Abra Berens' Celery Ham Tart aka Pissaladière

I'm very excited to have this guest post and recipe from my friend Abra Berens, a talented chef and farmer who splits her time between Chicago (where she's worked in some of the city's top bakeries like Floriole and Hoosier Mama Pie Company) and Bare Knuckle Farm in Michigan's Leelanau Penninsula. I've always loved being a guest at Abra's dinner table ever since we became friends in college, so I'm glad to be able to share some of her work here with this Celery Ham Tart. From Abra...

Years ago I worked at Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have a vague recollection of Rodger Bowser making these tarts for a daily special. When I asked him why he made it, he said, "Celery is really good right now and it is what I wanted for lunch."

When our friends Matt and Carissa showed up next to us at the Sutton's Bay market with beautiful, dark green celery, I knew what I wanted for dinner. Then work got busy, I forgot I had tomatoes that needed to be roasted that day and I never made my tart. Luckily that Sunday, our neighbors Gene and Kathy Garthe were having a party and asked me to bring an appetizer. "Aha, I'll make the tart and cut it smaller!" I thought. There was also an avid mushroom forager at this party, so I made one tart vegetarian, substituting our recently harvested wine cap mushrooms for the ham. Any sort of rich mushroom would work.

I like taking regular pie dough, which I try to keep in the freezer at all times, and treat it like puff dough to make a slightly different texture. It won't puff like true puff pastry, but it is nice and makes me feel like I'm doing something extra for my friends.

The only nerve-racking part of this recipe is inverting the tart onto the platter. The tart is usually greased enough with lard to avoid sticking, but if some sticks, just scrape it out and add it back. No one will be able to see the difference.

Celery Ham Tart aka Pissaladière
From Abra Berens of Bare Knuckle Farm

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie dough, halved
1 head celery*
1 long leek
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1/2 cup white wine
5 strips unsmoked ham of bacon**, smoked is okay but can overpower the delicate leeks
2 Tablespoons lard or butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions (freeze the other half for a future pie, or make two tarts!). Once chilled, roll the pie dough into a rectangle and fold into thirds like a letter. Roll it to the same size as the original rectangle and fold into thirds again. Repeat one more time to mimic puff pastry. You could also use puff pastry if you like making your own.

2. For the final rolling, roll pie crust into a circle about the same size as your cast iron skillet (slightly larger is okay, but you don't want it smaller). Chill the dough for at least 20 minutes after all the rolling.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Thinly slice the celery and leeks and wash them in cold water. I like to slice them on a long bias so that the leeks are in long ovals and the celery doesn't look like it came out of a can.

4. In a large cast iron skillet, heat the lard or butter until melted. Add the leeks, celery, and thyme with a hefty pinch of salt and black pepper. Let sweat until the celery is softening. Add the white wine and allow to reduce until syrupy.

5. Lay the ham strips over the leek mixture. Then lay the dough circle over the whole lot and bake until the dough is golden brown and crispy, about 25 minutes.

6. Remove the pan from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Now your ready for the flip. Place your serving platter over the skillet and invert, flipping the tart out of the pan. Scrape any clinging celery bits from the pan and place on top of the tart. Slice and serve warm.

Recipe notes: *Abra recommends using local celery for this recipe, available in late summer/early fall in most places of the country. But I made mine in winter with grocery store celery and it was still delicious. **To make this tart vegetarian, substitute any rich mushroom for the ham.

Related posts:
Floriole's Milk Chocolate and Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart
Hoosier Mama's Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
Peach Apricot Raspberry Wedding Pie

Cranberry Hand Pies

As I've said before, I don't really believe in Valentine's Day. I do, however, always believe in telling the people you care for that you love them. I also believe in heart-shaped sweet treats. February 14th then, does present a good opportunity for both of those things to occur. Growing up, my grandma and mom always made heart-shaped sugar cookies this time of year, decorated with pink and red frosting. I still take guilty pleasure in that childhood treat, and decided to re-envision it in pie-form. 

