Zingerman's Pot Pies

I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a hot minute this past weekend, and pretty much went directly from the Detroit airport to the Jewish deli-turned foodie phenom, Zingerman's for my standard #36 on sourdough with a new pickle (basically a veggie reuben with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut).

I found not only the promise of one of my favorite lunches, but an array of pot pies available there during the months of January and February. It's a good thing they were out of their vegetarian pie option, or I would have had quite a time deciding between "Lila & Izzie's Skokie Skidoo" sandwich and the "Fungi Pot Pie."
I was intrigued by this "Daria's Dingle Pie," which they purport to be "a salute to the miners on the Dingle Peninsula of Ireland," and is apparently a standard Irish savory pie recipe, traditionally sold at Lammas Fairs during the last week of August.

This tribute to the miner in pie form, though, made me wonder why Zingerman's wasn't offering a pasty-- the Cornish savory pie that was frequently consumed and popularized by Finnish miners in Michigan's Upper Penninsula. Perhaps they'll cover that later in some future 'Traditional foods of Michigan' or 'Traditional foods of the Midwest' or 'Traditional foods mistaken for stripper-garb' display.

Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie

A few weeks ago, Emily, Erica and I got together for '3-E Baking Wednesday.' Emily and I had to make something for the Foodways class potluck at our Prof. Marcie Ferris' home. We decided to combine our two respective loves--pimento cheese, a Southern specialty (Emily W. is writing her Folklore Master's thesis on it), and pie. Our friend April McGreger shared the recipe with us:

Pimento Cheese and “Put Up” Tomato Pie

This pie is a riff on a church cookbook standard simply called “tomato pie”. Usually made in the summer with fresh tomatoes, this tart takes on a more robust personality by utilizing home canned tomatoes and roasting them. It is a good way to enjoy tomatoes in the off season.

Ingredients
9” Pie Crust - that has been pre-baked to golden brown
20 oz. tomatoes (either home canned or quality store bought—like San Marzanos)
1/4 C. olive oil
2 Tblsp. fresh thyme (or you can use basil or marjoram)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 1/4 C. prepared pimento cheese (we made our using Emily's grandma's recipe + a hint of Sriracha)
1/3 C. Ritz crackers broken into small, rough pieces (about the size of a dime) (We used panko tossed in a little melted butter, a pinch of chopped garlic, a little parm, and a pinch of s&p)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F

2. Drain the tomatoes (keep the juice for the Bloody Marys!) and dice them into 1 inch pieces. In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, thyme, salt, pepper and half the olive oil by tossing with your hands until all of the tomatoes have a little oil on them. 

3. Pour half of the oil onto a sheet pan, rubbing with your hands to coat the bottom of the pan and then spread the tomatoes on the pan to form a single layer. Roast the tomatoes in the oven for about 15 minutes until they dry up a little and start to shrivel slightly. 

4. Fill the pie crust ¾ full with the tomato mixture. Spread pimento cheese over the top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle with prepared bread crumb topping.

This was a real cheesy indulgence, but got great reviews at the potluck. Next time I would make it with more tomatoes and a little less salt (I think we may have added too much to the pimento cheese).

We also made mini vinegar pies--an old Great Plains recipe of the "nothing-in-the-house pie"/"adversity pie"/ "desperation pie" genre which served as a lemon-custard substitution in times of hardship. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of them, so I'll make it again soon and give a full report.

UPDATED Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie Recipe here

National Pie Day

April's pie day table

On January 23rd a.k.a. National Pie Day (not to be confused with "Pi Day" coming up on 3.14), April (of Farmer's Daughter) sent out an e-mail to a few pals, saying she was cleaning the pie dough out of her freezer and invited us over for a few sweet and savory pies. In a matter of hours she had whipped up a varied spread of 7 different pies: pork belly sauerkraut & potato, retro tomato both with and sans bacon, apple crumb, bourbon pecan, chocolate cream and coconut cream. chocolate cream pie

I can't speak for the meat pies, but the retro tomato was the perfect combination of creamy cheese and crumb, and was so salt-addictive (not saying it was too salty, but addictive like the best homemade salt and vinegar potato chips--COULD NOT STOP EATING!)

bourbon pecan pie

April's crust is seriously the best I've EVER tasted-- so flaky, golden, and perfectly carmelized with the filling. This was especially evident with the bourbon pecan.

