Jicama - Gesundheit!

I often get quizzical looks or a "Bless You" when I mention Jicama (HEEK-a-ma). Jicama is a native vine of Mexico, though from a culinary perspective the name refers to the deliciously crisp edible tuber that kind of resembles a somewhat flattened turnip. It is even referred to as Mexican Turnip in some circles.

The skin is very fibrous, so a pairing knife is essential as most vegetable peelers are not up to the challenge.

Once peeled, simply slice the creamy white inner root and then either cube or julienne from there.
The texture of Jicama can only be described as somewhere between a Kohlrabi, a raw Potato and a crisp Green Apple. It's flavor is even reminiscent of the three combined into one. Sort of a juicy sweet, but starchy green bean flavor. I know, it sounds very confusing, but it REALLY is delicious when sliced or cubed raw and tossed with chili powder and lime juice... YUM!

Jicama has become increasingly popular in Asian cuisine as well, since Jicama pairs well with Citrus flavors as well as Cilantro (Chinese Parsley), Sesame oil, Ginger and Soy/Tamari. This is an attempt at fusion, Mex-inese if you will. Snow Peas, Chicken and Jicama in an Orange/Tamari glaze, served over Rice. I have had this over three different rices and I highly recommend a brown Jasmine, though White Basmati works as well, but the perfumy nuttiness of the Brown Basmati I used this time, almost over powered the light Orange flavor.

Orange Jicama Chicken

2 TB Olive oil
3/4 cup fresh squeezed Orange Juice (you can use "from Concentrate" but Fresh is better)
1/2 tsp Orange Zest
1/4 cup Tamari Soy
1 TB Cornstarch or Arrowroot Powder
1 1/2 lbs Chicken Breast; cubed
1 lb of Jicama; Medium Julienne (although I cubed mine this time, cause I was in a hurry and I can do that faster)
6 oz Snow Peas

Begin heating 1 TB Olive oil in an electric skillet or a sauté pan over medium heat.

Mix Orange juice, Orange Zest, Tamari with the Cornstarch or Arrowroot.

Sauté half of the chicken;

When well browned, remove chicken to a bowl and sauté remaining chicken in an additional TB of olive oil.

When second batch is done, add the chicken from the bowl.

Pour in the orange juice mixture, tossing to coat.

Cook until it begins to thicken; (this only takes about 1 minute)

Add Jicama and Snow peas;

Toss them in so they get a nice coating of the orange glaze.

Cover and cook for 1 minute more.

Remove lid and toss once more......

Serve with Brown Jasmine or White Basmati Rice.

Quick, simple and delicious. The part that takes the longest is chopping everything up... LOL

Mangia!!
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The Vegetable That Tastes Like Dessert - Rhubarb Tart

I suppose that it’s serendipitous I didn't have time to make my tart with the Pâte Sucrée last night. You see, tomorrow, June 17th, is “Eat Your Vegetables Day”. So in honor of this most pious of holidays. I present a way for you to eat your vegetables and have your dessert too.

That’s right folks! I am speaking of the deliciously wholesome goodness of Rhubarb Pie. I don’t care what the Supreme Court of these United States says, it IS a vegetable. Fruit import taxes be damned! (cause you know that’s the only reason they classified it that way).

Rhubarb is in the same family as Sorrel and Buckwheat. Its rhizomes are harvested for medicinal purposes such as the drug “Rhuem”. Some varieties are high in Anthocyanins, which not only attributes the red color to the petiole (stems) but increases their antioxidant activity. Basically, it's good for ya, just like all veggies. Eating it regularly can help reduce cholesterol and lower blood pressure, as well as guard against cancer and reduce the effects of acid reflux. Heck, even the leaves, though not edible, can be used to make an anti-aphid spray for your garden.

Rhubarb just ROCKS!!

OK, About this lovely vegetable pie.....
Orange and Honey are the key to great tasting Rhubarb Pie, especially "Strawberry" Rhubarb.... That's the red rhubarb, known as Crimson Queen. This particular varietal is much sweeter than the "Pink" or Green variety (Victoria).

