PIE CRUST | Cucumber Tomato Gazpacho | Goat Cheese Asparagus | | Roast Pork
Chef Johnny Vee’s Favorite Pie Crust
My friend and co-instructor at the Las Cosas Cooking School, Mary Cech, makes the flakiest pie crust I have ever tasted. It’s so light it’s almost like puff pastry. Make sure to bake your pie on a cookie sheet, there is so much butter in this crust, a bit runs out, but that only increases the tenderness of the crust. Watch for Mary’s “Pie Workshop” at Las Cosas, www.lascosascooking.com
Yields: 1 9” double crust pie
PIE DOUGH:
3 1/3rd cups All Purpose flour
1 ¼ t. salt
1 ½ cups unsalted butter – cold
3/4 – 1 cup ice water
Method:
1. Combine flour & salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut butter into walnut size pieces and add to flour. With your hands, work butter into flour until butter is in pea sized pieces.
3. Add water and toss dough until it sticks together, be careful not to break butter into smaller pieces while blending in the water.
4.Turn onto table, knead slightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until needed. (blueberry pie recipe is here) (top of page)
Cucumber and Tomato Gazpacho Sorbet With Vodka Splash
Serves 6
4 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 T tomato paste
1 cup water
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 T fresh limejuice
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 t kosher salt
1 t fresh ground pepper
1 t smoked Spanish Paprika
1 T fresh cilantro for garnishing
2 T frozen vodka
To peel the tomatoes, score an “X” on the bottom of each tomato and cut out the stem. Drop tomatoes carefully into boiling water and allow to cook for 60 seconds or until the skin starts to peel away from cut areas. Remove from water and plunge into an ice bath. Allow to cool and then peel. Cut each tomato in half around the equator and stick your fingers into the cavities where the seeds are. Seeds will squeeze out easily.
Place all of the ingredients except the vodka and cilantro in a blender and puree until smooth. Place the gazpacho in an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions.
Place gazpacho sorbet covered in the freezer until serving time. Serve two large scoops in a martini glass or wine goblet and pour 1 teaspoon frozen vodka over the scoops. Garnish with fresh cilantro serve immediately. (top of page)
Goat Cheese and Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus
Serves 5 as an appetizer
30 asparagus spears- about 1 lb.
4 oz. goat cheese
15 slices proscuitto
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons minced red onion
salt
pepper
Trim asparagus and snap off bottom 2 inches of each stalk. Place is a large skillet of boiling, salted water and poach until tender, about 3 minutes depending on thickness of the stalk. Plunge asparagus into ice water to chill. Remove from ice water and dry on paper towels. Set aside.
Cut each slice of proscuitto in half the short way so now have 30 pieces of proscuitto. Working with one piece of proscuitto at a time, spread a very thin layer of goat cheese over the ham and then sprinkle a little thyme and red onion over cheese. Lightly salt and pepper and then place one asparagus stalk at edge of the proscuitto. Roll up stalk and continue with each stalk until all the asparagus is wrapped. Serve chilled or at room temperature. (top of page)
Roast Pork Loin With Garlic And Sage
Serves 8
6 slices proscuitto
4 large garlic cloves, pressed
20 leaves fresh sage
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 – 2 1/2-pound boneless pork loin roast, well trimmed
1 cup dry Marsala
Additional sage leaves for garnish
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 13 x 9 x 2-inch roasting pan with foil. Mix garlic, salt and pepper in bowl. Rub garlic mixture all over pork. Place sage leaves over the surface of the roast and then wrap with proscuitto. Spiral wrap roast with kitchen twine and tuck any leaves that have fallen off back into place. Place pork, fat side down, in prepared roasting pan. Roast pork 30 minutes. Turn roast fat side up. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 155°F., about 25 minutes longer. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes. Remove roast from pan and deglaze with Marsala.
Pour juices from roasting pan into small saucepan; set over low heat to keep warm. Cut pork crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Arrange pork slices on platter. Pour pan juices over. Garnish with sage leaves, if desired. (top of page)
Got Questions?
ChefJohnnyVee@aol.com