HERE COMES SUMMER! SOLSTICE SUPPER ~ GRILLED FLANK STEAK with MORAN STEAK SAUCE / MUSHROOM PIE with SOUR CREAM CRUST

~ Another pretty face 'Sunray' (Lilium)

"In June and July, just when the sun would have its day without a border, out come these bright yellow mimics, faces jubilantly upturned, eight to twenty to a 2-foot stem. A very few dark spots mark the center of the flower, and its petal edges have a random curl. 'Sunray' produces numerous secondary buds, which extend its blooming season considerably."

A BOOK of LILIES (Mark Smith)

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GRILLED FLANK STEAK with MORAN SAUCE

~ Steak, one of the ultimate staples for summer, comes flavorful and succulent when prepared properly. This 40 year old recipe will fill the bill for fun summer dining.

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1 1/2 lb. flank steak

1/2 cup chopped red or sweet onion

4 cloves minced garlic

1/3 cup red wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. fresh minced ginger (1/2 tsp. ground)

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

• Combine onions, garlic, wine, soy sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, olive oil and black pepper. Pour marinade over steak (in large sealable bag or small container). Marinate 24 hours.
• Let stand at room temperature. Remove steak from marinade.
• Grill on high, covered, for 3 minutes per side (rare) or 4 minutes per side (medium rare). Remove and let rest 5-7 minutes. Good alone or prepare Moran Sauce to spoon over meat.

MORAN STEAK SAUCE

~ Retro and wonderful (if not watching weight)

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1/4 lb. butter

2 heaping Tbsp. Heinz 57 sauce

1 Tbsp. chopped chives

1 tsp. chopped parsley

(sauteed mushrooms, optional if not making Mushroom Pie)

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MUSHROOM PIE with SOUR CREAM CRUST

~ A delicious side for steak (don't count the calories)

from a clipped November 2006 Bon Appetit

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Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup sour cream

Filling:

3 Tbsp. butter

2 1/2 cup chopped onions

8 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms (1 1/2 - 1 3/4 lbs.)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme

1 8-oz. package (room temperature) cream cheese, cut into cubes

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp. milk (for glaze)

• Crust: Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add butter and cut in with fork until it looks like coarse meal. Add sour cream and stir until dough comes together. Shape dough into disk; dived into 2 pieces (1 about 2/3 of dough) and (1 about 2/3 of dough). Roll larger piece on lightly floured surface to 14-inch round. Transfer to 10-inch glass pie dish and trim overhang. Roll remaining to 12-inch round and place onto baking sheet. Cut into 1-inch wide strips for top lattice. Chill crust at least 30 minutes.
• Filling: Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add onions and saute until soft and golden, about 6 minutes. Add mushrooms and thyme. Saute until mushrooms are tender and release juices, abut 6 minutes. (Can be made ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm over medium heat before continuing). Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
• Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Spoon filling into crust. Top pie with strips in lattice pattern. Fold strip ends and overhang under. Crimp edge decoratively. Brush lattice with glaze.
• Bake pie until crust is golden brown and filling is heated through, about 45 minutes. Cool pie 30 minutes before serving.

RING IN THE NEW YEAR! ~ TOURTIERE (French Canadian Meat Pie)

TOURTIERE

(French~Canadian Meat Pie)

Originally ‘tourtieres’ were made with large birds, called ‘tourtes’ until these became extinct. According to some authorities, some tourtiere recipes obtained their name from the deep baking dish (tourtiere) in which they were baked. Since the disappearance of tourtes, fresh pork or a mixture of different kinds of meat is used in this food specialty.

--Yvon Paul

In France the tourtiere pie-dish was a kitchen utensil f or cooking pigeon and other birds. The contents of the dish were known as ‘piece tourtiere’ and during the first years in New France these distinctive words were used. Over the years the word ‘tourtiere’ came to mean a pate of fowl or game cooked and seasoned according to a special household recipe in the family stew pan, for into it went not merely turtle-doves but every kind of edible bird. Every housewife possessed her own secret recipe, jealously preserved from generation to generation. It was in this way that some venturesome housewives began to prepare ‘pieces tou-tieres’ not only with birds but with the meat of both wild and domestic animals. Such recipes held additional appeal since they provided more filling and sustaining meals.

--Daily Life In Early Canada

( quotes from The American French Genealogical Society of

Woonsocket, RI. cookbook ...

Je Me Souviens...La Cuisine De La Grandmere)

"Come quickly, I'm tasting the stars!"

~ Dom Perignon, at the moment of his discovery of champagne

TRADITIONAL PASTRY FOR TWO LARGE PIES

3 cups unbleached flour

1 cup vegetable shortening like Crisco (lard for the purest)

1 scant tsp. salt

1 large beaten egg

1 Tbsp. vinegar

ice water

Place flour, salt, and shortening in food processor or large bowl. Process with machine or pastry blender until mixture resembles course corn meal. In large glass measuring cup, beat the egg. Add vinegar and enough ice water to equal 1/2 cup. Pour over flour mixture. Blend only until dough holds together in a ball. Shape dough into thick, flat rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until easy to handle (about 1 hour).

