I pulled a pie out of the freezer tonight. A wee one (of a few) I picked up at the Saskatoon farmers’ market earlier this summer, carefully toted home in my carry-on bag, then wrapped and stuck in the freezer, because what was I going to do with three pies at once? But if you ever go to the Saskatoon farmers’ market you will swoon at the sight of at least a dozen granny-types of all ages (and I mean that in the best possible way – I adored my grandma) selling handmade pies of all kinds. Cherry, apple, strawberry, rhubarb, Saskatoon… raisin pies, even. I was in pie heaven. Yet staying at a hotel and flying home the next day. You’d do the same, I know it.
Also? I think I paid $3 for this pie. Which turned out to be rhubarb-Saskatoon – can’t get much more Canadian than that. I was baking date squares for CBC tomorrow but my Dad was coming over for dinner, and not wanting him to ravage said date squares, I popped this into a pan and slid it into the oven alongside. It reheated beautifully.
Dinner itself was a salad of sweet onions and tomatoes my friend A. brought back from the Okanagan (along with peaches, nectarines and yellow plums!) with fresh (albeit wilty) basil, olive oil and balsamic. My dad (whom I love) said it wasn’t authentic – he likes his with Kraft zesty Italian dressing.
We had corn and radishes, and those bun-looking things on the right are Portobello mushrooms stuffed with Spolumbos sausage (from the butcher dept at Co-op) cooked on the grill.
But really I was just looking at the finish line: that pie. Which cooled to warm and we ate with our hands – big wedges of fruit encased in a pastry coat. I hardly missed the ice cream.
So. Speaking of pie.
I’ve been meaning to have another little get-together, since the potluck back in the spring (could it be as long ago as it was??) and I thought we might have a little pie party. What do you think? This time I’ll tell Mike about it, and try not to be in the shower when everyone arrives.
As last time, everyone is welcome, just leave a comment here and I’ll contact you. And if you want, you could bring a pie. It’ll be a pie potluck! I’ll get take-out containers so we can all have doggy bags. How does that sound? No pressure.
So if you want to join the pie party, let me know. I’d love to hang out over pie. (And coffee! And tea! And something bubbly! Is it too late for mojitos? Do they even go with pie?) I’m thinking it will be next Saturday, September 10th. Because there’s no time like sometime in the next two weeks.
You really should know about this slaw. It seems altogether very lowbrow, what with the bagged coleslaw and shredded chicken and thousand island dressing (which was made from scratch, including the mayo, if that counts for anything), but somehow it works. It’s crunchy and creamy and sweet and tangy, and perfect to pack in a container and take with a folding chair down to the river to nibble with your feet in the water while the boys and dog splash. (Bonus: It isn’t quite as alluring to random canines as previous snacks of peanut butter and cheese have proven to be.)
Remember when I used to post what I made/bought/ate for dinner every day? Me too. Now I’m not sure I can remember what was for dinner any given night since Thursday, when we finally (after approximately a decade of saying we would) took Mike’s mum to the Banff Springs for afternoon tea.
Friday was pizza and wine for lunch, more of the same for dinner. (As the latter was a birthday, there was also ice cream cake and apple pie from Pearson’s Berry Farm, by way of Valta Bison.)
Saturday was the third annual Sugar Bowl, a blast of a lawn bowling fundraiser for the Amber Webb-BowermanMemorial Foundation, which included a barbecue with burgers, dogs, crunchy things, beer from Big Rock and wine from Tinhorn Creek. Bliss donated cupcakes.
This afternoon Erin, Lisa and Katie fed me almond-flavoured pink cake with fluffy meringue frosting.
They made a Community Cookbook. It comes out next weekend.
And tonight good friends grilled us dinner – every course done outside – planked chicken and grilled veggie salad and grilled bananas brushed with rum-honey-cinnamon and served with vanilla ice cream. Which is so making it into my regular rotation. (If I really have one?)
Until then, you should really know about this Thousand Island slaw.
1 cup mayonnaise (homemade, if at all possible)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. rice or cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. sweet relish
1/2-1 bag coleslaw mix
1/4 cup grated sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Walla Walla – optional)
2 cups shredded roast chicken (from a rotisserie chicken)
a chunk of red or yellow pepper, thinly sliced
In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, ketchup, vinegar and relish. In a large bowl, toss together the coleslaw, onion, chicken and red pepper; drizzle with dressing and toss to coat.
