Rhubarb Meringue Pie...and poppies and lupines...oh my!!

 I am always happy when my rhubarb is ready to eat - I certainly look forward to it each year. This year I decided to make this pretty simple rhubarb meringue pie a la Martha hoping that mine would also come out pink because honestly who wouldn't love a pink pie but alas, as well I should have known, having made this curd twice before, mine became pale tangerine after the addition of the best ever egg yolks in the known universe from Farmetta Farm in nearby Morrill, Maine - despite the fact that it was not pink it tasted terrific and I can't wait to make one more before the rhubarb wains.

So let's get cracking with our pie:

First let's make our standard

EASY PEASY SWEET TART CRUST: 
Pre heat oven to 350F

 This recipe is enough for one regular sized tart case 9” diameter or I used a deep, nearly 2", 71/2" diameter pie tin as I like my tarts with lots of filling  

 11/2 cups/6ozs of sifted unbleached white flour

1/2 cup/2ozs confectioners/icing sugar

1 stick/ 4ozs butter VERY COLD

1 large egg yolk
 
1. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.

2. Grate the butter into the dry ingredient and rub in until like breadcrumbs.

3. Add egg yolk and blend and squush carefully until the dough sticks together. This may take a little time but despair not it will come together - just don't let it warm up - pie crusts pastry should always be kept as cold as possible to make it flaky and divine.

4.Tear dough into big chunks…..place strategically in pie pan and start squushing to a create a smooth even covering of the entire pan…the beauty of this crust is that it does NOT shrink at all…it stays put…good crust!!

5. Bob into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

6. Heat your oven to 375F

7. Take the pie crust out of the fridge, prick all over with a fork to prevent bubbles forming under the crust.

8. Line with parchment. Fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice and bake until edges are golden and set about 20 to 25 minutes. 

9. Remove from oven and take out the weights and parchment.

10. Return to oven and bake until bottom is dry and light gold, 5 to 10 minutes more. Let cool.

Next make the RHUBARB CURD - bright, buttery, sweet, tangy:

2lb rhubarb cut into small pieces

1. Put into the jug of a blender and use the highest setting to make the rhubarb into a sauce - you may have to add a little bit and a little bit of water as you go and keep pushing the rhubarb down - you want to add as little water as possible so you don't, literally, water the flavour down. Then drain the 'sauce' through say a coffee filter until you get 12 fluid ounces of rhubarb juice.

The juice you will have is now pink - my preferred colour - alas it will not stay that way for me - but if your egg yolks are not as yellow as mine perhaps yours will

12ozs/1 1/2cups sugar

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons cornstarch/cornflour

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons/11/2 ozs butter

2. Whisk the cornstarch/cornflour, sugar and salt together in a bowl and then whisk them into the juice.

3. Put into a saucepan and gently heat until boiling and boil for about 1 minute until it clears and starts to thicken.

4. Put egg yolks in a bowl and slowly whisk the hot rhubarb into it until evenly blended.

5. Return mixture to the pan and the heat and gently boil again for another minute until it really thickens - I did not let mine thicken enough for indeed how thick is thick...

6. Add butter to rhubarb mix and whisk until blended - now put aside to cool.

My rhubarb curd ended up quite orange as you can see in the picture below because I used the fantastic yolks from Farmetta Farm eggs :)

My rhubarb curd (although I can't really call it a curd as it has flour in it) was a bit loose so I found this very technical explanation of making a lemon meringue pie for you to read about how NOT to make a runny/loose pie - it's quite a lot of reading but very informative - if you've made a lemon meringue pie before and had no problems then maybe don't bother reading this as it may put you off your game - http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-meringue-pie.html 

I think perhaps my issue was I just didn't let it cook to thick enough and also I did stir it to cool it down and apparently that is not good form so don't stir yours once it is done and is cooling in the pan. I think after you have cooled your pie and if it is not set you can also rebake if for a while and it will set up more - just make sure to cover your pie edges with foil to set up them from getting too brown - allow to cool completely again - maybe for another 4 hours until you're sure it is set or if you are like me you just want to eat it and don't care that much if it isn't perfectly set.

