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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Year One: A Canadian Giveaway & Acadian Buttermilk Pie.



One year ago tonight, I stood in my kitchen making sweet breads and listening to a hockey game. After it was over, I was bopping around online, stumbled on Blogger and thought ‘why not?’ So, I wrote about the hockey game and my sweet breads. The next morning, I wrote a second post, my back story, followed by another recipe a few days later. I got my first two followers, they were both family, but they followed along nonetheless. Finally, I got my first ‘real’ follower, and I almost stopped.

Last summer was busy, I only managed to post two recipes in two months, but Autumn came and I was back at full force. By the end of December, I had a dozen folks following along. My New Year’s Resolution was to double that. Now, four months later, I have three times as many people joining me in my tiny kitchen. Today’s recipe was quite the adventure, i made it last night since I was off at three and am working all day today. It is a three part recipe, two that I have never worked with before and a third that hates me. Pastry is my nemesis; and last night, I made a pie.

Before I share my recipe, I want to share a few other things. Your blog only gets to the one year mark once! While following along on other blogs, I have seen many things done for anniversaries. Number one is a giveaway! I will talk more about that later. Another feature I see are a list of the most viewed posts. I want to share those with you now.

1.  April 1st, 2011 – Girl Guide Cookie Cheesecakes – 115 Views: These were mini cheesecakes I made on a whim when I bought a box of Girl Guide Cookies at the beginning of this month. It was a quick recipe, very simple and I recommend anyone who is afraid of cheesecake to give it a go!

2. October 2nd, 2010 – LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow – 55 Views: This was the first time I participated in something outside my own blog. The fight against Cancer is something important to me, so even though I could not make a monetary contribution, I felt this was a way I could at least make awareness.

3. September 12th, 2010 – Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie – 42 Views: A truly unique dish, and a first time for me to try sweet potatoes and another ingredient, herb & garlic cream cheese.

4. September 21st, 2010 – Whiz Bang Banana Muffins – 40 Views: The first time I purchased something strictly to make a blog recipe; this was my muffin top pan. I love it, and this recipe, and have made it several times since.

5. May 9th, 2010 – Chicken Noodle Soup & Biscuits – 38 Views: My first ‘throw it together’ post. Sometimes I just get into the kitchen and throw some things into a pot, hoping for the best. Chicken noodle soup is something I have been making via this method for a few years, it always turns out great!

The hits are not in the thousands, but still these are the highest. Now, I will share my recipe. I wanted something New Brunswick to go along with my giveaway. So I did an internet search (I’m afraid I am not a very good New Brunswicker, I do not know any recipes off the top of my head) and I found this one: Buttermilk Pie. Apparently it is an early Acadian recipe. The Acadians come from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and even some in Northern Maine; there are still a lot of them here in Northern New Brunswick, but unfortunately in the late 1700’s we English booted the Acadians living in the Southern parts out. A lot of these people made their way further South and settled, eventually becoming the Cajuns in Louisiana. Now, onto the recipe:

Acadian Buttermilk Pie

1 baked pie shell
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
3 + 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
2 egg yolks
Salt
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 + 1/2 Tbsp butter
2 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar

Bring 1 cup buttermilk to a boil.
Mix together the sugar, cornstarch and 1/2 cup buttermilk. Add to the boiling buttermilk and cook while stirring, until of a smooth cream consistency.
Beat the egg yolks and add the salt, grated lemon rind and the lemon juice. Pour into the hot cream. Add the butter.
Cook for 2 minutes, stirring vigorously. Cool. Pour into a baked pie shell.
Top with 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten with the 1/4 cup sugar  (meringue). Brown in a 350°F oven for approximately 20 minutes.


Oh, dear. Well, the meringue isn't the best looking, it definitely does not look like my Mom's. I spun it in the mixer for what seemed like forever, and when it did not appear to be doing anything (because the whisk was barely in the egg/sugar mixture) i took it off and tried the hand whisk...ow! This was my first time making meringue, so i basically gave up before it hit the proper consistency. Yeah, i am a lazy cook. That's why i bought the mixer :-)


Along with the meringue, this was the first time I have bought or used buttermilk. I honestly thought it was just yellow milk, or something like that. I opened the carton and started pouring and did i ever get a surprise! So before i ran the bad carton of milk back across town to the store, i sent my Big sister a text message. Have you used buttermilk? Is it supposed to look like sour milk? Ew! No response after 5 minutes, so i called the 911 of the cooking world: Mom. No answer...the clock is ticking, i needed to go to bed early last night and this is a multi-step pie, so as a last ditch effort i put out a Facebook SOS. Just as two people replied, my Mom called back, and all three confirmed I had the proper stuff. My Mom and one of my Facebook Friends both said their Father liked to drink the stuff straight. EW! My Dad always told us "Don't knock it until you try it", but somehow i think he will agree with me on this one.


