PIE-A-DAY #35
Martha Rose Shulman is a cookbook author and culinary instructor at The Venice Cooking School.
My pecan pie is far from the cloying classic. It’s all about pecans.  The thin layer of filling is a mixture of butter, eggs, and honey accented with nutmeg, vanilla and rum. But this is just a setting for the nuts. Classic pecan pie is sweetened with sugar and corn syrup, copious amounts, but I find that honey has a more complimentary flavor. I use a mild one, such as clover or acacia. …

PIE-A-DAY #34
Jennifer Evans Gardener runs Little Feet in the Kitchen Cooking School.  In honor of Pie-a-Day, she baked a pie with her campers.

My students, age 6-12, and I made a delicious batch of blood orange curd  during cooking camp and had the idea of turning it into a blood orange curd meringue pie with dark chocolate shavings.  You might think that those flavors were too sophisticated for kids, but you would be wrong! They devoured the pie, and a new recipe was born.  We hope you like it as …

One of our listeners wrote to tell us about Jongewaards Bake-N-Broil in Long Beach.  Lance writes: “The daily selection is consistently astonishing as is the flakiest crust you will find this side of your grandmothers kitchen. Coming from a long line of world class amateur bakers and chefs it is with particular scrutiny that I rate the pies and cakes at Bake-N-Broil as some of the best you will find in any So Cal establishment.”   Lance also sent along a copy of the dessert menu – wow.

PIE-A-DAY #33
This pie comes to us from James Overbaugh, Executive Chef – The Peninsula Beverly Hills:

For those of you who have seen the movie “Ratatouille” and recall this sequence you’ll quickly understand why I love this pie: Remember when Remy and Linguini prepare a special ratatouille for Anton Ego?  Remember how he was instantaneously transported back to his childhood through the power of the culinary memory?  That’s exactly what happened to me today when for the first time in years I made and tasted my grandmother’s apple pie.
I grew …

Please don’t ask why I was searching the word “tomato” on You Tube.  I just was.  This is something I found – I love it but I have no idea what it means.

PIE-A-DAY #32
This pie comes to us Anna Abatzoglou from the blog Banana Wonder.

I made Plasto or leek and feta pie with cornbread crust, which is kind of a “lost” Greek pie hailing from the North-Eastern region of Greece known as Thessaly. It’s not served in any Greek restaurants here nor in metropolitan Greece. In fact, none of my relatives in Greece have ever heard of it, as we come from a different region. Recipes are difficult to find online, as there about 15 names for this kind of …

Laryl Garcia is a producer on Good Food:
Apparently the key ingredients to the sold-out LA Street Food Fest’s Summer Tasting Event are an elastic waistband and the ability to pace oneself.  I didn’t get the memo. This season’s event moved from downtown to the Rose Bowl, better to accommodate the hungry brethren.  Inspired bites from over 60 vendors ranged from a traditional gazpacho from Maggie’s Frittatas to Starry Kitchen’s crispy tofu balls hocked by Nguyen in his banana suit.  The Ice Cream Social featured watermelon & mint on a …

PIE-A-DAY #31

If I had to choose one pie to eat over and over it would surely be an Apple Pie.  That said there are so many ways to make an apple pie.
Some apple pies have a glossy, transparent filling of diced apples that still have some crunch.  Those aren’t my kind of pies.  No judgement, it’s just that I’m after something else.
I want a pie where the crust is as important a part of the whole as the filling.  It is flaky/tender and buttery with a hint of lift.  The apples inside the crust …

Laura Avery hosts Good Food’s Market Report every week.
The rarest of the rare – Persian Mulberries have finally arrived at numerous stands, including Weiser Family Farm, Tenerelli, Garcia Organic and Mud Creek.  Get them while you can.  This photo: Weiser Family Farm mulberries on a bed of Galia melons.
Red okra from Weiser Family Farm
Red and white currants from Pudwill Farm.  Currents are a tart-tangy fruit used for sauce and jam.
David Schack from Redwood Hill Farm visiting some of the baby goats at the dairy in Sebastopol.  Redwood Hill …