Smith Family Weblog

I used the excuse of Mother’s Day to bake a pie from scratch, using the rhubarb I transplanted from my grandparents’ cabin in Minnesota to my own garden. The plant took well to its new home, even sprouting this beautiful flower.

Come to find out, that’s not a good thing… I lopped it off, and thankfully, the plant continued to produce enough stalks to make a batch of Rhubarbritas (that recipe coming soon), and this Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie from Bon Appetit. I substituted cardamom for cinnamon, because it’s awesome, and also because I like hearing Bryan say, “What’s that weird taste?”

Cook’s Illustrated recently published a recipe for ultra-flaky pie crust. I don’t subscribe, but two kind friends sent it my way. (My friend Chuck wrote a blog entry on the recipe over on Horse Farm Diaries.)

The secret ingredient is vodka, and I think it works pretty well. Cook’s Illustrated is filled with incredibly specific instructions, which is tough for someone who prefers not to measure unless absolutely necessary, but the recommended six one-second pulses in my food processor yielded a crust that still had visible pieces of butter even after rolling.

It wasn’t as good as Gramma’s pie crust, but it was a close second.

My lattice top didn’t bake very evenly, but the final product was good enough to warrant a second slice!

Last Sunday, I made nine casseroles to stock our freezer and those belonging to a few friends. I used three recipes: My Favorite Mexican Casserole and  Roasted Vegetable Lasagna from Epicurious, and Chicken Enchiladas from Cooking Light (with a traditional red sauce). All three freeze very well, though I do eliminate the corn chip crust from the Mexican casserole because it ends up a bit soggy.

I’m always surprised at how fast it is to create dishes in an assembly-line style. The whole process took just a couple of hours start to finish, and I’m looking forward to a few calm evenings after work the next few weeks!

We signed up for a crop share this year, and I picked up our first round of produce this week. I love crop shares because you can try new things without having to dedicate garden space (or time, or effort). So, I was thrilled that in addition to the usual spring suspects (spinach, rhubarb and asparagus), this week’s share included pea shoots. Not exactly exotic—we have some growing in the garden right now—but we are patiently waiting for them to become peas. So, I’m glad that someone was willing to forgo that harvest and share these with us now.

I’ve never tried pea shoots before, but the information that came with them notes the entire shoot is edible. Because I’m already getting rather tired of salad, I decided to follow another suggestion and saute them with a bit of olive oil, garlic and salt.

They looked very pretty, and while I appreciate anything that can serve as a vehicle for the above ingredients, I think I agree with Bryan: I like peas a whole lot more than pea shoots. Still, my interest in trying something new outweighs my patience for the finished product.

Next up, something tired and true—rhubarb pie.