Passion

 Something weird has happened to me recently, and I've been super-motivated to cook. I don't know what's come over me (nope, not pregnant).

Last week I made cookies and a lemon yogurt blueberry loaf in the same evening, and took them into lab the next day (that went over really well - coworkers love baked goods!). Then I heard something on the radio about making your own creme fraiche and became obsessed with doing it, so I bought heavy whipping cream and buttermilk and made the attempt. I'm using it tonight to flavor some pork chops I'm currently brining.  Yeah, I'm not just marinating something before I cook it, I'm brining it. Something is definitely weird with me. (Recipe link)

Also, since I had so much buttermilk left over after the creme fraiche fiasco (the fiasco being that I bought buttermilk and heavy cream in the opposite proportions from what I needed, resulting in a half gallon of buttermilk hanging out in my fridge), I started looking into recipes that called for buttermilk. And somehow I stumbled across a recipe for making your own "ricotta" cheese from a gallon of milk. Dude! You can make your own cheese?? That's so darn cool.  So I bought a gallon of whole milk, poured half of it into a pot, tossed in some heavy cream, cooked it, strained it, and whoa. I have something vaguely between yogurt and ricotta-consistency, which tastes AMAZING. So then I realize I have about half a gallon of whey left over, and did you know "ricotta" really means "twice-cooked", and is traditionally made from the whey from making other cheeses? So hey, I made "ricotta" and now I have whey. I will take the whey and make ricotta! And I did. And it came out much much thicker than the first batch, which was amazing, but I added too much lime juice, so it's got this interesting lime-y flavor I THINK I like but I'm not quite sure. After mixing the two batches together and letting them sit in the fridge overnight, I am absolutely thrilled with the finished product and addicted to making cheese.

Except now I have a half gallon of whey sitting around (well, minus the two cups I put in the pork chop brine). And a half gallon of buttermilk still (um, didn't the cheese thing start with looking for a use for the buttermilk? how did I end up with twice as much liquid I need a use for?).  It's okay though. I'm gonna add the whey and some creme fraiche to a stew I'm gonna set up in the crockpot tonight. And the buttermilk sounds like it might want to be muffins...

I wonder if I could use the "ricotta" to make cheesecake...?

What has come over me??

 Thanksgiving was good. We spent it with Jim's family.  I made a lemon meringue pie.

Lemon meringue pie is deceptive. You think it really can't be that hard, especially if you've already mastered crust. What's the difficulty? You make some lemony filling, beat some egg whites, toss them on top, and you're done.

( In practice it's not quite that easy. )

Also, I'd like to thank Jim for being very patient with me while I had a Baking Meltdown and went into full panic mode over the lifeless meringue. You get major Boyfriend Points for that.

Something weird has been happening to me lately (besides the fact that this is my 3rd post this week. I know. The world just might explode). I think I've been domesticated. Like a wild creature of some sort, captured and... trained to bake...? In addition to having baby lust, I've been baking all kinds of things lately, from bread to brownies to pies. I learned how to make pie crusts (and if I'd realized ten years ago it wasn't going to be as hard as all the hype says, I would have made a lot more pies in the last decade) and am working on perfecting fillings.

So anyway, back when I went to New England for Rhinebeck, I got to spend an evening hanging out with my friend Eliz. Eliz is synonymous in my head with "food," as she is an amazing chef and I'm convinced she can make anything. During our evening together, she whipped out an apple pie (I helped peel and slice!) like it was nothing. It tasted fantastic.
 


It looked pretty fantastic, too, so that was when I decided I'd better learn how to make pie crust.

Smitten Kitchen was the first place I went, because, besides Eliz, the other person I trust to know everything about food is Kristy, and to do as Kristy does is to, as she says, "Trust Deb." So I followed Deb's crust instructions (all butter) and hey! I ended up with a fantastic crust.




Look at the flaking!!

Unfortunately, the pumpkin filling wasn't so stellar. It had a great texture, but the taste was... lacking. It was just... plain. Way too light. Discussion with other pie-makers has led to the conclusion that I need to add cloves and ginger in the future, so I will do that.

In the meantime, I got antsy and made another pie. This time I tried the apple thing on my own.
 


I learned that an apple corer is an invaluable tool and that I need to get one. And that I would kill to have an apple corer/peeler/slicer like my mom has. Also I learned that a simple eggwash over the top of the crust is an ingenius trick that makes you look like a pie goddess without having to do any real work.

Next on my list will be another apple pie (the last one went straight to a friend's house - the one with the unfortunately adorable little boys - and Jim didn't get to even taste it), for Jim. After that will be a pumpkin pie, I think. And after that will be a lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving. Or, if I need to make candied yams for Thanksgiving, a lemon meringue pie a few days later. Which will also be when I cook a turkey for myself. Because turkey leftovers are mandatory for the first week of December.

Anyway, yeah. The apple pie recipe:
6 cups diced (or sliced) apples (this means 6 apples in my head, though I used only 4 when I made it)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Peel, core, slice apples.
Combine sugar and cinnamon.
Mix apples with cinnamon-sugar mixture, and layer in pastry shell.
Place several pats of butter on apple layer and cover with top crust.
Bake at 450F for 10 minutes.
Reduce temp to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes (or until bubbling)

Eliz showed me a cool and easy way to make the lattice top, too, though I don't know how to explain it. I'd have to draw a diagram...