Dessert Pumpkin Pie...Mmmmmmmmmm..........

" COOKINGWITHMAVIS "   #11   "Dessert Pumpkin Pie"

Pumpkin Pie is seldom found on a South African dessert menu …and what a surprise once our reticent guests sample a sinfully splendiferous mouthful of this delectable dessert!

At first they politely accept “ a sliver just please”    …and before  “…‘Mavis”   can blink , that arm is outstretched  - they proffer  that plate for another generous piece !  

It is one of    ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ s  ancient , “special”  recipes, saved from Mom’s  “somewhere” ....many, many, many moons ago!

As Halloween is just around the corner, ( 31 October for you who might not know) and pumpkin being synonymous with Halloween, why not ‘go-the-whole-hog’ ?   …Yes!  Be daring, and try something COMPLETELY  different…and let those tastebuds do a tizz…Mmmm…….not to mention the velvety texture on the tongue!

A-an-and …

  Aromas and flavours  “to Die-for Doll "!  

Yes! Go- on! …it’s SOH-HH  worth the effort !

This past week , in anticipation of my loading “Dessert  Pumpkin Pie”,  in my mind I visualize a plump orange pumpkin , that I’d buy at  Fruit-and-Veg City…  or BloodyPack’nPiyClaremont supermarket…

to sculpt into a masterful Halloween icon…but c-c-can you believe it!...the most IMPOSSIBLE  quest, in the affluent Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, to find a whole orange pumpkin….and short of embarking on a Quixotic escapade …I began to telephone a dozen stores….I even had the  foresight to call Fish4Africa in Victoria Rd, Woodstock, knowing to ask there, the name of their neighbouring wholesale Fruiterer :”Mulberry” Farm Fresh , so I was told?!…and ‘google’ such I did!…the ONLY  “Mulberry Farm-‘Whatever’…” was in USA!...CERTAINLY not in Cape Town, South Africa!............ so another call to same fish shop,  gives me that telephone number -  at least, to have a cheerful voice answer: “MOWBRAY “  FARM FRESH ‘helloooooo’….

But alas, in Cape Town in October, no orange –skinned pumpkin for me!

And so to recipes…..

DESSERT  PUMPKIN  PIE…

PASTRY INGREDIENTS:

175 g flour (1 standard cup)

100g margarine from a block (..not spreading marge!)… or butter is nicer!

1 tablespoon castor sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons iced water

PIE BUTTER COATING:

4 Tablespoons butter at room temperature (easier to mix when soft)

100g soft dark brown sugar

100g hazel nuts finely chopped

PIE FILLING:

250ml  (1 cup) cooked pumpkin purée

1 tablespoon flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Another 100g dark brown sugar

250 ml cream

2 eggs

As ‘a-shortcut-slightly-spoilt-and-uncomplicated’  cook, I am fortunate to use ALWAYS  my Magimix food processor and blitz the pastry ingredients into a pastry ball!...…but you could well use the tips of your fingers to mix and bring this dough together by hand…..

I make sure first that my “mise en place” (pronounced “ miz ɑ̃ plas “ ), is done!  - it’s a French phrase - literally means:  "putting in place" -  ….I suppose it’s the ‘pre-preparation’

All ingredients measured and in little bowls, spread out in front of me, on my counter tops, everything ready to use!

METHOD:

PASTRY:

1)      Rub butter/ or marge into the flour

2)      Stir in the castor sugar and egg yolk

3)      Add the 2 tablespoons iced water and mix pastry into a ball

4)      With the palm of your hand quickly flatten just a little into a flat round, and wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5)      Then on a clean work surface, sprinkle a little flour, and with a rolling pin,  roll out to be large enough to line a 22cm – 23 cm pie dish / tart baking pan.( I use a loose-bottomed metal quiche pan)

6)      ‘Bake blind’ at 220 degrees C (hot) for 12 – 15 minutes

 (“baking blind” means covering the pastry with baking paper …or even foil, weighting this down with about 1½ cups of raw dried beans… before putting it into the oven and you prick a few times through the paper for air to escape while baking )

7)      Remove from oven, remove beans and baking paper, and let cool for 30 minutes.

