One of my favorite times of year is the end of summer/beginning of fall, for so many reasons.  The air gets crisp and fresh, the world seems like it’s starting anew.  It’s also the time of year where every fruit and vegetable seems to be in abundance.  People are leaving excess squash and tomatoes from their gardens on their neighbor’s porches, the world seems to be overflowing with life.  It is also the season of the green tomato.

At the beginning of tomato season, every ripe tomato is cherished.  They’re eaten whole, with nothing but a dash of salt.  Then the time comes, around September, when you’re hauling in baskets and baskets of tomatoes each day, when you can’t keep up.  That is the time of year when, growing up, my father would mandate a per-person number of tomatoes to be consumed.  This is also the time of year when you don’t feel so guilty picking the tomatoes green.  And it’s a beautiful time of year because (in my opinion) a green tomato is a beautiful thing.

Bacon, Arugula, & Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches

(for two)

4 slices bacon

4 slices of hearty bread

1 green tomato, medium size

1 ripe, red tomato, medium size

1/4 cup arugula

1 cup flour

1/2 cup uncooked grits

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp salt

1 egg

Oil for frying

3 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tsp chipotle powder

Cook your bacon.  Set aside.  Heat oil in frying pan.

Slice your tomatoes.  In one bowl mix flour, grits, cayenne, garlic, and salt. In another bowl whisk the egg until smooth.

When your oil is hot, dip your sliced green tomatoes first in the flour, then in the eggs, and finally back in the flour.   Fry for 3 minutes, then flip and fry an additional 3 minutes.

Toast your bread.

Mix mayonnaise and chipotle powder.  Smear over bread slices.  Layer bacon, fried green tomatoes, red tomatoes, and arugula.  Enjoy!

I love having a garden. For the past few years we’ve been hodge podging a garden wherever we were, growing herbs (and incubating vengeful habanero plants) on windowsills, planting tomatoes in the free space at work, always on the brink of what we really wanted.  In a lot of ways we’re still on the brink of the garden we want.  What we’re fostering these days is worlds better than our last garden, but still worlds away from our goal- our dream garden.

Our dream garden (a part of our overall dream house) will have rows and rows of garden space.  There will space for the plants to breathe, to coexist with like-minded plants.  We’ll have fruit trees, all the heirloom varieties you could think of.  There will be a place for Dan to grow hops, his own beer garden.  We’ll have bees and butterflies and probably a unicorn.  Don’t unicorns always live in these idealist scenarios?

But that’s my dream garden.  And while we’re definitely working towards it, we’re not there yet.  So I’m happy with what I have, and what I have is a thriving and happy garden.  A garden that has, despite late planting and the hottest summer on record, managed to produce a quirky array of fruit.  And since I don’t have pets or children and my husband is too sweet to complain about much, my tomatoes have given me something definitive to bitch about.

My most recent foray into both garden adventures and preservation techniques included infusing olive oil with herbs.  Drizzled over fresh tomatoes, pasta, pizza, salad, or sandwiches, an herb infused oil is a great way to add a punch of flavor to a dish.  I opted for three varieties- basil, rosemary, and oregano.  I used old whiskey bottles that I sterilized but you could easily pick up any bottle that sealed tightly, preferably with a plastic or cork lid.  Easy to make, pretty, and festive you could slap on a handmade label and voila! instant gift.  Pair it up with some homemade jam or pickles and you’re a regular Donna Reed.  Put those shoes back on!

Basil Infused Olive Oil

2 cups extra virgin olive oil

4 cups fresh basil

Sterilized bottle

To sterilize the bottle, submerge it in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.

Begin by  rinsing your basil and pressing it dry.  Combine it in a bowl with the oil.  Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.  In a pot over medium heat, simmer the oil for 1 minute.  Pour the oil through a fine mesh strainer to remove basil clumps.  Repeat.  Use a funnel to pour the oil into the sterilized bottle.  Store in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Rosemary or Oregano Infused Olive Oil

2 cups extra virgin olive oil

10 sprigs herb

Sterilized bottle

Wash your herbs and dry.  To ensure they are dried completely place them in a low temperature oven for 2 minutes.

