Brown Butter Rosemary Apple Pie at Anthology and Some Big News!

I've made a pie for my Anthology column today. Worth all the pieces of its meditative effort. An excellent crust for people who love both flaky dough and a little chew, the sugared shingled layers do the trick. It's so good. Another swooner: brown butter adds nutty depth to go with the spiced flavors imparted by the likes of rosemary, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It was a stroke of genius to put these together for this pie. 

Edit: with Anthology Mag gone, I have included the full recipe below. Thank you all for sending me messages, asking for it!!

With little added sugar in this recipe, I'd say this pie could easily double for breakfast. Yes I just said pie for breakfast. And with a dollop of creme fraiche, it's even better. Try it and see for yourself…

Brown butter-rosemary apple pie with star shingled crust

for the filling

3 lbs tart apples 

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

1 tsp lemon zest - choose organic, since you'll eat the skin

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 scant tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp freshly grated cinnamon

2 tsp minced fresh rosemary

1/2 stick butter

1 egg, lightly beaten, for brushing

demerara sugar, to sprinkle

for the dough - adapted from Melissa and Emily Elsen of Four and Twenty Blackbirds

3 2/4 cups organic all-purpose flour

1 1/2  tsp kosher salt

1 1/2  tsp organic cane sugar

12 oz freezer-cold cubed butter

3/4 cup cider vinegar

3/4 cup ice water

I used to process my flour and butter in a food processor for ease. Feel free to do it that way if you are short on time. Now, I make the extra time - not much longer really, and for the result, it's worth it to cut the butter into the flour by hand. Plus, my desire for the pie ripens as I work to incorporate the dough… :)

Make the dough: stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add butter and cut in using a pastry blender, scraping its edge with a knife occasionally to free any clumps that form. Keep at it until you are left with pea sized bits of butter in the mix. Be careful not to overwork the dough. A few larger butter clumps are okay. 

Pour water and vinegar together and add an ice cube or two. Drizzle a little at a time over the flour mixture and cut in. It will appear shaggy as it becomes more moist, and as you keep cutting it together, the dough will form. Pinch the dough with your thumb and index finger to see if it holds together. If it's crumbly, it isn't ready. Drizzle another tablespoon or so of the cider liquid and cut in again.  Once the dough has formed, empty out into three equal portions on three pieces of cellophane.

Press opposing ends of the cellophane together to form the dough into a ball. Wrap securely and flatten dough into a disk. Repeat with remaining two dough piles, then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes to let them mellow.

Make the filling: peel, core, and cut apples into wedges. Squeeze lemon juice to coat in a large bowl, mixing the juice and apple slices together to prevent from browning. Add zest, flour, salt, sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, and rosemary, and stir to combine. Set aside while you make the brown butter.

Brown the butter: In a light colored sauté pan - so you can monitor the change in color as it browns - melt butter over medium heat. Let it foam and give it a swirl every so often to ensure it is cooking evenly. The process should take about 7 minutes; pay attention to the milk solids which settle at the base of the pan as you don't want them to get burnt. Once you smell the nutty aroma and the butter has turned caramelly, remove pan from heat. Pour brown butter and solids over the apple mixture and stir together to combine. If the milk solids are burnt, you may choose not to add them - once cool enough to taste, try a little bit and see if you like the flavor, and then decide. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, up to overnight. 

Roll the dough: for the bottom crust, roll out one disk of dough to about 1/8-inch thick, between pieces of lightly floured parchment. Peel away one sheet of parchment, drape dough into an 8-inch diameter pie plate using the second sheet of parchment to transfer the dough, then peel it away. Trim edge flush with pie plate, save scraps to re-roll, and chill. You can do this a day in advance.

Roll out the other two disks to 1/8-inch thick using the same method with parchment. Transfer dough on parchment to baking sheets and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or, freezer for 10). 

Working with one segment of dough at a time, use a flour-dusted cookie cutter to cut shapes. Gather scraps to re-roll as needed, and refrigerate cutouts on a baking sheet as you go. If at any time the shapes start to stretch or you don't get a clean cutout, refrigerate the dough. 

You'll need at least 32 cutouts (depending on the size of your cookie cutter) for the shingled crust. Keep cutouts refrigerated until time to use. This can also be done a day in advance.

Drain sugar-butter mixture from apples into a saucepan and reduce by half. Add reduced syrup back to the apple mixture and stir to combine. Reducing the liquid will create a sumptuous pie, rather than a watery one.

