Grandma Bonnie Longenberger's Pie Crust

This pie crust recipe comes courtesy of Linda Dancho, in our newsroom.  She makes the world's best pies, and says you can keep the crumbs in this crust in the freezer until you need them.

This recipe makes enough for a double-crusted pie.

Tips for beginning pie makers are below.

Ingredients:

2 C flour
1/2 Tbs sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 C lard (I use vegetable shortening)
1 small egg, beaten
1/2 Tbs vinegar
1/4 C water

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar and salt.

With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in lard/shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Freeze here if you like.

Mix together egg, vinegar and water, then add to flour mixture. Mix until dough is moist enough to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill 30 minutes.

Divide dough in half.  Put the other half back in the freezer.  On a lightly-floured surface and using a floured rolling pin, roll one half into a 12-inch circle.  Press dough into pie plate.

If making a single-crust pie, crimp now.  I'll tell you how below.  Prick bottom with fork, place in freezer while preparing pie filling.

Fill pie.

If making a double crust pie, roll out the second crust after you fill the first one.  Lay it gently on top of filling.

Crimp crusts together.  Cut vent holes in top, then sprinkle with sugar and maybe cinnamon, if you have cinnamon in the filling.  Bake according to directions of your pie recipe.

New pie maker tips

Making a pie crust from scratch the first time is scary.  But don't worry - worst case scenario, you can run out and buy a couple frozen pie crust if yours doesn't work.

Personally, I find the crust-making always goes easier if my mother is in the room.  She doesn't have to say anything or do anything - her mom aura just seems to help.

But here's a few tips to help you on your way, mom or no mom.

Lightly flip the dough on the flour when you start so it has a light coating. Then, after the first few strokes with the rolling pin, lift up the disc of dough and sprinkle a little more flour on your rolling surface. This will prevent sticking.

DON'T roll the rolling pin back and forth. Roll out from the center, in one direction only.  Otherwise it'll rip.  I learned this from Theresa Robles, who taught me how to roll tortillas.

The colder the dough, the better. Sometimes I use ice water instead of regular water.

To lift a pie crust and move it to the plate, gently roll it up like a Torah scroll on your rolling pin. Then unroll it into the pie pan.

If it rips anyway, don't panic.  Patch it together best you can. It doesn't matter at all on the bottom crust.  And it'll prove it's an authentic homemade crust if a seam shows on top.

To make a pretty crimped edge, make a "peace" sign your pointer and middle finger on one hand and put them on the edge of your pie crust with your fist over the middle of the pie and your fingers pointing toward the edge. Then use your thumb on your other hand to push the dough between your fingers.  If you're making a double-crusted pie, catch both layers of dough with your thumb.  (You can also do this to store-bought single crusts to make them look homemade, in a pinch. And yes, of course that pun was fully intended.)

You can use a knife or scissors to trim the excess dough.

Lomi Lomi Kale Salad

For years, I kept getting kale in my Community Supported Agriculture box, and for years was befuddled.  I didn't like kale chips.  I didn't like kale salad.  I could put up with it sauteed, but only barely.

But bit by bit, I found a few recipes I actually liked.  And last weekend, I found myself PURPOSELY BUYING kale, because I couldn't wait for it to show up in my CSA box! 

Here's one of the recipes that won me over, courtesy of Don and Joan at Dancing Hen Farm, who in turn say they got it from someone named Claudia. "Lomi Lomi" in Hawaiian means to squeeze or massage, they report.  The massage step is critical to making the leaves tender.  After all, who among us doesn't feel more tender after a good massage?

One word of warning - if you do this right, you'll be very safe from vampires. It's also an excellent way to make long-winded interviewees find excuses to keep their answers short, especially if you ask questions with a lot of "h" sounds in them.

Ingredients:

1 large head of fresh kale, washed and torn into pieces discarding the spine and stems
1 bunch of basil, chopped
3 cloves of garlic (I told you you'd be safe from vampires)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
1/2  cup feta or goat cheese
1/2 cup grape tomatoes

You can vary this recipe, I'm told, using sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin seeds, adding diced apples soaked in lemon juice, adding garbanzo beans and adding apple cider vinegar with a little honey mixed in.

Place the first five ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, massaging them together with clean hands.  Then lightly toss with the remaining three ingredients.

Armenian Tahini Rolls

This is yet another Lisa Mael recipe (she's one of my favorite cooks) by way of King Arthur Flour.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Filling:
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, yeast and sugar.  In a liquid measure combine the water and oil.  Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and combine to form a shaggy mass.

2. Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead 8-10 minutes, until a smooth ball forms.

3. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 2 hours.

4. Mix tahini, sugar and lemon zest until thoroughly combined.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

6. Turn the dough out of the bowl and de-gas, then divide in half. Keep one half covered in plastic while you work on the other half.

7. Use a rolling pin to roll half the dough into an 8.5-inch square.

8. Sprinkle dough with half the olive oil, tahini mixture and cinnamon.

9. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough and seal the open edge.  Roll the log a bit longer. starting at one end, roll into a spiral.  Gently press the spiral flat, first with your hand, then slowly with a rolling pin as thin as you can without pushing the filling out.

