Pies, brought to you by DragonDictate

Last night we had pie for supper. I hadn't originally intended to make just pie, but I wasn't very hungry after all the eating I had done, and I really wanted to eat some homemade apple pie. It's important to know that I haven't made a pie since the last time we had a Thanksgiving dinner, and I made that one for other people. Sometimes I even have to refresh my memory on how to make one. It went very smoothly, this time, so I feel like I can load the recipe up without doing too much cookbook consulting.

Pie is another thing that I remember very fondly from my childhood. My mother had to learn to make pie in United States after she immigrated. Pie appears to be of English derivation, not German. It wouldn't have made much difference if it were German anyway, since Mom couldn't learn cooking from her mother. From what Mom tells me Oma only could make pound cake, and nothing else. Given the amazing things Mom has turned out in her kitchen, learning to cook was a truly remarkable feat for her. Mom did very nice apple pies, but the undisputed pie champion was Grammy Houston. Her crusts were flaky and light and very delicious. Better yet, her fillings were tender and tended not to boil over. I remember watching Grammy make a pie and noticed that she put some butter into it as she was putting the pie together. I mentioned it to Mom, who said that she didn't think it was necessary. It wasn't until later that Grammy told me the butter kept the pie from bubbling out and destroying the oven.

Crust was another issue for me. When I first started making pies in West Lebanon, my crusts were terrible. They were tough and thick and didn't roll out right. Sometime either while we're still living in West Lebanon or after we moved to Maryland, I found a Better Homes and Gardens baking tips magazine. Along with a lot of delicious cookie recipes, the magazine explained in great detail how to make the perfect pie crust. It's this method that I've passed on to Marc. I know he put it to good use on quite a few occasions.

Apple Pie.

2 cups flour.

1 teaspoon salt.

2/3 cups shortening.

2/3 to 3/4 cup water, cold.

4-7 Cortland apples, sliced (number depending on size of apples).

2/3-1 cups sugar (depending on how tart the apples are).

1/4 cup flour.

1 teaspoon butter.

Cinnamon sugar (this is to SPRINKLE on top of the apples just before the crust goes on and should be a light brown cinnamon sugar mix, rather like what you would put on, say, apple pancakes before enjoying them).

One tablespoon apple juice (optional, only if apples are very very non-tart).

Start the oven heating at 425°F. Place 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt in a big mixing bowl. Stir them together a bit. Add in shortening, and using 2 dinner knives, cut the shortening into the flour. Continue this until the dough resembles on a course meal. Gradually add the water, cutting it into the meal, until the dough begins to stick together. On a clean countertop surface, spread a sizable portion of flour. Take half the dough and form it into a ball, and place it in the center of the flour on the countertop surface. Flour up your rolling pin, and start rolling the dough out into a circular piece, big enough to cover your pie plate. I usually roll out a pie dough a few inches at a time and flipping it over, adding more flour underneath it every time I flipped it. This keeps the pie dough from sticking to the countertop and makes it easier to lift up off the surface. After rolling it out, I gently roll the dough onto the rolling pin and transfer to the pie plate, and gently release it onto the pie plate. (Note that gently is the key word here). After the dough is in the pie plate I ease it in so it covers all the surfaces without having to stretch the dough to do it. Next, I put in half of my apples. This usually fills it close to the rim of the pie plate. I sprinkle on half of the flour, sugar and cinnamon sugar at this time. I then fill it with the rest of the apple slices. Usually this is a mound several inches higher than the rim of the plate when I'm done. I sprinkle on the remaining filling ingredients in the following order: flour, sugar, cinnamon sugar, butter. I gently cut the butter into 4 little slivers that I placed strategically throughout the pie. After this, I trim the excess crust from the edge of the pie. Next, roll out the top crust, just like you did the bottom, and transfer it to the top of the pie. Generally, I like to rub some water onto the bottom crust were the two edges come together to make them fuse better. Trim the top pie crust so that approximately a half-inch hangs over the edge. Tuck the overhang under the bottom crust. Flute the edge of the crust by putting one finger underneath it and to making a small tent around that finger from the top of the crust. Finally, slice some vents into the top of a pie. Bake the pie at 425° for 20 minutes. Without removing the pie, turn the oven down to 350° and cook for 30 to 40 more minutes, depending on how soft you want your apples. Let cool before cutting.

