Pie (in the name of love)

During a blistering September afternoon, Daniels created a sampling of seven varieties of individual, four-inch pies for us to taste. Sara Lee these were not. He infused his strawberry-rhubarb with basil, baked cheddar into his apple pie to make the filling more rich and satisfying than any I had ever experienced. He also plied us with a coconut crème that was more tart than saccharine.

"I try not to get them too sweet," said Daniels. "While it's warm, they might not be sweet enough, but when they get to room temperature, they're perfect."

Daniels' art reminded me of another reason I am going to be proud to tout pie's merits as a fitting end for my wedding: its seasonality. Pie is in tune with the seasons. This means apple pie in the fall, strawberry-rhubarb in late summer, peach in June. And in America, pie is as regionalized as dialects, serving as a landmark of place and history. The Pennsylvania-Dutch have the molasses-based shoofly pie, while Boston has its cream, and the South its chess, buttermilk, and sugar (essentially pecan pie without the nuts). Pie was locavore before locavore was cool.

So now that I have my pie, consider this my line in the sand -- or more accurately, my cut in the crust. It's not me who's insane for wanting pie at my wedding, but rather the world for ignoring pie as a harbinger of marital bliss. My impending nuptials thrill me, but I'm also enraptured about that dessert table, the apple-cheddar, blueberry, coconut crème and strawberry-rhubarb basil to come. I do, I certainly, certainly do.

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RECIPE: "Courage" Tart
FROM: Shakespeare’s Kitchen (Random House, 2003) by Francine Segan
Serves 8

I was intrigued by the recipe title "To make a Tarte that is courage to a man or woman" found in a 1587 cookbook. The "courage" they are referring to is sexual prowess. Several of the ingredients, including sweet potatoes and wine, were considered aphrodisiacs back then. But you will also notice another aphrodisiac ingredient, sparrow brains, was clearly omitted in this modern version!

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 cups white dessert wine (such as muscat)
2 quince or apples, peeled, cored, and diced
3 dates, chopped
1/2 Renaissance Dough**
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of clove
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
2 tablespoons butter
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon rosewater
2 large egg whites

Place the sweet potato and wine in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the quince and dates and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the quince is tender. (If the mixture becomes too dry add 1 or 2 tablespoons of wine.) Purée until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Roll out the Renaissance Dough to 1/8 inch thick on a floured work surface. Press the dough into a pie pan and trim off any excess.

Place the sweet potato mixture in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, clove, mace and butter and stir until well combined. Beat the egg yolk and rosewater in a small bowl, add to the filling, and mix well. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into the filling. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 1 hour, or until the center springs back when lightly pressed.

**Renaissance Dough, ingredients: 2 cups sifted loosely packed pastry flour; 1/2 cup ice-cold water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 large egg, beaten, cold; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut in small cubes, cold. Mix the flour, the ice-cold water, the salt, and the egg together on a cold surface until crumbly. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin and place one-quarter of the butter cubes on the dough. (Keep the remaining butter refrigerated until ready to use.) Roll the butter into the dough, fold the dough over and top with another quarter of the butter cubes, and roll it again. Repeat the process 2 more times until all the butter is incorporated. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Original recipe: To make a Tarte that is a courage to a man or woman. 

"Take two Quinces and two or three Burre rootes, and a potaton, and pare your Potaton and scrape your rootes and put them into a quart of wine, and let them boyle till they be tender, and put in an ounce of Dates, and when they be boyled tender, draw them through a Strainer, Wine and all, and then putte in the yolkes of eight Egges, and the brains of three or foure cocke Sparrowes, and Straine them into the other and a little Rose water, and seeth them all with Sugar, Synamon and Ginger, and Cloves and Mace, and put in a little Sweete butter, and set it upon a chafingdishe of coles, betweene two platter, and so let it boyle till it be something bigge."
                                                                                            -- "The Good Huswifes Jewell," 1610 edition of 1587 book