Assemble the pie: Preheat oven to 400F. Fill pie shell with syrup-spice-apple mixture, slightly mounding the fruit at the center. Lightly brush pie edge with water. Lightly brush water on back of shapes, as you go. Start at outside edge, layering dough shapes like shingles, lightly brushing their reverse sides and pressing gently to seal them together. 

Once you have made one ring of shingles, layer a second ring in the same fashion. Continue until only a small opening remains at the top.  Brush beaten egg over the surface of the dough and scatter demerara sugar to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours. The colder your pastry, the more assurance you have that it will stay put once met with the heat of the oven!

Bake the pie: Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, just so crust begins to brown. Lower heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is golden all over and juices bubble, about 55 minutes more. 

Cool completely on a wire rack and serve with creme fraiche or ice cream. Pie will keep for 2 days unrefrigerated, wrapped in foil, and up to 1 1/2 weeks in the refrigerator in a container with a tight fitting lid.

This time is busier than ever for me. I move next week, long distance, back north. It's a long story, but my sweetheart and I lived apart for nearly a year as we navigated new developments in our careers. This move represents us reuniting. We cannot wait. Our home is entirely in transition and the movers come this weekend. Edit: it's happening again! We have to move from our "reunited and it feels so good" home and, in the next couple weeks, will go through another huge bandaid ripping to get acclimated and settled into another living quarters….Fingers crossed that this time pans out a little less dramatically. We are ready to NOT MOVE for a bit.

In other news, I am making a cookbook!! It will be filled with fantastic recipes and gorgeous images, and all kinds of tips and tricks for success. I am thrilled about this project. Producing a cookbook is something I've been considering - and then trying to plan for - for a while now. That is all I will share for the moment, as I must return to dusting, consolidating, and packing. But oh what good things await, around every corner!

Have a beautiful weekend. Enjoy the crisp days of fall. Eat this pie and share it with friends. Thanks so much for being here for the journey.

Brown Butter Rosemary Apple Pie at Anthology and Some Big News!

I've made a pie for my Anthology column today. Worth all the pieces of its meditative effort. An excellent crust for people who love both flaky dough and a little chew, the sugared shingled layers do the trick. It's so good. Another swooner: brown butter adds nutty depth to go with the spiced flavors imparted by the likes of rosemary, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It was a stroke of genius to put these together for this pie. 

Edit: with Anthology Mag gone, I have included the full recipe below. Thank you all for sending me messages, asking for it!!

With little added sugar in this recipe, I'd say this pie could easily double for breakfast. Yes I just said pie for breakfast. And with a dollop of creme fraiche, it's even better. Try it and see for yourself…

Brown butter-rosemary apple pie with star shingled crust

for the filling

3 lbs tart apples 

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

1 tsp lemon zest - choose organic, since you'll eat the skin

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 scant tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp freshly grated cinnamon

2 tsp minced fresh rosemary

1/2 stick butter

1 egg, lightly beaten, for brushing

demerara sugar, to sprinkle

for the dough - adapted from Melissa and Emily Elsen of Four and Twenty Blackbirds

3 2/4 cups organic all-purpose flour

1 1/2  tsp kosher salt

1 1/2  tsp organic cane sugar

12 oz freezer-cold cubed butter

3/4 cup cider vinegar

3/4 cup ice water

I used to process my flour and butter in a food processor for ease. Feel free to do it that way if you are short on time. Now, I make the extra time - not much longer really, and for the result, it's worth it to cut the butter into the flour by hand. Plus, my desire for the pie ripens as I work to incorporate the dough… :)

Make the dough: stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add butter and cut in using a pastry blender, scraping its edge with a knife occasionally to free any clumps that form. Keep at it until you are left with pea sized bits of butter in the mix. Be careful not to overwork the dough. A few larger butter clumps are okay. 

Pour water and vinegar together and add an ice cube or two. Drizzle a little at a time over the flour mixture and cut in. It will appear shaggy as it becomes more moist, and as you keep cutting it together, the dough will form. Pinch the dough with your thumb and index finger to see if it holds together. If it's crumbly, it isn't ready. Drizzle another tablespoon or so of the cider liquid and cut in again.  Once the dough has formed, empty out into three equal portions on three pieces of cellophane.

Press opposing ends of the cellophane together to form the dough into a ball. Wrap securely and flatten dough into a disk. Repeat with remaining two dough piles, then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes to let them mellow.

Make the filling: peel, core, and cut apples into wedges. Squeeze lemon juice to coat in a large bowl, mixing the juice and apple slices together to prevent from browning. Add zest, flour, salt, sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, and rosemary, and stir to combine. Set aside while you make the brown butter.

