Vinegar

I'm a fan of all things vinegar.  I don't know when that happened it just did.  One day I was looking in my kitchen cupboards and I discovered that I had about nine bottles of the stuff.  All different types. And actually weirdly, none of it the malt vinegar I had always considered to be the only kind of vinegar there was.

I use white vinegar a lot for cleaning.  I also use vinegar a lot as a salad dressing, a touch of balsamic over an avocado and tomato salad is delicious.  I use vinegar in sauces, especially if I don't have an open bottle of wine to hand.  There are a couple of places that I never really expected to use vinegar.  Firstly I never expected to make a drink out of it, but a year or so ago someone told me about a way to make alcohol free Pimms.  Even though the ingredients sounded a little crazy I had to have a go.  All you need is a drop of balsamic vinegar and some lemonade. I add a dribble of vinegar to the glass first, just enough to cover the bottom of a tall glass and then add the lemonade on top.

In my mind, what make s a Pimms delicious is all the trimmings, particularly the mint.  I love to add a few leaves of fresh mint, a slice or two of cucumber and some citrus-y fruit.  It even looks like you're drinking Pimms.  Sounds weird I know, but totally worth a go.

So when I saw a Pin for Vinegar Pie I just had to have a try.  I made a pie crust, and then added the filling.  I only used 3 cups of water, and I didn't have any maple extract, so I used vanilla and no cinnamon.  Also I couldn't find my whisk, so I just used a fork. Oh, and I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to wash up the sieve that would be needed to strain the mixture, so I just hoped for the best and poured it into the crust.  Also, I got a bit bored about 5 minutes into the boiling process, and the mixture was definitely coating my spoon, I decided enough was enough and my arm was hurting anyway!

It looked way too liquid-y as I poured, and I figured that I had probably just wasted a load of time, ingredients and energy.  Very frustrating.  I put the whole thing in the fridge and hoped that time would work its magic.

And it did!  It tastes like a custard pie and even managed to hold together my very dodgy pie crust.  Result.  Another win for vinegar related recipes.  The Husband enjoyed his pie, but the kids refused to eat it.  Some guests and one of their children did enjoy it (hopefully they weren't just saying that) too.