BUTTER COATING:

1)      Cream together the softened butter and just 100g of the dark brown sugar, then add the chopped hazel nuts and mix well.

2)      Spread this ‘paste’ onto the cooled pre-baked pie crust, trying to have it also up the sides of the pastry shell if possible.

PUMPKIN FILLING:

1)      Combine the cold cooked pumpkin purée with the remaining 100g dark brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves

2)      Beat the 2 eggs with the cream, and combine with the pumpkin mixture.

3)      Pour gently onto the butter coating into the pie shell.

4)      Bake at 200 degrees C for 30  - 40 minutes, until set.

5)      Remove from oven and cool

6)      Chill for at least a few hours / overnight.

7)      Serve with whipped cream or even a thin vanilla custard! (Lazy ‘locals’ can find the Ultramel readymade custard at local supermarkets)

Note: just in case this spills over into the oven, ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ always places the pie pan  onto a thin baking sheet when baking.

         MMMmmmmmmmmm! Enjoy….I KNOW  you will !

                                           Dessert Pumpkin Pie

                          A-slice-of-the-pie!

To view ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’s previous blogs, just scroll up to the top right, and click on any month to see….”Crisp Creamcheese”,  “ ‘Mavis’s Breasts”, “ To Eat ..and Artichokes”, “Jewish Chicken Soup”……“Preserved Goose” and more!

Join her Facebook ….she likes friends….or send her a mail…a favourite recipe too @

cookingwithmavis@gmail.com

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’

"CRISP CREAMCHEESE"....and All-American Eggless Blueberry Cheesecake

COOKINGWITHMAVIS #10  

                CRISP CREAM CHEESE…

Friend Lee has a great little Victorian country cottage in the heart of Bredasdorp…

( pronunciation: a guttural rural ‘brey’….

”B’GGGGREHH-DAAAASDORP ” – the “g”-sound is formed by the back of your throat resonating against the back of the palate…prior to gargling!).

Just the other day she coaxed “ My M ” and Me, into joining her there…my only condition to her, via cellphone, was:  “ As long as we have crisp clean sheets ”…

Her  response to me was : ”What?...crisp cream cheese ?  ”…no doubt the background noise in that restaurant was not conducive to cellphone chat!....and so we made the 2hour journey in the hopes of climbing into our Bredasdorp bed with “crispcreamcheese”…

I cant wait to arrive in Bredasdorp…I salivate with anticipation –just at the thought of our ritual shopping sprees!...in fact……in fact, it begins before we’ve even begun our roadtrip!!...

I call ahead to “Moerse Plaasstal ” in Napier –it’s a wonderful bakery and farmstall (which is just 15 minutes en-route, before Bredasdorp) to order their “wit Ouma brood” (“white Grandma loaf”)………………….which is a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y to die for!    This is a heavenly loaf of country bread that turns your tastebuds into a tizz!        It is aromatic and yeasty, heavy-and-oily-and-rich, and rough in texture, and makes the most marvelous toast…

But that’s not enough!  What good is  Moerse’s  bread without marmalade!..…and who’s marmalade better than “ Mad’s “ Marmalade!

Mad’s  Marmalade?…

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM………….

On  our very, very first sojourn into Lee’s world of Bredasdorp-and-surrounds , she introduced us early one weekend morning, to Napier’s Saturday outdoor “market” .

Situated on the Village Green, were about 10-or-so ‘vendors’ – positioned rather horseshoe-like in a vast semi-circle.

One  fresh-produce local “Farmer’s Hand”  sold the most freshest assortment of wonderful ‘greens’….Mmmmmmmmmm !,  while all the rest had smallish ‘home-bakes’, and local honey…and local honey…and local honey…and everyone stocked the same bloody LOCAL HONEY! (turns out, they all buy from the same supplier!)

But THEN  there was ‘Mad’(-elaine ), happily promoting her marvelous ‘Rex Union Oranges’ marmalade together with husband Julian…out of the back of their well-traveled Landrover……

Lee was ecstatic, and quite sure we HAD TO SAMPLE…but ‘Cookingwithmavis’  was having none of this!

Just seeing Mad proffer her sample on the early-morning’s Tupperware-contained  cold toast. No!....I’m just too anal !