Note: Skip the ABOVE and head for the refrigerated section at the market. Purchase Pillsbury Pie Crusts ... unroll (dust with 1 Tbsp. flour), spread into pie pan, flute, fill and bake. Not as good as above but ...

FILLING

(for deep dish)

3 pounds freshly (twice ground) lean pork ~ fresh ham or loin is best

1 large chopped Spanish or sweet onion

2 plump cloves minced garlic

3 medium potatoes ~ peeled, boiled and mashed

2 heaping Tbsp. summer savory

1 heaping Tbsp. thyme

1 heaping Tbsp. poultry seasoning

1 heaping tsp. sage

1 heaping tsp. cracked pepper

1 tsp. Lawrey's seasoned pepper

1/2 tsp. coarse salt

Saute pork in large heavy skillet over medium high heat. When brown, drain fat, reserving 2 Tbsp. Add onion and garlic and continue cooking until wilted. Season with herbs, pepper and salt. Add mashed potatoes which should absorb any remaining liquid. Mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside.

Place filling in prepared rolled out and positioned pie crust. Top with crust, flute and cut in venting slits. (Idea: Turkey slits for Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree slits, date slits of New Year). Brush with egg wash (1 beaten egg plus 1 Tbsp. water). Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 15 minutes before serving or freeze when cooled. (Thaw before reheating in 325 degree oven about 40 minutes. Cover gently with foil if crust becomes too brown.) Serve with Traditional Cranberry Sauce.

(serves 6-8)

~ this recipe has been gently adapted from the original that dates back several generations. In our home we bastardized the name and pronounced it “toutcaire”.

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TRADITIONAL CRANBERRY SAUCE

1 - 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

grated zest from oranges

Rinse cranberries and pick off stems. Combine sugar and orange juice in medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Add cranberries and zest and boil gently until cranberries begin to pop, about 7 minutes.

SCALLOPED SCALLOPS (or oysters)

2 1/2 pounds Bay scallops

1/4 pound sweet butter

2 cups Ritz cracker crumbs

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1 cup medium cream

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add cracker crumbs, bread crumbs and parsley. Toss lightly. Sprinkle layer of buttered crumbs mixture into oval quart baking dish. Top evenly with scallops.

Mix together cream and mustard. Pour evenly over scallops. Top with remaining crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly.

PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM TORTE

Bake your favorite brownie recipe according to directions. (Hard to beat GHIRARDELLI TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWIES PREMIUM MIX) When cool, press into PAM sprayed springform pan, reserving a few crumbles for the top. Spoon in 1 half gallon premium peppermint ice cream. Top with reserved crumbled brownies.

THANKSGIVING TREAT ~ WONDERFUL PUMPKIN PIE

~THANKSGIVING TREAT ~

- save room for this!

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( Quoted by Kay Thompson in A COOK'S ALPHABET of QUOTATIONS ~ " You have to eat oatmeal* or you'll dry up. Anybody knows that.)

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WONDERFUL PUMPKIN PIE

Crunchy crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup quick oats*

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sweet (unsalted) butter

Combine all ingredients and cut with pastry cutter until crumbly. Press into pie shell. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling:

2 cups pumpkin puree

3 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup half and half

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

Beat eggs and both sugars until fluffy. Add pumpkin and spices. Whisk in cream and half and half. Pour into above pre-baked pie shell. Bake 25 minutes and add topping.

Topping:

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp. sweet (unsalted) butter

Combine ingredients and sprinkle over pie. Bake 20 minutes or until filling set (knife inserted comes out clean).

* optional: depending on oven, may want to stick under broiler for additional minute for a rich brown topping.

DEEP DISH DUTCH APPLE PIE

DEEP DISH DUTCH APPLE PIE

"Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness."

~ Jane Austen

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(October is the best month for apples ...
do yourself a favor and make a pie. If you choose,
omit the crust and make apple crisp.)

• 1 10-inch unbaked deep dish pie shell
  
  Topping:
  
  1 1/2 cups flour
  2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  2/3 cup sweet butter
  
  Filling:
  
  7-9 large baking apples (Northern Spy best)
  2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  3 Tbsp. flour
  3/4 cup sugar
  1 heaping tsp. cinnamon
  dash salt
  dots of butter
  
  Make topping: Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter
  with pastry blender until mixture is consistency
  of coarse cornmeal. Set aside.
  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  Make filling: Core apples and pare, slicing into large bowl.
  Sprinkle with lemon juice.
  Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt.
  Toss with apples. Turn into unbaked pie shell
  distributing evenly. Dot with butter. Cover with topping.
  Bake 45 to 60 minutes (apples bubbling).
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