10. Place the oaf onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and repeat with the rest of the dough.

11. Bake immediately for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Laban and Labne

How to make yogurt and yogurt spread.  Full disclosure - I have not made this. But the recipe comes from Lisa Mael so it must be good.

Laban

Ingredients:
2 quarts whole milk
1/4 cup yogurt starter

Directions:

1. Place milk in saucepan and heat to 185 degrees. Remove from heat and cool to 106-109 degrees.

2. Place the starter in a small bowl and add some of the cooled milk and stir to combine. Then add that mixture to the saucepan of milk and combine thoroughly.

3. Pour mixture into a covered container and keep in warm place for 6-10 hours, until set.

4. Cover with paper towels to absorb the whey and make a thicker yogurt. Place in refrigerator once set. Replace paper towels until desired thickness.

Labne

Ingredients:
1 quart yogurt
3/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine yogurt (laban) and salt in a bowl, then pour into colander lined with a wet, well wrung out cheesecloth.  Bring up the sides of the cheesecloth, twist and tie closed.

2. Either suspend the cheesecloth or place a weight over the cheesecloth filled with yogurt and leave in colander to drain in refrigerator overnight.

3. Remove the cheesecloth. The yogurt should now have the consistency of soft cream cheese.

Baba Ghanoush

Here's another Lisa Mael recipe to use as a spread. It's especially good with her Lebanese talame bi zaatar.

Ingredients:
2 eggplants
1/4 cup prepared tahini
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
paprika and chopped fresh or dried parsley

Directions:

1. Rub eggplant with olive oil and pierce with a fork. Roast at 450 degrees until very soft.

2. Open the skin of the eggplant and remove the flesh.  Place the flesh into a colander and sprinkle with salt. Place a plate over the flesh and place a weight on top to press the bitter juices from the eggplant.

3. Once drained, add eggplant, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil to a food processor. Process mixture until combined and add salt to taste.

4. When ready to serve, place baba ghanoush in a bowl, drizzle top with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with paprika and parsley. Serve with pita and olives.

Hummus bi Tahini (From Lisa Mael)

This is particularly yummy with Lisa Mael's Lebanese talame bi zaatar. Or you can take the easy way out, cut up some pita bread, and toast it the bread to make pita chips.  It's also good with fresh vegetables and olives.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained
1 clove of garlic
1/4  cup prepared tahini
1/4 cup water
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for topping
1 teaspoon salt
paprika and chopped fresh or dried parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. Put everything except the topping and garnish into a food processor or blender and combine until smooth.  Taste and adjust lemon juice, tahini and salt.

2. Before serving, place hummus in a bowl, drizzle the top with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

Now, wasn't that easy?

Lebanese Talame bi Zaatar (Lisa Mael's bread)

Zaatar is a wonderful Moroccan spice mixture that I literally sought at the ends of the world, only to find it in my backyard.

I had a Joan Nathan recipe for red snapper requiring this particular mixture, which includes sumac, sesame, and various other tasty items.  It was nowhere to be found at conventional grocery stores or health food stores here in tiny Bloomsburg.  I tried making the recipe skipping this ingredient, and it was both expensive (red snapper, it turns out, doesn't come cheap) and awful. This was particularly disappointing since I had to drive all the way to Wilkes-Barre with a cooler to buy the fish.

A couple years later, I went on a family cruise on a tall ship around the Iberian peninsula. We sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea; back in the days of ancient Greeks, those straits were thought to be the end of the world, one of the guides told me.  One of the stops was Tangiers, Morocco.  Aha! I thought.  Here, I'll surely find zaatar.  But again, no luck.  The merchants looked at me blankly when I named the spice in my American accent.  In the end, we took a wild guess and bought a bag of yellow powder that we thought might be some exotic spice, but that turned out to taste like dish soap.

But within a year after that trip, Spices Inc. opened up in Bloomsburg, about one block from my house.  It's designed to be mail order, but local folks can walk in to pick up their spices and save on delivery charges.  And, you guessed it, they sell zaatar.  Along with lots of wonderful exotic stuff!

This particular recipe comes from my friend Lisa Mael, who got it from King Arthur Flour.  It's delicious, especially with the hummus and baba ghanoush recipes that I'm also posting on this blog.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 Cup (9 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons (.6 oz) sugar
1 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons warm water
Extra virgin olive oil
Zaatar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven with a baking stone to 500 degrees

2. Oil a piece of parchment paper well with olive oil.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt.

4. Add all of the water and using your dough scraper, mix and fold the dough until just combined.

5. Cover and let rise 30  minutes.

6. Using a dough scraper, turn the dough out onto the oiled parchment paper and flip dough to cover both sides with oil. Using your fingertips, dimple the top of the dough and pour more olive oil in the depressions. Top dough with zaatar.

7. Bake on hot pizza stone for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.