Triathalon Food

My husband and brother competed in the nation's triathalon  last Sunday.  I promised both of them I would cook whatever they wanted for dinner the night before the race.  To all of you cooks out there, beware of what you promise.  I ended up making two different meals (meat for my brother, pasta for my husband) and a sweet potato pie for dessert. 

I decided to make a rack of lamb for my brother.  I love lamb.  Rack of lamb is delicious and actually is easy and quick to make.  I rubbed the lamb with olive oil, mint, garlic, thyme and rosemary and roasted it in the oven for 45 minutes until the lamb reached 140 degrees.  I made my favorite pasta with mushrooms (with homemade noodles of course).

Sweet Potato PieThe highlight of the meal was probably the sweet potato pie.  I was actually going to make a spiced pear crisp for dessert, but I bought local sweet potatoes at the farm market and the boys were carbo loading.  I use a Culinary Institute of America recipe, with a couple of modifications.  I added a Tbs of vodka to the pie crust.  The alcohol evaporates and makes the crust incredibly delicate and flakey.  The key to a good sweet potato pie is of course delicious sweet potatoes.  This may seem obvious, but it is important that you use real sweet potatoes and not yams. Sweet potatoes and yams look similar but they are not related.  Sweet potatoes are starchier, but not as sweet (and most importantly not as watery) as yams.  I also modified the recipe by using maple syrup instead of sugar and fresh ginger.

After all the calories I consumed, I need to run a couple of triathalons.

Men Praise This Fruit Pie

Cherry PieMaybe it's the warm comfort of summer, or the fact that the fruit in the farm market looks so good so that I buy too much and then have to cook it before it rots, or simply that I love pie, but I've been baking a lot lately and I'm not a baker.  I recently made my favorite pie, cherry.  I know from experience that men (and women) do praise this fruit pie, but I have to share a few more baking tips from my 1965 edition of the Farm Journal's pie cookbook:

• Take a thimble from your sewing basket.  Wash and use it for a pattern to cut steam vents."
• Today's farm homemakers usually bake at least a couple of extra pies while they have the rolling pin out and the ingredients handy.
• Every neighborhood has a few women experienced in cooking who are locally famous for their crusts and pies.  Some beginners (often brides) believe these homemakers are born with special talents.  They don't realize how many of them learned by the discouraging "trial and error" method no longer necessary with up-to-date recipes and directions.

Apricot, Peach, Maple MuffinsBesides pie, muffins are great for summer.  They are easy to make, and tasty.  I hate really heavy muffins.  I prefer the breading to be a conduit for the fruit.  It's July and local peaches and apricots are already plentiful, so I created a delicious recipe based off a King Arthur Flour Muffin Recipe, using maple syrup and lots of spices.

I'll conclude with some more entertaining advice from the Farm Journal.  "Remember that Pies please men.  Since men are the great pie eaters and promoters, let's give a rancher friend the last word--his definition of his favorite dessert: "A triangle of pie is the best way ever discovered to round out a square meal."  Now to find my sewing basket...

A bit of Cobbler

I had the best bbq of my life today.  Actually, I don't know if it was truly the best bbq, but we were so hungry that smoked crap would have tasted delicious.  We decided to go for a bike ride which turned into a 54 mile bike ride. We were tracking our journey based on how much further we had to peddle to get to the BBQ shack (mile 44). But seriously, Carolina Brothers Pit BBQ on the WO&D trail is wonderful!

Its Memorial day and my original plan was to bake a rhubarb pie.  I was too tired and we didn't have enough time when I got home, so the pie turned into a cobbler.  The beauty of cobber is that it is easy to make, you can use virtually any fruit, and its yummy!  I like my cobbler tart with a nice biscuit crust on top.  Since it has a relatively low sugar content, it also doubles as breakfast!

Amazingly, I did not burn myself tonight.  The last time I made cobbler I placed it on my counter to cool and then reached up and over to get plate out of the cabinet.  My belly grazed the side of the extremely hot pan and unfortunately for me, my shirt pulled up when I lifted my arms up to reach into the cabinet, leaving a nice welt on my stomach.  Word of advice...don't burn your stomach.  it hurts.