Place your oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Warm it, but do not let it boil.  Place your herbs in the bottle.  Pour the oil over them.  Cap and store in the refrigerator for up to a month.

**As with any preservation process, there are risks.  If you notice anything abnormal, discard the oil immediately.  Botulism is no fun.**

I’m not sure when Dan and I became the kind of people we are today.  And by “the kind of people we are” I don’t mean Firefly watching, unicorn joke making, shirts that light up owning geeks.  I mean people that attempt to grow as much of their own food as possible, who bake their own bread, brew their own beer, and preserve things for the winter.  It happened progressively.  In fact, you could probably go through the archives of this website and track it, watching steadily as I went from making things like mashed potatoes from scratch to pie doughs, evolving slowly into the people we are today.  People that brew beer and preserve food in a tiny apartment with no circulation in the kitchen.

When I started baking bread I jumped into it like I do all other things; I found a few recipes on various websites and tried it.  It failed.  After a few more mediocre at best (and sometimes awful) loaves I knew it was time for more guidance.  I followed the advice of some friends that had been baking bread and bought Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  I’ve been working through it slowly (though I’m on hiatus for the summer), and each loaf I make gets better. It’s been a wonderful process, one that has inspired me to make a lot more things at home (including, hopefully, cheese) and to be overall more local and conscious of what we’re eating and doing.  More than anything I’ve appreciated having what has become my bread bible, a source that taught me not only recipes but concepts.

Prior to this summer my experience in the world of preserving had been limited to freezing, some drying, and making refrigerator preserves.  So it was serendipitous that when I was just about to jump into the world of long term, for serious food preservation, I got an email from Williams-Sonoma.  They offered me a copy of their book, The Art of Preserving, and I very gladly accepted.  It arrived right before I attempted my first batch of peach habanero jam, and I am so thankful that it did.  The book takes you through different types of preserves from jams and jellies to pickles and flavored spirits.  It is comprehensive and more importantly than anything else, it is thorough and easy to follow.  And even though Williams-Sonoma was kind of enough to send me a copy, this is a book, like The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, I would have purchased on my own.  It also really helps with my nightmares about killing someone with botchulism.

Before I go any further and tell you about the jam, let me promise that this is the last habanero recipe I’ll give you for a while.  If you’re half as habanero’ed out as I am right now, bless our souls because I don’t even want to look at the things.  I am fairly certain, however, that when I’m drizzling it over my toast in February (snowed into my apartment again if “they’re” right about this winter) I will be happy that I spent a few really sweaty days in my kitchen.  The jam itself is delicious, sweet and peachy with a very low note of spice (much more low key than the sorbet).  The last batch I made 8 eight ounce jars and had a lot of refrigerator jam leftover.  This round I made 21 four ounce jars and still had about eight ounces for the fridge.  The jars will be tucked away, eaten this winter and given as gifts over the holidays.  Along with the beer that my husband has been obsessing over.

Peach Habanero Jam
Adapted from The Art of Preserving by Williams-Sonoma

6 pounds of peaches, a mixture of medium ripe and unripe

3 cups sugar

5 medium sized habaneros

3/4 cup lemon juice

Start, either about 5 hours before you want to can or the night before, by using a damp cloth to rub the fuzz off of your peaches.  Next, halve them.  This book has a great suggestion for how to do that- cut the peach all the way around at the joint and twist the two halves in opposite directions, like an Oreo.  Remove the pit and slice the peach (leaving the skin on) into 1/4″ slices.  Halve those slices again and place in a large bowl.

Take your habaneros (carefully) and slice a slit into all four sides.  Toss in with the peaches.  Over the whole mixture pour the sugar, stir, and set aside for at least 4 hours.

