Cantaloupe Pie: An Experiment

I was sorting through some old recipes the other day, and came across this card for Cantaloupe pie, from the Pie of The Month Club. Once a month, members of the club receive a quirky, historical, and/or rare pie recipe on a postcard with original pie art. Heather gave me a membership a few years ago, and perhaps one day Sue Anne, Pie-of-the-Month Club Maven, will post here herself!

I had half of a large cantaloupe in the fridge, so I decided to give it a try even though (as Sue Anne says on the card) the idea of cooking a cantaloupe sounded a little strange, as melons' most attractive attributes are their refreshing juicy coolness. But you don't know until you try. Here's the recipe from the POTMC...

Cantaloupe Pie:
9" pre-baked crust (used recipe at right)
1/4 c. flour
3 eggs, separated
3/4 c. sugar
2 tblsp. butter
6 tblsp. sugar + 1/2 tsp. vanilla for meringue
1 large, VERY RIPE cantaloupe or muskmelon

In a medium saucepan mix half the sugar with melon and cook until melon is tender and mash-able. Mash the melon to a lumpy pulp. Mix flour with remaining sugar, add beaten egg yolks and butter. Add to mashed melon and return to heat briefly until just starting to bubble. Remove from heat. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Add 6 tblsp. sugar and vanilla and keep beating until stiff peaks form. Pour warm melon filling into pie shell. Cover completely with meringue, sealing to edges. Brown in oven (10-20 min at 325 F). Cool. Cut. Eat.
The meringue set up nicely, but it took some effort to mash the cantaloupe and the butter sort of congealed (insert "can't elope" joke here).
I invited Neale and Emily to come over for dinner followed by a cantaloupe pie taste test where we documented our first bite reactions:Neale's first bite...don't let this face mislead you, the man had seconds! Emily's (W.) first biteMy first bite. PEZ?

Despite the trepidation in our expression, we all agreed that the flavor was great, but it was strange to be eating cantaloupe warm, especially still in chunks. Our consensus is that cantaloupe pie would make an excellent icebox pie, with the melon pureed, and the whole shebang chilled for an hour or two.

We followed our experiment with some bananagrams.

So Many Plums

Among the treasures Dan and Jane inherited from the previous owners of their 1950s ranch (including a "sausage formula" tacked to the wall in the basement), was a half-dead but very productive Italian plum tree.



Last year, a friend made plum wine with the plums, and the year before someone made prunes. This year, they've been giving a lot away, eating some raw, making pancakes and preserves. Last night, Jane and I decided to do a little baking.

Dan had collected some wild blueberries and huckleberries. We sprinkled them on top of plums tossed with cinnamon for a beautiful crisp. The wild fruit gave it a delicious tartness.


Then we decided to try for a rustic plum tart. The Italian plums are a good choice for tarts because they are naturally drier than regular plums, so they don't create a ton of juice during baking. I had made several rustic apple tarts last fall, but could never get the crust flaky enough, so I was glad to have Jane's expertise. We used a food processor to make the dough (very basic recipe), and Jane rolled it out while I watched, still a little nervous about the crust. Jane had a tart pan, so we first formed the dough up against the fluted edges, then arranged the plum slices that had been tossed with ginger and cinnamon. At the last minute, we decided to fold the edges over the plums, finished it with egg glaze and a little sugar. Thus, I decided to call the tart semi-rustic, as it started as a fancier french-style tart, but ended up a tiny bit more rustic.



After a chili dinner provided by Mike, we decided to eat both the crisp and the tart.

Yummm!!! I was particularly amazed by the tart and its perfect crust. Here is a pic of Dan and Jane in the TEZ (Tart Enjoyment Zone). Mike and I aren't big ice cream eaters, so we had to use our old freezer-burned ice cream, but no one cared.


And this morning we ate the leftovers for breakfast of course!

Wild Apple Pancake Fever

Up in the U.P., there was a wild apple tree.
I wanted to make a pie, but staying in a little cottage, didn't have much.



