Double-Crust Blackberry Crisp

This recipe was adapted from Fresh Blackberry Crumble Bars by Bibi at All-Recipes.com 

Supplies

10 in. round or spring-form pan, parchment paper, oil or cooking spray

Ingredients

Crisp Base Layer

• 3/4 c rolled oats
• 1 c flour
• 1/2 c brown sugar (lightly packed)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c unsalted butter, melted

Crisp Top Layer

• 1 c rolled oats
• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c unsalted butter, melted

Blackberry Filling

• 6.5 c fresh blackberries
• 1/3 c granulated sugar
• 4.5 T cornstarch
• ⅛-¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Line the base of the spring-form or round pan with a circle of parchment paper and oil the sides with a neutral oil or cooking spray. (Note: the finished dessert will be about 1-1.5 in height)

Pre-heat the oven to 350F/175C

Base Crisp Layer

Melt 1/2 c of butter

Mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt for the base layer. 

Work in the butter until the dry mixture thoroughly incorporates all the butter and the mixture is a uniformly darker color. This can be done in a stand mixer if available.

Pour into the prepared pan and press down into an even layer.

Bake for about 10 minutes, then set aside to cool or at least 5 minutes.

Blackberry Filling

While the base is baking cook the blackberry filling and crisp topping

Put the blackberries, sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a pan and cook on the stove on medium-high heat. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil.

Turn the heat down and stir regularly (so the filling doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan) until the berry filling thickens. The cooking process takes about 7-10 minutes total.

Take pan off the heat and set aside.

Crisp Top Layer

Mix up the topping in the same way as the base and set aside

Assembly

Once the base layer is cooked and has cooled for at least 5 minutes, spread the cooked berries in an even layer on the base, then dot the top crisp mixture on top fairly evenly, but it's fine if there are gaps where the berry mixtures shows through.

Bake for 35-50 minutes until the top crisp starts to brown.

Cool on the counter for 30 minutes then in the refrigerator until set (about 1 1/2-2 hours total of cooling time).

Enjoy!

Finished Double-Crust Blackberry Crisp

Matzo Balls

Makes 16-20 matzo balls.

Ingredients

3 large eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

3 T water or broth

1.5 T chopped dill or dill seeds

3/4 t kosher salt

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cups matzo meal

1 1/2 T additional salt for the cooking water

Instructions

Prepare dough up to 2 days ahead but with at least 35 minutes to let the dough rest and hydrate. Store in the refrigerator.

Whisk the eggs thoroughly. 

Add butter, water/broth, dill, salt & pepper and stir until well combined. 

Add matzo meal and whisk until incorporated. 

Cover and chill dough at least 35 minutes to let the dough hydrate.

Bring 2-3 quarts of water to a boil in a medium pot. Add 1 1/2  Tbsp. salt. 

Using damp hands, take pieces of dough and roll them into 1 inch balls. Place the balls on a piece of baking parchment.

Makes around 16-20 balls. 

Slide the balls into the boiling water and reduce the heat to low.

Cover the pot and let it simmer gently for 30-40 minutes until balls are puffed and light in color. Don’t remove them sooner or they will be under-cooked.

Remove from the heat and transfer the matzo balls to storage dish or into the soup.

If the Matzo balls have been made ahead, transfer to an airtight container along with 2–3 Tbsp. cooking liquid and chill. 

To reheat, gently lower the matzo balls into the soup and cook over medium-low until heated through, about 10 minutes.

Coconut Curry Carrot Soup

This recipe is adapted from The Washington Post's soup of the same name and removes the onion, ginger, and chicken broth in favor of alternatives that I can eat.

Ingredients

• 1 T olive oil (suitable for cooking with)

• 2-3 stalks celery, diced

• ¼ tsp asafetida

• 1 T cardamom 

• 1 tsp cumin (seeds or ground)

• 1 tsp coriander, ground

• ¾ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp black pepper, ground

• ¼ tsp tumeric

• ⅛-¼ tsp curry powder

• 1.5 lbs (abt 5 large) carrots, peeled and cut in ¼-½ inch coins

• 4 c vegetable broth (or quick broth, below if you don't have any vegetable broth)

• 1 cup full fat coconut milk

• 2 tsp honey

Quick Broth

• 1T cooking oil 

• ¼ tsp asafetida

• 1 tsp cardamom 

• ¼ tsp turmeric

• 1-2 stalks celery, diced

• 4 c water (use warm to hot water if possible to speed the cooking time)

Important tools:  Blender or immersion blender, medium-to-large cooking pot

Instructions

Quick Broth

If making the quick broth, start that first by measuring out the spices, dicing the celery and heating the oil in a small pan on medium-high depending on your stove.