About an hour before you want to can fill two large pots with water.  I recommend that you have some canning equipment, at the very least a large pot with a rack and a pair of tongs.  You’ll need a separate pot for sterilizing your jars and lids.  Bring both pots of water to a boil.  In one pot (the one without a lid) place your jars and the lids (not the screw bands).  Allow them to boil for at least 10 minutes, but keep them in the pot until right before you fill them.

In a third pot, combine your peach mixture with the lemon juice.  Cook over medium heat for 15-25 minutes, until most of the juice has evaporated and the peaches have cooked down.  Fish out the habaneros and start taking jars out of the water.

Use a spoon to fill the jars, leaving 1/4″ of room at the top.  Use a spoon to make sure there are no bubbles in the jar, and adjust the headspace (space between the jam and the top of the jar) as needed.  Wipe the rim with a sterile cloth and fish a lid out of the pot.  Place the lid onto the jar and screw the band on tightly.  Set aside and repeat with all of your jars.

Take the rack from the other pot and place the jars onto it.  Lower the rack into the pot (whose water should be boiling) and process the jars for 10 minutes.  Remove them from the water and (here’s the hardest part) wait for the ping.  When they first come out of the water the jar should pop up and down, but when the jars seals you won’t be able to pop the jar any more.  Some jars will seal immediately, some will take a little longer, and some may not at all.  If jars fail to seal, store them in the fridge for up to two weeks.  The jars that do seal, however, are good in a cool dark space for up to a year.  Enjoy!

**As with any preservation process, there are risks.  If you notice anything abnormal, discard the jam immediately.  Botulism is no fun.**

I have a lot of other things to discuss with you today so I thought I’d get business out of the way first.  You remember my habanero dilemma, yes?  Not much has changed in that department.  Actually, if anything, I have more habaneros than ever.  They just keep on coming and the more I use the more flowers those damn plants put out.  Dear Nature, this is why people turn against you.  I’ve put up a batch of peach habanero jam, habanero simple syrup, spicy pickled red onions, I’ve froze and roasted them, I’ve given a bunch away, and I made this sorbet.  This sorbet, which is singlehandedly the weirdest thing I’ve ever created.  At first, it’s all sweet and refreshing.  And then, after you swallow it gets SPICY and there is that signature habanero low and slow burn.  Delicious, yet completely disarming.  If you like taste anomalies or have a lot of habaneros to use up, I suggest you try it.

The next order of business is a personal dilemma.  As you may recall, just over three months ago we moved from Takoma Park to Baltimore.  Our apartment in Takoma Park, while small, irregularly temperatured, and leaky, had one thing going for it- the kitchen.  The kitchen was beautiful and drool worthy and had completely amazing light.  I was able to take photos with ample natural light, which gave my subjects dimension and beauty.  As long as I was cooking when the sun was up I needed nothing but an unblocked window to get beautiful photos.  Oh, how I took that for granted.  And our new apartment (despite its incredible yard) has a kitchen whose giant window looks into an alley.  A dark alley with no direct sunlight.

At first I thought it would be alright.  The lights in the kitchen are pretty white, so I figured it would be possible to take decent photos.  And compared to the dozens (upon dozens) of other crappy apartment kitchens we saw, this one looked pretty great with its dishwasher and cabinet space.  I have discovered, however, that I am flailing.  The photos I’ve been taking the past few months, either here or over at iVillage, have been flat, slightly off colored, and unappealing.  They lack that beautiful allure that natural light provides, the light that makes you want to snatch that pie right off of the windowsill.  So I’m here today asking for your advice.  Now, keep in mind, money is a little tight.  I definitely don’t have the means to buy a lot of crazy new equipment.  I recognize that something has got to give, so any suggestions you might have for my particular problems.  Not necessarily a quick fix because I’m dedicated to changing the situation, but a better solution than me carrying pans outside into the back yard to photograph them as I cook.  Because that’s my next step.

