Alas, the last week of pie making has come and gone, and I am left with not a single crumb of my two final pies to spare –thankfully I have the two recipes, photos and the great memories from the culminating banquet.

For my sweet pie I made a blueberry lavender pie (recipe: http://beachtownbaking.com/blueberry-lavender-pie/). After pondering for a while about how to capture the lavender flavor in this pie, I decided on using dried lavender leaves mixed into the blueberry mixture. For additional flavor I added a bit of lemon juice and cinnamon to the otherwise very simple filling.

For the crust, I made a basic all-shortening pastry. However, although the pastry dough seemed fine when I put it in the fridge, when I tried to roll it out it was EXTREMELY DRY. I think I had to add at least one full cup of water in order to roll it out and create the top crust decoration.

Because of this I was afraid it would be tough and, frankly, inedible. However, the final product was flaky and delicious, which was a huge relief. The pie as a whole had amazing flavor, with the lavender adding a lovely floral undertone to the sweet, fresh blueberries. It was a hit with all my friends and I’m definitely going to make it again!

For my savory pie I chose to tackle a salmon pie. I was very apprehensive about making a fish pie, because the concept of an overly fishy flavor sounded repulsive.

But I found a recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/salmon-pie-recipe.html) that seemed reasonable, and used a savory pastry dough recipe with butter, shortening, and egg.

I bought two 8oz salmon fillets and poached them before flaking them into a mashed potato, parsley, onion, and garlic mixture. After covering the filling with a full top crust, I baked it for about 40 minutes, and the result was a piping hot, delicious and hearty pie.

If I was to make this pie again I would definitely add more seasonings, because although the texture was pleasant it was lacking a bit of flavor.

The final banquet was, without a doubt, the most delectable experience I’ve ever had. The creativity, talent and enthusiasm of my fellow pie-makers blew me away, and I left even more inspired to push the boundaries of my baking abilities.

I can’t thank my professor, David, for this wonderful experience, and for teaching me the skills to live a Life of Pie for many years to come.

For the culmination of my pie, I decided to make three pies.

The first was a blueberry and cherry pie. This pie started out as a traditional cherry pie, however when I realized I didn’t have as many cherries as I thought, I decided to add blueberries. For the top crust, I decided to do a honeycomb pattern. It was fun to make. The pie came out well, and it tasted great. The filling was really good. It was a tad juicy and I really liked it. I would definitely make this again.

My second pie was a ham and brie quiche. It was called “I don’t want Earl’s Baby Pie’ in the movie Waitress. I loved making this pie. It was easy to assemble. Had a tad difficulty with getting it to stop jiggling in the oven, but it did stop and boy did it taste good. I would definitely make this again. I would maybe use chicken instead of the ham, and maybe mozzarella instead of the Parmesan.

My last pie was supposed to be a maple and sugar cream pie. I followed a recipe, however, as accidents came about, I had to deviate. I have decided to call this pie the Devil Pie. To make it, you burn the crust and the filling. Then you put this filling into another pre-baked crust. Then you bake it for twenty minutes. You let it rest for a day in the refrigerator. Once everything has cooled, you make a cinnamon sugar whipped cream with butterscotch and top the pie. In the end, the pie tasted great. I don’t know why, but I presume it is dark magic. Also, the people loved this pie. It got decimated. I was happy.

This week was all about decoration. I thought about pulling out my piping tips and doing some kind of meringue or whipped cream decoration, but ultimately I decided to go a more laid-back route.

Ultimately, this tart didn’t turn out quite as beautifully as I had hoped, but I was really pleased with the flavors.

I think a different treatment of the sweet potatoes and the red wine would have allowed me to impart the same flavors while having a better presentation.

All the same, a tasty pie is a tasty pie.

Crust:

½ cup walnuts

1 ½ cups flour

1 stick butter, softened

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 medium red onion

8 oz Italian sausage

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

12 oz tobasi (or other creamy, pungent cheese), at room temperature

1 egg

1 tsp black pepper

1 medium sweet potato

½ cup red wine

¼ tsp cinnamon

⅛ tsp ginger

⅛ tsp allspice

1 tbsp water

½ tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 425°F. Toast your walnuts until they are quite fragrant – if anything, err on the side of burnt, rather than underdone. Combine all of the ingredients for your crust in a food processor and blitz until dough becomes smooth. Remove from machine and pack into a large tart pan, making sure to press into the sides as well. Bake at 425°F for 6 minutes. Crust will not be fully done, but rather lightly toasted. Decrease oven temperature to 350°F.

Put red wine, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice into a saucepan and allow to reduce by half. This will take time.

Slice a red onion in half and then into slices. Put into a frying pan with a couple pats of butter, and allow to cook down. In an additional pan, crumble your sausage, and cook until no longer raw. Once your onions are cooked down, add your brown sugar and allow to caramelize. Add in your cooked sausage and saute together for about a minute more.

Blitz your cream cheese, and tobasi in a food processor until creamy. Add your egg and black pepper and continue to mix until well combined. Use a spatula to avoid any clumps or unmixed material.

If your red wine has reduced, make a slurry with your cornstarch and water and add it to the reduction. Allow this to cook for another minute or two until thickened, but not gelatinous.

Peel and slice sweet potato into thin (about ¼ cm) half-moon pieces.

Take your pre-baked tart shell and layer in your onions and sausage. Pour on your cheese layer and spread smooth. Layer your sweet potatoes on top in a decorative fashion. Brush your red wine sauce on top of the sweet potatoes, covering, but not drenching them.

Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

I have perhaps never experimented more with food than I did with this week’s pie. I wanted to take the idea of a chicken pot pie to the next level.and I was instantly attracted to the idea of layers. Each layer would contain an ingredient that normally goes into a pot pie, cooked separately in a different manner and then layered together. I didn’t really use a recipe for the whole pie but took inspiration from different recipes to make each layer.
Following is a breakdown of how I cooked the main ingredient in each layer followed by how I assembled everything. From beginning to end, I felt like a mad scientist trying to concoct something insane and I think I succeeded in doing just that.

Pastry

I used a basic flaky pastry with half butter and half shortening with a bit of dried thyme for added flavor.

Chicken 

Whole chicken, de-skinned it and cut it into pieces. Add the chicken to boiling water with sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary,  two carrots cut into big chunks, a medium onion halved, stalks of one head of celery, salt and black pepper. Boil for almost 45-60 minutes till chicken is tender. Drain chicken pieces and reserve stock and put it on heat again. Boil until stock reduces to less than half the original quantity.
Prepare other ingredients while the boiling happens. Once chicken is cooled, take out the chicken pieces, shred using fingers or a fork and discard the solid vegetable/herb pieces.

Mushrooms

Sliced 1 cup of white mushrooms, washed and patted dried. Heat butter in a pan, add four cloves of garlic chopped and add the mushrooms after a few seconds. Saute until the mushrooms turn brown and most of the water evaporates. Add a cup of sherry, seasons and simmer until most of the sherry evaporates. Reserve.

Carrots

Using a peeler, peel thin ribbons of around 8 carrots. Heat butter in a pan. Add carrot ribbons and on a medium low flame, saute and stir until the carrots starts turning golden brown. Turn off the heat and reserve. Be very careful as the ribbons may burn if left unattended (this happened to me and I had to do the carrots again).

Mashed Potatoes

Peel 4 red potatoes and cut in small cubes. Bring water to boil and boil the potatoes until a fork can easily break a cube of potato, around 20 minutes on a medium flame. Drain potatoes, add to a bowl and add a few tablespoons of whole milk and a few tablespoons of butter while mashing the potatoes with a fork. Avoid working the potatoes too much or else they will become gluey and elastic.

Celery and Peas

Saute a small onion chopped in some butter and add chopped celery stalks from one head once onions turn translucent. Saute for a few minutes. Season and add 1 cup frozen peas. Simmer until all the water evaporates and the peas are tender.

Omelet 

Beat 4 eggs together with some salt and two tablespoons of whole milk. In a medium sized saucepans, add a knob of butter and pour a bit of the egg mixture to make a round omelet. Flip occasionally until omelet is cooked. Repeat until you have four omelets.

Gravy

Saute a medium chopped onion with some butter until onion changes color to brown. Add a few tablespoons of flour and mix with a wooden spoon for a minute or two to remove the rawness on a medium flame.. Add 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Whisk and add a cup of hot stock and incorporate it in. Keep adding stock until the sauce attains a fairly thick consistency and retains it even after a few boils. Taste to check if any seasoning is needed in the gravy. However, it should be fairly well seasoned because of the stock.

Putting It Together

Roll out the pastry. Put in the pie platter and refrigerate for five minutes. Take it out and wash with egg white at the bottom to avoid sogginess. Following is the way I layered the pie but it can be in sequence:

Herbed Chicken – Omelette – Garlicky Mushrooms – Omelette – Caramelized Carrots – Omelette – 4 Cheese Mix + Peas & Celery – Omelette – Buttery Mashed Potatoes – Chicken

Roll out more pastry for the top crust. Seal it on top of the pie and wash with egg yolk and milk mixture and bake at 400F until crust is golden brown. Meanwhile, cut out roses or chickens or other decorative shapes to be baked separately until pastry is golden brown and then put separately on top of the pie once the pie is cooked. I used toothpicks to secure put the roses on top (thanks to Neftaly for showing me how to make

Madness achieved. Serve with warm gravy on the side.

And here we go, off again on another month of pie-making in a bucolic, wintry New England town. Well, somewhat less wintry this year, what with having been in the mid-60s on Christmas, with freshly-churned mud on the ground instead of new-fallen snow. But nothing cures the Lame Winter Blues like making, baking, and eating 10 pies a week for four weeks running! Not to mention the new video additions this year: excerpts from the BBC’s most excellent show, The Great British Bake Off, which I binge-watched all 6 seasons of this past summer.

For my own part, I’ll be starting us off tomorrow by making an oldie but goodie: a classic lattice-topped blueberry pie with a basic flaky crust of butter and shortening. Still to this day one of my Top 10 Favorite Pies of All Time—and maybe even in the Top 3.

Hey hey,

I just wanted to make a quick comment on the custard pie. The custard was pretty good. It wasn’t too sweet and was slightly tart. I think I went overboard on the crust though. I probably put it in the oven for too long. I also added too much water, probably. The crust was very hard to cut and I think it was really hard. I probably added too much water.

As for pies for this week, I’m thinking of spinach/mushroom handpies and a chocolate peanut butter bacon pie. I wanted to make a vegetable pie because I like spinach and mushroom. I have no clue how much work the handpies will take. I also don’t think can handle too much heavy pies. As for the chocolate peanut butter bacon pie, I really like bacon and chocolate as a combo. I know for sure that I’ll tweak the chocolate sauce a bit with half as much sugar and using dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate. I just hope that it doesn’t turn out too sweet.