Just these apples, pancake mix, butter, cinnamon and maple syrup.
The pie crust wouldn't stay together, no matter what I did.



So what we caught was wild apple pancake fever!
A pie, spread out across a cookie sheet, puffy like a pancake and gooey like a pie. Weird and delicious. Kind of a failure, kind of a victory!

Mom's Apple Pie

My husband and I recently took a fabulous trip out to Napa Valley/Sonoma/San Francisco. It was a whirlwind trip filled with good wine, great food, driving along Highway 1, and spending time with the love of my life. I had heard about a little place in Sebastopol, CA called Mom's Apple Pie. While it was about 30 minutes out of our way leaving Sonoma wine country, my husband agreed to the adventure.

We drove. We turned around twice. We snaked our way through tiny towns in Northern California that made me drool. We started seeing acres and acres of apple orchards and I knew we were close. What could be better than a fresh apple pie from the orchards in wine country? And what could be more fun than adding a stop at a cute pie shop owned by a sweet lady named Betty?

I was so excited to try one of her fresh-baked pies right from apple-growing country. Made from Gravenstein Apples near the Sonoma Valley, Mom's apple pie was sweet and tart and bursting with cinnamon. I also LOVED her flaky crust. She had a beautiful selection of pies ranging from rhubarb to raspberry to lemon meringue to blueberry to cherry to peach - anything you could dream of! Just look at the perfectly formed meringue...

Enjoying my delicious apple pie, I was definitely in the PEZ. And I'm positive it would be great breakfast pie the next day. I highly recommend this side trip if you are ever in the area! And I am loving the link on here to Pie of the Month Club - they have a great map of Pies Across America!

Remembering Summer, Through Pies

It's early September, and up in Vermont I know friends are feeling the start of fall. I mistook the cooler weather this week here in North Carolina as the end of summer, but here we are again today with a high of 91 degrees, and highs in the 80s forecasted for the rest of the week. Perhaps it's premature to announce the end of the season, but I must say, I'm anxious for fall with its saturday visits to orchards for doughnuts, cider and apple-picking, leaves-a-changing, lots of Brit psych folk on the stereo, and sweater weather. In any (dessert) case, here are a few pies I made earlier this summer:

Twin open-top blueberry pies with berries picked by Nathalie and me, for ROCKBY 2009, Marina's music festival birthday party at Rokeby.

Another blueberry (bloobz) pie, I made for a burrito cookout during an August Baltimore visit. It was maybe the best blueberry filling I've ever made because it set up so well. I used this recipe, but added a half cup of flour or so to the filling. The crust, however, was a struggle, because of the heat!
And finally, peach-basil pie I made for a Folklore grad student cookout here in North Carolina. The basil came from Josh's herb garden in our backyard. The filling recipe I used was:

Peach-Basil Pie
3 lbs. peaches (maybe more)
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tblsp. corn starch
1/8 c. julienned fresh basil/lemon basil (I used a mixture)

 In the future, I would probably make a basil simple syrup (like in this pie) instead of just putting in the julienned basil leaves. I thought having a little leaf amongst the peaches was mildly unpleasant, but everyone else said they thought it was peach skin (it was dark). Please enjoy these last days of summer pie possibilities!

Mexican Chili Corn Pie

Hi all! My name is Michelle and I recently stumbled upon your delectable pie blog. I don't know who you are but I'm in love. I am also a pie enthusiast (although I clearly can't touch most of you with your pie passions). I'm here in Dallas, TX (where nothing of pie-like-ness exists on a delicious level unfortunately. No cute pie shops. No gardens can exist without great toil in this heat) but I was raised by my family to appreciate the goodness of pah. We grew up on my Aunt Pat's homemade apple pie (I think I can rival her now), home-made pumpkin pie, Grandma Pi's strawberry pie (yes, I have a grandma named Pi!) and in recent years my favorite apple strudel pie that I make for every holiday occasion. I will share the apple strudel miracle with you some other time closer to Christmas when you can warm up a mug of cider and put on Bing Crosby :) For now, just a little bit about me and my cooking. I'm a vegetarian going on my 1 year anniversary now. My husband and I decided to try it and it makes cooking a bit more interesting. In the old days I used real butter and eggs and I have tried most of my pies with the fake egg replacer (Ener-G can be purchased at Whole Foods) and even Earth Balance vegan buttery spread. I will say I can hardly taste a difference but I doubt I will continue my pie adventures without turning back to my old ways of real eggs and cholesterol laden butter from time to time. YUM!

