Saturday, November 29, 2014

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

16 comments:

  1. I've been curious about this book, so I'm glad to see your review. I like the idea of a book based on pantry items. That pie sounds good, but I would have thought it'd be way too sweet. Nice that it isn't.

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    1. It was really good! I'm looking forward to trying more recipes!

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  2. I'll look out for this one. THanks. Cheers from Carole's Chatter!

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  3. I love the sound of that pie! Really, you can just put "Brown Sugar" in the name of any recipe and I would want to make it immediately. But I'm definitely going to try to make a gluten-free version of this one, hopefully before next Thanksgiving.

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    1. I'm with you on brown sugar love! Pretty much anything with brown sugar and butter is going to be a winner!

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  4. Oh that sounds good! I was looking at this one over there and wondering if I needed to try it or not. Looks like I do!

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    1. I'm looking to trying more recipes from this book. This recipe was a winner!

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  5. Oh the pie sounds anazing. I think I would love some of the recipes you mentioned.

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    1. So far this is the only recipe I've tried but it was really good!

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  6. I like the idea of making do with pantry staples - such a good way of using simple ingredients!

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    1. I do too! I'm always looking for ways to cut my grocery bill.

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  7. The pie sounds wonderful! I agree, some of his staples wouldn't be in my pantry (actually, we only keep ketchup for my husband, because my daughter and I are both allergic to tomatoes), but on the whole, it sounds like a very good cookbook!

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    1. It's definitely worth taking a look at this book. This recipe was tasty and surprisingly easy.

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  8. Replies
    1. You really should! Don't forget the whipped cream!

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