Monday, May 7, 2012

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

Pie Crust Ingredients: (or you can use an unbaked, prepared crust)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup cold lard (non-hydrogenated if available)*
1/2 cup cold butter, chopped
3-4 tablespoons ice cold water
1 egg and 1 teaspoon heavy cream for egg wash
*you can substitute vegetable shortening here if you wish, but I highly recommend the lard!

Filling Ingredients:
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar, reserve 1 tablespoon
Dash salt
1 cup sour cream (not fat-free)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. To make the crust, pulse flour and salt together to combine. Add scoops of lard and pulse into the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Add in chunks of butter and pulse until butter pieces are no larger than small peas, about 10 pulses. Add minimum amount of water and pulse on low. If dough remains crumbly and doesn’t come together, add another tablespoon of water. Add as little as is required to enable the dough to be rolled into a ball. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20-30.

Roll disk of dough out to around 2 inches larger than your pie plate and transfer it, situating it in the plate. Fold the excess dough around the edges and crimp, trimming where necessary.

Hull and wash the strawberries and slice them in half. Set aside. Sift flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream, blending until creamy. Gently fold in the berries without overmixing. Pour fruit into pie shell and spread to edges without packing down — there should be spaces throughout the filling. Sprinkle the top with the last 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake the pie for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (I leave the oven door open a minute during this period to let the temperature drop a little) and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Broil the pie for 2-3 minutes to brown up the top. Allow to cool completely before cutting, and serve with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Skinny Enchiladas



Cook time: 20 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 lb. chicken breasts
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 can corn, drained
  • 16 oz. fresh salsa
  • 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
  • 1/4 cup water (optional)
  • 12 small corn tortillas
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1/4 cup crema (see notes)
  • fresh cilantro, Cotija cheese for topping
Instructions
  1. Put the first 6 ingredients in a crockpot. If your salsa is not very saucy, be sure to include the 1/4 cup water or more if necessary. Cook on high for about 3 hours (or longer on the low setting) until chicken is cooked through. You can also cut the chicken breasts into halves to help them cook faster. Use 2 forks to shred the chicken and mix everything together.
  2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soften the corn tortillas in the microwave, 3 at a time, for about 25 seconds. Fill them with a few tablespoons of filling, roll once, and place seam-side down in a large baking dish (I did 2 smaller baking dishes). Continue until all tortillas have been filled, rolled and placed in dish. Be sure to pack them in tightly next to each other so that they don’t come apart.
  3. Sprinkle evenly with the shredded cheese and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and everything is heated through.
  4. Remove from oven and drizzle with crema. Sprinkle with avocado pieces, fresh cilantro, and Cotija cheese crumbles.
Notes
The corn tortillas will start to break apart on the top during baking if you don’t warm them up enough prior to baking.
For the crema, I just made a fake-out version with about 3 tbs. sour cream and 2 tbs. cream. I whisked it together until it was smooth, creamy, and drizzle-able. Also, I used part yellow corn and part shoepeg corn, which made the texture more interesting.
Serving size for the nutrition facts is 2 enchiladas.