cherry streusel slab pie.

Guys I made a cherry pie!
(Can finally cross that off my list of summer foods to make.)

I didn't think it was going to happen this summer with all that's going on. Road trips to Maine, friend's weddings, flea market trips, and that little thing that involves a lot of planning (aka our own wedding) but it did because if there is anything I was going to make time for it was baking a cherry pie.  

(Have you seen the cherries this year?  They are beautiful.)

This also wasn't just any cherry pie. It was a cherry slab pie which is probably the greatest kind of pie that ever was.  It's portable! It's handheld! You don't need a fork (!) which means you can eat it on the go or on picnics or on the beach.  Slab pie also feeds a crowd which means it's a party pie (and everyone loves a party).  

The rye crust is nutty and substantial, providing the perfect base for a plethora (and I mean plethora) of cherries. The streusel topping is my favorite part. A little bit sweet, a little bit crunchy, and a whole lot of almond flavor. The almond flavor as everyone knows is brilliant with the cherries (one of my personal favorite combinations) which is how I found myself gobbling up pie faster then should be allowed.  

Cherry Streusel Slab Pie

For the filling

Generous 5 cups of cherries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

For the strussel topping

1 1/4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup rye flour
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
5 tablespoons butter

1 rye crust (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 375º F and line a 9- by 13-inch rectangle baking sheet with parchment paper.

Gently toss the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of the dough into a roughly 9- by 13-inch rectangle, 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick (dough can come up the sides of the pan). Gently move the dough to the prepared baking sheet and put the whole thing in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Make the streusel - Blend all of the ingredients together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until the mixture becomes crumbly.  Or you can blend the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until large chunks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Remove the dough from the fridge and pour the cherry mixture on top.  Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the cherries.

Bake the pie until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool slightly before cutting into squares and serving with ice cream or whipped cream.

Rye Crust

Recipe from Yossy Arefi 

6.75 ounces all-purpose flour

6.75 ounces rye flour

9 ounces unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

3/4 teaspoon salt

6 to 9 tablespoons ice water

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

To make the crust, combine the flours, sugar and salt in a bowl. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut half of the butter into the flour until it is the size of peas, then cut in the other half until it is the size lima beans. Some of the butter will be completely worked into the flour, but you should have lots of visible pieces of butter in the dough, too. Add the apple cider vinegar to the water and make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Use a gentle hand or wooden spoon to mix about 8 tablespoons of water into the flour until just combined. If the dough seems very dry, add more water a couple of teaspoons at a time. You have added enough water when you can pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it together without it falling apart. Press the dough together, form into a disc, and wrap the disc in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least one hour before using, or overnight.

wedding cool.

Images like this have been on my mind a lot as of late.  

It feels like summer but it also feels a lot the wedding vibe I have in my mind for us.  

A little bit casual.  A little bit industrial.  A lot of white and greenery.  A lot of bistro lights.  

Chic and cool.  (Kind of like us?)  





Image via Pinterest. 

moroccan chicken kebabs.

While there are many negatives that could be said about our old apartment namely the fact that it flooded... often (every time it pours, which is often as of late, I feel pretty happy we no longer live there) I do miss our outdoor space (for all the negatives there was one positive).  It wasn't much (some would call it sad) but there was an awesome table, bistro lights, and an excellent grill.  The grill.  The grill I miss the most.  

Grilling is a summer requirement and when you lack both an outdoor space and a grill you are kind of forced to improvise in order to get that summer experience.  I improvise with a cast iron grill pan and my stove and the results are nothing short of amazing.  

These Moroccan chicken kebabs are the thing to eat as we enter into August.  They are easy-peasy to put together and they pair brilliantly with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers (in short, pretty much anything and everything you can find at the farmers markets currently).  The garlic sauce provides a cooling creaminess to the spiced chicken. Tucked into a pita, it's the kind of messy meal that is best served with lots of napkins.  

