3.14159265359

We are going to party like it's 3.14.15.

Happy Pi Day!

Spiced Rum Pecan Pie with Rum Whipped Cream

(adapted from Bon Appetit)

1 disk pie crust dough (for single-crust pie, unbaked)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 tablespoons Spiced Rum

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 cups pecans

Rum Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Spiced Rum

Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll out pie crust dough into a 12 to 13 inch round.
Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate.
Trim, fold over, and crimp the edge; set aside.
Melt butter in a heavy skillet (my cast iron works well for this) and cook until golden brown and fragrant.
Whisk in the corn syrup and the sugar.
Cook stirring until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth.
Remove from heat and transfer a bowl to cool to room temperature (about 15-20 minutes).
Beat eggs, rum, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl to combine.
Gradually add the sugar mixture and stir to combine.
Fold in the nuts.
Pour into prepared pie crust.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely before serving.

Rum Whipped Cream
Beat whipping cream, brown sugar, and remaining rum until peaks form. Chill until serving with pies.

Devo That Cream

If you grew up in the 80s, there is no doubt that Devo's "Whip It" was on at least one of your homemade mixtapes. (Bonus points for holding your cassette recorder up to the radio/stereo speaker to record and praying that the DJ didn't talk over the intro.)

I am a child of the 80s. I am also a dork that gets bonus points for humming the synthesized beats of "Whip It" every time I add whipping cream to my Kitchenaid's mixing bowl and beat it into fluffy peaks of whipped cream.

Easter Sunday was no exception. I had baked pretty little phyllo nests brushed with butter and dusted with powdered sugar on Saturday. To make a type of modified strawberry shortcake, on Sunday morning I sliced strawberries, warmed honey, and whipped heavy whipping cream. I whipped it. I whipped it good.

Layered with drizzles of honey over the flaky phyllo dough, over the strawberries, and on top of the whipping cream, these individual desserts were a delicious and impressive final addition to my Easter dinner menu.

 

Strawberry Shortcake Nests

(adapted from Gourmet)

1 roll of phyllo dough (there are 2 in each box), defrosted

4-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 cups whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons honey

2 cups strawberries, sliced

Defrost the frozen phyllo dough on counter top for 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge).

Preheat oven to 375degrees.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Carefully unroll the dough and remove the plastic wrapping.

Reroll the phyllo log and slice into 8 slices, approximately 1/2-inch each.

Unfurl the ribbons of dough from one of the slices onto a cutting board and arrange in parallel rows.

Brush the phyllo ribbons with melted butter and dust with powdered sugar.

Loosely gather together into a coil that resembles a nest. (be careful not to bunch too many layers in the middle, the nest will be tough instead of flaky)

Flip over and arrange on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush nest with additional butter as needed, and dust with again with powdered sugar.

Repeat with the ribbons of each of the remaining 7 slices of phyllo dough. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until phyllo is golden and crispy.

Cool completely. (Can be done to this point the day before.)

Beat heavy cream with sugar in electric mixer until it forms soft peaks.  (Whip it good.)

To serve, drizzle each phyllo nest with honey, top with generous dollop of whipped cream, drizzle again with honey, arrange strawberries on top of whipped cream, drizzle again with honey, and finish with small flourish of whipped cream and another drizzle of honey. (Can also layer strawberries on top of the phyllo nest for more strawberry punch.) Serves 8.

And...so you can also be a dork and hum "Whip It" while making your Strawberry Shortcake Nests...

Devo - Whip It

Faith, Hope, Love

Last weekend, my 81-year-old father-in-law remarried. It was a simple ceremony joining him and a long-time family friend. Both had suddenly lost their spouses. Both clung to their faith, grasped hope, and found love, again.

With everyone caught up in smoothly merging the families in celebration, I did what I always do: I cooked. Kinda. I volunteered to handle the rehearsal dinner. The menu was simple and reflected my father-in-law's favorites, pizza and strawberry shortcake. This is where the "kinda" comes in...how do you make homemade pizza for a crowd in a church basement with only one oven? You don't. You order take-out.

