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Midge's Maple Syrup Spareribs 3/4 cup Maple Syrup Marinate meat in the mixture for 4 hours or longer. Remove meat from marinade and grill for a few minutes each side to brown and seal meat. Place in flat oven dish and pour over the marinade mixture. Cook uncovered on 200 C (390 F) for about 20 minutes. The apple pie of dreams (from Real Food) One needs, in most cases, to be over forty to have ever tasted an apple pie worth dreaming about. Few people bake them at home any more, and the overwhelming majority of bakery or restaurant pies could well have inspired the ancient joke: Diner, calling out to waiter: "What's this pie? It tastes like mud!" Waiter to diner: "That must be the pumpkin. The apple tastes like glue." I will now tell you how to make apple pie so good you will dare make it but once a year, for fear of eating the whole thing yourself. The addition of frozen apple juice concentrate provides a critical boost to the flavor absent from all supermarket apples. Don't skip it unless you have home grown apples of known pie character. First start the pie crust; see below. Filling: 7 or 8 well flavored, tart apples 4 to 6 oz. frozen apple juice concentrate, defrosted 1 cup white sugar, or a little more 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, if apples aren't very tart 1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca or 2 teaspoons cornstarch (optional) 2 tablespoons butter Using a large, deep pie dish as your measure, peel, core and slice apples into pieces about 1/4" thick. Keep on slicing until the pie dish is heaped up about 1" above the edge. Pour the slices out into a large bowl and add the other ingredients except the butter, stirring well to coat all slices with the apple juice concentrate. (The tapioca or cornstarch serve to stabilize the juice in the pie; whether or not to use them is a matter of personal taste.) Taste a piece of the apple pie filling to make sure you are satisfied with the flavor. Wash and dry the pie dish. The crust: 2-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, or white, or a mixture of the two 1 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup very cold lard Ice water, about 1/2 cup Combine the flour, salt and lard until the mixture is granular but the lard is still in evidence. Use several on/off cycles of a food processor. If using a mixing bowl, work the lard in with a pastry blending device or your cold fingers. Sprinkle cold water on the flour mixture a little at a time, blending it in, until the dough will form a ball which can be handled easily. Let the dough rest, covered, while you prepare the filling. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease the pie dish with lard. Divide the dough into two balls, and form them into patties. Using a marble surface (ideal!) or a board, roll the crust out into a circle, using additional flour only as required and turning the dough over as necessary to avoid sticking. Always use the rolling pin in a curving gesture, like a car turning a corner. Fit the bottom crust into the pie dish without stretching it. If it needs patching, moisten the edge of a piece and patch it. Roll out the top crust. Fold it into quarters and make some knife cuts along the folded edges as though you were making paper snowflakes. Put the apple filling into the pie dish and dot it with the butter. Position the top crust over it and unfold. Press and pinch the edges of the top and bottom crust together so that it won't leak, making a decorative edge. Bake the pie for 45 minutes, checking the oven occasionally. Juice will bubble up from the crust. Turn the oven down to 350 F if the pie is browning too fast, but continue baking until the juice looks syrupy rather than watery. It may take an hour or more. A piece of brown paper bag may be laid over the pie if the edges of the crust are getting too brown. It is the condition of the juice, not the appearance of the crust which tells you when the pie is done. Cool the pie on a rack or folded towel until barely warm before cutting. Serve with cheddar cheese (traditional in New England) or heavy cream, or a high grade vanilla ice cream. Note: Pie crust may be made with butter if preferred. Although tasty, butter crusts are sometimes tough. Furthermore, butter crusts scorch more easily. Lard is highly resistant to scorching. It makes superior pastry judged both on flavor and appearance. It has been a favorite for many centuries. For best results, it must be cold. Engineering miracles are possible with crusts made using vegetable shortening but as a food, shortening, margarine and most oils cannot be recommended. Vegetable shortening contains dangerous amounts of trans fatty acids. Oils are inherantly unstable and most contain free radicals. Good meat sauce and how to make it: You liked the sauce last night on the pork chops so I'll tell you how to make it. It's dead easy and is made right in the frying pan after cooking any meat. Try it yourself til you get the knack, then wow your friends as follows: Deglase (sp?) the pan with a little liquid. Use maybe a half cup of wine or stock, water in a pinch. (Deglase means pour in the liquid and scrape around while it boils up so as to dissolve the tasty stuck on bits.) Boil hotly for a couple minutes until the liquid is down to a couple of tablespoons. Pour in cream, about half a cup, and let this boil. Add something else for a little flavor boost. Last night I used 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Or just add pepper and a pinch of salt. Taste for flavor balance. Pour it onto the meat which is waiting on warm plates. This has to be done at the last minute but it takes so little time. For chicken use white wine. On burger try a tablespoon of chutney in the sauce. No cream? Use butter. Stephanie says this recipe
is so good it should be offered on our Page: This recipe fits perfectly in a 9"x13" pan. It is also the easiest lemon bar I have found because it calls for soft butter and there is no stovetop preparation. For crust: 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup powdered sugar 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature, cut in pieces For lemon layer: 4 large eggs (or 5 small) 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all purpose flour 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel pinch of salt Powdered sugar for dusting Preheat oven to 350ºF. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in large bowl or food processor. Add butter and blend until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press into bottom of buttered 9x13x2 baking pan. Bake until light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Retain oven temperature. Pour on the filling, prepared as follows: Beat eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour and lemon peel in bowl or food processor. Pour onto crust. Bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool. Dust with powdered sugar. May be cut into 24 bars. Note: I also tried it with 5 large eggs and no other changes in
the filling. This, too, was excellent. It caused the filling to become slightly deeper
than the crust, almost like a lemon pie w/o merengue, so lends itself to being served on a
plate, as opposed to being finger food (although I did eat it w/fingers and it didn't
crumble). |