Savoury Sunday, Torta Rustica

     Although not a family recipe, this pie is something I have had in my own cooking repertoire for years.  A co worker made this for a Thanksgiving dinner she hosted years ago and it was love at first bite. If I have my facts straight, this is an Italian classic that varies from region to region, household to household much like the French Canadian classic, tortiere. The name translates to "Rustic Pie".

     Why do I love this so? Other than it's a pie? If there needs to be another reason, it's completely versatile. It can be made vegan, vegetarian, or gluten free. You can use all fresh ingredients or clean the fridge out  of leftovers. You can fuss with a crust or use pizza dough. Best of all, there is no "right" way to make this. The whole point of recipes like this is to personalize it. I'll run you through how I made it last but I've never made it the same way twice. It will all make sense after the recipe.

Of course I forgot to take a picture of it sliced

Torta Rustica

Ingredients

Pastry

2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 egg

pinch of salt

3-4 tablespoons white wine or cold water

OR

Use pizza dough-recipe for that at a later date

Filling

1-2 cups meat, cubed or shredded-optional

3-6 cups vegetables, coarsely chopped, blanched or roasted

2 cups cheese- grated or shredded

Directions

Prepare a 10 inch spring form pan, butter and flour, parchment paper or non stick spray

Pastry

Although I have used pizza dough (my local Fiesta Farms sells fresh stuff at the deli counter) I do really like this crust so give it a try

In a food processor or by hand, mix flour, salt and butter until the consistency of coarse corn meal.

In a small bowl, lightly beat egg and white wine, this is your binder for the dough.

Add to flour mixture and pulse or mix until it gathers into a ball, shouldn't take long, don't over mix.

Divide roughly in half, one needs to be bigger than the other.

Roll out larger portion on a floured surface until you have a circle large enough to cover the bottom and sides of your spring form pan

The other portion is rolled out to be the cover of your pie.

Same thing applies if you are using pizza dough.

Filling

This is the fun part. I usually make this vegetarian, it's easy and not the usual vegetarian fare that shows up at parties.

The pie is filled in layers, much like building lasagna. I always start mine with either a pesto, or vegetable puree. Last time it was an olive, sun dried tomato and roasted garlic puree, which incidentally made an awesome tapenade, I had to stop eating it so I had enough left for the pie.

1/4 cup pitted olives

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

6 cloves of roasted garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pulse, blend, chop all ingredients until smooth.

Place a generous layer on the bottom of the pie.

Top with layers of meat and vegetables.

I use roughly a cup of each

Roasted red pepper

Spinach or Swiss Chard, blanched

Mushrooms, oven roasted with thyme and olive oil

Yellow zucchini, prepared as above

Eggplant, same preparation

Roasted butternut squash

Artichoke hearts

Meat layer, ham, bacon, chicken, turkey, venison, ground beef, left over roast beef or omit

Top with 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan/Romano cheese, I prefer fresh if I have it

Finish with 1 1/2 -2 cups of shredded Mozzarella, Fontino, Jarlesberg... You get the idea.

Top with the remaining crust or pizza dough and crimp edges to seal.

Poke holes in the top as you would for any pie

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven about an hour until crust is golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool at least 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Can be served warm or room temperature. (You can make it the day before)

     The only rule to follow with this is the layers, contrast your colours. When you cut into it, you get a delicious and visual appealing slice. Use any vegetables you like, broccoli, cauliflower, rapini and on and on and on. Even people who normally don't like vegetables, like this pie. It can be served as an entree, a side dish or an appetizer. What's not to love about that?

     For all the alterations, vegan, gluten free. I haven't included them for the sake of brevity but if you cook like that, you will know what to substitute/omit. If you have a question feel free to drop me a line or comment and I'll help any way I can.

     I have seen about a hundred different preparations for this dish so if it isn't what you're familiar with.....

I have also seen this prepared like a quiche. I loathe quiche. I have no idea what happens when you bake eggs but I hate the taste. They always taste scorched to me, blech.

     One of my all time favourites, that isn't a family secret. Enjoy.

