Currant Raspberry Pie #31

Although I've been making pies every week, my updating has been pretty sub-pare because of traveling, work, and some other projects. Maybe you've noticed...
But it's finally time to get current!
(Sorry. Dumb pun.)

I made this pie back in July and up until that point, I had never eaten a red currant before. However, I kept seeing currants at the farmers market and I fell in love with their deep color. I just think they look delicate and delicious--like little red pearls. And while they are unfortunately too perishable for jewelry, they do make a delicious pie, especially when coupled with raspberries.

The filling was sour, and the currant seeds were chewy, which were a welcomed texture. I was worried about how seedy this filling might become and that it might just taste like jam, but instead, the currants were like little explosions of juice and a welcomed treat with every bite.

Currants are available in July (at least here in New York) so if you are planning on making this pie this year, I'm giving this to you a little too late (sorry). But if you are holding on to this recipe for next July, here's a little tip I learned about getting the currants off of the stems without squishing them:

When they are slightly frozen, they are much easier to remove from their stems. Freeze them for about 1/2 hour and once they are solid, gently tug them from the stem (in fact, you can kind of just run your fingers down the stem and pop them off into a bowl rather than pick each one).

Raspberry Currant Pie
1 double pie crust

FILLING:
3 1/2 cups red raspberries
2 1/2 cups red currants, stemmed
1 1/4 cups sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on the top crust
5 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca flakes
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

DIRECTIONS:
Roll out the pastry and line a 9-inch pie tin with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Cut tiny currant-sized circles (vent holes) in the rolled-out top crust with a cake decorating cone tip. Re-chill the pastry if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Sort through the berries and currants to remove any stems and duds. Put them in a bowl and add the sugar, tapioca, and lemon juice. Mix the fruit very gently, scrape it into the bottom crust, and dot the filling with the butter. Lay the top crust over the pie. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer. Sprinkle the crust lightly with sugar

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 10 minutes or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375 F, and bake for at least 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the slits in the top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature. Store the pie uncovered at room temperature up to 3 days.

Nectarine Raspberry Pie #27

I loved the flavor of this pie. Prior to looking at this recipe, I hadn't even thought about cooking nectarines and was a little bit skeptical of how they would turn out. However, it had as much tang as the apricot raspberry pie, from a few weeks ago, but a better texture and, a much better flavor. It was like a sour peach pie with raspberries. I loved it.

Also, I bought myself a little present for reaching my halfway mark, a pie bird. I first heard about them in the one of the pie books I've been referring to, and I thought they were so cute, I really wanted to give it a go.

Apparently, they add some function to your pie as well. They are supposed to keep your bottom crust from becoming soggy because they let all the steam out of their beaks while cooking.

Another thing that interested me in pie birds was the old nursery rhyme:

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh, wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

Because of this poem, I was under the impression that the bird would sing at some point. I assumed it would be from the steam while it was cooking; and if that didn't work, I had read that someone, somewhere in the pie-bird world said that when you cut into the pie the hot air mixed with the cold air will rush up the bird's throat and make it whistle.

But no. Not a even a single note for either situation. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. How many old ladies do you know that actually lived in a shoe? 

As I've done a little more research (read: googled "pie birds" a few times, and read testimonials which are probably not based on fact), I've found maybe the most interesting thing that there is to know about these birds or, really, this poem. 

Apparently, back in the day a lot of nursery rhymes were a front which pirates used for recruiting methods (you can read about it here). Blackbirds in this poem are code for Blackbeard, the infamous pirate. And the pie is the ship where they would hide Blackbeard, feign helplessness, and attack any good Samaritan ship that came their way.

So, more than you wanted to know about Blackbeard, nursery rhymes, or pie birds, but hopefully it will come in handy one day when you're playing Trivial Pursuit.

Any way, the pie was delicious. I would totally recommend making it. The filling was scrumptious and I enjoyed the crust (I haven't come to a conclusion on which crust I like best, but butter/shortening combos tend to be my favorites).

As far as the pie bird goes, the crust didn't seem completely free from sog. It wasn't much different than what I expected which means that I should probably test it out on the few pies that I've previously made and compare them with how the crust normally turns out.  So, if I come to any more interesting pie bird updates, I'll let you know.

And while it didn't actually sing to us, I wasn't entirely disappointed. I like how it looks and even more importantly, the pie was good enough to put a happy little song in my heart--and that's no hot air. 

Nectarine Raspberry Pie
(adapted from epicurious.com)

Pastry:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cups) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes but left in sticks 
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening (preferably trans-fat-free) 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
6 tablespoons ice water 
1/2 tablespoon milk 
1 tablespoon sugar 

Filling:
3 lb nectarines
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups sugar 

INSTRUCTIONS
For pastry--Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 5 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water to dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until just combined. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)

Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide into 2 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather all of dough together with scraper and press into a ball. Divide in two and flatten each into a 5-inch disk. Chill dough, each disk wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Prepare filling while dough chills:

Cut nectarines into 1/2-inch-wide wedges, then toss with raspberries and lemon juice in a large bowl.

Whisk tapioca with cornstarch, salt, and sugar in a small bowl (do not toss with fruit until dough is rolled out).

Roll out pastry and prepare pie:

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and put a large sheet of foil on rack. Preheat oven to 425°F.

