The world may not need another blog post about strawberry-rhubarb pie, but I need to write this one. Because it’s not just about pie, it’s about a pie for my dad. My dad has the misfortune of his birthday only being a week or so before Father’s Day, so we tend to lump the two together. Also he’s quite difficult to shop for, so we tend to… not shop for him. But this year I’m going to celebrate him properly – starting with this blog post, and a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie.

I become more and more grateful for my parents the older I get. Particularly this year as we prepare for our wedding, I don’t know where we would be without them. We’re getting married at their house in Maine, and my dad built us a barn, by hand, for the reception. It’s absolutely beautiful and so special to be celebrating at a place we both love. (Lest you think I’m even more spoiled than I am in reality, the barn, who’s primary purpose will be boat storage, was always in the long term house plan, just bumped up a few years). The long farm tables we’ll gather at will be my dad’s handiwork as well. Not to mention the hours of yard work and prep required to host a wedding!

The wedding is a big thing, but I’m grateful for all the little (and other not so little) things too. The emergency plumbing assistance when our pipes burst while we were in Portugal. Bringing us a piano rescued from a friary. The tax help phone call I make every year on April 14th. Driving me and a pile of my adult friends to and from our high school reunion last weekend when we did a little too much day-drinking. Teaching me how to play soccer and to sail, even though I never really fell in love with those things. Teaching me to play piano, which I do love.

My dad doesn’t like to sit still. He always has a dozen projects going on, and a “master plan” he’s ready to share with you. When we’re up in Maine, he can usually be found tractoring something or cutting down a tree – we (lovingly) call him The Onceler. He loves to be on the water, the reason we find ourselves with such a collection of boats. Some of my fondest memories of Maine are of early mornings out on the harbor, dad at Clifford’s helm, skimming the ocean’s surface while its still glassy, looking for dolphins.

I could go on, but the point is, my dad is a good guy. Some might say a Great Man. And it’s time to tell you about this the pie. My dad has always loved strawberry-rhubarb pie, but after many attempts deemed “a little too soupy” my mother refuses to make any more. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is an amazing cook, and she’s particularly good at baking pies. But strawberry-rhubarb pie is just not her thing.

So I’ve taken the baton from her and am the strawberry-rhubarb pie baker this year. Actually, I made two pies – one to take to my dad last weekend, and one to share here. I added raspberries to both, making this a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie, and did my best at a lattice crust. Trevor is a bit persnickety about these things but I think even he approves of this lattice. The filling is still a little bit loose – I’m not sure there’s a way around that – but holds together well enough to slice neatly. Just make sure you don’t cut into it right away, as it needs several hours post-baking to set up properly.

Happy birthday and happy father’s day, dad! I love you and I hope my pie was up to snuff.

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie

A not-too-soupy, not-too-firm Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie with a lattice crust and a hint of vanilla.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Sally’s Baking Addiction.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 8-10
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 TBS) salted butter, cold
• 2 eggs
• 4 TBS ice cold water
• 1 1/4 lbs rhubarb, sliced in half inch slices (about 4 cups)
• 1  lb strawberries, sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 lb raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup tapioca granules
• 2 TBS whole milk, for brushing the pie crust

Instructions

1. Make the pie crust: In a large bowl, mix the flour and sea salt together. Cut the cold butter into the bowl in small pieces, aiming for about 1/2 TBS per piece. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly with pea-size pieces of butter. Whisk together the eggs and the ice cold water in a small bowl until evenly combined. Add about half of the egg mixture to the flour and use a fork to quickly mix, moistening as much of the flour as you can. Test to see if the dough will hold together when pressed. If not, continue stirring in a splash of the egg mixture at a time until the dough just barely holds together when gathered into a ball. Once the dough holds together, stop adding the liquid, form into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until thoroughly chilled, at least 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the filling: Add the sliced rhubarb, sliced strawberries, raspberries, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, white sugar, and tapioca granules to a large bowl. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until all of the filling ingredients are fully mixed and the fruit is coated with sugar. Set the filling aside.
3. Make the pie: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a flat work surface for rolling out the dough by putting a dusting of flour on the work surface and on a rolling pin. Divide the dough into two pieces – one that uses 2/3 of the dough and the other that uses 1/3 of the dough. Roll the larger pieces out into a large circle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Carefully transfer this piece of dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Very lightly press the dough into the pie plate so that it the dough is touching all of the sides of the pan. You should have at least a half inch of overhang on all sides.
4. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie crust, taking care to fill the pie evenly and remove as many air gaps as possible by spreading the fruit around. Roll the second piece of pie dough out into a circle and cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern on the top of the pie. You may need to adjust pieces of the filling as you work to get the lattice strips to lay flat. Once you are happy with the lattice, gently press the lattice pieces into the edges of the lower pie crust, then trim the crust, leaving just a little bit of overhang (the crust will shrink as it bakes – press the overhang under the rim of the pie pan if you want it to stay all the way to the edge).
5. Use a pastry brush to brush all of the exposed pie crust lightly with milk. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, an additional 60 minutes. Let cool completely, preferably overnight, before serving.