For dinner last week we made this delicious Mexican Chili Corn Pie out of one of our vegetarian cookbooks.
You essentially prepare a bake of garlic, bell pepper, celery, kidney bean and corn mixture flavored with chile and fresh cilantro (if you're a fan of cilantro which I'm not). Place the mixture into a pie dish and top with a delicious crispy CHEESE cornbread. (no, I am NOT vegan. I doubt I can ever give up cheese).


Recipe:

Ingredients
1 tbsp corn oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 tsp hot chili powder
14 oz/400 g canned chopped tomatoes (or go fresh if you can!)
1 1/2 cups corn
3/4 cup kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and pepper
cilantro sprigs, to garnish
(can serve with a tomato and avocado salad)

Topping
2/3 cup cornmeal (i used white)
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten (or try the egg replacer, turned out just fine)
6 tbsp milk
1 tbsp corn oil (i just used vegetable oil)
generous 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet and gently cook the garlic, bell peppers, and celery for 5-6 minutes, until just softened.

Stir in the chili powder, tomatoes, corn, beans, and seasoning. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and spoon into ovenproof pie dish (deep dish is best). To make the topping, mix together the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder. Make a well in the center, then add the egg, milk, and oil and beat until a smooth batter is formed.

Spoon over the bell pepper and corn mixture and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake in a preheated oven, at 425 for 25-30 minutes, until golden and firm. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and serve immediately.

VOILA!

3 Nights of Blackberry Desserts

During my last week at Rokeby, Howie discovered a plentiful blackberry bramble behind the white house. It was probably the most fruitful berry patch I have ever foraged from, and the fruits of our labor yielded 3 nights of blackberry desserts. First we enjoyed a blackberry-ginger cobbler.
For the biscuit topping I used a recipe for "Yankee Biscuits" I got from Clara. It is as follows:
Yankee Biscuits
3 c. flour
2 Tblsp. sugar
2 Tblsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter
1 1/2 c. cold milk

Combine dry, cut in butter until consistency of cornmeal & peas. Add milk, stir gently. Place on floured board and knead 14 times. Roll out into 1-inch. Cut and bake for 15 minutes in 425 degree oven.
I just rolled out the biscuit topping, and placed it on top of the blackberry filling, which I had poured into a cake pan. We enjoyed it a la mode, after Louis' delicious fish stew. The second night, I made a blackberry rustic tart, topped with Sam Comfort's honey from Anarchy Apiaries. It was basically a pie with a thrown-together/less-artful crust. And for the last night and a Big House-Yellow House Cookout with guest Diane Cook, I made a blackberry-ginger pie, washed with a brilliant orange egg from the hens of Shoving Leopard farm. The fillings of all three were riffs on the recipe used here, with ginger or honey added. Eggwashed and baked, with a poem...
Blackberry Pie
by Jennifer Rae Vernon

is kernels of juice
blue, mom makes it do
magic heat to vanilla ice cream
purple dream

there were many nice things,
the corduroy pinafore
the daily notes in lunch sack
of a smiley face and curly cue hair
your mama loves you, and do great
with a thermos of homemade soup

dad too, he rocked me on front porch
after seven yellow jacket stings
i howled through the valley
in baking soda paste
while he sang, in the big rock candy mountain...

but just like grandma vernon always said
don't bother doing anything nice for your children
they'll only remember the bad things, anyway
like when she tethered my dad
to the front yard tree
so he could play when she was at work

was that bad? a ruined childhood?
bless her heart
and pie too, is sometimes
tart

Pie for Breakfast by HOME ITEMS

There once was a band-turned-creative collective called HOME ITEMS composed of 7 gal-pals in Burlington, Vermont. We like to make noise and music with domestic items and write and sing songs about food, the kitchen, and various other feminine/feminist topics. A while back, we wrote a song (lyrics by Michelle) called 'Pie For Breakfast,' (original post with lyrics here) about invigorating the New England tradition of enjoying pie in the morning. We recently re-recorded it and made this video so we could post it here.

