Florida Pie: My Tuesday With Dorie Session

This week's Tuesday with Dorie baking project is called Florida Pie, which is key lime pie with a twist from
Dorie--she adds coconut in the form of a coconut cream (heavy cream cooked down with coconut). She says you can substitute regular limes, but not here in Florida, right? That would be some form of heresy, especially when key limes are so easy to get here (and mostly imported from Mexico these days, by the way...)












I keep being surprised by how easy Dorie makes the recipes...Easy steps, the right order...I
started with the crust--homemade, even though in the notes, Dorie says she buys store-bought, but that wasn't going to cut it, especially after my pebble Oreo crust last week. I did the graham crackers in the processor (I guess it's not THAT hard to clean, right?)...Bake and freeze, except I have a side-by-side fridge/freezer in this apartment. This has to be the stupidest invention ever (GE? Are you hearing me? No more side by sides, really.)--my pie plate wouldn't fit into the freezer-until I tilted it and forced it...

Once I got the crust into the freezer, I turned to juicing a pound of key limes...(that would make about 1 1/4 cups juice)...Here is my mise en place...I don't think I made any measuring errors this week.












Reducing the cream with coconut in it, then letting it cool...moving on to whipping the yolks with the sweetened condensed milk and juice..Coconut cream onto the bottom of the crust, topped with the yolk and lime juice custard. Bake 12 minutes...Cool slightly, return to freezer...

The meringue is interesting--Dorie has you cook it (for safety's sake, I am sure) then whip it to stiff peaks. Gently fold in remaining coconut

I am taking the pie to a get together this evening, but in the line of duty to the blog, we took a slice out of it...you know, to photograph it...well, and..you know, to taste it. My cutting skills need work, I guess...but that first piece is always tough!












Anyway, Ian, Bryn and I shared the tastes of that first piece...An excellent key lime pie, we all agreed. I love the texture--and the taste--of the coconut in this pie, but I find myself wishing I'd toasted the coconut for the meringue instead of stirring it into the the meringue...next time, that will be the way I make it (I DO have all that extra key lime juice, after all...maybe I'll have to make it to take into the magazine again...)

Dorie's Peanutbutter Torte

Wow. This is rich and decadent and so good. If you love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, you will adore this...and for me, the non-baker, it's not even really baking. This is this week's Tuesdays with Dorie achievement (anything I bake is an achievement, trust me on this).

Of course, I managed to not make it look like the photo in Dorie's Book. First of all, I have an 8-inch spring form pan. You don't THINK it will make so much difference, but that's a lot of volume (you do the math; I didn't understand 7th grade math until I was 40, but then the boys moved on to more difficult stuff and I forgot everything again). Second of all, she says either crush the Oreos for the crust by hand (that's what I said--an OREO cookie crust. How cool is that?) OR with a food processor. Because we all know how much I don't like cleaning the food processor, I crushed by hand. My crust is not so so much a crumb crust as a cookie pebble crust. How very Flintstone.

Taking it out of the springform was easy (thank goodness I've moved that pan from NYC to Philadelphia to KY to the first apartment in Florida to the second apartment here in Florida. I just knew I would need it!). I had to alter the topping a bit because even though I asked two different people in the house (one husband, one son) if they could stop and buy me a measly cup of heavy cream for the ganache topping, neither one remembered...So instead I stirred a touch of melted butter into the chocolate to give me something spreadable that won't turn brittle in the fridge...It works. (Not like I was saving calories at this point...)

But that doesn't mar the flavor. A bite of heaven. This and a cup of good espresso is on the menu for my afternoon break. Life is good.

(The picture shows how challenged I am with the whole crust thing...but I like its "rough" form...forget pebble crust. When cut, this looks like boulder crust...still tastes great. Lucky office workers at Florida Table, because this is so NOT staying in my house for me to eat. I should be everyone's favorite!)

Local Clams Do The Double

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to score about 10 pounds of freshly caught clams at The Olde Fish House in Matlacha on Pine Island, off the west coast of Florida. I'll post about the woderful owners, Jessi and Tom, later, but today, I am all about my clams.



I knew I wanted pasta and clam sauce from those clams...I called my sister. The last time I'd made clam sauce was at her house from one of her books with clams I'd bought at Grand Central's market. Pat and her husband, Sushil, have made Double Clam sauce more than once...I scribbled ingredients and methods...





Then turned to the task at hand.

Great clams. good olive oil, butter, fresh parsley, pasta cooked to perfection. But it melds plenty of garlic, olive oil, butter and white wine with the clams--some chopped, some still in their shells, which makes it double clam. It's a keeper of a recipe.

Ten pounds of clams makes enough for 8 to 10 people, but I couldn't entice a soul to my dinner table--so sad.


So I enjoyed it all on my own with a lovely Summers Estate 2007 Le Nude Chardonnay ($24), an unoaked, stainless steel aged wine with crisp flavors that matched the clam dish perfectly.












I like my clam sauce with great Parmesan, what can I say? There was enough juice when I was done for it to be mopped up with a piece of sourdough bread. Life is good. Next time, you are all welcome to join me!