These cranberry hand pies use a quick homemade cranberry-orange jam filling. If you don't favor cranberries or have any on hand, you could substitute them with your favorite jam. The heart-shaped pies are all cranberry-filled, but for the circular pies, I spread a thin layer of goat cheese on half for a bit of savory flavor. Those cran-goat cheese pockets would make wonderful snacks or appetizers, while the pure cranberry hand pies are better suited for breakfast or dessert. No matter the time of day, slip these little pies in your pocket and pass them out to the ones you love-- a Valentine's Day celebration I can believe in.

Cranberry Hand Pies

Makes about 1-2 dozen, depending on size

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
Juice of 1 medium naval orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier, if desired
1 egg, whisked with 1 Tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk (for egg wash)
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
4 oz. goat cheese (for savory pies, if desired)

Directions
1. Prepare Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Once chilled, roll out dough onto a floured surface and cut into circles or hearts of equal size. Place cut crust on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and return to chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, stir and simmer cranberries, orange juice, zest, sugar, and Grand Marnier, if using. Stir occasionally until cranberries begin to burst, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 5-7 minutes more, until a thick sauce is formed. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool. 

3. Remove cut dough from fridge and mound cranberry mixture into the center of half of the circles or heart. If using goat cheese, spread it on the other half of the pie. Brush edges of dough with water and place a matching piece of dough on top. Press the edges with a fork to seal. Brush hand pies with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and cut a steam vent in the top of each.

3. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, bake hand pies for 35-45 minutes, rotating cookie sheet half-way through. Filling will be bubbling and crust will be golden brown when done. Transfer pies to a wire rack and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Thanks to Food52 for featuring these in their #F52grams!

Related Recipes:

Apple Fried Pies

Blueberry Hand Pies

Cranberry Sage Pie

Peach-Bourbon-Ginger Hand Pies

Illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber

Blood Orange Chess Pie

I'm writing this from a lake house in Michigan. The lake is frozen over, the high today is 18, the low is -6, and there's over 2 feet of snow on the ground. I'm loving it now while it's novel (though wishing I had my cross-country skis), but remember those college-era long Michigan winters when long underwear was obligatory, causing us to move across campus like marshmallows and making dance party dressing a conundrum. We were all hoping for spring-- because classes would be over, yes, but more so because it meant our bodies would be warm again. 

The first time I ever ate a blood orange was on an escape from one such Michigan winter. On my senior year spring break (which for the University of Michigan is in February), my friend and I took a trip to Southern California-- to visit her sister in Santa Barbara and some of my high school friends at Caltech. When my pals were in class or solving complicated mathematical proofs, my friend and I roamed the campus, pillaging citrus from the trees that surrounded the lecture halls and libraries. I was surprised when I plucked an orange from a tree and peeled it to reveal a bright red interior, with dripping juice that made me wonder if I'd unknowingly gotten a paper cut.  I didn't know what to expect flavor-wise, but I bit in and found it tarter than I'd imagined, in a good way--a classic navel orange's more interesting yet slightly sinister step-sister.

This tartness and vivid hue make blood oranges a fruit well-suited for baking, lending more complexity than standard oranges. The brilliant pop of color and flavor are also ideal for mitigating winter's doldrums.

Ever since I made Hoosier Mama's Cranberry Chess Pie, I've been wanting to "chess" everything (more on what Chess Pie is here). This recipe is adapted from the Lee Brothers' Grapefruit Chess Pie. This time I used my standard pie crust, but you could also use the sweet rye crust which is in their original recipe.

Blood Orange Chess Pie

Adapted from The Lee Brothers' Charleston Kitchen

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust, halved
4 blood oranges
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 large egg whites
2 large egg yolks
1/2 c. heavy cream, room temperature
4 Tblsp. (half stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tblsp. fine cornmeal, plus more for sprinkling.

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Let chill for 15 more minutes in the freezer.. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Place a sheet of parchment paper inside the pie crust and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and take out the parchment and weights. Brush crust with the egg yolk, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

3. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, finely grate the zest of 1 of the blood oranges (it will yield about 1 tsp.) and set aside. Segment 2 of the blood oranges by trimming off the top and bottom so each end is flat. Then peel the fruit by placing a sharp knife at the point where the pith meets the fruit and cut with the curvature of the fruit.  

