OUR MAY 2014 PIE IS . . .

CARROT PIE
From "A Year of Pies" by Ashley English

Carrot Pie

Did you ever have one of those days when everything you do turns into frustration. This is how my Saturday started.

My grass was about a foot high. Ok, not really that high, but high. Higher than all my neighbors who've already mowed (show-offs). So, I decided I'd better mow it. Pulled out the gas can – empty. Drove to the gas station, cut my finger unscrewing the gas can cap, filled the can and then waited for over five minutes to get out of the gas station. Too much traffic. Got home, pulled the mower out of the garage, filled it with gas and pulled the cord about 70 times (not kidding – I pulled that cord to start the mower a lot). The mower coughed like it wanted to start, but just wouldn't kick in. Then, it started to rain. Mower back in the garage.

I made a couple of phone calls, including one to my son, Brion, leaving him a message asking him to come start the mower. He's much stronger than me. He can pull the start cord with more force. Then, I realized it was pie baking day. Yippee!

I turned on the oven, and pulled out the ingredients for the crust. I made the Basic Pie Dough recipe from the book which calls for half butter, half shortening. Now, I'm an all shortening crust baker, so using this recipe is outside my comfort zone, but I figured I should venture out of the box some day. Today is the day!

I only needed a half recipe. Easy enough, just cut all the ingredient amounts for the crust in half. Half of three-quarters is three-eights. I don't have an eighth of a cup measure so I had to eyeball the butter and shortening amounts. The crust came together nicely. I chilled it as instructed.

No response from Brion. Hmm – no pie for him!

Then, I pulled out the filling ingredients only to find I didn't have enough carrots. Swell! Jumped in the car, drove to the grocery store. This store has a rather strange parking arrangement and traffic flow. Once you figure it out, it's totally sensible, but if you've never been there before, it's confusing. I pulled in behind someone who obviously had no clue how to navigate the lot. I actually had to toot my horn at the driver after watching five cars move when the driver in front of me should have moved. Due to this, I lost the parking space close to the door and had to park in a space next to the street. No big deal, I thought. I like to walk. Iran in, bought carrots and, of course, some other things I probably could live without but you know how it is when everything looks so enticing. Anyway, I got in the express line behind a woman who had quite a few items more than the recommended 12 for the express line. Part of my frustrating day, I thought. When I left the grocery store, the sky had opened up with torrents of rain and little pieces of hail. Since I was parked at the street, I got wet – very wet. And cold.

Unbaked Crust

Put on my apron when I entered my kitchen and proceeded to bake the pie crust. This is a blind baked crust and I forgot to purchase parchment paper at the store (another frustration) so I used waxed paper with my ceramic pie weights. The waxed paper worked fine, but I forgot to pierce the crust with a fork before baking per the instructions. The crust baked fine, even without the tine pricks.

Steamed Carrots

The carrots need to be steamed in order to puree them. The book says to place them in a saucepan with an inch of water and steam for 5 minutes until they are slightly softened. I used my Tupperware microwave oven steamer. I really like it! Usually, it cooks things in half the time, but not today. I steamed those carrots pieces for 6 minutes. Maybe it was the type of carrots I used. I don't know, but I can't imagine 5 minutes on the stove would soften the carrots enough.

Once the carrots were done, I whirled them around in my food processor for a good bit, but they never really turned smooth like I think a puree should be. I added the other ingredients and proceeded to separate the eggs. I love to separate eggs. I always feel like I've done something totally cool and I think I'm pretty good at it, too. Not today. On the third and final egg, the yolk broke and dripped into the whites. Swell! Not starting over. I just scooped out as much yolk as I could and proceeded.

The pie went together easily, but used a lot of bowls and equipment: four bowls, two whisks, food processor, spoons, measuring cups and spoons, spatula – I could have use a hand mixer, too, but opted for a second whisk instead.

As I was pouring the filling into the crust, I heard my lawn mower start. Brion arrived, starting the mower. I mowed while the pie baked. He fixed a spot on my garage roof and repaired a flower box on the front porch. He deserves some pie!

When the pie cooled, we each had a slice. Brion loved it. He liked it so much, I gave him the rest to take home. The pie is a pretty color, if you like orange. It is tasty, but if I didn't know it was carrot, I couldn't have guessed what it's made off. The spices are the main flavor, and they are nice flavors. I'm not sold on the crust. It had a nice, buttery flavor, but was more crunchy than flaky.

This pie is proof positive that pie fixes everything. All my early day frustrations were baked away!

I might make this pie again. If someone said, “Let's make a great pie!” I probably wouldn't select this one. But, I would make it for a dinner party as something novel to serve. It might be a nice pie for breakfast with a hot cup of tea or coffee.  I give it an overall 3-4 on our rating scale.

Peggy

Bonus Pie - Rhubarb Custard Pie

BONUS PIE

Rhubarb Custard Pie

My first bonus contribution is a Rhubarb Custard Pie with an Oat Crumble Crust taken from The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen (Published by Grand Central Life & Style).  

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Growing up, my mother often made rhubarb pie. Her rhubarb pies were beautiful with an artful lattice top and pretty pink center, but I never tried them. Rhubarb looks like red celery and I just couldn't imagine eating a celery pie. LOL. But, since it's spring, it's time to throw out my rhubarb fear and plow forward.