Do The Double Clam Sauce for Pasta (Enough for 8 to 10 people...if they choose to join you for dinner)

10 pounds clams in shells, cleaned
24 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups white wine
1 cup pasta water
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 stick butter
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 pounds linguini

1. Place half the clams into a stock pot with half the garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup wine. Bring all to a boil, and reduce to simmer, steaming until all clams open (discard any clams that do not open). Remove clams from pot. Strain and reserve cookng liquid. Chop clams and set aside.
2. In separate pot, bring water to boil. Add linguini and cook until just al dente.
3. While pasta is cooking, return first pot to medium heat. Add remaining olive oil, remaining garlic and white wine and red pepper flakes. Add remaining clams in shell and 1 cup pasta water plus the reserved liquid used to make the chopped clams. Bring all to boil, reduce to simmer and cook until clams open. Stir in butter and parsley, and cook until butter is melted.
4. To serve, place portion of pasta in shallow bowl. Top with about 8 to 10 clams in shells. Use ladle to add sauce to bowl. Pass with cheese for grating (for those of you who break all the rules the way I do...) and bread to mop up any remaining sauce.

Babette Learns to Bake

I already mentioned--in the brioche threads--that I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Dorie Greenspan, baker extraordinaire. She mentioned a great group of bakers who are doing Tuesdays with Dorie, where someone selects a recipe from her book, Baking From My Home to Yours. I've always wanted to improve my baking skills (forget that I once worked as a pastry chef at a fine hotel in Louisville, KY. I was the best? Sheesh. I gave two weeks notice two weeks in...the shift was 11 PM to 7 AM. I was three months preggers with Bryn. Nuff said. And I digress.)

Anyway I joined. Then read the recipe for marshmallows...even went and got good corn syrup. And didn't make them. Then the carrot cake recipe came..and went. Then I got an email. From the boss of Tuesdays with Dorie. PARTICIPATE. What could I say? The site is only as strong as its bakers, right?

So when the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake recipe landed in my box yesterday (or Monday?), I vowed to bake. You know, the way I WANTED to bake. The way I wanted to LEARN to bake. This was a good way for me to start. I love Italian cheesecake with polenta. I love love LOVE corn meal. This had the added goodness of mission figs.

I got started. 16 figs for the recipe. 1 for me. MMmmmm. Fig Newtons got NOTHING on a straight up fig.

The tart comes together easily, really. No rocket science. I measured well (okay, let's not talk about me almost--ALMOST--forgetting the regular flour. Ahem.), mixed well, followed directions well.

The results? Spectacular. Really. I'd probably like this just as well without the figs, to be honest. I had to bake it a bit longer than the directions instructed, but I liked the way it looked when it came out...the knife came out clean...There's still an incredible moistness to the cake...We love it...I think my family doesn't know the treat they are in for on (or about) Tuesdays. With Dorie.

Elegant, Ethereal Eggs

I've been on a protein-in-the-morning kick for a few months now, and eggs are my breakfast of choice.

I recently had the very good fortune of meeting someone who is bringing farm fresh eggs to South Florida...She brought me six lovely eggs, which come from a farm in central Florida.....

I read a book awhile back called The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine by Rudolph Chelminski. It was a bit of a downer about a chef in France who gets so dispondent about keeping his Michelin stars that he ends up taking his own life...but for someone who loves food, it was a fascinating look into his life. It consumed him. How appropriate.

At any rate, in that book, there's a reference back to a passage from a classic French tome about making eggs...None of this scramble til set order. The whole set of instructions has you treating the egg with finesse. I think they made a fried egg, but I adapted the method for my own scrambled eggs. The tips: Low heat. A touch of butter. Eggs that are white and yellow. Scramble gently until just set. Finish with salt. Good salt.

Here's how:

1/2 teaspoon butter
2 eggs
sprinkle of good salt

In a small, non-stick pan, melt the butter over just below medium heat. When melted, swirl butter around the pan. Crack the eggs directly into the pan (when I was in West Virginia, I learned this is country scrambled eggs...who knew?). Don't touch the eggs until you see the white start to set. Then with a wooden spoon, stir gently to break up the yolks. Continue stirring gently until the eggs are just set--they should still be glistening. Sprinkle salt over all. Enjoy without delay.

Definition of Brioche

Brioche, noun. (bree-osh) Butter held together by bits of flour, yeast and egg.

When I toasted a slice this morning, it sizzled all on its own.

That's all. Just an observation.

Beautiful Brioche: The Finale

Wow. It was one baking morning. As noted below, after an early start, I had the loaf rising and the sticky buns rolled, cut and rising by about 7.45 a.m. The sticky buns were a definite success.

I did as I was told--egg wash, baked at 400. I cannot believe how lovely this turned out. As I said elsewhere, every time I make bread--even something that sounds as daunting as brioche--I wonder why I don't do it more often. Sure, this brioche recipe has 12 ounces of butter in it (that means the little loaf has half that--6 ounces..I started slicing very thin slices once I realized that...), but that's the only expensive ingredient in it...even a plain, Publix baguette costs me $1. I'd say the extra bit of money for this particular loaf? Worth it.


The bread is so rich--you SO taste the butter--I am happy eating it all by itself. A brioche purist, that's me. I could picture it with some bitter orange marmalade, though...Or I'd like to try the bostock Dorie mentions...spread stale brioche (who gets a loaf to last til it's stale?) slices with almond cream, sprinkle with sliced almonds, bake until the almond cream is puffy and hot.

But I don't think it will last long enough.