I didn't realize that a lot of things and practices in my life were regional until I went to college in Boston. For starters, Polish food is not a popular food everywhere and people may or may not have a preference of how their beets are cooked. Growing up, we had gift exchanges in school called Pollyannas. I guess in the rest of the world this is known as Secret Santa or by the more PC version, Secret Snowflake. Relax. Lastly, I believe many Pennsylvania Dutch creations have never made it past the Mason-Dixon line or Binghamton. I'm putting the spotlight on one of these beauties. Shoofly Pie. Uhhhg, this is my favorite pie and no one in the world outside of PA knows of its glory or merit. It's time for some educating, fellow countrymen.


Shoofly Pie

It's crust time again, friends. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter until a pea-sized meal forms. Slowly add the cold water until you can bring the dough into a ball. Store in the cool-chest until needed.

Sometimes I think rolled out pie crust looks like a galaxy, one with buttery little comets of majesty. Place this gently into your pan and return it to the fridge. 

Meanwhile, make the topping for this pie. Cut the butter into the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon until a very fine meal is formed. 

The second filling involves boiling water and adding the molasses, brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla to the pool. Lastly, add  the beaten egg and incorporate. Pour this liquid mixture into the pie pan and scatter the crumb topping over the pie, making sure not to push down. I don't have a picture of that process so instead we can look at this avocado that was 90% pit.

Rude.

After starting your pie in a 425 F oven, allowing it to bake for ten minutes before turning the front to the back, and then lowering the temperature to 350 F for the last half hour, you get something like this.

The pie magically bakes into three different layers. The bottom is "wet", the middle is cake-like, and the top forms a streusel. Few things hold a bigger place in my heart. This pie is right there with Whitney and giraffes. 

Recipe

(Recipe adapted from Ken Haedrich's "Pie")

425-350 F

Crust:

1 1/2 c flour

1/4 c cold butter

1/4 c cold shortening

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 c cold water

Dry filling:

1 c flour

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

6 Tbsp cold butter

Wet filling:

1/2 c molasses (unsulphured or blackstrap)

1/2 c packed brown sugar

3/4 c boiling water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg, lightly beaten 

     I love when other people suggest making pie. It warms my little heart. Sometimes I feel like the public really isn't interested in pie anymore and then I realize that EVERYONE is interested in pie, but no one wants to make it. That's why I'm here. We can make pie blunders and success stories together. This pie uses up some of the last good strawberries and wonderful peaches.

Strawberry-Peach Pie 

     Time to make some crusty crust. After tinkering with a few recipes, I think I've settled on the half butter half shortening method as my favorite. Cut cold butter and shortening into the flour, sugar, and salt. Once it's crumblin like a bumble, slowly pour in the cold water until you can form it into a ball. 

Roll your dough up into a ball and let it chill in the fridge, covered, for at least an hour. 

Now's a good time to get your wine-and-cheese self on. If it's too hot outside you can unrobe and pour the wine on your face. If these suggestions make you uncomfortable, I encourage you to try it before you knock it.

Flour your work surface and pin and get to work. Look at those hunks of radiant fat. Gently place the dough into your tin and cut off excess. I made a baby crostata with apricots and honey with my extra dough. No one hates it. While the tin is chillin in the fridge, slice your peaches and strawberries and add the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Let this mixture stew in its own greatness for a bit before adding it to the tin.

I made a crumble topping for this pie. Combine the brown sugar, flour, salt, and butter until you get a moist crumb. Distribute evenly on top of the pie.

While you're waiting for the pie to bake and cool, you should probably eat some s'mores with friends. S'more are possible one of the most underrated food items in America's history. 

The finished pie. We ate ours with Halo Farm's vanilla ice cream. Thanks for the pint, Tara!

Recipe

(Crust and crumble adapted from "Pie" by Ken Haedrich)

375 F for 1 hour

1 1/2 c flour.

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c butter

1/4 c shortening

1/4 c cold water

4 large peaches, peeled and sliced

1 lb strawberries, quartered

1/2 sugar

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1/3 c flour

Crumble:

1/2 c flour

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c butter 

Happy Krump day, everyone <3

     I was so excited to use up all this glorious eggplant from my neighbor only to realize I didn't have bread crumbs. What? What kind of a God-forsaken Italian household is this? I really wanted to do a deconstructed eggplant parm, but pan frying the eggplant with some kind of coating was key. I thought tempura for a moment, only to realize we didn't have seltzer. Then I had a mildly brilliant idea. Instead of seltzer, I would whip egg whites and add them to the batter. Sometimes improv can be the exact thing your food was looking for.

Eggplant Parmesan 

In the Meatless Monday mentality, I wanted this eggplant to feel like a meal. For this reason, I cut the eggplant pretty thick, about 1 1/2 inches. 