Now poured your cooled rhubarb filling into the cooled pie shell and bob, covered, into the fridge until it set for four hours at the least and preferably over night.

And the final part of the pie: 

MERINGUE TOPPING: Heat the oven to 450F 

INGREDIENTS:

3 egg whites at room temperature - this is importnat as it gets a lot more olume into the eggs - cold egg whites just don't whip as well as room temp. ones. 

41/2 tablespoons sugar

1. Whip the egg whites until stiff

2. Add a tablespoon of sugar at a time and whip, whip, whip between additions until all the sugar has been added and the result is glossy and dense and divine.

3. Dollop gracefully atop your curd in the shell:

4. Bob into a 450F oven for about 2 minutes but keep your eyes on the pie and rotate if necessary to evenly brown thus:

As you can see mine was a tad slumpy but it tasted so good what did I care!!! 

And now for some poppy and lupine pictures from my garden today - these flowers together, their colours combined with the vivid green background, make me swoon - Monet eat your heart out! Tonight really heavy rain is coming in so I fear my poppies will be just a dream by morning.

A little bee busy doing her important work - thanks Busy Bee!!

Happy Baking - Patricia 

St. Leonard's Custard Pudding

Here is the first recipe from my newly acquired book “The Etiquette of English Puddings” published by Copper Beech Publishing and gifted to me by my dear friend Tabby (aka talented photographer Marcie Jan Bronstein) - St Leonard’s Custard Pudding – but isn’t it really a pie or tart – here we go again with the definition of pudding! My partner James is so confused at this point – he’s always asking "…and is THAT a pudding?” Simpler to say yes Dear it’s a pudding and anything you have for dessert in the UK is also a pudding. Ah – the vagaries of pudding…

THE RECIPE
This recipe made two pies in oval dishes 6" x 4" with a little filling to spare.

          

First make the Easy Peasy crust from Let Them Eat Cake Bakers in Belfast, Maine:

EASY PEASY SWEET TART CRUST: I made 10 miniature tarts from the recipe here:

1 1/2 cups/6ozs of unbleached white flour

1/2 cup/2ozs confectioners/icing sugar

1 stick + 1 tablespoon/ 4 1/2ozs butter VERY COLD

1 large egg yolk

a tad of milk or cream if your dough doesn't stick together

1. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.

2. Grate the butter into the dry ingredients and rub in until like breadcrumbs.

3. Add egg yolk and blend carefully until the dough sticks together

4. Mine didn't stick together with just the egg yolk so I added baby drop by baby drop some cream until it did start to come together...be careful once it does start to come together it does so quite quickly...don't let it get sticky!!

5. Tear off pieces of the dough and push into the pie dishes until you have somewhat evenly covered them, then bob in the fridge until you are ready to use them - always keep pie crust as cold as you can and your pie crust and your taste buds will thank you most heartily!

Turn on your oven to 325F.

For the custard:

1 rounded tablespoon of white flour

2 oz unsalted butter

10 fluid ounces whole milk

2 oz sugar

Grated zest of one lemon or a good grating of nutmeg – I like nutmeg in my custard – it’s very traditional and reminds me of the custard tarts I had with a good cuppa for elevenses (eleven o’clock break)  at art school.

3 egg yolks whisked together

For the meringue: 

3 egg whites at room temperature - it's amazing the difference in the volume and texture between eggs right out of the 'fridge and room temp eggs - on really hot days though don't leave them out too long to spoil:))

2 tablespoons icing/confectioner’s sugar.

