Ribs

Some of you may have heard of the Listeria outbreak in Canada. At this point, 11 people have died while testing positive for Listeria.

On television, there are regular commercials from Maple Leaf, the company held responsible for the outbreak.

I think this commercial is going to end up in a business school class for analysis. How effectively did the president of Maple Leaf address the issue? Here are some more details – we still don’t know the full extent of this virus. Listeria can remain dormant for as many as 3 months. We also don’t know whether other products pose a risk. It was only last month that we were fearing tomatoes and salsa, to discover that the cause of the problem was jalapenos.

So maybe other products could transmit Listeria. There were four more products recalled today. Or, maybe we’ve already been exposed. Not to get panicky.

I’m curious whether the commercial is effective.

Personally, I think that the commercial is a minimum gesture, for now. But will not suffice if things worsen or if future assurance of the quality of our food lessens. But the speech itself seems to address many important aspects of communicating a message during a time of stress. They took ownership of the problem, described a swift reaction to address the problem and addressed an intention to improve in the future.

Frankly, I’m not sure if it’s enough to salvage their market value or consumers’ confidence.

I’m not sure how this recall will affect the meat industry, in general. But, I'm still taking advantage of bbq season. Don't worry, it's not Maple Leaf.

This recipe is largely my own, but I must acknowledge both R and Peter for the impetus to do it. Peter’s submission to our first Tried, Tested and True event was ribs. At some point, I had marked another rib recipe of his. So, his posts definitely gave me some direction. R also contributed by making a formal request for ribs and seeing to it that we purchase some.

Actually, props to R – he always goes grocery shopping with me. Sometimes he goes without me and does a good job of getting items off of our list. Here’s a question for you – when you go grocery shopping, does anyone go with you?

Ribs

Combine the following ingredients for a rub:

black pepper, dried oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, hot paprika, garlic powder, thyme

I really suggest that you play around with your rub. We like spicy foods, but you could use a sweet paprika to tone down the heat.

Before adding the rub, peel the white layer of skin/membrane off the back of the ribs. I cut up the ribs in three at this point, just to separate it for ease of eating. Spread the rub and let it sit in the fridge for 3 hours.

Before cooking, I put some cut up lemons on top of the ribs to maintain the moistness during cooking. This is one of Giz’s tips. Props to her too because she fields about 6 calls a week for cooking/baking instructions.

I cooked my ribs in the oven at 400F for 1 hour. My oven is fast, so you may want to use more time. From here, I took the lemons off of the ribs and put them on the bbq. I left the ribs on the bbq for about 15 minutes before starting to baste. I’m personally a proponent of multiple layers of bbq sauce. I used a basic president’s choice sauce, but I’d like to play around with sauces in the future. One skill at a time.

Verdict: The ribs were delicious. We ate them with fresh corn on the cob. Very satisfying supper.

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We've been really bad with our monthly events, Recipes to Rival and Daring Bakers. Between Giz's move, preparing for this bar mitzvah and my own workload, it just wasn't realistic this month. We'll try to do better next month.

But, we do have a lot to show for our catering experience. Let's just say there was way too much food. We'll post the pictures soon.

Double Peanut Butter Ice Cream

This is our third time participating in the Peanut Butter Exhibition. Our past two submissions include Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Smoothie. In keeping with the spirit of the Peanut Butter Exhibition, I'm forwarding this easy peasy recipe to the "no bake" roundup at The Peanut Butter Boy.

Double Peanut Butter Ice Cream


Although the recipe says it makes about fourteen (14) 1/2 cup servings, I found that it really made 2 servings for people with big spoons. I mean who eats 1/2 cup of ice cream?? Even my dogs who weigh about 11 lbs can eat more than 1/2 cup. I double dog dare you to try it and see if you can put it down after 1/2 cup. Inspired by the folks at Cuisinart, it's just so simple to change up from a full fat ice cream to a lower fat version while still enjoying the intensity of the double peanut butter.

