Sister Criddle's Chocolate Satin Pie

I first had this pie at Thanksgiving in California four years ago and had it again this Thanksgiving on the opposite coast! Delicious both times. I haven't tried it yet, but I thought I'd give it an old blog post so it will be around when I want to make my next pie. I definitely would like it if this pie appeared at my wedding. (The directions and notes are from Sis. Criddle herself!)

Crust Ingredients:

--The 2 pies amounts will make 3 or so one-crust pies

To make: (4 Pies) (2 Pies)
Amount: 2 crust pies 2 crust pies
Flour: 4 cups 2 cups
Salt: 2 teaspoons 1 teaspoon
Shortening: 2 cups 1 cup
Water: 2/3 cup + 2 T. 1/3 cup + 1 T.

Crust Directions:

1. Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry blender. Make a well in the center.
First, add larger amount of water; only as necessary to get moist dough, add smaller amount.
(avoid too much stickness)

2. To roll out: Flour board well and rolling pin well. Mold handful into ball. Roll out to about 1/8 inch thick. Fold in half...lift into pie plate...unfold. Crimp edges. Cut off excess. Prick all over with fork (as shell will shrink as it bakes with filling inside)...pricking helps. Bake 375 for about 10 minutes (don't want brown...just slightly golden).

Filling Ingredients and Directions:

1. Melt in top of double boiler (old recipe! I use the microwave now...melt and stir till lumps gone):

12 oz. semi choc. chips (2 cups)
1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt

2. Stir till blended and smooth, cool slightly. (Not too much)

3. Add 4 egg yolks, one at a time (save the whites in another bowl), (If choc is still warm, add the yolks and beat well fast so they don't cook in lumps in the choc immediately....although I like the fact that the hot choc cooks them some)

Beat well. Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

4. Beat 4 egg white until stiff. Fold into choc., gently but well. (I think the years the pie turned out really heavy I think I folded too much)

5. Pour into baked pie shell....refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serve with whipped cream.

Balsamic and Dijon Glazed Ham With Roasted Pearl Onions

I got bold and decided to bake a ham for a Christmas dinner I hosted yesterday. I had never baked a ham before, let alone any other large piece of meat. Never a roast or even a chicken.

I asked Mom how to bake a ham but she says she always fries her ham. R. had never baked a ham either. So that left me with Epicurious. I searched Epicurious for baked ham recipes by the number of forks and read through them until I found a recipe that looked like maybe it could be tackled by a novice.

I settled on this recipe, originally from Bon Appetit, and was wonderfully delighted by the results. First I give the Epicurious instructions, then what I actually did, and then some final commentary.

Ingredients:

2 pounds pearl onions

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 8- to 10-pound half ham shank, fully cooked, fat trimmed to 1/2-inch thickness

Directions:

1. Cook onions in large pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes; drain. Trim root ends, leaving base intact. Peel. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine sugar, vinegar, and mustard in bowl for glaze. Transfer onions to 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Add 2/3 cup glaze, butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup water; toss to coat. Cover with foil.

3. Line large roasting pan with foil. Making 1/2-inch-deep slits, score ham with diamond pattern. Place ham in pan and roast 45 minutes. Place onions in oven. Roast ham and onions 25 minutes. Uncover onions. Continue roasting onions and ham 50 minutes.

4. Baste ham with some of glaze. Continue to roast ham and onions until deep brown and glazed, brushing ham with glaze every 10 minutes, about 30 minutes longer. Transfer ham to large platter. Transfer onion mixture to bowl. Serve ham, passing onion mixture separately.

What I did:

Following the comments of multiple reviewers of the recipe on Epicurious, I used 2 lbs. of frozen pearl onions instead of fresh ones. I put the ham face side down in a glass casserole pan and poured in about 1/2 cup of apple cider. I covered the dish with foil and baked it at 325F for about 45 minutes.

In the meantime, I mixed up a double recipe of the glaze (vinegar, dijon, brown sugar, salt, and pepper), again in response to the commentary on the original site. After the ham had baked 45 minutes, I pulled it out of the oven and dumped the 2 lbs of onions (I did not thaw them first) around the ham in the pan and then I poured the sauce all over everything. This totally filled up my pan. I cut up a half stick of butter and put it in dabs on top of the ham and onions.

Then I put everything back in the oven, covered with foil, for another two-ish hours. At some point, my roommate noticed the pan was overflowing, removed about half the sauce, basted the ham, and put it back in the oven. When it was done cooking, I pulled it out and sliced it. The meat was delicious and tender and the onions had a perfect sweet-sour carmelized flavor.

Notes:

Doubling the sauce recipe was problematic, since I just ended up removing the sauce anyway. I can see why you might want to double it if you cook the onions separately as the recipe suggests, but if you cook it all in one glass pan I think just one recipes worth would be adequate.

I liked the sweetness the apple cider flavor gave to the ham. I might want the onions crispier if I cooked them again in the future, but I don't know if that's possible when trying to cook them in a pan where you want to create a tender ham. I'm not sure if the butter is really necessary.

Lots of juice left over. I saved some just in case B. comes to town and needs some sauce to cook chicken in. Turns out sauce is necessary for cooking chicken.

I would definitely make this recipe again because it was so easy and because everyone loved the result. It was a big hit especially among the male guests. But I'm open to learning other/better ways of baking a ham too, since I think the flavoring pulled off the success of this ham, not necessarily my technique.

Sus' Salad and Dressing

I dreamed about this salad with its dressing, it was that good. We had it at Thanksgiving and it was amazing, I could have just eaten the salad and been a happy camper. These directions come from SLO, who got the recipe from Sus, the sister-in-law of her current Manfriend. I love the extended world.

Salad:

Romaine lettuce
Lots of avocado
Plums
Candied/sugared pecans (I browned some pecans in a pan, added a lot of brown sugar, took it off before they were burnt--awesome)

S. also added some fresh mozzarella. She adds:

I might add bananas next time. Maybe pears. Or golden raisins? Another vegetable? Something.

The Salad Dressing:

One part fresh squeezed lemon juice (with some pulp, even)
One part olive oil
Healthy handful of brown sugar (dark!)
Fresh ground pepper to taste


I'm going to try this dressing out with LIMES this week!

Yellow Turkey Casserole

I haven't made this, but I'm archiving it so I never have to ask Mom for the recipe again. My favorite post-Thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients and Directions:

1) Butter a 9X13 glass dish.

2) Cover the bottom of the dish evenly with 2 c. raw rice.

3) Sprinkle evenly across the rice 1 t. salt and 1 t. curry powder. You may use more curry powder if you like.

4) Chop or dice 3 c. of leftover turkey or chicken meat. Spread the turkey evenly across the rice.

5) Mince 1/2 to 1 onion, 2 stalks celery and saute in butter until soft. Spread the vegetables evenly across the turkey.

6) Make according to package directions one packet of the dry chicken noodle soup which wants 4 c. of water, with this change: use 5 c. water. You may substitute part or all of the water with chicken broth.

7) Ladle the hot soup over the stuff in the dish. Be careful so that you disturb things as little as possible. Save the noodles until last so that you can distribute them evenly over the surface of the dish.

8) Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for one hour. Uncover and serve.