Of course Lee bought her Rex Union marmalade - so different from OTHER marmalade – it is a thick clear jelly!...a..and-and STILL !  - ‘Mavis  was having none-of-this!

– But, at home we sampled it!...Gosh!..never  has any marmalade been better!!!!!

’Mavis  was hooked !

So, now, whenever chance arises, and I find myself en-route to Bredasdorp, I call in advance to order 10-or-so jars  of Mad’s ‘Rex Union’ marmalade –she ‘imports’ the ‘Rex Union’ oranges specially from there… ‘Up North’,  where they are cultivated!

Once I took her a gift of my Beetroot, Almond and Ginger  Jam!  ……(Now… that’s another story !....)

And so to recipes…..

American cheesecake.

…My Favourite NO-BAKE “All-American”  Eggless Bluebery Cheesecake .     

After trawling recipe books for ages, I finally found the recipe I enjoy most - of this type of cheesecake! You’ll need to prepare it a day in advance…

Ingredients:

The pie crust:

A “GrahamCracker” pie crust :  Well unless you’re American , you probably wont know what this is…it’s really just sweet “Digestive biscuits” !..easy to find at our supermarkets.

1 ¾ cups Digestive biscuit crumbs

¼ cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

4 tablespoons (60g)butter (melted) – I melt the butter in a Pyrex jug, on “Defrost”…or lowest setting,  in microwave for about  1 minute

Creamcheese filling:

2 tubs(500g) real thick heavy  creamcheese

(I mean either Philadelphia, or Lancewood) = NOT  ‘smooth  cottage cheese’ !

I cup castor sugar

Grated zest of ½ a lemon

1 teaspoon Vanilla essence …(or a nice alternative is  a few drops Almond essence)

250ml ( 1 cup) cream (I use Heavy cream!)

1 Teaspoon powdered gelatin

2 tablespoons water

Berry topping:

This is the same as used on my buttermilk tart …see blog:  “ Darling Koeksusters”

Frozen berries – or fresh!   I  use a generous amount (about 350g) of supermarket-bought:   blueberries are good! ..dont use a soft mushy type of berry!

1 ½ cups water - you might want to use 2 cups?

4 heaped teaspoons “Maizena” (this is ordinary cornflour for those of you who don’t know)

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice (optional)

Plus a few tablespoons water to mix Maizena and sugar

                                            ……..?????????????????............

METHOD:

For the pie crust:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Line the base of a 23cm  springform  tin with aluminium foil, then secure the tin and base.

( I blitz this in a food processor ) :

Crumb the Digestive biscuits

Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest

Add the melted butter

Process until the crumbs just begin to stick.

*(but just as easy to use a rolling-pin and large Ziploc plastic bag – you  beat the hell out of those Digestive biscuits, then mix in a bowl, as with the food processor)

Cover your hand with a generous piece of cling film (plastic wrap) to form a glove, and press the crumbs evenly on the base, and up the sides – at least 4 cm up the sides.

Bake @ 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and leave to cool at least ½ hour.

Creamcheese filling:

In a large bowl, mix the creamcheese, ½ the heavy cream, castor sugar, lemon zest (of ½ lemon), and vanilla essence.

Beat on medium speed till well blended.

Dissolve the gelatin and cold water in a small bowl, over warm water.

Add the rest of the heavy cream to this, and stir.

Then fold the gelatin mixture into the creamcheese mixture, and beat till fluffy.

With a large metal spoon, spoon mixture into the completely cooled pie crust.

Cover with foil, and chill overnight till set.

                                   &……..

Berry topping:

Method:

1)      Mix the Maizena and 2 spoons sugar, then add 3 – 4 tablespoons water to mix to runny smoothe paste.

2)      In a smallish saucepan, heat the 2 cups water with the rest of the sugar then add the Maizena runny paste, stir, and when hot add the frozen berries, stir gently till it thickens, add lemon juice.

3)      Leave to cool well.

4)      Spoon over the chilled cheesecake, return cake into the fridge for topping to set.

To serve:

Run a knife around the pan sides. Release pan sides and transfer the cake to a platter.

                                   ekaceseehcmaercCCCCCCCcreamcheesecake

To view ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS's previous blogs, just scroll up to the top right...and click on each month's listings - let 'Mavis know which your FAVOURITES  are!

