APAW 1 - Apple Pie

I made an apple pie yesterday. I rolled out my first pie crust in 4 years. And making crust is stressful. there are millions of recipes and like with most 'commodity' recipes, i look to Cooks' Illustrated. I won't print an apple pie recipe since those are also easily found.

They had a couple great tips:

1. it's better to have a slightly tacky (or wet) dough since you can add flour
2. use a tapered rolling pin with a clockwise rotation
3. chill rolled out bottom crust while rolling out the top crust

Here are my great tips

1. use about 3/4 the apples any recipe calls for - it's always too much
2. use a lot of "table" flour to keep your dough from sticking
3. replace water with apple juice concentrate (learned this from someone talking about Alton Brown)
4. allow your pie to cool for 6 hours!

I chose the apples I like the best:

1. 1 1/2 pounds Honeycrisp
2. 1/2 pound Pink Lady
3. 1/2 pound Mutsu

After eating a slice, my wife (also my harshest critic) found me cleaning the bathroom and said, "That is the best pie I've ever eaten. Any pie. Anywhere."

So far - APAW is a success. Next MEYER LEMON TART. Hopefully less stress.

APAW - Winter 2009/10 begins

APAW - A Pie A Week - begins.

the fourteen-week pie making journey mimics Evan Kleiman's "a pie a day." (see here).

the schedule will be something like:

1. apple pie
2. lemon tart
3. sweet potato pie
4. pecan pie
5. pear and almond tart
6. coconut cream pie
7. cherry jam crostata

and then we'll fill out the rest...

Thai Chicken Broth

This isn't the most local or authentic recipe you'll find here. But perhaps the most delicious.

Thai Chicken Broth

shopping = difficult

difficulty = low

expense = low

1 lb carrots, chopped coarsely

1" ginger, sliced

1 leek, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 clove garlic

6 chicken thighs, on the bone without skin

2 lemongrass stalks

2 kaffir lime leaves

1/2 t. coriander seeds

1/8 t. turmeric

1 cinnamon (real stuff) piece

2 T. coconut milk

4 QT boiling water

1. heat large dutch oven or stock pot to medium high heat
2. add 1 T. canola oil
3. add leeks and onion with little bit of salt
4. toss together and cover for 3-5 minutes until edges of leeks brown
5. add carrots, lemongrass, ginger, and garlic clove
6. add salt and cover for 3-5 minutes
7. add chicken thighs, coriander, cinnamom, coconut milk, turmeric
8. lower heat to medium-low and cover for 3-5 minutes
10. add boiling water and turn heat to medium
11. bring soup to lazy boil for 1 hour, skimming the top of soup if/when possible.
12. remove from heat
13. remove chicken
14. let soup stand for 1 hour
15. strain soup and serve with jasmine rice, add chopped, cooked chicken on top

5 BEST New York City - Lattes

For a few reasons, I've been traversing Brooklyn & Manhattan over the last three weeks. In that time, there have been many lattes.

2 quick rules:

the cleaner the barista's workspace, the better the coffee.

gentrified Brooklyn serves much better coffee than Manhattan

1. Cafe Grumpy - no surprise here - all three locations are special (uses Ronnybrook Milk)
2. Ninth Street Espresso (Chelsea, not East Village) - The micro-foam in Chelsea is superior, in the EV, it's just average
3. Cafe Pedlar - with no bitterness or acidity at all
4. Sit & Wonder - morning guy takes a lot of pride in pulling a great shot and somehow this latte "keeps" well for 10-20 minutes whether other ones do not
5. Stumptown - in the ACE hotel - delicious (and uses Hudson Valley Milk)

Honorable Mention
- Kaffe 1668 - precise and accurate every time

- Gorilla

Just not very good

- Pret a Manger - all of them

- Bouchon Bakery

- Ost

Numbers 2-5 all use Stumptown coffee

Cannelloni Beans

Simple and fresh - this is a basic side

Fresh Beans

shopping = mildly difficult

difficulty = low

expense = low

2 lbs fresh beans in pod (could be anything - Cannelloni, Garbanzo)

1 heirloom tomato, seeds removed and rough chop

5 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. sea salt

1 bay leaf

1 clove garlic smashed

1. remove beans from pod (this took me about 30 minutes)
2. boil in UNSALTED water for 10 minutes and drain
3. in clean (& dry) pot add olive oil, bay, garlic
4. heat to medium high until garlic fragrance is evident
5. add drained beans and tomato
6. reduce heat to low and partially cover
7. cook for 30 minutes