4. Over a medium bowl to catch the juice, cut along the segment membranes of the oranges to separate each segment. Strain the segments and reserve the juice and segments separately (you'll have about 1 c. segments and 1/3 c. juice). Whisk the zest and salt into the blood orange juice.

5. Whisk the egg yolks and egg whites together in a large bowl (I used a standing mixer) until they are light and cream-colored, then whisk in the cream and melted butter. 

6. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, and cornmeal. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture in thirds, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the orange juice mixture until incorporated.

5. Pour the filling into the pie crust and arrange the blood orange segments in the custard (they will float to the surface as they bake). Place the pie in the oven and bake 35-45 minutes until the top has browned and the center jiggles stiffly. Cool on a wire rack at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Related Recipes:

Cranberry Chess Pie

Grapefruit Chess Pie

Lemon Chess Pie

Rustic Blood Orange Tart with Cream Cheese Crust

Decorative Crust with Tara Jensen of Smoke Signals Baking

Tara Jensen and I both lived in Burlington, Vermont around the same time and had many of the same friends. I had heard about her and her art through various pals, but strangely our paths never crossed. Then she moved to North Carolina, and I moved to North Carolina and then left North Carolina, and  unknowingly we gathered more common friends along the way. Then somehow through the small mediated world we know as Instagram, we made a connection. It took a few weeks of oggling the rustic bread loves and incredibly artful pie crusts of "bakerhands" before I realized who was behind it all, and then it all seemed to make sense.

Tara now owns and operates Smoke Signals Baking in Marshall, NC, just outside of Asheville. Tara comes to baking from a background in art (as evidenced by her beautiful work in pastry), and approaches her bakery as "a living entity that combines food, writing, and photography." I asked Tara if she would share a tutorial on her decorative crust tops and tell us a little bit about her baking practice. You can find her lovely and inspiring words and photographs below.



What is it about pie making that's inspiring?

I came into making pies a few Thanksgivings ago. I wanted to offer my customers something special so I started making sweet potato pies from the potatoes we grew on the farm. After a long day of difficult bread baking I turned towards my pie orders and felt a sense of relief. Pie was the kind friend I was looking for in the kitchen. I find pie to be a forgiving and creative process with the pleasure of immediate gratification. Bread feels so rugged and demanding, yet pie proposed a chance to be delicate, feminine even. And of course, sweet.

How has your background as an artist influenced you?

I enjoyed success as an artist through my twenties, but when I decided to turn my life over to baking and farming, making art took a back seat. This wasn't a painful transition; I was ready to welcome a new chapter of my life. I began to feel strongly that my entire life became my creative project and what made me an artist was not so much what I made materially in the world, but rather my perspective.

It's been a few years now since I've painted or attempted a drawing, but when I hold the pastry wheel and slice through a nicely-made dough I feel the same thrill and expression as when I would strike out on a fresh piece of white paper. There are movements of the wrist and body that I will always go to when making a shape or a line. Treating the pie dough like a creative material, rather than food, was helpful to making all kinds of patterns, designs, and forms. I also think there is no wrong way of making a pie or any kind of way a pie should be, which frees me up to experiment, fail, and learn about myself along the way.

Decorative Crust: A Tutorial

The top crust of your pie affords you a moment of reflection. The bottom crust is done, the filling has been prepared and you are left with a final canvas of flour and butter. When I would paint my favorite creative time was after the majority of the legwork was done and I got to sit back and decide where to put that final speck, that last mark which was going to tie it all together. I love the top crust because it's that special space, when most of the heavy lifting is done, when one can look with a discerning and excited eye.

I get really jazzed about decorating my pie tops. I like to clean up the kitchen first. Maybe make another pot of coffee. Definitely find the right song. Step outside the hot kitchen and look at the sky. And then just r e l a x. After I roll out the initial top, upon which I'll assemble different shapes, I imgine I'm cutting paper and let my hands guide me to whatever shapes they want to make. Think of pie dough as your material and egg wash as your glue. You can be literal or abstract. The goal is to have a little joy and embrace the process. There's no right or wrong here.

