PiePiePiePie Part 3A: Mint Julep Pie--the recipe

**Now with 100% more picture! You'll see we attempted a brulee crust on the top (I think we'll use a blowtorch next time), and garnished it with sugared mint leaves. Yum!**

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! We're not going to torture you with liveblogging on this one--we'll just give up the recipe, pure and simple.

Prepare yourself!

Mint Julep Pie

Crust:
1o Graham crackers
1 1/4c pecans
1/4c sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 envelope gelatin
1/4c water
½ teaspoon almond extract
1/2 c (or a little more. You know. Whatever) your favorite bourbon
Good handful mint, chopped

Ganache:
4-5 oz dark chocolate
1/4 c heavy cream

1. In your trusty food processor, whiz together all four crust ingredients. When it's a fine crumb, press it into your favorite pie pan. Whack it in the freezer for a half hour or so to set; then, pop it into a 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes or so (or, really, just until it's golden brown and aromatic). Set aside and let cool a bit.
   
2. Make the ganache: Chop up the chocolate with a serrated knife, and put in a small bowl. Heat the cream, and pour over chocolate, stirring until smooth and shiny.
   
3. Make the filling: scald the milk and cream in a double boiler. Meanwhile, beat together the egg yolks with the sugar, flour, and salt. Once that's a lovely pale yellow (and about tripled in size), gradually add the milk/cream mixture.
4. Return the mixture to the double boiler and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Meanwhile, bloom the gelatin by combining it in a small bowl with the 1/4c water.
6. When the custard's done cooking, decant it into a cool bowl; add the gelatin and whisk until it's completely incorporated.
7. When it's cooled a bit, add the bourbon, the almond extract, and the chopped mint.
8. Spread the ganache evenly over the inside of the graham crust, and chill to set.
   
   
   
   
9. Once the ganache has set, pour in the custard.
   
   
   
   Chill at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Garnish with sugared mint leaves, or a brulee crust, or both, or something totally different. (You'll see which one we chose in the morning)
   

Ta da! Happy hunting, my lambs. Sorry we made you wait!

PiePiePiePie, Part 1: 40-proof pumpkin pie.

This one tends to go pretty smoothly (knock on wood). A few field notes:

1. I don't measure my spices in this thing. I used to smoke, so I run on the assumption that everyone who will be eating this pie suffers from a similarly depressed state of taste--thus, spices are hiiiiiiigh.

2. The liquor used is entirely at your discretion--I have, in times past, used bourbon, frangelico, butterscotch schnapps, and rum. The latter is really my favorite, as it adds a certain piratical bent to my humble pastry--and anything that makes me say "Arrrr!" is a good thing.



40-proof pumpkin pie

1/2 batch butter pie crust (enough for an open-top pie)

1x15-oz can pumpkin puree
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c liquor of your choice (this year, it's rum)
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
cinnamon
ginger
cloves
2 large eggs

1. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs.
2. Add the pumpkin
3. Add the cream and liquor
4. Add the sugar
5. Add the spices (to taste) and salt
6. Mix everything thoroughly, then pour into your prepared pie crust.
7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes; then, reduce heat to 350 degrees, and cook for a further 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack for min of two hours. Refrigerate till serving.

Delicious! Tradition! Arrrr!

Step 1: Pie crusts.

7:50: Pumpkin and pecan pie dough in the fridge; graham cracker crusts in the pans! Go Team Efficient!

7:46:

"There's something about the smell of butter." --Shiv

"Yeah, especially high-fat European butter." --Biscuit

7:44 "Hear that? You just HEARD pie happen."

7:32: Food processor rules. I cannot do math.

7:04: We begin the important underpinnings of our sweet and delightful treats: the crusts. Biscuit's on your pate brisee, I'm pulverizing graham crackers. I get to play with Biscuit's 10-cup food processor; I fully expect to be unseated by its RAW POWER.

Graham Cracker Crust

10 Graham crackers
1 1/4c pecans
1/4c sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1. Pulverize the first three ingredients in your food processor until you have fine crumbs
2. Mix the butter in until it becomes slightly sticky.
   
