Saturday, May 2, 2015

RETRO WEEK FOR MOM'S DAY! #Recipe Strawberry Pie @PegCochran

by Peg Cochran

Welcome to Retro Week!  We thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the old recipes that were popular "in the day."  I imagine many of our mothers found their recipes on the backs of product boxes or in magazines like Good Housekeeping.  Recipes from famous restaurants were also big judging by my mother-in-law's collection.  Of course your mother may be younger than mine--I'm thinking back to the 50s and 60s when TV characters like Donna Reed cooked in a dress, pearls and high heels.

We hope you'll enjoy the week, and we'd love to hear about some of the "old" recipes your mother or grandmother cooks which have been passed down to you.

I made my mother-in-law's strawberry pie--super simple for the busy housewife (although potentially a little messy if you're wearing a dress and pearls.)  The recipe is written out on one of those "From the Kitchen of" type index cards which were popular before computers and pinterest and food blogs. My mother had a little box she kept hers in.  The directions were a little sketchy so I had to text my sister-in-law to see if she remembered more than I did.  The pie is quite sweet so I served it topped with a dab of sour cream which set it off very nicely.

Ingredients:
1 pre-baked pie shell (I cheated and used store bought--your choice)
16 ounce container ripe strawberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water

Place 1/2 cup of the berries (sliced), the cup of water and sugar in a pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

Dissolve the cornstarch in half cup of water and add to berry mixture.  Stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until mixture thickens.  A strawberry colored "gel" will form.  Let cool.

Add remainder of berries (I sliced mine, but my sister-in-law said it makes a prettier presentation if you use whole berries--cut jumbo ones in half.)  Pour into pie shell and cool in the refrigerator for a few hours. Garnish with whipped cream or sour cream.

Fresh strawberries -- yum!


Strawberries cooking in sugar and water


Strawberries/sugar/water/cornstarch turned into a "gel"


In the pie shell--next time I'll leave the berries whole for a prettier pie!


Happy Mother's Day Mom!


If you want to see a hilarious take on those old cookbooks and recipe check out the Gallery of Regrettable Foods!

FIVE GREAT COZIES - FOUR GREAT AUTHORS - $.99!!!


Available at Amazon and all ebook retailers

And at the end of Confession Is Murder, you'll find two teaser chapters for Berried Secrets from my upcoming Cranberry Cove series!


13 comments:

  1. That card looks like my grandmother could have written it - the handwriting looks just like hers. I never saw my grandmother follow a recipe, although she could write it out if you asked. She made a delicious applesauce cake. My mother was the woman cutting out and copying recipes from every magazine or back of the box. I think I inherited that gene, and I still have many of her cookbooks with those recipes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My grandmother didn't measure either! It was a handful of this and a handful of that--even when she was baking.

      Delete
  2. Peg and Grandma Cootie - Oh my goodness, I can relate to your memories! I can still see my mom and her older sister (Aunt Mary) busy in the kitchen. Sometimes they used recipes (dashed off with handwriting as above), but often they simply cooked from memory. Now I find myself doing the same thing--made my mom's meatballs that way this week! How much oregano? I don't know, enough! :)

    P.S. I love that photo of your mom, Peg, beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have my grandmother's recipe for her tomato sauce which was the standard by which we judged all others lol. It's hardly a recipe--who needs quantities, right? It's more like instructions--saute some of this, add some of that, etc.

      Delete
  3. Oh, Peg! You look just like her. What a darling picture. As I looked at it, I realized that she's in fashion today! Everything except the gloves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it funny how things go out of fashion only to come back again? Maybe I should save my old clothes after all...

      Delete
  4. I never saw my great grandmother follow a recipe she just knew it but could tell you the measurements and ingredients. I sure miss her cooking but glad to have some of her recipes. The one you share Peg is wonderful and what great pictures to share.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pie is good. Still have some in the fridge...maybe I'll treat myself to a piece!

      Delete
  5. Couldn't resist, I just bought Death With Malice.
    My favorite pie is a blueberry pie with raw blueberries in a pre-baked crust with a bit of lemon/cornstarch glaze. Rather like yours, but less sweet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That sounds really good. I would definitely tone down the sweetness a bit in this recipe since the berries are sweet already.

      Delete
  6. Peg, I love my strawberry pie recipe. Very similar to yours. Now...on the other hand, I tried my hand at a strawberry tart last week and something went wrong. It was delicious 20 minutes after it was done, but the next morning....mush! Please, help, what did I do wrong? Got a clue?

    Daryl / Avery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would never have that problem. Hubby would polish it off in the first 20 minutes! Maybe it was your berries? Too ripe/not ripe enough?

      Delete
  7. The pie sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete