2010 August 17 | dinner with Julie

Archive for August 17th, 2010

Peaches – Under a Cake and in a Pie

Today was brought to you by the letter P: Peaches and Pie and Pierre.

I Prepared a Pretty Perfect Pie this morning. We were talking about pastry, and not five minutes after deciding on a topic yesterday I received a brand-new cookbook, one that instantly took a place of honour beside my bed (yes, this is why we only have one child). The Harrow Fair Cookbook was inspired by the annual agricultural fair in Harrow, Ontario that began in 1854. In this book are recipes for everything from blue-ribbon pies to farmstand salads, fritters, ice cream, fried chicken and preserves. It’s so directly up my alley. The authors, sisters Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone, wrote the book because they have such fond memories of attending the Harrow Fair as children. Their book is based on the principle that what we eat today should be as natural as it was 156 years ago, when the fair was established. If it includes pies like this first-place-ribbon-winning-peaches-and-cream beauty, I couldn’t agree more.

After the show I went to Pierre’s to Plan a Project. Remember Pierre?

He Picked some Particularly Perfumed Peaches around Penticton last week, and since I Planned to Pop in, he Pulled a Peach cake out of the oven, baked in a cast iron Pan.

Can you tell I have a Preschooler?

So that Pierre – he’s a pretty good cook. He topped whole, peeled peaches with a sweet, crusty cake batter in a cast iron skillet and baked it until it was puffed and golden and reminiscent of an inside-out Dutch baby. The peaches emerged warm and soft, and the chunks of vanilla-scented cake fell away onto the plate and were not long for this world.

So that was breakfast round 2, and not even late enough in the morning to count as elevenses.

Round 1 was pie, remember? If Pop Tarts can be categorized as breakfast (which is not to say that I agree that they should be), what’s wrong with peach pie? I typically use my Grandma’s pastry recipe, but I tried a formula from from The Harrow Fair Cookbook that called for an egg and some vinegar (it won’t add flavour, but will relax the gluten), and it was pretty fantastic. And I chose a peaches and cream pie, meaning a cup of cream was added to the peaches and sugar before pouring the lot into the pastry shell and lidding it – the result wasn’t so much custardy as creamy – the juices oozed out like melted ice cream when you cut a slice.

Peaches & Cream Pie

from The Harrow Fair Cookbook, by Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney

Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. quick-cooking tapioca (I used cornstarch)
pinch fine sea salt
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp. vanilla
4 cups pitted, sliced fresh peaches (the recipe specifies peeling but I didn’t bother, and used a little more than 4 cups)

1 recipe favourite pie crust (below)
extra cream, for brushing on top (optional)
sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, tapioca and salt. Whisk in the cream and vanilla. Toss the peaches in the cream mixture and set aside for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Roll out one disk of pie dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate, trimming pastry to 1/2-inch past the edge of the plate. Spoon the filling into the shell.

Roll the remaining crust out to a 9-inch circle and lay atop the filling (cutting slits or holes for steam to escape) or cut into 1-inch wide strips and make a lattice crust. Trim the edges of the top pastry to match the bottom, and crimp the edge with your fingers or a fork. If you like, brush the top of the pie with cream, and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until golden and bubbling (if you like, place the pie on a baking sheet to catch drips). Cool to room temperature before slicing. Makes 1 pie.

Favourite Pie Crust

from The Harrow Fair Cookbook, by Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 cup lard, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 large egg
2 tsp. vinegar
ice cold water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add the lard and butter and blend with a pastry cutter or food processor until it’s blended with some pieces of fat the size of small peas.

In a small dish or measuring cup, stir the egg and vinegar together with a fork, then add cold water to make 1/2 cup. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together.

Divide the dough into two pieces and shape each into a disc; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until needed.

Makes enough for one double-crust or two single-crust pies.