pi on my mind

Well, folks, today is the one week anniversary of Pi Day, also known as the date 03/14.

[thank you Miss Spont]

As a result, I'm gonna go back in time here--back a week--to tell you about how I celebrated the glorious number 3.14...


Today's menu:

Mini Quiche Lorraines
Maple Syrup Pie


When I first realized that Pi Day was upon me I immediately got to thinking about pies. That was an entire week before the holiday came around...

Hey, I love pie. So so much. Any excuse to think about pies and make pies is always welcome.

Eventually, I came up with some ideas. I didn't want Pi Day to only celebrate those pies that are sweet, so I decided to extend the pie theme and make an entirely pie based dinner on Friday night. That meant making both a sweet and a savory pie.

It didn't take long to decide on a savory pie--a quiche lorraine would be perfect. The sweet pie, though, was a toughy. I thought a lot about different fruits and just couldn't come up with an in-season fruit that would make a decent pie. So, I started to move away from the fruits and think about other kinds of pie: grasshopper, peanut butter, pecan...

None of them felt quite right.


I thought about it some more. Suddenly, I remembered that March is prime maple syrup season. I started looking around to see if there were any good maple syrup based pies and lo-and-behold Tarte au Sirop d'Erable [maple syrup pie] is a traditional French Canadian pie!!

Hurrah! A celebration of the French and the winter and PI[E] was well on its way to coming true...


But, then I got the memo about the potluck.

I was still adamant about making pies, but I didn't just want to bring two plain ol' pies. Eventually, after thinking about it a bit and doing a little searchign around, I decided to make mini quiche lorraines and a single maple syrup pie.


Then I had another problem--I didn't want to make two butter crusts. I just felt that was too much. I decided, though, that I shouldn't mess around with the maple syrup pie. So, what to do with the quiche lorraines?

The answer came quickly: a cornmeal crust! make a cornmeal crust! ahhhh!

And that's what I did. And everything came out splendidly. And the quiches were a seriously big hit! The pie was delicious--on the sweet side, but paired with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream...c'etait parfait!



Mini Quiche Lorraines


[note: this recipe is based on a whole bunch of different recipes I looked at, which I mostly used to figure out proper egg-to-milk ratios. The crust is adapted from the one found in Gourmet, September 1998. It's easy to play around with the ingredients here--keep the egg base and add whatever you want!]



for the crust:

1 stick butter, very cold and cut into small cubes
1 c flour
1 c cornmeal
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp ice water


for the filling:

5 slices of bacon, cut into small bits
1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 c grated gruyere cheese, divided
3 eggs
3/4 c milk
1/4 c cream
salt
pepper
olive oil


directions:

1. make the crust
a. in a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, and salt together.
b. add the butter and mix with fingers or pastry blender [or pulse on a with a food processor] until mixture resembles a course meal with some pea-sized chunks remaining. I don't have a food processor so I always use my hands and I find that I don't overmix when I do it this way. You don't want the dough to come together in a ball and you don't want the butter to melt--there should be chunks of butter left in the dough and this is what makes a crust flaky!
c. add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and bring the dough together to form a ball. with the heel of your hand, smear the dough across the countertop a few times to spread out the butter.
d. wrap in plastic, flatten into a disk, and chill at least 30 minutes.
e. pull off a large chunk of dough and roll it out until it is about 1/8-inch thin. lay the dough over a muffin cup and press in to the cup. you can clean up the edges, but I like mine to have a "rustic" look so I just let it hang over the sides. repeat this process until all the cups are filled.
f. bake at 375F for approximately 10 minutes, until the sides of the crusts set.

2. make the filling
a. heat some oil in a saucepan and add the bacon. cook until bacon starts to brown. add the onions and cook until they begin to caramelize. remove from the heat and let sit while you make the custard.
b. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and cream. add salt and pepper to taste.

3. make the quiches
a. place half of the cheese on the bottoms of the crusts, followed by the bacon and onions.
b. add custard to reach 3/4 of the way up the crust.
c. top with the remaining cheese.
d. bake at 375 until centers are set, approximately 15 minutes.
e. let cool slightly and then remove from the muffin cups. i found a spoon and a spatula worked well for this job.




Maple Syrup Pie

[note: this recipe is from the one found in Gourmet, November 1999. You can use an 8-inch pie plate or a 9-inch tart pan--if you use the tart pan, prebake the crust] The dough is from Gourmet, November 2007. Do as the recipe suggests and serve the pie with creme fraiche or unsweetened whipped cream. Don't be swayed to sweeten the whipped cream!]



for the dough:

1-1/4 c flour
1 stick unsalted butter, very cold cut into cubes
1/4 tsp salt
3-5 tbsp ice water


for the filling:

1-1/2 c packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 c heavy cream
1/3 c pure maple syrup, preferably dark amber
2 tsp butter, melted


1 c heavy whipping cream, whipped


directions:

1. make the crust
a. in a medium bowl, mix the flour and salt together.
b. add the butter and mix with fingers or pastry blender [or pulse on a with a food processor] until mixture resembles a course meal with some pea-sized chunks remaining. I don't have a food processor so I always use my hands and I find that I don't overmix when I do it this way. You don't want the dough to come together in a ball and you don't want the butter to melt--there should be chunks of butter left in the dough and this is what makes a crust flaky!
c. add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and bring the dough together to form a ball. stop when you can grab a chunk and it stays together. with the heel of your hand, smear the dough across the countertop a few times to spread out the butter.
d. wrap in plastic, flatten into a disk, and chill at least 1 hour.
e. roll dough into a circle larger than the pie or tart pan you are using. lay dough over the pan and press down into the sides.
f. if you are prebaking the crust, pierce the bottom of the crust with a fork and bake at 350F for about 10 minutes. if you have pie weights, put them on the bottom to avoid having the crust bubble up.

2. make the filling
a. whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until creamy.
b. add cream, maple syrup, and butter and mix until smooth.
c. pour into pie shell and bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes, or until pie has browned and puffed up--the top will look dry but the insides will still tremble. let cool and serve with unsweetened whipped cream or creme fraiche.

and that's how an Ay does pi[e].




Comments, questions, and recipe alterations are always more than welcome.