Once the oil is heated and shimmering add the celery and then the spices and stir until the spices coat the celery, turn the head down to medium and cook the celery until it is translucent.

Add the water and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook while you make the rest of the soup.

Soup

Prep the carrots and celery as above. Open the can of coconut milk and pour into a small bowl to re-emulisfy, then measure out 1 c for the recipe and refrigerate the rest. Measure out the spices into a small bowl.

Heat the oil in a meduim to large pot. You want something large enough to hold the 4 cups of broth along with the carrot mixture with room to stir everything

Once the oil is shimmering add the celery and coat it in the oil and cook it for 3-4 minutes or until the celery is translucent.

Add the spices and stir until the celery is well coated 30 sec- 1 minute.

Add the carrots and the broth. Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer for 12-20 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and remove from the heat.

If using an immersion blender: 

Transfer the soup to a large metal or ceramic bowl, add the coconut milk and the honey and stir until well mixed. (This will let the soup cool a bit before blending).

Use the immersion blender to blend into a creamy soup and serve.

If using a stand blender: 

Add the coconut milk and honey and stir until well combined and puree in several batches in your stand blender using a second bowl as needed to hold the finished soup. 

Remove the center knob of the blender to allow steam to escape while pureeing and put a paper or cloth towel over the hole to keep from splashing soup around.

Serve warm.

Pairs well with toasted bread topped with mustard and avocado.

Umami Stock

This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit's Vegan Umami Broth from 2017 to remove the onion and garlic, to add the use of vegetable ends, and to work with ingredients that I could find at my local stores, while trying to keep the deep flavor of the original recipe.

My vegetable ends are usually a mix of frozen mushroom stems, carrot ends and peels, and celery.
This recipe takes about 2 1/2-3 hours to make, but most of that is cooking time where you just need to check occasionally that nothing is burning or boiling over. I make it at least a day ahead of when I want to use it, so I don't have to worry about not getting the main dish finished in time.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp white miso
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1/4 tsp asofoetida
• 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
• 8 dried shitake or wild mix mushrooms (optional)
• 4 sheets of nori seaweed (or kombu)
• 6-8 cups of frozen vegetable ends (mushrooms, carrots, and celery)
• 1 tsp black peppercorns

Method

• Preheat the oven to 300F. 
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with baking parchment.
• Defrost the vegetable ends in the microwave until they are loose enough to stir. You're not cooking them yet, just getting them to a point where they are easy to use. If possible use a large mixing bowl to microwave in; if not, then transfer the vegetables to a mixing bowl large enough to stir the sauce and nori into the vegetables without slopping over the sides of the bowl.
• Mix the miso, vegetable oil, water, asofoetida, and cardamom together.
• Crush the nori and mushrooms (if using) and sprinkle it over the defrosted vegetables
• Add the miso mixture and stir the vegetables around until they are evenly coated in the mixture
• Spread the coated vegetables on the rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes
• Toss the vegetables to help even the baking, turn the oven up to 400F and bake for 30 more minutes.
• Transfer the cooked vegetables to a large pot on the stove, add 4 quarts of water and the peppercorns.
• Bring stock to a boil, then simmer uncovered and stirring occasionally until the broth is reduced by half about 60-75 minutes.
• Let the broth cool, then strain through a fine mesh sieve, squeezing the vegetables to get as much broth out as possible. Refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Saag Feta Modified

This recipe is based on Priya Krishna's Saag Feta recipe. I stumbled across it while I was watching cooking videos from the Bon Appetit YouTube channel. I've linked to the original and to the video below and I really suggest watching the video if you haven't made Saag before. I learned so much!