1 1/2 cups good quality peanut butter (I used Kraft ultra creamy)
3/4 cup of granulated sugar (I used less and it was great)
1 1/4 cups of whole milk (I used skim milk - you wouldn't know the difference)
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped chocolate peanut butter cup candies (I used peanut butter chips)

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or whisk to combine the peanut butter and sugar until smooth. Add the milk and mix on low speed until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn on ice cream maker, pour in mix and let mix until thickened - about 25 to 30 minutes. For firmer consistency, transfer to plastic airtight container and place in freezer. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.


Caution: Highly addictive

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

This month's Cookie Carnival is chocolate hazelnut biscotti. Since I have this personal weakness for biscotti ( like a hook around the neck that pulls me straight to the biscotti - yes, that bad) I knew that in spite of the chaos I'm in living in, while trying to figure out how everything from a house is fitting into a condo (NOT - NOT EVEN CLOSE), I would clear the kitchen counter and join in. Cookie carnival is really a fun way of learning more cookie recipes and the beauty is that it's not a complicated thing to do. To find out more about being part of cookie heaven, check out The Clean Plate's site here .



Ingredients

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, husked
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Grind 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts in processor. Set aside. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Beat butter and sugar in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well blended. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in 1 cup whole toasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts.

Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece on baking sheet into 2 1/2 in wide by 14 inch long log. Place logs on prepared baking sheet spacing 2 1/2 inches apart (logs will spread during baking) Bake until logs feel firm when tops are gently pressed, about 35 minutes. Cool longs on baking sheet 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Using long wide spatula, transfer baked logs to cutting board. Using serrated knife, but warm logs crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Arrange slices, cut side down, on 2 baking sheets. Bake biscotti until firm, about 15 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti can be prepared ahead. Store in airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.

Penne Carbonnara

There are few exciting things coming up. For one, I’m looking forward to seeing Giz’s new kitchen. Maybe I’ll convince Giz to make a little video of her new digs. I’m also looking forward to the Bar Mitzvah cooking. It’s this Sunday (yes, Bar Mitzvahs are usually on Saturdays, but not this one). Lastly, in a few weeks, I'll be hosting Presto Pasta Nights.

Ruth, the creator of Presto Pasta Nights, had a brilliant idea to have guest hosts every second week. Not only does this lighten the weekly load of posting a roundup, which is actually more time consuming than I had expected, but it also gives other bloggers a chance to host a popular event. The theme is simple – any sort of pasta dish. I’ll post some reminders as we get closer to my week.

In anticipation of this event and with some cooler weather days, I’ve got my own submission for this week’s Presto Pasta Night.

I stopped in to the local Italian food grocery store this past weekend. Man, that place is dangerous. I love to just roam around and pick out a few items to experiment with. Given the wonderful smell of the store and varied selection, spending $50 on food that I don’t really need is easy.

I walked out of the store to a frantic R. who thought that the store had either been robbed or that I had fallen and couldn't get up. Both scenarios, in his mind, would feasibly account for why it had taken me so long in the store. But, I walked out of the store with ingredients for a carbonara sauce, so all transgressions against R's patience were pardoned.

There are a tonne of recipes for carbonara sauce online. Heck, even Tom Cruise has one. Most of them contain the same 5-6 ingredients: garlic, cheese (parmesan or romano), parsley, eggs, and bacon (pancetta). Here's what I did:

Penne Carbonara

penne (1 box - usually makes about 4-5 portions)

large portion of pancetta (maybe 1.5 inches thick), diced

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup romano cheese

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

4 eggs

salt and pepper, to taste

Start boiling your water. Once the water is started, add chopped garlic to a frying pan. Next you add the pancetta. At first I thought that the pieces I had cut were too large...

but after I added the pancetta to the garlic and allowed them to fry for a little while, the size was good. Once the water has come to a boil, add the pasta.

In the meantime, I grated some romano and parmesan cheese and added an egg to it.

I also decided to add some cream to this mixture, but I probably would not do this again. Instead, I'd just add some pasta water. It’s also important to consider that the liquid will evaporate, so for my tastes, a bit too much liquid is better than not enough.