Moroccan Chicken Kebabs
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 8 - Recipe can be halved if there are just two of you (and then you will have leftovers!).  

Garlic Sauce

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt

¼ cup olive oil

3 tablespoons plain yogurt

Chicken Kebabs

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2” pieces

2 garlic cloves, chopped

½ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Zatar (optional)
½ teaspoon sumac (optional)

Kosher salt

Vegetable oil (for grilling)

For Serving: warm pita bread, labneh (Lebanese strained yogurt), chopped tomatoes, and fresh mint leaves

For the Garlic Sauce:  Place garlic in a mortar; season with salt and pound to a very fine paste. (Alternatively, place garlic on a cutting board, season with salt, and mash with the side of a chef’s knife.) Transfer garlic paste to a small bowl and gradually whisk in oil.

Very gradually whisk yogurt into garlic mixture until emulsified. (Add too fast and sauce will break. If it does break, gradually whisk in 1 tsp. water just before serving.)

Garlic sauce can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

For the chicken:  Toss chicken, garlic, parsley, cumin, paprika, and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl; season with salt. Cover and chill at least 2 hours (can be chilled up to 24 hours).

Prepare grill for medium-high heat and oil grate (can also be done on a grill pan on your stove). Thread chicken onto skewers. Grill, turning occasionally, until cooked through, 8–12 minutes. Serve with garlic sauce, pita bread, labneh, tomatoes, and mint

apricot and cherry tart with marzipan topping.

I have found myself hoarding stone fruit.  
(There are worse things I could hoard, right?)

It started with 2 quarts of cherries and before I knew it, I was coming home almost daily with pounds of apricots and plums and more cherries then I could ever possibly eat.  I can't resist.  (Restraint is not one of my strong suits.)  They look like jewels and if there is anything I am drawn to it's bright, shinny, colorful objects.  (Tyler can attest to this.)

This tart was made out of necessity but the result is so damm good that I may require myself to continue my stone fruit frenzy.  

A delicate French tart shell serves as the base for a plethora of apricots and cherries.  The marzipan topping is everything.  Crunchy, almondy (so much almond flavor because nothing goes better with fruit then almonds), sweet but not too sweet.  It's a strussel but so much better.  As the tart bakes, the fruit breaks down turning into a tender mess of deliciousness.  The softened fruit marries beautiful with the crisp topping which is why it's such a perfect summer dessert (especially if served with whipped cream, just saying).  

Apricot and Cherry Tart with Marzipan Topping

Recipe from David Lebovitz

I played around with the ratio of fruit by using more cherries and less apricots (9 apricots and about 23 cherries). But any ratio would be lovely.  It would also be stellar with just one of the fruits.  The choice is yours.  In my constant attempt to sneak in whole grains, I subbed half the flour in the topping for whole wheat and it was a welcome addition.  

For the marzipan topping

1/2 cup (70g) flour (or 1/4 cup whole wheat and 1/4 cup all-purpose)
1/2 cup (70g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (3 ounces, 85g) almond paste
1/4 cup (40g) sliced almonds (blanched or unblanched) (or whole almonds chopped also works)
1-2 drops pure almond extract
4 tablespoons (2 ounces, 55g) salted or unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

For the fruit

12 ripe apricots

15 cherries

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

One 9-inch (23cm) prebaked French tart shell (recipe below!)

Make the topping by mixing the flour, brown sugar, almond paste, sliced almonds, almond extract (if using), and butter with your fingers, or a pastry blender, until the pieces of almond paste and butter are the size of kernels of corn. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (109ºC).

Pit and halve the apricots and slice them into 1/2-inch (1.5cm) slices. Stem and pit the cherries, and halve them. Toss the apricots and cherries in a bowl with the cornstarch and granulated sugar, and spread the fruit into the baked tart shell.

Strew the marzipan topping over the fruit and bake until the top is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes.