My version has been modified to remove the onion, garlic, and ginger in the original; however, if you can safely eat those foods, I'd suggest checking out Priya's original recipe below. Or buy her book: Indian-ish

Ingredients
90 ml (6 T) ghee
2 T whole coriander seeds
2 green cardamom pods
2-3 celery stalks
1/4 tsp Asofoetida
1 T ground cardamom
453 g (1 lb) fresh spinach
1 Serrano Chili
14 ml (1 T) lime juice
1 tsp salt
170-226g (6-8 oz) feta cheese
118 ml (1/2 c) water
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/8 tsp chili powder

Rice, Roti, Naan, or Pita bread to eat the Saag with

Critical Tools
Large (10-12 inch sauté or frying pan)
Blender or Immersion blender

Important
Prep all of the ingredients before you start cooking, as once you start there is no downtime to do prep in.

Ghee (if you don't have any on hand)
To make your own: put 8 T (1 stick) of butter in a sauté or frying pan and cook on medium heat until a white foam appears on top, butter solids appear in the bottom of the pan, and the butter is a light nut brown.

Skim off the butter foam with a spoon, pour the liquid butter into a heatproof jug, being careful not to include the butter solids from the bottom of the pan.

If you are going to reuse this pan for the rest of the recipe, wipe the butter solids out before continuing with it but it doesn't need to be thoroughly washed before you start.

The ghee takes 15-20 minutes and can be done ahead of time. Eight tablespoons of butter makes enough Ghee for this recipe.

Prep
Measure out the spices for the different stages, wash all of the spinach (unlike some recipes, it's not critical to get it super dry), roughly chop the celery, Serrano chili (optional: de-seed the chili) , and cut the feta into 1 cm cubes.

Method
Sauté the coriander seeds and two green cardamom pods in 60 ml (4 T) of ghee on medium heat until they start to brown.

Add the celery and asofoetida, let that cook until translucent, and add in the ground cardamom.

Slowly add in the spinach until it is all wilted. It doesn't need to all be cooked down to a mush just mostly wilted.

Take it off the heat and add the Serrano chili, lime juice, and the salt. Stir until combined.

Transfer the spinach mix to the blender or to a heatproof bowl if you are using an immersion blender. Blend until you have a saucy mixture with no big chunks left.

Add the spinach mixture back into the pan on low heat. If the sauce isn't very liquid add as much of the water as you need to. Mix in the cubed feta and cover it as much as possible with the sauce (so the feta picks up flavor of the sauce).

While the sauce and feta warms up make the chhonk. In a small saucepan, heat the rest of the ghee (30 ml) and the cumin seeds on medium-high heat. Once the cumin seeds start to brown, the red chile powder, and pour the mixture over the top of the saag feta. Note: the cumin seeds can go from lightly browned to burned in an instant, so watch this mixture carefully while you make it.

Serve with rice or flat-bread.

Note: the chili flavor will intensify over time, so if you eat this as leftovers the next day the Saag might be spicier. This and the fact that I don't like much chili heat in my food, is why I de-seed the Serrano chili. However if you like your food with more chili heat it might be a good idea (and less work) to keep the seeds in.

Links
Original Saag Feta recipe

Priya Makes Saag Feta (Video)

Butternut Squash, Mushroom, and Sage Risotto

This recipe is based on Butternut Squash and Sage Oven Risotto. For the first try I subsituted our faux onion for the onion and garlic as well as cooking it on the stovetop instad of the oven.

The second time I made it I added mushrooms and that really balanced the flavors of the squash and sage. I'm really happy with how it turned out. This recipe makes 10-12 cups of risotto and works very well as leftovers. It's really easy to make-- chopping up the squash is the most time consuming part of the project.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups chopped celery
• 1/2 tsp asofoetida
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
• 1.2 liters homemade or store-bought no-salt-added vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves, chopped finely
• 1 kg butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 cm cubes
• 450 g mushrooms, cut into 1 cm cubes
• 2 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice

Method
Heat the oil in a large, ovenproof pot fitted with a lid over medium heat. Add the celery and asofoetida and cook, stirring frequently, until the celery is lighty browned.

Add the sage and cook until fragrant for a minute or two.

Add the rice and stir until it is mixed in and coated with the oil/celery/sage mix.

Add the squash, mushrooms, salt, and the broth. Stir well, cover, and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, leave covered and turn the heat down to a simmer. Check and stir every 10-15 minutes until the rice is cooked (about 45-75 minutes depending on the rice used). Add salt to taste.

The risotto should be creamy but not too runny. If needed, add up to an additional 230 ml of water.

Serve hot. This reheats well in the micrwave. Top with a hard grated cheese if desired.