Once the pasta if cooked, strain the water (reserve some). Then add the cheese/egg mixture, pancetta and parsley to the pasta. Mix well and add pasta water to obtain the desired consistency. Salt and pepper, to taste.

Delicious!

Lastly, I’d like to throw a plug in for Kristen at Dine and Dish’s Adopt a Blogger#2.

Shortly after Giz and I started this blog, we joined the first Adopt a Blogger, as newbies. We were paired with Ann and Jack from Redacted Recipes. Since it was such a great experience, Giz and I have now signed up a veteran bloggers. We’re looking forward to being paired with a newer foodblog. You can learn more about the details here.

Here’s the thing – there are lots of newbie foodblogs, but not enough veteran bloggers. So – if you’ve been around for a while and want to be paired with a newer blog, please go visit Kristen and sign up.

Taste & Create: Spinach Dip

Taste and Create is in it’s 13th go-around.

 

The premise of this event is that you are paired with another food blog from which you choose a recipe and vice versa.  It’s a nice way to highlight another food blog and to try out different recipes.  If you’re interested in learning more about how it works, you can find  more information here.

The last time I participated, I made an Upside Down Apple Cake.  This time, I was paired with Sushi Day.  It was kind of a tricky pairing for me because I don’t really like sushi.  I’ve tried it on several occasions before and it’s just not my thing.  But, if you do like sushi (or even if you don’t), definitely check out Sushi Day’s website because there are a plethora of sushi recipes on there.

Leave it to me to make the one recipe that isn’t sushi.  I chose the Spinach Dip.  Check out the link for the full recipe.  I went with pumpernickel bread instead of French bread.  I couldn’t find French bread at my grocery store and pumpernickel and spinach dip go way back for me.

 

This is probably a good time to share the spinach dip recipe I usually make.  It usually acts as a “water cooler” such that everyone in the room congregates around the dip. 

1 carton of sour cream (I may try plain yogurt next time)

equivalent amount of mayonnaise (as the sour cream)

1 pkg of Knorr’s Leek (or vegetable) soup mix

1 can chopped water chestnuts

1 pkg of frozen spinach (I get the sliced kind)

1-2 loaves of pumpernickel bread

Blend first 5 ingredients together.  If you blend by hand, it maintains some of the spinach consistency.  I would recommend leaving the spinach dip in the fridge for at least an hour before plating it in order to give the flavour a chance to meld.

When you are closer to serving,  cut out a hole in one of the pumpernickel loafs to create a bowl.  Put mixture into the hole.  Take remaining bread and cut up into bite-sized pieces for dipping. 

UPDATE: Giz has moved into her condo and should be back online by Monday. She is chomping at the bit to start cooking in her kitchen. I’m sure our Bar Mitzvah preparations will help cure that.

Shrimp Pesto Orzo

If you liked my last post about pesto, then you’ll probably like this one too. This is the first dish I made with that batch of pesto – it was a total success! I’m actually kind of excited about the dish because it was better than I had expected.

I’m probably going to make a chicken variation of it this weekend. We’ve invited some friends over for dinner. They’re moving to a new city for at least a year and are currently in an empty apartment. Only problem is – they’re kind of fussy eaters. Health nuts. Plus, my one friend recently had an unfortunately run-in with a rock while kayaking. Let’s just say…the rock won. She has had to have parts of her teeth replaced and a couple of root canals, so she can’t eat food that is hard to chew.

Shrimp Pesto Orzo

1.5 cups of orzo

6 cups of water (or soup broth)

1 pound of raw shrimp

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 zucchinis (1 green, 1 yellow)

3/4 red pepper (that’s all I had left)

1-2 lemons (optional)

1/2 - 2/3 cup of basil pesto

1/3 cup parsley

salt and pepper, to taste

Boil water/broth for orzo. Saute garlic for a minute and then add the zucchinis. When the orzo goes in to the water, add the shrimp to the zucchini.