I go back for retro-tomato seconds

I wish I had some pics of the PEZ because it was out of control-- fainting into the couch cushions style and ruining my appetite for the birthday party I had to go to afterward. Thanks to April for her mad baking skills, hospitality and ensuring that the first pie day of the year did not go un-celebrated. Now stay tuned for 3.14.10...

On the 'Origin of Pies and the Making of Pie Plates'

Thanks to Shannon (pictured in the post below) for this fascinating New York Times article from August 7, 1904, which discusses the first American pies, pie for breakfast, and colonial pie plates.
Click to enlarge.

North Carolina Peanut Pie

I had some peanuts left over from a camping trip, and got to thinkin'...peanut pie?! A quick google search produced this recipe, from Scratch Bakery in next-door Durham. I didn't have Lyle's Golden Syrup, so I substituted molasses and corn syrup, but here's the recipe...

North Carolina Peanut Pie

Ingredients:
Nothing-in-the-House crust recipe (at right)
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 large eggs
1/2 cup golden syrup (such as Lyle's)
1/2 cup sorghum syrup or 1/2 cup golden syrup (such as Lyle's) mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped salted North Carolina peanuts or coarsely chopped salted cocktail peanuts

Make crust.Wrap in plastic; chill at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter pie dish. Fold edges under and crimp decoratively. Freeze crust 15 minutes. Line crust with foil; fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until crust is set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Continue to bake until edges begin to color, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 13 minutes. Cool crust on rack while making filling. Maintain oven temperature.

Whisk brown sugar, flour, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, cinnamon, and cayenne in medium bowl. Whisk eggs in another medium bowl to blend. Add golden syrup, sorghum, melted butter, and vanilla to eggs and whisk to blend. Add brown sugar mixture and whisk until smooth. Mix in peanuts. Pour filling into cooled crust.

Bake pie 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; continue to bake until crust is golden and filling is set (center of filling may move slightly when pie dish is gently shaken), covering crust edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 40 minutes. Cool pie on rack. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cut pie into wedges and serve with vanilla ice cream.

I brought this to share with the Grad. Student Section of my Foodways class in the UNC Folklore Dept. Note the Amish double-decker pie carrying basket, given to me by my parents for Christmas!

This got my friend Lora and I wondering... Is there a pie for every state?!

The effect that pie graphs have...

Thanks, Ashley.

Hoosier Mama Pie Company

As stated below, on New Year's Day, Heather and I braved the Chicago cold to make a pilgrimage to Hoosier Mama Pie Company, in West Town. Hoosier Mama is an adorably tiny pie shop, with a whole lotta pie, and a pie philosophy that really resonates with my own-- local culture, tradition, history, whole foods, women's domestic arts (see video below for more on this), as well as Hoosier pride.
The pie-makers there were all incredibly friendly (especially when we told them we were friends with Abra, who works there occasionally) and let me ogle and photograph their tin top tables and pie paraphernalia...


We even got to meet the Hoosier Mama herself (stirring on the left).

It took Heather and me a long time to figure out which 2 pies to try--Hoosier Sugar Cream & Pear Apple Cranberry? Maple Pecan & Lemon Chess?

We settled on Banana Cream & Key Lime...
via the "$5 sweet slice + coffee for here!", and took our treats to the built-in booth in the bay window.


The key lime was our favorite--zesty and delicious with an excellent graham-cracker crust. The banana cream, which was topped with white chocolate shavings, was good, albeit extremely rich. This slice had their standard crust, which was decent, though a little tough and not as flaky as it could be. Before seeing the video below, I would have guessed that they used at least 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter. Nonetheless, we firmly entered the Pie Enjoyment Zone...
 
and browsed their awesome collection of old pie cookbooks, The Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook, being my favorite.

MAN APPEAL?!
And though I'm not necessarily the type of girl to fantasize about my wedding day, this framed photo did get my mind a-reeling...

