Life without Pie

By now, it is no secret that I love to cook.  In general, time spent in my kitchen tends to make my good moods better and,  if I am having an off day cooking anything can pull me out of my slump.

Which is why my I am astounded at my unwillingness to bake a simple pie.  Could it be that my past efforts have fallen so short of the pies my mother makes that redemption seems impossible?   Memories of my stepsons specially requested Birthday Pie, with an impossibly thick crust, that  I somehow managed to burn black on the edges yet keep raw at the bottom still linger in the recesses of my mind.    Lucky for me, he was only 8 or 9, and children tend to overlook these things.    My sister in law, whose pies are always as perfect as my Moms had the dubious honour  of being witness to the debacle.  All these years later, just the mention of Brendans' Birthday Pie will cause us to laugh till tears stream down our faces.  

That may have been the last time I attempted a pie crust.  Honestly, I  prefer to think that I am just too lazy to try again, rather than admit that I have been defeated by piecrust.  And, so far, it has worked.

But, all good things must come to an end.  Kevin was in Canada in September, and brought back 2 cans of pumpkin pie filling (still difficult to find here at a reasonable price) looking forward to the upcoming Canadian Thanksgiving holiday.   Somehow, I managed to get past the day without having to make "The Pie".  (and the dinner too, but that is another story for another day).  Which is why my loving husband mentions those cans of pumpkin about every third day.   He has dropping hints since the beginning of October and I had almost reached my breaking point!

What the sun would look like it it had to make a pie.

Not one to give in that easily, I considered that since Canadian Thanksgiving had passed, and American Thanksgiving has not yet arrived, if I acted now, I might be able to get that pumpkin used up without actually having to make a pie.

While looking thru my recipe site for Halloween food ideas, I stumbled across "Alexander McCream Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream"!!  

With a name like that, I could not resist giving it a try.  I knew it wouldn't use the whole can of pumpkin, but I figured I could put the rest in some muffins, Kevin would have his pumpkin fix and I would sneak thru another year without having made a pie!  Perfect.

Yeah, no.  The 1/3 cup of puree that the ice cream needed hardly put a dent in the can.  A fact I was unable to hide from my ever vigilant husband.  He also noticed that the entire can, when mixed according to the recipe on the label, actually makes not one but 2 - 9 inch pies.  Well, well.

My mind started racing - couldn't we just freeze it in 1/3 cup portions so we could make more ice cream?  How about some pumpkin muffins?  It wasn't until HE offered to make the pie crust that I gave up my efforts to avoid the pie.  I was almost resigned to blending flour with lard to make the perfect pie crust when it hit me... Graham Cracker Crust!!  And we happened to have those on hand!

A match made in heaven.

So, this afternoon, after saying my goodbyes to a very lovely guest who had been with us this week, and helping load her bags into the car so Kevin could take her to the airport, I finally admitted defeat  and made the darned pie.

Ta Daaaaa!!

It looks pretty good, even with the burnt edges.  Perhaps that will become my trademark. like,   "It's not a Heather Pie unless the edges of the crust are just ever so slightly blackened".  It could even become something people expect, nay, dare I say look for as a sign of excellence in a pie!  

The ice cream, has turned out perfectly.  I think it will be just lovely with a slice of the pie.

Seriously, you owe it to yourself to try this.

Recipe info:
The recipe for the ice cream is from The Icereamists by Matt OcConnor and can be found on the Epicurious website.    I made it to recipe, except for increasing the rum to about 4 dashes so that it would properly mix with the sugar and spices in the blender.  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/alexander-mccream-spiced-pumpkin-ice-cream-51187420

The recipe for the pie is pretty much off the side of the Our Compliments can, except that the entire list of spices was replaced with 2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch each of Allspice and Nutmeg.   Bake according to directions on the can and you are set.  If you are lucky, the edges of your graham crust will be just slightly blackened.    lol

Thanksgiving Weekend in Paradise

Its Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and honestly, I am finding myself at a bit of a loss this year.  In past years, we have searched for days to find a turkey, gone to a restaurant serving turkey dinner, or joined friends here to celebrate the big day.

