed to be my flowergirls are right there, at the edge of the tent, staring in horror at 90 people looking back at them.

wedding14

photo by  han nguyen

I had three flower girls- my niece Meredith and my cousins, Maeve and Tess.  Tess is the youngest, and when we got to the tent she totally defected, scattering some flower petals by the bar but mostly opting to keep the petals for herself.  Meredith and Maeve were right in front of us, so we gave them a little nudge and they reached deep within, found their confidence, and started bombing the aisle with rose petals.  I mean it, there was no dainty tossing of petals.  Those petals hit the ground hard.  And all the while these two are giggling like this was totally the plan, to flank me with atomic bomb style petal dropping.  It was amazing.

wedding16

photo by  han nguyen. on left, maeve waldron, on right meredith turcotte.  to the far left you’ll note tess waldron.

The ceremony itself was amazing, it couldn’t have been more special or more… us.  One of the biggest compliments we got about the wedding was that it so entirely captured Dan & I- who we are, what we love, our relationship.  Most of the ceremony and reception is a blur.  Dan kept asking if it felt like it was our wedding, and I feel like that sums up the way I felt the whole night.  It was surreal- it was a great party, but it didn’t feel like it was my wedding. It was a strange sensation.  After an incredible dinner by our caterers, Beaufort Grocery, we started into the dances.

wedding15

photo by  han nguyen

Dan and I chose our first dance to be to Ben Fold Five’s The Luckiest. It’s such a beautiful song and I think it’s perfect for what we wanted, but there aren’t many ways to dance to it beyond the typical sway.  So we swayed for 2 1/2 minutes, which was simultaneously wonderful and the most awkward two minutes of the night.  My father told me a few months before the wedding that he wanted to Carolina shag dance to My Girl by The Temptations.  Did he want to practice?  No.  You know what he told me?  He goes, “just follow my lead.”  Okay.  So it’s the day of the wedding, I’m in a floor length wedding dress and shoes that are falling off and while I’m following his lead he’s whisper screaming “IT’S A DOWNBEAT, YOU’RE MISSING THE DOWNBEAT” at me.  I’m still convinced he was trying to make me fall.  That being said, apparently we looked great because we got a whole lot of compliments on it.

wedding3

photo by john turcotte

After the first dances came the part of the night when Dan and I were finally out of the spotlight, which at that point (after the awkward cake cutting) was a huge relief.  Everyone had so much fun.  It was incredible to see broken families and estranged friends laughing and enjoying each other’s company.  Over the summer my brothers Reid & Ryan asked Dan & I if they could perform a special something for us.  This was right after Michael Jackson died, and after watching the video for Bad they decided that they wanted to use it as a platform for showcasing their dancing (and background noise making) talents.  So 8 songs into the dance music playlist, Reid and Ryan took over the floor.  For the record, both of my brothers are insanely tall and lanky, gangly and spastic.  And when they dance it’s a perverse combination of skill and hilarity.  They have some rhythm but mostly the appeal of their dancing is that it looks so damn funny.  There was a moment when Ryan slid under Reid’s suspenders and started dancing on Reid where I thought I was going to die of laughter.

wedding12

photo by  han nguyen. on the left, ryan rosemond, on the right, reid rosemond.

Looking back, there are few things I would have changed.  Even with rainy weather, technology glitches, and the fact that until dinner I was HANGRY, it was perfect.  Everyone we’ve talked to said they had such a great time, that it was relaxed, intimate, and fun, which is exactly what we were going for.  I had such a good time dancing and laughing and seeing everyone.  From the tandem bike photos we took the morning of (we sure did) to meeting up with our friends and family at the bar later (and ordering Dominos to the bar) it was excellent.  My biggest fear leading up to the wedding was that the effort we put into it, all the handmade touches, wouldn’t shine through.  But those are the touches that were most commented on.  After thirteen months of planning, it was worth it that I searched high and low to find a cotton (seersucker) wedding dress, that the honey we gave as favors was not just any honey but the state fair winning honey.  It was all worth it.  It was worth the tears and the stress and the constant negotiating.  To stand up there with the love of my life flanked by friends, family, and all of my hardwork and effort, to feel that I did everything in my power to make it perfect.  Totally and completely perfect.

wedding2

photo by elena (my bouquet by petal pushers in atlantic beach, nc)

We weren’t the only ones that thought it was perfect.  The day after the wedding Dan and I had lunch with some of our friends, and we decided to go to Beaufort Grocery, because, well, we can’t get enough of their food.  While we were at the bar waiting for a table we overheard a couple talking to the owner, Wendy.  Apparently they had walked by the wedding and thought it looked perfect enough to use Beaufort Grocery and the Beaufort Historic Site.  And as my mother always says, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

wedding11

photo by  han nguyen

If you’d like to see more of our photos see our flickr page here, here, and the group of guest’s photos here.