Now, in other (happier) news, I have a very exciting something to announce.  Now, if you’re around on twitter or facespace you’ll have seen this or heard wind of it, but on Friday my mother and I were photographed for the May 2011 issue of Southern Living Magazine.  I KNOW, RIGHT?  It’s been pretty crazy exciting on this end.  This all came about almost a year ago when the lovely Marian Cooper Cairns reached out to me to see if I was interested in being involved with Southern Living.  It evolved from there through many stages of me telling myself not to be too optimistic and on Thursday Marian (the food stylist/writer), Alison (the stylist), and Jennifer (the photographer) arrived in Baltimore.  We went out for an awesome dinner on Thursday night at The Brewer’s Art and on Friday the shoot went down.  (Thanks to Megan for taking the photos).

We shot at Cylburn Arboretum, a gorgeous park just north of us.  And despite on and off rain all day we were able to take a few hours worth of photos.  The photo taking itself was pretty crazy, lots of posing and doing the same gestures again and again so that they could get exactly what they had in mind.  It was really interesting to watch them work, and really enlightening to see Marian’s vision come to life.  Mom and I both had fun and if Megan’s photos are any indication of what Jennifer’s will look like, it is going to be amazing.  Now we just have to sit back, relax, and cross our fingers that it gets published!

Habanero Peach Sorbet

4 peaches

2 habaneros

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

Juice of 1 lemon

Slice your peaches into 1/2″ wide slices, skin on.  Cut small slits into each side of your habaneros.  Be very careful with your hands after handling the peppers.  Bring sugar and water to boil.  Add peaches, habanero, and lemon juice.  Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let cool to room temperature.

When your mixture is cool, fish out your habaneros and process the rest of the mixture in an ice cream maker.

Today, if you look to the sidebar, you’ll see that the brand new Biscuits and Such Store, complete with bells and whistles, is open.  This store, you may remember from the doofy video I showed a few weeks ago, is meant to work as a platform through which I can share products with you that I actually, genuinely, love.  What’s so exciting about this opportunity, for me, is that the whole philosophy behind Open Sky is honesty and trust.  I won’t ever be pressured to promote something to you that I don’t myself use, or that I haven’t hand picked because it’s awesome.

Here’s how the shop will work.  Essentially there are three ways that you can buy a product through me.  First, you can go directly to my profile on Open Sky.  This will allow you to browse through everything I’ve added, check out what I wrote about it, and purchase as you’d like.  You’ll also be able to browse through everything Open Sky offers, which is quite a lot.  The second way to buy through B&S is in the Biscuits and Such Store page right here on the website.  This page, which will evolve as I grow the shop, will show you the same content that the Open Sky profile provides with the added bonus of being able to purchase something without ever leaving my site.  The final way to purchase something will be through individual posts.  Here’s the thing.  I’m probably not going to write about every product I add to the shop.  I will tweet about them or promote them on facebook, but not everything will get an individual post.  Products that do get individual posts, however, will have an “add to cart” button in them so that if you are so moved you can buy the product I’m talking about without ever leaving the post.  I’m making it so easy for you.

The first product that I wanted to write about is the product (beyond our coffee pot) that gets the most use in our house.  It’s the product that I don’t even bother to put it away because I use it for everything.  It’s the product that if you were scrolling through my archives you would see more often than any other dish, pan, or utensil.  It’s my cast iron pan.  And I know it’s such a stereotype that I’m a southern cook who never uses anything but my cast iron pan but I have to tell you, this thing is magic.  Everything from bacon to caramel gets made in this bad boy and the best part is that each dish, every time that the pan is used, it gets a little better.  I got to pick the one product from my kitchen that I wanted to promote and ladies and gents, this is the product I would scream off my rooftop about.

So that’s it.  This is a product I love.  If you don’t have one, I am telling you this pan will change your life, even if it’s just making it easier to fry an egg every morning.  When I say I use this pan 1000% percent more than I use the fancy expensive stainless steel pans we saved up for, I’m not bullshitting you.  So, if you’d like to bring this product into your life, and if you’d like to support Biscuits and Such while doing it, I’ve given you all the tools.  And, if you order anything from OpenSky between now and August 16, you get free shipping (use the code FREESHIPPING). Mazel tov.