I did make a couple of salads (tossed with a garlic vinaigrette and Classic Seven Layer) and the Strawberry Shortcake. My version of Strawberry Shortcake seldom includes real shortcakes. Sometimes, I use angel food cake, sometimes sponge cake, sometimes pound cake, sometimes just a delicious, vanilla sheetcake. With the task of feeding a crowd, I chose the sheetcake option for rehearsal night.

For the fruit topping, sometimes I simply macerate the berries with sugar, sometimes the strawberries are roasted, sometimes I make a fruit sauce with Danish Dessert. This leans toward June Cleaver discovering the benefits of packaged foods in the kitchen, but when prepared with lemon juice and a little cinnamon, I love the glossy, jellied sauce. (Although, please forgive the graininess of the sauce in the photos...they were taken with leftover sauce several days after our weekend of parties.)

And then there is the faith, hope, and love of my version of Strawberry Shortcake, the Creamy Cheesecake Whipped Topping. I whip cream cheese and powdered sugar together before folding into Cool Whip. (Yes, another convenience food. I love real whipped cream just as much as anyone, but you simply can't beat the stability of whipped topping when creating a dessert for a crowd.) This is the secret to my strawberry shortcake. This is my faith, hope, and love. Cream cheese.

Creamy Cheesecake Whipped Topping

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1 (12 oz) container Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed

With a stand mixer, whip cream cheese.
Gradually add powdered sugar until fully incorporated.
Fold in the Cool Whip.
(Makes enough to "frost" a large sheetcake or dollop as for shortcakes.)

Chicken

A few weeks ago, Hubs and I spent a Sunday afternoon tearing out the decking for our old house front porch. The porch has been sagging forever and featured prominently on our to-do list for several years. However, as usual, the farm had been eating up every one of Hubs' spare minutes. I was excited that he had finally found time that day, and eagerly loaded the sections of rotting, old flooring into the back of the pickup as Hubs cut them out. It soon became apparent that this wasn't just a quick job. Under the porch, framing and supports were also rotten or non-existent. Basically, my rocking chairs might as well have been held up by butterfly wings. Fixing the porch correctly would be a big job.

As (bad) luck would have it, the temperatures decided to soar that first week of porch renovation. A heat index of at least 110 degrees was the norm. It was miserable in the sweltering heat, but I tried to help the best I could with the project. This is when one of my biggest fears reared its ugly head --my fear of heights.

Don't laugh. I know that it doesn't seem like replacing my porch floor should have anything to do with feeling all wobbly and jittery, but it did. Hubs glided back and forth over the exposed joists like a gymnast on a balance beam. I, on the other hand, was paralyzed with fear even though I was only 3 feet off the ground. I was chicken. Bwuck. Bwuck. Bwuck.

This chicken lunged from one point to another grasping whatever I could to hold on. I should be glad that I had control of the camera to document this renovation project, and there are no shots of me with fear in my eyes (or shots of me with hurt and anger in my eyes...but that is another story). I was a chicken, but I did what I could to keep the project moving. Ultimately, a beautifully solid floor is in place, has been sanded, and has one coat of stain. I am waiting for the humidity to allow the stain to dry enough for another coat...and praying that the painter dude shows up soon to finish the (overdue since last year's hail storm) repainting of the rest of the house. This chicken felt the heat and (kinda) rose to the occasion.

Chicken that also feels a little heat and more than rises to almost any occasion is Chipotle Chicken with Creamed Spinach. This smokey chicken dish is originally from Rick Bayless and has the perfect amount of heat. It is special enough to be a "for company" dish, but easy enough to grace a weeknight table. We love serving it with crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce, and leftovers are fabulous for lunch the next day. I am not chicken to have Chipotle Chicken with Creamed Spinach On My Plate.

