I can bake a cherry pie...

[altivo]

...in the twinkle of an eye. Well, if it's a slow eye. Takes about 45 minutes in the oven to attain a nicely browned crust. Today's dessert:



Our non-traditional Christmas day dinner consisted of a Cornish hen baked in a clay pot with a curried mixture of pineapple, green pepper, and onion and a little sherry. We added a curried dhal and kidney bean dish, steamed rice, and mango chutney, with a white zinfandel. It was quite good. The dogs were not pleased that we only saved them a little of the stock from the dish. However, I note that they ate it with plenty of relish, displeased or not.

As I promised, we mostly goofed off today except for taking care of the horses and sheep. However, I have what seems like a month's worth of laundry to do, so tomorrow will be busier.

It was a white Christmas in the sense that we have plenty of snow on the ground and up in the trees. Nothing significant fell today, however. Quite an improvement over last year when we had an ice storm and were without electricity for 36 hours, ending just at 9 am on Christmas.

Whatever winter holidays you celebrate, or even if you celebrate none, I wish you joy at the return of longer days and the best new year ever.

Comments

[schnee]

MMmmm, that looks really tasty!

[altivo]

A trifle underbaked, perhaps, but certainly edible.

[rustitobuck.livejournal.com]

Wiping the drool off my keyboard.

That is nice. I miss the days when I would bake. I made one of those once.

[altivo]

I don't make pies as often as I once did. The main reason for that is the increasing difficulty of getting good ingredients. This one used canned cherries, and is rather disappointing in flavor. It has become nearly impossible to get the proper sour cherry varieties even when they are in season (which of course isn't Christmas anyway, though frozen ones would do now.) Even apples are limited, since the usual grocery store varieties make lousy pie.

As Americans move more and more away from cooking at home, those of us who do cook are having a hard time because the distribution network for fresh ingredients is collapsing.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Oooo what a fantastic looking pie :)
What does Cornish hen taste like is it similar to chicken or more like turkey?

I wish I could lend you my washing machine, it's proved to be a real time saver when it comes to washing, I'm glad I got the big model.

[altivo]

The pie could have done with another ten minutes in the oven, but it was OK.

We have a large washer, but I never fill it all the way because I'm worried it will shake its way right through the wood floor and fall into the crawl space under the house. ;p

[altivo]

Oh, Cornish game hens (probably not all hens when you get down to it, but so labeled) are produced by using a Cornish gamecock to breed white leghorn hens. The Cornish is supposedly very meaty, but they don't produce many eggs. Leghorns produce lots and lots of eggs. So by using leghorn hens, you get a lot of eggs that produce meaty chicks. At least, that's the theory. They are all chickens, really, so it tastes just like chicken. As they are sold here in the US, they are like tiny chickens. About 22-24 ounces or maybe 750-800 grams apiece, they are typically roasted and served whole. Normal fryers don't have much meat on them at that size and age, but because of the Cornish sire, these do have quite a bit.