Blueberry Tart with Lemon Curd

I think it’s quite obvious that I’ve started using Instagram for my pictures. It’s pretty awesome! Just look at how the blueberries *pop*! I’m dubious about the pictures’ artistic value – not that they’re really supposed to have such value, but they do seem to be trying to, or at least pretending. But Instagram is so easy to use, even for a techno-illiterate like me. Just a click, a crop, and a quick touch of the buttons, and voila! Your very own hipster photo. I’m not easily taken by apps and stuff, but I must say I’m hooked. I can see why Facebook bought it for a billion dollars (ok, maybe it’s not worth quite that much, but I get the statement it’s making).

Doe makes an appearance to sniff around.

The creamy lemon curd and juicy blueberries were the perfect combination of tartness and freshness. (Let’s be glad it’s a pie and not a teenager.)

It was one of my favorite pies so far: simple, elegant… ideal:)

Kiwi Tart with Lime Curd

I love supermarkets. Lurrrrv them! How consumerist of me, I know. I should be declaring my allegiance to farmer’s markets and condemning those capitalist conglomerates. But to me, there’s nothing more exciting than strolling down aisle after aisle of produce and products. Particularly American supermarkets, with their seemingly infinite number of choices and possibilities… It’s all probably intimately tied to nostalgic childhood memories:) I remember my first time in an American supermarket after nearly a decade in Korea. I was so utterly excited, I made rounds and rounds scouring the place and soaking in everything, all the while thinking, “I could die here and I’d be happy.” Even so, I just ended up buying some peanut butter, jam, and bread. What can I say? I didn’t cook then. 

Korean supermarkets, for me, are more about the thrill of the find. Like when I find fresh blueberries from Chile, limes from America, and home-grown kiwi all at the same time. It’s like experiencing a solar eclipse! A celestial sign to make the kiwi-lime tart!

My friend asked me to make this tart way back in August when I first started the project, and I had it at the back of my mind until now. We’ve been friends a long time now, she and I; probably the oldest friend I have since she was my freshman year roommate. We’re not quite Chandler and Ross. Or Ted and Marshall. But we’ve kept in touch over the years. As I search over again for new living mates, I realize how lucky I’d been the first time! And as we chatted over coffee and tart, she told me that she’s getting a permanent roomie in the form of a hubby. It seems I get a wedding invitation every time I meet an old friend now. Is it strange that I’m more worried about my friends getting married than the pool of fish getting smaller? Who’ll be left to eat my pies?

The tartest one yet! >-<

Cranberry Window Pie (and Lunar New Year’s Lunch)

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

I think I’ve already mentioned that I used to hate the holidays. But, as it turns out, what I actually hated were the relatives (and fighting). Without them, the holidays are quite peaceful… pleasant even. Hmmmm. Let the dissociation process begin! And let new associations be forged. Perhaps with pie:)

I started the year of the snake with a cranberry pie. I’d never had cranberries before I started baking, and I’m finding their tartness quite appealing and just perfect for pies. In this particular pie, the citrusy orange complemented the cranberries quite well. Who thinks up these flavor combinations? Genius!

Piece of pie and a (plastic) glass of wine. Ahh…

Just a sneak peak at what we had for lunch: Spinach and cheese stuffed chicken with garlic wine sauce. Chicken Ballottine is quickly becoming my signature dish! And I’m getting better at deboning that chicken; only took me about half an hour this time. (Though Jacques Pepin claims it should take no more than 2 minutes… Yeah, I’m happy with my amateur status.)

And some sautéed Brussels sprouts (top left corner). Someone somewhere once called braised cucumbers a “revelation.” I was so impressed and curious that I looked up a recipe and tried it myself. They were… more revolting than revelatory (perhaps because I’m not a huge fan of cucumbers). But Brussels sprouts were my “revelation.” They seem to have a reputation as every kid’s most despised vegetable, but they were surprisingly very palatable! And it’s super cute how they’re called “mini cabbages” in Korea. Haha! I wonder if someone will try Brussels sprouts after reading this, find them gross, and decide that I have a totally warped sense of taste. To such people: try them sautéed or roasted, NOT boiled. 

Eating… eating… eating…

Oink!

The Best All-American Apple Pie (with Gruyere Crust)

I am so glad to have my oven back!

I watched a lot of TV shows while my oven was incapacitated, and I happened upon a show called “Pushing Daisies” about a pie-maker (yes!). It’s a cutesy Tim Burton-esque show centered on a pie-maker who can raise the dead and uses his super power to solve mysteries. The premise and plot are totally silly but very cute in every way, and I found the show quite charming (especially with a pie-maker as the protagonist!). But I guess not many people thought so because the show was canceled after 2 short seasons.

Surprisingly, there was very little pie-baking on the show. But there was this one pie that stuck out -- apple pie with gruyere baked right into the crust! What a curious combination. I made a mental note to get to it as soon as my oven was revived. 

Finely grated gruyere, 

whisked straight into the dough.

Apple slices, macerating away.

That first slice!

A la gruyere instead of a la mode.

The Pie Bible recipe called for a cream cheese crust, but I think the gruyere worked quite well too. The savoriness and slightly salty taste complimented the sweet filling quite well, almost like an apple quiche. In fact, we had it for lunch and the three of us ate three fourths of the pie. (I am continually shocked by how much my friends and I eat!)

However, I think the gruyere crust recipe (which I got off the internet) needs a bit of tinkering to get to “perfect.” Oh, Grandmaster Beranbaum, won’t you do that for us? Also, I think I prefer the regular-crust apple pie… because it goes better with ice-cream ;)

(Half-post on Crusts)

I finally got my oven back! Yay! Apparently, it was a blown fuse; I guess I really did overwork it a bit. Well, back to baking it is, albeit less intensely perhaps.

I decided that I needed to clear out stuff from my freezer because it was getting kinda hard to shut the door. Oy! And the biggest space-hogger? The bag of leftover scraps of crust, of course. I was actually waiting until I had a sampling of each variety of crust in the book, but who knows when that’ll be? So I thought a mid-term project wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Doe has been hibernating of late (i.e., I’d sorta forgotten about her). But I woke her up from her slumbers to help me do the evaluation.

And the winner is… the flaky cheddar cheese crust! Though more appropriate for savory dishes, the sharp cheese makes it just yummy yummy yummy! I could eat a whole crust sans pie;) And the runner up was the good ole basic flaky pie crust. As you know, basic is best. I found the other variations (sour cream, mascarpone, etc.) were more tender at the expense of flaky. And for me, flaky wins all.

The best part of the process was all the first bites. Teeheehee!

I made crust swirl cookies with the rest.

Cinnamon sugar crust swirls with a hot cup of coffee. Mmmmm.

I do think I’m becoming a hedonist.