In the Kitchen

Bread, Raspberry~Rhubarb Custard, Rhubarb Custard, and Beef Stew

Wednesday is typically bread-making day. So yesterday, while the bread was rising, I baked a couple custards. We had bought a bunch of rhubarb at the farmer's market in Eau Claire. My husband loves rhubarb pie. Unfortunately I hate making pie crust. I don't know what it is. It's not that I haven't had any success at making pies but rolling the dough always seems to frustrate me. I feel the same way about rolling out sugar cookies. And lefse. Maybe it has something to do with using a rolling pin. I don't know. Anyway... yesterday morning, before rhubarb was even on my mind, I decided that I wanted to make custard. I had excess milk and eggs to use up so I began my search for a good custard recipe. I stumbled across a rhubarb custard (CRUST-LESS!) pie recipe. Perfect! I get my custard and hubby gets his rhubarb pie. I had intended to make only one pie but found that I had an extra cup of rhubarb. I threw the extra rhubarb in with two cups of raspberries to make the second pie. Easy recipe and really good!

While the bread was baking I took a look in the freezer to decide what we'd have for dinner. I found steak. I know that some may shudder at the thought of putting good steak into a stew however it's what I had and cubing the meat would make it s-t-r-e-t-c-h. We could have had steaks for dinner or I could make it into two meals. I cubed a few potatoes, cut up some carrots, chopped up an onion, browned and diced the steak, and tossed it all into a crock pot. Just before dinner I made a roux to thicken up my stew. Today I can add a little broth, cut the potatoes and carrots up a little smaller and add barley....now it's been transformed into Beef Barley Soup. Viola!


Crust-less Rhubarb Custard Pie from Seasonal Ontario Food

3 cups chopped rhubarb OR mixed berries

1/3 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar (1/3 cup if using berries)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 extra-large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup milk or buttermilk

• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 10" pie plate, and spread the chopped rhubarb over the bottom. If you are using frozen berries, they should be thawed slowly and drained first.
• Put the remaining ingredients in a blender or mixing bowl and blend or beat on high for 3 minutes. Pour the batter gently over the fruit.
• Bake the pie for 40 to 45 minutes, until set in the middle. Let cool before serving.