Any Time Is Pie Time

Everyone thinks pies should be baked and eaten in the fall. After all it's a perfect time to use up the apple and pumpkin harvests. They go well with the heavy feasts. Then they disappear after Christmas. That should not be.Pie should be made all year round.

For those who don't want a labor intensive kind, think a premade crust and instant pudding. Both Keebler and Nabisco sell a graham cracker and Oreo crumb premade ones. You can even buy a box of crumbs. enables home chefs to make their own crusts. Then fill with any pudding. One of the best is the Jello brands. Chocolate cream pie can be jazzed up with a few drops of mint extract for a cool chocolate mint flavor. Top  a chocolate cream pie with mini marshmallows and put under the broiler for a s'more's pie. A vanilla cream pie is another sweet treat that 's easy to make for a dinner party or a Sunday dinner.  Experiment with different   pudding flavors such as butterscotch and pistachio.  These can even be made into tartlets too. If there's more time , then make a homemade graham cracker crust.You can use any flavor, from plain to cinnamon to chocolate. It takes about twenty-four squares ,a quarter cup of granulated sugar and one-third melted butter or margarine. You can crush extra crackers more crumbs to sprinkle on top of the pie.

Homemade custards are the next step. Lemon meringue and Key Lime pies are sunny treats for a gloomy winter's day. If the lemon meringue is too daunting, then just try a  lemon pie. It's basically a custard, thanks to the addition of four egg yolks. Flour and cornstarch act as thickening agentson. There is a  good dose of lemon zest and lemon juice in it. It's not topped with meringue but whipped cream.The classic lemon meringue is not as lemony, only employing just two. It's the topping that makes it so special. It's a classic meringue with just egg whites and sugar and baked for only ten minutes. Key Lime is sort of similar. and easier to execute. It's not as citrusy, with only having a little more than half a cup of lime juice. There's no zest added and condensed milk is the binder here. The topping is simply whipped cream while the crust is graham crackers. A really elegant pie is one  with a mousse filling It's not as complex as it sounds.It's simply a mix of any pudding with Cool Whip or if you want a more homemade one ,use cream and gelatin along with chocolate chips or cocoa powder.


Pies shouldn't just be a fall treat. Think a mousse one for an elegant dinner party or a Key Lime for a SuperBowl party. Make a chocolate creme decorated with whipped cream and strawberries for Valntine's Day. They can be enjoyed now in the heart of winter.

Cuisine Of The Sunshine State

Florida is known for many things, sugar white sands, the mysterious Everglades and a fascinating history.Yet it also has some interesting dishes, influenced by the South and the many people who have immigrated there. It is not only a snowbird's retreat,it is a foodie's one too.

Many forget that the state is also part of the South and with that comes Southern cooking The northernmost counties border Georgia and Alabama.Grits are a  staple  but the grunt fish , popular i n the area is added in. People from Jacksonville to Pensacola also enjoy barbecue along Brunswick stew. That true southern dessert chess pie ,a custardy treat rich with sugar, cream and eggs is found in many bakeries along with being made by many home bakers.Georgia's pecan pie drifted south and is also enjoyed in northern Florida. The indigenous people, the Seminoles also contributed to the table. They showed settlers how to cook boiled swamp cabbage or the nicer name heart of cabbage palmIt's cooked with water salt and a little sugar. The greens can also be bought, already soaked in a vinaigrette  and relabeled hearts of palm.The tribe also contributed a fried bread made only of flour water and oil along with softkee a kind of hominy made with wild rice, baking soda and cornstarch.It can be served with meat or just plain. Some of the indigenous meats from alligator to deer are served with skillet corn stuffing, possibly influenced by intermarriage with former enslaved Africans.Cajun and Creole influences have also impacted the cuisine too

The southern part of the state has been so richly influenced by the Caribbean that the cuisine is now called Floribbean.One of the main influences is Cuban, thanks to many migrating from Castro's Cuba for almost sixty years. The hallmarks are an emphasis on fresh ingredients, namely chicken and fish and ,a melange of spices.especially strong flavors offset by milder ones. Also the cuisine uses a lot of fresh fruit juice, namely citrus such as lemon and orange. This is the Cuban and Haitian influence wit their love of sweet and tangy. However unlike some Cuban and Jamaican, the heat is less intense.It's not as eye watering as Jamaican jerk. The fieriness is almost always mitigated by the addition of mango,papaya, rum, almond , key lime or honey. A typical Miami dinner might be paella, with fresh caught fish  or pernil, roast pig accompanied by arroz con gandule -rice and peas. Barbacoa, the original barbecue is also featured and done in many backyard cookouts.What makes it different from regular grilled meats is the   use of  fresh juice as a marinade for the meats. Of course the most famed Southern Florida dessert is the drool worthy Key Lime pie. It comes from the Florida Keys, Papa Hemingway's hangout. This is a tart, yet rich and custardy pie thanks to the limes and eggs used along with condensed milk and topped with whipped cream The crust is almost alwaysnmade of graham crackers.

Florida gives us a panorama of different scenes, from ritzy beaches to gator filled swamps. It also gives us a variety of different dishes, each as unique as the people who make them. They are diverse and tasty, exciting and flavorful,

Stay strong, my Orlando readers. Show bravery and heart. Show love when others want hate, courage when others want fear. We're behind you.

A Hometown Dream

Most chefs, especially when they attain celebrity status , leave their hometowns and roots for good. Not so for Art Smth, a chef and baker from northern Florida.He moved back to his home town , after a glittering career. Why? His heart is there and so are his plans for the next step in his career.

Kim Severson profiled and interviewed this amazing chef/baker in today's New York Times Food section. Chef Smith came from Jasper,a small, sleepy southern town  located not far from the Georgia border. He has cooked for the Obamas as well as for Oprah Winfrey, two Florida governors and even the British royal family.His children have received formal baptismal blessings from the Pope . His friends include Lady Gaga and Jeb Bush. One would think he'd want to open up restaurants and bakeries in the glittery celebrity chef worlds of New York,LA or even Miami however that's not Chef Smith's dream. It is one where his hometown of Jasper is revived . There was only a phosphate factory and a nursery home along with being the birthplace of the writer Lillian Smith, known for writing the controversial book, Strange Fruit. Jasper is located in Hamilton county, one of  Florida's poorest counties.It' s a forgotten or ignored town  - as tourists drive by it to see Disney World three hours south of it.That's all about to change. The sleepy southern town is about to get enthusiastically shaken awake.

Chef Smith has big plans for Jasper which will certainly put it on any foodie's map.It involves Disney , an enterprise that has boosted the state's tourists revenues for decades.The resort is letting him open his two hundred seat restaurant Homecoming : Florida Kitchen And Southern Shine where it specializes in farm to fork cuisine.It's design  was inspired by turn of the century Floridian architecture. The menu is pure Southern too as well as trendy , deviled eggs,  chicken and dumplings and kale salad with walnuts and Georgia cheese.Of course there will be Southern cakes such as the classic hummingbird cake, twelve layer ones, Key lime pound cakes and moonshine cakes. The last is a tribute to his grandfather ,a moonshiner, however the cake is a sweet moist one made with fruit, The cakes will be baked in what is now a closed complex that once housed jai alai and poker room. Once was a mecca for local gamblers will now become the future of a commercial  bakery that will be selling a taste of the South to all of America.Not only will it sell cakes at an on site bakery but also a country store that sells organic produce.Lucikly he has Florida heiress Margie Geddes along with Jasper native Susan Levin Turner to help.

Some celebrity chefs conveniently forget where they came from, Not Chef Smith . He is going back to Jasper to put it on the culinary map.