Hello, Autumn!

It's finally sweater weather and I couldn't be happier. Plus, there are wonderful things like pears and plums to be eaten.

Speaking of plums, I just had to make a Three Plum Pie. I watched both seasons of Pushing Daisies on Netflix and loved it even though every episode made me hungry! If you like food or the movie Amélie or Tim Burton movies, you'll probably like Pushing Daisies. I highly recommend it.

Exciting news! I've found a way to offer my recipes as PDF downloads! Click here for Three Plum Pie and here for Shortcrust Pastry.

Three Plum Pie

Crust:

9” Double-crust pie shell (See my Shortcrust Pastry recipe.)

Filling:

½ lb red plums

½ lb black plums

¼ lb damsons (Italian prune plums)

zest from ½ an orange

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

For each plum, cut in half and remove the pit. Slice into approximately ¼” wedges. Place the wedges into a large mixing bowl. Grate the orange zest over the bowl and stir to combine. Next, add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Stir to combine and set aside.

Roll out the bottom crust of your pastry and fit to your pie plate. Pour in the plum filling and then roll out the top crust and fit over the filling, crimping the edges. Make six 1” slashes in the top of the crust.

Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and then brush the top of the pie with the milk. Bake for 12 minutes at 450 and then turn the temperature down to 325 and bake a further 40 minutes, or until the crust in nicely browned.

You should definitely have a slice while the pie is hot, but any leftovers can be refrigerated and eaten later.

Adapted from this recipe and this recipe.

Shortcrust Pastry

Adapted from All About Home Baking*

Yields two 9” pie shells (enough for one double-crust pie or two single-crust pies)

1 ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

11 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/3 cup (approximately) cold water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Next, rub in the butter with fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Incorporate a bit of the water at a time until the dough starts to come together. You may not need all the water.

Divide the dough into two equally sized discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour. If you don’t plan to use the dough within 24 hours, you can freeze it for up to a month.

After the dough has chilled, you can either roll the dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap (adjusting the wrap often enough to prevent it from tearing) or flour your counter and rolling pin and roll the dough out directly on the counter.

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In movie news, on October 12th Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting a Simon Templar (a.k.a. The Saint) marathon. George Sanders played Simon Templar five times (his films are on from 10:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST), but none of the films are available on DVD. Thought I'd give you a heads up in case you were interested. By the way, don't call me between 10:15 and 4:30.

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* General Foods Corporation, “Calumet Pie Crust,” All About Home Baking (New York: 1933), 101.

The 1925 Project: Wonder Dough

Back: Käse Kuchen, front: Streusel Coffee Cake

This is supposed to be a project for interwar recipes, but I'm going to fudge it a bit because my hot roll recipe comes from the 1950 edition of Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook. However, there are very similar recipes in my older cookbooks. I just prefer the layout and instructions in my copy of Betty Crocker.

This recipe really is for a wonder dough. You can, naturally, make hot rolls, but you can also make coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, Stollen, Hot Cross Buns and more from the exact same recipe. This week I used 1/2 of the recipe to make 2 dozen rolls, 1/4 of the recipe to make a Streusel Coffee Cake and the remaining 1/4 for a Käse Kuchen, which is like a big cheese Danish. It's as much work to make half recipes as whole recipes, so I like to get a good return on my investment.

I make my Sweet Dough in the bread machine, but I've provided instructions for those of you without one.

Sweet Dough

1/2 cup water, around 100º Fahrenheit

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packets)

1 1/2 cups milk, around 100º Fahrenheit

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup butter, melted

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (approx.)

Bloom the yeast in the warm water for about 5 minutes, then pour into a large mixing bowl with the milk, sugar and salt. Stir to combine. Mix in the eggs and butter then add the flour, in two parts, stirring after each addition.

Turn out the dough and knead (adding flour if needed) until the dough feels like a baby's bottom (the best indicator--no kidding). Place in a greased bowl and cover until doubled (usually at least 1 1/2 hours).

After the dough has doubled, punch down the dough and let it rise, covered, until almost doubled again (about 30 to 45 minutes).

Hot Rolls

for 2 dozen

1/2 recipe Sweet Dough

approx. 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

After second rising, evenly divide the dough into 24 balls. Roll each ball in the flour to lightly coat. Fill two standard-sized, greased muffin tins with the dough and leave to rest, covered, around 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425º. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned.