Approximately two years ago, Dan and I planted a jalapeño plant and a habanero plant.  They grew, and they grew, and then they flowered… but our apartment didn’t get enough light (or heat) for them to bear fruit.  So they sat, for years, just barely hanging on.  Until we moved into this great apartment that has a yard! and full sun! and they got huge and started throwing dark green leaves out and finally, after so much waiting, came the flowers.  And slowly the flowers dropped and left behind tiny little peppers.  We were so excited.  We danced, we counted future peppers, and I started roasting and pickling peppers in my mind.

First the habanero put out a pepper.  More excitement.  More staring at it creepily as it grew.  Some concern about what we were actually going to do with a habanero.  Then came the jalapeño.  I started picturing future salsas.  Oh, the huevos rancheros.  But then something happened.  The jalapeño stopped getting longer.  Instead, it got fatter.  It looked, weirdly, just like the habanero.  Do you know where this is going?  You must.  You’re thinking duh! it’s not a jalapeño, dummies! you planted TWO habaneros!

We did.  Without realizing it, we harbored two habanero plants for years, the whole time dreaming about our wonderful jalapeños.  Because while I can handle a jalepeño, habaneros are the kind of vegetable that make me step back.  Blink.  Wonder what the hell I am going to do with a pepper that makes a grown man cry.  And not just one, but dozens.  You know what plants that haven’t been able to successfully reproduce for two years do?  THEY GO BUCK WILD.  We are swimming in habaneros, and I am having a nervous breakdown.

Thankfully, I have figured out a few things to do with habaneros.  First, I took a bunch down to my father’s house and then left under the cover of darkness.  Secondly, in a method more relevant to this food blog, I used them to create an underlying spice profile within a sauce.  My brilliant husband suggested that I pierce the habanero and let it simmer in a sauce, so that it might lend its flavor (ie heat), but not overwhelm anyone’s senses.  And it was such a hit.  I simmered a habanero in this brown butter brown sugar sauce for about an hour and the result was a dish that had afternotes of spice, and a low, consistent heat.  It was tasty and I was, thankfully, one habanero down.

In other news, this past weekend was the final weekend of performances for the water ballet I mentioned.  The ballet, Jason and the Aquanauts: 20,000 Legs Over the Sea was based on the movie of a slightly different name.  My scene, in which the hero Jason battles a skeleton army, was clearly the best.  I’ve included, as proof, the video of our scene and my makeup for the shows.  Terrifyingly awesome, I know.

Jason & the Aquanauts: Skeleton Scene from elena rosemond-hoerr on Vimeo.

Habanero Grouper

1 habanero

1 stick of butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

2 grouper filet

Salt & pepper

Put a large skillet over medium low heat.  Melt butter.  Stir in brown sugar.  Pierce whole habanero with a fork.  Place the fork in the butter mixture.  Allow to simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Pat your grouper dry.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place on a broiling pan.  Drizzle with butter mixture.  Broil on high 10 minutes.

Serve over rice, topped with butter sauce.

UPDATE: THEY’RE GETTING BIGGER BY THE MINUTE!

Recently, I was approached by a company called the Open Sky Project.  They’re launching an online initiative that allows people to buy from sources that they trust.  I love the idea because as an avid blog reader I take recommendations from my favorite bloggers to heart, I find a lot of great products by reading blogs.  I loved the idea of being able to share things that have been working for me in my kitchen with you.

Because this is a food blog that is largely recipe based I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of posting just product reviews, sponsored or not, into the blog.  So here’s what I’m promising you.  These will be products that I am actually using, products that I bought for myself and that I’ve found successful.  Sometimes there will be giveaways, sometimes I will highlight a product with a recipe post.  But I will never try and sell you something that I don’t believe in, or that I wouldn’t use.  I’m so excited about this opportunity, I think it’ll be great for both of us.