I added some lemon juice to both the orzo water and the shrimp mixture. I also added the red pepper around the same time as the shrimp. The exact timing will depend on your preferred texture of the cooked vegetables. I tend to like my veggies on the crispier side. Salt and pepper as you go.

When the orzo is finish, drain and add to shrimp mixture. Then add pesto. I used the equivalent of about 3 cubes of pesto. Just mix the cube(s) for a while while it defrosts and blends.

Once blended, add parsley.

Delicious! R was so excited when he got to have the leftovers for dinner the next day too.

I’m submitting this recipe to Deep Freeze Summer Challenge 2 over at Mele Cotte.

For this event, submissions must include at least one main ingredient from your freezer.

Basil Pesto

After a very busy past couple of months, my idea of a good weekend is going for a long walk around the city, seeing the sites, going to the market, cooking and baking, and sleeping in.

With some of the best fruits of the summer in season, I’m starting to feel that itch to get my fill and prepare for the winter. I stocked up on a bunch of produce (peaches, basil, raspberries (1/2 flat for $10 – cheaper than picking them), lettuce, etc. I’m so glad I went blueberry picking, though. For 4L, I paid $15. But, to buy them in the market, they’re around $35-$40.

I’m still growing my own basil at home and it’s actually doing much better now that I put it in a place where it receives direct sunlight on a consistent basis. Too bad we’ve had so much rain. My first time growing basil, I left it on my kitchen window sill in my old apartment in one of the sunniest cities in Canada. The basil grew like a weed and I couldn't eat it fast enough. Living in a somewhat cloudy city, growing vegetable and herbs requires you to actually work for your produce.

I’ve wanted to make and freeze pesto for a while now. At $1/bunch of basil, how can you go wrong? I may have to get some more this weekend. I used some of the basil to make another Caprese salad. This time, using a balsamic vinegar and oil-based dressing. I used the rest of the basil to make a basil pesto.

Basil Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts

3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Blend the ingredients together.

I made a double recipe.

I then took the pesto and put it in an ice tray until it froze into small portion-sized cubes.

This allow you to freeze pesto in service-sized portions.

Stay tuned for the first dish I made with this pesto.

Magic Blondies

There is a benefit to working from home. When your day isn't working exactly the way you planned it would, you hit the kitchen for a little therapy - baking therapy that is. Thank goodness Martha is in the house and her cookie book never out of reach. I didn't even know what I felt like baking, my main goal was avoiding going back to my office for a while.

While putting the ingredients together I had this thought of "maybe I should have picked a more complex recipe". The good news is that it's a breeze to put together and supplies instant gratification on the other end. The heavenly smell and delicious finished product gave me just enough motivation to resume the "fight"

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (about 2 1/2 oz)
2/3 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp coarse salt
9 Tbsp (1 stick plus 1 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Stir together coconut, chocolate, walnuts and cherries in a bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl.

2. Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined. Mix in 1 cup coconut mixture.

3. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Sprinkle remaining coconut mixture over tops. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet - about 25 minutes (at 22 minutes mine were getting overdone). Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

I'm sending this sweet bit of goodness over to

Ben at What's Cooking Ben has put alot of working into creating this venue twice a month to showcase both sweet and savoury creations. After the entries are in there's a voting forum - no pressure - remembah who your friends are :).

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Ivy at Kopiaste...to Greek Hospitality for extending the Magic Lamp of Luck Award. We'll be seriously rubbing that lamp to help us through the next couple of fun and insane weeks of moving and catering.



Our picks for the Magic Lamp of Luck award are:

1. Rosie at Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake Rosie is working very hard to make sure that we enjoy and benefit from Sweet and Simple Bakes , a monthly preset baking experience that allows for both beginners and veterans to enjoy baking something that will encourage us to keep trying and expanding both our knowledge base and capabilities.

2. Parker, fellow Canadian from Vanilla Bean Cafe . We want to send good vibes and good luck as she moves from her "hot apartment" to a nicer environment. Good luck with the move. I so feel your pain.