For a photo, please stay tuned for my next post, where I'll discuss two fried-chicken supper menus.

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Streusel Coffee Cake

makes 8 slices

1/4 recipe Sweet Dough

1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons cold butter, diced

1/2 cup chopped pecans

After the second rising, mix the raisins (if using) into the dough. Press the dough into a well-greased 8" circular cake tin. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in the butter as you would to make a pie crust then stir in the pecans. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the dough, cover and let rest about 25 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400º. Bake approximately 25 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Cool in the tin on a rack for about 10 minutes, then cool directly on the rack.

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Käse Kuchen

makes 8 slices

1/4 recipe Sweet Dough

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup farmers cheese, neufchâtel, drained cottage cheese or ricotta (or other soft, unripened cheese)

1 cup prunes, soaked in boiling water then chopped

1/4 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

After the second rising, press the dough into a well-greased 8" cake tin. Set aside.

Stir together the 1/3 cup sugar, flour, farmers cheese, prunes and pecans. Make an indention in the dough (leaving a border) and spread the mixture into it. Combine the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon then sprinkle over the top. Cover and rest around 25 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400º. Bake approximately 25 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Cool in the tin on a rack for about 10 minutes, then cool directly on the rack.

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More 1925 music:

"Say Arabella (What's a Fella to Do)" by George Olsen & His Orchestra with Billy Murray

Available at The Internet Archive

Baking When You're Not "in the Money"

In this recipe (frosting included!) from 1933, I only used one egg and 5 1/2 tablespoons of butter. Because I buy organic butter and organic free-range eggs, this helps with my grocery bills!

Creole Cake

adapted from All About Home Baking (General Foods Corporation, 1933)

serves 12

Cake:

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups cake flour*

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon hot cocoa mix**

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

about 3 1/2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee (I just refrigerate the coffee that's left after breakfast.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8x8x2 cake tin with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg and mix well. Alternate adding the flour and milk, beating after each addition. Add about 1/3 of each at a time. You can add the baking powder and salt with the flour and the vanilla with the milk. Pour batter into the cake tin and level out with a spatula. Bake 45 to 50 minutes in the middle of the oven until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan for approximately 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cake is absolutely completely cool, mix up the frosting by creaming the butter and slowly adding the powdered sugar. Add the hot cocoa mix and salt and beat. Next, add the vanilla and beat again. Add coffee until the frosting is a good spreading consistency. Using your offset spatula, spread frosting over the top of the cake. Enjoy!

*This is the scoop method. The original recipe asks for 2 cups sifted cake flour. For more information, please refer to this previous post.

**Use a quality cocoa mix (like Ghirardelli or Godiva). Even though there is only a tablespoon of it in the frosting, it will be very noticeable!

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Also from 1933, when many in America believed the economy was returning to a pre-Depression "normal":

Coming in August: "1925 House"

Our 1925 duplex

No, not another of those PBS "reality" shows. It's just that I've decided to put my cookbooks from the twenties and thirties to good use. Primarily, I'll be cooking from The Boston Cooking School Cookbook and A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband with Bettina's Best Recipes: The Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping, which is a very useful (if rather ridiculous) cookbook that gives several dinner menus for each month of the year and has a little story to go along with each about the first year of Bob and Bettina's marriage.

Here's a sneak peak at the meals I'll be preparing. This is "A Quick Breakfast" from The Boston Cooking School Cookbook:

Mackay's Dundee Orange Marmalade; Ruby Red Grapefruit Sections; World Market Breakfast Blend Coffee; English White Bread (from the bread machine), toasted, with organic butter; two organic, free-range eggs, poached

It only took 20 minutes to prepare, so I guess that is pretty quick. It was tasty, too! Plus (the best part), it's already after 12 and I'm just now getting hungry.

