Monthly Archives: June 2012

All-Rhubarb, All the Time.

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Summer Fruit Pie

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Minnesota checklist:

  • Jump in the river X
  • Canoe 15 miles X
  • Eat licorice ice cream X
  • Catch fish X
  • Bake pie X
Would you just LOOK at this gorgeous rhubarb?!

When I saw this growing in a friend’s garden, it was easy to decide what kind of pie to bake first. All-Rhubarb.

Here’s a question, but don’t think too hard, because it’s not a trick.

Q: What’s more fun than baking a pie?

A: Baking a pie while drinking beer.

I have a few items to discuss in relation to this pie. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Rhubarb. Do you love it? Like it? Hate it? I think it’s one of the most wonderful plants I’ve ever encountered. Ken Haedrich gave me the following tidbits that I thought worthy of sharing: rhubarb is also called “pie plant,” (makes sense) and the only two groups of people who customarily eat rhubarb RAW are Afghans and Eskimos. Random. (Disclaimer, in case you have never eaten rhubarb and are so inspired by this post that you immediately go find yourself some: don’t eat the leaves. Poison.)

2. Oranges. Add half of a large orange’s zest and half of its juice to a rhubarb pie for a very pleasant flavor enhancement.

3. Zesting. My Aunt Sarah (whose wonderful place by the St. Croix River I am currently luxuriating at) did not have a grater in her possession. I went down to the general store and found the grater/zester that is shown in the above picture. IT IS AMAZING. I can’t believe I’ve been using a second-rate grater to zest citrus fruit for so many years. Never again. I’m immediately buying one for myself when I get back back to Cali Cali.

One of Those Times

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie

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I just love fruit pies. Have I mentioned that before? Love, love, love ’em. Especially mixed fruit pies, like this Pear-Raspberry Lattice-Top Pie.

If you’ve never made a lattice-top pie before, don’t worry. It’s super duper easy. Here’s one good trick from Ken to get you started right…shape the pastry which will become the top crust into a square (as opposed to a disk) before rolling!

I like to roll my pie crust between two pieces of wax paper–it just makes the process so much easier. For extra ease, I also refrigerate the pastry before rolling it out. This isn’t as necessary for oil-based crusts, but it’s an important step if you use a solid fat like butter and/or shortening.

Another lattice trick: use a pizza cutter to cut strips of crust! (I made eight strips and followed the clever diagram given in Pie, which makes the actual assembly of the lattice a cinch.)

The color of this pie is gorgeous. It doesn’t smell too shabby coming out of the oven, either.

I was happy to be able to share this pie with several good friends of ours. As we were eating our first slices, Levi asked if this might not be “One of those times” where it would be appropriate to just cut the rest of the pie up and finish it right then and there. Indeed, it did turn out to be the thing to do.

Along with mixed fruit pies, I love eating outside in the summer, twinkle lights, glasses of wine, and good company.

Once on this Island…

18 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Cream Pie

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…two very, very very mysterious pies were brought forth.

I facebooked: No one will ever guess the kinds of pie I am making right now.

Some of the guesses in response: Cow, dandelion, chicken, round, delicious, maple bacon, pizza, black bean and plantain, pancetta spearmint baby formula cream…

Creative thinkers, the lot of you.

Because I have friends who are good sports, and because I wanted to prolong the fun, I made a bunch of them come over to try both pies and keep making guesses.

Some of the guesses made: Turnip, sweet potato, zucchini, pumpkin, orange, Froot Loop…

After many attempts, the secret ingredients came to light.

Mystery Pie #1= Carrot Custard Pie

Light, subtle, surprisingly hard to identify the flavor.

Mystery Pie #2= Spiced Parsnip Pie

Very much like pumpkin pie, except for the lemony flavor (which led to the slight Froot Loop aftertaste).

Now on to rave about my new little island! Really it isn’t so much an island as it is a kitchen cart (Forhoja, from IKEA.) But whatever you call it, it definitely gives me a lot more room for pie-crust-rolling, and pie-things-storing.

When you only have two drawers in your kitchen, you really appreciate an extra two more. Here is my drawer of pie-making goodies! Pie weights (aka dry beans), crust protectors, measuring spoons and cups all stored together in one ultra-convenient location.

(Thanks, Wendy, for the totally adorable measuring spoons!)

And thanks everyone, for humoring me when I play these silly games of suspense.

Of Softball and Lemonade

14 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Summer Fruit Pie

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Greetings, lovely readers.

I am proud to announce (or maybe I shouldn’t be announcing this at all) that for the first time I am totally, 100%, up-to-date on this blog. As in: the pie you see in this post was actually the most recent pie I’ve made. For a while I’ve been pretending, you see.

“Recently…*cough a month ago* I was in New Jersey…baking some pies…”

It feels good to be caught up. Now to just stay on top of things…I do tend to bake faster than I can blog.

MY MOST RECENT PIE, for serious, was a Lemonade-Peach Pie. It was the first day of summer vacation (awwww yeah) so I made two.

(Just pretend you don’t notice how dirty my oven is and smile politely.)