Melt the butter in a wide pan on the stove, when it is sizzling add the flour and whisk like a madman to make sure there are no lumps then turn the heat to low – gradually add the milk and whisk constantly to get a nice smooth sauce, add the sugar and continue to cook until it thickens well then take off the stove and whisk or stir until almost completely cool. When cooler stir in the egg yolks. Set aside for a few minutes while you get the pastry cases ready.

Put a nice rounded teaspoon of jam – your choice – raspberry tends to be a big fave in England – in each pastry shell and smooth evenly over the bottom.

Now fill your cases with the lovely custard – you can go almost to the brim as this mixture does not rise in the baking.

My recipe said simply bake for one hour – with no indication of temperature so I choose 325F as I didn’t want the custard to bake too fast and get rubbery.

After about 35 minutes whisk the egg whites until somewhat stiff – then add the sugar in two goes and whisk in between until stiff. After 50 minutes check to see if the custard is setting – wobble a bit and if the middle is still a bit wobbly it’s good to now add the meringue.

Remove from the oven and dollop goodly amounts of meringue on the top – as you can see somehow my meringue was not quite right because somewhere lurking either in my bowl or on my whisk was the tiniest amount of fat and that not only stops the whites from gaining their highest volume but also makes them look curdley and not perfect – to avoid this wash all our equipment in very hot water and suds and then to go the extra mile rinse your equipment with white vinegar too. Naughty me didn’t heed my own advise BUT the meringue was still tasty if a little flat and unattractive.

Return pies to oven and allow to brown nicely – should be another 10 minutes or so.

Remove from oven and allow to cool and then if you like your custard cold like me bob them in the fridge.

These ‘puddings’ were very good and I will make them again. I don’t know why they are called St. Leonard’s Puddings – the only reference I could find mentioned the town of St. Leonard in Hasting’s Sussex but thy didn’t mention why the pudding is associated with the town.

We have had a simply gorgeous stretch of weather here in Maine - dry, hot and very Mediterranean - yesterday these lilies bloomed, aren't they lovely?

And of course today is Bastille Day in France - a country where the art of pastry making is truly an ART and celebrated as such. Vive La France!

Monmouth Pudding for Saint David's Day March 1st

Meringue, raspberry jam and a version of bread pudding underneath.

Happy Saint David's Day March 1st - National Day of Wales 

"Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!"

 The National symbols of Wales (Cymru in Welsh - pronounced come-rye) are the daffodil and leeks and even though there are no daffs growing in Maine yet (we're expecting 5-8" of snow tonight :(((() here are some pictures of mine from last year. If you click on the title link above you'll find lots of info about Cymru from the Welsh National Museum.

Here is a picture of the National Costume of Wales....

 and it looks like she is standing in front of an awning with the longest village name in that fair land Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - translating to "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave" -

don't even ask me how to pronounce it - here's a link to some information about the town on Wikipedia and an audio for the name!!

Wales is a BEAUTIFUL country and many Brits myself included have holidayed there as a child at seaside villages such as Porthmadog and Llandudno (pronounced clan-did-no - double ll's are c's in English.

So - on to Monmouth Pudding

A simple unassuming pudding but pretty with the meringue topping.

INGREDIENTS:

Topping: The more traditional is jam - I choose raspberry jam - I recently discovered this truly delicious, bright and fresh jam at the Belfast Coop and recommend it very highly if you can find it.

  Recently some people are replacing the jam with stewed fruit - apples, rhubarb or pears - but I like to go with tradition.

PUDDING:

1oz butter

3oz sugar

6oz fresh breadcrumbs - I used white with the crust included - you can use white or wheat with or without the crust - the colours will change and the flavour but it's your choice :))

3 egg yolks

16 fl oz buttermilk (get Kate's if you can find it)

Zest of one lemon preferably organic

MERINGUE:

3 egg whites

1oz sugar

1. Heat the oven to 350F and butter 4 individual ramekins.

2. Heat butter, buttermilk, lemon zest and sugar in a saucepan to just simmering.

3. Remove from heat, add breadcrumbs and leave to absorb for 10 minutes.

4, Stir egg yolks into the breadcrumb mix.

