Buttermilk Chess Pie

Well, half of one would be more accurate I guess.

So good

I seem to be on a pie kick recently.  Partly because of the Nothing in the House pie blog, where some of the recipes I've tried have come from, and partly because pie shells are sold in twos and I always have one left over (as I mentioned in my last post, I don't make my own crusts, and I tend to shy away from pies with a top crust - too...well, crusty, I guess).

This pie came from Allrecipes and could not have been easier to make:

2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
5 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350.  Combine the sugar and flour in a large bowl.  Beat in the eggs and buttermilk until blended (I didn't want to haul out the mixer so I just used a big spoon and went to town on it until the sugar dissolved a little and wasn't so grainy - about 2 minutes).  Stir in the melted butter and vanilla.  Pour into the pie crust and bake for 45 minutes, or until it's set.

So a couple of notes on the cooking part, for novices like me:

1. The filling came almost right up to the edge of the pie crust when I poured it in.  I had to be VERY careful when getting it into the oven that I didn't spill it - I had it sitting on a cookie sheet just in case.
2. I was worried that it was going to rise, which it did.  However, it only started to rise as it was setting, so instead of bubbling over, it looked a little like a soufflé.  It falls as it cools.
3. I jiggled the pie a little at 45 minutes (scientific, huh?) to see if it was set and it was too wobbly - sort of like a little waterbed.  So I added another 5 minutes and tried it again.  It was still just a little shy of the mark, so I added 5 more minutes then took it out after that and it was perfect.  This made the crust a little darker (not burnt though) which I actually love, so I was fine with it.
4. I let it sit on a wire cooling rack for an hour before cutting it.  It was still very warm and delicious!

Let The Weekend Begin

With steak, of course!  Seared in the grill pan on the stove then 6-10 minutes under the broiler - easy peasy.  I season mine with a little garlic, a little worcestershire pepper, salt and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Steak, baked potato, corn on the cob, asiago parmesan bread, and a nice Napa Valley Pinot Noir

Can't forget dessert.

Strawberry pie (homemade, except for the crust - I don't do crust).  Not as good as Mom's, but still pretty darn good!

Uh-Maize-Ing

Glass Gem Corn

Things I Learned Today

In a pinch you can use tortilla mix instead of flour in your cornbread and it will come out fine.

A little dry, but good

Cotton candy "fudge" isn't as fun as it sounds.

It's more fun to call it a pound of Sulley flesh