Tag Archives: farmhouse rules

apple maple pie

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After watching the Food Network television show “Farmhouse Rules” the other day, I was inspired to bake a pie. So I decided to bake a homemade apple maple pie. I have baked this pie in the past, but this is the first time I have written down the recipe.

(Okay here is hoping that I have the proportions correct to give you for this recipe.)

9 inch vintage deep dish pie plate

Filling:
Four or five large apples peeled, cored, sliced
Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace to taste
1 1/2 tablespoon of butter in little pieces
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup of flour
1/4 cup sugar
Couple tablespoons of apple cider

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoon sugar
8 tablespoons butter
6 to 7 tablespoons water

Assemble crust using pastry blender and wrap dough in Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

While crust is chilling, assemble filling.

You will have enough dough for a rolled out bottom layer crust and strips for lattice top. I’m using a slightly smaller than normal but deep pie plate. Use a pastry brush to brush the lattice strips with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Tip: I roll my piecrust out between sheets of Saran wrap or parchment paper.

Tip: after I have rolled my crust to the desired thickness and I have put it in my pie plate, I throw into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up before I fill with pie filling.

Heat oven to 425°. Bake pie on a cookie sheet to catch any spills. Bake 12 to 14 minutes at 425°, reduce oven to 350° and keep an eye on it and bake approximately 50 minutes more, or slightly less depending on your oven.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or thin slices of a good local cheddar cheese.

The vintage pie plate came from the Smithfield Barn.

Enjoy and happy baking!

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quince-apple butter

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I don’t do much jelly and jam making (yet), but I love “butters”. Pumpkin butter, apple butter, peach butter, pear butter, and now quince-apple butter.

My friend Meredith had given me a lovely basket full of quince the other day, and I had a bowl full of apples sitting on the kitchen table.

So after I peeled, cored ,and chopped everything I threw it into a crockpot with a scant couple cups of apple cider three cinnamon sticks a couple chunks of peeled and slightly smashed ginger (to release the flavor), sugar, juice of one lemon and lemon peel , a little mace, and two days worth of cooking…and the end result is here.

In the end I think I used close to 3 cups of sugar because quince is so tart. And quince is a very hard almost prehistoric looking fruit and halfway through cleaning the quince I wondered if it would be worth it. It is.

It smells and tastes delicious! The butter is thick and velvety, and it is a coral meets red sort of color. It looks very pretty in the canning jars. I had started cooking this yesterday afternoon but then we went out for dinner so I turned off and unplugged the crockpot. This morning I turned the crockpot back on low for three more hours of cooking and this is the end result.

I realize my method of preparing this must be maddening to serious jam, jelly, and preserve makers because I’m a little of this and a little of that in the pot. but it works! I used a couple of recipes as a guide to make sure my proportions were right, but that is about it.

Thanks for stopping by!

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summer luncheon

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Today I had a very dear friend over for lunch whom I hadn’t seen in forever. One of my favorite people, she is actually a mom of one of my friends. (And I love that my friend will share her on occasion!)

I wanted to do something special so I had a lot of fun playing with Depression Glass today for my table setting. I have collected this stuff over the years at church sales and flea markets and the Smithfield Barn. The cute napkin rings are a bit of vintage fun and came from Garage Sale Chic Chester County which is now part of Home Eclective in Downingtown.)

Anyway I wanted to make a ladies who luncheon kind of lunch, so I did. I started with Kendall’s Gazpacho, and also served my twist on chicken salad and a new potato salad in a mustardy dressing.

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And yes….approximate recipes are right here:

Chicken Salad with a Twist

Boil 3 bone in chicken breasts in water and sea salt. ( when cooled, I put the broth in small containers and freeze for later use).

When chicken is cooked, allow to cool. Remove skin and bones from breasts and discard. Next chop up the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Then, chop fine: 1 medium sized or small red onion, 3 stalks of celery hearts, fresh herbs (I used dill, tarragon, basil, Italian flat leaf parsley.)

In a bowl whisk together mayonnaise to taste, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a couple dashes of Garam Masala, salt and pepper. Also add a tablespoon of orange marmalade with any peel minced fine. (For me this was easy because my friend Sara had given me homemade orange marmalade that is not dense so I was able to spoon out a tablespoon of the jelly without the peel. The olive oil and wine vinegar is not so much, about 3 tablespoons each and maybe 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. Whisk together.

Combine all in a bowl and toss in a 1/2 cup of black or white seedless raisins. Mix and chill.

 

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Roasted Potato Salad

Roast 1 1/3 pounds of small or new potatoes in a 400 degree oven with 1 head of garlic whole but topped (drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste) for about 30 minutes give or take a few minutes.

You only want potatoes cooked and firm, not super crunchy and overly brown. I picked potatoes large enough to slice in half, did not peel them, and cooked them in a flat baking pan lined with parchment.

Meanwhile cook 4 oz of pepper coated bacon and crumble.(They have this amazing bacon at Pete’s Produce in Westtown that I used.)

Dice three stalks of celery heart stalks, 3 shallots, and one cucumber peeled and seeded. (Some people are cucumber sensitive so I have taken to scooping out the seeds as some have told me they like that better.)

Chop fine a bunch of fresh herbs- I used tarragon, chives, basil, dill, and Italian flat leaf parsley.

In a small bowl put half of the cloves on the head of roasted garlic minced, grainy mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a little mayonnaise. Whisk it together and add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Combine everything, toss, and refrigerate.

 

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