3.14

dallas folks celebrated pi in a big way. i made a pinto bean pie (thanks for suggesting it emily and homesick texan). check the pictures here.

Pi Day (3.14): Washington D.C. Outpost

On Pi Day last Saturday, we here in the Nothing-in-the-House Washington D.C. outpost celebrated with a rainy day-long pie making extravaganza. Danny generously gave Matt and me the run of his well-equipped kitchen (not to mention his breezy apartment including a great record collection and turn tables)for our pie production. By the evening, we had produced 3 pies, an extra crust (for the peach pie featured below), and a crumble composed of leftover ingredients. They were as follows: The MVP (Most Valuable Pie) of the day: Key Lime, using Martha Stewart's recipe. Matt tackled the day's oddball pie--a sweet Pinto Bean Pie, using this recipe from the great blog, Homesick Texan. The protein-full filling was supported by Nothing-in-the-House's standard crust(at right.) We substituted some maple syrup for brown sugar, and next time, I might advise using all syrup to cut eliminate refined sugars. For our classic selection, we went with Apple Pie(using the linked recipe, but with cornstarch instead of tapioca, and sans pre-cooking apples), but switched it up, by making it a DEEP DISH in a glass pyrex bowl. With the leftover apples and graham cracker crumbs from the key lime pie crust, we made an apple crumble, which Matt ended up "stuffing" in the pocket of the deep dish apple (that crust and fruit separation that apple pie is prone to) for a apple-crumble-stuffed-deep-dish-apple-pie. Take that tur-duck-in! We enjoyed the pies after a pasta, salad, wine, and empanada (more pies!) dinner with Danny (who also took these beautiful pics), followed by a bit of mandolin.

(Preserved) Peach Pie

Last night my friend Layne and I made a peach (with perhaps some nectarine mixed in) pie with fruit he froze last summer. We drained about 2 quarts of peaches (they were frozen in their own juice) and added ginger and cinnamon--it really didn't need any sweetener because the fruit was so sweet already! We put the peaches between the nothing-in-the-house standard crust recipe, making an extra-thick edge, and baked for about 15 minutes at 425, then reduced to 375 and baked for about 30-35 minutes more.
All the deliciousness of summer in early spring!

Birthday Meat Pie at Pretty Boy Reservoir

The Baltimore nothing-in-the-house contingent is keeping the spirit alive with al fresco birthday meat pies. Jamie reports via e-mail:

went to prettyboy reservoir yesterday with anna bob and adrienne to celebrate b-days with champagne and a meatpie. it was awesome.

A truly excellent savory pie was consumed. The sharp cheddar was the key.Sunset was nice too.

Greg Makes Pie... And It's Good

On Thursday, Greg made an apple pie, following the recipe from Angelica Kitchen cookbook with a butter for oil modification. This recipe is a good one for those seeking a rustic, wheat-and-maple flavor without the cane sugar. Greg was so amazingly precise and careful with all the chopping, measuring, mixing and rolling that it took him a long time, but he enjoyed it and produced a delicious, tender and flavorful creation. His friend, Ryan, was there, hanging out while he made it. I was lucky enough to come home and see it getting put together. Even the slashes on the top look like Greg made them to me, which of course, he did.


I also made two 30 second raspberry-blueberry tarts with some of the leftover dough, heartshaped. You can tell they were me because look how sloppy they are. But they were good to taste, too!


We then brought the pie over the Meghan and Gahlord's, where we enjoyed an evening of pie, cookies, laughs and crafting.


Meghan in the PEZ


Allaire and me in the PEZ

On Friday night, Greg and I re-entered the PEZ with friends, Chris and Ryan, enjoying pie with Vanilla Coconut Bliss, a great fake ice cream product with no cane sugar and a must try for those of you who don't do dairy, soy or refined sugs or who like coconut.

FRIED PIE (FRAH PAH)

I had been talking and thinking about fried pies for a while. On road trips my dad would sometimes buy those gas-station varieties for my brother and me, but I quickly developed an aversion, convinced that they gave me a headache (with the amount of preservatives and artificial whatever in there, they probably did). But when my Texas friends started raving about homemade pocket-size pies dipped in grease, I was ready to give the fried pie another shot.

A few Saturdays past, we were graced with 65 degree weather here in the Washington-metro area, so I ventured to Baltimore to visit friends and have an impromptu winter barbecue. After homemade black bean burgers (thanks Ben and Angela), cabbage soup, and beers, it was time to frah some pahs.

We used the recipe for "Fried Apple Pies" in Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich, which calls for dried apples. Surprisingly, the local grocery store had none (though the dried fruit mix "Tropical Temptations" sounded appealing), so we went with fresh apples, cooked down. It was just as well, maybe better.

