Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie – it’s just not Thanksgiving without it, but once you realize how easy it is to make, you might want it more often. Like for breakfast!

I have to admit to using an old standby, the recipe from a can of Libby’s 100% Pure (canned) Pumpkin (see below) which never fails, though I swap out the evap milk for the same quantity ½ and ½. It’s fast, easy, yummy and familiar. However, one year I decided to do a taste test with one “traditional” pie versus one Bourbon Pumpkin Pie which I saw in Gourmet Magazine. Which one won? The Gourmet version did, and you can say because it has fewer eggs and ads sour cream for a little tang, or is more heavily spiced, or is creamier… or you can just say BOURBON.

First of all, you need to make a crust. Click here for my FAMOUS three minute Cuisinart “no roll” crust and thank me forever. If you’re in a rush, fine. Go ahead and use frozen dough. I will avert my eyes. (Below: my pie crust, right out of the Cuisinart. No rolling! Trust me.)

After you blind bake your crust, let it cool while you prepare the filling, as follows:

BOURBON PUMPKIN PIE

1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

3 ½ Tbsp. bourbon

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¾ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. ground allspice

¼ tsp. salt

·         Whisk together ingredients and pour into cooled shell.

·         Bake until edge of filling is set but center trembles slightly, about 45 minutes (filling will continue to set as it cools). Cool completely.

·         Serve at room temperature. For added depth of flavor, add bourbon to the whipped cream you dollop on top of each slice!

going into the oven - and out of it! (Note in photo below the filling is puffed up. It will settle.)

NEW COOKBOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

What is the best thing in the world for a collector? Adding to their collection! Sadly, my good friend Leslie's grandmother passed recently, but it was an honor to be invited to the estate sale preview to buy some of her amazing collection of cookbooks. I really do believe that cooking recipes once loved by a dear one is a way to keep their memory alive.

In this case, a new haul of books is also exactly what I needed to break out of a cooking rut. Lately I've been wiped out after work, so I make the same few things over and over again - but now there is NO EXCUSE for me not to once again pick out wild and wacky concoctions from years past and blog about them for your amusement.

Get hungry, folks, cause I'm gonna get reading, and then I'm gonna GET COOKIN! - stay tuned...

Mushroom Quiche

Real Men, I was told in 1982, don't eat quiche - but for a girl's pool-side brunch, quiche is just the thing!

Just LOOK at all these mushrooms!!! YUMMMM!!!!!!!!

I love this recipe from “The Eggs & Cheese I Love” by Jules J. Bond, 1978, probably because it contains my favorite product in the world, Worcesershire sauce. This recipe also calls for shallots, but I had some nice scallions which I used instead, which just goes to show how adaptable quiche is. You can throw in nearly anything you have, and Ta-Da! Lunch. If mushrooms aren’t in season, might I suggest…lobster?

Mushroom Quiche

1 pie crust **

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. minced shallots

1 lb. firm button mushrooms, sliced thin

1 tsp. lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp. grates nutmeg

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

½ cup light cream

4 eggs

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Heat butter in a skillet, add shallots, saute for about 3 minutes until they are translucent and soft. Do not brown. Add mushrooms and lemon jice, saute for 3 or 4 minutes over moderate heat until mushrooms are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from fire, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and Worcestershire sauce.

Beat eggs, cream and cheese in a bowl until well blended and smooth, then blend with the mushrooms.

Pour into crust and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the quiche is well set.

Serves 6

** Oh, Pour into crust, you say - so I need to make a crust? 

Yes you need to make your own crust. No I do not approve of using pre-made crust. Just NO. If you have a food processor, you have no excuse – that’s what my mother told me, after she taught me her 2 minute pie crust recipe, and she wasn’t kidding. Below is a similar recipe from The Grand Master, James Beard, who embraced the Cuisinart whole heartedly. Mother's variation on this is even quicker - no egg, and she doesn't even roll the crust, and it is splendid. I used it here with a strawberry pie (mmmm!!!) 

Easy crust, yummy quiche - a total hit at brunch! 

Banana Soup

Every Mother's Day I like to make something that my mom used to make for me, and today I offer the simplest treat which, you will find, is also one of the best. The combination of OJ and banana elevates the flavors of both and will light up your morning! I love you, Mom.

Banana Soup:

1 Banana, sliced
1 cup fresh-squeezed Orange Juice

* Pour OJ over sliced bananas in a bowl, and eat with a spoon

Like cereal, but BETTER.