Stay for Tea

I made my first pie (not just from scratch, but ever) recently. Somehow I thought starting off easy would be making an apple & port wine pie in a cheddar cheese crust. A lofty undertaking, some said, but I thought the recipe was very straight forward. The apple filling recipe ended up being one that popped up all over the web, with slight adjustments, and the cheddar crust was from Martha Stewart, although I didn’t use white cheddar, which is why my crust looks more speckled with cheese.

What’s not easy as pie? This whole blogging business. I’m so impressed with my friends, offline and on the web, who consistently come up with interesting content, have fresh designs, or are just driven by inspiration so much that their creative well doesn’t run dry. Stay tuned for a follow-up post where I delve in depth into: why am I compelled to write, in general; why lack of creative self-discipline is standing in my way; and why I need some help pushing through the writing block hurdles. For now, here’s pie.

Apple-port pie with cheddar cheese crust

For pie filling:

• 1 1/2 c. Sugar
• 1/4 c. Cornstarch
• 2/3 c. Apple juice
• 2/3 c. Port wine
• 2 Tbsp. Butter/margarine
• 1 x Lemon peel, grated
• 8 med Cooking apples, peeled and sliced, (7-8 C.)

For crust:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 4 ounces cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Mix flour, salt, sugar and butter until mix resembles coarse meal. Stir in the cheddar cheese.
2. Add in water gradually and mix lightly with fork to create dough.
3. Turn dough out; gather into a block. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes – 1 hr.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
5. While dough is cooling, for the filling, peel, core and dice apples.
6. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a large saucepan.
7. Stir in apple juice, port, butter and lemon peel.
8. Cook over medium heat till mix boils; add in apples and cook gently till just tender.
9. Divide pastry in half and roll out one half to fit a 9-inch pie pan (roughly a 13″ circle).
10. Roll second half of pastry and cut into ten 1/2-inch strips, place on waxed parchment paper and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.
11. Spoon into bottom pie crust. Dot filling with butter. Cover with lattice crust. Fold edges over; crimp decoratively to seal.
12. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, on lower rack, pie pan placed on baking sheet. Reduce temp to 350 and bake until golden brown for 45 minutes or so.

(adapted/modified from a ReadyMade.com recipe)
A very filling, delicious salad full of good-for-you ingredients. I feel that some of the measurements on the ReadyMade website are a bit off, when it comes to the amount of quinoa they suggest for the recipe. It also may depend on the type of quinoa, I suppose. However, having prepared 2 cups of quinoa I found myself with quite a bit of it that I couldn’t even put into the salad. So, if you want a nice balance of all the ingredients, follow my suggestions.

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa + 2 cups water (for the cooked quinoa)
1 tbsp dried hijiki
¼ cup diced red bell pepper
¼ cup diced carrot
½ tsp olive oil
2-3 cups shelled edamame (depends on how much you like it)
Dressing
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (I used black, but any sesame seeds will add good flavor)
1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp agave syrup/nectar
¼ tsp red/spicy sesame oil
dash of crushed chili pepper flakes
¼ tsp sea salt

1. Prepare the quinoa according to packaged instructions; set aside to cool
2. Soak hijiki in cold water for 30-40 minutes; rinse hijiki and simmer on low heat for another 10-15 minutes until just slightly soft; rinse in cold water and drain; set aside
3. Sauté the carrots and peppers in the olive oil and add to the quinoa.
4. Add the edamame to the quinoa.
5. Mix all the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl & add the drained hijiki.
6. Stir in the dressing and hijiki into the salad until well mixed.
7. (optional) Good garnish options: shredded dry nori, some more sea salt and sesame seeds