This post is sponsored by Sharp. A big thank you to sponsors that make this little blog possible! All opinions are my own.
June is a very special month in American history. June 12 is Loving Day, the anniversary of the 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down anti-miscegenation laws. Anti-miscegenation laws made interracial marriages illegal in 16 states at the time. Mildred and Richard Loving were Virginians that went to Washington D.C. to marry as it was illegal in Virginia. When they returned home they were arrested for breaking the law and had to move to D.C. in order to avoid jail time.
As a child of interracial marriage, this day is particularly meaningful to me. My parents were married only 15 years after this ruling. Growing up, I knew that the composition of my family was different than most, but I was never fully aware of the challenges that interracial couples had in the past. I was educated on the Civil Rights Movement, but I didn’t know about the Lovings until very recently. It’s hard to imagine a world where my parents’ marriage is illegal and considered wrong, but it once existed in our country.
I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry.
-Mildred Loving
Along with Loving Day, June 19 is Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the abolition of slavery in Texas in June 1865 but also used to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in the Confederate South.
And now, with the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry no matter what state they reside in, June has become the perfect month leading up to Independence Day.
I felt so many emotions when reading the last few paragraphs of Justice Kennedy’s opinion:
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.
As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfilment for themselves.
Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilisation’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered.
A pandowdy is similar to a pie. It has a buttery, flaky crust that’s made in a similar way to pie crust. There is only one layer of crust on top, and it is broken up halfway through baking, leaving a pretty broken topping with fruit juice peeking through. I used some cornmeal and lemon zest which adds a nice texture and brightness to the crust.
With my Sharp microwave/convection oven I was able to bake this pandowdy in 30 minutes flat. Typical pie-like desserts can take up to an hour for the fruit to bubble up and the crust to brown beautifully. The advantages of this convection oven is that it’s small and fits into my tiny studio kitchen and doesn’t heat up the joint in this sticky, humid weather. Instead my home smells of fragrant, buttery pie crust and sweet strawberries and I get to eat a homemade dessert in 30 minutes!
Sharp has generously offered an oven to giveaway to one reader. Enter below and best of luck! Happy 4th!
This giveaway has since been closed.
- 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup of cornmeal
- zest of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons of very cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
- 6-8 tablespoons of ice cold water
- 2 cups of strawberries hulled and halved
- 2 cups of rhubarb stem cut it 1/2 inch pieces
- 3/4-1 cup of sugar
- 1/3 cup of flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
- juice of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- flour for dusting
- one beaten egg
- a few tablespoons of sugar
- Optional: vanilla ice cream for serving
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For the crust, whisk together flour, cornmeal, lemon zest and salt. Using your hands, mix in the cold butter and break up until the size of small peas. Add cold water a few tablespoons at a time, stirring until the dough comes together easily when pressed together but isn't wet.
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Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set in the fridge for at least an hour.
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Melt two tablespoons of butter in a pie plate by putting it in the oven for a few minutes. Let the butter brown and become nutty (but be careful to not let it burn!).
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In a large bowl, stir together the fruit, the lemon juice, flour, sugar and salt until well combined. Add to the pie plate and stir all together to incorporate the butter.
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
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Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out into a roughly 12 inch circle. Drape the dough over the pie, pressing the sides and cutting off the extra that's hanging over the side.
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Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle sugar all over.
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Cut four slits into the dough to let it vent. Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Halfway through baking, take a knife and cut several slits across the pie to break up the crust.
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Let it cool for about 20 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.
I would make like everything in that oven!!! I am dying to get a new one(:
I agree- June was the perfect month leading up to independence day! 🙂 And thanks for hosting such an awesome giveaway!!
June was SUCH a great month to lead into the 4th!
I would use it for pies and pizza, for starters.
I miss having a convection oven – it made the best pizzas. So I’ll make pizza in this one if I win.
I would like to make a chicken pot pie or baked chicken with sweet potato fries with this oven.
I would make some veggie pizza!
Homemade English Muffin pizzas.
Thank you!
Strawberry rhubarb pandowdy of course! Beautiful post.
Thanks, Marcella! 🙂
Strawberry rhubarb pandowdy here too~Looks so good.
I would make a veggie quiche.
Tiropitas ( greek cheese pies)
Yum! That sounds amazing.
I would bake pizza, pies and all sorts of things. Your pie looks amazing!
I’d like to make a cobbler, either apple or peach
A peach Cobbler!!
I would make a pineapple upside down cake.
I’d love to make some roasted veggies or a bread pudding with this microwave oven!
This would really help me out since I have to be on a modified diet now. Always looking for better ways to make things. What a great post and thank you for hosting this amazing giveaway.
I want to make mug cakes.
I would like to make homemade pizza.
Cookies, I love making cookies and then decorating them
I would make some bacon first thing.
Pizza.
I will try an apple pie in the new oven.
I would make cherry turnovers.
I’d like to bake THIS recipe in the convection oven! And then a pizza 🙂 I had no idea that interracial marriages were once illegal in that many states (and at all). Wow.
