Easy as Pie

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Speaking of easy, it doesn't get any easier than this pie. It's embarassingly simple.

Yet so tasty and refreshing. I've made it twice already. It's from one of my favorite food blogs, StickyGooeyCreamyChewy. The author, Susan, writes a nice little piece about how we shouldn't be afraid to make such humble food from ingredients that aren't organic, artisanal, local or otherwise special. Plus her photos are way more spectacular than mine.

Frozen Lemonade Pie

from StickyGooeyCreamyChewy

1 large store-bought graham cracker pie crust

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, chilled

1 12 oz. container Cool Whip, thawed

1 6 fluid oz. can frozen lemonade concentrate (keep frozen)

In a medium bowl, place Cool Whip and condensed milk. Fold gently together.

Add frozen lemonade concentrate and continue to fold gently. Do not let mixture become soupy.

Pour mixture into pie crust and allow to freeze for several hours or overnight.

It's that easy.

Rock 'n' Roll Never Forgets

We interrupt this summer produce orgy to bring you something completely off subject, but on my mind.

Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce and I go waaaay back. Back to the 70's.

I'm not from New Jersey so I can't claim I ever saw him play in a bar.

But I did see him play several shows in Boston in the mid- 70's, around the time Born to Run came out.

Then he played at my college in 1978.

There was a boy who was looking to impress me at the time, so he camped out overnight to be one of the first to get tickets.

The tickets cost $7 and there we were in the 5th row.

Bruce and the E Street Band put on an unforgettable show, with energy like a match in a fireworks factory.

I fell in love that night - not with the boy who waited out in the cold but with the rocker in the black leather jacket.

I saw him again a few times after that, including a show in Zurich, Switzerland.

It didn't matter that the songs were in English.

Bruce is universal.

Do you remember when we all wanted to be Courtney Cox, plucked from the audience by Bruce, to dance with him in the Dancing in the Dark video? Why couldn't that have been us?

Last night, I saw my old flame again and friends, he was ON FIRE!

It's probably been 20 years or so since the last time Bruce and I got together.

He hasn't changed a bit.

He's aged so handsomely (60!). Abs still tight, biceps pumped and head of hair intact.

Sad to say, his audience has not.

We danced awkwardly next to our teenage kids, who were kind enough to accompany us, even though they only knew a few songs.

Looking around, there was much upper arm flab waving in the breeze, along with our fist pumps and overhead clapping. Receding hairlines and streaks of gray were abundant.

But we knew every word and sang along. Through three hours of Bruce's hard-rocking guitar and rough-edged voice. Bruce and The E Street band never sounded better.

I was sorry to see it end at 11 pm.

But it was past my bedtime.

And probably his too.

For those of you who come here just for the food, this is for you:

Shrimp shumai from Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger, where I had lunch with two old friends. Please note, none of us have jiggly arm flab.

I Am a Farmer's Friend

Of all my summer favorites, nothing beats a perfectly ripe tomato plucked from the bin at the local farmer's market.

You thought I was going to say "plucked from my garden", didn't you?

Well, you should know that I cannot grow a single thing. Nothing.

Even when I buy just a little pot of herbs to sit in the window, where I could snip them at will - it's just wilt and die.

Houseplants too.

Can't grow a single thing.

But, oh man, am I ever a friend of the farmer!

You'll find me every Wednesday morning at the Portland Farmer's Market in Monument Square, paying for all the stuff I should be growing, but can't.

Here's what I got today...

Tomatoes, corn, radishes, cukes, red onions, shallots, cilantro, a jalapeno pepper and zucchini.

And lots of cherry tomatoes.

I've got a long list of things I want to make with all this swag.

But considering the current heatwave we've been having, it's gazpacho tonight.

Cool and refreshing, a cinch to make and so good for you it's crazy.

This is one of those recipes that you don't have to follow exactly.

No yellow pepper? Use a red one.

Don't care for V8? Substitute with tomato juice.

(I haven't tried it, but I think the spicy V8 juice would be awesome.)

Give it a whirl and see if your body temp drops a few degrees.

