Raspberry Rhubarb Pie

As much as I love rhubarb, I've never made a pie with just rhubarb inside, I've always paired it with berries. I love strawberry rhubarb pie and have also made blueberry rhubarb pie (not recommended). This time I decided to make a raspberry rhubarb pie but I do feel like it's time I made a rhubarb-only pie; perhaps that will be featured next.

Since I had never made this type of pie and wasn't sure how the raspberries would react during cooking, I decided to look up a recipe. There are lots of recipes online but for some reason I decided to go with this one...I guess the fact that it was called "the world's best pie" got me. The recipe was pretty much the same one I'd use if making a strawberry rhubarb pie, but with the addition of an egg. Since I always have a bit of trouble getting this type of pie to set up without adding tons of flour or corn starch, I thought it was worth trying (in the end I did not find that the egg made much of a difference).

The pie smelled delicious while baking but made a big mess with the fruit juices bubbling over. It's a really good idea to put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake the pie like this or you'd have a mess in your oven. When it was done it had to cool off and go in the refrigerator, since as much as I'd like to dig in immediately, the pie really is best when chilled.

The pie was very good--the raspberry flavors were very prominent and the filling was a pretty hot pink. I didn't feel like the raspberry complemented the rhubarb as well as strawberries...in fact, the raspberries upstaged the rhubarb a bit and I felt guilty that I failed to let the flavor of the rhubarb shine. But it was certainly still good, and certainly much better than blueberry rhubarb. I guess that the bottom line is that I would still prefer strawberry rhubarb but the raspberry was a fun and tasty experiment.

Ginger and Black Pepper Roasted Turkey Breast with Red Wine Sauce & Celery Root Puree

This dish was inspired by this Wolfgang Puck roast salmon recipe. I altered the recipe a bit and made it tonight for dinner.

The meal is elegant and interesting but still accessible. I am a pretty average home cook and I managed to make it relatively easily on a weeknight after work. Timing was important--as long as you trim and boil the root vegetables first, prepare the meat, preheat the oven, start the sauce and let it reduce, and then cook the meat. Everything can be done simultaneously and finishes at about the same time. I must admit that I did not take the recipe’s suggestion to make my own chicken stock, which saved me a lot of time but may have sacrificed flavor.

I used turkey breast steaks rather than salmon here--and I think any meat would work rather well with it, even beef. Maybe especially beef. The turkey was good though. I did have to cook it 10-15 minutes longer than I would have for salmon since I had pretty thick turkey steaks. I also cooked them at a lower temperature because I'm pretty sure at 500 degrees, they would have gotten burned before they were done inside. I settled for 450 degrees and the turkey took about 20-25 minutes to reach a level of doneness I was comfortable with. Like I said, a variety of meats could be used here; it’s just important to adjust the cooking time and temperature to suit the particular meat.

There were a lot of interesting flavors going on with the celery root, ginger, and red wine. I never would have thought to put these ingredients together, but it worked. It's a really beautiful dish, especially when you drizzle the ruby sauce over the pale turkey and celery root puree. It made our average weeknight feel pretty special.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Cod and Roasted Vegetable Salad with Feta & Herbs

I've been in the mood to cook more colorful, spring-like things--I guess due to the warmer weather this week. I would also like to lose the layer of blubber I acquired over the winter, which I justify because to survive an Edmonton winter with no car, I think you need an extra layer of warmth.

Wrapping cod in prosciutto actually makes it really interesting and tasty. It makes it crispier, more salty, and porky--elements most of us really appreciate in food.

It was a bit difficult to wrap the prosciutto around the huge slabs of cod I bought, so I had to piece it together, which worked out fine. Next time I would probably cut larger pieces of cod into more uniform, long rectangles so it would be easier to wrap the prosciutto.

I got the recipe--which is really more like an idea--from Ellie Krieger via the Food Network Website; you can find the recipe here. I'm sure this would work with other meats as well but I think it's particularly well-suited to fish because it cooks quickly and so does the prosciutto. I imagine if you wrapped it around a large chicken breast and tried to fry it, the prosciutto would burn far before the meat inside was cooked.

The roasted vegetable salad also comes from Ellie Krieger via the Food Network website. Actually, her vegetables are grilled but since I don't own a grill I just roasted them. I used eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and red pepper as the recipe suggests but left out the onion for Georg. When it came to the dressing, I decided that instead of mixing the oregano, oil, and feta cheese separately I'd just buy some feta cubes marinated in olive oil and Greek herbs. I simply added my fresh herbs (I used basil rather than mint) and red wine vinegar to the marinated cheese and the dressing was done.

Both items were delicious for Georg and I and even though I ate tons of fish and vegetables I don't really feel stuffed at all, which is a nice feeling for a change.

Orange-Glazed Rhubarb Tart & a Rhubarb and Basil Cocktail

Oh, this tart was beautiful...and good...and easy. I recommend it and you can find the recipe here. One starts with store bought puff pastry (I tried to make my own once and it has inspired such nightmares since that I will be a devout puff pastry buyer for life), a few large stalks of rhubarb, two oranges, a lime, and some sugar. That's it. You cut the rhubarb very thinly on the diagonal and macerate it in the juices of the oranges, lime, and some sugar. After macerating, you strain the liquid into a pot and boil it until it's thick enough to make a glaze. With the fruit, you arrange it on the puff pastry very beautifully and bake it until the pastry is golden. You pour over the glaze, arrange some orange zest on top, and voila.


Before it bakes (see photo above), it's pretty, but once it's cooked and you've applied the glaze and orange zest, it's stunning. It's also delicious...the rhubarb and orange makes a very tart and fresh combination and the flaky pastry and yielding fruit are a great pair.


To go with the rhubarb tart, I made a rhubarb and basil cocktail inspired by this recipe from The Kitchn. This was a little bit more work...the rhubarb had to be cooked down with sugar and water, pureed, and then strained through a mesh sieve, which sounds easy but is kind of a lot of work. I chilled the puree, and then later in the day I combined a few tablespoons with ice, some basil from my (aero)garden, vodka, and finished it with Sprite.


We enjoyed them out on the balcony. I was wearing sunglasses but I also needed a light scarf.

Pasta in Almond Garlic Sauce

I originally saw this recipe on The Kitchn website (which is a very nice website, by the way, for daily food inspiration--www.thekitchn.com) and the authors saw it in the April edition of Gourmet magazine.

The idea was kind of intriguing--creating a pasta sauce from pureed garlic, almonds, and liquid. It seemed hearty but not too much of a guilty indulgence. I also thought the combination of almonds, peas, basil, mint, and lemon was very appropriate for the season.

You can find the recipe here. I used dry white wine to make the sauce rather than water since I felt like that would add some extra zing. I also used lemon zest as well as lemon juice since it is so flavorful and I hate to waste the zest.

The result was good--maybe not incredible beyond my wildest dreams--but it was certainly an enjoyable Spring dish for a lovely warm day.