Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a very safe and enjoyable holiday!
This morning I am busy cooking in my kitchen like all of you. I am preparing a stuffed and roasted 20-pound organic heritage turkey to add to my friend's buffet table. And of course, I am also making a big bowl of my mother's, "Big Martha," delicious mashed potatoes! Yesterday, I was busy baking 30-pies! I love baking pies and every Thanksgiving, I bake one for every member of my staff here at the farm to thank them for all their hard work during the year.
Here are some photos.
Here I am rolling out one of the pâte brisée discs. When rolling, make sure there are no cracks. To fit a nine-inch pie plate, roll out an 11-inch round that’s about 1/8-inch thick. I have been making this pâte brisée for many years and have perfected this recipe. It calls for two-and-a-half cups all-purpose flour, one teaspoon kosher salt, one teaspoon granulated sugar, two sticks unsalted butter, and a quarter to a half cup of ice water.
Every year, I pull out lots of my own pie plates, but I remind all the recipients that they must come back after the holiday. I like to use glass pie dishes most, so it is easy to see when the pie’s bottom crust is sufficiently browned.
Here are several chilled pâte brisée discs. Pâte brisée is the French version of classic pie or tart pastry. It is a versatile all-butter dough for both sweet and savory recipes—from apple pie to quiche.
I blind bake my pie crusts. This is the process of baking a pie crust without the filling. To blind bake a chilled pie crust, just line it with parchment paper in the pie dish and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. After about 20 minutes at 375-degrees Fahrenheit, carefully remove the parchment and the weights. Then bake it until the crust is dry but not brown, about five minutes more.
Here is one pie crust baked and ready to empty of its bean weights. I’ve been using the same dried beans for more than 25-years. I reuse them time after time and store them in a big glass jar in my kitchen.
Using kitchen shears, I just trim the edge to one inch and fold under, so it all looks neat and tidy.
Next, using my fingers I decoratively crimp the crust. Crimping is not only decorative, but it makes it less likely the sides of the pie will fall or shrink during baking.
I also prick the bottom of the crust a few times with the tines of a fork. This is called docking, the culinary term for poking holes in a pie crust. The holes allow steam to escape, so the crust should stay flat against the baking dish when it isn’t held down by pie weights or a filling. Otherwise the crust can puff up, ruin its appearance, and leave less space for whatever filling is planned.
Meanwhile, on the stove cooking are two large pots of beautiful cranberries.
I worked in an assembly line fashion to get all the pies ready on time. Once cooked, they are left to cool – on the counter, on the stovetop, near my sink – anywhere there is room.
I also make lots of small decorations for the pies. The decorations are baked separately and then placed on the pie at the end – this allows for pieces to be moved onto each individual piece of pie when served.
After they are all done and slightly cooled, the pies are brought outside to the terrace to cool some more. The crew was given several choices, and I made all the pies and tarts “to order.” With a couple for me too, of course.
And a cranberry tart. This recipe is from my original “Martha Stewart’s Pies & Tarts” book.
All the pies for gifting were wrapped carefully in cellophane, tied with ribbon, and labeled for each recipient.
Then they were displayed on the tables by type.
Just before I personally distributed a pie to each staff member, I stopped for a quick photo – it’s all in a day’s work.
My beautiful Chow Chows, Emperor Han and Empress Qin, watched all the activity from the steps of my kitchen – and hoping for a crumb of crust to fall their way.
Here’s my business manager, JC Roberts, with his cranberry tart.
My property manager, Doug White, selected a lemon curd pie.
Carlos Restrepo from my housecleaning team wanted a classic brown sugar pumpkin pie.
Phurba Sherpa, a member of my outdoor grounds crew, asked for a pecan pie.
And my longtime helper here at the farm, Fernando Ferrari, took home a chocolate pecan pie.
I am always so happy to make pies for my hardworking team. I hope you are all having a wonderful time preparing for today’s big feast. Have a safe and wonderful holiday. And please share some of your memories with me in the comments section below.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, most of our spring-blooming bulbs are finally planted.
Every autumn we plant thousands and thousands of bulbs. A majority of them are daffodils. When I moved here, I established a long daffodil border along one side of my property. This border extends from my Summer House behind the stable and down to the north end of my Linden Allée. When the flowers are in bloom, I carefully assess what areas need more flowers and color, and then we plant in those spaces. This year, I selected bulbs from one of my favorite sources, Van Engelen Inc., a wholesale family-run flower bulb business located in Bantam, Connecticut. The varieties we got include 'Watch Up,' 'Frosty Snow,' 'Pink Wonder,' 'Edinburgh,' and 'Zinzi.'
Enjoy these photos.
This is one section of my long daffodil border in spring. It stretches down one side of my farm and erupts with gorgeous swaths of color every year.
My gardeners and I always take photos of the flowers in bloom, so we can see what areas need planting in the fall. In this photo, one can see the areas to the left of the border could use more bulbs.
I order lots of bulbs in batches of 50, 100, 500, and a thousand. Bulbs need to be packaged very carefully to ensure they are kept in the best conditions during transport. Van Engelen uses netted sacs as well as paper bags and plastic pouches depending on the bulbs’ humidity needs.