In conclusion, I recorded this clip as part of a large promotional package for Open Sky.  I thought we could all laugh at it together.

Open Sky Promotional Video from elena rosemond-hoerr on Vimeo.

Tonight Dan and I returned from a few day trip to Morehead City, North Carolina.  You may be familiar with Morehead from such post as this, this, this, or this.  It was a great weekend filled with diving, eating, family, and friends.  Also, we saw a giant shark and I got stung by a jellyfish in a reenactment of that scene in The Sphere.  I’m pretty exhausted so instead of giving you the full run down and ending with a comment about how delicious burgers are when you mix in bacon and blue cheese, I’m going to give you a photo montage of the recipe, and some highlights from the trip.  It was fun.

On the first day Dan and I spent a lot of time watching low tide, and then we discovered that we could manipulate the movements of the minnows and the hermit crabs and the real crabs with our shadows.  We were wildly entertained.

Our first day of diving was on a boat called the Indra.  We saw a giant shark, got caught in a bait ball, and made a free ascent, which was not exactly what we were going for.  Still, we had fun.  And then we got pizza.

This place is so beautiful, how could you *not* be happy here?

The second day, we went on two dives.  The first was on the Ario, the vessel everyone used to think was the Hutton.  The Hutton is actually what everyone calls the Papoose.  They think.  Did I mention we dive on shipwrecks?  Either way, we saw two more huge sharks (pictured below) that while smaller than the shark we saw on the Indra, were still impressive.

Giant, right?

Check out the teeth!

We also saw some starfish, they were wonderful.  And isn’t Dan dreamy?  This was before I got stung by a jellyfish.  That was on our second dive of the day, which was on a tugboat called the Titan.  That was a great dive because the boat is intact and fun to swim through.  Also, there were juvenile sharks on the bow that were kind of hilarious.

That night we made these burgers, which were delicious, and tried hard not to talk politics.  Later we went to Dairy Queen to get blizzards.  This post is not sponsored by Dairy Queen.

The next day it was super rough so we cancelled the diving portion of the day and instead took a family trip to Shackleford Banks.  There was anchor line volleyball, synchronized swimming, and back flips.  I got sunburnt.

This is what it looks like when a white dog tries to stalk a hamburger.  Unsuccessfully.

That night we made grouper (recipe to come) and went out for ice cream.  Because it is vacation.  Now we’re home, back to real life (sad), and our very comfortable bed (happy).  Thanks for putting up with this photo montage instead of a real post.  I’m off to catch up on Warehouse 13.

Bacon Blue Cheese Burgers

1 lb hamburger meat

1/2 cup blue cheese (crumbled)

6 slices of bacon (cooked and crumbled)

3 tbsp steak sauce

S&p

Mix together hamburger meat, cheese, (cooked and crumbled) bacon, steak sauce, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Heat your grill.  For handfuls of meat into balls, and then use your hands to squish them into patties.  Cook on the grill 5-7 minutes, flip, and cook an additional 5-7.

I know that this is the third week in a row that I’ve posted a dessert recipe.  There was ice cream, and then there was pie, and now it’s puffed rice cereal coated in marshmallowy goodness.  This pattern could obviously give someone the idea that all I eat are desserts.  Which is not true.  I just seem to have found myself in a rut.  A delicious rut where I use some combination of fresh or roasted vegetables and either pasta, a tortilla, or a pizza crust and call it dinner.  I don’t think (with the exception of cookout food) that we’ve eaten much lately that hasn’t had one of those bases.  I’m not complaining, it’s been delicious.  I just didn’t want you to think I was holding out on you.  Unless, of course, you’ve never eaten huevos rancheros, in which case go! now! drop everything!

