Tag: cherry pie

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Anniversary Cooking

Nothing like a great choice: Apple, Cherry Pie or Both?
Nothing like a great choice: Apple, Cherry Pie or Both? and à la mode?

Pies are very simple desserts, but enormously satisfying to make from scratch. If you use your own apples , you may find that they really do taste better; afterall, if you care for your orchard or one tree, the apples will always be more flavorful!

Sautéed apples, varied seasonings and a wonderful sauce makes a pie perfect.
Sautéed apples, varied seasonings and a wonderful sauce makes a pie perfect. CLICK on the picture for our apple pie recipe

 I have had far too many pies filled with raw apples and no more seasonings except one : cinnamon. If you make it yourself, you can make it your way…. and your way is usually best!  😉   BTW, the topping requires 1/2 cup of butter which I didn’t list…. funny, my grandmother did that a lot ,to!

Making a cherry pie is wonderful when you use Cherry Brandy (Kirschwasser) and make a nice thick sauce
Making a cherry pie is wonderful when you use Cherry Brandy (Kirschwasser) and make a nice thick sauce! CLICK on the picture for our Cherry Pie Recipe!

Years ago, Laura and I would drive over to South Pasadena to a place called ‘House Of Pies.’ They carried a wide variety and my favorite of their fruit pies was cherry. For years I tried to duplicate their simple sweet and deliciously thick filling. Mine reminds me so much of theirs.

These two go into the freezer until Sunday.

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bake a cherry pie for national pie day

I am sure that the words ‘trifle’, ‘flummery’ and ‘whipped syllabubs’ pass smoothly from your lips… but do you know what they are? These can be found in a wonderful new book entitled the  ‘City Tavern cookbook’ that recreates many of the standard dishes found in colonial America. What is surprising is not the fusion of French, German and English cooking, but the variety of spices that might be unexpected in this time and place, such as ‘curry.’ ( check out page 179 for a ‘West Indies Curried lamb that is as extraordinary as it is tempting)

Much wisdom can be found in this cookbook, here is a quote from President John Adams on the after effects of an imported table wine:

“I drank Madeira at a great rate and found no inconvenience in it!”

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Madison and Adams were all fond of apples and cherries and their recipes and those of others close to them are very intriguing. The recipe for a ‘buttered apple pie’ ) not included in this wonderful book is similar to my own… the apples are sliced and pre-baked.

What better way to celebrate NATIONAL PIE DAY than to recreate one of these wonderful pies. I have known Laura for over 40 years and until today did not know that she loved cherry pie… all these years I would enjoy them alone thinking she preferred an alternative which was also prepared. Tomorrow I will make Laura a cherry pie.

I will say that the bread pudding recipe was a bit boring but the anise biscotti sounded delicious!

Happy National Pie Day 23rd November 2010!

Roger Freberg

PS. CLICK here or on the picture of the pies for my recipe page