I've also been a traditionalist throughout my pie baking vocation, almost always using only a hand crafted crust made with vegetable shortening (Crisco), flour and water. Tried and true, my safe crust recipe turns out flaky and lovely every time. And, I love the process: cutting in the shortening, mixing but not over working, rolling out the dough with my old wooden rolling pin. But, again, since we are on a great pie adventure, I must expand my crust horizons.

Pie Ingredients

I made my list of needed ingredients and headed to Heinen's, my local grocery store. For some odd reason, I was expecting to find rhubarb with the leaves attached. I don't know why. Logic should have told me that the leaves would not be included since they are poisonous. Why would I want to pay by the pound for poisonous leaves? And why would a store take the risk of selling poisonous leaves? So, there I am in the produce section with the look of a gawking tourist on my face trying to find rhubarb in the leafy greens section. I finally asked a produce guy who directed me to the berry section. There sat the rhubarb, all trimmed and washed and packaged right next to the strawberries. That reminded me of those goopy looking strawberry rhubarb pies in some restaurants. None of that for me! I selected my rhubarb and moved on to the spice aisle. I needed ground mace and ground cardamom. I confess, I've never used cardamom. When I saw the price of it, I realized why. I paid $9.99 for a bottle of it. I only needed 1/8 teaspoon for the recipe. Hmmm. Maybe there is a business plan looming here. Smaller amounts of spices for occasional users? But, I digress. I made my way to the express checkout line, plopping down all my items on the runner. A woman behind me saw all my selections and asked if I was making rhubarb pie. I said yes and that I'd never made one. She continued to say it is her husband's favorite pie but she never makes them either. She just buys them at Heinen's because they make really good rhubarb pies. Good idea, but not nearly as much fun as making your own!

Oat Crumble

The Rhubarb Custard Pie recipe calls for an Oat Crumble Crust in a foil pan. I don't like using foil pans if I can help it. I much prefer Pyrex, so that's what I used. Putting together this crust was fairly simple, mix all the dry ingredients and then, using your fingers, mix in the butter. I didn't have much success with this. I ended up using my dough cutter to mix in the butter, then reverted to my hands to complete the tasks, including pressing the crust into the pie plate. Bake for about 15 or 18 minutes and cool completely. I put my crust in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling time.

The pie center is two separate “layers”. First, a rhubarb sauce that is easy to make. The recipe calls for 1-1/4 cups of sugar in the ingredient list. Had I read the directions correctly, I would have seen the sugar is split between the rhubarb sauce and the custard that is made later. But no, not me. I put all the sugar in with the rhubarb. Luckily, I caught my error before adding any other ingredients and was able to pour the mixture through a sieve removing the excess sugar. The rhubarb cooks down into a very thick sauce. I spent some time crushing each piece of rhubarb which would have been easier to complete with a potato masher. I'm not sure the authors wanted the smooth effect this achieves, but it looks pretty.

Nervous Pie

The custard was also easy to prepare. The recipe calls for heavy cream which I neglected to add to my shopping list so I used milk instead. The recipe also calls for vanilla paste. I didn't even look for this. Colleen (soon to join us in the great pie adventure) gave me a bottle of vanilla made with Tito's Mexican vodka. It's so lovely, I used it in place of the vanilla paste. Straining the custard directly onto the rhubarb sauce in the pie plate was a bit tricky. I needed an extra hand, which I didn't have, to manage the strainer, bowl and spatula. Next time, I'll strain it into a bowl and then pour it into the pie plate.

This is a “nervous” pie. The center wobbles but the edges are firm. I'm not sure I baked it completely, but the recipe said to be careful not to over bake or the custard will curdle and separate and who wants curdled custard? Yuck.

Cut Pie

The pie is very tasty and pretty. The rhubarb “sauce” is smooth and tangy. A nice contrast to the sweet custard, although the rhubarb does have a little bitter aftertaste. Nothing to dissuade a person from making this pie. I should have baked the crust a little bit longer as it is soggy in places. A few more minutes in the oven would have prevented that.

I'd make this pie again!

Peggy

BONUS PIE
Roasted Butternut Squash, Cheddar, and Sage Galette

Table Setting

I had a small dinner party, four friends and me, so I thought I'd try a savory pie.  I know most people don't try new recipes on dinner guests, but I do.  If the recipe doesn't work, we can all laugh a little.  If it does work, we all have something wonderful to enjoy.

And, enjoy this pie we did!  It's really good!  One of my guests said she doesn't like squash but liked this pie so much, she's making it for a church potluck dinner!

The recipe is from A Year Of Pies by Ashley English.  It's an autumn pie, since it uses butternut squash.  I had a couple of butternut squashes left from my buying club share last fall and was eager to use them.  

Peeled Butternut Squash and Red Onion

I used my tried and true crust recipe in place of the crust used in the book.  This pie is easy to make.  I struggled a little with peeling the squash, but after that, it went together quickly and easily.

The recipe calls for baking it on a large, unrimmed baking sheet.  I baked my pie in a 12" pie plate so I could easily serve it to my guests.  

Pie Assembly

Also, since I was roasting a chicken and baking a short bread (strawberry and blueberry shortcake for dessert!), I had my oven set at 425 degrees F.  The recipe calls for an oven temperature of 375 degrees F.  The pie turned out fine.  I think the higher temperature helped my crust flake nicely.  I'll bake it at the higher temperature next time I make it.

This pie is tasty - very tasty.  It's large, about 10-12 servings.


I forgot to take a photo of the completed pie.  It's very rustic and smells divine!



I'd make this pie again, for sure!

Peggy