This is one of the most aromatic and fragrant of all Indian spice blends, and one of my personal favorites. Garam Malasa is used throughout India in all types of dishes and is indispensable to Moghul and North Indian cooking. Commercial blends are widely available, but this homemade version is much more fragrant and, of course, fresher. All spices are best when dry roasted whole and ground just before you start cooking. Give it a try, you’ll never go back to store bought!

Garam Masala

2 Tbsp Coriander Seed
2 Tbsp Cumin Seed
2 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
2 Tbsp Fenugreek
1 Tbsp Brown Mustard Seed
10 Cardamon Pods
4 Whole Cloves
1 tsp. Cinnamon Ground

Dry roast whole spices: Place the whole coriander, cumin, black peppercorns, fenugreek, brown mustard seed, cardamom and cloves in a heavy skillet on a medium and dry roast until the spices turn a few shades darker. This will only take 2-3 minutes. Make sure you stay at the stove because it goes quickly and there is nothing worse than burnt spices!

Let the spices cool: Once toasted, remove the spices from the pan and let cool.

Grind the spices: Once cooled, grind the spices. You can do this by hand in a pestle and mortar or in a coffee grinder (preferably one not used for coffee). Once ground, add the cinnamon and store in a airtight container.

That’s it, your done! This fresh garam masala will kick-up any recipe calling for a curry powder. In an air tight container the garam will last up to 3 months. Of course, the sooner you use it the better.

Happy cooking!

Buttermilk Biscuits

3 Cups Cake Flour – White Lily or pastry flour is fine too
2 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Kosher Salt
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter – Cold and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk – Cold

Preheat the oven: A super hot oven is critical when baking biscuits. Preheat the oven to 475° for a good 30 minutes.

Combine the dry ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and butter in a large bowl.

Cut the fat and flour: Work the butter into the flour with your hands for 2-3 minutes. Here’s the important part. Blend the dough until fat starts to make the flour crumbly. You want to still see large pieces of butter as well as small ones. If you can’t see chunks of butter and your mixture becomes mealy and dry, you’ve over belnded the dough.

Add the buttermilk: Add the cold buttermilk to the flour in thirds. You may need a bit more or less buttermilk depending on the weather. The biscuit dough should be a little wet when finished.

Flatten the dough: Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Flatten the dough with your hands until 1″ thick, no rolling pins needed! Cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter and place on a baking tray. Brush each biscuit with melted butter.

Bake: Bake the biscuits for 8-9 minutes, until just golden on top. Brush with more butter once out of the oven.

Serve with honey and your fixin’ for some good eatin’!

Earlier this week I discussed how to make a no-fail pie dough for the perfect crust. So naturally I’ve been anxious to post our first pie recipe! And whats a better recipe to start with than good old fashioned blueberry pie? Some might say apple, but I say nonsense! Blueberries are the perfect balance of sweet and sour. And the really good ones are only available for about a month a year. Being from Michigan, blueberries are a local treat widely available towards the end of summer. I’m pretty sure I’m just partial to blueberries and I’m eating a lot of them right now, so expect to see more on the topic. : )

Pie Crust

2 Pieces of Pinned Pie Dough – Simply follow our easy pie dough recipe

Once the dough is pinned: Place one piece of dough in your pie pan, gently push the dough into the corners of the pan and trim off the excess. Place into the freezer for 10 minutes. Reserve the second piece of dough for the top crust.

Blueberry Pie Filling

6 Cups Fresh Blueberries
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/3 Cup Corn Starch
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
Zest of 1 Lemon
3 Tbsp. Butter – Unsalted and cut into small cubes

Combined ingredients: Mix all ingredients gently in a bowl and place in the frozen pie crust. Take the reserved top piece of dough and place on top of the berry filling. Tuck the top dough under the edge of the bottom dough, and crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork, your fingers are preferred. Chill the pie in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 375°. Make an egg wash by whisking one egg with a tablespoon of milk. Once the pie has chilled for 30 minutes, remove from the fridge, brush with the egg wash and cut 3 small slits in the top of the pie.

Bake the pie: Bake the pie for about an hour on a sheet tray lined with foil for easy cleanup. The pie may take a few minutes longer or a few minutes less. Once you see the juices thick you know the pie is done.

Cool the pie: Cool the pie completely before serving , at least and hour and a half. I can’t stress this enough, cool the pie completely! The filling will be very loose when warm. It’s still mighty delicious, but loose.

Enjoy!

I love making pie dough! It’s just about the quickest, easiest and most versatile you’ll find around! You can use this recipe for practically everything including fried pies, empanadas and even samosas! Pie dough is made using a baking technique called the biscuit method. Essentially you cut your fat into flour, add your wet ingredients and viola you have the basic technique used for making scones, biscuits, pie dough, streusel and shortbread! I like an all butter pie dough, without lard or shorting, for the rich butter flavor. Some might say an all butter dough is less flaky than one with lard or shorting, I don’t find that to be true. To me, an all butter crust is the only way to go and that’s coming from a very lactose intolerant chef. One thing I’ve learned for certain in my life is you just can’t beat good butter.

Pie Dough

2 1/2 Cups AP Flour – Sifted
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup Butter – Cold, unsalted and cut into small cubes 1/2″
1/4 – 1/3 Water – Ice cold

Blend the butter and flour: Cut the cold butter into small 1/2″ pieces and add to the flour and salt. Here is the important part, don’t over blend the fat into the flour! You can use your hands or the pastry blender shown in the pictures. I prefer using my hands because it allows me to really feel the dough and when I’ve blended it enough.