Turkey is now much easier to find in October.   Our first couple of years here, finding a turkey so far in advance of American Thanksgiving, was  impossible.  One memorable year, the best we were able to do was a dismal smoked turkey, pulled from the depths of Wal-Marts walk in freezer, most likely left over from the previous Christmas, or maybe even the Christmas before that.  It truly was the turkey that should have stayed in the store.

As for dining out, our options are far from limited, but we know from experience that Blakes Restaurant  (https://www.facebook.com/Blakes-Restaurant )makes the best turkey dinner in the bay, hands down.    If we were inclined to go out this year, we would have gone to Blakes.

Friends invited us to spend the day with them, and honestly, we do love our friends here, but somehow, this year, Kevin and I just needed to be home, as a tiny little family of 2, wondering how we ever thought Thanksgiving in the Tropics could be better than spending the day with our kids and families up north.  Don't get me wrong, we love it here, but living in Paradise does come with a price.  

Anyway, this morning, as we do every Sunday, we were having coffee on our rooftop, enjoying the gentle morning sunshine while we read back issues of Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines,  deciding how to appease our appetites this week.   It truly is our favourite time of the week.

Yesterdays trip to our favourite meat market (that's Carniceria, if you want to sound like a local) did not net us a turkey, but we did find some wonderful looking beef short ribs.  My project this morning was to figure out what I was going to do with them.

After checking a few magazines, I decided to streamline my search and just go to  epicurious.com a website, which has never let me down.

TA DA!   It jumped out at me almost immediately..."Simple Smoked Beef Short Ribs", by Ardie A Davis and Chef Paul Kirk.   It sounded kind of funky, with a "Mustard Slather" that included a whole cup of prepared mustard (which I have taken to mean French's), AND a rub which included 2 tablespoons of sea salt, but the cooking method was irresistible.  A total of 3 hours of cooking using indirect heat in a charcoal grill????  We were hooked.

This was our opportunity to see just what our new Weber BBQ can do, and the first thing we discovered is that what we had come to deem as a "normal amount" of charcoal is way too much.  So, the starting grill temp registered 350 instead of 250F.    We put them on anyway, hoping the grill temp would drop sooner instead of later.

I tweaked the recipe just a bit, having only 1 kilo of short ribs, I cut the recipe for the "slather" in half and put only two- thirds of that on the ribs to start and used the rest for basting during the cooking process.  I actually could have done with a full batch as it helps keep the meat moist.

I also cut the recipe for the rub in half and increased the sugar by 2 teaspoons.   Based on others reviews, that said this was way too salty, I cut the salt back by half and "sprinkled" only about 1/4 of the rub over the already slathered ribs.   Honestly, at this point, I was not sure about our little experiment but there was, literally nothing to do but sit back and wait.  For 3 hours.

Our cats have no difficulty whatsoever playing the waiting game, as Dulce was keen to demonstrate this afternoon.

 I, however am wired differently.   Relaxing is fine, but what do I have to show for the time?????
My addiction to Pinterest and all its charming ideas is well known in this household so fortunately, I was able to fill the time "constructively" while Kevin wasted his time doing odd jobs around the house and watching the bbq temp.

Eventually, the short ribs finally reached their properly cooked internal temperature of 185F.  We let them rest while we grilled some bread and heated the corn on the cob we so happily brought home from Sams the other day.   I was so busy on Pinterest, I didn't have time to make the salad that should have gone with our lovely repast, which I regretted, because some lettuce and tomatoes would have really balanced this meal.

Because of the learning curve with the grill, this was the most difficult meal we have put together in a very long time.  Was it worth it?  Oh, yes!  You all should put this recipe on your list of things you MUST make.   Heed my warning about the salt in the rub, but that mustard "slather"?  Use it ALL, it is pure genius.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/simple-smoked-beef-short-ribs-395251

Whatever you are eating this weekend, and whoever you are spending it with, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving from Casa Madera!