Pepper Pie

To celebrate my new niece Pepper, my sister asked me to make this pie. It's from "The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book" by Emily and Melissa Elsen, who have a pie shop in Brooklyn. They tend to edgy flavors.

The recipe worked well, and most of us enjoyed it quite a bit. The texture is really nice. I imagine the method could be used to combine the chocolate with any strong flavor-- my mind immediately went to orange peel, and a family member thought immediately of steeping the milk with mint. Other options might include wintry spices. (I am reminded here of the Lindt holiday spice truffles, which I've only ever seen at Wegmans. I loved them, and they included a lot of coriander, which surprised me.)

The name of the recipe in the book is "Green Chili Chocolate Pie," but I used a red pepper in spite of their saying they chose green on purpose for its green taste. I say vegetal taste. Red it is for me.

Pepper Pie

single 9 inch pie crust, parbaked

1 red jalapeno pepper (recipe says green), halved and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 in piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch pieces
1 c whole milk
1 c heavy cream
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into 1/4 inch pieces (recipe says 55% cocoa; I got as close as I could with Bakers 56% baking chocolate)
1/2 t cardamom
1/2 t salt
2 large eggs
1 t fresh lime juice

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 F.

Combine sliced pepper (with seeds), ginger, milk, and cream in a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and steep 6-8 minutes.

Combine chocolate, cardamom, salt in large heatproof bowl and put a fine mesh sieve over top. Bring cream mixture back to a simmer, and immediately strain it over the chocolate. Let stand 5 min, and then whisk steadily until the chocolate is melted.

Crack eggs in separate bowl, whisk. Slowly stream a small amount of chocolate mix into the eggs, whisking as you pour. Continue until the egg mix feels warm to the touch (I don't know if mine got there, but I think it was ok); then mix it back into the chocolate mixture. Add the lime juice, whisk till smooth.

Strain the filling into the crust (I did not do this. The temper on the eggs was just fine). Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30-35 minutes, rotating 20-25 min through. (Honestly I overbaked it 5 minutes, but I also felt like the oven was running cold). "The pie is finished when the edges are set about 2 inches in and puffed slightly and the center is no longer liquid but still quite wobbly. Be careful not to overbake or the filling will be dry and sandy; the filling will continue to cook and set after the pie is removed from the oven." Well, I did put it in longer-- and I wouldn't call the center "quite wobbly" when I took it out-- so I put it immediately in the fridge. And honestly, no dryness or sandiness here. I would make it the same again.

Allow to cool completely.

I didn't use the Elsens' crust, but here is their recipe for a single chocolate crust, which the recipe actually calls for:

1 c AP flour
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t sugar
1/4 lb (1 stick) cold butter, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 c cold water
2 T cider vinegar
1/2 c ice

Stir flour, cocoa, salt, sugar. Add butter and coat with the flour using a bench scraper or spatula. With pastry blender, cut in the butter to pea-size pieces (a few larger are ok)-- work fast.

Combine water, vinegar, and ice. Sprinkle 2 T over flour mix; cut in with spatula till fully incorprated. Add more, 1-2 T at a time, mix till it comes together in a ball, with some dry bits remaining. Squeeze or pinch to bring it all together, sprinkling dry bits with the water mix to moisten. Shape in flat disk, wrap in plastic, and chill at least 1 hr, preferably overnight.

To parbake, pour pie weight or beans into foiled crust and spread them around (concentrate at edges). Place on pre-heated baking sheet at 425 and bake 20 minutes, until crimped edges are set but not brown. Lift out weights and foil and brush with a thin layer of egg white glaze (1 egg while whisked with 1 t water). Continue baking 3 minutes.

Pepper rolls

My Dad and I recently visited my sister, who just had a new baby we call Pepper. To celebrate, he made pepper rolls and I made a pepper pie. His pepper rolls were inspired by a type of roll my Mom gets at their local panaderia. He made a white bread dough and stuffed the individual rolls with diced green chiles (from a can) and cream cheese. I quite liked them and I think he plans to iterate on them. Maybe I will too. I bought mild chiles for him to use but he told me they should be hot chiles.

Grandma Beth's Cream Cheese Lemon Pie

How good this is. It's not a cheesecake-style pie, it is a cream style pie that happens to have cream cheese in the pud. An aunt makes this in a graham cracker crust. My mom makes this in unsweetened pie pastry, which I think is perfect. I love the salty counterpoint. It is topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

a single 9" pie crust
1 c sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
1 1/2 c water (C. uses 1 c)
3 egg yolks
1 T butter
8 oz cream cheese
3 drops yellow food color
1/4 c lemon juice (C. uses 6 T)
1 t lemon extract (C. uses 1 1/4 t)

When confronted about her instructionless card, Mom simply says, "I know how to make it."

When pressed, she says, "It is just lemon meringue pie with room-temperature cream cheese mixed into the warm pudding at the end."