I then salted these gems and zapped them in the microwave for three minutes. Since they are so thick and we are frying them, I wanted them to be mostly cooked before they ever hit the oil. A minute on your lips, years on your hips. Think about it. Just kidding. You eat these little fried disks of happiness without shame. 

The base of the batter was flour, salt, pepper, milk, and egg yolks. Take the remaining whites and whip them until you get a peak like the one pictured. You can over-whip egg whites, so now is not the time to catch up on The Bachelor. 

Fold the whites into the batter and coat your disks in flour. Proceed to dip your disks into the batter and add them to oil that has been heating on medium heat. Since the eggplant is mostly cooked, you're just looking for some good tan lines. When the eggplant comes out of the oil, salt it immediately. Deep regret will set in instantaneously if you do not. 

If you're like me, at this point in the process you will be looking around the kitchen for other things to fry. Pictured are little knobs of spring onion. Salt these when they come out of their spa retreat too.

Instead of marinara, I diced some local tomatoes and tossed them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and basil. Letting this sit out at room temperature for a bit will help the flavors to meld. 

Lastly, I mixed ricotta, shredded mozzarella, salt and pepper together and schmered in on the eggplant. I then sprinkled some parm on top of that and broiled it for about 7 minutes. 

The finished product was delightfully fresh with some dreamy, creamy action from the addition of ricotta. 

Recipe

450 F

2 small eggplants, sliced

1 c flour, plus more for coating

1/4 c milk

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

1 c ricotta

1/2 c shredded mozzarella

1 large tomato

basil 

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

(Jersey Tom-toms, garden basil and oregano)

What does summer mean to you? Warm beach days? Long nights under the stars? Ghost stories told around the campfire? Perma-sweat? Summer, in my book, means fresh things like tomatoes, corn, berries, and squash. This is such an exciting time for me because it's the one time during the year that tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes. Now some of you are probably thinking, well, what does it taste like the rest of the year, ya smartnic? I wouldn't know, because I try to eat my favorite things as seasonally as possible. That means no strawberries in the winter and no peaches in fall. It may seem like I'm missing out, but am I? Here are some reasons why I think you, dear reader, should also try to eat seasonally as well as locally:

The most basic of reasons is the food will always taste better. Love has it seasons and so does produce! That means that apples really dig the colder weather that fall brings and berries love the moist heat of summer. When you buy strawberries and tomatoes off-season, their red hue is typically forcefully induced by ethylene gases that artificially ripen them. Also, a good rule of thumb is to turn away from anything that is labeled as GMO (genetically modified organism). You may think that that strawberry the size of your fist is a good idea, but it's actually just roided up. Just like A-Rod.

You get the opportunity to expand your palate and repertoire. You may have your favorite fruits and vegetables that you enjoy eating all year round, but think of all the other things you could be trying if you were to swap out your faves for some new choices. Explore different citrus fruits in the winter when they are abundant and cheap to come by. Myriad root vegetables are perfect to try during the colder months and are readily accessible. By making a few simple swaps, you may find a new favorite. 

Nutritional value is at its peak for most produce when it is just picked. This means that the quicker it gets to your plate, the more vitamins and minerals you will benefit from. Hit up farmers markets and ask when their produce was picked to ensure the healthiest bang for your buck. 

Supporting local farms is the right thing to do. Although it may cost more than conventional markets, the product you are receiving from farms, especially ones that use organic and sustainable methods, is far superior to the rubbish you often find in stores now. If small, family-owned farms fall by the wayside, big superstores will with ease possess that same land and mass produce more of what's most convenient and the cheapest. An easy way to support a local farm is to join a CSA (community supported agriculture). Consider purchasing a season with a friend or another family as the bounty  is typically large and the cost will seem more manageable. 

  If you're interested in joining a CSA near you, here's a helpful link: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

        Here's a picture of manatee cookies my friend Alysse and I made. I think they look like loch ness.

   There was much debate over what the next ice cream flavor of the house should be and by that I mean I just chose. I've been seeing all these recipes on Pinterest for banana "ice cream" and thought "Neat!", I love banana ice cream, let me check these biddies out. For shame! You cannot freeze a banana, blend it, and call it ice cream. For the love of all things good and just, stop polluting the public sphere with your impostor desserts and just use this recipe:

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Get it roasty, get it toasty. Roast two split bananas with about a tablespoon of brown sugar pressed on top of each for about 20 minutes at 350 F. Look at those two love birds in the middle. Shameless. 

Meanwhile, mix your milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt together until the sugar dissolves. Add the cream and stir gently. 

