Baby Wants Pie!

Something is seriously wrong with me. I've made 3 pies in 3 days. Here's the damage, plus a few random things I've made over the past week or so.

Ina Garten's Summer Fruit Crostata

I used pluots instead of black plums - their color was amazing.

And, I used my own crust recipe instead of Ina's. Here it is:

2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. sea salt
3 T. sugar
1 1/2 cubes cold butter (12 T.), cut into small pieces
4 T. shortening
1/3 to 1/2 c. ice water (or more if you need it)

Roll out the dough....

Dump on the fruit...

I like to roll out the dough and then use a dinner plate to trim off some of the jagged edges. It's not perfect, but that's the beauty of this type of pie.

And finally, a pie without fruit.

Martha Stewart's Coconut Custard Pie

I was pleasantly surprised by this pie. It was really easy and the custard turn out really smooth with none of that unpleasant cornstarchy-ness. Lucky for me I had an old bag of coconut chips. They're unsweetened, so I tossed the coconut with a couple of tablespoons of Golden Syrup and toasted it. Sweet and crunchy coconut. Nice.

Don't forget to make jam tart with the pastry scraps. Jam tarts forgive a multitude of sins. Believe me, I know.

And now for something completely different...

The summer's first zucchini is finally here. Here it is, simply sauteed with some onion, garlic, and tomato. My new favorite website, Gourmet.com has a some intriguing zucchini recipes in their zucchini test kitchen challenge.

Here are some grilled potatoes with a blue cheese viniagrette. It's a version of Bobby Flay's potato salad sans the watercress underneath.

A random mishap with some exploding dough.


I'm still making bread most of the time, although I still have moments of weakness where I can't be bothered to bake, especially in July.
Rhubarb ice cream: sweet, tangy, subtle.

Yet another fruit dessert: summer fruit bars. Fuzzy picture, but good. That's all for now. Stay tuned for some good eats from Victoria, B.C.