Tag: pie

I Like Pie!

Apple Pie! (1 of 2)

With both of our having the entire week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, there is good reason to celebrate! And, with a bunch of apples hanging around, pie is the perfect answer.

Apple pie is a very subjective thing. Undoubtedly a favorite – but favorites come in many varieties, just like apples. Time and energy play into it as well – homemade crust? peeled apples? bottom crust? crisp topping?

I am very partial to crisp toppings. In fact, I usually just make apple crisp as it requires no crust. I don’t peel the apples, either; the skins add something to the entire melange which I find quite good. Apple choice is important in many instances, but a variety of apples often makes for the best pies for flavor.

Spices are also critical to flavor. Your favorite may not be mine. I like my pie with lots of spice – not hot, though adding pepper when there is a lack of ginger gives a pie a bit of zip.

Here, then, is my recipe for this particular pie. Next one may vary. Enjoy – and happy holidays!

Apple Pie! (2 of 2)

Apple Pie & Crisp

6-8 apples, sliced, peeled if you want, and cut into bite size pieces
Zest of lemon – all of it if you want from the lemon you juice
1 lemon, squeezed
1/2 c. white sugar
2-3 T. tapioca
Fresh ginger, finely grated – 2-3 T.
Mace – 2-3 tsp.
Nutmeg – 1/2 grated (about 1 tsp.)
Cinnamon – 2-3 T. – the hotter the cinnamon, the less you should use
2-4 T. water

If making a pie, preheat oven to 425 F.  Mix all the stuff together and let sit while you create the pie crust and/or topping. Stir it now and then so it can juice up.

Pie Crust – one or two, pre-made or homemade.

Crisp Topping

Up front, I don’t measure anything. It is thrown together. Too wet, add more dry ingredients of your choice; too dry, add more melted butter.

1 stick butter, melted
1 c. oatmeal (more or less)
3/4 – 1 c. flour
1/4-1/2 c. brown sugar
Nuts (I used walnut halves)
Spices as used in the pie, and a bit of salt

Mix dry ingredients together. Pour in melted butter. Mix until rather crumbly but holds together if squeezed in your hand. Pat topping onto pie or crisp (or both – which is what I ended up making because I had oodles of apples).

Let’s Bake It!

For the pie, place pie in 425 F oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn to 350 F. Bake another 40-50 minutes. Baking the pie at a very high heat helps prevent the bottom crust from being soggy. Failure to turn down the oven after 10 minutes can be disastrous. Set that timer!

If you are making a crisp along with the pie, do not put the crisp in the oven until you turn down the temperature. If you are only making a crisp, bake it at 350 F for about 40-50 minutes.

Serve warm, cold, with ice cream. A good cup of coffee and pie is a great afternoon treat.

Enjoy! And happy holidays to everyone.

Birthday Pie & Pork

Josh’s birthday was Monday.  He took it off.  I am off today, the 4th, and he is working.  So, while he works, I am making his mother’s peach pie – only with nectarines – and a first time try at pulled pork in the crock pot.  Let’s begin!

Pulled Pork a la Moi

I’ve looked at numerous web sites for crock pot recipes for pulled pork.  Most call for premade items, such a smoke flavoring and barbecue sauce, and lots of it.  I decided, instead, to put together a fairly dry recipe, and create a rub.

3 lbs boneless butt roast
2 small brown onions

Wash and pat dry roast. Slice into it in thin layers. Set aside. Slice onions fine, and place on bottom of crock pot.

2 tsp. powdered mustard
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. chipotle powder
Salt to taste
1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper

Mix together mustard, sugar, chipotle, salt and pepper. Pat into sliced areas of roast and then pat remainder onto outside of roast. (If you want to make more, or use a larger roast, make more of this.)

1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1 t. powdered chili flakes
1 T. brown sugar
2 t. dried mustard
1 t. garlic powder

In bowl, mix together all of the above ingredients, and then pour into crock pot.

Set crockpot on high for 8 hours, or lower heat to low after 3-4 hours. Continue to cook another 6-10 hours. Baste as necessary with liquids in the pot. Rotate roast, too, to settle on onions and in sauce.

