Bourbon Peach Turnovers

When you spend a summer in the Okanagan you are guaranteed a few things. Hot weather, beautiful wineries and orchids galore. It wouldn't be hard to attempt the 100 mile diet around here, especially if you have a few fruit trees in your own backyard.



The property I am living on happens to have a few fruit trees and right now is the harvesting time for peaches. So this weekend it was time to pick all the peaches off the tree and think of ways to use the boxes of peaches we had acquired. I think one obvious solution would be to make little peach turnovers. Filling them with bourbon is also not too bad of an idea.

Bourbon Peach Turnovers

Yields: 10 turnovers

• All butter pastry dough (Follow steps 1-7)
• 4 cups of peaches
• 1/4 cup flour
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp of bourbon
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla

1. Take one of your chilled dough discs out of the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes before rolling. Once the dough has softened up roll out your disc on a lightly floured counter as close to a square as possible. Roll them to about 1/8 inch thickness.
   
2. Using a pizza cutter cut off access dough so you can form more of a square. Cut that large square into 4 smaller squares. Lay the square onto a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper and put back into the fridge to chill.
3. Take the access dough that you cut off and put it in the freezer to chill while you roll out your second disc into the same four squares.
4. Once your 8 squares are cut, take the access dough out of the freezer and make 2 more small squares. Now you should have 10 squares. Let them chill in the fridge while you make your filling.
5. For the filling, peel and cut the peaches into half inch piece and mix in a bowl with the flour, sugar, salt, bourbon and vanilla.
   
6. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature until just pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoons filling onto a corner half of each square dough . Quickly brush a little cold water around the edge of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the filling, creating a triangle. Seal the turnover, and make a decorative edge by pressing the edges of the dough together with the back of a fork. Repeat process with remaining dough. Place the turnvers back on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.
   
7. Once the dough is chilled beat one egg yolk with 2 tbsp of water and brush over the turnovers. Use a knife to cut two small slits on the top and sprinkle the turnover generously with turbinado sugar. Place them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
   
8. Once the turnovers are out of the oven, let them cool completely before eating.

Filling Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Blueberry Pancakes

Sunday mornings are all about relaxing and taking the time to do the things you enjoy. Like sleeping in and eating blueberry pancakes. And since you have time on Sunday mornings you really should be making the pancakes from scratch. Actually you should never use pancake mix, you know it doesn't taste as good!

The one pancake recipe that has worked very well for me is from the classic American cookbook The Joy of Cooking. Every time I read this book it's like I get a little cooking lesson. From the technical information on cooking and baking to the sections on knowing your ingredients. If you are looking for one cook book you can rely on, this one is it.

Blueberry Pancakes

Yields: 14 4-inch pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp of salt
• 3 tbsp of sugar
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 3 tbsp of melted butter
• 1 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 cup of blueberries
  

1. In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder.
2. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, butter and milk.
   
3. Quickly combine the wet ingredients and into the dry ingredients. You don't need to over mix the batter, there should still be small to medium lumps. Mix in the blueberries.
   
4. Heat your frying pan to medium high heat and wipe the pan with butter using a paper towel. I like to scoop the batter with a 1/3 cup measuring cup into the frying pan.
5. Once the pancakes have bubbles on top you can flip them and you only need to flip them once. The second side does not need as long to cook, about 1 minute.
   
6. Repeat this process until all your batter is gone! Top off with real maple syrup.

Recipe from The Joy of Cooking

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Last weekend I went strawberry and blueberry picking at Covert's Farm in Oliver BC, where I obtained many delicious berries, and some half eaten with the help of my strawberry pickers. Who am I kidding? They did all the picking, I mostly took pictures. This farm has over 600 acres of fruits and vegetables and all organic. Which will make you feel good about picking them, and of course eating them too.











Now after a hot day of picking strawberries in the sun you might want to treat yourself to some delicious ice cream. And don't just stop at simple vanilla ice cream, top it off with freshly made strawberry sauce from the 5 lbs of strawberries that you now have. Of course this sauce is not just good on ice cream but you can pretty much top if onto any dessert. I would highly recommend cheese cake or angel fruit cake.



Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

• 1 pint of strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp of water
• 1 tsp of cornstarch dissolved into 2 tbsp of water

1. In a medium saucepan mix together the strawberries, sugar, balsamic vinegar and water on medium low heat for 15 minutes.
   