  

Please enjoy and help us bring back the tradition!

P.S. I'd like to give a shout-out to our new fan/pie friend Michelle who posted about Nothing-In-The-House on her awesome "Blah Blah Blah Blog" here!

Blueberry Pie on the 4th of July

The 4th of July kicked off my summer month of farming, baking, berries, and friends at Rokeby. Matt arrived by train from the city the night before, and after a morning of weeding in the garden and burritos at Bubby's, the 4 of us headed to Grieg's to pick a bucketfull bounty of blueberries for the evening's pies and the buckles and ice cream to be made later.

After a few rounds of bags, a few rounds of beers, and lying in the grass, we set to make the pies before the fireworks started. Matt wanted to try his hand at the crust (using the recipe at right) and I tackled the filling.

Here's the approximate recipe I used, for 1 pie: 

 Combine the following:
At least 6 cups fresh berries, washed and de-stemmed
3 Tblsp. corn starch or arrowroot
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 tsp. salt
Splash of lemon juice
 
Pour into bottom crust, and cut a lattice top (HINT: use a ruler or some other guide so your strips are approx. the same width), wash with a fresh and golden Shoving Leopard Farm egg! Bake for 10 min. at 425, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 35-40 min. longer until crust is golden and flaky, and filling is bubbly. 

We put them in the oven, and went up the dark spiral staircase to the tower, to watch the fireworks from various towns across the Hudson. We all saw a ghost on our descent.

Then we celebrated the birthday of Marina, France, and the USA in the PEZ.

A new farm and cherry pie.

This is a story of two friends, a whole lotta manual labor,
and a dream of growing delicious, organic goodness.

Abra and Jess have started their dream and oh my, how they are succeeding. They are currently growing multitudes of produce and selling it both at local farm markets and to various restaurants in Chicago. Bare Knuckle Farm is on its way!


The last weekend in July, Bare Knuckle Farm hosted its first annual work weekend--a gathering of various friends and ne'er-do-wells who rolled up their sleeves to paint a barn, build a permanent herb bed, weed (and weed and weed and weed), feed chickens and geese, haul rocks from Lake Michigan to be built into an outdoor oven. Despite a few rain clouds and the necessary breaks for fun, a lot of work was accomplished--really!


But let's remember that this is a pie blog, and as such, we must eventually bring this story around to pie. Well, the produce itself is situated on an old farm that houses lots of other deliciousness--like these beautiful cherry trees.


One resident pie baker insisted that we pick a few to make a pie. Twist our arms! We got busy picking, then Jess sat down to pit them all.

That man is a cherry-pitting machine! After that, Jill worked her magic. Flour flew and fingers kneaded, and after sitting a spell in the oven, those babies were baked to perfection.


Of course, we had to wait for them to cool a bit--oh, the torture! That gave us time to play the best.party.game.ever! (Tie breaking round to be held at the Bare Knuckle Farm's second annual work weekend in 2010.) Despite the intensity of the game, the smell drove us to indulge in pie before too long. Jill was so kind as to dish it up with some vanilla ice cream. The perfect combination of sweet and tart, with a wonderfully crumbly crust.


Abra, Jill, Mary, Sara, Anika, Jess, and Erik in the Pie Enjoyment Zone (PEZ).


In our pie-induced stupor, we decided we needed to show the PEZ from another angle.


But really, there's no better indication of the success of a pie than the Breakfast Test.


And it passed that one with flying colors.

Thank you for two delicious cherry pies, Jill!
And thank you, Abra and Jess, for starting a great new tradition.

