There are times in life when I really, really wish that people like The Equalizer, or the folks on Leverage existed in this world, and that they were on my side.  Or that I could conjure up Machiavelli, ply him  with food and wine, and get some sound advice on how to deal with nasty people.  Sometimes, I feel like I was raised amongst Hobbits in The Shire.  I need a cunning mastermind to help me navigate some of the perils of society.

Hey!  I can do that!  This month, Jacque and Natashya asked us to make a special pie based on someone famous.  So, in keeping with my savory theme of late, I decided to invite Niccolo over for dinner, and serve him a zucchini, lemon, and ricotta crostata.  Because he’s Italian, I thought the flavor combo would appeal to him.

I found inspiration from this recipe in the October 2008 issue of Bon Appetit.  It needed a bit of jazzing up, and I was happy to oblige.  I didn’t use Dorie’s pie crust (which I use for everything, including savory pies — I just omit the salt) because I like to practice with other dough recipes every now and then.  This was a good crust, but I still prefer Dorie’s.  The recipe can be found after the jump, but check out the Pies with That blogroll to see who others invited to dinner!  And I posted three times yesterday (making up for lost time), so scroll back and see what I’ve been up to.
continue reading "Where Is Machiavelli When You Need Him Pie? Zucchini, Ricotta, and Lemon Crostata"

I didn’t think I’d be able to get something in this month, but due to our hostess’s, Susan of She’s Becoming Dougmesstic, unfortunate stomach bug, we got an extension to post our pies.  This month, we had to bake a “Resolution Breaking Pie.”

Now, under normal circumstances, for me that might be a fudge and nut filled ice cream pie.  But these are not normal circumstances.  I’m so burned out on chocolate, cream, and chocolate cream yule logs, that nothing tempted me.  I had to think long and hard, but I came up with one thing:  a sour cherry pie.

In heaven, I will have sour cherry pie on a regular basis, I assure you.  I love fruit pies, and this has to be one of my favorites.  I bought the cherries at our farmers’ market last summer, pitted them (hours, people, hours of work), then froze them.  To make the pie (or crostata), I thawed eight cups of frozen cherries overnight, then I mixed the drained fruit with 1/4 cup of tapioca FLOUR (not the pearls),  1 Tbsp. of all purpose flour, about 1 cup of sugar, and 1/2 tsp. of almond extract.  I tucked the mixture into my adaptation of  Dorie Greenspan’s Good for Anything Pie Crust, substituting cream cheese for the shortening.  I brushed the crust with an egg wash, sprinkled on some sugar, and baked the whole thing for about one hour at 400 F, until the top was golden brown and the juices were bubbling.  The whole thing fit into a deep dish, 10-inch pie plate.  If the crust starts to get a bit too dark, before the juices bubble, just cover the whole pie with a sheet of foil.

What can I say?  Yum.  Resolutions broken, you dastardly pie bakers.  Be sure to check the You Want Pies With That? website in a couple days to see what great pies other pie aficionados came up with.

Pie is one of my favorite desserts, and blueberries are one of my favorite fruits.  This pie was a winner – thank heavens I cut the recipe in half, or there’s no telling the caloric damage that would have been done!

I did make a few changes, besides cutting the recipe in half: I used frozen blueberries, because the fresh ones around here are terrible, and cut back on the sugar a bit. I completely forgot to sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the crust bottom (my bad). I couldn’t find my shortening (which I use maybe once a year), so I substituted low fat cream cheese. Finally, I made a two crust crostata and baked the whole thing on a Silpat-lined baking sheet.

The result? Pretty darn amazing. The pie actually tasted . . . fried. Oh, lordie, it was so good. I also liked that, after letting the pie rest for an hour before I cut into it, no runny filling! And for you pie bakers out there, Dorie’s crust recipe is quite generous – you will not find yourself with too little dough to fill the pie plate, as is often the case.

Thanks to Amy of South in Your Mouth for this week’s selection. You can find the full recipe at her blog, or on pages 361-363 of Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. And for the full Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll, see here.