Hands on - Lemon Meringue Pie

I have three dozen eggs in my refrigerator right now and all of them were produced by personal friends.  Well, really by their chickens.  I am a lucky girl.  I am talking eggs with high, rounded bright yellow-orange yolks.  Eggs with firm whites that hold together.  No runny whites all over the frying pan for me.  These eggs give new meaning to the term "tighty whities."

One of the signs of spring is the increase in egg production of laying hens whose lives are lived in accordance with natural light cycles.  So this time of year - just in time for Easter - I have more eggs around. One thing I like to do with them is make omelets with early season spinach and green onions.  Another good use for eggs is lemon meringue pie.

Lemon meringue pie is my favorite.  I like it even more than rhubarb pie, which for the wife of a man with 148 rhubarb plants is saying something.  Making it is a project, no doubt about it.  It requires skills (e.g. making a pre- baked crust) and equipment (a rolling pin, an electric mixer or a balloon whisk and patience, a fine grater and citrus reamer, a double boiler).  It is worth it.

You might ask, Why go to all the trouble when you can buy a lemon meringue pie?  My answer:  your chances of finding a commercial pie that tastes like a lemon pie should taste are about 1 in 500.  You owe it to yourself and your family to at least experience the flavors and textures of a real homemade lemon meringue pie.  You might decide that it is so much work that you will never make it again.  But you will go to your grave knowing the  difference between good and evil - at least where lemon meringue pie is concerned.

Or you might decide to make lemon meringue pie once a year in honor of spring or Easter.  Like plum pudding at Christmas or potato salad on the Fourth of July.  That would be a nice tradition to start.  Or you might like it so much you will make it once a month or bring it to every potluck you are invited to.  Who knows how this pie might change your life?

This recipe for lemon meringue pie is my own.  I consulted six favorite cookbooks to come up with my unique proportions of sugar, lemon juice, etc.  I have to tell you I still struggle with meringue.  I haven't figured out how to keep the little beads of sugar syrup from forming on the top.  If you eat it up within a day this should not be a problem.  And even if your meringue does "weep" a bit (that is the scientific name for the little liquid drops) who cares?  The pie will still taste great.

 Peggy's Lemon Meringue Pie

The crust
You need to make a pre-baked pie crust.  I just use my favorite pie pastry recipe (I like lard).  I put it in a glass pie pan, line the crust lightly with some foil and put a few cups of dry beans on top to hold down the crust while it bakes at about 400 degrees.  After about 15 minutes I carefully remove the foil and beans and put the empty crust back in the oven.  Bake until the crust is just pale brown.  Cool.

The filling
I mix the following ingredients (I add the butter at the very end after the filling thickens) in the top of a double boiler, whisking well to remove lumps. (You could also do this in a nonreactive saucepan nested inside a large pan containing water.)  Put the filling over boiling water and cook, stirring often, until the filling thickens.  This may take awhile.  Be patient.  If you rush this you will have a curdled lumpy filling.)  After the filling thickens, I pour into another pie pan so it comes to room temperature faster.  Once the filling is lukewarm, stir in a few spoonfuls of the unbaked meringue and then pour into the prebaked pie shell.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon juice (3-4 lemons depending on how juicy they are)
1 T. finely grated lemon zest (add an extra teaspoon or two if you like a lot of lemon flavor)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 t. salt
2 T. butter

The meringue - make this when the filling is almost lukewarm.
Make sure your egg whites are at room temperature and there is not even a speck of fat or egg yolk in the whites or on the beater bowl.  Add 1/4 t. salt and 1/4 t. cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat at high speed. When they start getting foamy, slowly add the sugar while still beating.  Add 1/2 t, vanilla at the very end - when stiff peaks have formed.
Pile the meringue on top of the lukewarm filling, being careful to spread the meringue to the edges of the filling so it bonds to the crust.
Bake at 325 degrees about 15 minutes, until meringue is lightly browned.
Cool.  Then refrigerate at least an hour to firm up the filling.  (This is where the meringue might cry on you.  I just don't know what to do about that.  Into every life some rain must fall.)

Here are step by step pictures to inspire and instruct.

Mise en place for lemon pie filling and meringue

A microplane works great if you need fine zest

A double boiler will help prevent curdling.  If it is taking forever, turn up the heat a bit.  Stir often.  You will know when it is thickened.  It is the magic of cornstarch, egg yolks and heat.

What a nice yellow spring color.  Eggs and lemon make a nice pair.