NELPie Cart ChaCha Line

All was quiet in the dining hall. The 6 tables were set with 9 places each and laid with a letterpressed menu for the evening's banquet, which foretold of savory wholesome dishes and good nutrition. Through the paned windows, the western light cast its glint from across the lake, which was serene and glassed at this hour. The only sound was the faint din of the breeze upon the hinged door, for all the students were bathing in their last moments on the docks and cliffs of Wohelo. When suddenly, HARK! a clamor of tin and aluminum, foot and floor, wheel and ball-bearing, erupted from the kitchen, an uproar that could only be that of chaotic celebration and fruity and heavily-sweetened concoctions! Whatever could this disturbance be, but none other than...THE NELPie CART CHACHA LINE!!!!

Sure to spoil savory suppers everywhere by pairing provocative dancing with provocative dessert, the NELPie Cart and its chacha devotees boasted 11 fresh (made that day) and homemade pies:

Crustless Coconut Cream (Obama family recipe) Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Sweet Potato Pie (rectangular!)
Mixed Berry pie
2 Wild Maine Blueberry Pie (Blueberries from Stoneset Farm)
2 Mixed Berry Rustic Tarts
Mixed Berry Pie
Raspberry-Blueberry Ginger Pie
Chocolate Pudding Pie
and a Vegan Avocado Pie

The Vegan Avocado Pie (also raw) has been a favorite of mine for the past year for its lightness, flavor, and ease. I've made it a lot but have yet to blog it. The recipe is as follows:

Vegan Avocado Pie

Ingredients
1 packet graham crackers
1/2 c. Earth Balance (for vegan), unsalted butter (for non-vegan), melted
Cream from 2 cans coconut milk
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. lime juice
1 ripe avocado, mashed
1/4 c. confectioner's sugar

Directions
1. In a food processor, place the graham crackers, and pulse until crumbs form. Add the melted butter through the feeding tube and mix to combine. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate.

2. Meanwhile put 1 can coconut milk into the fridge. After 1 hour, open, and spoon the cream from the coconut water.

3. Add sugar, lime juice, and 1 ripe mashed avocado to the coconut cream. Mix until incorporated and pour into graham cracker crust.

4. Refridgerate one hour until set. Top with mango/kiwi for decoration. If desired, mix another can of coconut cream with 1/4 c. powdered sugar to use as "whipped cream." Enjoy!!! Crust can be made with crushed pistachio, if desired. Agave nectar can replace sugar, for a healthier sweetness.


After the NELPie Cart Dancers wove their kickline through the tables, summoning all NELPers from their cabins and beehives, tempting them from their whole sprouted grains and and beta carotene, they lined up their wares on the table, and served them with a devilish dollop of whipped cream. Just what it did to those NELPers...well, the photographs (by J. Budd and Laura L.) speak for themselves...


Watch out! The NELPie Cart may be coming to ravage a dining hall and ruin an appetite near you!

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

Golden Birthday Pie Party Potluck!

On April 26th, my 26th birthday, I drove up to Stoneset Farm, the home of my friends Nathan & Clara and their young daughters, Eleanor and Magpie, in Brooklin, Maine. They had organized a beautiful pie potluck party for my birthday and the birthday of their friend Fred (the day before). I arrived (with a pear-ginger pie in tow) a little late, to this dreamy scene of a picnic table full of delicious pies (at least 10), dear friends, kids and dogs running about, the start of spring on the farm, and a new little baby Magpie (how apropos) to meet.
 The pie table--note Eleanor's little custard pie in the red dish, and Alison's amazing leeky cheese pie (leeks and all the leftover cheese in her house.) Some other favorites were Clara's (she also took these lovely photos) custard pie with eggs from their chickens, a spinach mushroom eggy pie, a banana cream pie, and a wild Maine blueberry with a few strawberries pie. The spread made for quite a colorful and copious plate of pie and by the end of the afternoon, EVERY pie was completely gone, leaving us wondering how many more pies would we need to add for there to be any leftover? We followed the pie with some fiddle tunes and swinging. I'm so grateful to Nathan and Clara and their friends for making my golden birthday so special--I can't think of a better way to have spent the day. Thank you!