Pie, Take One... or Food Blog Meet Supper Club

Three years ago I made a New Year’s resolution to not just talk to my friends on Facebook and over text messages.  I decided to start a supper club that would meet (mostly) once a month for a themed dinner.  The idea is to sit around a table and look at people (not little blue screens you hold in your hand), talk, and share a good meal.

So, naturally, this is a perfect audience for the experiments of my cooking.  I choose the theme of each dinner… and it just so happened that I selected pie for the theme of this dinner - even before I started the blog.  But the theme is made for my grandmother’s recipe collection because it is full of pies.

I don’t know if it is cliché to say that pie makes me think of my grandmother.  It seems a very grandmother thing to make pies.  But let me tell you, my grandmother made them and made them well.  Apple pie is probably the one I remember most.  And lemon meringue.  And vaguely in the back of my memory, there was mincemeat.   Some of the more unusual varieties came out at Thanksgiving… but pie plates occupied that not so secret storage for sweets spot in the pantry closet as frequently as a tin of cookies.  

Nana Rose was also a pie maker.  In fact I think she was the one who initiated the practice of using torn up bed sheet strips to line under the edge of the crust as it baked in the oven.  Gram told me that Rose baked two pies every Sunday, one for the house.  And one for my great-grandfather Frank – my grandmother’s father.  

I am fascinated by the relationship between the widower and the divorcee.  My great-grandfather lost his wife in 1939, while my great-grandmother divorced her cad of a husband… leaving them both single parents who became so much a part of the lives of their grandchildren.  Rose was there during the week, but Frank would take the whole brood out for long walks on Sundays (exhausting them plenty for Sunday night).  And in return, he would get one of Rose’s pies.

 Grampy Frank with his daughter and six of his grandchildren.

I decided to make Gram’s pumpkin pecan pie.  Knowing it was a one-shelled recipe, I followed her instructions for two so I could use the second to bake a brie for the pre-dinner snack.  Normally I use a pre-packaged phyllo dough for that recipe.  But pie crust works just as well.

Now, full disclosure, pie crust is not my specialty.  I can make pizza dough in my sleep.  I can create a lasagna from random ingredients in my fridge or pasta sauce out of beets.  Anything with cheese… well, okay, I have to give cheese most of the credit.  But pie crust… well… pie crust is an art I have yet to master.

Remember that paste story I mentioned at the beginning of this blog?  Well, it turns out that is an actual step… and maybe that’s where my pie making skills went south.  Apparently I got stuck on that step and never made it to the dough part.   I should have taken a picture of the paste – but, well, unfortunately I have serious focus issues when I cook and prep my house for a dinner party… so for that part you just have to use your imagination.

Pie Crust Recipe (forms two shells)
Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1tsp. salt
2/3 c. Crisco (I admit I am not a purist here.  I get my pretentious organic vegetable shortening from Wegmans)
1/3 c. water

Directions:
1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl
2.  In separate bowl, take out 1/3 cup flour and blend with water to make a paste
3. Cut the Crisco into the remainder of the flour until it is in pieces, the size of peas.
4. Stir the flour paste into dry ingredients to make a dough that will hold together.
5. Form into a bowl
6. Roll to desired size

So like I said, I used one to make the brie, baked with caramelized onions and an apple.  That was the messiest and not one connected piece… so I didn’t photograph it until the plate was nearly demolished.

The second shell I used to make a pumpkin pecan pie.

The shell (with a little bit of the batter)  At least it was one piece.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie (made better as 9 in pie, rather than 8in) – did I read this instruction?  No.

Beat 2 large eggs in a bowl.  Stir in 1 can 1lb pumpkin, ½ c. brown sugar, ¼ c. sugar, ½ tsp. each salt, ginger, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. ground cloves.  Whisk in 1 ½ light cream.  Pour into unbaked pie crust.  Bake 400° 45-55 minutes until crust is brown, filling set.  Cool pie.  In small pan melt 3 Tbsp butter, stir in 2/3 c. brown sugar, 24 pecan halves of 2/3 c. coarsely chopped pecans.  Put pecans on top of pie.  Broil 2-3 minutes until brown.  Serves 8-10.  Serve warm.

Cooking with pumpkin always makes me happy.  Adding fragrant spices to it, so much the better.

In spite of my lackluster product, I must say I would rather a sloppy homemade crust than one from the store.  It’s like pizza dough – basic (cheap) ingredients… and the only way to confront this demon of imperfection is to just keep on trying!

That said, I can identify two imperfect things from this day in the kitchen i.e. the way I did not follow directions.

1. I broiled my pie while trying to track down extra pie servers.  So… those 3 minutes went a little long… and the pecans were more black than golden.  But that didn’t stop us from eating!

2. I did not heed the advice about the pie plate size – so I had too much filling.  What does one do with batter of eggs, spices, and cream?  Make French toast of course!