As you can see, Hoosier Mama is basically THE Pie Enjoyment Zone, and hopefully our New Year's visit will bring us in good pie for 2010.

Pie As A (Midwestern) Lifestyle

Over New Year's weekend, Heather and I paid a visit to Hoosier Mama, Paula Haney's great little pie shop in Chicago (where our good friend Abra occasionally works!). I'll post pictures and a review of our visit shortly, but in the meantime, check out this great video about it by Sky Full Of Bacon... "Just pie!...very simple and unpretentious."

Sky Full of Bacon 13: Pie As a Lifestyle from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

"Some of the best french food--it's poor food...all the cassoulet...all of that stuff is stuff people made to survive. And it just shows how resilient and ingenius they are and they made it taste WONDERFUL. So I start looking around, well that's the same thing all of my relatives, who I thought were so boring, were doing with their pies. They were feeding their family, they were coming up with things that tasted good."

Old cookbooks, desperation pies, and a crust of ALL-BUTTER and VINEGAR! A Hoosier girl after my own Hoosier heart!

Holiday Pies by Stacy

This post comes from Southern Belle Stacy, reporting from Dallas, Texas and Brooklyn, New York...

This pecan pie was my third pecan pie to bake in a week. The first, I used Emily's mini pecan pie recipe but did not roast the pecans, the second I made Elvis's pecan pie, boy was it buttery, the third (pictured) I used Alice Water's crust and Homesick Texas blog filling,YUM! I think this was a perfect pecan pie! I topped it with a hammer and saw in reference to my favorite old time band. We carted the pie to Thanksgiving dinner at some new pals brownstone here in Brooklyn. The plate was licked clean.


Here is a photograph of my impromptu apple pie. Sadly, I did not make the crust however, I glazed it with egg and sprinkled it with sugar. I used Emily's apple pie recipe and it was a hit. Served with some yummy blue bell homestyle vanilla ice cream. A perfect addition to a community puzzle jam new years eve party in blustery Dallas, Texas.

Christmas Tart

For Christmas this year, my brother, mom, dad and I spent the day opening presents, listening to music, lounging about the house, and making food together. One of my presents was Michel Roux's Pastry (which I previously drooled over at Rabelais in Portland, ME). I wanted to try something from the book, and my dad had brought home a bushel of Arkansas Black apples, so I settled on the classic Apple Tart. It seems that this was the year for them. I followed the recipe in its entirety, using Michel's tart crust recipe. It is as follows:

Tart Pie Dough
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces and slightly softened
1 medium egg
1 tsp. superfine sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 Tblsp. cold water

Heap the flour in the bowl and make a well. Put the butter, egg, sugar and salt in the middle. With your fingertips, mix and cream ingredients in the well. Draw flour into center and work dough to a grainy texture. Add cold water and mix until dough holds together. Push dough away from you 4-5 times until it is smooth. Roll dough in ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Apple Tart
Tart Pie Dough
6 dessert apples (I used Arkansas Black)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (we didn't have any, so I used extract)
4 1/2 Tblsp. butter
scant 1/2 c. superfine sugar

Roll out dough in circle and use to line a buttered and floured tart pan. Pinch up edges with index finger to make a fluted edge higher than the dish. Chill for at least 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel, core and halve apples. Cut into very fine slices. Put 1/3 of apples in a pan and add 1/4 c. water, vanilla and butter and cook until tender. Take off heat, discard vanilla bean and work the apples with a whisk to compote consistency. Let cool. For glaze, in small pan, dissolve sugar in 2 1/2 Tbslp. water. Bring to boil and bubble for 4-5 minutes to make a syrup. Let cool. Prick base of pastry shell lightly. Pour in cold apple compote and spread. Arrange a border of overlapping apple slices around tart, then arrange another circle inside with slices facing the other way. Fill center with a small rosette of slices. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before removing tart pan. Brush top with glaze. Cut and enjoy!
I liked this recipe, but I am of the opinion that butter in pie dough should be as COLD as possible during preparation to facilitate supreme flakiness. But for a traditional tart crust, this was easy and tasted good. We topped it off with brandy and Indiana maple syrup-spiked whipped cream, then entered the TEZ...Mom in the TEZGrant in the TEZ.

