American Gothic House Apple Pie

In my last post I talked about my friend Beth Howard who was driving this RV (which she calls The Beast) across the country towards to New Jersey to bake pies for the residents and first responders in Newtown, CT.  Beth got to her friends' house in New Jersey where pie baking was already taking place.  It's amazing how social media fueled this journey. 

                       Peter Melick, of Melick orchards, donated 150 pounds of apples---what a guy!

Pie uniting people to help deal with the unthinkable

Beth's volunteers are amazing

This group put the initials of each lost angel on the pies

Pies loaded into The Beast

Beth's signature is Apple Pie, and that's what the volunteers were baking for Newtown.  I thought I'd share her recipe for Apple Pie and hope you all will pray for Beth and her crews as they bake and try to help heal the residents in Newtown.  

American Gothic House Apple Pie

For the Crust

2 ½ c. flour (but have at least 3 ½ cups on hand, as you'll need extra flour to roll dough and thicken filling)

½ c. vegetable shortening

½ c. butter

Dash of salt

Ice water (fill one cup, but use only enough to moisten dough)

1. In a large bowl, work the butter and shortening into the flour with your hands until you see marble-size lumps form.

2. Pour in ice water a little at a time, sort of “fluffing” the flour to mix in liquid. When the dough feels moist, do a “squeeze test” and if it holds together you’re done. Your dough should feel tacky, but not wet. (Do not overwork the dough! It takes very little time and you’ll be tempted to keep touching it, but don’t!)

3. Divide the dough in 2 balls. Form each ball into a disk shape. Roll flat and thin to fit your pie dish.

4. Sprinkle flour under and on top of your dough to keep it from sticking to your rolling surface.

5. Trim excess dough around the edges with scissors so that it is about 1 inch wider than the dish edge.

For the Filling

7 large Granny Smith apples, depending on size of apples and size of pie dish  

2 teaspoon cinnamon (or more, depending on how much you like)

¾ c. sugar       

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter (to put on top of apples before covering with top crust)

4 Tbsp. flour    

1 beaten egg (to brush top crust before putting in oven)

Dash of salt

             

1.      Lay the prepared bottom crust into the pie dish. Slice half of the peeled apples directly into the pie, arranging and pressing them into the dish to remove extra space between slices.

2.      Cover with half of your other ingredients (sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt), then slice the remaining apples, and cover with second half of ingredients. Add dollop of butter.

3.      Cover with top crust and crimp edges, then brush with the beaten egg (this gives the pie a nice golden brown shine). Use a knife to poke vent holes in the top crust (get creative here with a unique pattern if you want).

4.      Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

5.      Turn oven down to 375 degrees and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes or so, until juice bubbles. Poke with a knife to make sure apples have softened. Do not over bake or apples will turn mushy.

Beth says that since life is messy, your pie doesn't have to be perfect --Someone wrote on Beth's Facebook page, "maybe compassion is as American as apple pie"---I am praying that is true. 

 

Our Hearts are Broken

The events of Friday morning from Newtown, CT have been broadcast endlessly on the news, and other outlets.  I am broken hearted for the families and friends of all those who lost loved ones, I have felt at a loss .... how do we react, care, and help?
I've read all the quotes about hugging your children, then there are the calls for gun control, and the inanity of Mike Huckabee, proving that he isn't interested in consoling anyone.
My friend Beth Howard, the author of Making Piece, A Story of Love, Loss and Pie put up a post on Facebook saying she felt like loading up her RV with pie making supplies and heading to Newtown from Eldon, Iowa where she lives in the American Gothic House.  After an hour, she was planning the trip with encouragement from all her followers and the offer of a co-pilot in Chicago---she is in Ohio as I write this, has gotten Costco in Bridgetown, CT to donate flour, sugar, butter and shortening for the pie making.  She also has a donation page on her website to help pay for gas, and pie making supplies that she might need.
This is the type of organic, holistic help that makes our country great---people see a need, they act on it, and help in ways that heal.

