My Perfect Pantry - Review

For this review I'm linking up with Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth over at Beth Fish Reads.

I adore Geoffrey Zakarian.  He's the only Iron Chef that consistently makes my mouth water at the dishes he prepares from some crazy ingredient in 60 minutes.  Don't get me wrong - I would put down some serious money to eat in Michael Symon's or Bobby Flay's restaurants but given a choice I'd go to Zakarian's.

So when I saw My Perfect Pantry: 150 Easy Recipes from 50 Essential Ingredients over at Blogging for Books I couldn't hit request fast enough even though I did think that my definition of pantry staple and Zakarian's definition might not be the same!  And in some ways they're not.  Anchovies and Tuna aren't exactly foods I think about reaching for very often. I think my family would revolt if I tried to feed them a main dish with coconut milk (because they're weird when it comes to food).  But, most of these are pretty standard.  Things like ketchup, peanut butter, maple syrup, milk, oats, vinegar, pasta, rice, chicken stock and soy sauce are all things I think most of us have in pretty good supply.  Not to mention the fact they're all inexpensive and shelf stable.  There's also a pretty broad range of recipes - from garlic croutons to Huevos Rancheroes and Grilled Maple-Mustard Chicken Skewers to Maple Brown Sugar Rice Pudding and Chocolate Muffins.  There's a little something for everyone.  

I was thrilled when I got this book before Thanksgiving and after flipping through it I knew I had to add Brown Sugar Pie to my Thanksgiving Dessert Table.  The recipe is pretty simple:

2 eggs, at room temperature

2 cups light brown sugar

1/3 cup half-and-half

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 8 to 9 inch pie shell (I use an all butter pie crust recipe from Four and Twenty Blackbirds)

Creme Fraiche, for serving (I went with very lightly sweetened whipped cream instead)

Preheat the oven to 350.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the ggs, sugar and half and half.  Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute (or just use a hand mixer if you're like me and don't own a stand mixer).  Add the melted butter and vanilla and mix to combine.  Sprinkle the flour over the top and mix just until smooth and no lumps remain.

Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake in the middle of the oven until pie is just set and no longer wobbly in the center, about 40 minutes. (If the crust is getting too brown and the pie is still not set, cover the edges of the crust with foil)  Let cool on a wire rack.  Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.  When plating top each slice with a dollop of creme fraiche.

So what does it taste like?  It's sweet but not so unbelievably sweet and it's rich and buttery and oh so amazing with lightly sweetened whipped cream.  The texture is similar to chess pie and the flavor is in the same genre but deeper.  It's unusual enough to be different but not so much as to cross into weird for the picky eaters.  Plus it's super easy to throw together even when you're in the midst of frazzled Thanksgiving cooking.  I would imagine it would travel beautifully as well.  And when you're eating that last piece of pie late at night when you really don't need anything else but can't resist all it needs is about 15 seconds in the microwave and you're golden!

I look forward to trying out Zakarian's other recipes but I can definitely see this pie being on my go-to dessert list.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review