Odessa-Style Mushrooms

Mom made these many years ago, and they were the first mushrooms I liked (the butter, cream, and sour cream helped). Now, I like many preparations of mushrooms, but these are still the best (the butter, cream, and sour cream STILL help). Although my family has never done the traditional green bean casserole for Thanksgiving, when I volunteered for a vegetable side dish this year, I wanted to do a take on the concept. Not everyone in the family is open to mushrooms, so with the help of my brother, I divided a 9x13 dish into two compartments and put some fox point green beans with shallots in one side and in the other, Odessa-style mushrooms. The idea was that a mushroom-open person could put them together into one dish. I quite liked it. I liked how the green beans cut the richness of the mushrooms, and I liked, well, everything about the mushrooms. The mushroom recipe is from "Russian Regional Recipes" by Susan Ward.

2 1/2 -- 3 1/2 oz butter
4 scallions, finely chopped
1 lb button mushrooms; I quartered them so they could be cohesive with the green beans
1 T flour
salt, pepper
4 oz sour cream
3 oz cream
2 oz grated hard cheese (recipe says cheddar, lancashire, or caerphilly; I used an asiago/parmesan/romano blend)

Preheat oven to, let's say, 350. Melt 2 oz butter in frying pan over medium heat. Add scallions, saute briefly.
Stir in mushrooms and continue to cook 5-6 minutes until they are getting soft and brown.
In a small bowl combine 1/2 oz butter and flour; work to a paste.
Stir the paste into the mushrooms; cook for 3 minutes.
Add the sour cream and the cream.  Season generously to taste.
Place the mushrooms in a casserole and sprinkle the cheese "and the remaining butter" on top (I did not add more butter, and do not think it is needed. There is plenty of fat).
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Salmon Salad

For a certain family holiday, we eat Cajun food, Scandinavian food, and chocolate. It can be a difficult mashup to pull off. This year I planned a menu I called "Southern Smorrebrod" or "Smorrebrod and S'more brod," based off of the Danish open faced sandwiches. I got various breads for the bases, including soft white flatbreads from Ikea, crisps from Ikea, and a dense sourdough rye batter bread (the mix was from Ikea, but I baked it!). Then I made protein salads: a "Cajun" chicken salad, pimento cheese, and a Scandinavian-inspired salmon salad. People could then top their open faced sandwiches with sliced hard boiled eggs, red onion, lettuce, tomato, avocado, lettuce, nuts, dill fresh from T's garden-- and probably other delicious stuff I don't remember. I made way too much food, but I do actually think it was a fun meal. T rose to the challenge to make "S'more brod (bread)" to go with the Smorrebrod, and not only was it pretty yummy, but it was a visual pun with the rye bread as well. Maybe someday I will upload the photos we took to prove it.

Anyway, I liked how the menu turned out, but I was surprised to like my salmon salad the best, because I was the most worried about it. I based it roughly on the Swedish salad "Skagen," perhaps named after the port in Denmark? Skagen is made with shrimp, but by swapping in salmon, I think I still maintained a geographically appropriate spirit, at least.

Skagen-esque Salmon Salad

Large fillet of salmon-- mine was about 1 1/2 pounds-- bake it as you see fit; flake.
2 yukon gold potatoes-- I baked alongside the salmon, of course they take longer; peel, cube
cucumber, diced
1 large shallot, chopped
1 - 1 1/2 c cooked peas
capers

Combine. Dress with, as needed:

3 parts sour cream
1 part mayo
a squort of mustard

Season with:

salt
pepper
a whole lot of fresh dill
lemon juice-- you could even grate in some zest, I suppose

A way with vegetables: soy sauce and butter

I've been fond of the soy sauce + butter combo for a while, using it as a way to simply dress pasta or rice. Last week I tried it as a way to dress steamed vegetables, and I liked it, so I'm recording it in this culinary card box. I steamed baby-cut carrots and snap peas (a tiny touch longer than I otherwise might, as it was Mother's Day, and I know my Mom doesn't want a lot of 'dente' to her vegetables). Meanwhile, I lightly browned some garlic in a fair dose of butter, then reduced some soy sauce into it to make a loose sort of sauce. (It will look strange and sort of wicked, but don't despair.) Then I tossed it over the vegetables, and that was that. The soy sauce and salted butter will add all the salt the vegetables are likely to need.

Mark Bittman's Winter Citrus Salad

T., who was early to the Mark Bittman boat, makes this. And I like it. I will write out the recipe as it is found on the New York Times website, but the citrus complement of course can be changed, and you can section the citrus instead of slicing it.

2 blood oranges or tangerines
1 pink grapefruit
1 navel orange
salt
1/2 small red onion or 1 shallot, chopped
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T sherry vinegar
1/2 t honey
lime or lemon juice to taste
1/4 t freshly chopped tarragon or a pinch dried

Peel citrus, removing as much pith as possible, and slice into wheels. Remove any seeds. Layer onto serving dish. Sprinkle with salt and garnish with chopped shallot.

Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, honey, citrus juice, and tarragon. Taste and adjust seasoning. Drizzle over salad.