Pre baking a crust is not easy.  But it is a great skill to have.

I love my kitchen aid stand mixer.

Add a few tablespoons of meringue to the filling before pouring into the crust.

Drop the meringue in little piles so it is easier to spread.

Make sure the meringue goes all the way to the crust all the way around.

I can hardly wait until the pie is cool.  Lessons in deferred gratification.

Winter hardy bunching onions - spring is here

 I know spring is here when the sorrel and chive plants on the east and south sides of our house are about 6 inches high.  When the first nubs of the rhubarb leaves push up through the soil.  And when Frank brings home a big clump of bunching onions. Between the fresh onions and preserved food in our pantry, we are still managing to prepare some nice homegrown meals even though not much is happening in the garden yet.

The onions were such a nice surprise this morning.  Some girls like roses.  Me -  a clump of white and green spring onions with some mud still clinging to the roots is the best bouquet I know.  Right about now I am ready for something green from the garden.  I still have a few parsnips and potatoes and one large beet in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.  They will be eaten and enjoyed.   But the Featherstone cabbage, radishes, carrots and our homemade sauerkraut are all gone.  I actually bought some romaine lettuce at the store last week.  I couldn't help it.  I needed something green and crunchy. 

Green spring onions can be used in many ways - in an omelet, fried rice or added to a salad.  My mother loves them plain, with a little salt and a glass of cold beer.  I decided to be more ambitious today because I needed to make a dish for a potluck.  I cooked up a big pot of polenta.  Then I made a morel mushroom sauce to layer with the cooked polenta and some thinly sliced white cheddar cheese. 

Those of us fortunate enough to live in SE Minnesota near the Big Woods have access to morel mushrooms every May if we are willing to tramp through the woods with our eyes wide open.  In our house we usually have more than we can eat fresh so Frank dries them - slowly - at room temperature under a ceiling fan and finishes them off in baskets sitting in a sunny open window (screened).  I poured some boiling water on about 1 1/2 cups of the dried beauties.  After they were soft I strained the water (dried morels often have a little grit in them), saving it for the sauce.

Read the captions to these pictures to see how I made the sauce.  It is simple to layer it with some polenta in a casserole dish and then bake it. 

Mise en place for mushroom sauce: green onions, shallots, dried morel mushrooms, white cheddar cheese and olive oil

I cooked a big pot of polenta - made from Roy's Calais flint corn, ground in our Kitchenaid mixer grain mill attachment

Chopped Evergreen Hardy White Bunching onions - the most winter hardy bunching onion.  These are from onions first planted 6/2009.  They have overwintered two years.  Need to eat them now - they will be too woody later

Chopped shallots from our garden.  Why are store shallots so expensive?

See the grit?  That's why I strained the mushroom soaking water

This is one nice pile of reconstituted dried morels.  I am guessing they have a street value of about $60.  We got them for free.  Well, Frank got a few scratches from brambles- so he did pay some price.  But worth it.

I sauteed chopped shallots, green onions (the white part) and some bell pepper in olive oil.  Then I added about 2 T. flour and cooked it well.  Then added 1 1/2 cups liquid - strained mushroom soaking liquid, milk and cream.

First a layer of polenta.  Then some mushroom cream sauce.  Then some chopped green onion tops.  Then thin sliced cheese (white cheddar is what I used.)

Close up of the sauce before I added the cheese.  Bake in a moderate oven until heated through.

Cooking for love

I am not a theologian, philosopher or intellectual.  (My regular readers already know this.)  But I do like to ponder the big questions:  What is the meaning of life?  Is there a God?  Why cook when there is Schwans?  Or Lean Cuisine?

Why cook?  This is a good question.  Most people are really busy working, taking care of children and elders, commuting, watching reality TV and NCAA basketball or mowing their lawns.  Why should they stand at the sink chopping and peeling when they can get a reasonably tasty and kind of nutritious footlong sandwich for five bucks?   Tens of millions of Americans answer this question every day.  Many - maybe a majority -  choose the footlong or an equivalent.  Something they believe to be quick, cheap and convenient.   But millions don't.  I wonder why. 

I think one reason people cook is for love.  Giving it.  Getting it.  Feeding people good food is a pretty good way to cement relationships.  It is a pretty good way to make beautiful memories.  It also is a way to pass skills and knowledge on to the younger generation.

I know this because I am somewhat of an aficionado of old lady funerals.   There are a lot of old ladies where I live and as they have taken their leave over the years I have often had the privilege of attending their memorial services.  And I have noticed that their families almost always talk about their cooking, with great love and appreciation.

