Daily Haiku - April 8, 2013

Fraudulent charges
Using non-profits to test
A sly thief indeed.

Gardening

One of the many perks that my current residence offers is a fairly large vegetable garden that the owner hadn’t taken advantage of in years. The only stalwart inhabitants that continued to thrive there were a truly massive rosemary bush, and a slightly more reasonable sage bush.

About three years I got the urge to play around in the dirt and promptly planted seeds for a variety of vegetables. Shortly thereafter I realized planting seeds was a slow and fairly hit-or-miss proposition and switched over to purchasing pre-sprouted plants. Over the years I tried out peppers, cucumbers, green beans, cantaloupe, raspberries, basil, oregano, mint and a half dozen types of tomatoes. Nowadays, having learned what grows best and what I’ll actually eat, I’ve settled on just growing basil and Roma tomatoes. Basically, I want to make a much bruschetta as possible during the summer.

Unfortunately, the garden hadn’t seen a lot of use before I showed up and had fallen into disrepair. The automated sprinkler system was a mess, with most of the sprinkler heads broken or leaking and the beds were old and falling apart. Initially I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it seeing as I didn’t actually own the garden but over the last year or two I decided to start throwing money at it and have been slowly rebuilding the beds from scratch, replacing the sprinkler heads and hoses and keeping the weeds and surrounding bushes trimmed to a respectable degree.

I think the reason I love working on the garden is because it appeals to my sense of organization. Seeing broken-down beds and weeds marring a nicely constructed garden drives me nuts. And don’t get me started on that rosemary bush. Every year I get ready to start gardening again and the damn thing has doubled in size and begun its annual invasion of the other vegetable beds. I feel slightly bad chopping so much off but it’s got to learn it lesson. Just because it’s the biggest bush in the yard doesn’t mean it can bully the other plants.

This last weekend I finally got my hands dirty and began the yearly clean-up and planting of the garden. I completely replaced the primary vegetable bed I use, chopped back the bushes, did some weeding, finally replaced the sprinkler heads and hoses, and planted three tomato and two basil plants. There are still two more beds that need to be completely replaced and a good chunk of the pebbled walkway has been overrun with moss and dirt, but the latter is a massive fight for another day.

If you have the time, money and space I highly recommend you try out a garden of your own. While I lucked out with very sizable, pre-built plot, you can start on a much smaller scale with a single vegetable bed or just a large barrel. I think gardening is an incredibly rewarding endeavor, even if you don’t get much in the way of actual food out of it. For me, it’s an excuse to get outside and get my hands dirty. And speaking of which, if you’ll excuse me I need to go wrestling a rosemary bush back into submission now.

Daily Haiku - April 4, 2013

Ivory trains drop
Doubles break the track apart
Dominoes cascade.

Daily Haiku - April 3, 2013

Blinking light informs
Without it I continue
Use your turn signal.

What I'm Cooking - Blueberry Pie

I love pie. LOVE IT.

I’ve never understood why some people prefer cake over pie (unless it’s ice cream cake, then all bets are off). Pie is the perfect dessert, breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner. Shockingly, I’ve only ever tried my hand at pie three times—twice with this Cooks’ Illustrated recipe and once with a CI cherry pie recipe. All were delicious.

One of the reasons I like this dish in particular is because it showcases the sort of outside-the-box thinking that CI often displays in its search for a perfected recipe: they add tapioca as a thickener, shredded apple as a binder, they use vodka in the pie crust (though that’s a fairly well-known trick at this point) and they place the pie pan on a preheated baking sheet to help the base crust cook faster.

Pie Dough:

2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Blueberry Filling:

6 cups (30 oz.) fresh blueberries
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated on large holes of box grater
2 teaspoons grated zest (about 2 lemons worth) and 2 teaspoons juice*
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons instant tapioca, ground
Pinch table salt
2 tablespoons unsalted better, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water

*I thought the lemon flavor was too strong and will halve this the next time I make it.

1. FOR THE PIE DOUGH: Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture (make sure you use it all). With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

3. Remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator and roll on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch think. Roll dough loosely on rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side (my rolling pin wasn't thick enough to do this which made for a bit of a mess). Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs plate in place; refrigerate while preparing filling until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.

If you have two identical pie pans, check out this video from Alton Brown's 'Good Eats,' as an alternative method to transferring the dough.

4. FOR THE FILLING: Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 3 cups berries in medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Using potato masher, mash berries several times to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently and mashing occasionally, until about half of berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.

5. Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel (I used a washcloth) and wring dry. Transfer apple to large bowl. Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest, juice, sugar, tapioca, and salt; toss to combine. Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie plate and scatter butter pieces over filling.



6. Roll out second disk of dough on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 11-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Using 1 1/4 inch round biscuit cutter, cut round from center of dough. Cut around 6 rounds from dough, 1 1/2 inches from edge of center hole and equally spaced around center hole. Roll dough loosely around pin and unroll over pie, leaving at least 1/2 inch overhang on each side.

7. Trim bottom layer of overhanging dough, leaving 1/2-inch overhang. Fold dough under itself so that edge of fold is flush with outer rim of pie plate. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with times of fork to seal. Brush top and edges of pie with egg mixture. If dough is very soft, chill in freezer for 10 minutes.

8. Place pie on heating baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until juice bubbles and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.

Daily Haiku - April 2, 2013

A return to weights:
Lifts, curls, presses, shrugs, pull-downs;
Joints creak from disuse.

Daily Haiku - Easter Edition

Pork loin and red wine
To celebrate the return
Of Bunny Jesus.