Our final Boston morsel was a quick breakfast at Flour Bakery. I've been trying to get here on every little trip to Boston I've been on but never ended up in the right neighbourhood(s).



We were doing an earlyish extrication on Saturday morning so wanted to grab something quickly rather than sit down to a brunch, meaning Flour was the perfect stop off en route home.

The breakfast sandwich was great but the hands down winner of breakfast was the Coconut Cream Pie... which is an essential part of a well balanced breakfast.


Normally when faced with a cabinet of deliciousness, some virtuous, martyr-ish part of me opts for the 'healthy' option. In a place like Flour that would still have been dam tasty, but this time I was on an all out, indulgent, last-day-of-vacay kick and order my cream pie with gusto.

And boy and I glad I did.

Even Charlie, who's eyes lit up at the prospect of a long awaited taste (we're talking years here) of Shoo Fly/Pecan Pie, admitted I had won breakfast with that creamy, coconutty slice of heaven.

Once back in my own (almost finished- updates coming soon!) kitchen, I knew the first thing on my 'try to make' list would be that coconut cream pie.

Consisting of a pastry crust, a coconut flavoured custard, and topped with whipped cream sprinkled with coconut flakes, there we're a couple of changes I wanted to make to the original recipe.

Instead of a pastry base I plumped for a graham cracker/digestive biscuit base, and to lighten up the custard I used half cream, half culinary coconut milk.

The Flour pie also used toasted coconut flakes to sprinkle on top whereas I left mine in their natural snowy state, preferring their flavour this way and also the pretty snow cloud look of the finished pie.

Ingredients:

Base-
Just over 2 cups/200g crushed graham crackers/digestive biscuits
1/2 cup/60g salted butter

Coconut custard-
1 cup culinary coconut milk- I use this one (not a paid link!) as it's nice and thick
1 cup of half and half/single cream
4 egg yolks
1 cup shredded coconut sweetened
2 tablespoons all purpose/plain flour

Topping-
1 & 1/2 cups whipping/heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened

Method:

Melt the butter, in the microwave or on the stove, pour into the crushed crackers/biscuits. You can crush the crackers/biscuits however you find easiest- hands down the way I find simplest is in a processor. It makes for a nice fine crumb and a lot less mess from exploding sandwich bag vs. rolling pin debacles.


Mix the butter into the crumbs until they are coated and look like wet sand. press into a pie dish, moulding them up the sides of the dish. Press down firmly so that the crumbs compressed together and won't just crumble apart.

Pop in the fridge to set for at least an hour.

Pour the single cream/half and half and the coconut milk into a saucepan, not on heat, and whisk together. Crack and separate the eggs, save the whites to make meringues or velveting chicken, plop the yolks into the coconut cream mixture and whisk in well.


Place the pan over a low/medium heat and bring to a gentle boil, stirring continually. When small bubbles start to appear at the outer edges of the pan and the mixture is steaming, add in the shredded coconut and keep whisking. Adding the coconut later makes the custard easier to whisk and heat evenly until it boils.

Keep the pan over a low heat, spoon a couple of tablespoons of the custard into a mug or ramekin and add the flour, whisk with a fork until it forms a smooth paste then add the paste back into the custard and combine. The flour will help thicken the custard more and help it set when it cools.

Continue cooking the custard for a further ten minutes, then pour into a bowl. Cover with cling film/saran wrap, pushing the plastic right onto the surface of the custard so it doesn't form a skin when it cools, and pop in the fridge.


When the custard is completely cool (you can hurry this along by spreading the custard on a large plate so it has more surface area), spoon it into the pie crumb crust and cover as before, chill for another hour.

Whip the cream until it is quite thick, thicker than you'd use to dollop over a dessert, you want it to hold its shape when a slice of pie is cut.

When the custard is set in the crumb crust, pile on the cream (this is a pie made of cream and cream so let's not hold back under the pretense of being health conscious eh?)



Finish with a sprinkle of coconut flakes- toasted or not, your choice and dive into a slice of utter indulgence.

It's been a crazy year at Vine HQ. It's been a crazy three years if we're being really honest, and with December no looking as though it's going to let up, Charlie and I decided to take a little midweek break away somewhere local while we could both swing some time.

Boston, being just under an hour away was perfect for a mini-cation, we didn't waste time traveling which left more time for fun.... and eating.

We stayed at The Verb over in Fenway. A swinging sixties, rock and roll inspired hotel, part of me thought it was going to be too good to be true given the surprisingly reasonable room price. This isn't a review of the hotel, you can check out trick advisor for that, butIi'd whole heartedly recommend it to anyone wanting a funky place to stay in Boston, without breaking your budget or compromising on style.

Now to the food. Wow.

With only two-ish days in the city we wanted to make the most of what Boston's menus had to offer whilst seeing the city without needing to be forklifted home. I think we hit some of Boston's top spots, but there are so many more I'm desperate to get back to!


Thursday's lunch found us as Sweet Cheeks Q on Boyleston in Fenway, a convenient and entirely coincidental 3 minute stroll from our hotel.

Sweet Cheeks is all about Texas BBQ, smoked meats that aren't slathered in sauce, rather meltingly tender and succulent with their own slow smoked fats.

Led by Tiffani Faison (of Top Chef fame) and her memories of her childhood backyard 'the American south, north of the Mason Dixie', there is no way you're not getting excited about a place that's R&D included a life changing short rib.



The star of the show here really is the meat; from the impressive local, 'Never Ever' provenance (as in 'never ever' treated with hormones and rubbish), to the metal tray presentation: a scoop of coleslaw in one corner, a pile of sweet pickles in the other, and anything runny (like their incredible mac and cheese) confined to an enameled mug.