Brown the butter: In a light colored sauté pan - so you can monitor the change in color as it browns - melt butter over medium heat. Let it foam and give it a swirl every so often to ensure it is cooking evenly. The process should take about 7 minutes; pay attention to the milk solids which settle at the base of the pan as you don't want them to get burnt. Once you smell the nutty aroma and the butter has turned caramelly, remove pan from heat. Pour brown butter and solids over the apple mixture and stir together to combine. If the milk solids are burnt, you may choose not to add them - once cool enough to taste, try a little bit and see if you like the flavor, and then decide. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, up to overnight. 

Roll the dough: for the bottom crust, roll out one disk of dough to about 1/8-inch thick, between pieces of lightly floured parchment. Peel away one sheet of parchment, drape dough into an 8-inch diameter pie plate using the second sheet of parchment to transfer the dough, then peel it away. Trim edge flush with pie plate, save scraps to re-roll, and chill. You can do this a day in advance.

Roll out the other two disks to 1/8-inch thick using the same method with parchment. Transfer dough on parchment to baking sheets and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or, freezer for 10). 

Working with one segment of dough at a time, use a flour-dusted cookie cutter to cut shapes. Gather scraps to re-roll as needed, and refrigerate cutouts on a baking sheet as you go. If at any time the shapes start to stretch or you don't get a clean cutout, refrigerate the dough. 

You'll need at least 32 cutouts (depending on the size of your cookie cutter) for the shingled crust. Keep cutouts refrigerated until time to use. This can also be done a day in advance.

Drain sugar-butter mixture from apples into a saucepan and reduce by half. Add reduced syrup back to the apple mixture and stir to combine. Reducing the liquid will create a sumptuous pie, rather than a watery one.

Assemble the pie: Preheat oven to 400F. Fill pie shell with syrup-spice-apple mixture, slightly mounding the fruit at the center. Lightly brush pie edge with water. Lightly brush water on back of shapes, as you go. Start at outside edge, layering dough shapes like shingles, lightly brushing their reverse sides and pressing gently to seal them together. 

Once you have made one ring of shingles, layer a second ring in the same fashion. Continue until only a small opening remains at the top.  Brush beaten egg over the surface of the dough and scatter demerara sugar to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours. The colder your pastry, the more assurance you have that it will stay put once met with the heat of the oven!

Bake the pie: Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, just so crust begins to brown. Lower heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is golden all over and juices bubble, about 55 minutes more. 

Cool completely on a wire rack and serve with creme fraiche or ice cream. Pie will keep for 2 days unrefrigerated, wrapped in foil, and up to 1 1/2 weeks in the refrigerator in a container with a tight fitting lid.

This time is busier than ever for me. I move next week, long distance, back north. It's a long story, but my sweetheart and I lived apart for nearly a year as we navigated new developments in our careers. This move represents us reuniting. We cannot wait. Our home is entirely in transition and the movers come this weekend. Edit: it's happening again! We have to move from our "reunited and it feels so good" home and, in the next couple weeks, will go through another huge bandaid ripping to get acclimated and settled into another living quarters….Fingers crossed that this time pans out a little less dramatically. We are ready to NOT MOVE for a bit.

In other news, I am making a cookbook!! It will be filled with fantastic recipes and gorgeous images, and all kinds of tips and tricks for success. I am thrilled about this project. Producing a cookbook is something I've been considering - and then trying to plan for - for a while now. That is all I will share for the moment, as I must return to dusting, consolidating, and packing. But oh what good things await, around every corner!

Have a beautiful weekend. Enjoy the crisp days of fall. Eat this pie and share it with friends. Thanks so much for being here for the journey.

Grilled Head-on Shrimp and Chermoula at Anthology, Perfect Ice Cream at New York Times, and Some Thoughts about Labor

Summer is ending. The food doesn't really say so here in the lush south, but everything else does. Particularly, the light which streams into my studio… more directional, sharper and crisp. It's a beautiful thing, really, but I'm not ready for the huge thrust fall brings. More on that in a bit.

This chermoula, bursting with flavor, is essentially a north African version of salsa or pesto. And, it's my newest story at Anthology. Click here for the full story and recipe.

So good. On these shrimp, on everything prepared for this feature. Really, chermoula is good on everything. Do let me know if you decide to make it. I love to hear when a recipe (or photograph) seizes you.

A couple weeks ago, I had another Page One piece, produced for The New York Times Food section. This time it was ice cream. I produced simple, amazing vanilla. Certainly gave me a renewed appreciation for this humble flavor. 

five simple ingredients is all it takes

Here is the ice cream recipe.

I am on the edge of telling you some big news. It will have to wait until more is clear, but many changes are in store. Thanks for staying tuned!

