Da DEEP Dish

A few weeks ago some friends and I made our way to Rokeby for the Superior Concept Monsters puppet workday--to help build puppets for the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade and to make food for the people who help build puppets.

Sara, Heather, and I were on kitchen duty, and in one mad hour of aproned girl talk, loud dance music, and cooking, whipped out a chicken pot pie, vegetable pot pie, chicken stew, chard, salad, and apple pie. Since both pie plates were being used for the dinner pies, the apple pie had to be made DEEP dish style. The deep dish, folks, is not a poor man's pie. It requires plenty of heaping fruit.

But the deep dish= deep delish= deep daze. just ask Brodie:



Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of the savory pies.

Summer Memories of Peach Pie

Texas girl with a peach pie

Awhile back (during the height of peach season) I made a peach pie for Stacy and Chris' going away party at Shelburne Farms. To make the crust, I cut out little hearts with a former-home items cookie cutter, and arranged them in concentric circles around the top. I like the effect!

Indiana Fall: A story in One Act

Last weekend, Michael and I paid a long overdue visit to Elkhart. Thanks to Emily's insistence that we re-live her childhood, we found ourselves traversing the back roads of Indiana in search of an old apple orchard. And then, gold:









Or so we thought. The late frosts this spring and lack of rain this summer have left parts of Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan shy on apples. Jacqueline was comforted by the gourds we found for sale, but Michael was inconsolable.




After we knocked on the door of the old house, however, and J reacquainted herself with the Eberlys, we were told to scavenge for whatever we could find:








In the midst of our frolicking, Don met us with a WWI-era shotgun (and his dog, I think from the same era). In jest, of course--or so he claimed. Walking through the orchard, we heard stories of elephants, crooked politicians, and hardy hibiscus.










The stories continued into the barn, where Don supplemented our meager fruit supply and sent us home with wishes for a delicious evening.

Jacqueline's pie did not disappoint.

Apple Tarts on a Windowsill, or "Roll it, Pat it, Mark it with a B"

On Saturday we put on the "Burlington So-No Please Don't Go" Quest as a send-off for Ben and Angela in their move to Portland, OR. My house was the first sojourn of the quest and I made miniature apple pies for the occasion. They were cooling on the windowsill when Ben and Angela arrived.




On your bikes! Hooray, it's a quest!
Made by your friends who think you're the best
Down the hill for your first surprise
At the home of the girl who loves to bake pies.

table is set, awaiting their arrival

Ben and Angela in the Pie Enjoyment Zone

Hooray! You made it, we're all so sad-glad
to send off two friends so incredibly rad
this quest compressed Burlington in a montage
dance with us and eat cupcakes before your "Bon Voyage!"

11 sojourns later, we all found ourselves at Mandy and Greg's where we celebrated Ben and Angela and ate cupcakes and the rest of the apple tarts (and a pumpkin pie too!).

Sara-Paule in the Pie Enjoyment Zone

me (a.k.a. Ms. Pothole) in the Pie Enjoyment Zone

FARETHEEWELL BEN AND ANGELA...WE WILL MISS YOU EVER SO MUCH!

September Wedding Pie, or, "Peaches in the Summertime, Apples in the Fall"

On Saturday our dear friends Mandy and Greg had their marriage celebration at the Intervale. It was a beautiful, magical ceremony with smudging and droning and readings and singing and crying and laughing and bell ringing and despacho offering. After the ceremony, we all gathered in the barn for the D's: delicious dinner, various desserts made by Mandy's gal pals, dancing...and the Davises.

The dessert table!

For the occasion, I made a peach pie and an apple pie, in celebration of Mandy and Greg and also of the narrow window of overlap between peach season and apple season.

the apple pie, crust decorated with 2 birds...one in positive space, the other in negative space.

See archives from October 2006 for my apple pie recipe.

the peach pie, crust decorated with lots of overlapping tiny hearts

My recipe for Peach Pie filling
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook: 

3 lbs. peaches, peeled, pitted, and finely sliced
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
5 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of ground mace

Toss peaches with lemon juice in large bowl. Stir together flour, sugar, salt, and mace in small bowl and add to peaches. toss until combined, and pour into crust.

Greg's dad Rowland cuts the pie!

Dale is about to enter the pie enjoyment zone!

And I know this is a pie blog, but I would be remiss if I did not mention Meghan's PERFECT white wedding cake with homemade candied edible flowers. And while I'm at it, I'll mention the other delicious desserts (though I was too full to try them): cupcakes by Angela, cheesecake by Joe and Lauren, and vegan cupcakes by Babycakes via Stacy!

Blueberry Pie

Last week on Erik and Abra's first day in Burlington, we met Mandy, Greg and Sara-Paule at Adam's Berry Farm to pick blueberries. Since Erik grew up in Chicago, filling his schedule with daily visits to the Art Institute, Holograph museum, and the Burghoff, he never had time for berry picking. This was his first time.

After a visit to Healthy City and a pizza rampage at Flatbread--where we were joined by Dale and Julia-- Erik, Abra, Sara-Paule and I retired to the halfway house to bake a duet of blueberry pies. Sara-Paule had asked me to teach her in the art of pie making in exchange for her teaching me the art of ravioli making.

