Lemon Chess Pie and Brown Bread Muffins and a Prize!

We are STILL hauling stuff out of our apartment, but at last are getting near the end!

I finally had time to run out and get some groceries today so we could eat at home tonight. I've been wanting to try Donna's Kielbasa and Tortellini Soup from My Tasty Treasures and today seemed like the perfect opportunity. Excellent choice: It was DELICIOUS! Here is the recipe.



Here is my kielbasa sauteeing with red pepper flakes, garlic and onions.

Adding tomatoes and broth:

Here are my tortellini cooking!


MMMMMMMM!


To go with our soup, I made some Brown Bread Muffins from Marion Cunningham's The Supper Book. Brown Bread is also known as "thirded" bread, as it is includes 1/3 white flour, 1/3 whole wheat flour and 1/3 cornmeal. It has a nice affinity for bean soups, and is particularly good in muffin form! This is the same kind of bread that is normally baked in a coffee can and served with Boston Baked Beans. It's nice with the hearty flavors of Donna's delectable soup as well!

Marion Cunningham's Brown Bread Muffins -- makes 8-9 muffins

Preheat oven to 400 F.

1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. yellow cornmeal
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
6 T. molasses
1 T. unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c. milk
2 T cider vinegar
1/2 c. raisins (I used golden ones, but regular raisins or even dried currants work fine too)
Spray a regular size muffin tin with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, whole wheat flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt.

Add the milk, melted butter, molasses and cider vinegar and stir to combine.

Stir in the raisins.

Fill muffin tins to top with batter and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Serve warm.

But the real thing I've been looking forward longingly to making for at least a couple of weeks is Lemon Chess Pie. It's a delicious pie anytime of year, but is especially nice in the springtime, with its simple, bright lemon flavor. Even better, hardly anything could be simpler to make!

It's an old dish, whose name, Chess, derives from the old English word for cheese. Essentially it's a simple baked lemon custard in a pie shell, and the filling includes a little cornmeal, which gives a nice bite to the texture. Food Librarian, this is for you!

Lemon Chess Pie

1 unbaked 9" pie shell (use your favorite pie crust, or cheat, like I do, with a Pillsbury refrigerated crust.)
2 eggs and 4 egg yolks
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 T. grated lemon zest
1 T. all-purpose flour 1 T. yellow cornmeal



Pre-heat oven to 350F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together on high speed until thick and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes.

Gradually beat in the melted butter and the heavy cream and beat for about 1 minute. Add the lemon juice, zest, flour and cornmeal and beat until well-blended.


Adding cornmeal to the batter:


Pour the mixture into the unbaked pie shell,

and bake 40-45 min. until the top is nicely browned and the center is mostly set (it should barely jiggle when you shake the pie plate gently).

I love the way this pie looks when it comes out of the oven!

Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool on a rack to room temperature before serving. Serve with whipped cream and sliced strawberries, if desired. (The strawberries at the Teeter looked terrible today, so I didn't bother getting any.)

This is one of our favorite pies-- gooey, lemony, and satisfying.


Finally, I would like to thank my dear friend and blogger par excellence, Marilyn, of My Cuban Traumas, for sharing the Premio Meme with me! Muchismas gracias, Marilyn!! Abrazos!
This prize was given to Marilyn by Jocelin at Cocinando con Sencillez.


The rules for this prize ask us to share 7 of our personality traits, and also to pass this award to 7 other blogs.

Marilyn says that she is
Logical
Organized
Analytical
Practical
Independent
Conservative
and
Loyal.

OK, I'm going to let you all in on a big secret about me:

like my DS, I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
which shapes many of my personality traits, including:
1. Creative
2. Spontaneous
3. Intuitive
4. Thoughtful
5. Loyal
6. Thorough (some would say "intense" :D)
7. Feisty
8. Love to make up the rules as I go along

There are so many wonderful bloggers who are deserving of recognition, it's so hard to choose... but since I've wriggled out of this most recently, I would like to share this fun award with

1. Donna of My Tasty Treasures
2. Gloria of Foods and Flavors of San Antonio
3. Heather of GirliChef
4. Natasha of 5 Star Foodie
5. Elyse of Elyse's Culinary Confections
6. Reeni of Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice
7. Kendra of Homegrown Housewife
8. Chef T of ChefBliss
9. Chef E of Cook Appeal
and of course, also right back to
Marilyn, of My Cuban Traumas

Happy Easter to all of you-- and thanks for your support!