French courtesy of Devin

Devin surprised me the other day by planning a menu, going grocery shopping and making dinner for me--all by himself! People who know me well know that while I do enjoy some assistance in the kitchen from time to time, for the most part I prefer to do thing by myself. I find cooking to be a sort of therapy--it is methodical and relaxing. You can put on some soothing music, sip a glass of wine, and generally just unwind. 

However, I had been having a particularly tough week, and I think Devin could just sense that I needed some taking care of. He generally sticks to baking, but I was thrilled at this amazing menu he put together. It was just the thing to pick me up after a hard week.

• Filet of Beef au Poivre (Ina Garten)
• Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise (Ina Garten)
• Garlic mashed potatoes
• Profiteroles (Ina Garten)

Just yum.

Dessert!

The next morning for breakfast he indulged me yet again by using leftovers from the previous night to prepare a decadent breakfast of poached eggs with asparagus and hollandaise sauce with grilled mashed potatoes. 

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie - The Recipe!

From the pastry chef himself:

"Long before I took my first job baking pastries, dessert has been my favorite part of a meal, and anybody who has dined with us knows that that last portion of a dinner party is usually my responsibility. So when rhubarb and strawberries found their way into the kitchen, pie seemed like an appropriate next step.

For this very easy strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe, a frozen pie crust works just fine so you don't have to worry about making one, unless you are so inclined. You will need:

• 1 deep-dish frozen pie crust
• 3 ½ cups (about 1 ½ pounds, untrimmed) rhubarb, in ½-inch thick slices
• 3 ½ cups (about 1 pound) strawberries, sliced
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup quick-cooking tapioca OR ¼ cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Place the sliced fruit in a large bowl and evenly mix the sugars, lemon juice, salt and cornstarch. Feel free to use the lemon juice liberally (I used half of a lemon), as it really brings out a lot of flavor. At this point you can dot the pie with butter and stick it into the over, OR if you’d like to make lattice topping to give it a great homemade feel, I would certainly encourage it.

If you choose to do the lattice top, a great dough recipe comes from Ina Garten’s apple crostata recipe (another recommended dish). As a note, the dough portion of this recipe will make just enough for two pies, so I halved ingredients for you. For one pie you will need:

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated or superfine sugar
• A pinch of salt
• ½ stick very cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1 tablespoon cold water

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor, then pulse the butter about 10 times until the mixture clumps to roughly the size of peas. Pulse in the cold water until the dough becomes a solid mass. You can refrigerate this for an hour to make it a little easier to work with, but it does not make too much of a difference. Roll out the dough on a liberally floured surface in order to make ten strips for the lattice. I had never made one before, and this website has very helpful instructions on how to weave the top of the pie.

Once the top is assembled, dot it with butter and place it into a pre-heated oven 400° F for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350° F and bake for another 25-30 minutes. Happy baking! -Devin"
 

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

As many of you know, I am not a baker. I do not enjoy baking. I try to avoid baking at all costs. Not because I don't enjoy eating baked goods, but simply because I am more of an improvisational cook than a methodical cook. And baking is all method (unless you are a very skilled baker in which you can safely improvise...enter Devin).

Luckily, my finacé, Devin, is a tremendous baker, no doubt a skill he learned from his mother. That means I get to have my cake (not baked by me, of course) and eat it too...I have my fun with veggies, meat, seafood and wine while Devin whips up batches of luxurious orange-scented chocolate chip cookies or his family's famous strawberry short cake recipe (all of these will be in future posts, I promise).

His most recent creation was so good that he made a second just days later as a hostess gift. May I present with with a true summer dessert, Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. I will update this post later with recipes, but for now, here are some tasty images!

Fresh fruit ready to be turned into a delicious pie

Mis en place (Devin is learning well)

Ready to eat! Notice the lovely lattice crust.