Cooking is soothing when life’s no cakewalk for this cook of the week.
TURNER – Roberta Boucher likes the sense of order that cooking brings to her life. “I like the building of it (the dish from the recipe), getting everything organized and then putting it in order … because life is so chaotic,” said Boucher.
When her husband died in an accident this past fall, Boucher found herself turned to cooking as a therapy for dealing with the grief. She said that she even found herself cooking for the gathering at her in-laws’ home after her husband died. “I made a cheesecake … everybody kept telling me that I shouldn’t be cooking, but it was my vacation from the grief,” Boucher said.
She learned how to cook from both of her grandmothers, who were “awesome cooks,” and from Jean Evvard, a “friend of the family who took me under her wing.”
Boucher said she loves to look at really old cookbooks and find recipes that were around more than 100 years ago that nobody knows about anymore. Her mentor, Evvard, gave her a recipe for French pear pie, which had been passed down from mother to daughter. “It’s probably 120 years old,” said Boucher. She said this pie is not something people are used to eating. Usually, people will comment, “This is really strange apple,” when they try the pie. “I say, ‘It’s not apple, it’s pear,'” said Boucher with a laugh.
Boucher’s favorite kitchen utensils are from Pampered Chef. “I think I have one of everything in the book. They’re great – if it breaks, they replace it,” says Boucher.
Boucher lives in Turner with her cat, Pewter, and a dog named Kirby. She also has horse named Risky. “I’ve been into horses my whole life. Ever since I could crawl, I said, ‘Horsey.'” After graduating from high school, Boucher traveled to England to learn to teach horseback riding.
When she isn’t cooking or spending time with her animals, Boucher works for a small manufacturing company in Lewiston called Bags from Mars.
Chipped-beef bread dip
Ingredients:
1 16-ounce container sour cream
1 16-ounce container mayonnaise
1 5-ounce jar chipped beef
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dill weed powder
2 round, crusty bread loaves (bowls)
Method:
Chop beef into very fine pieces (I put in blender). Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, parsley flakes, dill weed and cut-up beef. Put in container and store in fridge until ready to serve.
Just before serving, cut top off one loaf of bread. Hollow out by ripping small pieces of bread out. Fill bread bowl with mixture. Cut up/tear up second bread loaf and put bread pieces out with filled bread bowl to use for dipping. When dip is gone, you can eat the bowl.
Roberta’s note:
I use marble bread of pumpernickel and rye.
French pear pie
Topping ingredients:
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/3 cup softened butter
Topping method:
Blend flour and sugar together and cut in butter until crumbly. Cover and place mixture in fridge until later.
Pie ingredients:
1 9-inch pie pastry
1 tablespoon tapioca
4 cups peeled and sliced pears (about 5 large pears)
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
4 teaspoons flour
4 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ cup white corn syrup
Pie method:
Put pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate and flute edges. Sprinkle tapioca over bottom of pie crust. Blend sugar, flour and ginger. Take 1/3 of the mixture and sprinkle over tapioca and pie crust sides. Put sliced pears in and spread around evenly. Drizzle lemon juice and corn syrup over the pears. Then sprinkle the rest of the flour/spice mixture over the pears. Top with the crumbly mixture that’s in the fridge. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes on rack near bottom of oven. Then turn down temperature to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until crumbly topping is golden brown and pears are bubbly.
Roberta’s note:
When buying pears for the pie, the pears are usually not ripe so I buy them a week ahead of time. I put the pears in a paper bag and let them ripen before making pie. This pie freezes very well. Prepare up to the baking stage. Wrap really well with plastic wrap and freeze. This allows you to make the pie weeks ahead of time. Thaw and bake when ready.
Pumpkin pie dessert squares
Crust ingredients:
1 package yellow cake mix (any brand), reserve 1 cup of mix for topping
½ cup melted butter
1 egg
Filling ingredients:
1 15-ounce can pumpkin/squash
2½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
Topping ingredients:
1 cup reserved cake mix
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup softened butter
Method for bottom crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9-by-13-inch pan. In a bowl, combine package of yellow cake mix, reserving 1 cup for topping, ½ cup melted butter and 1 egg. Mix well and press into bottom of pan (looks like Play-Doh).
Method for filling:
Combine pumpkin/squash, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, eggs and milk. Mix well until smooth. Pour over bottom crust. Combine topping ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle over filling. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes or until topping is golden brown and knife comes out clean.
Comments are no longer available on this story