The mother of a friend of mine died recently at age 94.  Her name was Evelyn Theresa Marzolf, but everybody called her Evie or simply Grandma.  She worked for 42 years at the grocery store in her town, finally retiring at age 82.  Yet she still found the time to cook and bake - and take her grandchildren fishing!  She was a petite little lady with a big heart.  I did not attend her funeral, but I did receive a copy of a lovely booklet prepared by her large extended family.  Here is some of what they said:

"Evie would always have a pan of fresh cinnamon rolls and a cup of strong coffee for us.  Thank you Evie for all you've taught me, baking, being kind, sharing all those wonderful recipes, and always showing us, not just telling how".

"Evie taught me so many things it is hard to really know where to start...Apple butter, cinnamon rolls, German sweet chocolate pies, apple pie, jams, jellies, how to split African violets."

"My memory of Evie is her wearing a short sleeve shirt and checkered double knit pants and cooking up some great food in the kitchen.  The best cook there ever was!"

"I remember how easy it was for her to feed everyone - what a good cook and baker she was.  No one every left her house hungry and always with a bag of treats."

"I learned how to make mincemeat from her."

"My favorite memory was when my Dad and I would come visit for Labor Day weekend and on that Sunday we would go to her beautiful church then walk back over to her house and she would make us her home made cinnamon rolls.  Wow were they delicious.  I would remember the smell when I would be on the plane to go back home and I couldn't wait for our next visit."

"You have created so many beautiful memories for all of us, from childhood all the way up to just a few weeks ago when I had another lesson on how to make pie crust.  You have taught me so many things ... not just about cooking and baking, but about life."

Rest in peace, Evie Marzolf, good home cook.

I Can't Get No Satisfaction

Mick Jagger has been eating chicken pot pie lately.  I hope he is satisfied.  According to the New York Times he is.  And so are his glitterati friends.  I predict that before long we will be reading about rhubarb pie being served at Paris fashion week.
Just remember - you read it here first.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/fashion/17noticed.html?_r=1

These kind of stories just kill me.  In my stodgy, comfortable and practical Midwestern kitchen, chicken pot pie has always been in style. I am so happy that all those skinny high strung celebrities are discovering the charms of pot pie.  Maybe they will be able to cut back on stimulants, anti-depressants and mood stabilizers. 

You do not have to go to fancy parties in New York to enjoy chicken pot pie.  You can make it at home.  Here's how:

Chicken Pot Pie (serves six)
  3 cups cooked chicken, cut in medium sized chunks
 (buy a whole chicken and poach it in some water with carrot onion, celery, bay leaf, salt and a few cloves and peppercorns.  You will end up with not only lots of chicken for pot pie or chicken salad or other dishes, you will have some nice homemade chicken broth.)

About six cups vegetables cooked just until tender and not mushy - peas and carrots and maybe a few potatoes are a traditional choice.  But you can substitute your favorites or what is available and in season.  Asparagus and fresh mushrooms would be nice. Or a combination of root vegetables like parsnip, carrot and rutabaga.  Or spinach and green onions.

About 4 cups bechamel, or white sauce.
Don't know how to do this?  See this post. http://cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com/2010/09/hands-on-bechamel.html


Fold together the chicken, vegetables and bechamel.  Put into one large fairly flat baking dish or six individual baking dishes.

Prepare your favorite pastry.  Roll out into one piece big enough to cover the large dish or six pieces to cover the individual dishes.  Place gently on top, pressing the pastry against the edge of the baking dish to seal.  Slash the top in a few places to let steam escape.

Bake at about 425 degrees until pastry is lightly browned and contents are bubbling hot.  Serve.

Note - you can use biscuit dough instead of pie pastry for the crust.  Pat thin and place on top - leave a little space around the edges. 

Hands On: Spinach and Steak Salad

Spring is almost here - that means salads with fresh and local greens are almost here too.  Are you ready?  Do you have a good supply of your favorite kinds of oil and vinegar on hand?  And some Dijon mustard and maybe some shallots or garlic?  Kosher salt?  Fresh ground pepper?

Yesterday Frank and I attended the annual Local Food Expo in Winona, Minnesota.  There was a great winter farmers market and we got to do a cooking demonstration.  Frank showed different knife sharpening techniques and sliced up a beautiful pile of steak to add to the salad we made.  (The meat was purchased - frozen - at the Lanesboro Local retail store in Lanesboro.  It was raised at Hodgson Farm and cooked to medium rare perfection by Lanesboro Pastry Shoppe chef Brett Stecher the day before.  Who says corn fed tastes best?  Not me.)

