Pies & Tarts | Gourmandistan

Potato Salad and Patriotism (with a bit of Blackberry Cobbler)

July 4, 2012 by Steve

It’s the 4th of July, a day many Americans celebrate with beer, bizarre outfits and bloviating about “the greatest best country God has ever given man on the face of the earth.” Gourmandistan takes a slightly different path to celebrate the Fourth, a bit quieter than the usual American practice of blowing stuff up real good. Unfortunately, to the sort of people who desperately want to believe they live in “Real America,” being different is a dangerous thing. These people […]

Categories: Blackberries, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Independence Day, Old cookbooks, Pies & Tarts, Potatoes, Recipes, Salad, Vegetarian

Short Sour Cho Chweet Cherry Season

May 20, 2012 by Steve

About five minutes after his favorite fruit farmer, Sandi Deutsch, made a facebook post about picking sour cherries, Steve called and demanded her entire haul. The next afternoon we faced an all-to-perishable pile of crimson, scarlet and neon red cherries, perhaps six pounds in total, that needed to be dealt with quickly. We also knew it would likely be our only chance at local cherries in 2012. Tiny sour cherries, also known as “pie cherries,” have a very brief appearance […]

Categories: Cherries, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Mock(ing) Derby Pie

May 3, 2012 by Steve

We must say quite emphatically that the pictures you see are not Derby-Pie®. The fine, upstanding, industrious and only slightly litigious folk at Kern’s Kitchen may believe we’re invoking the holy trademarked name. And we do not want any confusion, for the Kern’s folk (or their attorneys) will gladly tell you: “There’s only one Derby-Pie®. When you see the name Derby-Pie® and the registered trademark symbol, you know you’re getting the pie produced exclusively by Kern’s Kitchen…” We Gourmandistanis cannot condemn either […]

Categories: Chocolate, Cooking, Food, Kentucky Derby, Nuts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Putting the “me” in “Lemon Tart”

April 24, 2012 by Steve

Michelle has made a myriad of pies—from savory meat to sweet, sweet berry. A cavalcade of crusts, fillings, flutes and folds have traveled through her hands; hundreds upon hundreds of recipes have filtered through her head. So when the mood strikes Michelle for something sweet (and that mood strikes very, very often whether she acts on it or not), she can take ingredients on hand and pop out a pie. This little lemon tart is one such synthesis. It made […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Lemon, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Piña colada in pie form

April 16, 2012 by Steve

Gourmandistanis are not really fond of either piña coladas or getting caught in the rain. (We’re also really not that fond of the late 1970s, a period we both endured when this horrible song and its dismal disco brethren were about the only things available on local radio.) But we do rather like pie, and this incredibly easy coconut-pineapple confection from François Payard is indeed a tasty piece of tart. We made one recently to use up some more of our […]

Categories: Coconut, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Pineapple, Recipes, Vegetarian

An “au revoir/auf wiedersehen” to apples

December 4, 2011 by Michelle

Steve has probably purchased his last batch of local apples for the year, and since he snacks on several per day (there are many, many doctors out there, after all) he’ll soon be buying what he calls “crapples” at the grocery. Michelle, however, has higher standards, and refuses to cook with the flown- and trucked-in Braeburns, Fujis or sappy-sweet HoneyCrisps that Steve brings home. While that means Tarte Tatin and apple clafoutis must wait until next fall, Michelle recently managed […]

Categories: Apples, Cooking, Food, France, Fruit Desserts, Nuts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes

Halve a tart, save an apple.

November 18, 2010 by Steve

Winter is slowly, inexorably grinding its way into Gourmandistan, and our supply of local crops is dwindling. We’ve been told there are only a couple of more weeks left for local apples. While we have them, we’re occasionally enjoying one of our favorite desserts, tarte Tatin—or, as we make it, half a tarte Tatin. This tart takes a fairly long time to make, because the apples need to slowly caramelize over low heat before going into the oven. Steve contributes […]

Categories: Apples, Cooking, Food, France, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes

And dough-one: Pâte brisée

July 13, 2010 by Steve

When Steve successfully produced his first version of this simple butter crust, Michelle told him he no longer had any excuse not to make dessert. While he hasn’t exactly prepared a tart per day, Steve has put together plenty of pâte brisée, and doesn’t even need to consult a recipe. His current eyeball-only version is a combination of recipes from Patricia Wells and Alice Waters. In Gourmandistan, butter is the key to a good pie crust. Steve takes Alice Waters’ […]

Categories: Basics, Cooking, Food, France, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Single-serving strawberry tarts

May 28, 2010 by Michelle

Michelle was craving strawberry pie. But the problem is that fruit pies, especially strawberry pies, last for only a short time before becoming mushy and unappetizing and we didn’t want to waste any of our precious fruit. Steve remembered that we had small tart pans stowed somewhere in the kitchen cabinets and so we made up a batch of tart dough from Maury Rubin’s book of tarts and froze six single-serving tart shells, pulling them out as needed and baking. […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Strawberries, Vegetarian