Pie without a net

Apparently summer in Ireland smells like gooseberries. Ross and I went to the farmer's market Saturday where they had gooseberries in quantity. In the US, I've only seen a few, and never tasted them. They also had fresh blackcurrants, which I've never seen or tasted. I asked Ross if we could make pie with both, and he said it's not traditional but sure. These two photos show before & after trimming the fruit, and were taken an hour and a half apart. No fucking around either, just 90 minutes of straight work resulting in a miniscule pile of discarded stems. This explains why no one grows this stuff in the US.

I make enough pie that I felt like I could wing it - no recipe, no scale, no measuring cups, no tools. That's called hubris, folks. Here's what to do: Chill 1 250g packet of cultured butter and chop it into smallish cubes. Put it in a bowl with 3 teacups lightly spooned full of Type 405 weizenmehl (white flour with some finely-ground bran) and a pinch of salt. Use 2 knives held between your fingers to integrate the butter into the flour mixture (I learned this from TK in college). Add very cold water until the dough comes together, separate into 2 balls and refrigerate while you look for something to bake the pie in because you certainly don't have a pie plate. Thank God Ross brought all that great cookware over from Ireland including an all-metal 8.5" frying pan. Preheat the oven to 190C and roll out your pastry with a flour-dusted wine bottle. Use flour to dust the hell out of your pastry since you obviously underestimated how big those teacups were.

Add a teacup and a half of sugar, a tiny pinch of salt, and make up the pie. While it's baking, send your friend to the grocery store to buy a whisk since 1337 as you may be, there's no fucking way you're whipping cream with a fork. Serve it with a nice sweet Sauternes and sprinkle the plated pie with sugar and because it's mind-bendingly sour.

If you're really making pie with these delicious berries, I recommend you use at least 2c of sugar for 500g fruit (yes, I know, that's crazy). You could also cut the filling half and half with grated apples, though you'll stil have to use way more sugar than you'd ever consider. I wish I had the time & equipment to make jam out of this fruit before the season is over, because the taste is really stunning - viny, fresh, weedy, wild. Well worth the work, and that's saying a lot.

Comments

[aliciab]

hey lulu,

did you know i tried a persimmon for the first time yesterday (actually may have been the evening before last) it tasted so good. i ate the peel which i think it would have been better without the peel but i was watching a dvd with my roomie and didn't want to miss anything to go get a plate and a knife. Lazy, I know! A girl had a whole bag of them. She gave one to my friend Loechoe and I was sitting with them. She was saying she didn't need them
as she was going back to NYC. I looked over at the bag, my eyes brimming with adulation for the idea of trying one too, but I didn't dare brusquely ask: "Can I have one too!" I said nothing but before she left she checked if I wanted one too! It was beautiful and orange and smooth in my hand. The top where the stem had been looked like it could be a filagree on a heraldric design. Taste= Apricot+Tomato+Mango+
one other taste almost watermelon........