Category: Food & Wine

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a really yummy Pumpkin Custard Pie!

a REAL Pumpkin Custard Pie!
a REAL Pumpkin Custard Pie!

Few people try to improve on old standby recipes. They worry about failure or they believe that everything that has been tried has already happened!  They couldn’t be farther from the truth. Without question one of the greatest chefs that have ever lived was Marie-Antoine Carême. Chef Carême lived before refrigeration and one of his greatest contributions — in my humble opinion — was in his discovery of how to prepare elaborate meals without spoiling given all the inherent time intensive nature of things and the many perishable ingredients.

Chef Carême used what we would call reduced milk or ‘condensed milk’ as a cream substitute and we can find it in many recipes over the years. The original Key Lime pie was made with condensed milk since lack of refrigeration was a serious issue in many Florida kitchens.

However, I assume you have refrigeration and we can now consider going back to cream (manufacturers cream) as a major improvement for this pie! I also enjoy a topping of homemade glazed pecans and a blend of 7 or so spices. Once you make it this way you will never go back!

Here is our recipe for a great Pumpkin Custard Pie!

enjoy!

Roger

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finding all the nuts you need!

another happy nutsonline.com customer!
another happy nutsonline.com customer!

There are a lot of nice things about living in small town America… except for lower prices, selection and availability of certain exotic products like ….  food, clothing and gasoline.

Fortunately for us living in the back and beyond, there is the internet. It is our window on the world and our way to connecting with all the things and people we love. Laura my bride of 37 years is very partial to Brazil nuts… I mean… who isn’t?  My daughter Karen is also… she wants to make up some Baklava with some! (It should be a very meaty Baklava) In our neck of the woods you are lucky to find Brazil nuts in a can of mixed nuts… otherwise they are very scarce! So, I found a way to make everyone happy and be easy on my pocketbook.

Here is my secret for all things nutty…. a third generation family business… how cool is that!

Nuts on Line!

So, with the Olympics set for Brazil and the Reputation Institute’s next Conference in Rio… what better way to celebrate these events than to enjoy a Brazil nut… or two.

As they say, one is too many and a million is not enough!

Roger Freberg

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California Apple Season

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This is not news to those in agriculture, but California has multiple growing seasons.

The fact is that my wonderful apple tree is starting to bloom for it’s ‘second’ season and it looks like a wonderful harvest. With my first ‘batch’ , we produced 12 wonderful apple pies and apple sauce by the ton. Laura made some delicious cinnamon flavored dried apple slices that were surprisingly good! It is surprising to me as I don’t usually like dried fruit.

One thing woke me up this year when I wanted to fill in with some ‘store bought’ apples…. hmmm … same variety, fresh and grown locally , but they were much less tasty.

In any event, it looks like a lot more fun is coming to us down the road!

Roger

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over the top with nuts in this Baklava

Over-The-Top with Nuts!
Over-The-Top with Nuts!

I am sure this question has come into your mind at one time or another: “can Baklava really have too many nuts?” Some people tackle simpler questions – such as the theory of relativity – but the leading thinkers of our time ponder the subtle universal question of nuts and Baklava! 40 sheets of filo dough with a layer of nuts every 4 sheets make this interesting if not unique.

My daughters – three of the leading thinkers of our time – wondered aloud about how many nuts could be placed into a standard pan size Baklava? Although the math is quite complicated… the answer was 4 cups ground.

In a single blind taste test that is ongoing,  this Baklava has proven to be a cure for culinary unhappiness… and another step toward our ‘Greek Night”.

What I do for science?  😉

Roger

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Greek Food that is de VINE

wonderful stuffed grape leaves from Greece.
wonderful stuffed grape leaves from Greece.

Little did I know that in my own garden was something that I thought little about… grape leaves! Kristin, Karen and Laura brought back a few recipe ideas that I had tried before, but  -frankly- I don’t think were made very well. As Laura commented after sampling a few of this creation… “I could enjoy these every day!”

So, one more item explored for our future Greek Night!

Here’s roughly how I made them. .. not hard at all.

Enjoy!

Roger