When sweetened, Crimson Queen Rhubarb has a strawberry-ish flavor. The honey adds a depth that sugar cannot duplicate and orange enhances its inherent "strawberry-esqueness", just like the Cinnamon with the Montmorency Cherries, so does Orange assist Red Rhubarb in living up to it's full potential.

Sadly, it was way too late to go to the store, when I found I was out of honey... Thus I have substituted sugar, at least for the first part, enhanced with some Orange Blossom water... I know it's not a normal kitchen ingredient, but I use it for Baklava so I usually have it around. In a pinch, a tablespoon of Cointreau or Triple Sec will work just as well. I do not recommend Gran Marnier for this application. (this will be the ONLY time you will hear, or rather read, me say/type that statement -Cause I LOVE that stuff) But Gran Marnier is based on the bitter Seville orange, thus it will enhance the bitterness of the rhubarb, unlike a sweet orange liquor such as Cointreau (Bitter & Sweet Orange) or Triple Sec (Sweet Orange).

While this is actually a family pie recipe which normally uses Pâte Brisée, I have chosen to re-vamp it in a Linzer Torte fashion, thus I am utilizing Pâte Sucrée, a tart pan and will be making a lattice topping. Basically I rewrote the recipe as I was going, so it doesn't follow the standard format... It's more along the lines of my thought process, so it might be a little confusing... Sorry...

Oh, and lemme go on records as saying, I understand why Pâte Sucrée is used for open faced tarts now... The dough is SO incredibly delicate that is disintegrates from the heat of your hands. It woudl have been fine if I was making a double crust pie, but the lattice was almost impossible to do.

Rhubarb pie is very much a matter of taste. There are sour pusses, like me, and sweet toothed individuals; so on this one, tasting is very important to get your "Ultimate Veggie Fix" right.

"Strawberry" Rhubarb Pie
 (without actual Strawberries)

4 cups of chopped Rhubarb (The red stuff)
1/4 cup Orange Blossom Honey or 1/2 cup Sugar and 1 TB Orange Blossom Water

24 Hours in advance, place Strawberry Rhubarb in a stainless bowl and drizzle with honey or sprinkle with sugar and orange blossom water.

Toss to coat.

Cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, preferably 24.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove and drain the juice into a sauce pan.

(with fresh, you will get about 3/4 cup juice; if previously frozen, you will get a little over 1 cup)

To this add:
1/4 - 1/2 cup Orange Blossom honey (your going to have to judge how tart you want it - I like it REALLY tart)

1 TB Arrowroot or Cornstarch per 1/4 cup of juice

2 tsp Fresh Orange zest or 1 tsp Orange oil or 1 TB Cointreau

I decided to be crazy and add a couple grinds of black pepper too... Hey, what the heck.

Cook over medium heat in a medium saucepan, whisking constantly, until thick, clear and bubbly.

Remove from heat and fold in the Rhubarb and 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter. (if you are using fresh rhubarb, return to the heat for 3 minutes)

Let cool while preparing the pastry crust. (this is important, if it's too hot, the butter in your crust will melt.)

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
Warm your Pâte Sucrée on the counter for 5 minutes;
Divide in two and roll out the first half to fit an 11-inch tart pan, leaving the overhang intact.

Roll out the second ball, utilizing a pasty cutter, cut into strips for a lattice top.

Pour filling into waiting shell and lay out a lattice.

(It was impossible to actually weave; the dough is very delicate - thus the shattered remnants of broken dough strips)

Edge the inside with a dough "snake" pressed against the inside rim to hold everything together.

Place a sheet of tin foil on the bottom of your stove. (Because Rhubarb pie ALWAYS stews over a little bit)

Bake for 25 minutes.

Cool on wire rack and serve with Rummed, Brandied or Bourboned stabilized whipped cream.
OR - My personal favorite.... Add a little bit of ground cloves... Just a pinch... The eugenol in the cloves will denature the proteins in the whipping cream and stabilize it without using gelatin.

Sprinkle with a little nutmeg or mace.

Now, EAT YOUR VEGGIES!!!! Come on, you KNOW you want to.

