Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb...pie

Accordng to my father, repeating rhubarb (the word not the vegetable) over and over, is used to simulate the sound of general crowd hubbub in the theatre. Dad's quite fond of eating rhubarb (the vegetable) as well, so it's a shame he doesn't live closer, since BlueRhu Pie is on the menu for the Alpha Bakers this week.

As you can see from the photo below I'm still a long way from a prize winning pie, unless it's a prize for the Fastest Pie in the South(ern hemisphere) [or perhaps the North (of Australia)], maybe the Most Carelessly Put Together Pie or even the Most Slapdash Pie (check out the other Alpha Bakers for some seriously perfect looking pies).

Luckily on the taste front this pie is a winner. This is definitely my favourite pie filling so far. It's an unusual mix of rhubarb and blueberries, although I made mine with more rhubarb and fewer blueberries than the recipe. The flavour is an almost undefinable fruity/berry, which apparently is an Amish classic. And despite my slapping the pastry into the tin as if I was in a pastry marathon, it was crispy and delicious.

The bunch of rhubarb is worthy of a photo by itself because it cost $7.98. There was some pre-baking Alpha Baker chatter about the difficulty of finding rhubarb. I found mine quite easily in the supermarket but it's notable because I checked the price in the same shop in Southern Australian states and it was $3.00 cheaper. Outrageous transport costs make Darwin a very expensive place to eat.

This was a very easy recipe with the fresh rhubarb and frozen blueberries combined with sugar, cornflour and lemon zest. I always cut down the cornflour because I prefer a less glutinous filling.

Then you mix it and leave it to think about the state of the world for a while.

Then it's simmered for a very short time.  I thought it wasn't long enough to cook the rhubarb but of course Rose knows what she's doing. It was a bit odd looking since I hadn't cut the rhubarb very finely. I think I'd probably try it with even fewer blueberries next time.

There's no photos of the pastry making since it's the same cream cheese pastry we've used for previous pies. I made a couple of little oval pies because I dug out some sweet tin moulds.

 Up next week are the unusual sounding Baby Stilton Cheesecakes *update - actually it's a catch-up week, then Chocolate Oriolos, and only after that are the cheesecakes. 

Sour Cherry Pi(e)

Don't let the title fool you. I'm nowhere near numerate enough to be celebrating Pi day. I'm vaguely certain that it's a Very Useful Thing but couldn't explain why. The more mathematically proficient of the Alpha Bakers (i.e. those bakers who can successfully work out one fifth of a recipe AND the resulting volume required for the baking tin) requested a pie project to mark the day which, in the North American calendar style, is written 3.14.2015. So happy Pi day to those who observe it.

This Sour Cherry Pie is one of Rose's favourites according to the Baking Bible. And one that Rose always baked for her father's birthday so it has a lovely history behind it.

I've never had a cherry pie and generally regard any suggestion that cherries should be cooked as close to sacrilege. This pie uses sour cherries though which are more commonly known in Australia as Morello cherries. They're usually available in jars rather than fresh or frozen although I have no doubt that in the bigger cities it wouldn't be that difficult to source them.

I enjoyed making this pie. It was fairly low stress; with pastry that we've made before for the Black and Blueberry Pie; and an easy cherry filling. It could have been almost mundane if not for the pastry lattice. I found this quite fun to do which is odd because I generally don't have much patience with finicky things. I found the pie to be very tasty, particularly with some cream, but I probably wouldn't rush to make it again.

The pastry is a cream cheese pastry which makes it extra soft and creamy.

I chose the quick and easy food processor method again, but I was less careful about the period of time the ingredients spent in the freezer beforehand. You whiz the flour and cream cheese first to pea size (mine are always small peas) and then the butter (more peas). Finally adding the cream and vinegar to finish. I rather lazily pulsed my pastry until it came together rather than to Rose's recommended large lump stage.

While the pastry was cooling its heels in the fridge I made the cherry filling. I had to use a jar of Morello cherries in syrup rather than fresh or frozen so I slightly adapted the recipe.

Instead of cooking the cherries with sugar, I boiled down the syrup from the jar with a little extra sugar and only a tablespoon of corn flour. As I've said before I prefer a less glutinous pie filling. When the mixture had significantly reduced and looked nicely thick and syrupy I added the cherries and simmered for a minute or so.  Because they were pitted and quite soft from sitting in liquid in the jar I wanted to make sure they didn't disintegrate entirely.

I also fortuitously  found some Cherry Brandy in the cupboard and added a little bit of that in place of the almond essence. For a minute I thought it had made the filling taste like cough mixture but to my relief that flavour dissipated.

The cherry mixture was still fairly liquid when hot but I thought it would thicken up when it cooled down.

Since making the Black and Blueberry Pie, I bought a proper pie dish.  Of course it turned out to be slightly bigger than the recommended size for this pie.  I still used it but the pastry was a little thinner than I would have liked.

After refrigerating the pie bottom for a while, I rolled out the top pastry and cut it into strips with a knife. I really wanted to buy a pastry cutter (or jagger as we learn from the Baking Bible) to make pretty curly pastry strips but I couldn't find one in the few places I had time to look. The pastry was really a bit too thin for the lattice strips, but it was late on Sunday night and I thought I'd just do the best I could.

The pie filling was also a bit minimal for the size of the pie dish. But it was a lovely colour.

I wove my pastry strips into a lattice as instructed, being a little creative to eek out the strips to get full coverage. The pastry was quite elastic (thank you cream cheese) and I had no problem folding the pieces back and forward.  It's always a relief in my humid kitchen when pastry doesn't disintegrate.

I always think pies look at their neatest uncooked. Baking often exposes the flaws in the composition. I enjoyed the lattice and would like to try it again with a smaller pie dish (or more pastry).

The pie turned out quite nicely although I found the shape unusual. Even accounting for the larger pie dish, there was a large proportion of pastry in the crust rather than encasing the filling. I see from pictures of Rose's pies that (thankfully) this is not my own inpromptu creation.

All in all a good learning experience but I need more practice with pastry and perhaps a hotter oven.

Next week is Luxury Oatmeal Cookies.