Skip to main content

Peach pie

It's getting to be that time of year again.  You can't talk about Georgia food without mentioning peaches.  Here is my peach pie recipe.  Before we dive in, two comments.  First, this recipe uses no added sugar.  Feel free to add to your taste, but I continue to believe that good fruit doesn't need extra sugar. Second, you'll notice that the crust contains lard.  For those raised on the artificiality of modern grocery store food, this may seem repulsive.  But I understand that lard is in some respects healthier than butter and I find it hard to believe that it's worse for you than shortening.  You can find lard/manteca in any grocery store that caters to a Hispanic clientele, which in this day and age is just about all of them.

Pie:
6-8 peaches
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
2 pie crusts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray deep dish pie pan with non-stick coating and place bottom pie crust.  Dust the inside of the crust with flour.  Add sliced peaches in layers, coating with flour and spices on each layer, but using all the flour before reaching the top. Add top crust and make 6-8 vent holes in top.  Optionally add a crust protector around the edge. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn down to 350 and cook for another 30-35 minutes.

Two pie crusts:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (chilled)
6 tablespoons lard (chilled)
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 tsp salt

Cut butter and lard into small pieces.  Mix ingredients and cut together.  Divide into two balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Should use within 24 hours for best results.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b