CHD: Boiled Cider Pie

I have dropped Daring bakers for this. Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World. There were just too many cakes, too much chocolate, and too expensive ingredients for me to keep doing Daring Bakers, but I like making a new dessert once a month. So I am doing a recipe a month from Richard Sax's 'Classic Home Desserts'

Here is how it works, I pick the chapter (random number) and Indra picks the recipe that sounds good to her. I then make it, but smaller (there is just two of us) and a second time with a variation. If anyone wants in on the fun email me and I will let you know what I am doing this month.

In September I did Boiled Cider Pie and Boiled Pom Pie for variation. The hardest part was making the boiled cider / pom because no where did it tell me exactly what consistency I was looking for (1/10 to 1/20 seams to be the consensus). So I settled for molasses thickness, next time I think I will go for a more syrupy product.

Boiled Cider

Take a whole bunch of pure apple cider/juice (no extra sugar, vitamins or chemicals, just apple) and simmer, do not boil!, until it is the desired consistency. Or use apple juice concentrate. Repeat for the POM Syrup.

Boiled Cider Pie
Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax
serves 8+, preheat oven to 375

1 pie crust
2/3 cup boiled cider
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pinch salt
2 large eggs well beaten
2 tart apples, such as granny smith, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
fresh nutmeg
whipped cream for serving

Roll out your pie dough and place in pie plate, turn edge under and make it pretty then chill in the fridge.

In bowl beat together Boiled Cider, Sugar, Melted Butter, Lemon Juice, Salt and Eggs. Add the grated apple and stir to blend well.

Pour into pie crust, sprinkle with brown sugar and nutmeg and bake until the center is just set, usually about 50 minutes.

Cool until just warm and serve.

Tempers Take:
As I was mixing this up I realized it is basically a fruit based pecan pie. which made me think. I have alot of ideas for this in the future, can you imagine a peach version?

The boiled cider was a revelation and I have plenty left and lots of ideas (including Xmas gifts) It made the house smell so good while it was cooking, but I let it boil at the end and it got a little brown taste (a good excuse to do it again).

I made little tarts instead of a pie and made half apple and half POM. The apple was good but not spectacular, The POM was interesting, it turned out pretty tart and definitely needed the whipped cream to mellow it out. Indra and I agreed while it was good the POM would have been spectacular with chocolate, oh well a project for another time.

R2R: Boeuf Bourguignon

This month to celebrate Julia Child's Birthday and the release of the movie 'Julie and Julia' Recipes to Rival did Boeuf Bourguignon. Honestly the hardest part of this challenge was learning to pronounce it. I still mangle it, but I think a french person might possibly recognize what I am saying.

Boeuf Bourguignon
Yield: For 6 people

Ingredients

A 6-ounce chunk of bacon
1 Tb olive oil or cooking oil
3 lbs. lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes (see Notes)
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 Tb flour
3 cups of a full-bodied, young red wine such as one of those suggested for serving, or a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock
1 Tb tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ tsp thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
The blanched bacon rind
18 to 24 small white onions, brown-braised in stock
1 lb. quartered fresh mushrooms sautéed in butter
Parsley sprigs

Directions
Remove bacon rind and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, ¼ inch thick and 1½ inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1½ quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2½ to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2½ cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.

Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

FOR IMMEDIATE SERVING: Cover the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

FOR LATER SERVING: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About I5 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

Notes
Equipment: A 9- to 10-inch fireproof casserole 3 inches deep and a slotted spoon

Cuts of Meat for Stewing:
The better the meat, the better the stew. While cheaper and coarser cuts may be used, the following are most recommended. Count on one pound of boneless meat, trimmed of fat, for two people; three if the rest of the menu is large.

First choice: Rump Pot Roast (Pointe de Culotte or Aiguillette de Rumsteck)

Other choices: Chuck Pot Roast (Paleron or Macreuse a Pot-au-feu), Sirloin Tip (Tranche Grasse), Top Round (Tende de Tranche), or Bottom Round (Gîte a la Noix).

Vegetable and Wine Suggestions:
Boiled potatoes are traditionally served with this dish. Buttered noodles or steamed rice may be substituted. If you also wish a green vegetable, buttered peas would be your best choice. Serve with the beef a fairly full-bodied, young red wine, such as Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux-St. Émilion, or Burgundy.

Temper's Take:
This was a big hit at our house despite my using Indra's 'Good' wine. The sauce in particular was scrumptious! as Indra said 'Just give me a bowl of the sauce and I would be happy'. She is even coming to appreciate a good mushroom now that I am figuring out how to cook a good mushroom.

What I learned... When browning meat do a very little at a time, make sure it is very dry and the pan very hot. Wine must be a whole lot cheaper than here for them to cook with it so much. Cooking with wine tastes good! I learned to brown braise onions, and see alot more of this technique in my future.

The wine... Shooting Star Cabernet Sauvignon Lake County 2006 very full bodied, very good. Indra was not happy that I used the last of it and I predict a shopping trip in the future.

some day i swear I will learn to take good pictures. Someday