(I’ve not had this tart run over, but if you’re the cautious type, you can bake it on a foil-lined baking sheet, in case there are any spills.)

Remove from the oven and let cool a bit before serving.

Serving: The tart can be served just as it is, warm or at room temperature. It can be accompanied by ice cream, such as vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Storage: The tart will keep for up to three days at room temperature however the crisp topping will soften considerably by the second day.

French Pastry Dough

Recipe from David Lebovitz

Makes one 9 (23 cm) tart shell

90 g (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

150 g (5oz, or 1 slightly-rounded cup) flour

Preheat the oven to 410º F (210º C).

In a medium-sized ovenproof bowl, such as a Pyrex bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt.

Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.

When done, remove the bowl from oven (and be careful, since the bowl will be hot and the mixture might sputter a bit), dump in the flour and stir it in quickly, until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch (23 cm) tart mold with a removable bottom and spread it a bit with a spatula.

Once the dough is cool enough to handle, pat it into the shell with the heel of your and, and use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tart mold.

Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork about ten times, then bake the tart shell in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.

Let the shell cool before filling.

fuzzy pillows.

Kitchen seating has never looked so good.  

(The floor to ceiling subway tile is also pretty amazing.)

Kitchen's dont' need to be convetional.  Chandeliers and fuzzy pillows somehow manage to work.  And they work oh so well.  

(Can I move in?)




Image via Pinterest.  

zucchini butter.

We are finally at that glorious time of year where the markets are brimming and overflowing with the ingredients that make me weak in the knees. Tomatoes! (I had my first heirloom of the season last night and I practically wept.)  Corn! (Slathered in butter with lots of salt and pepper please.) Peppers! (Slow roasted until they collapse and then stuffed into a foccacia sandwich with mozzarella.)

But I am not here to talk about those beautiful foods today (come back in a week or two).  I am here to discuss zucchini.  (If we were in a room together and I was making that statement, I'm imagining a long awkward silence to occur right about...now.)

Zucchini.  Zucchini is a vegetable that somehow manages to give and give and then give some more.  If you have a garden and are growing zucchini $100 bucks says that by the end of the summer you are begging for the zucchini to stop because you can't bring yourself to eat another bite.  There is a reason why zucchini has ended up in so many baked goods (zucchini bread! zucchini whoppie pies! zucchini pancakes!), someone needed to find a way to consume all of it without going mad.  If that person knew about zucchini butter, I imagine they would have been encouraged their zucchini plants to keep on giving. 

Zucchini butter is basically shredded zucchini cooked down with a (little bit) of butter until it gets soft and tender and jammy.  At that point its spreadable vegetable wonderfulness that begs to be slathered on well toasted bread and served with goat cheese.  

Here's to the summer of zucchini.  

Zucchini Butter
Recipe via Food 52

There is an endless number of changes you could make to this dish. Spices! (Crushed red pepper flakes! Smoked parika! Aleppo pepper!) Herbs! (Basil! Mint!).  I am dreaming about endless varieties though I must admit, the original version is utterly addicting.

Makes about 2 cups

2 pounds zucchini or assorted summer squash (feel free to use less or add extra -- cooking times will vary)

¼ cup olive oil or butter (I strongly recommend the butter)

2 minced cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Coarsely grate the zucchini. Let it drain in a colander for 3 to 4 minutes or until you are ready to begin cooking. To hasten cooking time, squeeze the water out of the zucchini by wringing it in a clean cloth towel.

In a deep skillet, heat the olive oil/butter until warmed/melted. Add the garlic to the pan and sauté briefly. Add the zucchini and toss. Cook and stir over medium to medium-high heat until the zucchini reaches a spreadable consistency, about 15 minutes. If you scorch the bottom, turn the flame down! (And scrape those delicious bits into the butter for added flavor -- you can splash in a little water to help deglaze the pan.) The zucchini will hold its bright green color and slowly caramelize into a nice vegetable jam.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy on toast.  Or by the spoonful.