Let’s talk about lemonade for a minute. You obviously wouldn’t want to add straight up lemonade to a pie, as pies produce a lot of juices on their own and will suffer if anything watery gets in there. That’s why it’s a good idea to make sure not to add wet fruit (i.e. berries that haven’t been properly drained after rinsing) to the filling. Anyway, this pie is made with thawed frozen lemonade concentrate, packing a lot of flavor in a little liquid. Trader Joe’s has a great, cheap one–I think I should go recommend it to the kids on the corner of my street who are currently serving some pretty flavorless lemonade. I guess that’s why they’re selling it for “FREE! (But we accept donations!)”. Clever business strategy, I must say.

I brought the pies to Levi’s last softball game of the season. For over a year now, he’s been on our church’s team, and they’ve had a lot of fun (waaay more important than winning lots of games.) In addition to the 12 or so guys on the team, there’s quite a fan base that shows up to cheer. Really, in retrospect, three pies would have been better than two.

Owen and Austin endorse my pie wholeheartedly. I’m going to hire them when I  get a pie truck. They can just ride around in it and give people thumbs up all day long.

(Thanks to Renee Reich for the last two images!)

What kind of pie should I bake next?

Memorial Day Memories

09 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie

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**Blackberry Sour Cream Pie, made with blackberries and raspberries.

 

The hardest step of the recipe (as usual) was allowing time for the pie to cool before eating. 

Credit to Jen and Chris Wubbels for creating the epic menu, having all of us over at their home, and cooking most of the food. Maggie, your Strawberry Rosewater Cobbler was wonderful. Look for a rosewater pie…very soon.

Going Nutty

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Nut Pie

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Here’s a crazy idea for you. Make a pie not with pecans, not with walnuts, but with….

PINE NUTS!

Oh wait, Ken Haedrich already thought of that.

Pine nuts are in my top ten list of things that are delicious and make everything more delicious-er. Here is what that list looks like:

1. Sun-dried tomatoes.

2. Garlic

3. Pine nuts

4. Sea Salt

5. Dark chocolate

6. Olive oil

7. Mushrooms

8. Goat cheese

9. Applewood smoked bacon

10. Butter

But while I put pine nuts on my salad, pasta, and pizza at every opportunity I get (and could probably eat a whole large bag of Sicilian pignoli cookies), I must confess that I never would have thought it would be okay to make a pie out of pine nuts unless Ken had given me the green light with his recipe for Pine Nut Pie.

Pine nuts can be expensive, but the Costco-size bag isn’t a bad deal. Especially if you frequently decorate your food with them like I do.

The formula for this pie is much like that of a pecan pie…the nuts get folded into an eggy, sugary, corn syrupy mixture and during the course of baking float up to the top. Pretty!

Ken suggests serving this pie with butter pecan ice cream, and I felt that it would be nothing short of foolhardy to ignore his advice.

Really it makes sense that pine nuts make a good pie. I mean, if you take out the first “n,” they become “pie nuts.” That can’t be coincidental.

Don’t forget…if you are interested in purchasing the Pie cookbook at a discounted price (because let’s be serious, you’d like to taste these pies instead of just salivating at your computer) or would like to receive free, funny, and informative videos about pie-making, check out the Pie Academy website!

American Pie

01 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Freeform Pie

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Summer is upon us. In California, the only real difference is that you can go to the beach and sit on the sand and not actually freeze to death (though you’ll still do that if you attempt to venture into the water). The sun is a little sunnier, people are a little happier, and the end of the school year is in sight, meaning that there will be more time to bake lots and lots of pies.

If pie is the ultimate American dessert, than a berry pie is the ultimate American summer dessert. One weekend in May, Levi and I decided to preemptively celebrate the coming summer by having an Americana-steeped weekend. We spent time at the Simi Valley street fair, purchased and consumed some summery brews, grilled hamburgers on our barbeque. To go along with the theme, Levi decided that it would be a good idea to listen to country music on Pandora. (I’m still trying to figure out what possessed him.) And of course, I made a berry pie.

Patsy’s Mixed Berry Freeform Pie is unique for several reasons.

  1. The crust contains several unusual ingredients such as cottage cheese, a good amount of sugar, and baking powder. The texture of the finished pastry is fluffier and stickier than your average crust, and the baked end result is rather cakey and delicious.
  2. It has a gooey cream cheesy layer underneath the berries. What a nice surprise!
  3. It’s freeform (as you might have already ascertained by its name). If you don’t know what a freeform pie is, you’re in luck—I just so happen to have some pictures to show you!
To make a freeform pie, you don’t need a pie pan. Just a foil-lined baking sheet will do. This pastry dough is sticky to the point of annoying, so the foil is a necessary step. The rolled out crust goes on the baking sheet, and then a sweet cream cheese mixture is spread over the center in a circle. Like so.

A very hopeful Bear.

Then the berries get dumped in the middle. I used blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries…the more the berrier! Har har har.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the fun part…rolling up the edges. You just fold in one section at a time and the dough forms pleats. I used a spatula for a little extra help.

Bake until the crust is golden brown, top with vanilla ice cream OF COURSE, and share with friends.

Andrew and Marjorie are cute pie models.

Happy almost-summer, all.