I'm proud to call Beth a friend, we met two years ago, and her story is one of loss and hope--she will bring that to Newtown with her pie making.  So if you see this RV rolling across Ohio or Pennsylvania tonight, honk and blow kisses!  They are on their way to help heal an aching community.

I'll end this post with a quote from Nelson Mandela:  "We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."  Hug your loved ones and let them know how much they mean to you...life is precious. 

The World Needs More Pie

My friend Beth's Howard's book is an inspiration, and every time I read about Beth's Pitchfork Pie Stand on Facebook at the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, I get to feeling like I need to make a pie. 

I'm not an expert, I usually end up with flour everywhere, and although the whole thing tastes delicious, it never looks like the pie perfection that I aspire to.  When Beth and I had lunch a few years ago, I confessed that I wasn't a great pie baker, that my pies never really looked great, and she said, "it doesn't have to be perfect."  Whoo----that's a relief!!

The bakers of the culinary world are the nerds of the culinary world; and rightly so.  They care about the temperature of the ingredients, the precise measurements, because baking is science.  That said, it's the hottest day of the year here and I have the oven on baking a peach pie because Specialty Produce had some amazing organic peaches when I was there yesterday. 

 I used Beth's recipe for pie crust, and the filling is adapted from Kathleen King of Tate's Bake Shop--this was the recipe of the month that she shared this month.

Just Peachy Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

For the Peaches

8 to 10 large peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 tablespoon vanilla paste

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg and ground ginger

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, set aside while rolling out the pie crust.  

For the pie crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
1/2 cup cold Crisco
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water

In a large bowl toss together the flour, butter, Crisco and salt, massaging the fat with your fingers to make marble-like pieces.  Toss in a few tablespoons of the water, and toss the mixture together until the pie crust begins to come together to form a ball.  Divide mixture in half and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  Beth says not to refrigerate, but in the hot summer, I'm refrigerating! 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and coat the inside of a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.  Set the pie plate on a baking sheet to catch any drips.
Using some additional flour, roll out the bottom crust, and place in the prepared pie plate.  Roll out the top crust and fill the bottom crust with the peach mixture and top with the second crust.  Pinch the edges of the crust together and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until the pie crust is golden and the filling is bubbling. 

At this point, this pie can be frozen for up to 6 weeks.  Use a 2 gallon zipper-top plastic bag.  

Not beautiful, but........

delicious!!

 

I urge your to try baking pies; and read Beth's book---you won't be sorry.  Have a great weekend everyone!

 

It's All About the Pie

My friend Beth Howard has written this book, and it's terrific.  I first met Beth through her blog theworldneedsmorepie.  A friend had "liked" it on Facebook, and I started reading; her story is captivating, but even though there is sadness in this book there is never that "neediness" tone that I find in so many of these memoir type books (I'm talking to you Eat, Pray, Love lady)  I wrote to Beth when she posted that she'd finished her manuscript and it was at the editors and told her I couldn't wait to read the book, and  serendipitously,  she was in San Diego that weekend, and we met for lunch.  Seated next to San Diego Bay on a Chamber of Commerce day here, we talked, and talked, and a friendship began.
Her "baby" was birthed in March, and for the past few months she has been on a non-stop book tour in an RV.

 I will not give Beth's whole story away, but the book is about how she dealt with the unspeakable grief that followed the sudden death of her husband Marcus; she turned to making pie, and ended up at the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, (going back to the state she was born in!) opened the Pitchfork Pie Stand and sells pies on the weekends to tourists and visitors to Eldon.  Now that the book is out, I have a feeling the population in Eldon quadruples on the weekends!

 Here's Beth with one of her creations---doesn't she look great? I think this photo was taken when it was 30 degrees that day---she's still smiling!!  Beth's signature pie is apple, but she makes an assortment of pies at the pie stand, depending on the availability of fruit.  My biggest take away from our lunch was that pie doesn't have to be perfect---that's for the frozen wonders you buy at the supermarket.  Your own pie should be messy--life is messy, and so is pie!
 