5. Divide evenly between 4 ramekins.

6. Bake in the oven until set - about 25 minutes. While the pudding is baking whisk the 3 egg whites to stiff and then add the sugar in 3 goes whisking in between each addition.

7. Remove the ramekins from the oven - don't turn the oven off - let cool a little then spoon as much jam or stewed fruit as you like on the top - thus -

8. Now pipe your egg white meringue atop the jam and pop back in the oven for about 10 minutes until nicely browned as below - you can enjoy whilst hot - with cream or ice cream or just as is or I preferred it cooled - for some reason I do seem to prefer my hot puddings cold - who knows why.
The breadcrumb pudding part does set up quite solidly - it is not a soft pudding - just FYI.

So off you go with your leeks and daffodils and Happy Baking on Saint David's Day!

Rhubarb, rhubarb everywhere...OH YUM!!! Manchester or Queen of Puddings with rhubarb!!

Ahhhhh...the rhubarb patch and this is only part of it...so much rhubarb so little time!! I love that it just keeps returning in abundance and expects no effort on your part...good little rhubarb!!

So I availed myself of many stalks and proceeded to wash trim and chop...remember the leaves are toxic and must never be used in cooking, throw them away...begone leaves!!...with my rhubarb I just guesstimate the amount of sugar to begin with...here are about 5 goodly stalks and about 1/2 cup of sugar. I don't add any water to my rhubarb as it is very juicy without. Put the pan on a very low heat and stir occasionally...don't let it catch or burn...keep those eyeballs peeled. For this recipe I allowed the rhubarb to break down completely as I wanted a smooth rhubarb compotey thing. When the rhubarb is cooked allow to cool and add more sugar if you deem it necessary..rhubarb sweetness is a very personal thing!!

Ta Dah!!! The first rhubarb delight of the season...Manchester Pudding or Queen of Puddings...your choice on the name...I prefer Manchester as that is where I hail from. Usually this pudding is made with commercial or homemade jam such as raspberry but why not rhubarb compote I asked myself and here we are - a custardy base, a layering of rhubarb and a cloud of heavenly meringue!!
THE RECIPE:
1 imperial pint of milk which equals 20 fluid ozs US
1/2 oz/ 1/8th stick butter
4oz/2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs (I do mine in batches in a coffee grinder which works really well)
4 oz/1/2 cup fine white sugar or brown it doesn't really matter
2 egg yolks and 4 egg whites
4-6 goodly tablespoons of delish rhubarb rhubarbiness

1. Pre heat the oven to 350F and butter a pie dish that's about 8-9" round...or do individual ones...whatever your heart desires, this is not a precision dessert.
2. Put milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, breadcrumbs, half of the sugar and allow to sit for about 20 minutes until the breadcrumbs have swelled.
3. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the cooled breadcrumb mixture...if the mix is still hot the yolks will scramble!
4. Now pour the breadcrumb 'custard' into the pie dish and cook for about 30 minutes until the custard is set...I like it when the centre is still a bit wobbly not set hard throughout...makes the finished pud lighter and smoother...so wiggle as you go and when the outside is set and the middle is still a bit wobbly remove from the oven.
5. When it is somewhat cooled spread the rhubarb gently over the custard.
6. Now whip the egg whites to stiff and gradually add in the rest of the sugar beating in between additions...when nice and glossy spoon over the rhubarb and make pretty.
7. Return to the oven and bake 'til browned and beauteous as above.
8. I prefer this dish cool when it seems to have more flavour than straight out of the oven...the custardy part is definitely better cool or cold but not refridgetarted (incorrect spelling but I like it!!)

And here for you, my dear Readers is a spring bouquet from our Maine garden....the weather has been fantastic lately although it is grey and mizzlin' today...the garden abounds and all the flowers are early!!