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Strawberry pie forever

strawberry pieHave I convinced you to make a pie yet? I’ve written about the joys of pie…there’s apple, blueberry, cherry, rhubarb, and now I’m pleased to introduce you to strawberry pie. No rhubarb, absolutely nothing but pure strawberry bliss. I love pie because of it’s bright, simple flavors, plus it’s never dry, it’s always just a simple, unearthly amalgamate of fruit and sweet buttery crust.

It’s only in the past 8 years that I’ve learned how to make pie. My mom rarely made pies and when she did I always understood it to be an ify proposition so I know how daunting the idea of making a pie can be…I too would never have believed that making a pie could be easy. But believe me, it is easy. I know that home cooks and food professionals alike have spent a lot of time and energy telling people that pie dough is tricky. I’m not sure why they feel that way because I’ve found that it is totally fool-proof, me being the fool and the pies I make are the proof.

Let me clarify it by saying that my pal Julia Child is the woman who cleared the cobwebs from my eyes and exposed pie making (among other cooking endeavors) for what it is, a simple and delicious baked pastry meant to be devoured immediately. Truthfully, I never got the honor to meet Julia, but I always feel that she’s by my side and I know that we would have been good friends had we the chance…she always seemed as goofy and as enthusiastic as I am. Besides what better role model is there for this life I lead?

You might say “but Vanessa, you’re pies don’t look like a typical American pie…where’s the pie plate?” You’re right, I don’t make pies in a pie dish. I personally find those pies very unsatisfying. The bottom crust is invariably soggy and the top crust is usually less than flaky, crisp, and chewy and yes I do require a tight combination of flaky, crisp, and chewy…I’m the demanding type.

I will stipulate that the typical pie-plate type pie is necessary to contain a pecan pie or a sweet coconut cream pie…and I do those but let’s face it, this is fruit pie season. Blueberries will start showing up this week and though we here in Wisconsin may not get local tart cherries like Montmorency we can source them from out of state. So I suggest you get with it and make a pie. It really isn’t hard, and once you get over your pie phobia you’ll be sitting pretty.

strawberry pie

Strawberry Pie
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Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream

Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the standard blade. Pulse a few times to mix. Use cold butter straight out of the refrigerator. Cut it into chunks and dump it into the food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times until the butter is chopped into the flour but is still in visible chunks. Combine the buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream with the water and dribble it into the bowl of the food processor as you pulse. You may or may not need all. Once the dough starts to clump up stop adding the liquid and stop pulsing. Turn the dough out onto the counter and gently combine the dough into a disc shape. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of three hours or even better, overnight.

After 3 hours the dough should be well chilled. Dust the counter top with a small amount of flour. Rub some flour on both sides of the dough disc and place it on the counter. Using a rolling pin begin to roll out the dough into a circle that is about 15 inches in diameter. Roll up the center, roll to the left and right and then move the dough a quarter turn to the left or right and repeat until the circle is complete. I’ve found a french rolling pin is the best for creating a circle as it is tapered at both ends and this somehow aids in creating a circle. You may need to flip the circle over a few times to keep it from sticking to the counter. Dust it with flour of necessary. Once you’ve got a rough circle about 15 inches in diameter then fold it in half and move the dough to a bake sheet lined with parchment. Unfold the dough and arrange it so it is centered on the sheet.

Filling
2 pints of strawberries.
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla

Remove the leafy heads from the strawberries and if they are small enough you won’t have to cut them. However if they are larger than the end of your thumb you might want to cut them in half. Add the sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch and stir it all up. Spoon the filling into the center of the crust leaving about three inches of a crust border all the way around. . Don’t feel compelled to include all the juice in the bottom of the bowl as strawberry pie is already incredibly juicy.

Fold the crust borders over onto the pie, brush them with cold water and sprinkle sugar on to little cover the crust and then slip it into a 375°F oven and bake it for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then serve. There’s no law against adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the side…it makes an already perfect pie practically heavenly.

July 8, 2008 | Filed Under baking, cookbook, food, fruit and nuts, pie, recipe | 24 Comments 

Rhubarb pie and the farmers’ market

rhubarb

It’s been a brisk week in Wisconsin. I’ve gone through these days trying to decide if a sweater was necessary or if it really was as warm as I hoped. Usually a sweater improved the situation. Because of the briskness I took the opportunity to fix a few of my cold weather favorites that I was craving. Most notable was my black bean soup. There isn’t any photos because, well, we ate it… and nope, we didn’t stop to take pictures. It was good though and it always reminds me of the first time I made it in San Francisco. My version is a riff on Deborah Madison’s recipe from her Green’s cookbook. I’ve made it so many times over the past 20 years and it always satisfies with its spicy beaniness.

I’ve made a few rhubarb pies while it’s still in season. Fortunately I saved some of the frozen strawberries from last year’s bounty so we could have our favorite strawberry rhubarb pie. I think I’ll pick up some more rhubarb at the farmers’ market tomorrow…we never tire of pie and this might be the last weekend for rhubarb.

I’ve been thinking about our farmer friends a lot this week. Gas went up another 10 cents and I’m noticing some price increases at the grocery store…although I must admit that the items I buy at the store are few, they are things like flour, olive oil, butter (if I don’t make my own), chocolate, coffee, and wine. The farmers who faithfully show up to the market each week so we can have eggs, yogurt, milk, cheese, veg, fruit, mushrooms, and meat have to be feeling the pinch. I know from experience that the profit margin for most farmers is pretty thin and I’ve never known a rich farmer…at least if you judge riches by money. I do know a lot of happy farmers.

All of this is just to say that if you’re going out tomorrow, stop by a farmers’ market. If you happen to live in Madison you really should consider going to the best farmers’ market, the Westside Community Market. Nope, they don’t pay me to say that…I just say it because it’s true. I even have a list of 10 reasons why the Westside Side Community Market rocks:

  1. You can walk in any direction you want. That’s right folks, no counter-clockwise march here…just flit about and enjoy.
  2. Nick Kirch and the crew from Blue Marble Dairy will be there and their dairy products are awesome. So fresh and delicious. I love their milk and cream.
  3. Eric Johnson from Jordandal Farm will have chickens this week…apparently many chickens…I’m seriously excited because that means it’s BBQ Bird time…woot.
  4. Madison Sourdough’s perfect pain au chocolat. Their sourdough loaf is my favorite for sandwiches. The baguettes…arguably the best outside of Paris.
  5. The mushroom man had such huge morels last week…will he have them again this week?
  6. Bruce Workman from Edelweiss Cremery will be there with his Emmenthaler cheese. I also have a soft spot for his Muenster cheese.
  7. Peter Potter and his crackers…add any of his flavorful flatties to that Muenster and you’ve got the perfect afternoon snack.
  8. Dreamfarm’s eggs. I don’t know about you but I love Diana’s eggs. Lately we’ve been getting lots of double yolks…always a sign of a lucky day.
  9. Dreamfarm’s goat cheeses. I think that that Diana’s rosebud cheese is my favorite.
  10. Maple Syrup guy will be there only 2 more weeks…time to stock up.

Oh, don’t forget the rhubarb! Here’s my recipe.
rhubarb pie

May 23, 2008 | Filed Under Local, Westside Community Market, baking, ethical eating, farmers market, favorite products, food, food porn, fruit and nuts, pie, quick and easy, recipe, sweets | 5 Comments