Notes

I have made this pie with both tapioca granules and cornstarch. Both help stabilize the filling, but neither is perfect. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

Letting this pie sit for several hours before slicing it will help reduce soupiness.

The post Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

September is here and I’m thrilled by it. This month has been the light at the end of the very long tunnel of this year. I’ll be here all month, it’s the beginning of my favorite season, we’ve settled into the new house enough that it feels exciting to work on it instead of overwhelming, and, did I mention, I’ll be here all month? NO AIRPLANES.

We’re off to a good start, September and I. I took Friday off to get organized before going into the long weekend, and take care of a few things that I’ve been meaning to do for months: giving the house a thorough cleaning, ordering office furniture, processing the huge backlog of blog receipts I have, etc. Friday night we went out with good friends – it was cool enough to wear jeans and there was a back-to-school buzz in Harvard. I had one too many glasses of wine and had a great time. Saturday when I woke up there was a pleasant chill in the air – the kind that makes you snuggle a little longer in bed and revel in the simple pleasures of a good sweatshirt and a bowl of apple pie oatmeal. We did yardwork all day and then had my mom over for a big pile of pulled pork. Today we spent at the beach, soaking up the still-strong sun and finally-warm-enough water. And there’s still an entire day of the weekend left to enjoy!

I have a few things I’m focused on this month. First and foremost, I want to enjoy myself and relax, spending as much quality time with Trevor and with friends as I can. Second, I have to get rid of this travel weight, so long fall runs and healthy meals are in order. And third, I’m going to get this blog back up and running! It’s been a slow summer here on Katie at the Kitchen Door, and I mean to make up for that with plenty of delicious new recipes in the next few months. It will help that, with the arrival of our new stove next Friday, we’ll finally have a fully functional kitchen… and temperatures that make us feel like cooking again.

So here’s a fall drink to celebrate the arrival of this lovely month. A few weeks ago I was doing some recipe development for a client that involved figs and bourbon and I decided to set aside some of both to make a fig-and-vanilla-infused bourbon. Now that it’s ready I wanted to showcase it in a simple twist on a classic old fashioned, adding a splash of maple liqueur and a twist of orange to the bourbon and topping it off with a little club soda. It’s stronger and less sweet than my typical cocktail choices but it feels just right for fall – dark and brooding and featuring one of fall’s most sensual fruits.

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Fig-Bourbon Old Fashioned

Serves 1.

• 1 sugar cube
• Dash of bitters
• Chilled club soda
• 2 oz. fig-and-vanilla-infused Bourbon (recipe below)
• 1 oz. maple liqueur
• ice
• 1 orange twist
• 1 maraschino cherry

1. Place the sugar cube in a short glass. Top with the bitters and a splash of club soda and use a muddler to stir/smash until the sugar cube is dissolved. Add the Bourbon and the maple liqueur and stir to combine. Add ice to fill the glass and garnish with the orange twist and maraschino cherry. Top off with more club soda if desired.

Fig-and-Vanilla-Infused Bourbon

Adapted from Bourbon and Toast.

• 2 c. Bourbon
• 6 figs, washed and halved
• 1/2 vanilla bean

1. Place the figs and vanilla bean in a sterilized pint jar. Top with the Bourbon and seal the jar with a lid. Place in a cool dry place out of direct light and let sit for 2-4 weeks, until the Bourbon has taken on the color and flavor of the figs.

