Last evening, I had a “wine and wellness” party with a theme: heart health. The party was lovely. But, unfortunately, alongside the goodies, I offered my guests a treacherous shipwreck.
I did serve sangria (white and red), loaded with lots of organic fruit, and sweetened with agave syrup. (If you want to try it, I used this recipe for the red sangria, except I put in blackberries instead of raspberries. For the white, I used the same recipe, and added peach slices as well as raspberries. Also, I used sparkling mineral water with just a whiff of lime essence in it, instead of club soda.)
I also served lots of heart-healthy appetizers. I had enjoyed surfing the net for ideas for an absolutely delicious menu that was also high in fiber, featured a rainbow of fresh, raw fruits and veggies, and was quite low in fat. (I have to say, the fresh fruit salad was to die for!) I also served small amounts of dark chocolate.
It was a great party, and we had some fascinating conversations. I also showed a couple of videos, including this 3-minute one from ABC news, which is a vivid illustration of what eating even one meal high in saturated fat does to our circulatory systems.
But, just like many another well-meaning hostess, I willfully shipwrecked us on the cook’s beach between the Scylla of comfort food and the Charybdis of keep-it-healthy, because the pear tree in the backyard is bearing a bumper crop this year. And when I see a good, tart, crunchy, Bosc pear, my mind and heart leap to “Pear and Ginger Pie.” The recipe is from a holiday cookbook my mom gave me years ago, and as you can imagine, every delicious recipe in that book is so loaded with simple fiber-free carbs and saturated fat, they all flunk any “heart healthy” criteria. Yet, yesterday afternoon, I picked a bowlful of pears and made my pie, with the heart-treason on my conscience countered by epicurean glee.
I did what I could with it. In the filling, I left the skin on the pear slices, used agave syrup instead of white sugar, and added no butter. For the crust, I replaced half the white flour with whole wheat flour. But then, then I succumbed. I used an entire stick – eight tablespoons – of butter in that pie crust. I have to tell you, that pie was really, really good! (And my daughter decorated the crust with oak leaves make of pie pastry, so it was very pretty, too!) It was very popular at the party.
And when we were luxuriating with the last two slices as breakfast this morning, I confessed to my husband about the pie crust. He said, “Wow! You might as well have deep-fried it!” Ouch.
So, do you know a good way to make a pie crust, or a pie-like confection, that is not loaded with fat? (And no, I do not consider vegetable shortening a good substitute!) If so, please do post it, or point us to the web site, and help out all us cooks who love the pleasures of tasty food, but don’t want to cause our own cardiovascular systems, or those of our guests, to suffer for the pleasure.