3. Jill from Simple Daily Recipes not only cranks out beautiful recipes on a regular basis, she is also the powerhouse behind The Great Cooks Community . Honestly, I don't know how she does it but I'm sure a genie or two wouldn't hurt to maintain all that incredible energy she puts into what she does. You're amazing Jill - I get tired just watching everything you do.

4. Nick of The Peanut Butter Boy has carved a niche for himself featuring all things peanut butter. Of late, Nick's been getting some interesting recognition for his peanut butter passion and we're sending him good luck. Remember your buds in the blog world when your face is featured in Times Square as the Unique Find of the Century.

5. Adam, our budding chiropractor from Baking with Dynamite has expended an incredible amount of time and energy into making sure we understand the importance of good health but also how all the pieces fit together. His ability to bring information down to a lay level that even I can understand (imagine that) tells me that this guy is going places. Besides being a great teacher, the man can dance his way around a kitchen. He's perfect. Good luck Adam in everything you do.

A big thank you to Lina of My Life is Yummy for awarding us the Best Blog Darts Thinkers & Beautiful Site Award.




This award is a really tough one to share. I know, I know, we all say that - we all mean it too. When you meet so many incredibly talented people it's just not possible to say here's a handful of exceptional blogs that meet our subjective criteria. Without great detail, here are our picks. None of these blogs need formal introduction. If you haven't visited some of them, please do - you will not be disappointed.

1. Ann from Redacted Recipes
2. Helen from Tartelette
3. Joelen of Joelen's Culinary Adventure
4. Deeba of Passionate about Baking
5. Melissa at Alosha's Kitchen

Although we acknowledged receipt of the Brilliante Blog Award a few days ago from the lovely and talented Ohio Mom of Cooking in Cleveland we promised to share with some of our favourite "haunts" in the blog world. Trust me, this is not an exclusive list but some blogs worthy of note.



So here's what else I'm suppose to do.

1. Put the logo on my blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to me.
3. Nominate other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs.
5. Leave a message on your nominees’ blogs.

Please take the time to visit the following blogs. Each and every one of them is both unique and very special. I'm not sure I can even do any one of these blogs the justice each deserves - you just need to go and see for yourself.

1. Proud Italian Cook
2. Use Real Butter
3. Chefs Gone Wild
4. White on Rice Couple
5. Dine and Dish

Guest Blogging: Teddy Leslie Poutine

R wanted to share one of his favourite meals with you: poutine. He's not really a hard-core cook. So, pre-packaged components are sometimes his ingredients of choice. If you would like to see a more "from scratch" version, check out this link to FXcuisine.

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John Maynard Keynes once remarked that his major regret in life was not having consumed enough champagne. If he had known about poutine, I think he would have regretted not having consumed enough poutine instead of champagne. Enough of the cheesy opening, let’s get to the real cheese – cheese curds!!! That’s right! This post is about cheese curds smothered in gravy on top of fries. I’m talking about POUTINE! This is R. I’m writing a guest post on Psychgrad and Giz’s blog – Equal Opportunity Kitchen. What good is an equal opportunity kitchen if you can’t blog about a meal like poutine? This posting is our submission to the Potato Ho-Down. My potato-ho name is Teddy Leslie.


Poutine is very popular (especially in Canada) to eat as a quick take-out meal or to eat at a late-night diner after a night out partying, but it’s also very easy to make at home. Sometimes, it’s nice to just have a simple meal that you enjoy. I love poutine, so I picked up the ingredients: French fries, gravy and cheese curds. Here are some instructions, so you too can enjoy lots of poutine at home.

First, cook French fries in the oven until they look nice and crispy. Either straight-cut or crinkle-cut fries are fine. Next combine gravy powder with water and boil it as per the instructions on the gravy packet. Poutine tastes like heaven, so it’s no wonder that the ingredients involve St. Hubert and the patron saint of poutine, St. Albert. I prefer to use St. Hubert poutine gravy and St. Albert cheese curds. Next, place the cheese curds over the fries and smother with gravy. Then, say a prayer of thanks to St. Albert while the cheese curds slowly melt and enjoy the religious experience.