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A bit about life in the '20s:

• According to my Condé Nast housekeeping guide (1928), a family of four should spend no more than $75 per month on food--that's $930.73 in 2009 dollars.
• For our household income (in 1925 money), we could afford to spend $2472.02 on a car. In 1925, a Hudson Super Eight cost $1250 (Al Capone had a 1928 model), a Packard Touring Sedan cost $2585, and a Rolls Royce Phantom cost $13,450.
• Wichita had a trolley line until 1934
• Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra recorded "The Charleston" in May of 1925:

Traditional British Food, Part 37: Making Do

Boiled Beef with Carrots and Dumplings really is a cool-weather dish. However, and I'm about to go on a tangent here, I had a large roast that was absolutely unsuitable for roasting. Evidently here in Kansas, a roast isn't a piece of meat that is roasted in the oven but a piece of meat that is pot-roasted. If you remember, my friend Jessica's neighbor asked her and her husband to go in on a side of beef. Paul and I then shared Jessica's take. We then all decided that her neighbors were obviously idiots when it came to ordering cuts of meat (20 pounds of ground beef? Icky minute steaks? A measly two sirloin steaks?!), plus Jessica got stuck with practically all the offal. Also, I am refusing to buy anything else from Yoder meats (which happens to be basically the only processor around here) because their butchering work is crap. We didn't have a single cut of meat that didn't have fat and tendons running through it-- not pleasant to eat medium-rare. So, we made our last roast Friday night and we boiled it until the tendons were no longer a problem. My Boiled Beef with Carrots and Dumplings recipe also took care of some carrots that no one would eat raw (I hate not actually being able to see the carrots in the bag!). Plus, I never posted a good photo back in October, so here's Friday's Boiled Beef with Carrots and Dumplings:

P.S. It's not really that horrible to make in warm weather. The only slaving over the stove you have to do is skimming the stock as it comes to a boil the first time.

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While we're on the subject of making do, it seems that Barbara Pym's spinsters spend a lot of time doing just that. I've recently read both Excellent Women and Less than Angels and throughly enjoyed them both with their teas and church jumble sales and anthropology lectures. I plan to read the rest of Pym's novels sometime in the near future.

I've always felt an affinity for novels about spinsters, because I used to feel there was a good chance that I'd end up as one. I can't believe I found someone who puts up with all my eccentricities. Not that Paul is a saint and I prefer it that way. Anyhow, if you're feeling your own affinity toward spinsters, you might check out the Marple page at pbs.org. Right now, The Secret of Chimneys and The Blue Geranium are available online, which is awesome because it means that I don't have worry about being finished with dinner before 8 p.m. on Sundays and sometimes it's nice to watch a movie with breakfast!

Traditional British Food, Part 36: Another Quick Dinner

You might have noticed that we eat a lot of pork. It's Paul's favorite and is also extremely common in British cooking. I believe it's because pigs were cheaper and easier to care for than sheep or cattle and required less space, which was greatly in their favor after the enclosure movement.* Disclaimer: I don't know whether I just inferred all of this or I read it somewhere. I tried to find the information in my notes and wasn't successful! Anyhow, the main point is that various pig-based comestibles are often in British recipes and often on my table.

This tasty recipe uses the ubiquitous boneless pork loin chop. It's quick and tasty. A note for all you raisin-haters out there--this recipe totally transforms the raisins into something you'll want to eat. Our conversation at the table:

Me: You wouldn't even know there are raisins in this.

Paul: There are raisins in this?

Lemon Pork

serves 4

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 4-ounce boneless pork tenderloin chops

1 cup chicken stock

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup golden raisins

1 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with a bit of water to make a liquid)

6 scallions, trimmed and sliced

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. If the onion starts to brown, turn down the heat.

Next, season the pork chops and sear them for a couple of minutes on each side. Add in the stock, lemon zest and juice, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and raisins. Bring to the boil and then simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid, stir in the cornstarch mixture and the scallions. Bring back to a boil and cook another 5 minutes. Serve the raisin/onion mixture on top of the pork chops.

Adapted from Favourite Dorset Recipes.

Goes really well with:

Lemon Butter Green Beans

serves 4

2 lbs green beans, trimmed and washed

4 tablespoons butter

lemon juice (around 2 teaspoons or so)

1 tablespoon minced parsley

Steam the green beans for 5 minutes and drain.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in the lemon juice. Add the green beans and parsley and stir to combine.

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

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I finished Paul's birthday present last month. The pattern is "St. Enda" from Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting. Thought you might like to see it.

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*You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about enclosure by consulting G.R. Elton's England under the Tudors or Barry Coward's The Stuart Age. (See? I'm using my university education.)