late summer treats

Yesterday my parents came over for dinner. My Dad painted our front door and frame for us while I was busy in the kitchen. The door had been primed and ready to be painted for over a year and I'm embarassed to say I never got around to finishing it. My Dad used to own a painting and contracting company and I think it really bugged him that it wasn't done, so he decided to do the job. It looks great and it's nice that (once again) my wonderful dad helped us out.

For dinner we had fresh corn served with my new favourite accompaniment salsa verde. I got this recipe from a book I've had for several years that I picked up at the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. If you try any recipe from this blog, try this one, it is really delicious! (My Mom even ate it and she is known for her dislike of fresh cilantro - I wonder if I converted her...)

I love pie! I love to bake pie. I love to eat pie. I love to read about baking and eating pie. When I was young my Mom would bake peach pie in late summer. Her version is an open, one crust pie with artfully arranged peach slices and a clear glaze with a hint of almond essence. I wanted to make a different kind for her to try. In a book devoted to the art of pie-making, that I will confess was an impluse buy, I found the delicious recipe for the filling. The pastry recipe I wrote down from a TV show and I can't remember the title of the show! It turned out so well, I baked one this morning for my friend Darryl (as a thank you for a favour he did for me).

Salsa Verde (from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home - (1994)

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup fresh parsley leaves (this is really good but yesterday I used cilantro instead)

3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I used a mix of lemon and lime juice)

2 tablespoons capers, rinsed

1/4 cup chooped scallions (I omitted these because I didn't have any)

1/4 tsp salt and pepper

Whiz together in a food processor or blender. I course, I use my "Magic Bullet" blender (how I got that is a whole other story!)

Pie Pastry (from an unremembered TV show)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter (cold and cut into small cubes)

3 tablespoons very cold water

1/2 tsp vanilla

*Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and mix together with your fingertips until no large lumps remain. Sprinkle the water and vanilla over top and mix together until it forms a dough (you may need to add a bit of water). Roll into a ball , wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for about 15 min. Take out the dough and cut off about 1/3 to save for the top. Roll out the remaining on a floured surface and line a pie plate and crimp the overhang onto the edge. Put in fridge while preparing the filling.

Brown Sugar Peach Pie (from Sweety Pies - An Uncommon Collection of Womanish Observations with Pie (2007) by Patty Pinner)

Filling

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter (I used unsalted butter)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used fresh grated nutmeg)

1/8 teaspoon cloves (I omitted this because I didn't have any)

About 5 cups of sliced peaches (I used about 7 and I blanced them first to make them easier to peel - and good ol' Mom helped me to peel them)

*Put all ingredients (except the peaches) in a saucepan and heat together until the sugar is dissolved.

Arrange the peach slices over the crust and pour the sugar mixture evenly over top. Roll out the top crust and cut into strips and arrange over the top.

Bake the pie at 400F for about 25 minutes, but check to make sure the crust does not burn.

banana bread break

This morning my friend Gillian came over for coffee. She is a expert on books for children so we always have something to new to discuss. It also helps that she loves to cook and appreciates home baking. So I decided to try Sheri's recipe for banana muffins. I recently asked Sheri for her recipe because I was having trouble making muffins that were moist but with not too much fat. It went together quickly and in no time we had a lovely treat to enjoy with our coffee.

The result...delicious...even though I had to make a few substitutions because I was missing some ingredients and...there was a point where I needed to use pliers to yank out the plastic top of the oil bottle that had broken!

Dean (who is currently beside me, munching on a piece as I type this) says, "This is good. I guess this would be good for dipping in tea/coffee."

Sheri's Banana Muffins (Bread)

1 cup mashed bananas (2 or 3)

1 cup sugar (I used 2/3 cup)

1/4 cup vegetable oil ( I use sunflower oil)

1/2 cup sour cream (Sheri says "lite" is okay and I used 5%)

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used graham flour)

1 tsp baking powder ( I used 2 tsp since I didn't have any baking soda)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 325F for 40 minutes (you would need to shorten the baking time if you were making muffins). Sheri also suggested that nuts/chocolate chips would be good additions.