Roll out 1 disk of dough--keep remaining disks chilled--on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, into a 13-inch round, then fit into pie plate (do not trim) and chill until ready to use.

Roll out remaining disk (for top crust) in same manner and set aside (keep flat).

Gently toss sugar mixture with fruit and pour into pie shell.

Cover pie with pastry rounds and trim edges with kitchen shears, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Press edges together, fold edges under and evenly tuck them into the pie pan and crimp decoratively. Brush pastry top with milk and sprinkle all over with sugar (1 tablespoon total). Cut several steam vents in top of each pie with a small sharp knife.

Bake pie on foil 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and continue to bake, checking frequently and covering edge of each pie with a strip of foil or pie shield if crusts are browning too fast, until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 40 minutes more.

Cool pie to room temperature on rack, at least 2 hours.

Apricot Raspberry Pie #24

It may have been a little premature, but since apricots JUST started to be in season, I couldn't resist trying out this recipe.

Truth be told, I didn't give this pie the best chance right from the beginning (and the fact that the apricots were probably shipped from whoknowswhere is just the tip of the iceberg). Our apartment is 90 degrees on a normal day, but after baking a pie, the temperature jumped to about 190 degrees. So, as you can imagine, the pie had a hard time cooling off. When our friends arrived to partake of the pie, it was still very warm and it hadn't had enough of a chance to set up.

My fault. Not theirs.

Unfortunately, when we cut into it, it was a runny mess. Also, because of an experiment gone awry, that I was hoping would enhance the crust, th bottom crust was tough and hard to cut through. So, when eating it, I just tired not to pay attention to it because this crust recipe happens to be one of my current favorites. But like I've said befor, the crust can make or break the pie for me.

But the thing is, I was excited about this pie. I haven't had apricots for a pretty long time and as silly as it may sound I couldn't really imagine what an apricot pie would taste like. As I bit into the pie (or really, sipped the pie out of spoon--remember? it was a hot mess), I instantly remembered the apricot raspberry jam that my grandma used to make. So, it may have been a little bit of nostalgia that inspired me to try it and it was definitely the nostalgia that helped me enjoy it. 

However, eating my Grandma's jam with a bit of crust around it isn't like eating a pie--not that I disapprove of eating jam in any form, even if that's just by the spoonfuls. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that exceptional pie innards have a little more to chew than just a spoonful of jam does, even if I only have a few examples to prove it. I think that I should have used apricots that were just about ripe rather than ripe. Had that been the case I think that if we were to eat it again at lava-like temperatures, at least it would have been like a chunky soup instead of a puree.

So, besides the unfortunate mistakes that I made with this pie. I think the recipe has potential and that it could be very delicious. and I feel like I need to chalk this one up to one of those good old learning experiences I was hoping to have when starting this pie adventure.

I will try it again sometime and if you happen to make it, remember what I learned: 

1-Use apricots on the brink of ripeness
2-Apply proper cooling time
3-Don't do any crust cooking experiments

And I hope in the future we will all have more success. Good luck!

Apricot Raspberry Pie
(Adapted from Gourmet Magazine 2002)

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 lb firm-ripe apricots (about 8 large), cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon butter

Glaze 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Double Crust recipe(I used the same butter crust I used here)

DIRECTIONS:
Place a baking sheet in middle of oven and preheat oven to 450F

Combine cut apricots and raspberries (note, leave the skin on the apricots). Whisk together the flour and sugar in a large bowl and sprinkle over fruit. Add almond extract and gently stir to combine.

Roll dough disk for bottom crust on a lightly floured surface until it's a 11 inch round. Line pie plate with dough.

Spoon filling into mixture and dab with small squares of butter.

Roll out top crust and cover pie. Trim the edges with kitchen shears, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhand under itself and tuck into the pie pan. Crimp edge decoratively.

Brush top of pie with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Cut steam vents in top crust.

Bake pie on hot baking sheet for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375F and continue to bake until crust is gold brown and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes more. Cool pie on a rack at least 2 hours before serving.

Elizabeth's Pie #21

Truth be told, this pie doesn't know what it is. It's got a little bit of everything in it: strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, and even a green apple.

So...you don't like apple pie? Fine, how about a berry pie. No berries? Try this rhubarb one on for size.

It's got it all.

Even a winning reputation--someone, named Elizabeth (hence the pie's name), brought home a ribbon from the Iowa state fair with this recipe, which gives it somewhat of a celebrity status and if I were the owner of this recipe, I'd give it a proper celebrity name: straspbarbappleberry...or something like that.

Rhubarb Raspberry Pie #19

The grocery storey:

It was late Saturday night.

And by late I mean 8:30, the time normal people go out, but after a day of biking around the city, I was a little tired so it felt like at least 11:00.

But any way, I went to the grocery store to pick up items for the All Red party we were going to on Sunday night (I had volunteered to bring a "red" pie), among other important sundries.

Here's the grocery store situation for us:We are right in the middle of 3 mediocre "grocery stores".

All of them has something that I buy on a regular basis. None of them has everything. Produce, in general, is pretty sad at all three, though sometimes they have what you need, on sale, and in lovely condition. I guess that's what keeps me going back and the fact that any other "real" grocery store necessitates a 20 minute walk or a subway ride, which isn't bad, in fact I often do it, but when I feel a little tired I like to risk the prices and the perkiness of these sub pare produce sections.

Indeed, I live life on the edge.