Season with salt and pepper if it needs it. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6.
I brought a cake to the office this week. (I don’t usually work in an office, as most of you know, but out of our spare room. But sometimes I get to hang out in a cubicle outside the studio when I’m taking over traffic at CBC, and feel very Mary Tyler Moore-ish.) I happened to be subbing in on David‘s birthday, and so I baked a cake. Peanut butter, because he loves it and so do I. I’ve rarely met a person who doesn’t practically jump up and down with glee at the sight of a peanut butter cake, especially when the layers are sandwiched with chocolate ganache and the whole thing is topped with creamy peanut butter frosting, made with cream cheese. Not that I’ve ever actually made a peanut butter cake, that I can remember, but that was the unanimous reaction I got to this one.
Because I didn’t plan ahead and made ganache just a few hours before I had to be at work, it wasn’t set enough. So I had to tote all the elements of the cake with me and assemble it at the little strip of countertop by the microwaves that could be loosely described as a kitchen. But then again not really.
(I must apologize here for the florescent lights, which make food look about as appetizing as they make me look.)
A friend was in the studio that day as well, and told me that peanut butter cake was a very east coast thing, and it made her feel like she was back home, which was a very nice thing to know.
I burnt their bottoms – or one and a half of them – partly because I left them in the oven too long, partly because my oven is old and overworked and uneven. 20 minutes should about do it.
Filling:
2 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup brown sugar
12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (or 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter
Cake:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 cups packed golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
Frosting:
1 8 oz package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2-3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
To make the filling: Bring cream and sugar to simmer in a saucepan, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, stir in the peanut butter and chocolate, let stand a minute or two and then whisk until smooth. Chill for several hours or overnight.
To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F and spray three 9″ cake pans with nonstick spray (or butter them). In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add it to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk in two additions, beating on low speed just until mixed each time.
Divide batter among pans and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cakes are golden and springy to the touch. Let cool for a few minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth; beat in a cup of the icing sugar, then another cup along with the vanilla. Add more sugar, beating until you have something spreadable. If you need to, add a tablespoon of water or milk – the moisture content of peanut butters will vary.
To assemble the cake, place one layer on a serving plate or cake plate and spread with half the chocolate ganache; top with another cake layer and the rest of the ganache. Top with the third cake layer and if you like, refrigerate to allow the ganache to firm up a bit (this will keep it from melting into the frosting).
Frost the cake with peanut butter frosting and serve immediately. Serves 16.
I’m attempting to squeeze every last bit of summer out of this last week before school starts. (Honestly, it’s conflicting with my desperate need to organize the basement and office – the one thing I was ABSOLUTELYPOSITIVELY going to get done in August. Of which there are only 8 days left of.)
And I hadn’t even managed to make popsicles! Which are of course all the rage this year. Forget all those years of buying ice pop molds at the dollar store, then cursing the dozen multicoloured plastic handles scattered all over the basement floor for me to a) pick up, and/or 2) step on. I’d throw them out, then get tempted by another set. Did I ever make popsicles? Not really.
But then Avery emailed me a link to the Kitchn, and these creamy lime pie pops, and it was like the mother ship calling me home. I’m a sucker for that lime juice-sweetened condensed milk combo; I love the science of it, the way the mixture thickens as you whisk acid into dairy. I love folding whipped cream into it, then intercepting most of it myself before it makes it into its pie shell.
But frozen into popsicles! Brilliant. And a perfect mixture for freezing in shot glasses – those tall ones, if you can find them. I procured mine for 69 cents at Value Village.
The best part? You douse them in graham crumbs to complete the pie effect. Genius, I know.
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half & half
zest and juice of 2 large limes
Pinch salt
coarsely crushed graham crackers or Digestive cookies (or graham crumbs)
Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, half & half, lime juice, lime zest, and salt in a bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. It will thicken slightly – a reaction between the lime juice and milk – I love that.
If using ice pop molds, fill them almost to the top and pop in their sticks. If using shot glasses, fill them almost full, then cover with plastic wrap and stick popsicle sticks through the wrap (which will hold them in place) – the mixture is likely thick enough to hold a stick upright without the wrap, though. Freeze until solid.
Spread the crumbs on a large plate. Unmold the pops and dip into the graham crackers, coating as much as you like.