Anyway the point is that while I’ve been cooking a rotation of the same style meals over and over again all summer I have been changing it up with the desserts.  I’ve tried new things and recreated old favorites, I even made white sangria for the first time.  It has been a delicious, albeit hot, summer.  And in following that trend this weekend I made these crispy marshmallow bars for the very first time (presumably, I may have participated in their creation as a child).  I’d been thinking, a lot, about the gooeyness, the crunch factor meeting with the chewy stringy melted marshmallow factor.  So I set out to make them.  And I failed miserably.

On Saturday night we had friends and family coming over, so I thought this would be the perfect make ahead treat.  And while the bars turned out well, they were more crispy than marshmallow.  So the next day I tried again, and the second batch more than satisfied my craving for stringy marshmallow goodness.  Through more than doubling the amount of marshmallow (silly me in the first place, I know), I got the perfect result.  A touch of cinnamon and nutmeg added a pinch of something more, with the end dessert being better than my childhood memories of this old favorite.  And the perfect end to a dinner of roasted peppers and eggplant over pasta.

Crispy Marshmallow Bars

1 bag of mini marshmallows

3 cups puffed rice cereal

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp butter

In a large skillet melt butter, sugar, and marshmallows.  Stir frequently until the marshmallows have melted and begun toasting.  Stir in the cinnamon and the cumin.  In a large bowl, combine the marshmallow mixture with the cereal.  Stir so that it is integrated evenly.

Line a medium size baking pan with wax paper.  Scoop the mixture into the pan, pressing it into shape.  Let cool at least 1 hour before serving.

Remember that time, last week, when I was all excited about my birthday?  How we were going to go eat pie! and see magic! and bask in the glow of my 24th year of life? Remember that? Me too.  That was the day before my birthday.  Let me tell you about my actual birthday.  For starters, it was the hottest day in Baltimore for 27 years.  Only TWO DEGREES away from the hottest temperature ever!  Actually, that is the starter, the middle, and the ender.  It was so hot that eating dinner in a restaurant that had it’s ovens on (and questionable ac) was painful.  And the bar? The magic bar where they do MAGIC?  Closed.  Because it was so hot that the city was losing power.  The end result was us showering and laying very still next to our ac window unit.  And Dan feeling awful that his (amazing) plans got blown by an insane heat wave (one that, if put into the context of Baltimore’s record snow storm, makes the global climate crisis seem a little more real. AM I RIGHT DAD?).

In the context of last week’s extreme heat it seems a little silly (in retrospect) that I turned my oven on.  In my tiny, unairconditioned apartment.  With a kitchen that vents very poorly.  And is as far away from the window unit as physically possible.  Okay, so it was crazy to turn on my oven.  But, BUT, it was so worth it.  Because the end result was pie.  Delicious, peachy, flaky crusted peach pie that made up for the heat, made up for my sweaty birthday, made up for the whole sticky mess.  Behold, the power of pie.

I’m going to assume a few things when I tell you to go forth and bake this pie.  First, I’m going to assume that you have air conditioning, or at least live somewhere where turning on your oven is a possibility.  If you don’t (but you’re dedicated to the idea of pie) make this at night right before taking a shower and going to bed.  Cool, dark bed.  I’m also going to assume that you love peaches as much as I do, and that the idea of peach pie makes your mouth water.  Finally, I’m going to assume that you’re just like me and that making (and eating) pie provides you with enough joy that it outweighs all the other crap.  So eat pie!  Look on the bright side of life!

Brown Sugar Peach Pie

6-8 peaches, a mixture of ripe and unripe

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tbsp corn starch

Pie dough (recipe here)

1 egg

1 tbsp sugar

Peel and slice your peaches.  The peaches should be sliced thinly.  Combine in a bowl with brown sugar, lemon juice, flour, and corn starch.  Mix thoroughly.

Heat oven to 375. Roll out your bottom pie dough and place in pan.  Scoop in filling.  Roll your top pie dough out and, using a knife or a pastry knife, cut into strips.  Overlap the strips in a lattice pattern.  Whisk egg, and brush egg over the top of the pie.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown.