Monday 26 October 2015

Pie

Autumn is pie season!  Yippee for that :)  Pastry is one of our favourite treats, so I always look forward to pie season.  I typically use home rendered leaf lard (from pastured pigs) but am completely out of it.   We are trying to work our way through stockpiled food in preparation for the move so I'm not going to be rendering any more until after we relocate.  I did some searching online and found a recipe for pastry using butter which turned out well, having great taste and texture.  I used organic butter (from a neighbouring province) which had a lovely yellow colour and great flavour.  Good ingredients make GREAT food!

After a 24 hour soak, these gorgeous dehydrated organic cherries were ready to be tucked into some pastry.  I used sifted organic Park wheat flour  which always turns out perfectly in pastry - we LOVE it.   It gives a nice nutty taste but isn't heavy.  The chickens were treated to the sifted wheat bran and if we still had our worm farm, they would have been given the bran (they loved it).




Our lovely neighbours gave us a bag full of delicious perfume scented crabapples and because we were on a pie streak, I turned them into a pie as well.  What CAN'T be turned into a pie?   There's a few pounds of crabs left over but they are absolutely delicious, so I'm not unhappy about having some for eating out of hand.












If you haven't made pastry with butter, give it a go - goodness me, it was SO good.  So good in fact, I'm searching high and low to see what ELSE from the pantry and freezer can be wrapped in buttery goodness and baked into a pie! 






11 comments:

  1. I've always just used butter since that's what I have, and it's yummy! I wanted to ask if you might have time to share more about the decluttering process you went through to prepare for your move? I tend toward the minimal side of things, but with 3 kids it's hard to keep up with the "stuff" that finds its way in, especially as I try to determine what to keep for passing down/what's worth having around vs. not, etc. I'm sure you have so much wisdom in this, as I've always admired how you take care of your large-ish family :)
    -Jaime

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  2. I dont think ive ever had a pie made with lard. I imagine a meat pie would be delish with lard.

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    1. If the pard is rendered properly, it really has no smell and can be used for all kinds of pies. The key is to render is slowly on a very low heat. I tried a batch overnight in a slow cooker before but it cooked too hot and subsequently had a "porcine" smell...

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  3. What a gorgeous Pie.....save a slice for me !

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  4. I always use butter in my pastry, funnily enough lately I've started experimenting with beef lard! Can't say I'm a big fan of the smell of it, it really turned me off.

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    1. Yes, I find tallow to be a little bit too "strong" for my tastes. I used mine in soap making.

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  5. My #3 daughter is a whizz at pastry - like nicking off with the off-cuts (typical male that I am)

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  6. oh my goodness looks delicious! Save me a piece, I'm coming over!! ;)

    xx

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