Things you'll need: 

Egg wash

Pastry brush

Knife

One fully filled pie ready for a top!

Things you might also want: 

Pinking shears

Cookie cutters

Pastry wheel

Ruler

1. When you roll out your pie crust for the bottom, save any scraps.

2. Fill your pie. Now you can either make a top with a traditional cover boasting fun shapes or cut outs, or you can make a top by assembling many small pieces to cover the filling.

3. I like to put on a whole top-- makes it feel like a blank page to me. Be mindful when rolling out the dough for your decorative pieces to roll it relatively thin. That way you can do several layers and you won't end up with a top crust three inches thick and hard to bake thoroughly. Also keep in mind that shapes or pieces that stand tall above the rest of the pie will brown quickly.

4. Roll out the extra dough you've saved and go to town! Let your hand make whatever shapes it wants. I go for long lines and organic looking leaves. If you need a warm up try drawing on a huge piece of butcher paper to get your wrist in the mood. You can cut the dough with a knife, with scissors, cookie cutters, or with a pastry wheel: choose one or try them all.

5. Brush wherever you are going to lay down dough with an egg wash. The possibilities here are endless. I don't start with an idea; I just start cutting up the dough and place it randomly, letting a pattern, design, or image emerge. Express yourself!

6. I give the final pie one more light brush of egg wash and dust it with coarse sugar to add some sparkle. Bake it and eat with friends or alone, in between dance breaks to your favorite song*.

*My current favorite song: Take this Waltz by Leonard Cohen

Thanks so much to Tara Jensen for sharing this tutorial, photos, and bit of inspiration . You can find more of Tara's words and photos via her website, tumblr, and instagram.

Buffalo Chicken Fried Pies

In being the keeper of a pie blog, I've come to be a recipient of a lot of harebrained pie ideas. Last year around this time, Brent came to me with one. Buffalo. Chicken. Fried. Pies. His vision was for a self-contained Super Bowl snack that captured the flavor of chicken wings, complete with hot sauce, carrots,  celery, and blue cheese dressing, but was encapsulated in a pie crust and able to be held in the hand while watching the game (or Beyonce as the case may be).

I was skeptical but willing to give it a try. We were invited to a Super Bowl party by our friend Lars, who also happens to be an organic chicken farmer, and when we arrived on Sunday evening with a grocery bag full of ingredients and cooking oil, Lars had the chicken ready to go--already cooked and marinated in hot wing sauce. The result was obnoxiously good. The frying warmed all of the ingredients, melting the blue cheese while keeping the carrots and celery still crispy, as in a buffalo wing chaser.





I've apparently haven't really stopped thinking about them since, because this summer, I mentioned it to my friend, pocket food afficianado and video maven Mackenzie Smith, who I met at the LongHouse Scholars Program. She brought them up again a few weeks ago, and last week I traveled to Brooklyn to whip up a batch while Mack filmed me (and my sous chef Justin). She put together this very fun little video on the new favorite snack! Kick it off.

Buffalo Chicken FRIED Pies from Mackenzie Smith on Vimeo.

Buffalo Chicken Fried Pies

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust 
5 bone-in chicken thighs
All-purpose flour
Salt & pepper to taste
Oil for browning
1/2 bottle of Frank's RedHot sauce, plus more for dipping if desired
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
Blue cheese dressing, for dipping if desired

Directions
1. Prepare Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions. Refrigerate while you prepare the chicken and other filling ingredients. 

2. Prepare the chicken. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small baking dish, spread a thin layer of flour and season with salt and pepper. Coat chicken on all sides with the flour mixture. In a skillet, brown chicken with oil over medium heat. Transfer to a heavy baking dish and cover with hot sauce. Bake for 35-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Let cool completely before removing skin and shredding chicken with a fork. Set aside.

2. Once your filling is ready and pie dough has chilled for at least 1 hour, remove  from fridge and roll out onto a lightly dusted surface about 1/8 inch thick. Using a large biscuit cutter or top of a large mug or jar, cut circles out of the dough (you can make them as large or small as you like, just remember that the smaller the pie the less filling can fit inside). 

