Happy Holidays to Me

Hello Pie Princess!

I saw your blog about the Path of 1,000 Pies. The world is honored you choose to make pies. I used to live and work in Madison, WI.

Good pies to you, Pie Princess.

Anne Dimock

"Give us your poor and downtrodden" Rhubarb Pie

In general, I think of pies as being rather decadent desserts. Yet they also hark back to something fundamentally American. A piece of the American spirit, a basic pie is an unfussy and filling way to use ingredients one has on hand. Pies are vessels, especially in summer, for the season's freshest locally available fruits - often things one can forage for. In my opinion, no pie is more of a workhorse in this regard than rhubarb pie. Granted it's not for everyone, but it's a real pie of the people. Rhubarb plants are cheap, need very little maintenance, and keep yielding fruit from the beginning of spring through fall. Luckily, most of my family enjoys rhubarb. I made this pie for a trip up to see my father and stepmother in law. My father in law in particular is a real glutton for my pies. I happily continue to bake them to stay in his good graces and bind the family together with a bit of butter, flour, fruit, and sugar.

This rhubarb pie comes from the "Straight Up Rhubarb Pie" recipe on pages 42-43 of the book "Humble Pie", by Anne Dimock. I made the 9-inch pie. My only changes were that I used less sugar (1 heaping cup instead of 1.25 cups), more cinnamon (1/4-1/2 teaspoon), and more rhubarb (probably an extra cup).

Current Pie Tally: 24

Peach Rhubarb Pie

Fresh peaches are truly delectable in a homemade pie. When some organic yellow peaches (from Mexico), went on sale at Whole Foods last week, I knew they were destined for my husband's birthday pie. Combined with rhubarb from our garden, they were sensational. I ended up bringing the pie over to our new friends' house for dinner, where it was very well received.

Comments: "This is way better than the pies the Mennonites sell at the farmer's market." & "There's so much content!" (host) "I love how it's not too sweet." (hostess)

I have to say I was surprised by the Mennonite comment. I always assumed my pies were on par with theirs (or vice versa). Maybe I'll buy one sometime to do a taste test comparison.

The crust on this one came our PERFECT. Light, flaky, and flavorful. Also, here's a tip about the peaches. I bought firm peaches and kept them in a closed paper bag at room temperature for about four days to ripen them up. Works like a charm.

Peach Rhubarb Pie (for 9" pie):
pastry for 2-crust pie (Dimock's recipe)
1 lb. rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 small-medium ripe peaches, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 c. sugar, heaped
5 T. flour
1-2 dashes of cinnamon
1 T. butter (optional)

Mix the fruit, sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Roll out the bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour fruit filling in. Cut 1 T. butter into small pieces and dot top of filling with butter. Roll out top crust and place over bottom crust and filling. Trim overhang; crimp, and seal edges. Cut one or more vents in the top crust. Bake at 425 F for 15 min, then 350 F for 40 min. When filling is visibly bubbling vigorously under the vent in the crust or some of the filling erupts onto the crust, the pie is done.

Current Pie Tally: 18

Chicken Pot Pie with Herb Crust

As Dimock writes in her book, pie in the freezer is money in the bank. I made this chicken pot pie yesterday to add to the stockpile of oven-ready foods to have after the baby is born. I altered this recipe from epicurious.com. Here is my recipe:

Herb Crust (top and bottom crust)
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley
1 T. chopped fresh thyme
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
10.5 T. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4-6 T. ice water (I used 5 T.)

Blend the dry ingredients and herbs in a food processor until well-blended. Add butter and process until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add 3 T. of the ice water. Pulse. Add more water in 1/2 T. increments, pulsing after each addition, until the mixture just starts to clump together. Gather dough into 2 balls. Place one ball in the refrigerator. Roll out the other ball and place in pie dish.

Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pie
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 c. (or more) water
2 chicken boullion cubes

2 carrots, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
4-6 oz. greens (I used spinach and arugula), chopped

1.5 T. butter
1 medium leek (white and pale green parts only), sliced
1 shallot, minced
1 T. minced fresh thyme
1/8 c. all-purpose flour
1/8 c. dry white wine (I used a cheap Pinot Grigio)
1/8 c. whipping cream

Place chicken breasts in a large saucepan. Cover with water (I used 3 c.), add chicken boullion, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 20 minutes. Save broth in pot. Transfer chicken to plate or cutting board to cool.

Add carrots and turnips to chicken broth in pot. Simmer uncovered until vegetables are just tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer vegetables to prepared pie crust with a slotted spoon. Add greens to broth and cook until just wilted but still bright green, about 1 minute. Save broth. Transfer greens to colander with slotted spoon and drain well. Add greens to vegetables in prepared crust.

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and add to mixture in prepared crust. In a small frying pan, melt 1.5 T. butter. Sautee the leeks, shallot, and thyme until tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and stir 2 minutes. Decant reserved broth into frying pan, discarding any solids at the bottom. Stir in white wine. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Stir in cream and boil, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens to a gravy, about 8 minutes. Pour gravy over mixture in prepared crust. Stir/jostle to blend. Roll out top crust and place over mixture. Crimp and seal edges; cut a hole in the top crust for steam to escape. Wrap securely in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. To reheat, bake the pie straight from the freezer. I plan to bake mine at 400 F for 20 minutes, then 350 F for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden and it looks like the filling is bubbly.

Current Pie Tally: 17

The Rules

I've had some people ask me a few questions about the boundaries of this challenge I've undertaken. If you've got others, please leave them in the comments and I'll address them there.