When done, remove pork and onions from crockpot. Chop or shred meat and onions. Serve plain, on rolls, with slaw and with vinegar sauce below.

Vinegar Sauce

2 c. cider vinegar
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. ketchup
1 T. Huy Fong Rooster Sauce (Sriracha)
Chiles, pepper, salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan, bring to simmer. Simmer 3-5 minutes. Remove from flame; set aside in dish with lid and refrigerator. Shake off and on. Serve cool over pulled pork.

* * * * *

Now that we have the main meal out of the way, time to move onto the pie. This is the pie that Josh’s mother and grandmother have both made, and he considers it to be the epitome of peach / nectarine pies. My own pies tend to be more spicy, and any crumb crust I do has nuts in it as well. But, it is his birthday, so he has final say!

Birthday Nectarine Pie

Preheat oven to 400 F. Make sure temperature is accurate.

Crust

2 c. flour
pinch salt
2/3 c. sweet butter, chopped fine and chilled

Blend all above together with pastry cutter or in food processor to make coarse crumbs. Set aside 1/2 of mixture for crumb topping – about 1 1/3 c. – in another bowl. Into remaining mix, stir in 4-7 T. ice water, using smaller amount first and then more as needed. Roll out to fit 9-inch pie plate, form edge, trim, and put trimmings in with crumbs set aside. Chill pie crust wile preparing filling and crumb crust.

Fruit

4 c. sliced peaches or nectarines. (Remove skin if using peaches.)
1/2 c. white sugar
2 T. tapioca

Mix all together in stainless bowl. Let juice up as you make the crumb crust.

Crumb Crust

To crumbs and trimmings add:

2 T. chopped cold butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg

Work all ingredients together to make crumbs. Do not overwork or you begin to make dough!

Assembling Pie

Pour fruit into prepared crust. Sprinkle crumbs on top of fruit, distributing evenly.

Bake pie in oven for 40 minutes at 400 F. Check pie every 20 minutes; rotate if necessary, and cover edges of crust with foil to keep from burning. When bubbling and crumbs are brown, remove from oven. Cool at least 2 hours before serving.

I bake my pies on a foil-covered cookie sheet. If anything spills, or bubbles over, it is easy enough to clean up.

A Pie!

There is nothing in the world of sweets that pleases me more than a fresh pie.  It’s work, and it is seasonal, but pie made with fresh fruit is always my idea of heaven.  So, for the long weekend, the pie is – as many others are making – Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.  This pie needs to be carefully balanced between sweet and sour, so if you are making it from scratch with a whatever-goes mentality, best to taste it before you bake it.  (Isn’t that another reason to bake – to eat raw dough and taste-test the ingredients?)

Method

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Pie Crust
for a 9-inch pan

2 1/2 c. flour
2 sticks (1 lb.) sweet butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
6-8 T. ice water

Pour a cup of water into a vessel; add ice cubes. Do this before you begin the crust.

Cut together flour, butter, and salt until resembles coarse corn meal. Add 3-4 T. water, blend in gently with fork. Add another 2 T. water; blend some more. If it begins to stick together when you mash it together, you are probably ready to roll it out. If not, add another T. of ice water, gradually, testing the dough, which should stick together. Divide dough into two balls, making one slightly larger than the other.

Roll out the larger of the two dough balls onto a floured board, turning as necessary. Roll out until about 4 inches larger than pan diameter. Place dough into pie pan; drape carefully into pan to make sure dough is not stretched. Trim ends to about 1 1/2 inches outside of pan.

Roll out second ball for upper crust. If you want a lattice crust, cut strips about 1 inch wide. On a piece of waxed paper, assemble latticework. Cover with another piece of waxed paper. Refrigerate until ready to place on top of pie. If you want a plain crust, roll out until it measures about 2 inches larger than pan diameter on all sides.