3. Mound chicken, vegetables, and blue cheese in the center of each circle--you'll want to aim for about 2 Tablespoons of filling total, but depending on how big your dough circles are you can use more or less. Remember it is better to under-stuff than over-stuff.

4. Moisten the edge of the pastry circle with your finger, then fold over the dough to form a half-moon shape. Press the edges together and flute with a fork to seal completely. Place the formed pies on a parchment paper covered baking dish and place in the freezer, at least 20 minutes and up to an hour.

5. Meanwhile, heat the oil (If you prefer to bake your pies, you can do so in an oven set at 375 degrees F for about 15-25 minutes). Pour at least 2 cups of canola oil (or 4 inches deep) into a deep and heavy saucepan. Insert a candy thermometer into the oil. Slowly heat on medium-low until the temperature reads 350 degrees F.

6. When the oil temperature reaches 350 degrees, gently lower one pie at a time into the heated oil and cook until golden brown (about 2 minutes per side).  Using a slotted spatula, transfer to a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat with the remaining pies.

7. Let pies cool slightly before serving, but they are best eaten when fresh and warm! Dip them in your favorite buffalo chicken wing sauce or blue cheese dressing and go team!

Big thanks to Mackenzie Smith for lending her many talents and vision to produce this video and photos. Mack is a Brooklyn-based multi-media producer and heritage cookbook editor and you can find more of her work here. Look out for a new food video project from her coming soon.

Photos and video by Mackenzie Smith

Related recipes:

Apple Fried Pies

Frito Pie

Spinach & Feta Fried Pies

Tomato, Bacon & Jalapeno Pie

Atlantic Beach Pie

After collaborating on an illustrated Peppermint Pattie Tart place setting for BYT's holiday table decor guide, Elizabeth and I decided to turn it into a series. Each month in 2014, we'll bring you a new installment of Hand Drawn Pies-- thematically illustrated place setting 'n' pie combination for your viewing and tasting enjoyment. 

Nothing like a polar vortex to make you long for salty beach air and warm and salty summer days. Though you may not be able to take a getaway (the plane may not even be able to takeoff with all this snow), this salty citrus pie can take you there for a moment in your mind.

Atlantic Beach Pie is a classic at seafood restaurants along the North Carolina coast. According to Bill Smith, who grew up in that area, if you ate sweets after a meal of seafood, you'd get sick. The only exception was a lemon-lime pie with a saltine crust and a meringue top.

This version, which replaces the meringue with whipped cream, comes from Smith, the chef at Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill. I'd read the article about the pie on NPR, but didn't drink the Kool-Aid until I'd tried the original, while on a visit back to my old Carolina grad school haunts. Now this pie has found it's rightful place in my repertoire-- not only is it a heavenly trio of tangy, salty, and sweet, it is also a cinch to make. The ease and lightness makes it perfect for any vacation, whether in the snowy West Virginia mountains or in the hot sand on Kure Beach, after seafood or not.

Atlantic Beach Pie

Adapted from Bill Smith of Crook's Corner via NPR

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/2 sleeves of saltine crackers
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

For the filling:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon or lime juice or a mix of the two
Fresh whipped cream and coarse sea salt (I used Himalayan pink salt) for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crush the crackers finely but not to dust, using a food processor or just your hands, and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the sugar, then knead in the butter until the crumbs come together like dough. Press into a 8 or 9-inch pie pan. Chill for 15 minutes, then bake for 18 minutes until the crust begins to color.

2. While the crust is cooling (it doesn't need to be cold), beat the egg yolks into the milk, then beat in the citrus juice. Make sure everything is completely combined. Pour into the shell and bake for 16 minutes until the filling has set. Let cool completely to room temperature and refrigerate at least 1 hour before slicing. Serve with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkling of sea salt.