I must admit, the filling is a bit smelly, but it is quite lemony. After making it, i put it in my large measuring cup and set it in the windowsill. It was miserable in the morning, but turned into a nice day so i had the windows open. So while it cooled, i fought with the pastry. Since i have never been able to make good pastry, i usually use a mix. The last time, i vowed i would not purchase this brand again, as it gave me a really hard time. Unfortunately, it was the only brand in the store this time around, so i had no choice. And again, it gave me a hard time. After rolling it out 3 times, i ended up refrigerating it for 30 minutes to try again. I ended up with this mess.


I eventually just mashed it into the pie plate. I gave it a bit extra on the edges because i know if you play with pastry to much, it will shrink and go tough. It did, and i ended up with a cracked pie shell.


Not the prettiest looking pie shell, but able to be used. By now, it was cooling off so I closed the window, gave the pudding a stir and stuck it in the refrigerator. Finally, about half an hour later, I made the meringue and put the pie together. About 10 minutes after I pulled the pie out of the oven, the doorbell rang. A guinea pig!! We sliced the pie and it fell apart. I did not get a plate picture, but now that it has refrigerated overnight, I will try again at Dinner and edit if necessary.

My tester ate two slices, saying it was a perfect lemon pie. I ate one slice, it was delicious! A little tangier than I prefer my lemon pie, but still great. The meringue is very sweet, and made a hard crust; we both agreed that I might be capable of making great meringue cookies.

So now that I have made and tried a New Brunswick dish, it is your turn to get a little bit of my home. Giveaway time!!!


The picture above is what you will receive; a New Brunswick cookbook, written by a local author, a small bottle of pure maple syrup in a collector bottle, two maple leaf cookie cutters, and a bag of dulse (explanation HERE) I would have done fiddleheads, but they are late this year and will not be around for a couple more weeks, and they are kind of hard to ship. Also included, but not in the picture, are some maple candies that I found at a coffee shop, I threw some in the box before I sealed it.


So, now a few stipulations. Unfortunately there must be some!

1. Only Canadians and Americans, please; I am sorry to everyone else, but overseas shipping is tricky and I don't want the goodies to be lost!

2. For an entry: Follow along, there are five buttons in the upper left corner, pick one! Let me know how you follow me and leave your email address, so I can contact you. The more the merrier!

3. For a second entry: Pass it on! Let others know about my Canadian Giveaway, either Twitter or Facebook or some other way. Comment to let me know how you shared the Canadian Spirit.

4. For a third entry: Inform me! What do you know about Canada? Give me some trivia, a memory, anything!

Each entry must be in a separate comment; I will draw a winner using Random.org one week from today, on Saturday May 7th.

Good Luck and Thank You to everyone!!!

9 comments:

  1. Happy 1 year blogaversary! I am a follower.

    jennifurlandindigo at g mail dot com

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  2. Happy 1 Year!!! I am already a follower and very happily at that :-)

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  3. I don't know very much about Canada but one thing I know is that I would LOVE to go there someday ( I am a big maple fan) :-)

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  4. Happy 1 Year! It's great to have a fellow Saint Johner who loves to cook and share it with others!

    www.mealswithmichelle.com
    michelle.jamieson @ gmail

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  5. The first Canada Day was July 1st, 1867 also known as 'Dominion Day' but Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949 since it remained a British colony.

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  6. Congratulations on a year of blogging! I'm a follower on google friend connect.

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  7. Being Canadian, I may have an advantage on the Canadian trivia category! In keeping with the food theme, I haven't eaten buttermilk pie, but my mom used to make maple syrup pie. My favourite Canadian dish is probably butter tarts. Love them!

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  8. Thank you everyone...i must note in case anyone decides to make this pie, it does not keep well. I went for a piece next day and it was not nice :-(
    Guess it is a serve the same day kinda pie.

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  9. Great giveaway! I follow with GFC

    momtodc(at)gmail(dot)com

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