( WTF, spellcheck suggested torture for tortiere? Really? Just thought I'd share that)

    

Sour Cherry Pie

          Nothing compares to fresh baked cherry pie. Well maybe strawberry rhubarb, or lemon, or butterscotch, or pumpkin, maybe Dutch apple  Are you noticing a trend? I love my pie. Double crust, crumb topping, with ice cream or whipped, I love them all. (And am getting the waistline to prove it LOL)

     The hardest part of this recipe is finding and/or pitting the cherries. The season is over, it is only about ten days to two weeks long for sour sherries, but you can sometimes find the canned/frozen ones in a store. If you do, definitely try this pie, it is a real treat.

Sour Cherry Pie

Ingredients

pie crust pastry for a 9" double crust- recipe here

4-6 cups pitted sour cherries

1 cup sugar

1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Roll out pie dough and prepare for filling.

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch until well mixed.

Pour over pitted cherries and mix until cherries are well coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell and top with plain or lattice top.

Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes and reduce heat to 350 degrees.

Continue baking for about 30-35 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Serve warm with whipped or ice cream.

     Sour cherries are really juicy so the amount of cornstarch depends on how runny you want your pie. I like mine runny, so usually use no more than 1-1 1/2 tablespoons.

    I use 4 1/2 to 5 cups of fruit. I like a heavy pie. You can use sweet Bing or Ranier cherries or mix sweet and sour but it will change the sweetness of the final product. I like mine tart.

    I always do a double crust. Not co-ordinated enough to get the lattice top looking nice. If I want to fancy the top up, I cut out inserts with cookie cutters and offset them. Can be a little tricky but if company is coming...

     Almonds are a nice compliment to cherries. You can add a bit of extract to the filling, add slivers to the top or grind them into meal and incorporate into the pie pastry. The last is what I do, but not often. Lots of extra work and fuss.

     I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

     This is the pie that proved my father's "Golden Ratio" rule. You can make it with as little as four cups of fruit or as many as eight. I usually split the difference and go with six. I prefer this with a double crust, but the crumb topping is good too. I usually use Demerara sugar for the crumble, I like the heavier, molasses taste.

     No picture unfortunately, by the time I think to snap one, it's gone. LOL

Ingredients

Prepared pastry for single or double 9” pie crust - recipe here

Filling

2-4 cups strawberries

2-4 cups rhubarb chopped into ½-1” pieces

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons of corn starch

Crumble topping –optional

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

¼ teaspoon cinnamon -optional

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts – optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Roll out pie crust and place in pie plate, ready for the filling.

In a large bowl, combine strawberries and rhubarb.

In another bowl, whisk together sugars and cornstarch until well combined

Mix fruit with cornstarch and sugars until well coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell and top with second crust or crumble topping

Place pie on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet to catch drips.

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees and

continue baking about an hour until crust is golden brown.


     Always a crowd pleaser, not too tart and not too sweet, just right. Enjoy.

Maple Syrup Pie

     I finally got around to trying this recipe in my quest for the ultimate maple sugar pie recipe. Another swing and a miss, again delicious but not what I was looking for. Maple sugar pie is like tomato sauce in Italy, every family has it's own secret recipe. I may never find the one I am looking for, but I'll bravely soldier on, baking and eating, baking and eating. LOL

     The common thread in these recipes is simplicity. This one only has four ingredients for the filling and cooks in less than 10 minutes.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream*
1/4 cup corn/potato starch**
1/4 cup water

1 prepared, baked and cooled  pie shell, recipe here

Directions

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat whisk together cream and maple syrup.
In a small bowl whisk together corn starch and water until smooth, add to syrup and cream mixture
Whisking to prevent scorching, bring to a boil and cook about 2 minutes until thickened
Pour into pie shell and cool


* the recipe calls for 35% cream but even milk would work if your counting calories, but really?
** I made two pies, one with potato starch and one with corn starch. You couldn't tell the difference. I wouldn't use flour as a thickener, the filling doesn't cook long enough to get rid of that raw flour taste.

     I think this would make a great meringue pie, it is similar to the butterscotch pie posted earlier.  The filling would also be good in a flan, topped with strawberries or raspberries and whipped cream.

