Recently there have been a spate of media items about pie. Yes, that theoretically humble food item that dates back hundreds of years. Food(ography) did a whole show on pies, and I saw a newspaper slideshow titled “Top Pies to Pine Over” that claims to show the top ten pies in the country. (Highly debateable – but it’s a fun debate!) I’ve heard good things about a new book about pies, including from one of the test bakers, so I’m looking forward to it reaching a store near me.
Pie is one of the few foods that you can eat almost any time of day. Pies can be savoury or sweet, big or small, filled with almost anything from chicken to spinach to apples to strawberries. The crust can be crumbs or dough or sheets of phyllo, it can be sweet or savoury to match the crust.
Some people think that pie crust is too difficult to make at home, and so they never try to make pie. You can try using the refrigerated crusts (not the frozen ones!) which have passed some taste-tests. Learning to make your own crust isn’t hard, especially if you use a food processor. I won a ribbon at the last Berlin Fair with an old-fashioned vegan raisin pie, and the crust was my plain food processor variety.
With Easter coming you might want to look up recipes for torta di pasquale, which makes a nice light lunch. My favourite comes from the unfortunately out of print “Cooking from an Italian Garden” – see if your library has a copy. You can also find recipes online. Enjoy!
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