< Previous60 COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 DESSERT ISLAND FRIED AND TRUE These perfectly portioned pastries have deep Southern roots story and recipe by PHIL NEWTON | photo by JENNIFER REYNOLDS T he tradition of fried pies can be traced to the immigration of English, Scottish and Irish settlers to the Southern United States. English colonizers established Virginia as the first permanent English settlement in North America and Scottish and Irish immigrants followed in the 18th century, drawn to the region’s fertile land, abundant natural resources and promise of economic opportunity, according to duesouth.media, an online publication about small- town living and Southern food and drink. Historically in the American South, fried pies were known as “crab lanterns,” a term that dates back to at least 1770, and might originate from crab apple pies that had slits for ventilation, thus resembling a lantern, according to various online resources. Originally, fried pies were meat-filled pastries, but the abundance of fruits available in the colonies popularized sweet pies. Over time, the African-American community also contributed significantly to the evolution of fried pies by introducing new ingredients and better techniques, such as adding buttermilk to the dough and double frying. FRIED APPLE PIE WITH SALTED RUM CARAMEL SAUCE For the pie dough: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoons salt 1 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoons sugar 1 1 ⁄ 2 sticks butter, cold and diced 1 ⁄ 2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk For the filling: 4 apples 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon ground ginger 1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon ground allspice 3 tablespoons brown sugar 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 ⁄ 4 cup dark rum Pinch of salt 1 tablespoon butter 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water, lightly beaten for brushing pies 6 cups frying oil 3 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar For the caramel: 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons dark rum 6 tablespoons heavy cream 6 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon sea salt Peel and core the apples and small-dice them. Set aside 1 ⁄ 2 cup. In a medium pot, combine the remaining apples and next 8 ingredients, plus 1 ⁄ 2 cup water. Cook over medium low heat until thickened and jam-like. Add reserved apples and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the butter and remove filling from heat. (Should be about 2 cups) refrigerate until cold. To make the dough: In a bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture until coarse and pebbly. Add buttermilk and mix until dough just comes together. Flatten the dough, wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour. roll out dough about 1 ⁄ 8 -inch thick and cut into 5-inch rounds. Chill until ready to assemble. To assemble the pies: Lightly flour work surface and place the pie rounds on top. Place 2 1 ⁄ 2 tablespoons filling in the center of each dough round. Use your fingers to spread some egg wash around the edges. Fold dough over and press to seal. Crimp the edges and cut 2 slits in the top of each pie. Chill while waiting to fry. In a medium pot, heat oil to around 350 F. Fry 3 pies at a time until golden. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Serve warm with a drizzle of the salted caramel and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. To make the caramel: In a small pot, combine sugar and just enough water to make sugar look like wet sand. Cook over medium heat with out stirring until the sugar is a deep amber-honey color. remove from heat and whisk in rum followed by the cream. Stir in butter and salt. Keep warm until ready to serve. PHIL NEWTON is a Galveston baker/cook. He’s the owner/operator of Stiglich Corner with partner Cindy Roberts. COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 61 Favorites Buy it now! Easy Cooking, Texas Gulf Style COASTMONTHLY.COM/ COOKBOOK62 COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 COUNTER CULTURE ‘THE LIGHT IS AMAZING’ Islanders use post-storm renovations to create a kitchen they love story by BARBARA CANETTI | photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS N atural light gleaming through the window is what attract- ed Elizabeth George to her kitchen. And although she loves the rest of her East End Galveston home, it’s the kitchen and the bright sunshine most of the year that makes it her favorite room. “I really do love it,” she said, noting the house she and her husband, James, have owned since 2006 initially had been a weekend getaway from their Austin home. “But the weekends started to be three days and then four days,” she said. “We used to come here for vacations, but on one trip, we were driving around and I saw this house. And it was for sale. We bought it immediately.” The two-story, two-bedroom house was built in 1875. The bedrooms are upstairs, but the downstairs is where the couple spends most of their time. The kitchen opens into a small family room on one side, and a few feet away onto a nook that’s connected to a large dining room/ living room. An outside door leads to a deck and Jim’s favorite cooking spot, which is the grill. “I’m just a griller and breakfast chef,” he said, adding his specialty is a cheese omelet. Elizabeth rules her kitchen, although there is ample space for other chefs. “I love cooking in this kitchen,” she said. “It is big, but I need space to spread out.” In researching her home, Elizabeth found documentation that shows the large kitchen area was probably part of the house before the 1900 Storm that killed thousands of people in (Above) James George and his wife, Elizabeth, both enjoy cooking in the spacious kitchen of their East End home in Galveston. (Opposite) Sunlight streams through a large kitchen window. The sunshine makes the kitchen Elizabeth’s favorite room. COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 6364 COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 COUNTER CULTURE Galveston, based on a photo she saw taken from a neighbor’s window. But she doesn’t believe it was part of the original structure because most 19th-century houses had unattached kitchens. Since before 1900, the footprint of the house has stayed the same. And although the couple suffered through Hurricane Ike’s flooding in 2008, in retrospect it was a bless- ing, she said. The house had more than 2 feet of floodwater and all the downstairs floors and cabinets had to be replaced. But Elizabeth saw it as an opportunity. “Perfect time for a redo,” she said. “I de- signed it just how I wanted it.” She kept the