~🥘🧅🧀 A Few Words From Susan🥘🧅🧀~ Most of the food memories I share with you here are Cestari memories, as the foods that represent love and family to me come from my mother and grandmother, and the extended Cestari family. There is one dish, however, that I learned from my mother-in-law, that has become an annual feature on my holiday table. My mother always served pearl onions at Thanksgiving, boiled and served coated in melted butter. My mother called them "creamed onions", even though there was no cream. Go figure. They were
delicious and were a staple on my Thanksgiving table for years...until I had my mother-in-law's "creamed onions". These also did not feature any cream....she covered her onions with cheese sauce! (Think mac and cheese with baby onions instead of pasta.) Check out the recipe below.
I think your family will love them as much as mine does. (Unless they don't like cheese). If you haven't delegated the pies to guests - or if you are a guest who was assigned to bring a pie, this issue will help you with some pie crust tips. The video shows my son-in-law making pie crust for the first time. As you can see, it took him about one minute to do the hard part - after this you add water, roll it out, and there's your crust. Yummy and flaky and much cheaper than buying one. I'm providing a 50% off coupon on two essential pie crust tools this week - one for the Cestari Pastry Blender AND one for our Bench Knife. Best, Susan
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Tip of the Week: Drunken Pie Crust Until I learned this hack, it was always a struggle to add enough water
to make the crust easy to roll out, but not too much that crust wouldn't stay flaky. The secret? Replacing the water with alcohol - alcohol evaporates during baking, so you can add 25-50% more than your recipe calls for. Vodka works well for most pies, but I tend to get more creative at Thanksgiving, using Fireball for apple
pies, spiced rum for pumpkin, and honey bourbon for pecan.
Florence's Creamed Onions I don't know where my mother-in-law got this recipe - she insisted on using Kraft shredded mild cheddar for it, so I expect it was one of those 1950's manufacturer-provided recipes that were so popular during the mid-20th century, rather than one her mother brought over from England. No
matter the origins, it has been a favorite of my family for decades, so by now has become one of our special holiday traditions. Vary it as you like, but my mother-in-law used lowfat milk, margarine, and Kraft mild cheddar. I use whole milk, butter, and mild cheddar
that I shred myself. (My nephew made them one year using premium sharp cheddar and everyone complained that they didn't taste like Omah's, so if you want the classic taste, use mild cheddar.) One other caveat - peeling onions is a pain, but use fresh pearl onions anyway. The frozen ones produce a watery result. Ingredients: 2 1/2 pounds of pearl onions, peeled 3 T butter, plus more for the pan 3 T flour 2 cups milk 2 cups shredded mild cheddar salt and pepper to taste Instructions: - Butter a 2 quart casserole dish.
- Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, and boil onions
for 12 minutes. Drain.
- Make the white sauce. The classic method involves melting the butter in a sauce pan, whisking in the flour, then the milk, continuing to whisk until thickened. I cheat and use the microwave. In an
8 cup Pyrex measuring cup, I microwave the butter together with the flour for one minute, then remove and whisk in the milk. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, remove, whisk, and repeat 2 or 3 times until thickened.
- Add cheese to sauce, and
whisk until smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper.
- Place the drained onions in the prepared casserole dish, and cover with cheese sauce. Stir to make sure all onions are coated.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350, until bubbling. How long you bake it will depend on whether you prepared these ahead and refrigerated them, or are baking them right after making the sauce, while everything is still warm.
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Reader's Tips for Pie Crust |
Mary from Rio Vista, Texas, notes, "Chill all your ingredients, including the flour, before mixing. This helps keep the butter cold and ensures a flaky crust." David from Chesterfield, South Carolina, offers, "Roll out your dough between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent sticking and make cleanup a breeze." Susan from Bainbridge, Georgia, shares, "After shaping the crust in the pie dish, refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before baking to prevent shrinking." Karen from Rock Springs, Wyoming, suggests, "Brush the edges of your pie crust with a little beaten egg before baking for a golden, shiny finish." Michael
from Tazewell, Tennessee, explains, "Use a fork to prick the bottom of the crust lightly if pre-baking. This stops it from puffing up in the oven and keeps it even." |
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