Yes, it is so shocking!
A pizza would be so good in there. 🙂
I would make some yeasty home made dinner rolls. My oven has been on the fritz and I haven’t been able to bake bread and I miss it.
Yum! I love some homemade dinner rolls.
I would make pizza
Roasted chicken with roasted potatoes.
A fancy cake
I would first cook a whole chicken with it
I’d like to see what it can do with onions.
I’d make a pot roast first
my veggie enchiladas!
i would make muffins
I’d make cookies for my hubby. He never gets any in the summer, it’s too hot to turn on the oven!
i would like to try the apple pie to make
Bread
I would make a cake. Thank you
i would love to bake a boysenberry pie in it.
sounds like a great alternative to the scary 1960s oven in my apartment for making just about anything!
I also have a scary oven. Having this one definitely helps!
I would make sourdough bread. My husband and I just started reactivating a 50 year sourdough base and are so excited to bake with it!
That sounds amazing! I’ve thought about starting a sourdough starter. Have you seen this?
I’d like to make a small batch of biscuits, without heating up the whole kitchen.
I would make a personal pizza
I would make cookies.
I would make baked potatoes
I would love to make homemade pizza in this oven.
I would love to make some peanut butter cookies.
Beautiful beautiful beautiful post!! Seriously you took my breath away. I heard about the Lovings 3 years ago when I saw a short film about them on HBO. They made me sing with their love for each other and cry because they were told it wasn’t okay. You have summarised the events so perfectly and I want to hug you for this. Thank you for sharing your voice and speaking about the stuff that matters to you. I crave this when I read food blogs. And that pandowdy? So much fun to say. I had no idea about it.
Wow, thank you for the kind words, Edlyn! I want to hug you, too 🙂 The Lovings have such an important story to share and they’re an inspiration for families like mine and for all people who are a little out of the mainstream. In the end love wins <3
Yes, I just discovered pandowdies as well. Such a fun thing to say and to eat. And thanks for stopping by, I love your blog!
I would cook some chicken.
I’d like to make baked potatoes and quesadillas.
I would make peach cobbler!
I would like to make blueberry pie in this oven!
small kitchen-mobile home-hot summer nights-i would use this for chicken-casseroles-baking-
I would like to bake a carrot cake in the oven.
I would make a yummy quiche. Thanks for the chance.
I would like to make pork steaks in this oven. I would like to be able to cook my meat faster and I believe this would do the trick.
I would make apple crisp! And love the pie recipe! Used to love raw rubarb as a kid!
Thanks, Lee! You sound like my dad. He loves rhubarb so much and I gave him this pandowdy as his father’s day gift 🙂
I would like to try making my favorite dessert — APPLE-CRANBERRY CRISP
What a beautiful post! I hadn’t thought that way before about Loving Day, Juneteenth and now marriage equality all leading up to Independence Day.
We need a new microwave SO BAD. SO SO SO SO BAD. Ours is too small and we keep burning paper bags of popcorn because the turntable is broken.
Oh no! Small fires in the kitchen!
I would like to bake a Mac & Cheese casserole in the Sharp oven followed by some Chocolate Chip Cookies.
There’s so much garden stuff right now, I’d love to make apple and cherry pies, and try some veggie tarts as well.
i would like to make a cherry pie
I would love to make apple pie in this!
I would like to make a little pizza.
I would like to make scrambled eggs.
A pizza would be nice.
i would like to make banana bread
I would like to make casseroles and one-dish dinners.
I would make chocolate chip cookies!
I would like to make some chicken and brownies first in this oven. That pandowdy looks pretty delicious too.
I would make veggie burgers.
I would make a blueberry tart.
I would make baked chicken.
i’d cook up a chicken
I would love to roast some fresh squash in this.
I’d make peanut butter cookies!
I’d love to try making a pizza in it.
i would like to make a chicken and pasta
I would love to make home made biscuits in this oven since I haven’t been able to here in the south because of the heat! 🙂 Thanks for an awesome giveaway!
I cannot begin to tell you the memories that your recipe brought to mind! My beloved Nana used to cook rhubarb pie all the time with fresh strawberries – something I had forgotten after all these years. You have me digging through the family recipes looking for it now!
This recipe was actually inspired by my dad’s childhood memory of eating his grandmother’s rhubarb pie 🙂
I’d make some biscuits or this pie!
I would start with brownies
I just found a recipe for a Smores bake. I’d love to make that in this oven!
I’d like to use it for brownies
make mug cakes.
I wan tto make brownies
Oh boy..I’d be making peach or blackberry cobblers,fudge actually anything I can make in it I would as there seems to be no boundaries with it lol!
I want to make my first homemade apple pie in it.
I would make some peach and apple tarts.
I would like to make Chicken Pot Pie. Yummy!
I would like to try different meat and potato dishes.
My family’s favorite chicken enchilada casserole.
I’d make homemade pizza with garlic & olive oil.
Baked Potatoes and cookies