All quiet on the Crimb0 front.

I have been a bad diarist, and for that I apologize profusely. But, in my defence, I have been extremely busy in the food preparation department. I’ll be glad when the season of feasting is past and we can get back to eating peanut butter sandwiches. However, since we’re on the subject of food, cosmicrayola asked for my recipe for spinach-ricotta pie, and she shall receive. The following is from the original M00sew00d C00kb00k:

Spinach-Ricotta Pie

Make a pie crust from 1 cup flour (mix some whole wheat in with the white) and 1/3 cup cold butter and 1/4 tsp. of salt if the butter is unsalted and 3 tbs. cold water (or buttermilk). Chill and then roll out and line a 9" pie pan.

Make a filling from:
1 lb. ricotta cheese
3 beaten eggs
1/2 lb. spinach and 1 small onion, diced, sautéed in butter with black pepper, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. basil (you can use frozen spinach)
3 tbs. flour
1/2 cup grated sharp cheese (old cheddar, mmm...)
dash nutmeg

Mix everything together and spread into the unbaked pie shell. Top with 1 cup sour cream, spreading it to the edges of the crust, and sprinkle paprika generously on top.

Bake 40-45 minutes in a 375°F oven. Serve piping hot.

Now, there is a secret ingredient here that is very important if you want this pie to be ultra delicious. I make my own ricotta. It’s easy. You heat up two litres (quarts) of whole milk to the scalding point and mix in the juice of two lemons. Remove from heat, cover, and let it sit for 4 to 12 hours before straining through several layers of cheese cloth. It should make 2 cups. You don’t have to make your own ricotta. You can buy it in the dairy section of your grocery store. But nothing beats the texture and taste of freshly made ricotta.

You see, this particular cheese is pressed from the whey left over from commercial cheese making. All that milk that is curdled and then strained for the production of other cheeses still has a fair bit of milk solids left in it. So these are what are strained out and made into commercial ricotta. When you make your own, it’s just creamier and better. I can’t explain it. You can also save the whey for use in other cooking projects, even chill it and use some of it to make that pie crust.

In other news, we had lots and lots of snow, and then we had lots and lots of rain. Hubby decided we had to shovel the snow off the two roofs that cover the back deck and front porch before they collapsed, and so he did one and got Buddy Boy to do the other. I took pictures.

Today my daughter decided to make a gingerbread house. Structurally it’s not very sound, but I’m sure it’ll be delicious when we finally crack it open.

Last, but not least, our tree. Sadly, I cut off the top so you can’t see Saturn in the glory of his rings, but here it is:

And I guess that’s about it for now. I hope everyone had a happy Crimb0.

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