Blueberry Pie

 May 2025

Recipe from The Perfect Pie, Americas's Test Kitchen, 2019, page 30; also available online

This pie was inspired by a bad blueberry pie that I purchased at Whole Foods. Since it is blueberry season I thought some store-bought pie would be good but I was wrong. The crust was unremarkable and the pie lacked any real blueberry flavor. The filling was dominated by the flavor of nutmeg rather than blueberries. I'm glad I only bought half a pie.

For our homemade blueberry pie the crust was made using the all-butter crust recipe (page 320 of The Perfect Pie) which I have written about before. It took 45 minutes to prepare the crust which was divided into two halves each of which was  chilled in the refrigerator for two hours. After warming for about 10 minutes, the first portion of dough was rolled out,  fitted into a 9" pie plate, and refrigerated. The second portion was rolled into a 12" circle, 1¼" circles were cut from it (to allow steam to escape), and also refrigerated. 

Half of the blueberries, 3 cups, were mashed in a saucepan and cooked over medium heat until the mixture was reduced to about 1½ cups. It was then set aside to cool. A peeled Granny Smith apple was grated and a towel used to squeeze out most of the water. The dry grated apple was placed in a large bowl and mixed with sugar, ground instant tapioca (ground using a mortar and pestle), lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, the cooked blueberries, and the remaining 3 cups of whole berries. The berry mixture was poured into the prepared pie plate and chunks of butter were scattered over the surface. The top crust was added in the usual way and brushed with an egg wash. The pie was baked in a pre-heated 400° oven for 25 minutes then another 55 minutes at 375°. Total time was 45 minutes for the dough plus 2 hours chilling and 70 minutes to prepare the filling. Total time from start to taking the pie out of the oven was about 5½ hours, much of it hands off, and not counting the subsequent cooling time.

We enjoyed this pie. It had a great blueberry flavor and the crust was light and buttery. Making this pie was a project, though. It took most of a day to make, created a lot of dirty dishes, and the berries, in particular, were not cheap to buy. It would be worth making again but it's not a dessert to make on a regular basis, but perhaps just when blueberries are in season.

Easy Strawberry Shortcakes for Two

 May 2025

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen, Season 25, Episode "Spring Dinner for Two"

I have not found an accompaniment for fresh strawberries that I was totally happy with. My mother would serve them with biscuits; I think she made them with Bisquik. So I was happy to try this recipe after seeing it on a recent ATK TV show. It was introduced as an update of an old ATK recipe which has been pared down for two people because the biscuits do not keep well, so it could be a good fit for the two of us.

We picked berries ourselves, mostly for jam but also to make this shortcake, so they were perfectly ripe and very fresh. Two cups of berries was divided: ¾ cup was mashed and the remainder sliced. The prepared berries were mixed with just 5 teaspoons of sugar and set aside.

For the biscuits, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt were combined using a food processor. Chilled butter was scattered over the flour mixture and pulsed to the consistency of coarse cornmeal. The flour mixture was transferred to a bowl. Half and half (which I made with a 2:1 mixture of milk to heavy cream) and an egg were whisked together then stirred into the flour mixture with a spatula forming a uniform, sticky dough. The dough was divided into two portions which were shaped into rounds about 2½-inches in diameter and an inch thick, painted with lightly beaten egg white, and sprinkled with sugar. These were baked in a 425° oven then allowed to cool for 15 minutes. Between starting and serving these took an hour to make.

These are delicious biscuits! They were tender, still slightly warm when served, with a sweet, crispy crust. I'd say that I've found my favorite recipe for biscuits to have with strawberries. The biscuits, though, were too large, the recipe could make half as many biscuits which would serve us well. They also take a fair amount of time. We usually have our dessert a few hours after dinner so having to spend that evening time in the kitchen is less than ideal.

Spice-Roasted Chicken Drumsticks

May 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2025

The magazine article had recipes for barbecue spice-roasted chicken and curry-roasted chicken. We like dark-meat poultry and this recipe looked easy to carry out, appropriate for a weeknight, and would make easy to reheat leftovers for a second meal. We chose the more familiar-sounding barbecue recipe.

