Happy food/drink discoveries born out of quarantine

Discussion in 'The Good Life' started by SharptoothC, Apr 17, 2020.

  1. SharptoothC

    SharptoothC I bite..........

    Sounds fantastic. My family won't touch kraut but I love the stuff.

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  2. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    Well... it passed the test of everyone except my 14-yr-old niece who now finds blueberries to be a personal affront :rolleyes:. Yes, she's still going through her "difficult" phase.

    In any case, I found the recipe on tasteofhome.com under "lemon blueberry pie." While I could just point you there and be lazy, I'm going to lay it out a little differently so that it makes a wee bit more sense and also throw in some notes.

    Ingredients and procedure fall into three sections: crust, lemon custard, blueberry topping, (and then 3a garnish).

    What you'll need:
    I For the crust:
    • store-bought frozen 9" pie crust ("deep" crust preferable) If you want to go with a sheet dough, don't forget the pan and if you want to make your own from scratch, knock yourself out. :D
    • Baking sheet or pan

    II For the custard:
    • 6 lg. eggs, lightly beaten and brought to room temp.
    • 1 cu sugar
    • 1/2 cu butter cut into cubes (this is the same as one stick)
    • 1/3 cu lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best... need aprox. 4 lemons) This can be a +/- measurement depending on your taste. I added a little bit more b/c I like a lot of lemon.
    • 2 tsp. grated lemon zest (need aprox. 2 lemons' worth). I used about 2 1/2 tsp. for my pie
    III For the blueberry filling:
    • 3 cu. fresh blueberries (aprox. 1.25 pt)
      • fresh-frozen berries are also OK. You just may need to use more cornstarch when cooking them.
    • 1/3 cu. sugar
    • 1 Tbl. cornstarch
    • 1/4 cu. orange juice (no pulp)
    And here's what you'll do:
    I Crust:
    • Defrost frozen crust completely. Keep it in the foil pan.
    • Stab the dough all over about every 1/2 inch or so (bottom and sides) with a fork to create heat/steam escape points. Do not puncture the foil pan. Place pie pan on a baking sheet.
    • Bake the crust at 375 F in the middle of the oven for 12 - 15 min. until done. Crust will look cooked/golden. Pro tip -- keep pie pan on a baking sheet/pan throughout this process. Everything will be much easier to handle and you won't have to worry about the cheap foil flexing during handling thus breaking the crust.
    • When crust is done, set aside to cool completely.
    II With the custard ingredients:
    • In a med. sauce pan, combine eggs, sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest. Stir constantly with a whisk over med-low heat until mixture thickens. About 20 min. Scrape down the sides of the pan from time to time with a rubber spatula. Stirring constantly during this phase cannot be over-emphasized. You want custard, not scrambled eggs. You may still end up with some lumps from the zest or teeny bits of scrambled egg. A little bit is fine and won't be noticed in the final product.
    • Let cool an additional 20 min. while stirring occasionally.
    • Once cooled sufficiently, pour into pie crust. Jiggle the pie crust a bit to level the custard if needed. Then, set aside until next section.

    III With the blueberry ingredients:
    • In med. sauce pan (don't recycle from above without first cleaning) toss blueberries and sugar together to coat the blueberries.
    • In small bowl whisk together cornstarch and orange juice until smooth. Add cornstarch to OJ slowly while whisking so as to avoid clumps.
    • Add cornstarch-OJ mixture to the med. sauce pan with the blueberry-sugar mixture.
    • Cook over med. heat stirring gently until mixture comes to a boil in about 8 min.
    • Cook and stir for an additional 2 min.
    • Let cool 15 - 20 min. while stirring occasionally. Should look like pie filling now with some nice whole berries mixed in.
    • When sufficiently cooled (ie: still a bit warm to the touch in the center), spoon over custard-filled pie shell. Filling should level itself automatically, but go ahead gently arrange the berries if you need to. You may not need all the blueberry filling.
    • Refrigerate 4 - 6 hours (topping will gel) before serving. Serves eight.
    IIIa Optional garnish and other notes (by RichGem)
    • Garnish -- just before serving -- with a thinly sliced lemon wheel placed in the center of the pie and a leaf of fresh mint placed in the center of the wheel.
    • Also yummy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
    • Any excess blueberry filling will be delightful on your pancakes the next day.
    • I kept the completed pie on a baking sheet up until I brought it to the table to serve. It's just easier/safer with the cheap foil pan.
    • I used a rubber spatula (instead of a spoon) to stir the berries while cooking them so as to not break the berries too much.

    Nutritional info (bah!) based on 8-slices per pie. Per slice (according to the website):
    446 cal., 22g fat (11g sat fat), 195mg cholesterol, 264mg sodium, 57g carbs (40g sugar, 1g fiber), 6g protein.

    Final note....
    Pictures will be required if you try this. Good luck!
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2020
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  3. The situational shaver

    The situational shaver Well-Known Member

    A friend of mine’s parents moved, and he moved in to their house.
    And found a case of Crown Royal that was bottled in ‘77, and was 15 years old at the time of bottling.
    Naturally, he gave me a bottle. That with anything.
    Is the world still going on?
     
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  4. SharptoothC

    SharptoothC I bite..........

    @richgem thanks for the detailed share! This sounds like something I'd like to attempt the next time we venture out to the grocery store. I've never attempted a homemade custard before. Here's to learning new things.

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  5. SharptoothC

    SharptoothC I bite..........

    Sounds like your friend is a keeper. If you have any memory left after trying it, please share the results.

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  6. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    my pleasure! if I can get it to come out good so can you. Good luck.
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2020
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  7. efsk

    efsk Active Member

    So y'all are just eating and none are drinking?
     
  8. SharptoothC

    SharptoothC I bite..........

    It's been pretty pedestrian on that front for me. A little whiskey neat before bed. An occasional beer. I am not a heavy drinker and haven't been able to blow money exploring too much.

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