Mash dem nanners and add them to the mixture. Strain this new mixture into your chilled machine. Add the bananas a tablespoon at a time during the last fourth of the churning cycle. I know this sounds like an extra, unnecessary step, but the milk mixture helps to loosen up the bananas so they don't clump when you drop them in. Also, it's always a smart idea to add heavier ingredients like candy or fruit towards the end of the cycle to insure even distribution and minimal settling. 

After the ice cream freezes for a few hours, you get this. Top with nuts, fudge, peanut butter, coconut, your face...go crazy. It's your scoop.

Recipe

(Loosely adapted from the Cuisinart Ice Cream Recipe Book)

2 c heavy cream

1/2 c whole milk

1/3 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

2 bananas, roasted and mashed

4 additional Tbsp brown sugar

     Normally in the summer months, I refuse to be around warm things. This includes food. For this reason, if you're like my sister and want to invite me on a ramen date in July, don't take it personally if I spit on you. There are a few exceptions to this rule. S'mores. I don't even think that counts. One that definitely counts is chowder. Corn, clam, crab, I'll slam that empty bowl down faster than lightning. Living so close to the NJ, we have a lot of fresh corn and tomatoes coming in that needed purpose. I gave them a safe little home in my gut. Here's my impromptu recipe for corn chowdah.

Corn Chowder

Time to get our caramelization on. Brown the carrots and onions until they are tender. I say brown because I mean it. You should develop good color on your vegetation in order to produce complex flavors in the final product. I used about a tablespoon of olive oil to do this. 

Now add the corn cobs that you saved after cutting the kernels off. Oh, you forgot to save them? Too bad you didn't read through the whole recipe. Your corn chowder will probably still be good, it just won't be the epitome of grace and wonder.

The easiest way to collect yer lil nuggets is to cut them off into a shallow sheet tray.

Add eight cups of water and a palmful of salt. I like living on the edge. Allow to cook on medium heat for an hour. There's also half a head of garlic cut in half tossed in there somewhere. Here's a secret. I added a vegetable bouillon cube when no one was looking. Anthony Bourdain got through culinary school this way. I'm not even sorry.

While your chowder is doing its things, dice up some red potatoes and cook them in a pan with one cup of water and some salt until nearly cooked through. They will continue to cook through in the chowder.

The best part, ladies and gents. Saute the corn with a tablespoon of butter, a healthy pinch of salt, and two tablespoons of chives.

Once the base has cooked for an hour, drain it to discard all the solids while saving the broth. I wouldn't judge you if you were to eat the poached garlic. Add the broth back to the pot and add the potatoes and the corn. After a few minutes of heating through, take a third of the mixture out and blend till smooth. Return to the pot. Add the half and half and milk. To this, I added a blonde roux to thicken. To do this, take a third cup of flour and add a third cup of fat. Cook for a few minutes and add to the chowder. Stir until well incorporated and thickened. Lastly, I diced up some cherry tomatoes and threw them in right in the end with a bit of thyme for a bit of a fresh hit. 

I ate this bowl of gold with some grilled cheeze. 

You just can't beat creamy corn when the corn is at its peak of glory.

Recipe

Yield: about 8 1c servings

4 ears of corn

half a spanish onion, quartered

one medium carrot, diced

half a head of garlic 

8 c H20

1 bouillon cube

2 c red potatoes

1 c cherry tomatoes, diced

1 c half and half

1 c whole milk

2 dried bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

2 Tbsp chives, minced

salt and pepper

     I don't think you're ready for this jelly...

     Although the apple tree was mercilessly massacred a few years ago, along with the demise of the strawberry patch, the blueberry bush has somehow made it out unscaved by the over-active pruners in our clan. The first harvest was yesterday! The berries themselves were medium sized, hazy blue, and pretty tart. Some people thought they were disgustingly sour. All I can say is, if you can't handle the pucker, get yurself better big-girl panties. Since the yield was so small (about 1/2 lb) I decided to make a small batch of jam. Here we go.

Blueberry Brown Sugar Jam

Select blueberries that are plump and uniform in color. Discard any twigs or critters. A spider flew out of my berries and I almost dropped these little gems. 

Even if you grew your own berries, it's a good idea to give them a lil rinse to dislodge any dirt and remove any other undesirable elements. I normally don't wash things we grow if people aren't home. Dirt don't hurt.

Add your blooberries to a small pot and add the honey, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Cook for 20 minutes or until the mixture has thickened a good bit. The naturally high percentage of pectin in blueberries will help them set even more in the fridge. This seems like a lot of added sweetener, but we must recall that these little guys were sour patch kids. You will have to adjust the amount of sugar slightly based on the sweetness of your berries.

I would show you what the cooked down berries ended up looking like, but my pot literally exploded, making for an ugly frame. ***PSA*** Never walk away from a pot on the stove unless you have a grandpa to tell you your "berries are everywhere."