Chipotle Chicken with Creamed Spinach

(adapted from Rick Bayless)

3 chipotle chiles in adobo, finely chopped

2 1/2 cups whipping cream

4 medium boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup chicken stock

10-12 cups baby spinach, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine the chopped canned chipotles with 1/2 cup of the cream in a Ziplock bag.
Add the chicken breasts to the bag, seal and refrigerate for several hours. (The longer you marinate, the more the chiles season the chicken.)
After marinating, preheat the broiler.
Arrange the chicken breasts in a baking dish just large enough to hold them comfortably.
Set 6 inches below a very hot broiler and cook until richly brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
Turn the chicken over, drizzle the remaining cream around them and return to the broiler.
Cook until the chicken is deep golden and no longer squishy feeling when lightly pressed, 4 to 5 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to 4 warm dinner plates and keep warm in a low oven.
Scrape the cream mixture into a large saucepan and add the broth and the spinach.
Bring to a boil over high heat and cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the spinach is wilted and the cream is reduced and thick, about 3 minutes.
Season with salt, then spoon around the chicken breasts to serve.

What Do I Do With? ...part one

The other day, I made a beautiful Fresh Strawberry Pie (basic recipe found at MamaStephF's Blog). My crust was a little deep; therefore, I had to use more strawberries and double the gelatin mixture. I also topped mine with a cream cheese whipped topping to satisfy the cheesecake lover in me. It was a bright taste of spring that I immensely enjoyed sampling before packing it up and sending it to the farm for the guys' lunch.

The few remaining strawberries were sliced up and doused with sugar to be a saucy delight over angel food cake...but there were only a few. I was left with a large portion of leftover cake. This is when I hit up the masses for suggestions to use the extra angel food. A trifle with lemon curd and freshly whipped cream seemed to be the consensus, and luckily, I had all the ingredients on hand to make it happen. I sprinkled blueberries between the layers, just for good measure, and this time, almost half of the layered bowl of dessert was gone before it made it to the farm. I couldn't resist Lemon Blueberry Angel Food Trifle On My Plate.

Lemon Blueberry Angel Food Trifle

(Lemon Curd recipe adapted from goodLife {eats})

Lemon Curd:

1 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3 cups sugar

14 egg yolks (for the whites, stay tuned.What Do I Do With?...part two will help you with that)

16 tablespoons butter, portioned into one-tablespoon portions

Whipped Cream:

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

4 teaspoons cold water

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 pint blueberries (more or less...use as many as you prefer)

1 loaf angel food cake (bake your own, or purchased)

Lemon Curd:
In a medium saucepan, combine the juice, zest, and sugar.
Heat over medium heat until simmering.
Turn heat to low.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl until smooth.
Slowly pour half of the citrus mixture into the yolks while vigorously whisking.
Return the amount in the bowl to the saucepan.
Continue to cook over low heat while whisking until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.
Cool to room temperature.
Whipped Cream:
After the lemon curd has cooled sufficiently, begin prep for the whipped cream.
Combine gelatin and cold water.
Stir until gelatin is dissolved.
Meanwhile, whip the cream with the powdered sugar until slightly thick.
While slowly beating, add the gelatin to the whipped cream until combined. (This is a stabilizer that will help "hold" the whipped cream for a couple days.)
Whip at high speed until stiff peaks.
Assembling the Trifle:
Slice the angel food cake into 1" slices.
Cut each slice in half. (This gives you pretty white edges to layer in your trifle bowl.)
Arrange slices of cake in a single layer on the bottom of the trifle bowl (cut sides out).
Top with a generous portion of the cooled lemon curd.
Sprinkle blueberries over the curd.
Add another layer of cake.
Spread more lemon curd over the cake.
Scatter more blueberries over the lemon layer.
Repeat as necessary to fill your trifle bowl.
For the final layer, spread the whipped cream over the last layer of lemon curd and blueberries.
Garnish with more blueberries. (Serves 10-12)