Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Return of Kitchen Adventures and other Food Tales

Oh dear. I had a relapse into Worst Bloggerdom... I'm sorry. I promise to try my derndest to stay on top of updates.

Apology accepted?

Thanks!

Also, I started writing this a while ago, but since my food news is hardly news at all, if you didn't already hear via e-mail, facebook or The Flossy Flossy... Lindy is preggo!!!! HOOORAY! Dunc is excited to be Unkie Dunkie once again and I am excited to be faux-Aunt Beezus. Yesh, sounds prefect. Congrats Lindy and Chris!!!! Can't wait to meet Baby Kincaid.

Okay, on to business. Food. As you may remember a long time ago, I promised the detailing of homemade Tikka Masala. Et voilĂ ! Pour vous!



My love of the Pioneer Woman helped me with this little number. Thanks to her wonderful house guest, Pastor Ryan. You will notice his is quite a bit prettier than mine. But do not let looks fool you, this dish was DELICIOUS. I think it had to do with capturing all the right seasonings and of course my insane skills in the kitchen...

Next, my attempts in learning to make pie crust. And by golly! I think I've got it. I have come a long way from the day I attempted to make a lard/butter crust and ended up with a melted crust... I did not even know a baked crust could melt.

Oh by the way, as I type this, the BLUE ANGELS are flying around Seattle!!! They are practicing for the big SeaFair show. I love it. They are so loud and impressive. **Side note: I am such a bad blogger, this was originally typed 7/30 at noon and published with photos on 8/6 after 10pm... oooh, I am goood.

Back to crust! So attempt 1 = FAIL. Attempt 2? I borrowed Banana's mom's recipe and Ashley and I embarked on the crust adventure together. It worked! I am not the best at rolling it out yet, but we made some tasty butter crust and filled it with a very runny strawberry rhubarb filling. For a completely successful pie, I will have to work on my fillings.



Since that blissful day where Ashley and I succeeded in the crust field, I have since made one other homemade pie success and an extraordinarily delicious sheet pie or slab pie (like a giant pop tart) with the most delicious crust ever. Seriously. I followed the guidance of the Smitten Kitchen and turned out a brilliant crust if I do say so myself. But no pictures, just words of delicious delicious enjoyment... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.



Here I am enjoying an evening of baking. This is the night I whipped up the slab pie along with a zucchini cake for our Kilcup Family Reunion (my dear sweet Mimi is our link to the Kilcup family - we are in the Myrtle clan).

Beyond pies, Ashley and I have also been dabbling in the art of the Crombler. The Crombler is our own invention combining the best of the cobbler and crumble/crisp into one masterpiece of baked fruit and dough.

Ashley decided to adapt a Paula Dean cobbler recipe for the biscuity part of the topping and I whipped up the crispy topping with some oatmeal, brown sugar, lard and a bit of flour. We also have been working to improve our pie filling skills, so took the Crombler as an opportunity to make a thicker filling, playing with the addition of both corn starch and flour.

We did it!!! No more runny filling. Just deliciousness.



Peach Strawberry Crombler


Mixed Berry Crombler

With our powers combined, Ashley and I have turned out two cromblers together and she even went on to make the most adorable mini cromblers on her own... without my signature crombler topping... why Ashley??? WHY???


Ashley's Boysenberry Adorable Cromblers

I think I need to go make a Crombler now... And you should too! Or come over and I will make you one!!! Yay!

3 comments:

  1. Um.....I beg to differ. Your Tikka Masala is MUCH prettier than Pastor Ryan's. I think I will see if Bob would be willing to experiment with Boysenberry Adorable Cromblers--with your signature crombler topping, of course. They look delectable!

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  2. If you can make "from scratch" crust come out right, you have my admiration - and my Mother's if she were still around. Mrs. Pilsbury and I do quite well, thank you, and it's much quicker. I would like to try the Crombler, so a recipe is in order. At one of my prior houses in SLC, rhubarb grew almost wild. I had some great pies after I learned to load 'em up with sugar to offset the sourness of rhubarb. How was yours, taste wise?

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  3. I think we will have to make cromblers in two weeks to celebrate Baby Kincaid. As for the rhubarb, I usually make strawberry rhubarb with a good amount of sugar - never have any problems with a sour flavor, but this is one of my favorite combos, so maybe I just like the sour flavor!

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