Savory Pie: Butternut, Spinach, and Blue Cheese

This recipe is inspired by "Sophie's Four Seasons Individual Pies" from the Great British Bake Off. I thought the filling looked very tasty and the original is already free of onion and garlic.

This is pretty easy to make but somewhat time consuming. You could use a pre-made frozen pie crust to save time.

I baked and mixed the filling ingredients and made the pie crust dough the day before and then did all of the baking the next day.

Makes 1 9-10 inch pie

Ingredients

Pie Crust (or buy a pre-made frozen crust)
500 g all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt (leave out if using salted butter)
250 g unsalted butter
120 ml ice cold water

Butternut Squash Preparation
600 g butternut squash (peeled, de-seeded, and cut into 1cm pieces)
3 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp ground coriander or cumin
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 ½ Tbsp honey (if solid, warm so it can be mixed easily)

Spinach Preparation
200 g baby spinach leaves
10 g salted butter

Blue Cheese Mixture
175 g blue cheese or 175 g goat's cheese
2 Tbsp sour cream (or crème fraîche)
¼ tsp salt (adjust to taste), if using goat's cheese start with ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper (adjust to taste)

Tools
9-10 inch pie pan or straight sided pan
Baking parchment
Baking sheet
Roasting pan
Largish mixing bowl
Medium to large saucepan
Colander

Method

Pie Crust

Cut the butter into 1 cm pieces and cut or rub into the flour. If you have a food processor or stand mixer use them to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If not, use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Slowly mix in the ice cold water until the dough just comes together, you likely will not use all of the water.

Form the dough into a ball, press into a thick disc, wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

If using a pre-made crust, move it from the freezer to the fridge at this point.

After 2 hours (or the next day):
Preheat the oven to 400F

Roll the dough out thinly on a piece of parchment paper. Line the pie tin with the dough, letting some dough hang over the edge of of the tin.

Put the pie tin on a baking sheet (to keep the dough from falling off into your oven), cover the edge of the crust with foil or a pie protector, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the base is golden.

Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork right when it comes out of the oven to help it lie flat and cut off any extra dough hanging off the edge of the pie tin. Use a sharp knife and work carefully or you might tear a larger piece off than you mean to.

Set aside to cool. Bring the left over dough into a disc, wrap in parchment, and put the the refrigerator to chill.

Butternut Squash Mixture
Preheat the oven to 400F and line the roasting pan with baking parchment.

Peel and de-seed the squash. Weigh out 600g and set the rest aside. Cube the 600 g of squash into 1 cm pieces and put into a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Mix the oil, coriander (or cumin), rosemary and honey together and pour over the squash.

Stir the squash until well covered by the oil mixture.

Pour the squash mixture into the roasting pan and spread the squash out so it is only one layer deep.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until just tender. Don't over bake as the squash will be baked a 2nd time in the pie.

Spinach Mixture

While the squash is cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Rinse the spinach

Add the spinach to the butter and cook down until all of the spinach is wilted and very dark green.

Move the spinach to a colander and squeeze as much of the liquid out as you can. You can also roll the spinach in several pieces of paper towel and squeeze out over the sink. The more thorough you are with this step the better the pie will turn out.

Leave in the colander to to continue to drain.

Blue Cheese Mixture

Crumble the blue cheese into a mixing bowl, stir in the sour cream and the salt and pepper to taste (taste as you go as the cheese can be different batch to batch).

Final Filling Steps
Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F/Gas4

Add the spinach to the Blue Cheese mixture and stir until well combined. Add the butternut squash and mix until the squash is evenly distributed.

Roll out the remaining pie dough and make strips for the lattice and edging.

Fill the cooled pie crust with the filling, use the strips of pie dough to make a lattice across the top and around the edge.

Optional: For a shinier finish, beat an egg and brush the across the edge of the crust and the lattice.

Bake for 35-65 minutes. After 30 min start checking every 5-10 minutes. If the crust edge starts to brown to quickly, cover with foil or pie protector. As the pie cooks, look for the filling to start to dry out (if liquid is still actively bubbling up keep baking) and the lattice to brown.

When baked, remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Can be served warm or cold and will firm up more as it cools.

Store in the refrigerator.

Inspired by: Sophie's Four Seasons Individual Pies

Butternut squash, spinach, cheese pie with homemade pie crust in a cake pan.