Easy South Beach Recipes: Asparagus with Basil Pesto

People keep asking for more Easy South Beach Recipes, so I'm always looking for South Beach Diet friendly recipes with five ingredients or less that taste wonderful. This one is a combination I stumbled on by accident. I planned to use Elise's recipe for The Perfect Way to Cook Asparagus, but when I got ready to make it, I didn't have any lemons. Then I noticed a jar of pesto in the fridge and it turned out to be fantastic with the lightly cooked asparagus. I wondered what else would be good with asparagus and pesto, and when I entered it into the Food Blog Search I found out I wasn't the first food blogger to think this sounded like a good combination. See those recipes at the end if you're up for something with a few more ingredients.

Asparagus with Basil Pesto
(Makes 2-4 servings, but I could eat all of this myself.)

1 lb. fresh asparagus
1-2 T purchased basil pesto

Be sure asparagus is clean, then break off the end of one piece to see where the woody stalk starts. Trim the other asparagus pieces to that size, then cut asparagus on the diagonal into pieces about 2 inches long. Fill medium sized pot with water and bring to a boil. Add asparagus and cook 2-3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus. Don't overcook, use a timer! When asparagus is lightly cooked but still fairly crisp, drain well. Toss hot asparagus immediately with pesto and serve immediately.

Peanut Butter Pie Recipe

I have a new favorite pie that I will be sharing with my family at Thanksgiving—it’s peanut butter pie. But before I tell you how to make it, first a little background.

Two years ago, I received a cookbook in the mail. It was spiral-bound with a lavender cover that had a black and white photo of a woman pulling a tray of rolls from an oven. The title of the book was “Gennie’s Bishop Grill. The Best Buns in Town!!!”

Inside the front flap was an inscription: “Lisa, We hope you enjoy a little bit of Texas home cooking! Thanks, Rosemarie.” I scratched my head. I had not ordered this cookbook, nor was I familiar with either Rosemarie or Gennie’s Bishop Grill. It was strange.

A couple of days later, my dad called. “Lisa, did you send me a cookbook from Gennie’s Bishop Grill?” I told him I had not. Now I was really confused! Who was Rosemarie and why was she sending my dad and me cookbooks?


But before I had a chance to say this, my dad continued. “I love Gennie’s Bishop Grill! I used to eat there all the time!” He went on to tell me that Gennie’s Bishop Grill was a restaurant in the Bishop’s Art District that served up excellent home cooking. It was known for its chicken-fried steak, yeast rolls and its pies—namely its peanut butter pie.

The owners of the restaurant, Rosemarie (daughter of Gennie) and her husband Gus, retired in 2005 and closed the restaurant. But they had a bunch of cookbooks and the Dallas Morning News had written an article about the restaurant, with an address to place orders for this trove of Texan home cooking.

I had wanted to make a custard-based peanut butter pie for quite a while, but most of the recipes I saw were the kind where you mix the peanut butter with cream cheese and whipped cream and spoon this into a chocolate-cookie crust. Not a bad dessert, but not quite what I was looking for.



I asked my grandma if she had one, and she recommended taking her chocolate pie recipe and substituting peanut butter for the chocolate. I followed her advice and fell in love. This was the peanut butter pie I had been seeking!

A few days later when I was talking to my grandma, she said, “Are you still looking for peanut butter pie recipes? I bet there’s a good one in that cookbook I sent you.”

Now, my grandma often sends me recipes clipped from the newspaper or photocopied from an old family recipe cards, but I didn’t recall her ever sending me an actual cookbook.

“What cookbook?” I asked.

“Oh, you know—the one from that Oak Cliff cafe that closed. I read about it in the paper and bought one for you and one for your dad.”



But of course! The mystery was solved. And yes, Grandma was correct—there was indeed a recipe for peanut butter pie in the cookbook. And while it was a little bit different from the one I had already made, I could tell by reading it that the food at Gennie’s Bishop Grill was pretty spectacular and I’m sorry I was never able to eat at their restaurant. But thankfully, their good food lives on in their cookbook, which I’m very happy to own.

Peanut Butter Pie

Filling ingredients:
2 egg yolks, beaten slightly
1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cups of sugar
5 tablespoons of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
¾ cup of peanut butter
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Meringue ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sugar

Your favorite pie crust. (I use my grandma's pie crust.)

Method:
In a pot, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, flour and salt. While stirring, cook on medium heat until it bubbles and thickens, about five to 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne and peanut butter.

Meanwhile, poke holes in your pie crust with a fork and bake it at 350 until it’s brown, about 20 minutes.

Beat your egg whites with salt and when they start to get fluffy add the sugar.

Pour the peanut butter custard into the baked pie shell and top with the beaten egg whites.

Bake pie until peaks on the meringue are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Notes: I used smooth, unsweetened peanut butter; feel free to use chunky. If you use sweetened peanut butter, however, you may want to cut down on the sugar. And I like to top my meringue with roasted peanuts. A sprinkle of cocoa powder is also delicious. And I understand some of you don't even like meringue! The Bishop Grill recipe is topped with whipped cream, which I bet is also pretty darn good.


thank you

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