I brought along a few bags of beautiful overwintered greenhouse spinach from Featherstone Farm and showed the audience how quick and easy it is to wash, dry and store fresh salad greens.  I also showed the group how easy it is to mix up some good olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and chopped shallots in a large bowl.  I tossed the oil mixture with the spinach right in the bowl and then added just a bit of sherry vinegar to finish the dressing.  And - I confess - I vehemently discouraged people from using bottled dressings of any kind.  I am sorry, but they are just not necessary.  They are also costly and none taste as good as what we can make at home.  We also talked about the importance of owning a salad spinner.  Do you have yours yet?

Then we made a composed salad with the dressed spinach as a base.  We added blanched fresh green beans from Whitewater Farm's greenhouse and julienned daikon red radish.  (I used a big Featherstone Farm radish that had been stored in my home refrigerator for about three months.  It was in perfect shape.) Everybody got an ample sample - including a few pieces of meat.

Locally raised grass fed steaks can be expensive - especially if you don't buy in bulk directly from the farmer.  Topping a fresh vegetable salad with a few strips of steak is a great way to stretch that expensive meat. Everybody gets a nice satisfying animal protein hit and you have enough money left over for some quality bread and wine to round out the meal.  Meat in moderation - that's my mantra.  And if the meat has been raised by someone you know on a farm that you could visit if you wanted to -  that is frosting on the cake.

Here is a link to a Winona Daily News article about the event. http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_cbe85e2c-4d2d-11e0-bb7a-001cc4c03286.html

And here are a few pictures that we took.

Peggy Hanson and Jenni McHugh, wife of Featherstone Farm farmer Jack Hedin

Frank Wright shows his Japanese sharpening stones to Tom VanderLinden, University of Minnesota Extension agent

Peggy Hanson (left) and Liz Heywood, manager of Bluff Country Co-op in Winona.  With spinach salad - topped with steak, winter radish and green beans.  Olive oil, sherry vinegar and shallot vinaigrette.

Hands On - Buttermilk Scones

I just posted a video on You Tube showing how to make buttermilk scones.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlB5ghx-8ns
Here is the recipe and a few comments.

4 cups flour (I like to use some whole wheat pastry flour for extra nutrition.  Or you can use all white flour.)
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 T. baking powder (that is the same as 4 1/2 t.)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. kosher salt
2/3 cup butter (that is just about 11 T.  One stick is 8 T.)  -- cold and cut into 1/2 cubes
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (approx.  I often find I need an extra 1/4 cup or so depending on the flour I am using.)
Egg wash - optional - 1 egg, beaten well with 1/4 cup milk
raw sugar for sprinkling on top


Mix dry ingredients well in a large bowl.  Cut in butter with pastry cutter or two knives or work quickly with fingertips.  Add buttermilk and blend with a fork until dough clings together into a shaggy mass.  Put dough on to floured surface and knead a few times.  Divide into three pieces and knead a little more, forming two "patties".  Cut each into six wedges.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle on sugar.  Place on baking sheet - best to lightly grease or use parchment paper, depending on the surface of the sheet you use.  Bake about 10 minutes at 425 degrees - until lightly browned.
If you don't eat these the first day, wrap well and freeze.  They reheat beautifully.

Better living with beets

The Coca Cola company has been telling us for over a year now that drinking Coke will make us happy.  Have you noticed all the "Open Happiness" billboards and commercials?  I think this is a brilliant ad campaign.  Who doesn't want to be happy, right?  Why didn't the U.S. Broccoli Council (I assume there is one) think of this first?

That is why I was so interested in the Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index - a project that maps well-being in the U.S.   They did not include Coke drinking on their list of quality of life indicators.  They did include fruit and vegetable consumption.  They asked people lots of questions, including whether they ate at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day on at least four of the previous seven days.   Then they made a map comparing fruit and vegetable consumption all over the U.S., by congressional district.  They also mapped other indicators such as obesity, health insurance, stress and learning.

Take a look.  I enjoyed spending some time with these maps.  Maybe you will too.  I don't know if they prove that rutabagas will make you happy.  But I do think they show that eating more fruits and vegetables is a really good idea.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/06/weekinreview/20110306-happiness.html?ref=us