Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Figaro and Hooligan

Here they are, today's cheese selections...

Figaro from Andante Dairy in Petaluma, CA. This cheese comes from a
small batch artisan, Soyoung Scanlan who is famous for the care she
gives to her craft. Figaro is a very seasonal cow and goat cheese
wrapped in wine soaked fig leaves. Lovely fruit notes on a creamy
spraedable texture.

Hooligan is a cow milk cheese with a buttermilk washed rind from Cato
Corner Farms in Connecticut. Stinky on the nose, very rich creamy
center with a mild flavor.

Loved them both. Bruce says they went well together. Thank you Edythe
for sharing!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Pastie Report

The pasties were a big hit. The dough was nice and light even with the whole wheat flour. The beef and pork filling turned out amazingly tender. I used Clyde Hooper's recipe with the following substitutions:


  • I used butter instead of beef suet

  • Took out the turnips, used carrots

  • 2 Cups whole wheat flour were substituted for 2 C of the All Purpose flour

  • 2 Tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce was added to the stuffing

I made a Chimmichurri type sauce using Italian parsley, cilantro, a serrano chile, a jalapeno chile, red wine vinegar, olive oil salt and pepper. I purreed it in a food processor until smooth and bright green.

It had a nice kick and really added a nice acidic balance to the basic meat and potato filling.

The Hooper kids tell me that Clyde would have paired his with Malt Vinegar and Catsup. Yum!


Here's a pic of the one I sampled.


Saturday, July 11, 2009

Bruce making the pasties in honor of Clyde Hooper

Just like in the UP 'eh...

We used beef and pork with potatoes, carrots and onions. We made the
dough using half whole wheat and half AP.

I will post pics once they come out of the oven an we have a taste.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Fabulous Pie!

In the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California, six miles down a county road which leads only to a trail head, lies a tiny rustic lunch counter called Pie in the Sky Café at the Rock Creek Lakes Resort (http://www.rockcreeklake.com/resort/). We were camping near the resort this week and stopped in for a burger and pie lunch. This place is famous for their homemade pies. Even in the winter people hike or snowshoe in to get a piece. Approximately ten different pies are available each day, sold by the slice. The pies sell out every day, one flavor after another getting crossed out on the white board at the lunch counter. By the time we arrived Fresh Peach was already gone. We decided on one slice of Boysenberry and one slice of Lemon Crème. They were awesome! We loved the contrast between the fruity bright boysenberry with its delicate top crust and the light lemon fililng with whipped cream topping of the other. Great lunch, excellent pie!