Choclo!

My Argentine grandmother Josefina, whom we simply called by the spanish word for grandmother, "Abuela", used to make a wonderful creamed corn for us whenever she visited us; it is called choclo, and it is usually a filling for that Argentine favorite, empanadas.  As a side note, empanadas, a pocket pastry that has its equivalent in many other cultures, such as the pasty in Cornwall and the bureka in the Middle East, to name a couple, have another variation of  a beef, hard boiled egg and raisin mixture - that is the other version of empanada I remember eating as a child.
My Mother learned to make the choclo from Abuela, and she makes it for me from time to time, if she wants it, or I guilt her into it.  Well, I guilted her into it recently, and luckily she happened to have a can of creamed corn when I did,and voila!  She made the beloved choclo.
Those are fried onions on the side, as she also cooked up a steak with fried onions.  I LOVE this choclo - it has onions it in as well,and starts out with a roux with butter and flour; salt, pepper, nutmeg and then the can of creamed corn. This is all according to feel, except for the creamed corn, it is a large can of it - Del Monte is the brand we tend to use.
I ate this up, and in fact, Mom let me eat most of it.  I felt like an 8 year old again.

The Tomato Tart

Ok so I love to receive the Williams Sonoma catalogs, especially for the recipes they feature.  I was flipping through one today, looking for ideas on something summery, not too complicated, and kind of light to make for dinner today.  I know tomatoes are in season, and they are also prominently displayed in this current catalog.
I came across a tomato heirloom tart, that looked colorful and cheesy; upon closer inspection in the website, it seemed pretty easy to do, if I used an already made pie crust.  I also would not have the ability to choose from a wide selection of tomatoes from the local corna supamarket, but I figured a few different sizes and shapes of the red plum and hot house tomatoes would be quite delicious.
You can find the recipe online as well at the Williams Sonoma website, so I won't repeat it here; but I will say I substituted the pie crust recipe with puff pastry dough (am very grateful the corna market carries it in the summer).
I also used less parmesan cheese than the recipe called for, I used about half  of it, because of some of the comments underneath the recipe saying the tart came out too salty.
I baked the puff pastry dough in a non-stick pie pan for 10 minutes, then let it sit and cool a bit.
I mixed up the tart filling.  (Oh how I love the smell of fresh basil!). I dolloped it onto the pastry crust and spread it around with the back of a spoon.
I achieved a thick filling,a nd then sliced the tomatoes, about 1/4 inch thick, and slicing in half again the slices of tomato from the bigger tomato.
I drizzled a little bit of olive oil over the top, and then, in accordance with a comment under the internet recipe again, I popped the tart into the oven for 10 minutes to warm it up and let the flavors of the cheeses and herbs blend a bit.
It smelled wonderful - my husband commented on it, as the scent wafted out of the kitchen.

I sliced into it a few minutes later - and it was a little hard to cut, as the ricotta mixture was thick, and I realized, kind of weighed the crust down.

I served myself the unsightly first piece, then served my husband.
Then it was time to taste.
I really liked it; it was akin to a calzone, thick ricotta, the tomato and then the thin crust.  I eagerly eyes the tart, planning on my next piece.
Hubby ate slowly and asked if we were eating cottage cheese.  I explained that it was ricotta and he told me he doesn't really like ricotta.  Well, not in a huge quantity.  He really liked the crust though.
So ok, the votes are split on this; I had seconds and thirds, and gave hubby my crusts.  Hubby later had a sandwich.
I would try this again, but use less ricotta mixture on the tart; I do think the recipe intended there to be a thin layer on a larger circumference; I had used a pie pan and not a tart pan.
I have a quarter of the tart left, and I am going to have my sister try it too.  But ok, I am pleased I tried this.
And I have a lot of lovely tomatoes and basil left over.