3. Press into desired pans, lightly buttered

Butter Pie Crust Dough

For a double-crust pie, double the ingredients, divide the dough in half, and form two disks.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; use a higher fat content European-style butter like Plugra for wildly-enhanced flakiness
3 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until coarse meal forms. Add 3 tablespoons water. Using on/off turns, blend just until moist clumps form, adding more water by 1/2 tablespoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate 1 hour. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.)

Makes one 9-inch crust.

Apologies for our terseness, but we've got some shit to do. I'm sure you understand. ;)

Shiv vs. Pie Crust: Mushroom, shallot, and fontina quiche.

I have a secret.

Despite the fact that I am well known throughout Brooklyn for my infamous, 40-proof pumpkin pie, I have never made a pie crust. That's right! And not only THAT, but I've never even made a pie that actually USED a traditional butter crust--only graham crackers. If you ask my Texan grandmother, that makes me a cheater. If you ask me, it just makes me kind of a wuss: years of horror stories of Crusts Gone Awry (too tough! too floury!) have left me afraid to try.

Until now.

In a fit of euphoric optimism, I decided the other day that it was time to throw caution to the wind and just go for it; this happily coincided with a massive craving I was experiencing for quiche. So, I bought a pastry cutter*, and went straight to a trusted source for my recipe: Martha Stewart, and her Pate Brisee. Being me, I wasn't totally faithful to the recipe--I made a half-batch, with whole wheat flour replacing 1 1/4 cups of all purpose--but fortune smiled upon me anyway and produced a nice, flaky crust (which totally decimated my pastry cutter, though I suspect that's far more a reflection on the cutter and the awesome power of nearly frozen butter than the crust) that went beautifully with the mushroom, shallot, and fontina filling.



As far as I'm concerned, the mushroom/shallot/cheese trifecta is perfect for quiche (though next time I might try either gruyere or a gruyere-asiago mix instead of fontina); I will probably experiment with other fillings further in the future (what's up, prosciutto and gorgonzola!), but I can already tell I'll keep coming back to this classic for more. For now, however, I think the time is right for me to start using my newfound understanding of crust to experiment with other forms of pie, both sweet and savory. Any suggestions?

**UPDATE! I made another quiche last night, using asiago, mushrooms, onions, prosciutto, and scallions. I made the crust in the food processor (and I'm NEVER going back), and it was AWESOME. Highly recommended for the carnivores among us.**



Quiche with mushrooms, shallot, and fontina cheese

1/2 batch Pate Brisee (the original recipe is scaled to make two crusts)

3 large eggs
8 oz fontina cheese, grated
12 oz mushrooms, stemmed and very finely diced
3 medium-sized shallots, sliced
3/4c half and half
salt, pepper, etc

1. Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough to about 12-in in diameter; press into a 9-inch pie plate (Trick: to ease the transition from surface to plate, sprinkle a little flour on the top, then fold it in half before moving. Sounds simple, but it's extremely helpful). Line the dish with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights; bake 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and beans, prick the bottom of the crust several times with a fork, and pop it back in the oven for 10 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven and set aside. This can be done up to 6 hours in advance.
2. In a large skillet, melt a bit of butter over medium heat; saute the shallots until they are just translucent; then, add the mushrooms. Continue to sautee over medium heat until the mushrooms have released their liquid, and then reabsorbed it. Season with salt and pepper.
   
3. Whisk together the eggs, half and half with some salt and pepper. Set aside
   
4. Grab your prepared crust. Line it with: half the cheese, then half the mushroom mixture, then the other half of the cheese, then the other half of the mushrooms. Pour the egg mixture over the top of that.
5. Bake at 350 until the custard has set; let it cool for 15 minutes before serving.
   

*Yes, I know, I could do it in the food processor. And from here on out, I probably will. But I figured that if I really wanted to understand the process, I had to do it the old-fashioned way, at least once.