Above: SP cuts her mandala-top crust
Below: Lattice top in the oven
SP puts finishing touches on the mandala top
baked mandala top
baked lattice top

Abra prepared the filling, with flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla (we didn't have a lemon, though it is highly recommended in blueberry pie filling!) and I showed SP my crust recipe. I did a lattice top, and SP made a mandala-top. Prior to baking, we brushed on an egg wash, and sprinkled the crusts with turbinado sugar.

I cut the lattice top

We enjoyed the pie with single-serving milks (courtesy of Healthy City), while listening to Steeleye Span and playing Scrabble. Erik won, but he was also reading the "10 ways to become a Scrabble expert" guide while playing.

SP snatched her pie from the windowsill the next morning, Erik enjoyed some for breakfast, and I took pieces to work for Mandy and me.

Raspberry Tart for Michelle's Birthday!

Last night was Michelle's birthday, so I made her a raspberry tart, with berries we had picked the night before at Intervale Community Farm.


I found the recipe from Gourmet Magazine, and followed it pretty closely. I followed the recipe for the pastry crust, and it turned out well and sweeter (more tart-appropriate) than my standard pie crust recipe. The standard pie crust recipe would have worked here though, and would probably have been a little flakier and would have contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the filling and berries.

Rasbperry Tart 
 from Gourmet Magazine/Food Network Online

Crust:

1 1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. sugar

1 stick butter, cold and sliced

3 Tblsp. cold water

Filling:

8-oz. cream cheese ( I used the Nancy's cultured kind)

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 Tblsp. flour

1/4 c. seedless rasperry jam (I used Trappist)

1 Tblsp. water

3 c. fresh raspberries

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make crust: blend flour, sugar and butter with a pastry cutter, until mix looks like coarse meal. Add 2 Tblsp. water and toss until incorporated. Mix with hands until mixture is consistent, but crumly. Refrigerate (if time!) for one hour.

Press crust into bottom of tart or pie pan (I didn't have a tart pan with fluted rim, but it sure would have looked nice!). Prick crust with fork and weigh with pie weights or beans (I used popcorn kernels) and bake 30 minutes, until golden.

Make filling: With electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg until smooth. Add flour mixture and blend well.

Pour filling into warm crust, spread evenly, and bake for 20 minutes until set. Cool tart.

Heat jam with water in small saucepan. Stir until melted and smooth. Cool jam.

Arrange rasperries on top of tart, and brush them with jam.

VOILA!

The All-The-About-To-Rot-Fruit-In-The-House Rustic Tart

Mandy and Artie made this lovely all-the-about-to-rot-fruit-in-the-house rustic tart last night, as the end note to a personally-made pizza with cracker crust party. It had no sugar, but a bit of maple syrup instead, and a whole-wheat flour crust.

Mandy serving the rustic tart

Artie and Stacy in the Pie Enjoyment Zone.

Marina's Rhueberry Blubarb Crumble

Eye on the Pie, or, Why Clubhouse Time/Home Items Practice is the Best

Pie and painting with the ladies!

Chocolate Pecan to be exact, made by Stacy.

Raspberry Chocolate Creme Patissiere Tarte

My roommate is good at making pies too...

An approximate recipe from Marina:

I only used a recipe for the creme patissiere part. I made a pie crust, and cooked it (you need beans, or something to make it keep its shape). I melted chocolate into the bottom - semi sweet with some butter and a little milk/cream.

Creme patissiere:

6 large egg yokes

1 larger egg

3/4 cup and 2 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp corn starch

3 tbsp all porpoise flour

3 cup whole milk

3 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Mix egg yellow, eggs, 2 tbsp sugar. Add corn starch and flour until smoooth.

2) In a saucepan, combine milk and sugar, heat until it steams. Add 1/2 the warm milk to the eggs, mix smooth, pour it back into the saucepan, stir with a wooden spoon until it boils. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Let it cooooool.

3) When that was cool, I smeared it over the chocolate. As for the raspberries, I used about 3 cups of frozen ones, heated them up, added a little corn starch and maple syrup, and rum wishing it had been something else, I forget what. oh - grand marnier. yum. And I poured THAT on, and let it sit for a little while. I do not recommend keeping it in the freezer. That was a silly idea. Eating it warm was amazing. With hot chocolate with rum in it.

Everything you want from a dessert...fruit, chocolate, creme, AND pastry!

Piecosahedron

speaking of cool shapes...

MAKE YOUR OWN PIECOSAHEDRON. Find out how here.

Creative Crust on a Cranberry Pie

Freestyle-folking with Talya!(notice amazing appetizer spread, as well as pumpkin and blueberry pies)

For the second year in a row I spent Thanksgiving (the best ever!) at Robert and Tayla's in South Portland, Maine. There were drinks and folk freestyling (a very special song about Nicholas Cage), walks on the beach and to the local record store, exquisite corpse poetry and rap performances, art projects and pie-making, and an art project and pie-making combined: I made a cranberry pie (see here for recipe--the only adjustment I made was the addition of finely chopped fresh ginger) and Clark designed and created the abstract lattice crust which I then brushed with egg and sprinkled with sugar. The result was fantastic! Not only was the color of the cranberries and cool-shape crust beautiful, but it tasted delicious--and many of us didn't even think we were that crazy for cranberries!

Here are some photos of the process (by Chiara):

Flouring the rolling pin to roll out the top crust. notice sweet apron--a gift from Robert & Talya. This step of the process is what prompted Sayid to say "I didn't know pie-making could be so erotic."

Clark and cranberry pie

Designing the crust

Ready for the oven!