Related recipes:
Florida Grapefruit-White Chocolate Pie
Key Lime Pie Popsicles
Lemon Chess Pie
Lemon-Ginger Meringue Tartlets
Lemon Meringue Pie
"Levon Helm's" Lemon Icebox Pie
Lime & Raspberry Italian Meringue Pie

Illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber

Cranberry Sage Pie

Braided edges, abstract lattices, and golden brown sugared tops, Four & Twenty Blackbirds pies are real visual stunners and the women who make them-- sisters Emily and Melissa Elsen-- are pioneers of beautiful and creative crust designs.

But equally as innovative are the recipes the two dream up, which spiral out from the classics into new flavor combinations like Maple Lime Custard, Rosemary Honey Shoefly, and the drink-turned-pie Buttered Rum Cream. They call the recipes in their new The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book "uncommon" and it's true-- while the book does offer an ample selection of old standbys, their puissance lies in their knack for creative innovation, both in visual design and flavor.

This talent makes sense considering their background-- Emily is an art school graduate and the two sisters grew up in a family restaurant run by their mother and aunts in a small town in the midwest. Their grandmother baked the pies.

The sisters started their own food business in 2009-- a pie-to-order start-up run out of their Brooklyn apartment-- and by 2010 they had opened the doors of their brick and mortar pie shop in Gowanus. Though their pie recipes have been featured in numerous magazines and sites, at the end of last year they put out their first (I'm thinking there might eventually be another?) cookbook to much acclaim.



Though I'd made a few of their recipes before (see their Salty Honey Pie and Rhubarb Pie) I was was excitedly waiting for their cookbook for months, knowing it would become a resource I'd return to again and again, to bake my way through the recipes and to provide creative inspiration for my own crust designs and flavor combinations.

I stared off with something fairly basic but really good--their Cranberry Sage Pie-- which I made for Christmas dinner this past year. Aside from my everlasting love for cranberries, it was the perfect pie for the occasion with it's holiday-appropriate red hue and sage which adds a savory note that mimicks some of the other flavors of the dinner. We ate ours (along with Pecan Pie and a Dark Chocolate Whiskey-Soaked Bundt Cake) around the fire after opening presents and while highly anticipating the posting of the Downton Abbey Season 4 Christmas Special by the generous Brits.

Cranberry Sage Pie
Adapted from The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon fresh sage, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons arrowroot (cornstarch also works)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
4 cups whole cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 small baking apple (I used a Northern Spy)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Egg wash (1 large egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water and a pinch of salt)
Demerara sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Prepare the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Chill dough at least 1 hour. Once chilled, roll out 1/2 of pie crust and fit into a 9-inch greased and floured pie pan. You can choose to roll out the top-crust now and refrigerate it flat, or roll it out once you've prepared the filling. Either way, you should put both the remaining crust and the pie pan in the fridge while you prepare the filling. Reserve half-egg yolk for the egg wash.

2. In a heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over the dried cranberries to cover by about 1 inch. Allow them to plump while you prepare the rest of the filling.

3. In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, combine the chopped sage, granulated and brown sugars, salt, arrowroot (or cornstarch), cinnamon, and allspice. Process until the sage is fully blended. Pour the sugar mixture into a large bowl and set aside.

4. Use the same food processor bowl to briefly process 2 cups of the whole cranberries until they are roughly chopped. Add them, along with the remaining 2 cups of whole cranberries, to the sugar mixture.

5. Peel the apple and shred on the large holes of a box grater. In a colander, drain the plumped dried cranberries of excess water, but do not press or squeeze them out. Add the shredded apple and the drained dried cranberries to the bowl with the rest of the filling and stir to combine. Stir in the vanilla extract and egg and mix well. Pour the filling into the refrigerated pie shell and top with the remaining rolled pastry, using a lattice design if desired. Flute and seal edges.

6. Chill the pie in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set the pastry. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Brush the pastry with the egg wash to coat. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

7. Place pie on the lowest rack of the oven on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is set and beginning to brown. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, move the pie to the center rack and continue to bake until the crust is a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling, 35-45 minutes longer.

8. Let cool completely on a wire rack 2-3 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with a scoop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Related recipes:
Cranberry Chess Pie
Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust
Cranberry-Lime Galette
Rhubarb Pie
Salty Honey Pie

For more on Four & Twenty Blackbirds, read my interview with Emily & Melissa here.