I plant all different kinds of daffodils from crisp white to bright yellow. This is Narcissus ‘Zinzi.’ This daffodil has a snow-white perianth framing a flat, irregularly split, golden-yellow corona edged in pinkish-apricot. (Photo courtesy of vanengelen.com)
Narcissus ‘Edinburgh’ is has a four inch-wide, greenish-white perianth and a big yellow split corona with a frilled, wavy orange-pink rim. (Photo courtesy of vanengelen.com)
This year, I also added Narcissus ‘Pink Wonder’ – this flower features three ivory petals overlaid with gently frilled, split corona petals that subtly blend from apricot-pink to golden-apricot with a striking chartreuse-yellow center. (Photo courtesy of vanengelen.com)
Narcissus ‘Frosty Snow’ opens sparkling snow-white with a flanged, cup-shaped, lemon-yellow crown that matures to white with a yellow rim. (Photo courtesy of vanengelen.com)
And Narcissus ‘Watch Up’ has sweetly scented, upward-facing blooms with large, four and a half inch-wide, greenish-white flowers and funnel-shaped trumpets that open yellow and mature to white. All these varieties will blend in so nicely with the existing ones. (Photo courtesy of vanengelen.com)
For food, we use a natural and organic fertilizer that is specifically recommended for all bulbs, including daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and tulips. We also combine it with bone meal fertilizer from ground-up animal bones. It is used to increase phosphorus in the garden, which is essential for plants to flower.
Ryan sprinkles a generous amount of fertilizer over the entire area. It is so important to feed any plants and trees that are planted. As I always say, “if you eat, so should the plants.”
There are several different tools one can use for planting bulbs. Using an auger drill bit attachment specifically for this task, Brian makes the holes – counting them as he goes.
Daffodils are medium-sized bulbs, so the holes are spaced about six-inches from one another on all sides. And the general rule of thumb for planting spring bulbs is to plant them two to three times as deep as the bulbs are tall. This means most daffodils will be planted about six inches down.
Brian makes all the holes first before planting. If planting a lot of bulbs, this is a good way of keeping track of all the bulbs and their varieties.
This is a daffodil bulb. Daffodil bulbs are round in shape with a pointed tip which is where the shoot will appear. Look closely and see the small roots on the underside of the bulb. Daffodil bulbs are usually around two to three inches in diameter. All bulbs should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place until they are planted. These bulbs are in good condition and ready to plant.
Brian places the bulb into the hole. Always plant with the pointed end faced up. If it is planted upside down, the flower will still grow, but it will likely take longer.
Here is one bulb in its hole several inches deep.
In production line fashion, Brian fills the holes in sections to ensure the varieties remain together.
Sometimes, daffodil bulbs may divide and produce bulblets. This bulb has one bulblet on its side. Some bulbs could produce two or even three bulblets.
Whenever possible, plant the bulb and its bulblet as is; however, if it does not fit into the hole, it is okay to separate the bulblet from the parent bulb and plant them in different holes.
After all the bulbs in the area are placed into their designated holes, Brian backfills with a soft rake.
This border looks more lovely every year. I am always eager to see it filled with color in spring. Just wait and see it with me. I’ll be sure to share photos. What bulbs are you planting in the garden?
Stalls in my stable are now equipped with innovative mat flooring systems that provide more supportive and even surfaces for my horses.
I share my Bedford, New York farm with four Friesians, five Sicilian donkeys, and one Fell pony. All of my equines reside happily in my large stable. My stable manager, Helen Peparo, and I are always on the lookout for sensible, easy-to-use products and supplies that keep my horses in good health. Recently, we decided to improve the comfort of the stalls by adding thick wall-to-wall waterproof mat systems by StableComfort™. These easy-to-install padded mats offer cushioning and insulation, save on the use of wood shavings, and are easy to clean.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
The stalls in my stable are walled in beautiful mahogany and outfitted with durable, safe gates, and feeders. The concrete floors, however, only had one layer of rubber matting and my oldest horse, Rinze, and two others needed a bit more cushioning for their legs and joints.
These are StableComfort™ mattresses – part of a flooring system specifically developed for horse stalls. The systems decrease leg fatique, reduce chances of possible tissue fluid accumulation, and provide a good barrier from the cold, damp floors.
The premium pads provide another layer. All the elements of these flooring systems are environmentally friendly and made from recycled materials.
After the stalls were completely emptied and cleaned, Pete measures the space.
And then he measures the mattresses. These mattresses are made, so they can be molded to fit perfectly in the stall.
Once the mattresses are inside, the individual cells can be cut to release the crumb filling and fit the dimensions of the space.
More crumb filling is emptied on top of the mattresses to fill the grooves of the mattress cells – nothing is wasted.
The crumbs are made from recycled tires. Everything is waterproof.
Using a broom, Pete carefully spreads the crumb filling into all the grooves.
Next, sheets of premium pad are put down on top of the mattresses.
Here, one can see the thickness of these padded sheets. Each of my Friesians is about 1500-pounds and need good, thick padding. These new flooring systems will be much more comfortable.
Here is a look at the layers on the stall floor – the mattress, the crumb filling, and the pads create about a four to six inch cushion. This is on top of the rubber mat that was already in place.
Next, Pete and Doug trim the existing mat, so everything is even.
Then a piece of mahogany wood is installed in the threshold of the stall to prevent any of the mats from moving.
The same is done at the rear entrance of the stall.
Any excess pad is trimmed carefully with a utility knife.
The top layer is a waterproof cover. This is a single piece of latex sheeting that is placed over the entire floor system. Once in the stall, it is pulled tight over the floor so it is flat and level.
Here, Doug secures mahogany trim over the edge of the flooring material. Mahogany wood has a straight grain, good density, extreme durability, and is resistant to rot. It is excellent material for horse stalls.
Trim is pushed down snug and installed all around the room over the top cover, so it remains taut.
Any excess top cover is then also cut.
And here is the finished edge. It looks so neat and tidy, but also so much more comfortable for my dear horses.
Here is the other side. This surface raises the floor, but is just as easy to keep clean.
And it should decrease the amount of wood shavings needed. Plus, the mattress pads allow for longer resting time when the horses are lying down.
Bond and Rinze will both be very happy on their new stall floors – maybe almost as comfortable inside as it is outside in their pastures.
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