2. To this mixture, whisk in the water and cornstarch mixture until the sauce starts to thicken up a bit, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture into a blender and puree the strawberries until you get a smooth strawberry sauce.
4. You can store the sauce in a container for about a week.

Recipe from Chef John at foodwishes.com

Strawberry Lemonade (Swiss Style)

The hot desert weather has officially arrived in the Okanagan BC, and to celebrate this beautiful weather I thought I would make some homemade strawberry lemonade. Of course it wouldn't be a real celebration unless I made the lemonade with vodka! That is the "Swiss" part.

The only reason why I am dedicating this to the Swiss is because they love to put alcohol in everything! Well, the Swiss couple I know at least. I was at their lovely bed and breakfast for dinner (yes I was invited over for dinner, not breakfast) and it seemed that every meal was accompanied with alcohol.

When I first arrived I was offered a nice cold beer while dinner was being prepared. Once we finally started to eat we had red wine to accompany our steak. Then for dessert, we had ice cream drizzled with what seemed to be a blackberry sauce infused with alcohol. This sauce was in fact 63% alcohol, "diffused" with red wine and berries. The berries had pretty much soaked up all the alcohol which made each berry the equivalent to taking a shot of vodka. After dessert it was tea time, which was good timing since I was starting to feel a bit tipsy after all the alcohol. But as I drank my tea I felt like it tasted a bit strong. Fritz told me that he likes to mix several tea bags together but he didn't mention that he also like to put rum in it too. Rum and tea, never thought I would put that combination together, but it actually tasted quite good.

So now you can see why I am dedicating this lemonade to them. You can definitely make this drink without the vodka, but trust me, if you drink it as is, you'll feel like your missing an ingredient.

Strawberry Lemonade

• 2.5 cups of water
• 1 cup of sugar
• 6 lemons, or 1 1/2 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  
• 1 pint of fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
• 2.5 cups of club soda
• Vodka
  
• Strawberries and lemons to garnish

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan bring the water to a boil and mix in the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves and remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice and let cool completely.
   
2. In a blender, puree the strawberries and then combine with the lemon juice into a pitcher. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
3. Once you are ready to serve the lemonade, mix in the club soda and pour 1 oz of vodka into each drink. Garnish with strawberries and lemons.
   

Blueberry Pie Filling

Here is the blueberry filling for the pie crust I posted yesterday. I was going to post it near the end but forgot. No worries, here it is now!

Blueberry Pie Fillings

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp of cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
  
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 cups blueberries
• 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice

1. Combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg into a sauce pan on medium high heat. Mix together until the sauce thickens.
2. Set it aside and let it cool completely. Once it is cooled mix in the blueberries and lemon juice. The filling is now ready to go into your pie crust.
   

Pate Brisee - The Perfect Pie Crust

This may sound crazy but I've heard some people say they're not really a "pie person". I'm not sure I quite understand that, but obviously they have never had REALLY good pie.

REALLY good pie, and listen carefully because it's part of the meaning of life (I am watching Monty Python's Meaning of Life right now...brilliant) does not need ice cream on the side.

Also, there seems to be an obsession for really flaky pie crusts. Although this flakiness is ideal, I think this has led people to use shortening in their pie, which I refuse to do. Yes, I am going to be a food snob here. The thing is, when you use shortening, you are sacrificing the flavour of the crust for flakiness, when you can actually attain it with butter. The flakiness of the pie is in the technique and not so much the ingredients.

When I make pie crust I like to prep everything so I can work quickly, all your ingredients must stay cold (that is part of the flakiness technique). Also, you do not want to over work your ingredients.

And yes, this kitchen has retro green counter tops. So what? Retro and vintage is in! I really shouldn't complain, I have barely any counter space in my Toronto kitchen and here I have space galore.


Your pie crust tools.