It is not uncommon to have to patch a pie crust, and the lattice is no different.  For the crust, take a trimmed slice of pie dough, dampen it with water on one side, and place it like a tire patch over the part of the crust that needs to be repaired.  That area should also have a few pats of water on it.  Press to seal.  In the area of the lattice, if a strip breaks, or is too short, do not hesitate to repair it as for the bottom crust, but to make it look nice, hide the broken strip under an upper strip.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling

3 T. brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
1/2 c. water
3 c. diced rhubarb stems
2 lbs. fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced
2-4 T. tapioca
Mace, just a pinch of fresh
Juice of 1 lemon
More white sugar to taste

Combine together two sugars and water in a sautee pan. Bring to simmer until sugars are dissolved. Add chopped rhubarb, and cook slowly for a few minutes. Remove rhubarb from pan, saving syrup and returning to sautee pan, and mix in with fresh strawberries. Sprinkle tapioca into syrup. Simmer tapioca about 5 minutes, letting water evaporate a little bit from pan.  If you like a bit of juice with your pie, use less tapioca, and use more if you like your pie to stick together.  Taste (cool it a bit!) the syrup, and adjust using the juice of the lemon, and adding extra sugar to taste. When you like the taste, pour syrup over strawberry-rhubarb mixture. Sprinkle a bit of mace onto pie. (I like it plain, or with just a hint of mace – not much as the pie itself is so good!)

Pour fruit mixture into pie pan lined with dough. Cover with second crust, cutting slits into crust if you have not made a lattice; this allows steam to escape. Brush top crust with a egg yolk-water mixture, or an egg white-water mixture, or leave plain.

Bake the Pie!

Make sure oven racks are placed with one on bottom rack, and another in middle of oven. Line a cookie sheet with foil and place on bottom rack. Place pie on middle rack. Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes and then lower temperature to 350 F, and bake another 50-60 minutes until juices are bubbling and crust is golden.  Cool on wire rack, or let cool in oven if really drippy.

When you are ready to remove the pie from the oven, get another pair of hands.  My husband carried the pie, and I followed underneath, with a wire rack crossing the foil-covered cookie sheet, to prevent goo from getting on the floor.

Serve with cream, ice cream, or just pie itself.

Blackberry Plum Pie

Summer is the time of lovely fruit, and the time for pie.  This is a kitchen sink pie – not enough of any one fruit to make a pie.  So, 2 kinds of plums – black and sugar – and a whole bunch of blackberries.

Prepare to make thy pie!

Preheat oven to 450 F for a metal pan; 425 F for a glass pan.  Make pie crust first.  While it chills in the refrigerator, prepare the fruit.

Pie Crust – makes two 9” crusts
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar
7 T. cold butter   (100 g)
6-7 T. cold water

Cut butter into small dice.  Place in bowl with flour, sugar, salt.  Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.  Add 6 T. cold water; mix well with fork but do not overblend.  If it seems a bit dry, add 1-2 T. more, 1-2 t. at a time.  You may also use a food processor to make the dough, just be sure not to over process once you add the cold water.

Gather together into a ball.  Wrap with plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator while you chop fruit – about 30-60 minutes is fine.

Pie Filling

4-5 cups of fruit, clean, washed, picked over. This pie was about 3 c. plums and 2 c. blackberries.
Juice of 1/2 lemon – about 1T.
1/4 – 1/2 c. sugar (some of the plums were a bit tart)
2-3 t. Chinese Five Spice form Penzey’s (China cassia cinnamon, star anise, anise seed,         ginger and cloves)
3 T. small tapioca
2 T. flour
1 T. butter – to dot fruit when it is in the pie dish, before the second crust is added.

Chop fruit. Stir in with all other ingredients to set up and meld flavors.

After you have finished with the fruit, take the pie dough out of the refrigerator.  Let sit at room temperature about 10 minutes.  Cut in half, with one side slightly larger for the bottom crust.  Roll out crust, place in pie pan.  Place fruit into pan.  Dot with butter.  Roll out second crust, place on top.  Roll edges over or under to seal pie.  Crimp with fingers or flatten with fork.  Slash top crust for ventilation.

Bake pie at 450 (425) for 10-12 minutes, then drop oven temperate to 350 F (for metal pan) or 325 F (for glass pan) for another 45 – 60 minutes, or until crust is done.  Remove from oven, cool.