Blend the dough until fat starts to make the flour crumbly. You want to still see large pieces of butter as well as small ones. If you can’t see chunks of butter and your mixture becomes mealy and dry, you’ve over blended the dough.

Start adding the water: Once the butter is cut-in, start adding the ice cold water a 1/4 cup at a time. Temperature and humidity play a huge role in how much water is needed, so the end amount my range a bit. You want to add just enough so the dough forms a ball, but doesn’t feel wet.

Work the dough: Once the dough has formed a ball, work the dough by kneading it 3 or 4 times, just to bring it together and make the dough tight. Cut the dough into four equal pieces, flatten them into discs and place in the refrigerator to rest for at least and hour before using. Each piece will be a perfect size for a top or a bottom crust once pined.

Tips for rolling: The longer the dough rests in the fridge the easier it will be to roll. Use flour when rolling, but try not to be excessive. A nice crust is usually around 3/8″ thick and will not fall apart when handled. Try to remove any excess flour from the pinned dough with a pastry brush.

Tips for blind baking: Blind baking is the process of simply baking the crust before any filling is in it. Doing this helps to ensure a flaky and cooked crust. I only blind bake when I’m using the crust more as a shell, like a tart or a pie that has a filling that doesn’t need to be baked. Generally if my pie does not have pie crust for a top layer, I blind bake.

Here’s how to blind bake with success. Once you pin out your dough, place it in your pie dish, cut off the excess dough, stab it with a fork a few times (a process known as docking) and place it back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. This allows the gluten to relax and helps the dough not shrink in the oven. Once chilled place a piece of parchment paper over the dough and fill with beans. The beans help the dough to hold its shape when baking.

Storing for the long haul? Pie dough will last about a week in the fridge but will last around six months in the freezer. Just wrap it tight with plastic wrap, place it in a zip lock and put in the freezer. I always make sure to flatten my pie dough into circles before I freeze it. This way it stacks nice and thaws quickly!

During summer I often find myself craving a cocktail with a bit of sweet and sour. Usually, I’m hot and tired come the end of a summer day and just want something refreshing and easy to drink. I always have an extra bottle of wine and fresh fruit lying around, which quickly turns into a pitcher of delicious sangria when a few friends stop by! This is my personal and favorite recipe, I hope you enjoy!

Spanish Sangria

1 Bottle Dry Red Wine – Everyday Wines can get you a great bottle
3 Large Oranges – Freshly juiced
2 Lemons – Freshly juiced
1/2 Cup Brandy
1/2 Cup Simple Syrup – Recipe below
1 Orange – Thinly sliced
1 Lemon – Thinly sliced
1 Peach – Thinly sliced

Simple Syrup

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Hot Water

Make the simple syrup: Add the hot water to the sugar and stir thoroughly making sure all the sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

Make the sangria: Mix the red wine with the brandy, freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice and simple syrup.

Slice the fruit: Slice a lemon and orange into thin rings, remove seeds as you go and add to the sangria. Slice the peach into thin rings as well and add to the sangria. Stir and enjoy!

Serving suggestion: I enjoy my sangria well chilled over ice. You can also add a splash of soda water for a lighter, fizzier spritzer!

For the Cake

½ lb Butter – Unsalted
2 ½ Cups White Sugar
4 Extra Large Eggs – At room temperature
Zest of 6 lemons
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
½ Tsp. Baking Powder
½ Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Kosher Salt
¼ Cup Lemon Juice – Freshly Squeezed
3/4 Cup Buttermilk – At room temperature
1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

For the Glaze

2 Cups Confectioners Sugar
3 ½ Tbsp. Lemon Juice – Freshly Squeezed

Cream the butter and sugar: Combine the butter and sugar and cream in a mixer, using a paddle, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on a low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon zest.

Add the dry ingredients: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl combine the lemon juice, the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures to the batter in three additions. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans, smooth the tops, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes to an hour or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Make the glaze: Combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the top of the warm/cooled cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Serving suggestion: Simply top a slice of the lemon buttermilk cake with a few of your favorite fresh berries and a dollop whipped cream! The best!

When I think of summer, I think of one thing, tomatoes! My fondness for the fruit once called love apples, are easy to grow, versatile in application and absolutely delicious to eat! Normally I spend most of June and July griping about the heat and tending to my tomato plants, just waiting for a ripe one to pick. Which leaves the question, what do you do with the tomatoes that fall early? I say make a delicious salsa! With the help of a quick grilling, you can turn those not-so-tender and not-so-sweet window sill sitters into a batch of friend impressing salsa!

Easy Fire Roasted Salsa

4-5 Large Tomatoes – About 3 pounds
1 Jalapeno
1/2 Yellow Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1/2 Bunch Cilantro
Salt and Pepper – To taste

Roast the tomatoes and chiles: Lightly toss the jalapeno and tomatoes with a very small amount of canola or vegetable oil, just to coat the skins for grilling. Place on a grill, pre-heated to 425° and start to let the skins have char. Make sure to turn only once and keep the lid to the grill closed, you want the skins to blacken. Once fully charred, remove from the grill and let cool in a pan.

Prepare the vegetables: Finely chop the onion and garlic, reserve in a bowl. Roughly chop the cilantro and add it to the onion and garlic.

Once the tomatoes have cooled: Peel off the charred skins and roughly chop the cooled tomatoes and jalapeno. Combine the onion, garlic and cilantro with the chopped tomato and chile. Season the salsa with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!