original windows — a big one faces south and fills the room with light. The corner pantry had to be retrofitted, and they also bumped out some walls and closets to make the kitchen floor space more open. They selected a dark granite for the countertops to contrast the white cabinets and pale yellow walls. They were able to put a dining table in the kitchen for casual meals, saving the fancy furnishings for the more formal dining room. The cabinetry is simple, but Elizabeth chose an interesting leaded-glass front for two small cabinets where special silver and serving plates are stored. During the redo, the couple made sure there was adequate count- er space for projects and meal preparation. Because Elizabeth is an artist, the rooms are decorated with many of her seaside-style paintings, mixing the Victorian vibe of the house and kitchen with the beachy Galveston scenes and structures. As with most artists, natural light is important and sought after. “I just love to sit in this room,” she said. “The light is amazing.” COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 65 MUSSELS IN RED SAUCE Serves: 6 ½ cup olive oil 2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped 1 whole bulb garlic, minced and crushed 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes 5-6 chopped Roma tomatoes 1 large bundle curly parsley, finely chopped 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon basil 1 cup white wine 1 large fish/shrimp bouillon cube 4 cups fish stock 1 bag (1½ pounds) mussels, cleaned, scrubbed and purged Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and continue to sauté until lightly golden. Add tomatoes, bouillon, salt, peppers and basil and 1 cup of fish stock. Cook for 10 minutes. Add wine. Cook 5 minutes more. Add remaining 3 cups of stock and cook for 30 minutes more. Add parsley and mussels. Cover and cook over medium heat, shaking pan to coat and move mussels. Cook for 10 minutes or so until mussels open and are plump. Serve over fresh angel hair pasta and top with sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Serve with crusty French bread for dipping in sauce. — Recipe courtesy of Elizabeth George (From top) One of Elizabeth George’s paintings hangs near the arched entry to the kitchen; The kitchen features white cabinets and dark granite countertops. When James and Elizabeth George remodeled the room after Hurricane Ike in 2008, they removed a broom closet wall to make more room for the fridge. (Opposite, clockwise from top left) Dorie, a rescue cat, sits next to the kitchen table, which is set for a casual meal of salad and mussels in red sauce with linguine; the kitchen features a corner pantry; the couple uses the dining room form more formal gatherings.66 COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 HOMEPORT ‘I LIKE THEM ALL’ Doctor fills her island home with furnishings and pieces that reflect her interests story by BARBARA CANETTI photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS D r. Amy Mrazek decorates her Galveston home with trea- sures she finds at estate sales and antique stores. But she’s very selective. Each purchase must be meaningful to her rather than just random collections. Mrazek is a surgeon and a student of the human body. Her mission has been to find interesting, unique and special items that focus on her activities and hobbies. And she has been successful over the past 15 years in Galveston finding the types of furnishings that tell her story, she said. Mrazek’s home in midtown Galveston is a sprawling 1940s two-story building, which she moved into a year ago. It required some work — new exterior yellow paint, resur- facing kitchen cabinets and countertops — but the bones of the house were good and allowed her and her mother, Nancy, to move in. She selected each piece of furniture, each lamp, each table and chair to give rooms their own personality. The living room is Victorian, with a 1,500-pound cast-iron window refurbished into the medallion on the ceiling, encasing an ornate chandelier. Bill Milligan, an interior designer, had to rent a lift machine to raise the piece, which was from Architectural Salvage in Round Top, Texas, and originally from a building in Paris, he said. “We had to reinforce the steel beams in the ceiling to hold this, but I wanted it on the ceiling,” Mrazek said. “I found the chandelier in Round Top and it certainly is unique.” The couches are Victorian, the chairs are antique, the marble-topped King Louis IV credenza, which was rescued from a bar, and several pieces of 1800s wicker all mesh together in the living room, giving it an air of sophistication. And despite their prove- nance and history, Mrazek “lives” with her antiques and uses them. Her taste in décor varies: mid-century modern, Victorian, avant art deco and art nouveau. “I like them all,” she said. “I’m not too stodgy with all one style. I find pieces and try COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 67 to rethink and use them in a different way to showcase them. But I have a connection to each piece and it’s very personal to me.” The downstairs bedroom, where Nancy sleeps, is furnished in mid-century modern. In fact, the blonde furniture in the room has been in the family for decades — since mid-century. The breakfast table and chairs also are from the same period and have been with the Mrazek family for as long as she can remember. A large bright sunroom is the only place with a beachy feel. Locally produced art from Galveston painters hang on the walls and a glass-fronted display case is filled with ornate shells and shell art, as well as pottery and art pieces depicting faces. “I am drawn to faces and forms,” Mrazek said. “I appreciate the human body.” The original dining room now is a parlor, furnished with ebonized furniture and musical instruments, including a working gramophone and collection of records. There also is a desk — one of many in the house — in the parlor. Dr. Amy Mrazek’s island home is a showcase for her collections, including the closet in her primary bedroom, with its quartz-topped cen- ter dresser and lighted, glass-fronted cabinets.68 COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 COASTMONTHLY.COM | MArCH 2024 69 HOMEPORT (Clockwise from top) The foyer of Dr. Amy Mrazek’s home in Galveston features a chandelier from Foley’s in Houston and antique furnishings, including an ornately carved hall tree; a Victor Talking Machine Co. gramophone, which still works, is displayed in the corner of the parlor; sunlight highlights the pattern in a wicker settee from the 1800s, part of a set, in the living room. (Opposite) An ornate chandelier hangs from a French, cast-iron window turned into a ceiling medallion in the living room.Next >