     Do you have a favourite maple pie recipe? Pass it a long, I'd be happy to give it a try. Enjoy.

Maple sugar pie

     Maple sugar pie, a Quebecois classic. I get some every time I'm skiing in Tremblant. You can get it here but it just isn't the same, kind of like real poutine or tortiere. I didn't go skiing this year so I decided to try making this at home.

     There are hundreds of recipes for "tarte au sucre" or sugar pie. If they tell you brown sugar is an acceptable substitute for the maple sugar, they lie. If you have a sweet tooth and you like maple, do yourself a favour and try this recipe. It is delicious and oh so decadent.

     I couldn't find the maple sugar, so I made my own. It is relatively easy, just be careful, you are working with molten sugar. I boiled two litres (5 Lbs)  of syrup and ended up with 3 1/2 pound of  sugar. It's about a 40% water weight loss. It took 40 minutes to boil the syrup to a temperature of 290 degrees, which may have been a little too high. If I ever do it again, I'll see what it is like at 270 degrees. I was expecting something like brown sugar, but got a very dry, very hard sugar at the higher temperature. Stir it like you would if making jelly, almost constantly. It is good for the first 15 minutes, occasionally, but as it reduced needed constant attention to stop scorching. Before you think I've gone all "Martha Stewart", I did not grow or tap the trees. LOL On to the pie.

Maple sugar pie

     This is a surprisingly easy recipe with only four ingredients. It takes about an hour to make and serves 12. Tiny servings, so rich and sweet.

Ingredients

1 prepared and baked pie shell, fully cooled

pate sucree is traditional but I used my never fail recipe here

I am making strawberry rhubarb pie tomorrow and didn't want to make pastry twice

Filling

1 cup maple sugar

1/4 cup flour/cornstarch

3/4 cup heavy cream *

1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together sugar and flour or cornstarch until smooth and lump free.

Add cream and syrup and whisk until well combined.

Pour into baked pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

You can serve this warm with ice cream or whipped cream but I prefer it plain, nothing between me and my pie.

* The recipe calls for 35% cream but I imagine even milk would work, but seriously why worry about fat or calories in this recipe. It is all about indulging your sweet tooth.

     This was not what I was expecting when I decided to try the recipe. I think what I was looking for was Maple syrup pie which is slightly different. It is cooked on the stove and poured into a pie shell like a lemon meringue pie. I'll let you know the results when I test that one out. Even if it was by accident, it is a delicious recipe and a keeper in my books.

     What is your favourite maple recipe? Leave me a comment and let me know your favourites. Enjoy.

Butterscoth Pie I

     I love butterscotch pie. Until recently, the only person I knew who made it was my Grandma Fisher. I can only ever remember having hers and what a treat it was. I received this recipe from my aunt Gladys and was so surprised when I saw it. I never knew anyone on the Craig side made this. I now have three recipes and will post all three because they are all a little different. Mostly the same ingredients, but different ratios and different cooking techniques. That all adds up to different tastes. I can hardly wait to test all three.

Butterscotch Pie

Ingredients

1 prepared pie crust, baked

Filling

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

2¾ cup of milk, divided ¾ cup, 2 cups scalded

1/3 cup of cornstarch

½ teaspoon of salt

3 egg yolks, reserve whites for meringue

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Scald 2 cups of milk, remove from heat

In a heavy bottomed pot (to prevent scorching) combine brown sugar,

cornstarch, ¾ cup of milk, salt and egg yolks.
  
Whisk until well combined.

Heat over medium heat, slowly adding scalded milk.

Bring mixture to a boil and cook 2 minutes longer until thickened.

Stir in butter and vanilla and cool slightly.

Pour into baked pie shell and cool completely.

Top with meringue and bake in 350 degree oven approximately 10 to 12 minutes

until meringue is lightly browned.

Meringue

3 egg whites

¼ teaspoon of baking powder

1/3 cup of sugar

Directions

Combine all ingredients and beat until soft peaks form. Spread on top of completely cooled pie.