Strawberry rhubarb pie is very similar. The crust, for instance, is exactly the same. Here's the recipe for the pie filling:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling

Equal parts strawberry rhubarb, sliced, enough to fill a pie.

1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup flour.

1 teaspoon butter.

As with the apple pie, you put in half of the fruit, followed by flour and sugar in that order. Then you add the second half of the fruit and then the rest of the flour and sugar, followed by the butter. Generally, you don't need lemon juice in this, and cinnamon would be completely overwhelmed by the flavors of the strawberries and rhubarb. You bake the pie identically to apple pie.

First, it's important to note that the way I make pies is usually very slapdash. The amount of fruit I put in is about the same, but the quantities in pieces are somewhat different depending on the size of the individual fruit.

So, what about all that eating I did yesterday? Well, we had company visiting the dojo, up from Atlanta. Our dojo in Brookline has joined a new dojo cooperative. Because we rank up pretty far in the hierarchy, we are involved in all of the activities for the weekend. This included going to Parker's Maple Syrup Barn for breakfast, and then we went with our guest who was staying with us to Mary Chung's in Cambridge. Tara, of course, came with us. And what visit to Mary Chung's would be complete without another visit Toscanini's for ice cream afterwards? Sadly for my waistline, there were two incredibly good flavors, and I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I had them both. Yum! The ginger was excellent, and the bananas Foster was to die for. Very banana-y. In fact, it was a pretty appalling carb day all around.

I'm thinking I won't put another recipe up this time. I've been dying to wax lyrical about a different topic, the topic of cheese. When I was a kid I never particularly cared for cheese. Of course, we pretty much just had American cheese or some form of cheddar at home. No np, let me correct that. Most the family just had American cheese or some form of cheddar. Mom had Limburger. When she ate it, we all had to leave the room. It wasn't until just recently that I discovered the joys of Stilton cheese. You see, our local grocery store is carrying an interesting cheese called blueberry Stilton. I discovered it about 4-5 months ago. It tastes a wee bit like blueberry cheesecake. After repeatedly enjoying it, I got ambitious and asked Doug to pick me up some apricot Stilton at Trader Joe's. He brought me back that, and also mango ginger Stilton. It was very hard to get myself to stop eating the mango ginger. The apricot, which I’m just eating now for the first time, is pretty good too, but I think I like the blueberry and the mango ginger are better. As far as carb count goes, the blueberry has the least and the mango ginger has the most.

I've also discovered a cranberry cheddar, that's quite nice, called Crandale. This is from Hannaford's as well. It has the least carb count of all of the fruited cheeses, and is quite tasty, but quite a bit more sharp than the other three.

Personally, I'm not wild about sharp cheese or particular strong flavored cheese. I tend to like the creamier, smoother flavors. This means I'm partial to Havarti and Monterey Jack. If I'm just eating cheese, I like some of the flavored Monterey Jacks. The jalapeno can be a bit much, but the garlic and mushroom flavored ones are pretty good. Of course, there's always mozzarella in its very many forms. If you can't slice it and shred it and throw it on top of something, you can always eat it as string cheese. One of my favorite meals is low-carb noodles, topped with a spicy marinara sauce, then shredded mozzarella, microwave for three minutes until the cheese gets crispy on top. The biggest problem with that is, it's addictive.

Time is flying. I'm going to have to get this post up and get on with finishing supper. Tonight's meal will be chicken and apple sausage with Brussels sprouts followed by apple pie. We're going to have to eat soon, because we want to go to Wallace and Gromit tonight. I'll see if I can post review on the other blog, afterwards. See you on the flipside!