Pate Brisee
Makes: Two 9-inch pie crusts (for one 9-inch pie crust half the recipe)

• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of butter
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1/2 cup of ice cold water
• 3 tbsp of sour cream or crème fraiche

1. Prep and measure: This may seem obsessive but it is how I get the flaky crust. First cut up the butter into small cubes and put it in the freezer to chill. Measure out your four, salt and sugar into a large bowl and chill that as well. Mix together your sour cream and water, and again that goes in the freezer. Let that chill for about 15 minutes. Obsessive? Yes.
2. Once your ingredients are chilled whisk together the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. You can also do this in a food processor. I have chosen to use a pastry blender so I don't end up overworking the dough, but I've used a food processor before and they work fine. Once whisked throw in your chopped butter.
3. Use your pastry blender to mix the butter into the flour and use a spatula to make sure the ingredients are mixed well. Combine the ingredients until the butter is no smaller than peas. You don't want to over mix the dough, the chunks of butter create the flakiness. This is where you have to be careful with a food processor.
4. Now take your water and sour cream mixture out of the freezer and mix it into the bowl, 1 tbsp at a time, while you mix the batter.
5. Mix everything until the dough starts to clump together. Again don't over mix it.
6. Bring the dough out onto a floured counter top and form a ball that you can cut in half.
7. Then take that dough and cut it in half. Create two discs and wrap in plastic wrap. This dough needs to be chilled in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.
8. Once chilled, you can begin to roll out your crust. Depending on the dryness of your dough, you may want to let the dough sit for a few minutes before rolling our the dough. Also at this point you should have your filling made. Flour your counter top and begin rolling out your dough from the center out. Roll out a few times, then lift the dough and turn it a quarter. Lifting it will also ensure that the dough is not sticking to the counter, if it is, just throw some flour underneath the dough. Roll out the dough to 1/8 of an inch. Of course, make sure you roll out your dough big enough to fit your pan.
9. Now to get that dough into your pan roll up your crust onto the rolling pin...
10. And unroll the dough onto the pie pan. Fill the pan will your filling and throw this in the fridge while you roll out the top crust.

For the top crust you can simply roll out the dough the same way you did for the bottom crust, sealing the top crust to the bottom and cutting slits on the top of the pie. But we like to wow people here, so I am going to show you how to create the lattice crust.

1. Roll out your dough using the same technique for the bottom crust. Then cut 1/2 inch strips using a knife, pizza cutter or one of those fancy edged cutters.
   
2. Now take every other strip and lay it down on the pie at 1/2 inch apart.
3. Now on the pie lift up every other strip half way and take the middle strip that is on the counter and place it in the middle of the pie, laying it down perpendicular to the rest of the strips.
4. Unfold the strips so they lay on top of the new strip. Take the other strips (that are now underneath the new strip) and fold them up.
5. Take the strip on the counter that was to the left of the first strip you took and place it on top of the vertical strips beside the last strip and unfold the strips again.
6. Repeat this weaving step until you get to the end of the pie.
7. Once you get to the end of the pie continue this process on the other half of the pie...
8. Until your pie crust looks like this:
9. Now at this step most people tell you to trim the pie. Believe me when I say this: You do not want to trim this pie. You want all the crust you can get. So fold the bottom crust over the top strips.
10. Once you have gone around and sealed the pie, give it a pretty trim by crimping the pie with your fingers. Now again for the obsessive part. Chill the pie in the fridge for another 30 minutes. The contrast between the coolness of the pie and hot heat of the oven create rapid air expansion which will cause the desired flakiness of the crust. Make sure you preheat your oven to 375 F.
11. Once your pie has chilled brush an egg wash over the pie to get that golden crust and sprinkle with sugar. I like to use turbinado sugar just so you can get that crunch. To prevent the crust of your pie from burning wrap tin foil over it. You will take this off when you change the temperature to 350 F.
12. Place the pie in the oven with a sheet underneath in case any filling decides to come out. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes then turn down the temperature to 350 F for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Remember to take the tin foil off once you have turned down the temperature to 350 F.
13. Now for the HARDEST part of this whole process. You need to wait till the pie cools completely or else your filling will go everywhere. Wait at least an hour... seriously I was going to say 3 but I know you can't wait 3 hours. GUTEN APPETIT!
    

a little ogre

My friend Mhairi, who is a brilliant painter, drew me up a little ogre for my blog. She's a fiery red head with a fantastic sense of humor and can paint up pretty much anything you can think of. Say... a juicy steak or a cup of raw eggs (which happens to be hanging in my kitchen), you will ooo and ahh at everything she does. If you would like to enjoy more of her work you can check out her site here.