CELEBRATING NATIONAL PIE DAY WITH LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Today is National Pie Day! So happy to celebrate with an old-fashioned Lemon Meringue Pie. The recipe is from Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook. I hope everyone partakes and eats a slice of their favorite pie today. Pie is life; nothing sweeter. 

Best-Ever Lemon Meringue Pie

Baked 9" pie shell (see recipe below)

1.5 cups sugar

1.5 cups water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup water

4 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 tbsp butter

1 tsp grated lemon peel

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1. Combine sugar, 1.5 cups water and salt in saucepan; heat to boiling.
2. Mix cornstarch and 1/3 cup water to make smooth paste; add to boiling mixture gradually, stirring constantly; cook until thick and clear. Remove from heat. 
3. Combine egg yolks and lemon juice; stir into thickened mixture. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles again. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and lemon peel. Cover and cool until lukewarm. 
4. For meringue, add salt to egg whites; beat until frothy. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until glossy peaks are formed. Stir 2 rounded tbsp of meringue into lukewarm filling. 
5. Pour filling into cool pie shell. Pile remaining meringue on top and spread lightly over filling, spreading evenly to edge of crust. 
6. Bake in slow oven at 350º F about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on rack at least 1 hour before cutting. 

Flaky Pastry for 1-Crust Pie

1 cup sifted flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp vegetable shortening or 1/3 cup lard

2 to 2.5 tbsp cold water

1. Combine flour and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is the consistency of coarse cornmeal or tiny peas. 
2. Sprinkle in cold water, 1 tbsp at a time, tossing mixture lightly and stirring with fork. Add water each time to the driest part of the mixture. The dough should be just moist enough to hold together when pressed gently with a fork. It should not be sticky. 
3. Shape dough in smooth ball with hands, and roll. 
4. On lightly floured surface roll Pastry for 1-Crust pie. Roll it lightly from center out in all direction to 1/8" thickness, making a 10" circle. Fold rolled dough in half and ease it loosely into pie pan, with fold in center. Gently press out air pockets with finger tips and make certain there are no openings for juices to escape. 
5. Fold under edge of crust and press into an upright arm. Crimp edge as desired.
6. Baked: Prick entire surface evenly and closely with a 4-tined fork. Refrigerate 1/2 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450º F. Bake pie shell in very hot oven from 10 to 15 minutes, or until browned the way you like. Cool before filling. 

NATIONAL PIE DAY

Created by the American Pie Council, National Pie Day is the celebration of pie. Why January 23rd, you ask? According to the APC, "because celebrating the wholesome goodness of pie is as easy as 1-2-3." Today would be the perfect day to host a Pie Social; bake your favorite pie and share it with your neighbors, friends, and coworkers. Or do what I'm doing and get together with friends for a pie baking jamboree.

The next question, of course, would be what kind of pie? The three most popular in the United States is apple, pumpkin, and pecan pie. But I'm thinking something a little more decadent, like Chocolate Lavender Pie. I modified a recipe I found on Sunday Suppers that was originally created by Camille Becerra. Now, grab a slice of life!

Chocolate Lavender Pie

Crust:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick organic butter, cut to small pieces

1 organic egg yolk

1. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in.
2. Stir egg to break the yolk. Add a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses - 10 seconds each - until the dough forms clumps and curds. Turn the dough out onto a work space with very little handling and form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for about 2 hours before rolling.
3. Roll out, fit to pan, fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with the fork.
4. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes or longer, before baking.
5. For a parbaked crust, preheat oven to 375º F.
6. Butter shiny side of aluminum foil and fit, butter side down, tightly against the crust. Since the crust is frozen there is no need to add pie weights. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake on center rack for 20 minutes.
7. Carefully remove the foil. if the crust has puffed, press down on it gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust another 10 minutes, or until it is firm and golden brown (you may want to protect the crust edge from browning too much by placing foil over it.)
8. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool crust to room temperature, and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Chocolate Custard:

3 oz bittersweet chocolate chip

2 cups cream

2 tbsp dried lavender

1/2 cup sugar

5 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 egg yolks, beaten slightly

1 tbsp butter

1. Heat the cream over medium-low heat without scalding. Turn off heat, add lavender and steep for about 10 minutes, strain.
2. Add sugar, flour, salt, chocolate, and eggs to cream and whisk together. Cook while stirring on medium heat until it bubbles and thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes. If it becomes lumpy, just beat out the lumps. Continue to cook until you get the consistency you want.
3. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
4. Chill slightly and pour into prepared crust.
5. Allow to set through (about 4 hours) before cutting.