Mangia!!
~~

George Wouldn't Have Chopped Down That Tree If This Was Dessert - Good ol' Cherry Pie

OK, I have 3 crusts to play with so here is Number one. The Pâte Brisée. This is my "go to" pastry whenever constructing a pie, though I tend to vary the amount of sugar slightly, depending on the filling. It's used by my mother (the Goddess of all that is pie) and by my grandmother (Goddess of all that is Cake) as well. For this crust, I chose the sweeter pie filling. Good Ol' Chery Pie.

I am a great proponent for Amarelle cherries for cherry pie, as opposed to Morello. I believe that they have better flavor, so much so that I will use canned Montmorency cherries (an Amarelle variety) before I will use fresh Morello. And since there are not a lot of Montmorency cherries being grown in Southern California, being none, I end up using canned cherries A LOT. At some point in the near future I would like to experiment with Bing Cherries and Balsamic vinegar, but that future is not tonight. :)

Arrowroot Powder and Cornstarch are interchangeable. I usually go for the Arrowroot for 2 reasons. First, I can taste cornstarch in fruit pies and I find arrowroot has little to no flavor, at least to me. Secondly, Arrowroot makes a shinier filling that cornstarch does. It almost makes the pie look unreal.

Good Ol' Cherry Pie

1 recipe Pâte Brisée
2 Cans (29 oz) (522g) of Montmorency or Morello Cherries in their juices
1/3 cup (80 ml) Honey (Preferably a fruit honey, but fireweed honey lends a “creaminess”)
3 TB Arrowroot powder or Cornstarch
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Mace
Pinch or 2 of salt
2 TB Butter, cut into 8 pieces
optional - Egg white wash
optional - Sanding or granulated sugar

Open cans,

Drain the cherries from one can really well reserving 3/4 cup of the juice.

Remove 2 TB of the liquid to a small ramekin and add the arrowroot powder.

Stir to create slurry, and then add back to the saucepan along with the honey, salt, cinnamon and mace.

Stir sauce with a whisk until it begins to bubble and thicken.

This can take awhile, so I usually crack open a corona...

Once the sauce is thick, remove from heat and fold in all the cherries,

Don’t worry if the filling seems a little runny, you still have to bake it, so it will thicken more.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Divide the Pâte Brisée in half and roll out the 1st half to line a 9 inch glass pie dish. (Not the 9 ½ inch deep dish made by Pyrex, but a normal sized shallow 9 inch dish)
Leave any pastry that hangs over the edge, you will need it later.

Pour cherry filling into the shell, dot with the 8 pieces of butter
Roll out your second piece of Pâte Brisée into a disk; using a fluted pastry wheel, or a sharp knife, to slice the pastry into strips about 1/2 inch wide.

Starting off center of the pie and working perpendicular create a lattice top weaving each consecutive strip leaving about 1/2 inch between each of the strips.

Cut the ends of strips so they are flush with the over hanging crust.

Fold the edge over and pinch crimp the pastry between thumb and forefinger.

Bake pie for 30-35 minutes.
Optionally use an egg white wash over the lattice strips and sprinkle with sanding or granulated sugar
If the crimped edge becomes too dark before the lattice has browned, use crust guards of small strips of foil to cover the crimped edge.

Incidentally, I noticed, upon editing the pictures that my weave is off, the last strip on the right hand side of the above picture is wrong... oops.. Maybe the beer wasn't such a good idea.... Nah!

Mangia!!
~~

Oh! The best part, when I was a kid and mom made lattice top pies, is that there is always pastry left over... It was AWESOME!!!! because.......

She would grab her little 7 inch pie plate (it took me 8 years to track one down in a thrift store - Evidently, Pyrex quit making them eons ago)

Roll out the left over pastry and toss it in the pie plate

Smear it with butter, then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar.

Then bake it, after the pie came out of the oven, for 15-20 minutes.

A simple tasty treat indeed.
Enjoy with a cup of coffee while you wait for your pie to cool :)

But I also had an alterior motive for preparing this little confectionery pastry delight. It allows me to show you what Pâte Brisée does when cooked. Granted, when there is a filling sitting on it, it won't puff up quite this much, but the idea is still the same.

I wish I could have gotten closer to show the little pockets, but with a point and shoot camera, I am a little limited. Never the less, proof positive of the flaky nature of Pâte Brisée.

Mangia Again!!
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