Each of the recipes included instructions and ingredients for an easy to make dipping sauce but we skipped it this time. I cooked 5 drumsticks, 1.3 pounds, about half of what the recipe specified, but I made the full spice recipe. A spice rub was made by mixing kosher salt, brown sugar, pepper, coriander, cumin, granulated garlic (substituting for garlic powder), onion powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper (just ⅛ teaspoon). The spices were bloomed to bring out their flavors by mixing with warm tap water then, after a few minutes of hydration, vegetable oil to make a loose slurry. The drumsticks were patted dry with paper towels, rolled in the spice slurry, then placed on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet that had been lined with aluminum foil. The chicken was baked in a 350° oven to an internal temperature of 180° then broiled for a few minutes to brown the drumsticks. Total time, mostly roasting, was 80 minutes.

We enjoyed this very flavorful chicken. The spices added a lot of flavor but not too much. The chicken was tender and juicy and the skin crisp. This is a dish to make again, perhaps with the curry spice mixture.

Dollywood-Style Cinnamon Bread

April 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, October 2024 

I have never been to Dollywood but I've read that their cinnamon bread is very popular. Since I don't have a go-to cinnamon bread recipe I thought I should give it a try using the ATK version. Cinnamon bread is not something I make very often, though, partly because there is a very good version (available even on Amazon) from a San Jose bakery. Looking back through the blog there are some other possibilities that I have tried such as Amish Cinnamon Bread and Cinnamon Swirl Bread that I should try again. 

For the dough, flour and yeast were whisked together in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Warm water was added to the flour mixture and, using the dough hook, mixed until no dry flour remained. After the dough rested for 15 minutes melted butter, sugar, and salt were added and the dough kneaded on the mixer. The sticky, wet dough was rested until doubled in volume. While the dough rested a sugar coating was made by mixing brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. The dough was patted into a 8x4-inch rectangle and cut into 5 equal rectangles. These were each coated in melted butter, rolled in the sugar mixture, and placed in a loaf pan. After rising until puffy the loaf was baked for about 30 minutes. While still hot a mixture of melted butter and  the sugar mixture were combined and brushed onto the warm loaf. I did not add the optional sugar glaze. Total time was about 4 hours, about 2½ hours was hands off. 

This bread is very rich with a lot of cinnamon and butter. There is no need to toast it or to add additional butter as it is already very buttery. It's a little messy to eat with the butter cinnamon mixture on the top and sides of most slices. There is nothing wrong with this decadent bread but I think I prefer some of the other breakfast breads that I have had. It was fun trying, though.

Fresh Salmon Burgers

April 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2024

Our favorite fish to have for dinner is salmon and we usually use a recipe for double-glazed salmon with the maple and liquid smoke glaze. Frozen salmon filets are kept on hand and the ingredients for this glaze are all pantry staples. The salmon is good to eat and easy to prepare. Nonetheless it would be good to find another way to prepare salmon to provide some variety. Thus I was interested in this recipe for salmon burgers from a recent edition of Cook's Illustrated. (And in another recent salmon cakes recipe from Americas's Test Kitchen TV show which I intend to try soon.)

Four salmon filets were skinned resulting in 1 pound of salmon; the recipe is for 1¼ pounds, so close enough. These were cut into ¾-inch pieces which were par-frozen and coarsely chopped, with salt, in the food processor. The chopped salmon was mixed in a bowl with a mixture of panko bread crumbs, fresh parsley, mayonnaise, lemon juice, shallot, Dijon mustard, and pepper. The salmon mixture was divided into four portions which were shaped into 3½-inch patties on a parchment lined quarter sheet pan. These were then placed in an unheated nonstick skillet and cooked over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes per side. After resting on the parchment for 5 minutes they were served. Total time was about 1 hour. 

The burgers were served on homemade slider buns with ketchup or mayonnaise, eschewing the sriracha mayonnaise condiment in the recipe. The burgers were juicy and tasty with a strong salmon flavor with the other flavors providing complimentary background notes. They were a little crumby and we found them to be too large, both for the buns and for our stomachs. When we had them as leftovers we divided a burger in half and this worked out well. We could also try them without the buns. We will want to try the other salmon burger recipe but this one may become a regular for us.