Raspberry and Peach Pie

Peach pie is a true southern comfort food for me (pie in general usually is!) and this recipe, with the addition of raspberries, is no different. I will include the crust recipe as well.

Ingredients:

For filling:

5 1/2 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches (about 3 1/2 pounds)

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 (to 1 cup) cup frozen raspberries

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

For crust:

2 cups all purpose flour (Plus more for rolling out)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons shortening

4-5  Tablespoons ice water

1 egg white beaten with a teaspoon of water

Sugar for sprinkling

1. Combine the peaches, raspberries, sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a saucepan; set aside to form juices. (About ten minutes)

2. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat To low and cook 10 minutes or until peaches are tender, stirring often. Remove from heat; add butter and vanilla and almond extracts, blending well. Set aside while you make the crust. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. Start crust. Combine flour and salt and sugar in a bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle ice water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, evenly over dry ingredients, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into teo balls.

4. Lightly flour the countertop and roll out half of the pie dough to 1/8 inch thickness and place in 9-inch pie pan. Trim off excess pastry along edges of pie pan. Spoon filling into pastry shell.

5. Roll remaining pastry to 1/8 inch thickness and then cut into 1/2 inch strips. Arrange strips in lattice design over filling. Trip strips even with edges. Fold edges under and crimp. Brush the top of the pastry with the egg white wash and evenly sprinkle sugar to coat the top.

6. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes; reduce oven temp to 350 and bake 25 to 30 mibutes more or until crust is golden and pie seems bubbly. Serve.

Hot Spinach Dip

Serve this with basic tortilla chips or thin, toasted baguette slices.

Ingredients:

10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 can Original Rotel, do not drain
2  8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened to room temp
1/4 (or more) cup heavy cream
1 large block Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix well. Spread into oven-proof casserole dish. (Or mix ingredients right in the oven-proof dish you are going to bake the dip in.) Bake 20-25 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned on top.

Rigatoni "Woodsman Style"

My posts are getting fewer and farther between because I am using the internet on my phone to type them up and it is a wee bit more difficult to do it this way. Anywho, here is a recipe from a recipe from one of Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's cookbooks, Lidia's Italy in America. Sometimes I use a jar of spaghetti sauce for convenience, but it really is not too difficult to make your own sauce. This recipe should serve about 6.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta pot

1 pound rigatoni

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pound sausage

Mixed mushrooms, thickly sliced (I couldnt find these in the produce section, so I had to omit. Good varieties would be cremini, button, and shiitake) use hoewever many suites your taste.

5-6 fresh sage leaves

28-ounce can crushed Italian plum tomatoes

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

**You can alter the amounts of peas, sage, mushrooms to better fit your taste preference.


1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add sausage and cook, crumbling with a wooden
spoon, until sausage is no longer pink, about 4 minutes.

2.Bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil for pasta. Add rigatoni to water and cook until al dente (the package should guide you on that)

3. Whike the pasta is cooking, add mushrooms to sausage mix and cover and cook until they release juices, about 2 minutes. Uncover, add the sage and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, slosh out the tomato can with one cup pasta cooking water, and add it to the sauce. Add salt. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about ten minutes.

4. Once sauce is thicker, toss in peas. Cook about two minutes. Pour in another cup of pasta water and the heavy cream into the sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened, about two minutes more.

5. If pasta is done, drain pasta and add directly to the pan of sauce, tossing to coat well. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Toss and mix again and serve immediately.