…meanwhile you’re always welcome to mail her @  :   cookingwithmavis@gmail.com !

"Moerse Farmstall" Napier, South Africa

                                                

                                     Napier's Main Road, South Africa

Bredasdorp Main Street, South Africa

Also the Main Street Bredasdorp!

Lee's holiday cottage - Bredasdorp South Africa

                        

                               ...more of Lee's Bredasdorp cottage!

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS ‘

" CLORA's 'MAVIS! ...uh...uhhh... don't forget the Rice Pudding! "

CLORA’s "COOKINGWITHMAVIS "  #9  

                                       

“ Clora’s” ‘Mavis…and,uh..uhhh…don’t  forget the rice pudding!

 ****************************************** 

It all started with Clora nicknaming me“Mavis”….. and FYI, Clora isn't “ Clora”…and I’m not“Mavis” !

Clora-and-I work as colleagues in a smallish environment…each rely on the other for survival! ….She’s our advertising and graphics department ….

I need her to get those bloomin’ adverts into the weekend newspaper so that “my properties ”  - those that I am currently marketing,  get the utmost exposure…while she…if the likes of me were not to earn the bucks ( gosh!  Did I say that?.....as a South African , I HATE  that terminology!)…...so?...okay, the “rands “/ the “moola” / the “gelt”! ) which in turn , helps toward her salary.

Clora works under sss-t-RRRRRRRRRRRRR-e-sssssssssss – always clawing against strict newspaper deadlines. 

I’m the Company ‘Prima Donna’ ...or so I’m led to believe…I sometimes have the(occasional ) hissyfit .. and SHE-CALLS-ME- “MAVIS” !

And ‘‘SHE’’ ? … ‘‘SHE’’  is a feisty almost forty-something filly, flaunting her newly- attached hair extensions (sometimes real hair…sometimes…not !), Mocha-skinned and beautifully foul-mouthed!  Hence, she just is  “Clora ”!

What better?... 

QUOI  D'autre? (What else?)…. than to call my Blog “COOKINGWITHMAVIS” !

             Thanks Clora!

And so to recipes….

                      Rice pudding :

Oh what’s the matter with Mary-Jane? 

She hasn’t a headache………

She hasn’t a pain…oh…..

…WHAT’S  the matter with Mary-Jane?

It’s d-a-r-n ricepudding for dinner AGAIN !

                          Mary-Jane

I tin condensed milk

1 tin Ideal milk(“Evaporated”) milk (or alternative :  tin of coconut milk )

3 whole jumbo size eggs all whisked together

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 ½ cups COOKED BASMATI / or JASMINE rice (you might prefer an extra ½ cup cooked rice)

…definitely NO cinnamon!..NO nutmeg!...this would detract from the pleasurable flavours already there……

METHOD:

In a bowl: - easy to use a hand whisk!

Whisk condensed milk and “Evapourated” milk

Add eggs one at a time, and beat till integrated

Add vanilla

Grease an ovenware dish and add cooked rice to dish

Pour egg / liquid into the dish, over cooked rice, and bake in a  bain marie (an oven pan filled with water  1/3 up the sides of the dish) @150 degrees C for 1 hr

...or do individual puds in greased, small ramekin dishes - 20 mins!

*NOTE….’cookingwithmavis’   likes the pudding slightly wobbly and softish in the middle, ….some  like it dry and very firm (...bake a little longer +- 15 mins extra)

…..and’some like it  HOT !’

My Bro’ likes it the next day - out the fridge,  chilled !                                                                     

  

                                                                  

                  rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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‘ COOKINGWITHMAVIS’

" ...'Mavis's Breasts "

 COOKING WITH MAVIS # 8      “  …’MAVIS’S BREASTS …….”

I like breasts!…not all breasts…I don’t mind well-defined mens’  breasts…and fine about womens’  breasts……but I LOVE  chicken breasts! And WHAT  ‘ -MAVIS CAN DO WITH 2 BREASTS..welllllllllll……actually, 3 BREASTS….

                        ...'Mavis's Breasts

                  ‘ A PACK OF 3 BREASTS ’

Somehow, our supermarkets sell packs of 3 breasts…I often wonder how their “Suppliers” breed three-breasted chickens ? …but, never mind, as I know just what-to-do with 3 breasts!    

For want of no waste when willing to play with wholesome plump breasts, I definitely have a plan in mind…well -  more in mind too!

A pack-of-three-breasts-on-the-bone is so flexible…and can feed a family –IF you’re smart !. .

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’  uses 1 breast plus all the skin and bones to make a delicious stock for chicken soup. The other 2 deboned breasts will be flattened into glorious, mouthwatering schnitzels – enough to feed four.

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’  is open to options…and might change those proportions for ‘portions-other’….

***But, just for the two-of-us just,  I’ll use only 1 deboned breast  for schnitzels-enough …and 2 breasts  for the soup!

Ingredients for Chicken soup:

For ‘Lean Jewish chicken soup’, just follow my recipe from ‘blog’ #4 : ”Computerpherous Angie”  … using less chicken breasts, less water …to find this recipe, just scroll up to the top right of this blog, and click onto the month and that blog!

Ingredients for Chicken schnitzels : 

……You’ll have to increase these quantities if you use more breasts!

1 to 2 deboned chicken breasts

2 to 4 slices white ‘sandwich loaf’ bread …crusts-and-all (a nice substitute  is  Japanese store-bought breadcrumbs = “Panco” , found in Asian supermarkets)

2 eggs

¼ cup flour (approx)

1 teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon chopped rosemary (optional)

¼ teaspoon white pepper (optional)

2 tablespoons water

Sunflower oil for frying

                        Ingredients to coat chicken breasts for schnitzels

METHOD:

1) You’ll need “mise en place” (pronounced “ miz ɑ̃ plas “ ) - it’s a French phrase                                             - literally means:  "putting in place" ….I suppose it’s the  ‘pre-preparation’  (… the “prep”):

 3 bowls,  a chopping board,  a whisk or fork,  a flat baking pan /platter to rest your crumbed  schnitzels prior to frying.

2) Put flour with salt and white pepper into 1 bowl.

3) Make fresh crumbs from the slices of bread (I blitz the hell out of those slices in the food processor) you could use readymade shop-bought…but not as nice!...or Panco), and put these into another bowl, and season with paprika, and rosemary (optional ).

4) Break the egg into a third bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water, an beat lightly with fork or whisk…just till the yolks really break and mix with the white.

5) Debone those 1 to 2 breasts with a sharp thin-pointed knife..slicing very close against the bone (‘carcass’) - use bones for soup

Remove the flavourful skin too…and set aside…to use for the soup, then on a board, place the deboned breasts between 2 sheets of clingfilm (“Gladwrap”) and a sprinkling of flour under and on top each breast.

Using a wooden kitchen mallet – or back of a heavy wooden-handled large kitchen knife, beat the living daylights out of those chicken breasts…to flatten-and-spread…flatten-and-spread, till almost ‘paperthin’. You’ll probably need to cut each flattened breast in half.

6) Carefully peel from the clingfilm, then…

   - Place one-by-one into the bowl of seasoned flour, (if it breaks, don’t worry,  you can bring it together while coating)

  - Shake around

  - Remove from the flour with a fork

  - Place into the slightly beaten egg, remove 

  - Place into the bowl of seasoned fresh breadcrumbs,

  - Shake around, and place generous amount too, on top…press onto the schnitzel.

  - Place prepared breaded schnitzels onto a clean flat baking sheet/ or surface.

7) In a large frying pan, fry on a medium heat in some sunflower oil, till light golden brown on each side –about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from oil, onto kitchen paper-towel to drain excess oil.

8) ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’  serves these schnitzels with a fine array of cooked veggies, French fries /or boiled ‘jacket’ potatoes….and chutney as a delicious condiment!...and lemon wedges for squeezing….be daring, and sprinkle a garnish of chopped parsley over too.

…meanwhile you’re always welcome to mail her@ :           cookingwithmavis@gmail.com !

Become her friend on FACEBOOK ! .....

              Plump chicken breast between 2 sheets clingfilm, and kitchen mallet.

          

                          Paper-thin prepared raw chicken breast.

               Schnitzels , succulent and plump, made from 2 chicken breasts only!

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’