1. Am I allowed to make repeat pies? Yes. I figure asking me to make 1,000 unique pies while I and the ones I love have clear favorites is a bit much. Also, I try not to go too wildly astray from seasonally available ingredients. I often will use a similar ingredient that I have on hand instead of going to the store to buy something as well, thereby slightly altering one apple pie from another.

2. Can I receive help in making any part of the pies? No. I've decided to do this thing myself, so I have not counted any pies that my husband or others have helped with.

3. What about tarts and galettes and things? Those don't count. While I may make some on occasion and post about them here, they will not go toward the pie tally.

4. Do meat pies count? Yes. I feel that savory pies are true pies as well. In fact, I have plans to make a chicken pot pie or two in the near future. In "Humble Pie", Anne Dimock writes that some consider fruit pies to be the only true pies. I am not one of these purists and will make custards, creams, meats, etc. in addition to fruit pies.

5. Are all of the pie recipes you use your original recipes? No. Wherever possible, I will post the link to the recipe or state which book it comes from. However, if I feel I have altered a recipe enough to call it my own, I will write it out for everyone.

6. Can I use prepared ingredients like frozen crusts and canned fillings? No, that's totally cheating and I have no desire to ruin a pie experience that way.

Strawberry Rhubarb Homecoming Pie

What better way to arrive home from a conference than to an enormously pregnant wife and a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie? I usually hold off on making this until husband's birthday, but it's only a couple weeks away, so I thought I'd kick off the celebration early. Whole Foods had a tempting display of local rhubarb, so I went for it. Though the organic strawberries are from California. Shame on me.

Strawberry Rhubarb Homecoming Pie (filling for 9" pie)
1.5 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2" thick slices
16 oz. strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered depending on size
1/2 c. brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 c. white sugar
5 T. flour
1 t. ground cinnamon (I used Penzey's)
1/4 t. salt

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a large bowl. Line your 9" pie dish with the bottom crust. Pour and heap filling mix into crust. Set upper crust on top. Trim edges and seal (I use a fork to crimp the edges). Cut a vent into the top crust. Bake at 400 F for 20 min, then reduce oven temperature to 350 F and bake for an additional 35-40 min. When magenta goo erupts from the crust vent (or other cracks in the crust), the pie is generally done. Serve warm.

Current Pie Tally: 15 (9 in 2009; 6 so far for 2010)

Mini Pumpkin Tart Wedges

In my party-going and party-throwing experiences over the years, I've learned a thing or two. One is that bite-size desserts are much easier to eat. They tend to be more popular also, perhaps because the diminutive size offers less guilt. So, for the bash I threw recently, I decided to make these mini pumpkin tart wedges.

The recipe is adapted from the Pumpkin Pie recipe in "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook." I did not get all fussy with the crust like she did. I used Anne Dimock's Pie Chart for Piecrust* in the book "Humble Pie" and made enough dough for a one-crust pie. I also used up a couple dough scraps I had in the freezer. The end result was six 4.5-inch tart shells. (Wedges from five are in the photo.)

Another adaptation lies in the preparation of the filling. My husband made the filling for these, and they aren't in the form of a true pie anyway, so they won't go toward the pie tally. For this filling, winter squash was used instead of pumpkin. Also, the exact proportions are probably a bit off compared to Martha's recipe. We use a higher ratio of squash to other ingredients, so that no squash is wasted. My husband initially made a large batch (maybe a double or triple recipe) and froze any extras. These tarts are the remnants of those frozen extras. Not a tart wedge was left standing at the end of the party, so I'd say they were a hit.

current pie tally: 13 (still)

*I use unsalted butter instead of shortening in my crust (in the same proportion).

The First Step

At the Easter dinner my husband and I attended yesterday, the hostess officially challenged me to blog about my journey on the Path of 1,000 Pies. So here I am. Easter seems like an appropriate time for such an undertaking. New birth. New beginnings. A call to serve...pie.

I brought two apple pies to Easter dinner and received rave reviews: "I can tell you're an experienced hand at making that crust" (Uncle Bob) and "Those pies you brought were delicious! Thank you for bringing them" (Marcia, the hostess).

Partly, making the pies was an exercise in the humane demise of some less-than-great apples I picked up at the Dane County Farmer's Market last weekend. Yes, I know that it is not currently apple season, but they were locally grown and stored in a fancy-sounding humidity-and-temperature-controlled environment. So I bought them. Lots of them, probably about 20, thinking I would eat some fresh and make a pie with the rest.

After choking a couple down, I decided to make two pies instead of just one. They weren't awful; they just weren't the Macouns I know and love. They had more of a McIntosh consistency (quite soft) and the flavor was watered down and rather bland. I recently received a birthday card that read, "Birthday cake is just about the happiest outcome flour can hope for." Pie was the happiest outcome for these apples.

Current pie tally for 2009 and 2010: 13 pies (15 if you count two pumpkin ones that my husband made the filling for)

Easter Apple Pie Filling Recipe (we'll get into crust later); makes one 9-inch pie:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/8 c. lemon juice
1/8 c. apricot/pear juice
3 T. all-purpose flour
1 T. molasses
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. ginger
1/8 t. allspice
8-10 peeled & cored Macoun apples, sliced about 1/3" thick

In a large non-metal bowl, stir together the sugars, juices, flour, molasses, and spices. Fold in the apples. Pour the mixture into your pie shell, including all the juicy goo at the bottom of the bowl. Roll out your remaining crust and place over the filled bottom shell. Trim and crimp edges and slit or cut a hole in the middle to allow steam to vent. Bake at 450F for 15 min., then reduce heat to 350F and bake for 35 min. more. Allow to cool and serve warm.