We ordered the brisket and the ribs, along with coleslaw, mac and cheese and a bucket of the most amazing biscuits that come with a whipped honey butter that are the perfect sweet counterpoint to the intensely rich, savory meat.

The BBQ sauce, one of three condiments set out on every table- the others a pickly vinaigrette and a spicy hot sauce, was so damn good we bought it. before we'd even finished our meal we had bought a bottle of that sauce and were wondering whether one would be enough.


Needless to stay experiments in backyard smoking are already filling my imagination, but in the meantime i'll be trying to recreate the delicious sweet pickles to keep my appetite sated until I can go back.

I did a similar recipe to this in the summer: Vegetarian Roasted Carrot, Coriander and Orange Cous Cous, but I'm heading to a party with a gluten free friend so wanted to change it up a little bit to give her some more dining options.

Chickpeas are a brilliant base for gluten free meals, they can make soups and stews thick and creamy, or add a crispy bite to salads, vegetarian burgers and falafel.

With us also being in a cooler season I wanted to make it a bit heartier, so eschewed the zesty orange in favour of earth cumin and rich honey.


Ingredients:

2 cans of chickepeas, drained
3 large carrots
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
a good glug of olive oil
2 tbsp  honey
salt and pepper
small bunch fresh cilantro/coriander leaf
about 100g/4oz fresh arugula/rocket leaves

Method:

Slice the carrots on a diagonal, it'll make them look more interesting and also give them sharp thin edges that'll roast up really nicely.

Throw all the ingredients (except the fresh cilantro/coriander and rocket/arugula) on to a large baking sheet and mix well. Pour over the olive oil and honey and either get your hands stuck in or use two spoons to tumble the ingredients together like you would toss a salad.



Spread everything out over the sheet and place in a preheated oven at 400F for 25/30 minutes, until the carrot are soft in the middle and the chickpeas are roasted golden brown.

Roughly chop HALF the cilantro/coriander leaves and with the arugula/rocket, make a lush green layer on a large plate or platter, leaving a well in the middle.

Once the carrots and chickpeas are completely cool, finely chop the remaining half of the cilantro/coriander and toss with the carrots and chickpeas.

Tumble the roasted carrot and chickpea mix into the well in the middle of the arugula/rocket bed to serve.

My garden has been growing!

All this summer weather and a serious watering schedule has resulted in some actual real vegetables I can pick and eat.. I know!



So far the peas have been the stars of the show, those fat little pods are just bursting with sweet summer goodness (which are going to be part of a delicious summer pasta recipe on the blog shortly!)

The beans are taking notes from their prolific pea neighbours and starting to look like real, actual beans... which is nice.

I think I'll be sauteing these up with some panchetta and serving them warm with salad when they are ready to pick.


My leeks are looking lovely and orderly if a little small. I'm hoping they will get a little bigger but even if I end up with baby leeks they will be very happy tucked up with some strong cheddar in a flaky pastry tart!

Scooping also means you may loose out on optimal nutrition from the very dark green flesh nearest the skin, which is often what gets left behind if a spoon is your avocado de-bagging weapon of choice.

This is a super simple little tip for hulling strawberries that is clean, safe for little helpers and won't end up with you losing half your strawberry to over zealous de-stalking!

Whilst I get the irony of a Brit making a British inspire recipe to celebrate the July 4th, I wanted to make something that honored the stars and stripes as my adopted homestead.

Shortbread is really easy to make and exceptionally delicious. Traditionally Scottish rather than English, I am borrowing this tasty treat from my Celtic neighbours and filling it with the jammy colours of America.


Ingredients: Makes 16 stars

For the shortbread-
1 1/2 cups of salted butter
1 1/2 cups of white granulated (US)/ caster (UK) sugar
3/ 12 cups all purpose (US/ plain (UK) flour
cold water

For the filling:
Use this fresh jam recipe or your favourite jam


Method:

Make sure that your butter is well chilled and very hard before starting to make shortbread. The key to a good short bread is that is it 'short', which in real money means crumbly and not chewy. This crumbly texture is gained by not overworking the dough and keeping the mixture as cold as possible. If the butter melt and 'soaks' into the flour it becomes a bit paste like and does not make for good shortbread.

Chop the butter into half inch cubes and tumble into the sifted flour, shake over the sugar then use your finger to rub the butter into the flour to make breadcrumbs. If you are making these on a hot day or you have particularly warm hand, it's a good idea to run your hand under a cold tap for a few moments prior to starting this, though make sure you dry them really well. Another tip is to pop the mixture into the fridge every few minutes to re-chill the butter if it starts getting a bit melty.

When you have fine bread crumbs that resemble the texture of wet sand, trickle a very small amount of water into the centre of your crumbs and work together to form a dough. You want to use as little water as possible and work the dough as little as possible. The amount of water you use will depend on so many factors including the climate, flour type and temperature but it's usually no more than a couple of table spoons.
Again, be sure to use cold water so that it doesn't melt the butter.

When you have your dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 inch or 1cm thick. Cut circles in the pastry that are about 3 1/2 inches or 10cm in diameter, I used a martini glass for lack of a suitable cutter!

To make the stars, pinch the side of the circle together at 5 equal point around the rim of the pastry circle. Dab a little water on the dough to help them stick well.

Transfer your stars onto a well greased baking tray and fill each one with about a table spoon of your jam.

When this is done, pop the trays into the fridge. Further setting the butter will help the stars keep their shape when they are baked in the hot oven.

Bake in a preheated oven at about 320F for 10-15 minutes, you wanted them to be a pale golden colour but not brown.

As I said in the jam recipe instructions, the jam will become richer and stickier in the heat. Let the stars cool after baking and serve up as part of a 4th of July picnic!

(or scoff them all in the safety of your kitchen where no one else can get them!)