Friday, May 17, 2013

Rhubarb Crumble Pie

I love rhubarb. I love it is all its pucker inducing tartness. It is frequently this slighted marginalized ingredient, only included as a tart note without embracing all that it has to offer on its own. This recipe  from thekitchn.com highlights the beautiful tartness of Rhubarb and enhances it with lemon.



My only real change to to the recipe was forced by me running out of sugar. Thankfully I caught it early enough so I cut down on the amount of corn starch the recipe called for and supplemented with confectioners sugar. I also added about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. The flavor was likely more tart than most people would enjoy but it was perfect for me.

I used almond meal in my topping, if you don't have it I'm sure finely chopped almonds would be just fine.

For the crust I used my new favorite crust which is a butter/lard hybrid from Alton Brown.

I can't rave about this crust enough. I have used it now for both a savory chicken pot pie and this dessert pie and it is magic in both applications. It is very flaky and tender with a great flavor.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Angel Hair with Shrimp, Scallops and a Lemon Mustard Butter sauce.

I picked this recipe up out of  the Bon Appetit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild. My Mother


 I made some minor modifications to the ingredients and the process but I can confidently recommend using the original. I doubled the recipe since I was serving 4 adults and we had a good amount of leftovers. This recipe is simple and delicious.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry white wine
1 tsp lemon zest
1 lb scallops ( you can use bay scallops, I used larger ones)
1 lb tail on shrimp
4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 stick chilled butter cut into pieces

12 oz angel hair pasta
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

Start heating a big pot of salted water for your pasta.

Bring the wine and lemon to a boil in a large pan, making sure there is enough room to fit all the seafood, and space to toss the pasta.Once the wine is boiling add your seafood and reduce to a simmer. Cook the seafood for 3 minutes or so until the shrimp has just turned pink and the scallops are just opaque. The seafood goes back in the pan at the end so do not overcook it now. Rubbery scallops suck

Remove the scallops and shrimp to a large bowl and set aside. Bring the temperature back up to a boil and reduce the wine by about 1/2. Once the wine has reduced whisk in the mustard then, piece by piece whisk in the butter.

Once all the butter has been added, drop your pasta in the water and cook it for 2-3 minutes if using fresh pasta.

Meanwhile add your seafood and any liquid back into the sauce and toss to coat. Once your pasta is done add it to the pan with your sauce to add everything to one big pasta bowl toss. Sprinkle on your fresh chives and serve immediately.

I served it with oven roasted asparagus and fresh sourdough bread.