Coconut Cream Pie

October 13, 2015

Ingredients:

1 Can coconut milk

Approx 1 cup heavy cream*

3/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Evenly spread coconut on cookie sheet

Bake for 5 minutes, turn

Bake in 2 minute intervals turning after until coconut is toasted

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, cream, sugar and cornstarch

On medium heat bring to boil stirring constantly

Once bubbling remove from heat, temper eggs with small amount of mixture, and add eggs into saucepan, stirring vigorously

Add vanilla and salt, mix well

Add 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut to mixture and pour into pie crust**

Cool and let set in refrigerator for at least 4 hours

Whip heavy cream until soft peaks

Add icing sugar, whip until stiff peaks

Add vanilla, top chilled pie with whipped cream

Sprinkle top with remaining toasted coconut

Editor’s Note:  For those who are unfamiliar with the term Tempering, and don’t immediately turn to Google.  Tempering, is just mixing two liquids of different temperatures together without altering the texture of either liquid.  Tempering is very important when dealing with “heat sensitive” foods such as eggs.  Your main goal is not ending up with scrambled eggs.  You want to slowly bring up the temperature of your eggs by slowly adding your hot liquid in small amounts and mixing well.  It is fairly easy, but does take some practice.  

*NOTE: You want a total of 2.5 cups of liquid, so use the can, and fill a measuring cup to 2.5 cups

**NOTE: I use a graham cracker crust for this pie, but you can use whatever you want.

Even though this recipe is a fairly long one, it is actually pretty easy to make. This requires no baking, other than to toast the coconut, and can be done in about 30 minutes altogether. I am a big fan of coconut, and pies, so this is another one of my favourites. I make it whenever I have an excuse to bring pie to someone's house. The smell of toasting coconut in the house lingers for a few hours and my wife and I both enjoy it very much.

You could use coconut extract in the whipped cream, or use actual coconut cream, but I am happy with the level of coconut-ness of the pie as I make it, but each person has their own tastes.

I hope you have enjoyed my pie recipes, I don't have too many left to share, so I will probably keep those ones until Christmas. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and ate lots of turkey, ham and of course, Pie.

Cheers and Best Wishes!

The Omnomnivore

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie

October 11, 2015

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F

Beat eggs until foamy

Add both sugars mix well

Add butter and milk, mix well

Add vanilla and pecans, mix well

Pour into unbaked pie crust and bake for 10 minutes

Reduce heat to 350, bake for 30-35 minutes, until done*

*NOTE: Until done means the middle is set, and the crust is golden brown but not burned.

Pecan pie has recently become one of my favourite pies. For anyone who hasn’t had a slice before, it is basically a giant butter tart with pecans. I will admit that I cheat and buy store-bought crusts for all my pies, I find the Pillsbury ones work really well. I have never tried to make my own, and it would probably be better, but at this point I think my pies turn out well enough that I am ok using them.

There isn't much more to say on this other than you should try pecan pie for yourself if you have never had, because it is really really good. I will probably be posting some more recipes with pecans over the next couple of weeks now because I have a lot left over.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Omnomnivore

Farfalle and cheese

Farfalle and cheese

October 10, 2015

Ingredients:

Farfalle (bowtie) pasta, or any other of your choosing

Butter

Milk

Pepper

Cheddar Cheese

Worchester Sauce

Bacon

Directions:

Boil water and cook pasta as per directions

Make a roux with the butter and flour

Add milk and stir constantly until it thickens

Add cheese, pepper, and dash of worchester sauce

Pour cheese sauce over cooked and drained pasta

Add bacon to taste

Editor's Note:  Making a roux was covered in a previous post. It should be mentioned that you are not going to want to cook this one too long. The rich nutty flavours that you can develop with a well prepared roux may not be what you are looking for in a cheese sauce.

Today for lunch I decided to make a homemade version of mac and cheese with bacon. This version really doesn't take any longer than the classic KD and tastes at least a full order of magnitude better, and that's even before the bacon is added. If you were to leave out the cheese, pepper, and worchester sauce you would have a bechamel sauce which is the base for many other sauces, and can be used on its own. I didn’t put any ingredient amounts on here because it is really easy to scale as needed. As a general rule, use equal parts butter and flour, and then about a cup of milk per tablespoon of butter. You can very easily play around with the cheese types and amounts as per your own tastes

This was just a quick post to try to make up for not posting in so long, and it was a pretty tasty lunch.

Cheers and Best Wishes!

The Omnomnivore

Pho House

Pho House

October 10, 2015

It’s been a long time since I have posted, and for that I apologize, it has been a very busy time for us. With that being said, this is Thanksgiving weekend, which always means loads and loads of food, so there should be a post or two forthcoming with the weekend festivities.

To start us off this weekend, there is a new restaurant in Grande Prairie, called Pho House, which opened a couple weeks ago. If the name didn’t give it away, they specialize in Pho. But they also have rice bowls and other Vietnamese dishes. I had never had pho before, but I had always heard very good things from other people that I knew. While it is a very simple dish: Broth, rice noodles, and meat, it is very complex and deep in flavour.

The first time I went, I had the Pho with beef strips and beef meatballs, and was with my editor, who had the same. He showed me that on the table, they have spoons for the broth, chopsticks for the noodles and meat, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and sambal for flavouring the soup to your liking. The soup also came with a side of lime, basil, and bean sprouts for further customization of your soup. It felt like a production in the best kind of way: you start with an amazing broth and can add things as you like, or leave them out to make it just the way you want.

I returned a few days later with my wife and baby, and I had the same, and my wife ordered the charbroiled pork, spring roll, and shrimp noodle bowl. I did the soup as I liked it from the last time, but my wife liked it better without anything but the lime juice. Her noodle bowl came with a sauce that is some sort of rice vinegar sauce that was fantastic but I have no idea what it was. The portion sizes were very generous in my opinion, and the prices very reasonable.

Both dishes were very, very good, and it was something different than most of the food that you can find around here. But one of the things that can make or break it for me for a new place is the service, and this place has it. Both times I went I was greeted and seated immediately, and the staff is prompt, helpful and happy. This makes a HUGE difference to me, I have not gone back to places that have good food but poor service, and I have gone back to places that had poor food but good service to give them another chance.

Overall, I am very impressed with this new addition to our food-scape, and will be returning for sure. I would rate this new restaurant a 8.5/10 on my overall scale, and that is probably a full point better than any other restaurant in town.

Cheers and Best Wishes!

The Omnomnivore