Flooded Cran Apple Pie

Hey all.

So I've been mostly silent here for the past...uh month? I have a lot going on in my life right now. Mostly good things.

I also am working toward a new small tomatoes website. So to simplify my life, and not be AWOL on this blog, this is the last post for smalltomatoes.blogspot.com. It's been a good - well, mostly novice and shakey- run with blogger, but I'm ready to take this to the next level.

So, for my last post, at the request of a friend, I'll talk about the Flooded Cran/Apple Pie.

As usual, I claim that the tastiness of this pie comes from the integrity of the ingredients. I went to the Philly Fair Food stand in Reading Terminal one day, and saw some fresh cranberries. I'd never had a fresh cranberry before. When I went back, they only had frozen, but it's all the same for pies.

I discovered that I LOVE non-dried cranberries. While most pucker and spit, I enjoy the wild and tart flavor. I mean cmon, it's like a sourpatch kid, but hippy.

These crans are from the Pine Barrens in NJ... and I've actually stumbled upon the area on a strange and unusual summer trip to the Pine Barrens. It's the third-largest producer of cranberries in the country! And it was pretty crazy. This map shows the region. All the green squares are empty pools that that are filled with water and cranberries when the time is ripe.

The apples were from a PA farm. I used Fugi and something else... they were all bruised aka "for making pies". I made this first for a party, so to save time, I cheated and bought a whole wheat crust from Whole Foods.


Alright, this pie goes against my grain in one very particular way. I used the standard tricks of the trade to get food to taste good... I added salt and fat. I was baking for other people, and the pressure got to me.

Anyway, it was devoured in about 10 minutes, so I guess it works.

In the pie:

• about 5 apples sliced medium thin
• about 2 handfuls of FROZEN cranberries (you can use fresh, but don't thaw frozen)
• 1 Tbs of flour
• 1 cup of organic sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Baking the pie:

1. thaw the pre-made crusts so that they're pliable
2. line the bottom with crust, fill with filling, duh.
3. dot in some places with butter
4. invert the other pie crust over top
5. wet your fingers, rub the bottom outer crust so that it's slightly wet
6. press the two crusts together
7. Brush with milk, egg, or cooled-off melted butter
8. Bake at 350 for 30 mins, then bake for 30 more mins with a crust shield on so the edges don't burn ( i use crumpled aluminum foil b/c I don't have one of those!
9. Take out of the oven and let cool

I originally intended to top this with drizzled salted caramel. I messed up, but the effect was pretty cool.

The flooded topping:

• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• salt

1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan
2. Heat on medium heat until sugar dissolves
3. Add butter in chunks, let them melt
4. Continue stirring continuously as mixture begins to turn brown
5. Let mixture darken, and reduce in volume as some water burns off about 10 minutes
6. To stop the browning process, add a splash or two of heavy cream
7. turn off heat immediately
8. Let the mixture cool slightly, and then pour all over the top of the pie
9. Top off with some sprinkles of coarse sea salt

It's sweet, it's fruity, tart, occasionally savory, buttery, and flakey. But as my partner put it, "it looks like you just flooded your pie." And that's how the story goes.



So long for now. I'll be back in a month, and it's going to be real legit (fingers crossed).

Thanks for reading smalltomatoes!

Exotic Hot Chocolate

Every now and then, I get the notion that should like to 'cleanse' my system. In the interest of everyone's time, I'll just say that it's not as intense as it sounds, and usually just involves drinking lots of water and not eating any solid food for a day. But this time around, I thought - hey, I should ACTUALLY try to do this right, it might be refreshing. Well, that led to internet researching. The internet promoted this 'lemon tea diet'. Ooo, sounds nice. It was a cocktail of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayanne pepper. Perfect! I'm a fan of all that! Then I read on... "drink only this tea, water, and maybe some peppermint tea. If you're new to fasting, a 5-8 day fast is recommended. The fast shouldn't be continued past 10 days." What? Gandhi? "If you feel faint, sit down IMMEDIATELY."

Anorexics feel faint sometimes too. I ride a bike to work. And that was the end of that idea.

I'm not saying I would never enjoy a good fast. In fact, I hope I do someday. But someday when I have less moving around and thinking to do. I went home that day, having enjoyed a few cups of fresh lemon water, and made hot chocolate from scratch.

Started by simmering some milk with a couple of chilli peppers in it

Used some dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips from Trader Joe's.

Grated the zest of a mandarine. Let the milk simmer for 7 minutes or so and then...

Took the utmost care to melt the chocolate on low heat, stirring constantly

Added the milk VERY gradually so that the chocolate would dissolve in the milk... as it would otherwise form a granular appearance. Also added the mandarine zest.

I enjoyed the swirly patterns of the added milk until it had a liquid consistency of which I approved.

I added the teeniest pinch of cayenne pepper, and served it in a white mug. I did not take a picture of the final product (bad food blogger!) so you'll just have to imagine what very thick, rich hot chocolate lookes like. It had a little kick from the zest and cayenne pepper, but also a full/roundness to it from the chili pepper that seemed to balance the intense sweetness of the chocolate.

Peach Granita

What is granita? It's an Italian dessert and it's wonderful and that pretty much sums it up. If you must know the details, it's like sorbet, except made with only very fresh ingredients and without any ice cream maker machine. (This is one thing that frustrates me about summer desert... you can only read ice cream and sorbet recipes if you're in the 'I own a really expensive ice cream machine' club. Which I'm not in, which is why I love granita.)

Being that it's early summer, there's an abundance of fresh fruit around. One thing I've come to really appreciate is seasonal eating. Supermarkets have made it seem like all varieties of fruit grow at all times in convenient locations. Like magic, there are strawberries in January, apples in April, and bananas all year round. It sickens me a little, actually. The problem with eating produce out of season is that you loose so much flavor and nutrition, and you probably pay out the waahoo for it. "Sure, I'll buy this styrofoam strawberry in December, because well, it's here!"

The other great thing about eating seasonally is that after going much of the winter without these exotic fruits, the spring and summertime harvest are that much more exciting. The first bite of a ripe peach is like ...... I don't know what. I could get dangerously cheese here, so I'll refrain.

So here it is, a seasonal dessert that I absolutely love. Peach granita. It's really simple, and beats Rita's waterice and bomb pops any day. (Remember bomb pops? Side note: every time I see an ice cream truck drive by, I WANT to want the ice cream truck but now just can't get past how creepy the whole deal is...)

All you need is:

• 2.5 cups chopped peaches (about 4-5 peaches) Please use regional peaches that are ripe, and are NOT the 'white peaches'
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 cup water
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (or more if you want a a heavier vanilla taste)

In this desert, your final product is a direct reflection of your ingredients. So use good ones!

• In a food processor or blender, process all the ingredients till the mixture is pretty smooth
• Pour into a clean glass dish. It should be fairly big and flat so your mixture will freeze quickly
• Rake the outside edges to the middle every 20-30 minutes until the whole thing is frozen and 'granulated'
• Serve immediately plain or with fresh whipped cream and honey
• If you want to save it, just cover it, and give it a chance to soften up a little before serving again

You can make this with many different fruits. I've made a pretty awesome mango granita, and I think I'll try peach blueberry granita soon.

Note: I have been taking all my pictures with a google phone, which used to take surprisingly good pictures for a phone. Now with the updated software, the camera function has regressed, and my pictures look way worse. One of those instances where change does not always mean progress. This is a rant for another time.