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Our kitchen is twice as productive these days, thanks to Charley, who has not only become a superb cook in her own right,
but is also an accomplished knitter and seamstress - skills I've never managed to acquire! Charley keeps the family tradition
of making all her gifts, even when I have backslid into buying things. Together, we have built up quite a store of recipes,
useful Tips 'N Tricks and craft ideas from the kitchen, which we'd like to share with you. We'll post some of our favorites
here. We're also beginning to collect the best of the best into small books, before they get scattered or lost. Someday soon,
we plan to publish the collection - watch this space!
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Charley's Picture-Perfect Peach Pie:
This is a major effort - but, boy, is it worth it! When Charley makes this with fresh peaches, it's like Christmas in July.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs ripe peaches
- juice of 1 lemon
- ½ cup sugar (brown or white)
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 2 -3 tsp cinnamon
- 1 oz butter, diced
Crust:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup Crisco vegetable fat
- iced water
- 1 egg beaten with some milk (no more than 3 - 4 tbsp.)
Method:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degs. For the crust, sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add butter and vegetable fat and rub in with
your fingertips until mixture resembles course breadcrumbs. With a fork, stir in just enough water to bind the dough, but
not to make it too sticky to handle. Divide into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate
for 20 minutes.
2) Drop a few peaches at a time into boiling water, boiling each batch for 20 seconds. Transfer boiled peaches to a bowl
of cold water. When cool, peel off skins and slice. In a medium-size bowl, combine slices with lemon juice, sugar, cornflour
and spices. Set aside.
TIP: I don't actually measure my cinnamon, I know I have enough when I can smell and taste it outside the other flavors,
but only enough that it's pleasant, rather than overwhelming. After adding the prescribed cinnamon, taste the mixture and
see what you think.
3) On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger ball of dough until 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a butter-greased
9 inch pie tin and trim edges. (The transfer might be easiest if you flour the rolling pin, roll the dough onto the rolling
pin, then carefully roll the dough off the rolling pin into the pie pan.) Refrigerate.
4) Roll out the remaining dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut out leaf shapes about 3 inches long. Mark veins with a knife
and carefully set aside. Continue to make leaves until you're out of dough.
5) Pull out pastry shell and pour in the peaches. Assemble leaf top by beginning at pan edges and slowly working your
way to the top, making a slightly swirled, layered design. If you have dough leftover, you can make 3 little berry balls out
of the remaining dough and seal the top of the pie with them. Beat together the egg and milk and brush the leaves with the
glaze (in order to avoid smearing the vein designs, dollop glaze on with brush and gently tap it around until it smoothly
covers leaves' surface.)
6) Bake for ten minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degs. Bake for 35-40 minutes more, making sure that the crust does
not burn. When you take the pie out, it should be a rich golden color. Set aside and let cool before serving.
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