First, Bob prepared the pastry,

combining:
3 c. all purpose flour+ 1 Tblsp. sugar+ 1 tsp. salt in the food processor. after a few turns on pulse, he added 1 stick of cold, unsalted butter, pulsing 5-6 times. Then he added 1/2 c. shortening, pulsing 5-6 times. After that, he sprinkled 1/4 c. water, pulsing and fluffing the mixture, and then another 1/4 c. of water until it looked like coarse crumbs. he used his hands to form the dough into a ball, flattened it, wrapped it in wax paper, and put it in the fridge for about an hour.

Meanwhile I cut up about 5 baking apples and put them in a frying pan with some splashes of orange juice, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. Matt sauteed them until they became tender.We heated about 4in. of vegetable oil in a saucepan on medium high-heat, until it was hot enough to fry a test-corner of the pie dough. As the oil was heating up, Jamie made the petit pocket pies, rolling out about a 5-in. circle of dough,
  dropping on 2 dollops of filling, folding it over, and fluting it around the edges.

When it was hot enough, I dropped the pies, one-at-a-time, in the hot oil, frying them for about 4 minutes. It took some finesse to get it right (we overfried the first one, though it still was pretty tasty), but for the most part, frying pies is a breeze! This recipe made about 8 pies. For the first batch, we merely sprinkled the pies with confectioner's sugar,

but for the second, Bob took it up a level and made a glaze to coat the pies. WOAH! Beware, these pocket pies pack a punch--the frying accentuates the flakiness of the crust, their shape makes for a perfect, bite, every bite.

All in all, their small size, layers of crust, tender fruit, and soak in oil makes for an intense experience that goes straight to your head...just look what it did to these guys!

It also might make you play the banjo.

 

And as if we hadn't already had enough fry, Matt had the zany idea to use the oil for fried hash browns (he prefers to call them "latkes," when latkes are actually only shallow-fried) the next morning. I thought he was out of his gourd, but whaddayaknow...delicious.

Sun Pie

It was warm in Chicago this week. 65 degrees warm! In anticipation for the spectacular weather, I had a pie party last week with pizza pie and apple sun pie.

It is cold again now, and I'm wearing long johns again, but sometimes a couple really nice days is just what you need to get you through the darkest days of winter.

Drone Pie

In December I saw Greg, Zach, and Ben in the Baltimore> D.C. leg of the Sun Circle/Bird Show tour.

  

For the D.C. show at the Lighthouse, the group house of my friend Layne (who always offers a pre-show potluck), I made a drone pie. It was another Bosch pear and cranberry, similar to the Welcome to Maine Pie we made for Artie, but was slightly sweeter, had a lot of ginger, and a half whole-wheat pastry/half all-purpose flour crust. The parabolas of crust around the lettering are meant to represent a sine wave.

We injested the drone (pie) after Echolalia and before Kokomo (who gave me a sweet tape in exchange for baking!) played, and it was gone by the time Sun Circle/Bird Show blew drones/dance tranced it out.

  

It was so nice to see these pals, even for a short while, and enter the PEZ with friends old and new, just like old times!

Christmas Eve blackberry.

It was a bitterly cold day in the thumb of Michigan--perfect for pie baking!

A lesson from mother (Chief Pie Expert in Residence) to son (Apprentice in Overalls).



First, she modeled.



Then, she provided guided instruction. (You can tell
that the teacher in me is ridiculously excited by this process!)


Then the Apprentice in Overalls tried his hand at some independent practice.


A beautiful blackberry pie, complete with traditional
design used for years by the Chief Pie Expert in Residence.


A delicious process to be taught and practiced for generations to come.

4th Annual Portland Thanksgiving

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

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

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

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

At this bar, Talya couldn't believe her sight

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

Welcome to Maine Pie

A few days after Thanksgiving I visited Derek and Robyn at their lovely seaside Portland home for some Christmas decorating and welcome-pie making for Artie, who was moving to Portland that evening. We decided to go with a rustic tart-tart of Bosch pear and cranberries, with not too much sugar, a bit of cinnamon, and a whole wheat (pastry flour) crust.For the crust design, Derek used his fine cartographic skills to cut out an outline of the state of Maine--complete with islands and practically perfect lettering. While it was baking, we joined Robyn in the dining room to string cranberries for the tree and watch at the window for Artie.When he finally arrived in his new state, we whipped up some cream and entered the Pie Enjoyment ZoneDerek and Robyn in the PEZ
Maine pie: The Way Life Should Be

Cutie Pies

Check out this most beautiful, and I'm sure delicious, ginger and fruit pie made by a bunch of sweet NELPer ladies.
L to R: Maja, Helen, Kate, and Karey

You make me proud, girls!