       Recipe number one for butterscotch pie and apparently Gladys is well known for this delicious recipe. I can't believe the family was holding out on me. LOL I improvised a little on the directions. Most of the family recipes are lists of ingredients and a few if any cooking instructions. The people who make them know how they do things so don't need extensive instructions. It is the challenge in trying to re create what other people have made. If I have made a mistake, feel free to correct me.

     Gladys also included this little tip. Leave the pie in the oven about 15 minutes after you have turned off the heat. It dries the meringue a little and prevent weeping.

Enjoy.

Butterscotch pie, the prequel, Pie Crust Recipe

    A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...... Just kidding LOL I was getting ready to post my aunt Gladys's Butterscoth pie recipe and realized I needed to do a post about pie crust first or you have nothing to put the pie filling in.

Fibonacci spiral illustrating the "Golden Ratio"

     Anyone who has studied mathematics or art has undoubtedly come across the "Golden Ratio". In our house, it refers to the ratio of pie to pie crust. LOL My dad swears by it. For years I didn't believe him until I made a strawberry rhubarb pie that called for eight cups of fruit. Go big or go home I thought but I have to admit, I didn't really like it. Too much  fruit to crust, just like Dad always said, who knew?

     I have several pie crust recipes but this one is my "go to" one and the one I believe most of my relatives use. It is copied directly from the Tenderflake lard box years ago and has never failed me yet. It is simple to make, makes a lot and freezes well, all good in my book.

Pie Crust

Ingredients

1 pound cold shortening, lard or vegetable, cut into pieces, about 1” -2”cubes

5 1/2 -6 cups of flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon of vinegar

Water

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together egg and vinegar. Pour into 1 cup measuring cup and add water to make 1 cup of liquid. This is your binder for the dough.

In the bowl of your food processor, combine flour and pieces of shortening. Pulse until it reaches the consistency of coarse corn meal, you should still see little pieces of shortening.

Gradually add egg mixture while continuing to pulse, until the dough gathers up into a ball.

Chill about half an hour to make it easier to work with.

     That's it, you have enough pie dough for three double crusts or six singles with a little left over to decorate with. Any left over you can freeze for up to six months or more, mine never lasts that long. This is my go to recipe because I can use it for sweet and savoury fillings, no fussing around with the million and one other specialty crusts. I do have them, I just don't make them very often.

     If you don't have a food processor you can always use a pastry cutter or a fork and do it by hand in a large bowl. I did it that way for years but like the convenience of the food processor.

     The secret to good pie crust is all in the handling. The more you work with it the tougher the gluten becomes. This is what makes a tough, impossible to cut through crust. There are two areas where people over work the dough, in the initial mixing and rolling it out.

     Mix until it is combined and stop. That's why you use the pulse setting. It literally takes only a minute or two. Don't worry about a few larger pieces of shortening, they will be worked out in the rolling. The same thing goes when you are adding the binder. When it gathers into a ball, stop.

     When you are rolling out the dough, start from the middle and work out. Don't roll back and forth across the whole surface of the dough. If your crust starts to pull back a lot while you are rolling it out, you have over worked it. The gluten has toughened making the dough elastic. There is no fix, just adjust your technique next time.

     I roll my crust out on a floured pasrty board, with a floured rolling pin. I have read about doing it between sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap to prevent sticking but it has never been a problem for me so...
The other methods seem like too much fuss. An empty wine bottle works as a substitute rolling pin if you find yourself short. Believe it or not I did somehow manage to lose my rolling pin.

     After all the caution about over working the dough, I find when using vegetable shortening I have to work the dough a little longer to toughen it up a bit so I can work with it. D**m vegetarians and no animal products. LOL

     For the butterscotch pie you need a pre baked or blind baked crust. I usually just poke a million holes in the raw crust with a fork and put it in the oven at 350 degrees until it turns a golden brown, anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour. I go by the colour of the crust not the cooking time and for whatever reason it can vary a lot. You can also line the inside of the shell with tin foil and add beans or pie weights and cook it that way. Again too much fuss for me and I don't find it makes a lot of difference but use which ever method you like.

     You can always opt for the pre made pie crusts and skip all this, I won't judge. Of course I'll judge, that's cheating. LMAO Seriously, making good pie crust is a bit of an art but once you've mastered it................

Enjoy.