Strawberries | The Golden Dish

Dining Out Is Essential But Reservations Are Hard to Get and Cooking In Has Its Rewards

June 7, 2021 / John Golden / Uncategorized

The right choice might be to just continue to cook in frequently

The other night I joined friends to go out to eat. When we arrived–Saturday night– the restaurant was shuttered. We bumped into someone we knew who also had a reservation and wasn’t notified that the restaurant would be closed for a catered affair elsewhere. No sign on the door. No phone messages from restaurant. I called the restaurant and learned from their voicemail recording that they would be closed due to an outside commitment WTF Besides all the restaurant troubles from the pandemic, it behooves restaurants, now open, to keep on their toes.

On a Saturday night choices were nearly nonexistent with a check of a restaurant reservation site. Portland area restaurant were fully booked.

Back in the day when restaurant patrons were shoulder shoulder (Lolita, now close, circa 2016

Two Great Strawberry Pies, Timeless Classics that Deserve to be Made In Summer

June 26, 2019 / John Golden / Baking & Desserts

Summer produce is struggling to get to market as our cool spring and early summer continues, impeding the arrival of the full spectrum of Maine grown fruits and vegetables. Rhubarb made a strong showing about a month ago and strawberries, its vital partner, are here at last. The cool weather made the crop a little late by a week or two, but their flavor is intense.

I prefer to keep this duo separate. While I like strawberry-rhubarb pie I tend to make separate uses of these two, the latter is a vegetable technically but is used like a fruit in desserts. And strawberries should be left unadulterated. The next time you have the urge to make a strawberry rhubarb pie, increase the berries to use alone and omit the rhubarb; make a double crust pie (crumb topping is good too) in the usual way. For a thickener I like to use tapioca flour, a cleaner way to set fruits in a pie.

But for me it’s the fresh strawberry pie that is really the winner. There are two methods that I offer here. The most common form is to puree the strawberries to cook them in a sugar, cornstarch and water bath until thickened to pour over hulled uncooked berries arranged in a bake pie shell. The last time I did this I used a cookie crust instead of pastry dough. I sometimes prefer this because I don’t like chilling pies housing a pastry case; chilling ruins the flakiness of a dough. The cookie crust (use crushed shortbread, vanilla wafers or tea biscuits mixed with a bit of sugar and plenty of melted butter and baked until firm) survives much better. For a recipe for this pie see Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe link.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

The Finest Strawberry Pie

July 19, 2017 / John Golden / Baking & Desserts

If there’s one dessert to make with strawberries, it’s this silken strawberry-rich pie with its distinctive addition of cream that lines the bottom of the pastry case before putting in the cooked jam-like strawberry filling.

I found the recipe in the excellent cookbook “The Farm” by Ian Knauer. The recipes are a mix of the author’s old-family recipes and Knauer’s many years as food editor of Gourmet Magazine.

There are many versions of no-bake strawberry pie. It generally employs the technique of crushing a portion of the berries and mixing in fresh strawberries enriched with sugar and cornstarch that cook until the mixture is clear and thick.

Cream Cheese Strawberry Pie

For the cream cheese filling (the cream cheese must be at room temperature) I used Casco Bay Butter company’s cream cheese, which is wonderfully rich and creamy. I haven’t seen it at stores but found it at the Brunswick Farmer’s Market at Crystal Springs.