It's been an awesome long weekend. I can't remember the last time it was this warm and sunny on a Victoria Day weekend. I got quite a bit of stuff done Friday-Sunday, so today I've been taking it easy.
I had a light breakfast, a chai with cream, an apple, plain 10% yogurt with maple syrup and pecans:
Then I had a second breakfast, pumpernickel bread, with red currant jelly and brie, as well as Persian Tea jelly and brie. Sometimes I like to stick the canapés in the toaster oven for a minute, just to melt the brie a bit; I didn't this time.
When the weather is hot, I tend to eat lighter foods, drink more, often times some of my smaller meals are of the smoothie variety. Today's late lunch is light, but filling, nutritious, and yummy.
Pickled beets (very sweet, made by James' parents who grow their own beets), pickled carrot (by me from James' parents garden, in apple cider vinegar), leek and horseradish sauerkraut as well as baechu kimchi, both homemade, unpasteurized, "live", and Polish sausage, Krakowska, fairly dry, I almost always have some of this sausage in my fridge, it lasts very long and tastes great eaten in a variety of ways, on its own, in a sandwich, with beans, in scrambled eggs, etc.
That was the last bit of my leek sauerkraut from a few months ago, but not to worry, I made a new batch yesterday, which will be ready in a few weeks. Since that was it for that jar, I had the sauerkraut juice, which is so delicious and refreshing, when it's extra sour and chilled. This is just the juice, but I have made martinis out of it as well and it was awesome.
Last week I made a rhubarb cake, it was an experiment and turned out very well, so well that I made it again this weekend. I brought one to the Mothers' Day BBQ, as well as to a friend's b-day get together.
I love rhubarb, and 'tis the season. I was super craving rhubarb pie, and I had some stalks left over from what I didn't use in the cake. Not quite enough for any conventional recipe, so I made a rhubarb custard pie. When I crave pie, I make pie. No pie anywhere close to here is up to my pie standards. Like I always say, I don't count calories, but I make my calories count.
The first batch of rhubarb I bought was from a large supermarket, and it went limp after a couple of days in the fridge. This bunch I got at a local independent grocery store, it's local rhubarb, and it's been in the fridge since last week and was still very firm and juicy.
Always make your crust, and always use butter, or lard for savoury pies. Bake the crust prior to filling. To make it flakier, but still all butter, be sure to use chilled butter, and a few tablespoons of chilled water. Also use a food processor or cut your ingredients together. The less your skin touches the dough, the better and more flakier. Don't over handle.
For the filling I peeled and chopped the rhubarb fairly small, tossed it in sugar and let it stand for about 30 minutes. It gives out a lot of juice; drain and set aside. Beat eggs ( I used 4) a bit of full cream (a tbsp), a bit of vanilla, and sugar (about half a cup). Stir in the sugary liquid. Place the drained rhubarb in the baked crust, then pour the liquid mixture over, and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 C, if the custard still looks runny add 10 min at 400 C. More or less, depending on your oven, if the custard still looks runny, keep it in a bit longer, but don't over do it, or it'll burn. If it looks a bit jiggly, it's ok it will set more as it cools.
Waiting for the crust to cool helps to prevent sogginess. Using a warm crust, makes it soft on the inside (not soggy, cause it's baked), but crust like on the outside, similar to the layers of a canelés. It's been a long time since I made canelés, I'm a long way from mastering the art, but even when they're not perfect, they are incredible. I'm salivating just thinking about them.
The slice looks very yellow, because I used farm eggs, which were super yellow, borderline orange, but also because it is a custard, not a cream. Mmm custard :)
Farewell long weekend, until next time.