Once your jam has cooled, you can store it in a jar. I would say you could use plastic, but I think glass works best for this. Poor Coyotito, he wants jam too.

You can put this jam on nearly anything, from ice cream to pork chops. My favorite application is to spread it on toasty, buttered bread. Butter is key. For those of you who say you don't like butter, do everyone else a favor and stop lying. It's unpatriotic. 

Randog has upgraded from a sock to a shirt! Dog allergies are the #1 ailment of all domestic dogs in America.

Recipe

1/2 lb blueberries

1/4 c brown sugar

1/4 c honey 

pinch of salt

juice of 1/4 a lemon

(Refrigerate after cooled)

     Bier, Cerveza, Piwo, Birra...Whatever you call it, beer is a universal gift, poured down from the heavens into our undeserving, peasant mouths. Almost every culture has a beer or can appreciate a neighbors brew. Beer at one point (I still think it is) was safer to drink than water. Beer, glorious beer! Oliver had it all wrong. During the summer, I've been drinking the old favorites but have also been exploring new territories. These are my most recent findings.

Blue Moon Summer Sample Pack

     Ahh, the classic. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of a proper introduction, the original is a smooth-drinking wheat ale. The most predominant flavor besides the wheat is orange. There is also a subtle spice note from coriander. Start your journey with this. 

     Agave has been such a super star lately. Blue Moon took this sweet nectar and combined it with their beer. The result is light, slightly sweet, and extremely palatable. If you do not like sweetness at all, this may not be the beer for you. Pair this with tacos, please.

     This pale ale was very well balanced with a lovely, malty flavor. The orange most notable in the original was present, but the hibiscus that is also an element was lost a little, in my opinion. I think these flavors would make an excellent pairing with grilled meats, especially those with smokey sauces. 

     I had such high hopes for this ale. Blended with blackberries, the pure essence of the fruit really does shine through. However, this beer was so sweet I had a hard time finishing it. This beer would, however, make an excellent beer to mix with other alcohols. I'm thinking a Guinness mixed in would make a great Black and Blue.

     Drum roll, please... the Short Straw Farmhouse Red Ale was my favorite of the bunch. With notable spiciness and a nice tartness that is typically associated with a red, this beer was a true winner. A cinderella story. 

Other Beers to Try!

     Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus. This beer was a little too wacky for my liking. The cucumber was very natural, making it at least a refreshing choice. Too strong on its own, I thought this beer would make a great Bloody Beer. Unfortunately, I never got to test this theory as said beer was kidnapped and still remains missing.

     Dogfish Head Festina Peche. I was greatly surprised by the flavor profile of this beer. The sourness was pleasantly balanced out with the slight acidity and sweetness from the peach. It almost reminded me more of a very dry cider. Drink very cold. Thanks for the pick, Chris!

     I've known about this beauty for a while. Magic Hat #9 is probably my favorite beer of the moment. This pale ale is perfectly paired with the subtle flavor of apricot. The sweetness is not overwhelming, leaving you with a totally delicious beer for the summer months. 

Slainte, Everyone!

     Let's get fresh...

     Now that the weather is no longer monsooning or scorching my retinas off, all of the flora are rejoicing! Everything is comfortably settling into summer now. Except mint. Mint is assaulting everything. Oh, you want to grow there, begonia? Not in my house. For this reason, I thought it would be a good idea to start using the mint so it doesn't consume the house and the dog, a la Little Shop of Horrors. I hope you're not tired of my ice cream posts, because I will never tire of eating it. This recipe is unique, however, because I decided not to use a custard base. Here are the results.

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream

First things first, grab yo mint. Wash it to get all the lil critters off of it. You can use any mint you have or like. I think this is spearmint. There is probably 1/4 c loosely packed here.

Sift your cocoa over your table sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Mix to combine.

Blend the milk, vanilla, and mint together in the blender. After it is blended, mix the cream into the mixture separately. You don't want to incorporate too much air into the mixture. Combine the wet with the dry slowly. I would suggest adding just a bit of the liquid into the sugar mixture and mixing it until it's incorporated before adding the rest. This ensures that the cocoa fully dissolves.

Haaaii girl, you lookin fresh to death. Mmmmm. Strain the mixture and add to the machine. I 'pose you could leave it unstrained, but I think mint is a little off-putting when it's frozen.

Wazzam. Look at that brown beauty. The texture ended up being closer to traditional ice cream and was a refreshing alternative with the addition of mint. It also took far less time to prepare since eggs were not involved. Great success. 

Recipe

Adapted from the Cuisinart Ice Cream Recipe Booklet

3/4 c cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/3 c packed dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 c whole milk

2 c heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c loosely packed mint leaves