Since I finished the book, I've been wanting to make a pie; first I thought I'd make an apple pie, then key lime was calling my name, but today I had some leftover strawberries, and I was reminded of the crostata that my cousins make in Italy.  Crostata is a jam tart, usually apricot, but it can be any jam, or thickened fruit.  There is usually a lattice top (eyes glazing over) and the tart is cooked in a tart pan with a removable bottom.  This recipe is from my mother's cousin Vera who gave me the recipe in Italian, with the metric measurements; I found a way through trial and error to make it work, and the crust itself is pushed into the tart pan, and then the lattice is rolled out and transferred to top of the fruit filling.  The crust is very forgiving, and even if the lattice falls apart, it will cook itself together in the oven---not to worry, and it doesn't need to be woven, another plus.

Crostata
Serves 10

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 1/4 cup (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

3 large egg yolks

2 cups sliced strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3/4 apricot jam

confectioners' sugar

Vanilla ice cream or gelato to serve

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and coat the inside of a 10-inch tart pan with non-stick cooking spray.  

In a food processor fitted with the steel blade combine the flour and sugar, and pulse on and off to distribute.  

Place the butter on top of the flour mixture, and pulse on and off until the mixture resembles meal.  

 With the machine running, add the eggs, and process just until the mixture begins to come together.

Transfer 1/2 of the mixture to the prepared tart pan, and press into the pan using a small rolling pan and plastic wrap.

Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate while making the filling.

In a small saucepan, heat the berries, sugar and lemon juice, until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat and add the apricot jam.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared crust.

Dust a board lightly with confectioner's sugar, and roll out the second piece of dough.

I use a huge silicone mat for rolling pie dough----easy to clean, and goes into the dishwasher. 
Cut the dough into strips about 3/4-inch wide.  Lift the strips with a long off-set spatula onto the pie, beginning in the middle and working your way out.  Then lattice the remaining pieces setting them over the other pieces on the pie.  Cut off any excess dough.  Sift a bit of confectioner's sugar over the pie, and

It's not perfect, but it's a pie!

bake for 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes until the pie is golden brown on top and bubbling.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Remove from the tart pan, and transfer to a serving dish.  Cut into wedges and serve with vanilla ice cream. 

 I hope you'll pick up a copy of Making Piece, it's a terrific book, and there are recipes for some darn good pies at the end. 

The World Needs More Pie meets the Diva of Do-Ahead

I have to admit that I'm pretty particular about the blogs I read; there are a lot of women out there who whine about their very full lives---get a grip---OK?  I had lunch today with Beth Howard who lost her husband 2 years ago, and has endured the grieving process all the while thinking about how she could share with others...to make a long story short, this city girl moved into the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa (no we don't have Peace Corp reps there) and started the Pitchfork Pie Stand, selling apple pies to tourists who pull up out of curiosity to see what all the commotion is about and to visit the American Gothic house.  Here's Beth at the Art Institute in Chicago with the former owners!

  Beth's premise is that pies bring people together; sharing makes things happen, and telling your story, in her case, grief beyond imagination, might inspire or encourage others.  She's just as nice in person as she is in the blog---I reached out and sent her an e-mail and told her I couldn't wait till her book came out, because I knew it would be terrific--she just happened to be in San Diego today and we had a lovely leisurely lunch sharing our stories.

When you are on vacation this summer, you need to stop by and meet her; or if you can't get to Iowa, go to her blog and read about all her adventures.  She'll be heading back to Iowa in a few weeks and the pie stand will open on May 20th. If you are looking for pie tips, this article in Midwest Living is terrific. 
The best tip I got today, after admitting that I'm a total flake (sorry) at pie making is that pies aren't meant to be perfect, and that isn't what pie is all about---so take that Martha Stewart!

This looks pretty darned perfect to me, and it's one of her own!  It just needs a little vanilla ice cream melting over it and I'd be a very happy girl!
I hope you had a great weekend, I'll be back tomorrow with some food adventures, until then enjoy your evening.  American Gothic, c.1930 Finest LAMINATED Print Grant Wood 12x15