A couple of important points to remember:
- Grated cheese is not a suitable substitute for cheese curds. Seriously, it won’t taste the same.
- Be adventurous. I’ve had poutine with bacon and fried onions. I’ve also had it with peppers, sausage, ground beef; you name it. It all tastes good together.


St. Hubert is a franchise restaurant you can find in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.




Add some cheese curds (like St. Albert cheese on top of your fries).



Then the gravy...Voila - poutine.

Raspberry Peach Pie

To tell you the truth, R thinks I am totally crazy for all of this food blogging business. He doesn’t really understand the enjoyment I get from cooking/baking and sharing the results with the world. It’s ok – I don’t really get his obsession for hockey. To each, his/her own.

But sometimes, this distinction between me and R causes some strife. Take this pie, below, for example. R would have much preferred that I not bake this pie. Yes, he liked the pie – but I don’t think he likes it more than he hated the number of dirty dishes he ended up washing as a result of it. He would be just as content with a bag of Old Dutch chips (a Canadian name brand of chips/crisps) Unfortunately for R, I have many future baking plans in the work.

Like most of the recipes that I attempt, I got most of this pie recipe from the internet. Actually, this recipe is a compilation of three recipes.

First, is the dough. The dough is from Dorie Greenspan. You can see the full recipe copied out here. If you’d like a great tutorial, here’s Smitten Kitchen's post about making dough.

I made the 9-inch single crust. With all of the talk about not mixing dough too much and keeping everything very cold, I was nervous about screwing it up. I was careful to not blend too much.

I then put the dough in plastic wrap and left it in the fridge over night. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to do this because the dough was quite hard the next day. But I worked it a bit with my hands and it softened up a bit. Actually, by the time I was done with it, it was getting too soft. It’s easy to tell if it’s too soft because it basically starts to come apart in your hand or stick to everything.

Before I could finish setting the dough in the pan, I had to put in the fridge for 5 minutes so that it would stop coming apart on me.

Note: Dorie Greenspan gives instructions for partially baking the crust ahead of time. I didn’t do this.

I knew I wanted to use up some of the fruit that I had bought on the weekend. It’s nice to have fresh fruit (in contrast to the harder, less ripe stuff from the grocery store), but it does require quick usage. In particular, I wanted to use raspberries and peaches.

I searched around for a recipe and finally came upon Zoe Bakes' Raspberry Peach pie filling. I think she uses Dorie Greenspan’s dough recipe too. Check out her great tutorial on lattice tops. It’s something I’d like to try doing.

For the Filling:

8 ripe, but firm white or yellow peaches, washed and chopped with skins on. (You can also remove the skins (if desired) by blanching the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds and then putting them in an ice bath. The skin should peel off.) – I used 5 ripe peaches.

1 pint raspberries (only a portion of the raspberries I used are visible in the picture, above)

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup brown sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit and your taste)

3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

For the filling I chopped up the (at least) 5 white peaches. Toss them with a pint of raspberries and the lemon juice.

Combine the brown sugar with the cornstarch, salt and ground ginger in a small bowl. You want to mix all of these ingredients until they are well combined before sprinkling over the fruit. I ended up just mixing the latter ingredients with the fruit and lemon juice in a bowl and then adding it to the pie crust. (Not for any good reason - I just don't always read directions very closely)

Since I didn’t want a double layer of crust, I decided to top the cake off with a crumble layer. I decided to go with a crumble top recipe, found here.

Crumble Top

3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Walnuts (optional – I didn’t add this)
1/2 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 Cup Butter (cold)
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

I just mixed the ingredients together with a fork and spread it evenly on top of the filling. Actually, I had too much crumble, so I only used about 2-3 of the crumble mixture for the pie.

I then put the pie in the oven at 350 F for about 45-50 minutes. You may need longer in your oven, mine is fast.

Verdict:

The pie was excellent. Between the colour, flavour, and texture, I think this was a success.

I’m submitting this pie to Joelen's Pie in my Eye Adventure.