My attempt at a British style chicken pot pie

So after being inspired by the scent of what I surmised was a chicken pot pie, being baked by a neighbor, the provocative scent wafting in the hallway, I was determined to make a chicken pot pie today.*
The last time I tried to make one, it was fashioned after a series of pot pies I'd had in England in 1996, made by the dear grandmother of a close friend of mine.  My sister and I had finished our study abroad year in Austria, and we had driven up to England with our Welsh friend who had also finished his Erasmus year abroad (Erasmus was the name then, of the exchange program of students within Europe and the U.K. and Ireland).  Our plan was to stay with him in Wales and see the sights for a little while, then to sight see in London for a couple of days, and then fly home. 
Wales was beautiful; we stayed in Pontypool with our friend and his generous and loving family; we went for walks in the hills (and yes indeed there are a lot of sheep); we visited Cardiff Castle and Chepstow Castle (we nicknamed it Cheapstone for no other reason then that it was easier to say), and I had the honor of attending the Swansea Ball as my friend's date, and to drink Hooch into late in the night, then wake up to a full English breakfast. 
Alas though, it was time to head home.  Our friend's grandparents lived in Colchester, and hearing their grandson was going to be in London, they insisted we come and stay at their house for the days we were touring the big city.
We loved those grandparents so much; Betty and Dick Furminger; in the evenings, after coming home on the regional train, they took out their memorabilia boxes from World War II; they had ration cards still from the war(!); and Dick was a change bell ringer - he was an active player in a group in a church tower - one magical evening we took a double decker bus and rode into town; we climbed into the tower and watched as he stood within a circle of players and tugged on a rope, according to a sheet of what looked like written music, but upon closer inspection, was difficult to decipher. The tower rocked with the music of those powerful bells as the sun went down.  We were lucky indeed.
And food wise....we had Betty's exquisite cooking to come home to every evening.  She made pies and tarts, little sandwiches and scones(she pronounced it as an American would, and laughed heartily when we were puzzled that she didn't call it "scoon").  The chicken pies she made for us were a mixure of soft vegetables, creamy gravy, and just perfectly flaky crust.  It was eye rolling-good.  We asked her for a recipe; she answered, "Well you just take some chicken, carrots and peas,make a gravy, and put in in the crust.  It's quite easy really."  That was cute, but we realized she had made it so many times, she had perfected it, and she couldn't give us measurements - it was intuitive to her now. 
So back home in Noo Yawk, we were left to our own devices.  With our Mom, a couple of weeks after returning home, we tried to concoct a chicken pot pie.  The effort was worth it, and while delicious, it wasn't quite Gran's pie; we sautéed some chicken breast, and took some frozen peas and carrots, cooked that up in a can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup; added the chicken, and then poured that thick mixture into a pair of Pillsbury pie crusts.
We didn't really attempt that pie again. 
Now it is some cough cough -teen years later, and smelling that pie cooking so close to my own kitchen...I was inspired!
I quickly skimmed a few recipes online, and came up with this; I made a simple crust of 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 stick of cold diced butter, and 1/4 cup of cold water.  I formed a ball, then wrapped it in plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator until it was time to assemble the pie.
Then I sautéed some chicken breast chunks in about 2 teaspoons of olive oil.  Once the chicken was browned, I removed it, and fried up 3 tablespoons of butter; I added half a box of frozen peas, half a box of frozen peas and carrots mix, and one chopped onion.  I let that slowly cook until the whole mixture was warm and the onions were soft.  Then I added the chicken, and sprinkled everything with about 2 tablespoons of flour.  I let that cook for about 3 minutes, while stirring.  Then I added about 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, and stirred that for about another 5 minutes watching for a natural thickening to occur - that is the gravy. I sprinkled a little bit of turmeric and salt and pepper over it all.






I turned the heat off on the chicken and vegetable mixture.
I took the dough out of the fridge, and rolled it out between 2 pieces of parchment paper (love parchment paper!), sprinkled with flour.
I poured the chicken mixture into my pie pan, and then laid the dough over the pan, letting it droop over the edges where it was uneven (it's fun to snap these edges off after the pie is baked).
I baked this at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes - I think I should've baked it at a higher temperature - maybe 425, because it took longer to bake than I had guessed for a pie with an already cooked center. I took it out once the crust was a nice brown.
I let the pie cool for 5 minutes, then I served it up.
My husband went cuckoo for it!  The gravy was nice, the peas had become very mushy and the crust was very slightly sweet.  I liked it very much - THIS was more like Gran's pie! 
*photos coming soon.  I am seriously spazzing out with how to upload photos here lately.

Did it again - the yearly Milchrahmstrudel!

Wieder gemacht - Milchrahmstrudel