CoSkay.com

I have a dark secret.

It usually involves cooking.

And dancing.

And the Mamma Mia Soundtrack.

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Some people grew up watching sitcoms with their families.  I grew up watching cooking shows on public television.  Long before Rachael, Giada, Emeril and Paula had taken over our homes with the Food Network, there were the Jacques; Pepin and Torres (of course Julia was prior to them, but I wasn’t alive when her first show was on tv)  I would watch with my family in awe at they created masterpieces (a chocolate oven..really?!).

Another show that has garnered great praise in my family is America’s Test Kitchen.  It is fantastic.  (I also highly recommend their cookbook).  For those unfamiliar with ATK, they do more than just cook.  They test and they explain.  For example, in the following recipe, the butter is melted.  They explained this created a chewier cookie than creaming the butter and then showed the crispy creamed butter cookie.  The cook books also provide information such as the preferred brand of peanut butter to use in cookies.  It removes a lot of the guesswork and adds some science.  I love it.  I’m such a nerd.

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I’ve moved.  Again.  The kitchen in the new place is, well…um, cozy.

Cooking this year will be interesting.  It is not the best kitchen I’ve had.  Actually, it’s the smallest and has the worst appliances.  And yet, I love it.  I’m living alone for the first time ever and the entire kitchen is MINE.  I organized the cabinets and fridge the way I want.  If it’s my desires to make french toast at 3 am, I can.  Plus, I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving the dishes in the sink until the morning.  It’s pure bliss.

Then I thought about all of my apartment kitchens and how they have changed over the years.  Some were better than others but I’ve managed with all of them, and this year will be no different.  And with that, I bring you: CoSkay’s Kitchen’s throughout the years:

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To be honest, I don’t really have a good story behind this post.  I was at the Farmer’s Market and the rhubarb was in coming into season, so I bought some.

I’ve never made a rhubarb pie before (considering I’ve only made pie a couple of times in my life) so I thought, why the hell not?  I bought some strawberries too and that’s how the pie was born (well…the idea of it at least).

Well I made the pie and I’m proud to say, it was delicious.  Although as you can see from the picture, I need to work on my crust making skills.  They aren’t quite up to par yet.  The decorations on top are a strawberry and a rhubarb leaf (in case you can’t quite make it out).

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

From All Recipes

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 5 medium stalks rhubarb, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons tapioca
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1. To Make Crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour and the salt. Place the 1/2 cup oil in a 1 cup sized measuring cup and top with the 6 tablespoons of milk. DO NOT MIX! Pour oil and milk over flour and blend with a fork until it forms a ball of dough. Divide dough into 2 balls. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Place one ball on sheet of waxed paper. Top with another sheet of waxed paper and roll out to fit your pie plate. Repeat with remaining ball of dough. Peel top paper off of one crust and flip dough into pie plate. Peel off paper and press dough in. Save remaining dough for top crust.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. To Make Filling: Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, salt and nutmeg until the fruit is well coated. Pour filling into the crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, seal edges and cut three 1 inch slits in top of crust.
4. Bake pie at 425 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let pie cool before cutting.(we couldn’t wait and had a runny pie…)
   

I have to say, I’ve been pretty lucky this summer.

1. I’m in California; which right there would be enough for an awesome summer, but there is more awesomeness, so keep reading
2. My summer internship was pretty cool (I’m working at VMware on Mobile Virtualization)
3. Unlike NY and Boston, I haven’t seen rain more than once in weeks and I think I might have blocked out forgotten what humidity is like
4. My house is huge and has a kick-ass kitchen
5. I live with 4 really nice med-students, some of whom have a bottomless stomach

That last point is key.  I’m able to bake up a storm knowing whatever is produced will be gone in less than four days.  Unlike living by myself where I can’t blame anyone else for eating the last cookie (or the entire batch), now I can just say it was one of the roommates. Living in denial is fantastic.

So as a final course to the dinner I made last week, I chose peach cobbler.  An obvious decision given peaches are in season right now and EVERYWHERE.

Now normally, cobblers and other peach related desserts are made with yellow peaches.  They are sweeter and have that traditional peachy goodness.  I decided to make this cobbler with a mix of yellow and white.  I enjoyed it because each bite produced a slightly different flavor.

Although I will be honest, it received mixed reviews.  Some people liked the less sweet peach mix and others wanted more of the familiar peach flavor.  Regardless of which peaches you chose, the crust part is delicious.  I preferred my cobbler warm served with vanilla ice cream.

Peach Cobbler

Adapted from Martha Stewart

• 15 ripe peaches, sliced (about 2.5 quarts)
• Scant 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup cold heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 375°.  Mix peaches, cornstarch, dark-brown sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Pour mixture into an 8.5 x 11.5 inch baking dish
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using whatever means you like (I used my hands) mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal
3. Whisk together egg and cream and to dry ingredients; mixing until dough just comes together.  Ok, here Martha says to roll into a log and make disks.  Instead, I tore bits and pieces and scatter them to cover the pan.  I liked the nooks an crannies it produced, as you can see in the pictures above.
4. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.  Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes.