Through the holiday season, I have made a dozen apple tarts and pies. I've used both traditional pie crusts and pie crusts made with vodka. But, today ladypants is sick with a cold she claims that I gave her. I tried for something a little more delicate. I poached pears in brandy and balsamic vinegar with just a touch of brown sugar. I put them in a vodka pie crust and happiness was the result.
Ladypants got me a fancy Dutch Oven. Clearly, the only thing to do was to make French Onion Soup. So make French Onion Soup I did.
Tiny apartments call for tiny pies. Four tiny pies, in fact. These pies are regular pie crust, lined with marzipan, and filled with cherries.
We tried for something really different today. We got fresh dates at the farmers' market. The dish was minced chicken, almonds, fresh dates, and squash over brown rice finished with fresh mint and lemon.
Just an experiment. It turned out to be a nice little sweet and spicy treat. I used my regular banana bread recipe, but I substituted frozen mango for about 2/3 of the banana. I tossed a Serrano chilli into the butter as it browned, and ended up with something delicious.