The post Welcome, September // Fig Bourbon Old-Fashioned appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The first thing I did with our strawberries was make jam. I know that for many people, jam is sort of a last resort thing, something they turn to when they’ve run out of ideas and their fruit is on its last legs. But I’ve been dreaming about filling my pantry with jars of strawberry jam, made from our very own strawberries, since the middle of winter, so for me getting a batch of jam on the shelves was my first priority. Canning still makes me a little nervous, but with every batch of preserving I get a bit more confident. This time around, I veered ever so slightly from the recipe I was using (Paul Virant’s Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam recipe from The Preservation Kitchen), adding a little bit more sugar (which, from what I understand, is basically always safe to do), and a whole vanilla bean. The resulting jam is sweet but not saccharine, loose but not runny, and very elegant. I only wish 2 pounds of strawberries made more than 3 little pint jars! It’s going to be torture to wait until fall to open the others, even though I know I’ll appreciate them much more when the prospect of meals based mainly on kale and sweet potatoes starts looming.

Of course, as delicious as jam is out of the jar, it’s still a condiment, and you typically need to serve it on something. As I waited for my canning jars to seal, my mind wandered off somewhere along the lines of “If you give a moose a muffin…” until it settled on black pepper buttermilk biscuits as the most appropriate companion for my strawberry pinot jam. Upon comparing a number of different biscuit recipes, I determined that the basic, accepted buttermilk biscuit recipe uses approximately the following ratio: 2 cups flour + 2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1 stick butter + 1 c. buttermilk, with a bit of variation from author to author. I followed this general guideline, used the frozen grated butter trick and added a few hefty teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper, and the resulting biscuits nearly stole the show from my poor jam. But really, they’re best together – cold and sweet strawberry jam filling in the nooks and crannies of hot and flaky buttery biscuits. And if for some strange reason you get tired of that combo, my next recommendation is to use these biscuits as a vehicle for bacon-egg-avocado sandwiches, with vanilla ice cream and strawberry jam for dessert, of course. Really, you can’t go wrong.

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Strawberry, Pinot Noir, and Vanilla Jam

Adapted from The Preservation Kitchen. Makes 3 half-pint jars.

• 2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1 1/4 c. plus 2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 (750ml) bottle of Pinot Noir
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 vanilla bean

1. In a wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the strawberries, sugar, wine and lemon juice. Split the vanilla bean down the middle, scraping the seeds into the berry mixture, then adding the bean pod. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the strawberries have released some of their juices. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate overnight or for up to 3 days to allow the berries to continue macerating.
2. On the day you will can the jam, fill a large pot or canner with water and bring to a simmer. Scald 4 half-pint jars in the hot water to sterilize, leaving them there and a gentle simmer until you are ready to can. Soak your lids and rings in hot water to soften the seals, and sterilize your other equipment.
3. Strain the juices from the berries into a large pot, reserving the fruit on the side. Place the juices over medium high heat and cook until they have reduced by half and have reached a temperature of 215°F, about 25 minutes. Add the fruit back to the juices and continue to cook, skimming any foam off the surface with a ladle, until the mixture has reached 212°F, another 15-20 minutes. If you don’t have a thermometer, test the consistency of a jam by dropping a few drops of liquid on a frozen plate – if the chilled liquid gels, then your jam is ready.
4. Drain the hot water from your jars, and place the hot jars on the counter. Use a funnel to fill the hot jars with the hot jam, leaving a 1/2 inch space between the top of the jam and the rim of the jar. Wipe the rim with a clean paper towel, then place the lids on the jars, and screw the rings on until snug but not tight. Use canning tongs to transfer the jars back into the simmering water, increase the heat to a boil, then boil the jars for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for a few minutes, then remove the jars from the water and let cool completely. Listen for a pop as you remove the jars from the water – that indicates a seal has properly been formed. Note: Do not process any jars that are only partially full – it is only safe to process full jars. Any partially full jars should be stored in the fridge and eaten within a few weeks.

Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes 12-15 biscuits.

• 2 c. AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 stick salted butter, frozen
• 1 c. cold buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper. Grate frozen butter over the coarse holes of a box grater, then add the grated butter to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to gently toss the grated butter with the flour, fully coating the butter.
2. Pour the buttermilk into the flour mixture, and use a fork to gently mix them together, just until the dough is moistened. Don’t overmix. Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough 2-3 times, just until it comes together, then flatten into a disk that is 1/2 an inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter (about 2-inches in diameter) to cut out biscuits, pressing the scraps together when you’ve run out of room to create a smaller disk. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Chill the biscuits in the fridge for 20 minutes, then transfer to the preheated oven. Bake until puffed and golden brown on the top and sides, about 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

The post Ingredient of the Week: Strawberries // Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits with Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.