The Friday Pie Slice

Happy Friday! Please enjoy this first Friday Pie Slice of the NEW YEAR.

1st slice. I've been so inspired lately by the photographs and baked goods of Tara Jensen of Smoke Signals Baking in Marshall, North Carolina. Visit her website and view her beautiful tumblr/instagram feed.

2nd slice. My friend Shauna Lott just successfully completed a kickstarter drive to fund The Long I Pie Shop-- a mobile bakery with a social justice mission in Denver, Colorado. Can't wait to see all the goodness that comes out of this project. Check out my interview with Shauna and her recipe for Apple, Brie & Prosciutto Pie here.

3rd slice. One way I kept warm during THE POLAR VORTEX was by making a wintery mix of songs for cold and blizzardy weather, including Hardanger fiddle and other Scandinavian styles, songs, fingerstyle guitar, and a little psychedelia. You can download it here.

The tasty crumbs. Elizabeth Graeber did the above sketch of Kate Lebo & me at our reading and pie tasting at Trohv back in September. Elizabeth and I are working up a new collaboration this weekend--stay tuned!

Find past Friday Pie Slices here.

Convenience Store Treats & Gas Station Pie

The latest issue of DC's food zine The Runcible Spoon is on the cheap. Yes, it is relatively low in cost, but inside you'll also find odes to freegans, a tutorial on how to make a meal out of Whole Food samples, and a budget eating advice column. I contributed a few stories to the issue, one (pictured above) on selected regional convenience store treats of the Eastern United States, a cultural history of porridge through place and time with illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber (see it here), and a cheeky little guide (below) on how to use your creativity, gumption, and the ingredients at your disposable to make pie *inside* a gas station. The Runcible Spoon is always so much fun to write for and read, and this one was particularly so--pick up a copy online or find it at various local stores around D.C.

Related post:
Cracker Pie a.k.a. Mock Apple Pie
Lardass Returns in The Runcible Spoon Swimsuit Issue!

Pecan Pie with Brown Sugar

Pecan pie is generally considered an old Southern favorite, but it's not as old as I first imagined. A few clippings of recipes for "Texas Pecan Pie from the late 1800s exist, one being from the November 26th, 1898 Goshen Daily Democrat, the newspaper from the Indiana town just adjacent to the one where I grew up, and another from a February 1886 edition of Harper's Bazaar. These early varieties are thought to have been a variation of a German nusstorte, brought to Texas by German settlers, but most food historians agree that pecan pie is a 20th century American creation, combining a traditional sugar pie with popular nut confections like pralines.



While the dessert wasn't invented by Karo, it was certainly popularized by the company, as most recipes then and now call for the syrup by name. Though I certainly wont turn down a slice that's made with the stuff, I prefer pecan pie that calls for other sweeteners, be it molasses, sorghum, or brown sugar. One of my favorites is this Pecan Pie with Brown Sugar adapted from Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies. Heating the brown sugar with butter makes for a rich, toasted flavor that far surpasses any taste corn syrup is capable of producing. Once baked, the sweet buttery filling becomes a caramel that oozes out from under the nut layer. Serve it at room temperature or slightly cooled, with a scoop of bourbon whipped cream, or add a teaspoon of bourbon to the filling itself.  



Pecan Pie with Brown Sugar
Adapted from Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust recipe, halved
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter (if using unsalted, salt to taste)
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon bourbon (optional)
1 1/2 cups (about 6 oz.) pecans, halved

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Let chill for 15 more minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and flour until well-mixed. Add the butter and place the pan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook until butter is melted and combined with the sugar mixture. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, and bourbon (if using) until well-combined. While gently stirring, slowly pour the warm sugar mixture into the milk mixture. Whisk until all ingredients are incorporated. Pour the filling into the chilled pie crust and scatter the pecans over top.

4. Place the pie on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake 40-50 minutes until the edges puff and the center is fairly firm, wiggling only a little when you nudge it. Filling will be browned. Let pie cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with a scoop of bourbon whipped cream.

Related recipes:
Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie
Black Walnut Pie
Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
Peach-Pecan Pie