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Men and cooking, with strawberry peach pie on the side

If you read the paper today, you know that men can cook, too. I found that out for myself when I started talking to Leger, one of our photo gurus, about the strawberry and peach pie I made today (pictured below).

strawberry pie.jpg

Rob, one of our other photo gurus, wandered over and joined in, and before I knew it, I was embroiled in a discussion on how to make the best pie crusts.

I've never made my own crust -- in fact, the pie today is my first attempt at a real pie (pumpkin pie from the can at Thanksgiving doesn't count). Mrs. Smith kindly provided today's pie crust -- you can find her in your local grocer's freezer.

Apparently, the secret to a good pie crust is temperature. Keep everything cold -- the ingredients in your dough, the dough itself, the rolling pin (preferably marble), and the marble slab you roll the dough out on.

Leger swears by the Fannie Farmer pie crust recipe -- he says he used it to make an apple pie that won third place at the county fair, beating some older ladies who were indignant that he hadn't used a recipe from his great aunt's cousin on his mother's side.

I'll stick to my frozen pie crusts for now, until I feel a little more confident in the pie area.

Strawberry and peach pie
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3 medium peaches, sliced thinly
3 cups of strawberries, cored and sliced
3 Tbsp lemon juice (I use the little plastic lemon stuff.)
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
2 deep-dish pie crusts, thawed (one for top)

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees.
2. Add peaches and strawberries to large bowl.
3. Mix flour, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon in a small bowl.
4. Add dry mixture to fruit and toss.
5. Add lemon juice to fruit mixture.
6. Add water to egg and beat. Brush egg mixture on bottom of one pie crust.
7. Prick bottom pie crust. Add fruit mixture.
8. Cut other pie crust into 1/2-inch strips and create a lattice on top of the pie (other guide). (Instead of cutting top into strips, you could also cut some decorative holes in the top crust with apple- or other-shaped cookie cutters.) I found this step worked better if you ball up the top pie crust, then roll it back out before cutting or working with it.
9. Brush top of pie with egg.
10. Cook for ten minutes at 425, then turn oven down to 350 and cook for another 35-40 minutes until crust is browned and the filling is bubbly. (Cooking it at 425 for ten minutes will firm up your crust.)

This would be great served warm with ice cream.

Reviews
"Two forks up."
"Good gosh, this pie is fabulous. ... Man it's so good! Fruity and yummy."
"The crust on that pie was delicious!" (Oops! The secret's out now!)

Comments (5)

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Christy said:

I think you should make that pie every day. For me. Personally.

Mel said:

You willing to pay, Christy? You know, journalists don't make very much -- I'm willing to supplement my salary on the side ;-)

Marlene said:

I used to always use frozen pie crusts until recently and after making them from scratch have learned they are soooooooooooo much better tasting when made fresh and they are soooooooo easy to make! It is almost as easy as buying one, but there is no comparison for the taste. Just 3 simple ingredients and minimal mixing time and you have a homemade treasure.

Very nice site!
http://blog.news-record.com
Thanks for nice and actual info' Be the Best!

Isha said:

Very nice,keep it up.
Nice blog. very informative. If you are interested on indian recipes, snacks, sweets, please visit our blog and site indian recipes, www.bestindiancuisines.com

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