Easter dinner

I am an Easter dinner traditionalist, with a few twists, of course.  But I confess, we had guests, and I plum forgot to grab the camera and get some pictures.  Except of the "pie," which I baked earlier yesterday morning.  So I will start with that.  I am a fan of the rustic tart form of pie baking.  I love it's carefree look, and Jim likes the, as he puts it, ratio of crust to fruit.  For a fool proof, tender, crisp pie crust, start with cup of flour, a tablespoon of sugar (omit for savory pies, like quiche) a teaspoon of salt in a food processor.  Of course you can make it in a bowl with some sort of pastry cutter, but the food processor makes it a 2 minute operation.

Whir the dry ingredients for a couple of seconds to combine.  Then take a little 3 oz package of cream cheese and half a stick of butter (4 TBS), chunk them up with a knife, and toss them in the processor.  Pulse the processor until your flour looks crumbly, then with the processor running, dribble in just enough cold water to barely bring the dough together.  You should just see a few clumps starting to form.  It usually takes no more than a teaspoon or two.  Gather that into a disk, wrap it, and put it in the fridge for an hour or the freezer for half an hour.

Yesterday's pie choice was peaches and raspberries.  Fresh are great if you have them, frozen work just fine, too.  Just dump the frozen fruit in a bowl, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, depending on your tastes and the sweetness of the fruit (taste it, for goodness sake!), a quarter cup of flour (or tapioca which I like, or cornstarch -- it doesn't matter), and the juice and zest of one lemon (I like Meyer lemons.  The brightness of lemon can really punch up the flavor of fruit.)  Toss it about to combine.

Now, for a free form tart, just roll that dough out into a medium to large size pizza.  Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and put the dough on that.  It can hang over the sides.  Please tell me you know how to pick up pie dough -- you just gently roll it around your rolling pin, then gently unfurl it on the pan.  Dump the fruit in the middle, and spread it to within about 2 1/2 inches of the edge, and then just start folding the edges up over the filling, just gently gathering it together.

assembled tart, just put in the oven

bake that for about 30 minutes in a 425 oven, and you have a beautiful tart with little fuss involved.  I served mine with a home made Meyer lemon sherbet.  Yummy.

baked tart

brushing the crust with a little egg white and 

sprinkling it with sugar gives it a nice shiny look

The rest of the dinner was pretty traditional -- a baked ham glazed with a maple/bourbon/orange glaze.  Hint:  a simple glaze can be made with 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup maple syrup, a tablespoon of any brown mustard, 1/4 cup brandy or bourbon, and 2 teaspoons of wine vinegar.  Boil it down to a syrup, and baste it on the ham for during the final half hour of baking.  If you put it on too soon, it will burn.  Asparagus and carrots, home made rolls, au gratin potatoes.  Typical American Easter fare, I know, but there is some comfort in traditional meals.

One last little non-traditional twist.  I discovered that glazed carrots get marvelous flavor from Chinese five spice powder.  I glazed mine in ginger ale, a knob of butter, and a liberal sprinkling of the spice powder, and they tasted wonderful.  Give it a try sometime.  If you are feeling adventurous make your own.  The best recipe I know of is actually a ten spice powder from the China Moon restaurant, which is in San Francisco, I believe.  Here is a link to the recipe:  http://einiverse.eingang.org/ein2/2008/12/31/ten-spices-the-variety-of-life/  It makes a spice mixture that is well worth the effort.

Mom is doing all right.  She is in rehab right now, and I hope to be back on track this week with the blog.  Thanks to all for your good wishes for Mom's speedy recovery.