Cranberry-Lime Galette

We went to see Spielberg's Lincoln this weekend. Though my personal Civil War historian had some issues with the costuming of the soldiers, any problems were totally eclipsed by Daniel Day Lewis' impeccable Lincoln portrayal. Though we've never seen Lincoln in moving pictures, obviously, based on photographs, words, and stories of the Great Emancipator, Lewis seems to have captured the vision of Lincoln that exists in our collective imagination.

Inspired by the work of that British-Irish method actor, *I* set out to capture the vision of Lincoln's Thanksgiving dessert. After all, the 16th president is the one who proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. Though my source is not necessarily the most academic, one of the desserts that apparently graced Lincoln's first official Thanksgiving table was cranberry tarts.

This version of a cranberry tart, a cranberry-lime galette (aka rustic tart aka free-form tart) was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's. I simplified it a bit, taking out the nuts and bread crumbs, and swapping out the raspberry jam for homemade apple butter & jelly. It's a new favorite, tart and sweet and festive with the bright red cranberries and specks of green apple.



Cranberry-Lime Galette
Adapted significantly from Dorie Greenspan via Celestial Confections

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved for a small galette, full for a large galette
2 c. cranberries, fresh or frozen & thawed (I used fresh)
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 lime
3 Tblsp. apple butter or apple jelly (homemade apple butter recipe here)
Turbinado sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Prepare the pie crust as per the directions here. Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out into a 10-11 inch circle for a small galette (or 13-14 inch circle for a large galette) on a sheet of parchment paper. Put the rolled crust and parchment on a cookie sheet and return it to the fridge while you prepare the filling. 

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine cranberries, apple chunks, brown sugar, lime zest and juice, and apple butter or jelly.

3. Remove crust from the fridge and scoop the cranberry filling into the middle of the crust, leaving a 1-1 1/2 inch edge. Fold the edge of the crust over the filling, pleating at the corners. Brush on an egg wash to seal the crust, and sprinkle Turbinado sugar over the entire galette.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden brown and cranberry filling is bubbling. Let cool slightly and serve warm, with whipped cream.

Related recipe:

Cranberry Chess Pie

Indiana Thanksgiving Pies

I unfortunately haven't been unable to spend Thanksgiving with my family for the past five years or so. North Carolina to northern Indiana is a long trek, and Vermont to Indiana even farther, especially with the Christmas trip home just a few weeks away.

But my mom sent me some photos of our family's Thanksgiving pies, enjoyed at my aunt and uncle's house in South Bend, IN. Here is my mom's pumpkin pie, with turkeys trotting around the perimeter. You can surely see where I got my love of pies, and my penchant for crust design.


Here is the pie board at their dinner, with the above pumpkin pie made by my mom, an apple cranberry with an oak leaf crust design made by my aunt Chantelle, and a blueberry pie made by another dinner guest.


Check back here soon for more Thanksgiving pie re-caps. What pies did you enjoy this holiday?

Folkways Pie

I made a 'Folkways pie' to share with the staff on my last day as an intern at Smithsonian Folkways. It was a classic apple (with a touch of cranberry) pie. The sun in the background is a riff on the Smithsonian Folkways logo. As became my adopted joke motto--for style, wardrobe, music and food--when I was there: "Is that Folkways enough??!?"


If you are unfamiliar with Smithsonian Folkways, get familiar. Folkways Records was a record label started by collector, Mo Asch, in 1948. He put out a varied and eccentric collection of American and International Folk music, World music, spoken word, soundscapes, instructional albums, nature sounds, etc. Some favorites include Michael Hurley's first album First Songs, Shirley Collins' False True Lovers, Richard Lerman's Travelon Gamelon: Music for Bicycles, Jim Nollman's Playing Music with Animals, and of course, the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. In 1987, the Smithsonian bought Folkways, adding their moniker and support of the national museum, and they have continued to uphold Mo Asch's mission as well as put out some excellent new albums and old archival materials.

Plus the collection of almost 3,000 albums contains some great songs about pie!:
-Pumpkin Pie by Joe and Odell Thompson
-Custard Pie Blues by Sonny Terry's Washboard Band
-The Preacher and the Slave (Pie In The Sky) by Cisco Houston, Joe Glazer, and Pete Seeger
-No More Pie by Ella Jenkins
Even a poem:
-Calico Pie by Edward Lear

4th Annual Portland Thanksgiving

Here it is boxing day and I have not yet posted about pies from Thanksgiving! Here they are, presented in rhyming couplets...

For the 4th year in a row to Portland I did go,
Well, let's get this straight, it is really SoPo.
Though it took 13 hours through great traffic trials,
It was well worth the trip to meet sweet baby Miles.

I opted to make apple cranberry pie,
The recipe for which Laura Dove won the Washington Post prize.
I used the ingenious apple core-cut-skin machine

cut out circles of crust and brushed on an egg sheen
After fire, singing, and dinner we set up our pie bar,
A dessert buffet of the highest par.Talya's pie was the richest chocolate diner
The recipe from Mav's friend Martha (a fabulous cook, though a bit of a whiner)
Jamie made a pumpkin, with no use of can
Mav's dessert was one of ginger--the bread, not the man.
Along with the apple cran, I added a pie of maple,
Which may well become a Thanksgiving staple.

At this bar, Talya couldn't believe her sight

It fueled Saiyid's ocean swim on that cold November night
And made Mav want to just take a big bite!Oh, what fun times this crew does create,
And so much pie for one little plate!