Eat great food this holiday. Maybe both of these tasty recipes will make it onto your menu. They surely will not disappoint.

Beyond good eating with those we love, I hope in your Labor Day festivities you will make room to appreciate the countless people who toil so hard -  often for pennies a day - around the world.

In the distant past and now again, our economies suppress the value of labor. The rhythmic work of nimble human fingers, day in and out. Bodies which lift machinery over and over, actions repeated at a dizzying pace, or, skills so particular only few can do it. Never mind the repetitive stress those fingers and bodies face…. Young people assembling iPhones in China. Brick workers who are essentially slaves, in Pakistan. Men without safeguards against debilitating injuries in General Motors factories, in Colombia.

Do we value this work? How do we value human labor? In my own world I labor intensely, but thankfully I am (more or less) in charge of how and when it gets done. But no safety net, no built-in room to slow down. I'm working on that….

Of the above, this group has a link where you can offer your support, if you would like to help:

ASOTRECOL - association of injured Colombian GM workers.  These men suffer debilitating injuries from repeated work processes during a time when no safety standards had been implemented in their factory. They have been discarded by GM, with no means or medical insurance to have the needed surgeries, to live healthy lives and get new jobs to support their families.

What good fortune we have to be privileged! And so, what good use a few minutes to give recognition and gratitude to those who help pave the way, who don't get that privilege.

Have a fantastic "sending-off summer" weekend. And then, on to plan the wonderful things we will do this fall. Thanks for being here with me, dear friends. xxx

Blueberry Peach Crisp - My Newest Anthology Story, and "Feeding the Fire" Recipes with the New York Times

You know how when summer arrives, you don't want to cook anything? That thankfully, all the food around you is so fresh, sensual, and flavorful, you don't have to? Yeah. Me too.

There isn't any reason to cook peaches and blueberries. Unless you want an outrageously satisfying dessert. And because I'm a sucker for pie and all things cooked fruit (though this is much easier), I turned on my oven during summer in Alabama and decided to give this idea a whirl. So much *Yay* I made that choice. 

I'm sure all my friends who got their morsels after the spoils got divvied up are happy about this too. So will you, if you choose to make this fantastic blueberry peach crisp, the newest installment in my column at Anthology.

Edit: with Anthology now gone, see below for the full recipe -

Blueberry peach crisp 

serves 8

for the fruit:

3-4 lbs tree-ripened peaches - I tried to find organic and it was impossible (see if you have better luck!)

4 cups organic blueberries

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp all purpose flour

pinch kosher salt

for the crisp:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 packed cup brown sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 sticks pastured butter, cubed and freezer-cold

3/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp fresh ginger, grated

pinch salt

vanilla custard ice cream, for serving 

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir with a fork to incorporate. Add ginger and butter to mixture and work butter into dry ingredients with your fingers, until pea-sized crumbs remain. Refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Stir together lemon juice, brown sugar, zest, flour, and salt. Add fruit and toss to combine. 

Pour fruit mixture into a large baking dish and then spoon oat mixture to cover. Bake until crisp is golden and juices bubble, about 50 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes. 

Great served warm, room temp, and even cold. This fruity number is excellent all by itself and of course is amazing topped with ice cream. This crisp is so virtuous you could even eat it for breakfast…..

………………………………..

To start the meal to which this crisp offers grand finale, these three recipes I produced for The New York Times most recently should do the trick. The coffee-brown sugar-spice rubbed, slow-cooked pulled lamb shoulder is a definite new favorite….

Here are a few outtakes I loved -

bacon making another starring appearance with this iceberg salad 

broccoli is delicious - here is more proof to that truth

this pulled lamb was ah-mazing. make it. see for yourself. 

I am about to embark on a trip to New York. About to have a blissful upstate weekend away. These are things which will provide a break in my day-to-day. Maybe even renewal. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of fun, but change is good to keep it all perspectivized…..

Also - Oh! Did you see this? 

I'm number one on the list of food stylists who will make you hungry. How cool is that?! Come eat with me. I have food, and we all need to eat. 

If you can't come over, at least follow along with me on the daily fun-slash-food-rescue-missions, over on Instagram. I do try to keep things interesting.

And have a remarkable summer! We all know it's going to zoom before our very eyes…. 

Lift a glass of rosé with loved ones. Eat some grilled squid, a lobster roll, or a bowl of tomatoes dabbed in good mayo. Leave your footprints (and only that, please) on a beach. Revel in the sun-kissed sparkling water surrounding you in a boat excursion, or the mesmerizing fire dance huddled in front of a nighttime campfire. 

Whatever you do, eat good food. Thank you for the love!