Look for more Michel Roux recipes in 2010 as I delve into my lovely Christmas present!

Tarte Tatin

Last week Erica (a.k.a. my awesome WXYC mentor DJ) and I got together to bake a tart. We settled on the classic French upside-down carmelized apple tart, tarte tatin, using the recipe from the Gourmet Cookbook:

Tarte Tatin

Ingredients:
Nothing-in-the-house crust recipe, using all-purpose flour (at right)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
7-9 apples, cored and quartered (we used Jonagold and Gala)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare crust (recipe at right) and refrigerate. Spread butter on bottom and sides of cast iron skillet and pour sugar evenly over bottom. Arrange apples tightly in concentric circles in pan. Cook apples on moderately high heat, without stirring until juices are deep golden and bubbling (YEAH!), about 18-25 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out crust in a circle large enough to cover the skillet and sides. Bake apples in the skillet for 20 minutes (apples will settle and become soft). Remove skillet from oven and lay the pastry round over the apples, tucking in the sides. Bake until pastry is browned 20-25 minutes. Transfer skillet to a rack and cool for at least 10 minutes. Just before serving, flip skillet onto plate to upright so that pastry is on the bottom and apples are on top. Serve immediately.

My skillet had gone missing, so we had to do some shuffling of pans...THEN we got to girl-talking and nearly scorched the apples, but they ended up just on the brink between perfectly carmelized and burnt. Topped it all off with a bit of bourbon-ginger whipped cream. We thought that it could use a bit more sweetness and spice--perhaps some cinnamon and ginger tossed with the apples. But still...
DJ-LICIOUS!

Meat Pie: A History

I want to share a positively pleasant pie piece from the Chicago Reader's Cliff Doerksen, in which he explores the history of the weirdest American pie: the mince meat. My father eats this pie on Thanksgiving, although it is a vegetarian version out of a can, which my mother opens while pinching her nose. She has always told me, "Don't worry, honey, there is no meat in a mince meat pie." The statement always struck me as both bizarre and reassuring as my father shoveled in forkfuls of opaque brown with flecks of red texture (figs, not tendons, I realize now). Turns out, mince meat used to be made of meat, and it looks pretty gross.

SCARY Meat Pie

Reporting from Boston, Jamie sent me this pic of a SCARY meat pie...notice the teeth!

and BMPEZ (Breakfast Meat Pie Enjoyment Zone) the next morning!

Thanksgiving Pies 2009

The Davis-Dewald crew had another mellow Thanksgiving this year with new faces, babies and an all vegetarian meal gracing the table.

We enjoyed three pies, two delicious, one -ahem- experimental.
Also these are horrible pictures taken with my horrible camera.

To start, #1 is an experimental macrobiotic pecan pie, from an actual recipe followed diligently. Kebir called it the 'pie of courage' and that was about right - agar, brown rice syrup and arrowroot created a strange, not sweet gelatinous goo that we all enjoyed trying out. It's now in the compost. YUM!

I do believe I will revisit the oatmeal crust - it was superb.

#2 is a beautiful and amazing squash pie from Meghan. Delighting audiences year after year, or at the very least delighting me, I could eat an entire one of these myself.


#3 is redemption apple pie by me. No courage required. I used the same Angelica Kitchen recipe I always use, but I halved the crust and made a latticey top, which I think was an improvement. I used Northern Spies as suggested by the coop's apple guru, Jewels. Take his advice, ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to produce!


And don't forget the whipped cream. Amy's children discovered whipped cream this Thanksgiving, and let's just say their lives are forever changed. CREAM!
Happy Thanksgiving!

A Tale of Two Tarts

Let's begin at the start of these tarts, which was for me, an apple picking adventure to Ayers Orchard in Cana, VA, the closest orchard I could find. Apple picking is THE quintessential fall tradition in my book, and I convinced 2 carloads of friends to drive 2 hours (plus) to humor me in my stubborn adherence to it. After being led on a wild goose chase by the Australian woman in the GPS, we stopped at a country gas station, where we got directions ("up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, and down the hill") to "his mama's house" from whence we were told to take "all lefts except for the right" to the orchard warehouse, where we were drawn a puzzling "map" by the orcardist, we FINALLY found the grove, enjoyed a lovely picnic, and picked a bushel each of Fujis and Arkansas Blacks.