Grape Salsa
Source: Beaufort Grocery Company

2 cups red seedless grapes

1 small red onion

2 limes

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

Salt & pepper

Slice your grapes and dice your onion and cilantro.  Mix together in a bowl.  Squeeze juice from both limes over the mixture.  Sprinkle in salt & pepper, and stir.

wedding13

photo by han nguyen

Nov 21 0 comments
holiday, pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Caramel Turtle Pie


turtlepie9

A few weeks ago, I was the wedding photographer for a friend, Candice.  Candice is the older sister of my close friend Kellie from college, and she’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  When she got engaged the day after I did, she asked me to be her photographer and I was delighted.  So, the first weekend of November we hiked up to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and spent the weekend celebrating with the happy couple and their (incredibly fun) families.

turtlepie8

Because I never go anywhere empty handed, I brought up a pie.  At first I was going to bring my caramel apple pie, but then I changed my mind and decided to bring cupcakes.  Then I changed my mind again because I was invited to join this Springpad Thanksgiving recipe contest and I needed to try out my perfect Thanksgiving pie idea before the deadline.

turtlepie7

I came up with the plan for this pie a few months ago and I am so excited about it.  One of my favorite holiday treats is the caramel turtle, a chocolate candy stuffed with caramel and pecans.  Usually when a candy has the chocolate/caramel pairing the chocolate is hard and the caramel bursts out in a displeasing fashion.  Not so with the turtle.  It’s all the same consistency and texture.  It all smooshes together and nothing bursts.  I really hate it when the caramel bursts out.

turtlepie1

This pie is layers of chocolate ganache, caramel, and toasted pecans.  Candice called me a few days after the wedding and told me how much she and Trent (her new husband) were enjoying the pie.  My favorite part was when she told me that Trent cut himself a big piece, exclaimed “this is like eating 10 candy bars” and couldn’t finish it.  I love when I make pies that are too rich for even the biggest sweet-lovers to eat.  It’s as good as winning an award.

turtlepie5

This is also a good time for me to announce, officially, that Dan and I started a small business this month, Pressed Magnolia Studio.  I’d always kind of felt like working as a wedding photographer was a sell out of my BFA in photography, but something about seeing Candice tear up the day after the wedding while looking at the pictures just made me so happy.  Made me think I could do it, officially.  So here we are.

Today is also the last of my Thanksgiving 2009 recipes, so for the last time (here anyway, I’ll continue to bug you via social media) if you spring these recipes on Springpad, you’re automatically entered to win $100.  And, if you spring all of my Thanksgiving recipes, I could win $500 and that would make me the happiest food blogger there ever was.  And you want me to be happy, don’t you internet?

Caramel Turtle Pie

1 cup chopped pecans

1 pie crust (recipe here)

Caramel:

2 cups sugar

4 tbsp water

1 cup heavy cream

Ganache:

11 oz bittersweet chocolate

3/4 cup heavy cream

Ganache:

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. When it is melted, stir in the cream.

Bake the pie crust in a pie dish with nothing in it. Allow to cool. Poor half of the ganache into the pie dish and let cool.

Caramel:

Heat sugar and water in a heavy medium size pan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly as sugar melts and turns a golden color. When sugar is completely liquid, remove from heat. Add cream and continue stirring. The caramel will bubble and steam like crazy- it’s okay, just keep stirring. When it is calmed down, allow to sit for 15 minutes.

When the ganache has hardened in the pie dish, pour half the caramel over it.

Toast the pecans for 3 minutes at 350. Chop and spread over layer of caramel. Cover with another layer of caramel- use the remaining. Top with the remaining ganache.

Let sit for 2 hours or until everything has cooled and set to room temperature.

**The second time I made this pie I used a springform pan, which was awesome because it allowed you to see the layers.  If you’re going to do this follow the same instructions, just make sure to butter the edges of the pan so that it comes apart easily!