Cherry Pie

I was lucky enough to spend my Forth of July weekend in CT staying at a friends parents' house. It's a gorgeous property overlooking a staggering view of National State Park and owned by the loveliest people you could hope to spend time with. I felt very honored to be invited. A wonderful weekend filled with all the good things you hope Summer weekends should be; friends, love, laughter, food and swimming!!

Since we were there for three days, I made three desserts! A Cherry Pie with homemade vanilla ice cream, a Victoria Sponge in red, white and blue (strawberries, blueberries and cream!) and a Tarte Tartin with homemade bourbon ice cream. All seemed appropriate for our American Holiday, with a little British touch thrown in by the Victoria Sponge, independence from the British is what 4th July is all about after all and a little nod to the French with the Tartin as it was the French who gave the American's the Statue de la Liberté even if it was only to spite the English. Ah, good times :)

Here are the photographs of my Cherry Pie. The recipe came from the July 2011 edition of Martha Stewart Living and although I can't find the exact recipe online, this is close. RECIPE. I hope you all had wonderful July 4th weekends and even if this is not your holiday to celebrate, I believe we should all take a moment to celebrate our independence! Life, love and liberty to all.

How to make Homemade Sausage Rolls

This is for Colin. And for Dave. And for anyone who thinks putting these bad boys in their mouth is a good idea. Here's how you make homemade sausage rolls with minimum effort and maximum effect.

+ Buy Dafour Puff Pastry in any supermarket freezer section. Thaw 1 hour in the fridge (as per instructions), flour a surface and a rolling pin, roll out to approximate rectangle. Slice length ways with a sharp knife into three long rectangles.

+ Release 6-8 sausage from their casing. Buy really good sausages, or loose sausage meat, in the flavour of your choice. I love the Sweet Italian variety because they go with my sweet Italian nature. Ok that's rubbish, I just like them cause they're so New York and we don't have them in Europe. I wish I was Italian.

+ Lay the sausage meat in a fat line along the pastry. Brush the inside of the rectangle with beaten egg. Fold over the pastry to meet the other egged side to form a tunnel, seal by gently pinching the two sides together neatly. Brush the top of the tunnel with egg and sprinkle with fennel seeds (optional).

+ Using a long flat spatular and care, transfer the 'rolls' onto a baking tray. Make sure you have a baking tray long enough - or indeed that you only roll out your pastry to the length of your tray! Align the rolls next to each other in parallel, not too close.

+ Bake on a high temperature (390F/200C) for approximately 30-35 minutes. I cover them loosely with foil but take care to make sure the foil is not touching the egg/pastry or it will stick. Approximately 10-12 minutes before the end I take off the foil to allow the pastry to get it's lovely colour. This is all approximate because I made this recipe up, but as long as the sausages are cooked through (test the middle part of the middle roll to see if it's cooked), you're good to go!

+ Take out of the oven. Allow to rest before transferring to a board to slice. You want them to still be warm when you slice them otherwise the pasty is too crumbly, but you can't move them to the board until they've stood for a few minutes to firm up. Serve in bit size pieces with healthy servings of ketchup and dijon for dipping. Bada bing!