Lime Pie

Happy Pie Day! It's 3/14, at 3:14pm, and here is your pie. That's 360 degrees of dessert with a diameter of 9 inches, for those of you mathematically-minded. Me, I just like an excuse to eat PIE.
-AnglophileinLA

Lime Pie for Pie Day!

Ingredients
• 1 Keblar Graham cracker pie crust
• 2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk
• 1 cup regular lime juice
• 2 whole eggs
• Zest of 1 lime

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine the condensed milk, lime juice, zest and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the pie shell. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

How to bring Lime Pie to the KICKASS PIE level



There was a New Orleans style restaurant in Santa Barbara years ago, since gone out of business, that had the best keylime pie. And they served it with a sauce on the side that was so cool and creamy next to the tart lime pie that it just brought the pie-eating experience to a whole new level. After much experimentation, I found out that it was cream cheese blended with milk and sugar. So simple, so delicious.



1 small container light cream cheese

1/4th cup milk (to start)

Sugar



I do this by taste every time – but basically, you’ll blend the cream cheese with the milk until it is of a pourable consistency. Then add sugar until you like the taste. I’m also thinking of adding a bit of lime juice to it the next time I make it, just to give it a little kick. Now, pour it over a piece of lime pie or serve it on the side with a spoon.

Old Fashioned Apple Pie

Apple season has arrived, and the fruit stands in Santa Ynez are toppling with fresh picked apples of all kinds. There is nothing better than apple-stand apples--they taste completely different than grocery store apples. Sweeter, crisper, so good. This is the first of what I hope will be a series of apple pies, since I found a goldmine of recipes from a real pro pie-maker. This is the basic Old Fashioned Apple Pie, and it's very simple. It should be noted that I always put more cinnamon in than the recipe suggests. In my opinion, there can never be too much cinnamon. --AnglophileLV

Old Fashioned Apple Pie

Pillsbury pie crusts - in the box, not the pie tin
5 medium-large apples peeled and sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¾ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt (a little less than)
2Tb flour

melted butter, sugar, cinnamon (to brush over the top crust)

In a large bowl, mix all of the above and pour apples into prepared crust. Pat them down with your hands.
Cover with second pie crust (or cut that crust into strips and make a lattice).
Brush the top crust with butter, sugar and cinnamon.
Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees – then take out and cover the edges of the crust with foil so they don’t burn.
Bake for another 20 minutes, but check towards the end to make sure the top isn’t burning (mine got a little singed).
Let sit for 2 hours before serving.

AnglophileLV’s authentic Beef and Beer Pie

For the past two weeks I’ve been in England enjoying the people, the architecture, the shopping—and the food. Oh yes, the food. Even though the Brits are leaning away from their traditional fare (trading bubble and squeak for a surprising obsession with risotto), I am still quite taken with Bangers and mash, roasted game birds, sausages, and yes, Meat Pies. The meat pie is essentially beef, pork or chicken cooked with onions, carrots and mushrooms to form a thick brown chunky gravy which is then glopped into a puff pastry pie crust and baked to a golden flaky delicious buttery….droool… oh god it’s good. Now that I’m back in the cholesterol-conscious U.S., I’ve been going into withdrawals. Here is my recipe for a traditional London Meat Pie – best enjoyed with copious amounts of beer.

--Anglophile LV

Flakey Crust:
2 cups Flour
1 cup butter
1tsp salt
6 drops lemon juice
Cold water

1. Mix flour and salt.
2. Then mix with butter and lemon, with enough cold water to bind the ingredients together (otherwise it gets very crumbly).
3. Roll out lengthwise and fold over 3 times. Roll out again, and fold 3 times again. Repeat this around 4 times (it’s supposed to help with making it flakey). Now your dough is ready to use.


Filling:
1 lb beef, chopped up to be bite sized (whatever cut is cheapest)
½ onion, chopped
1 russet potato, chopped
2 carrots, chopped small
1 leek chopped
4 cremini mushrooms, chopped
4 sprigs thyme
2 cloves garlic
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
2 beef bouillon cubes
3-4 Tb flour, mixed with
½ cup beer
1 egg yolk mixed with 1tb water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown beef with onion, garlic and thyme in a large pot.
2. Add potatoes, carrots, leek, mushrooms, beef bouillon cubes and Worcestershire sauce.
3. Pour in enough water to barely cover the potatoes.
4. Cover and simmer 45 minutes (or until potatoes are fork-tender).
5. Add flour/beer mixture and stir until mixture boils and thickens to a thick gravy. Add pepper – you may not need salt since the bouillon is quite salty already.
6. Let filling cool until lukewarm.
7. Roll out pastry and put into a deep dish pie plate –OR- do like I did, and make little individual meat pies out of small loaf pans. Roll out the pastry and press the tops of the loaf pans into it, outlining your pie tops. Press the rest of the pastry into the pan(s) to form the lower crust, and top with the other pastry you just cut out.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
9. Remove pie(s) and brush the tops with the egg wash.
10. Continue baking for about 15 minutes, or until crust is golden.

Baked Miniature Pumpkin

Yes, you can eat mini pumpkins! They’re not just for decoration – so go ahead, remove them from your table tops, pluck them from their nests of Indian corn and fall foliage, and stick’em in the oven. You won’t regret it.
--AnglophileLV

Baked Miniature Pumpkin Pies Sweet
1 each mini pumpkin (one per person)
1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
Scoop of vanilla ice cream (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut off tops of pumpkins and scrape out all seeds and strings. Place butter and brown sugar inside the pumpkin and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Put the pumpkin lid back on and place pumpkins in a baking pan. Bake for about 40 minutes or until tender. Optional: Serve with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream in the pumpkin.



Baked Miniature Pumpkins Savory
1 miniature pumpkin per person
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1-2 Tbsp. cream, milk, or mascarpone cheese
1 fresh or dried sage leaf
Grated Fontina or Gruyere cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice off the top of each pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, and rub salt and pepper into the cavity. Pour in the cream, add the sage leaf and the cheese, replace the lid and bake in a pan until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.