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.

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Burritos

First inspired by a trip to the Moosewood last fall, this was my second go around with these burritos and I am a big fan. I made 15 of them last night, we ate 10, and I'm freezing the remaining 5 for a future date. They are very hearty and filling while managing to feel exceptionally healthy when you are eating them. What an awesome find.

From Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Bean-and-Vegetable-Wraps-5926

Ingredients: (my modifications are in parentheses)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil --(peanut oil as needed)
2 large garlic cloves, minced --(omitted)
1 cup diced red bell pepper --(chopped up one whole pepper)
1 cup diced yellow bell pepper --(chopped up one whole pepper plus a whole orange pepper)
1 cup 1/2-inch pieces zucchini --(chopped up three zucchinis)
1 cup 1/2-inch pieces peeled butternut squash --(maybe three cups? a lot)
1 cup chopped red onion --(chopped one whole onion)
2 teaspoons ground cumin --(to flavor)
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained --(1 16 oz. can + 1 16 oz. can red kidney beans)
1 cup (packed) grated hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese --(grated a whole medium sized chunk)

4 9- to 10-inch-diameter flour tortillas (burrito size) --(15 tortillas)
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro --(lots)

Directions:

1) Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add bell peppers, zucchini, squash, and onion and sauté until crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. (I sauteed the squash separately and then pureed it in the blender with a little left over pumpkin). Mix in cumin (plus salt, pepper, and other spices) and sauté until vegetables are tender, about 2 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper. Place beans in large bowl; mash coarsely with fork (I didn't mash my beans, just the squash.) Mix in vegetables and cheese.

2) Place tortillas on work surface. Spoon a generous 1/3rd cup of filling down center of each. Sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon cilantro. Roll up tortillas, enclosing filling. Arrange wraps, seam side down, on baking sheet. (Can be made 1 hour ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

3) Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover wraps with foil. Bake until filling is just heated through, about 10 minutes. Cut each wrap into 2 or 3 sections.

Dixie Salad

A family Thanksgiving tradition.

Basic elements all mixed together with the cream as the binding agent:

Whipped cream
Shelled pomegranate seeds
Chopped apples
Nuts: pecans or walnuts

R. says this is abominable but I just put chopped Snickers AND chopped fresh brownie in mine.

Drop Biscuits

From mom (via the Joy?) A food I grew up on. Most recently baked for Melville and posted here for KT.

Ingredients:

3 C. flour
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. yellow shortening
1 1/2 C. milk

Directions:

1) In small-medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt. Mix. Cut in shortening until homogeneous mixture is formed. Stir in milk slowly while pouring to avoid forming lumps.

2) Distribute evenly into 1 well greased 12-cup muffin tin. Bake at 450F for 15 minutes. Turn out of muffin cups after cooling 2-3 minutes & serve warm.

Note: The recipe can be modified to use buttermilk instead of regular milk, which produces a delicious biscuit. The baking powder must be adjusted to accommodate.