Gazpacho

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large or 2 small cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced

1 small red onion, diced ( or for a sweeter flavor, try a shallot)

2-3 large, ripe tomatoes, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves

3 cups V8 or tomato juice

3 Tbsps. red wine vinegar

Garnish: feta or goat cheese, croutons

Place the garlic, cukes, onion, tomatoes, yellow pepper, parsley, juice and vinegar in a large bowl and stir well to combine.

Remove 2-3 cups and transfer to a food processor or blender. Blend until almost smooth and return to bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Garnish with cheese and croutons, if desired.

What about the rest of the haul?

Check back soon...

Recipe for a Delicious Movie

Take one well-seasoned actress and mix thoroughly with a fresh young star.

Next, add French scenery, such as Paris bistros, markets and cafes.

When they are well-combined, sprinkle with humor and charm.

Butter all parts generously.

I might be the last food blogger in America to see "Julie and Julia". But I'm probably not the only one who smiled through the whole thing, thoroughly entertained by every chopped onion and close-ups of the "publish" button on Blogger.

I recently finished reading My Life in France, so I was able to fill in all the missing details in the movie. I highly recommend the book. Julia Child's sweetly comic personality really shines through. We get to see her not just as the French chef, but as a human with doubts, regrets, desires and frustrations.

I read Julie and Julia a few years ago and very much enjoyed that too. Some people have complained that Julie Powell is self-centered and irreverent.

To that, I say "so what?" Welcome to the world of food blogging!

I found Julie funny and clever. Try the book for yourself - you might think so too.

I don't own a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I do have a more recent cookbook called The Way to Cook. It's updated, so Julia sanctions the use a food processor or microwave. I do not plan on cooking my way through it, but I'm inspired enough to try a few recipes. Many of them seem so simple, that they are really more of a technique than a recipe. I'd like to work on a few of the sauces. I think it would be handy to have those stowed away in your memory.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, I'm guessing we'll see a whole lot of boeuf Bourguignon hitting the blogosphere soon.

I've Got the Blues...

Finally...wild blueberry season in Maine.

The little tiny ones, bursting with real blueberry flavor.

The farmers markets are full of them, and so is my refrigerator.

So many recipes, so many things to do with them, it's hard to know where to start.

The list of fruit desserts include some funny names.

There's grunt. Slump. Buckle. And pandowdy. 

Do any of those really sound like something you want to eat?

How about a cake called Blueberry Boy Bait?

There's a cute story about a teenage girl, in the '50s,  who won a prize in the Pillsbury baking contest with this recipe. One bite, and supposedly the boys were hooked.

Of course these days we would never try to win them over with our baking talents, would we? Oh no never!

Yet it sounded so intriguing, I had to try it.

It tasted very good, but I can't say it was anything special. Plus, all the blueberries fell to the bottom.

(Can any experienced bakers out there tell me why that happened?)

Girls, if you're going to throw some bait out to the boys, I think you might have more luck  with chocolate. All the boys worth catching love chocolate.

Then I made Blueberry Crumb Bars.

Now we're talking!

Crumbly and nutty, loaded with berries, perfect with a spoonful of fresh whipped cream.

These bars have the taste and texture of a blueberry crisp ( a perennial favorite), but add a delicious bottom crust and you've got a dessert that's extra special. Easy too.

Note: I used  half all purpose white flour and half whole wheat pastry flour, for the health benefits. Whole wheat pastry flour can usually be found in the natural foods section of your supermarket. It is more finely milled than regular whole wheat flour, and can be exchanged for about half the all purpose flour in a recipe without changing the taste.

Blueberry Crumb Bars, adapted from Bon Appetit

Crust:

2 cups all purpose flour 

(or 1 cup ap flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Filling:

3 cups fresh blueberries (about 15 oz.)

1 cup blueberry preserves

1 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter bottom of 13 x 9 x 2" metal pan.

Whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Add butter cubes, and using your hands, rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture sticks together in small clumps.

Transfer half of this to another bowl and mix in almonds. Reserve for topping.

Press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of prepared pan. If you find you don't have enough to cover, take some from the reserved topping.

Bake crust until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

Mix all filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Spread evenly over cooled crust, then sprinkle reserved topping over it.

Bake bars until filling is bubbly around the edges and topping is golden, about 40 minutes.

Cool in pan on rack, then cut into squares.

Warning! It may not have "boy bait" in the name, but the warm scent of butter, brown sugar and berries is very likely to bring them running.