Crystallized Lavender:

2 tbsp dried lavender

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Blanch lavender in boiling water for 30 seconds. Strain well and lightly pat dry.
2. While lavender is still moist roll it in sugar. Spread on a sheet pan to dry separating clusters as best as you can.

*bain marie: is also known as a water bath and a technique to heat materials gently and gradually to fixed temperatures; this is to keep it from scorching, scalding or burning. Typically an inner container is immersed about halfway into the working liquid, with the heat source outside the outer container.

NATIONAL PIE DAY

Raise your forks, use your fingers, stick your whole face in -

Folks, we got pie!

Today is officially National Pie Day, created by the American Pie Council as part of our American heritage. And nothing says American quite like good ole fashioned pie. Fruit pies, cream pies, custards, meringues, chocolate, and nut pies filled, top-crusted, two-crusted, served with fresh whipped cream, or à la mode - the assortment is varied and endless. This is it, folks, a legitimate excuse to gorge yourself with pie. All you can eat pie!

Set aside today to bake all your favorite pies, or better yet take the opportunity to try a new recipe. Maybe you've been curious about some of the more unusual pies like Seagull Egg Pie, Avocado Pie, or Sawdust Pie. Or old vintage favorites like Vinegar Pie, Funeral Pie, or Shoofly Pie. And standards like apple, pumpkin, or pecan pie. A great way to celebrate the day is to bake and give away pies to friends, neighbors, family, and heck even strangers. Start a new tradition of pie giving, or organize a pie social, an age-old tradition celebrating community by gathering friends and family to share a piece of pie, or to raise funds for worthy causes. Pie socials have been popping up all over the country to raise money for schools, charities, and other organizations. But first and foremost, National Pie Day is a day to eat pies!

U.S.S. North Dakota Bakery crew, Navy Yard, NY 1911

Just to get you started in the interest of pies, here's a how it all got started. The history of pie is rich in flavor, having evolved and adapted itself to changing locales, conditions, and ingredients. Pie eating spans thousands of years, first with the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, then to Europe, and eventually to the Americas. The first pies of medieval Europe were called "coffins" or "coffyns", savory meat pies completely enclosed in pastry. Open-crust pastry were known as "traps". These pies held assorted meats and sauce, comparable to our modern casseroles with the pastry crust taking the role of the actual pan. At that time baking containers were limited, and the pastry shell mainly served as a baking dish, storage container, or serving vessel. These thick crusts were made to withstand hours of baking, often making them tough and inedible.

A coffin graces a rich man's table. From Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne, 15th c.

In medieval England, "pie" or "pyes" like its French counterpart "pate" meant bits and pieces of meat baked in pastry, named after the magpie, a bird known for collecting odds and ends. Meat and vegetable pies like shepherd's pie or cottage pie came to North America with the colonists in the 17th century. Eventually their recipes were adapted to the ingredients and techniques available to them in the New World, and the crusts became more tender and flaky, the fillings sweet with fruit and berries. Round and shallow pie pans made their debut to conserve rations. In the 1700's pioneer women often served pies with every meal, cementing the pastry as a unique form of American culture. With food at the heart of gatherings and celebrations, pie quickly moved to the forefront of contests at county fairs, picnics, and other social events. And as settlers moved westward, American regional pies developed introducing new tastes to discerning palettes. Pie recipes both sweet and savory are steeped in cultural and family traditions, and are passed down from one generation to the next.

Konzil von Konstanz (ÖNB 3044, fol. 48v), c. 1465-1475

Now please...

Go eat some pie!