Stuffed my spoils in my (mama's) shirt

Back home on the Piedmont, I turned these apples into butter, grilled-cheese apple sandwiches, daily snacks, and tarts. For the first I used this recipe from Alice Waters/Smitten Kitchen.   It calls for a food processor-mixed pastry, of which I was skeptical, but I had heard a lot of advocates of this practice, so I decided to give it a try. The dough came together easier than by hand, and the whole tart looked rather nice with its spiraled delicate apple slices, but I just don't think there's any comparison to pastry dough mixed by hand. The butter stays chunkier and melts less, making it so much flakier. It was still a tasty treat, and Neale and James came over to enjoy.

Neale and James in the TEZ

For the second tart, I decided to go with what I know--the standard crust recipe, and the apple butter my friend Lora and I had just made and canned. Plus Miss Lapidus was visiting. We opted for the rustic tart, being the rustic tarts that we are. Here's the approximate recipe we used:   Simple Rustic Apple Tart

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust (at right), using all-purpose flour
2 lbs. apples (we used Arkansas Blacks)
5 Tblsp. sugar: white and turbinado mixture
1/2 c. homemade apple butter
1 Tblsp. lemon juice

Directions 1. Make pie crust and once chilled, roll out in 10-in circle. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  2. Core and cut apples into delicate thin slices. Toss apples with lemon juice and 3 Tblsp. sugar.  3. Brush apple butter onto pastry dough and arrange apples on top of the apple butter in concentric spiraling circles. Fold crust over edges. Sprinkle 2 Tblsp. sugar over top of apples and crust.  4. Bake for 35-45 minutes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Enjoy!

You are what you eat: rustic tart for a rustic tart

In other news, I look forward to seeing what pies our Nothing-In-The-House correspondents will make for Thanksgiving, the #1 biggest pie day of the year!

WXYC Pecan Pumpkin Pie with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Why choose when you can have both? It's the time of the year when we turn to pies of nuts, storage vegetables, and dried fruits. I wanted to bring a (seasonal) pie to the WXYC DJ Thanksgiving potluck but I had already made the mini pecan pies last week, Kellen was already bringing a pumpkin, and I've recently had my fill of apple and pear tarts and pies. This hybrid from the Gourmet cookbook seemed like a good solution.

PECAN PUMPKIN PIE

Nothing-In-The-House crust with all-purpose flour (recipe at right)

Ingredients for pumpkin filling:
3/4 c. canned pumpkin purée
2 Tblsp. brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten
2 Tblsp. sour cream
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Pinch of salt

Ingredients for pecan layer:
3/4 c. light corn syrup
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
3 eggs, beaten
3 Tblsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c. pecans, lightly roasted

Make the pastry and refrigerate 30 min-hour. Preheat oven to 375 and roast pecans on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. This is the key to a delicious pecan pie! Make pumpkin filling by whisking together all ingredients until smooth. Make the pecan layer by stirring corn syrup, brown sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, zest, lemon juice, and salt in separate bowl until combined. Add roasted pecans. Spread pumpkin filling evenly in pie shell. Carefully spoon pecan mixture over it. Bake until crust is golden and filling is puffed, about 45 minutes (center should still be a tad wobbly).

The original recipe called for pre-baking the crust, but this made for a done-crust when the filling was still a little goopy. Next time I won't pre-bake. I added some crust design elements and topped it off with bourbon whipped cream which was totally decadent and oh-so southern.

BOURBON WHIPPED CREAM
1/2 c. very cold heavy cream
1 Tblsp. brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. bourbon
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat all ingredients in mixer, food processor, or by hand (if you've got the GUNS).

Roasting and leaving the pecans halved makes for a pretty and delicious PPP

Took the PPP to the DJs to enter the PEZ while listening to...ESG? COB? MV + EE? on XYC.