I love making brownies. They are very simple to make, and taste outrageously good. They also keep well. Brownies have a lot going for them. You can find recipes I use HERE and HERE (the second ones are better, but quite expensive to make so you wouldn't want to make them every day. The first ones are cakier, but yummy too).
Anyway, for some reason I found a box of packet mix brownies up the back of the corner cupboard (a.k.a. the Cupboard of Death). How did they get there? Who knows! In the intesests of cleaning out the cupboard, and not wasting food, I decided I might as well cook these package mix brownies. "How bad could they be," I wondered?
Pretty bad. Look, they were reasonably moist, they came with choc-chips in them (I added some chopped walnuts) and they were, you know, chocolatey, which is always a good thing. But they lacked any fudgey texture, and they just had a sort of fake, strange, additive flavour to them. The Daddy and my sister ate several each, so they weren't shocking, but I would never make them again.
Still, they look pretty, don't they? Deceptive!
After wasting three minutes of my life preparing packet mix brownies, I felt an urge to cook something real. These two things were calling at me from the kitchen - beautiful fresh rhubarb, and a fat disk of shortcrust pastry, made recently and stashed in the freezer:
I am currently re-reading this book, Humble Pie, which is a really great read if you like pies or are interested in the folk history element of cooking. The author muses about her childhood, her mother and grandmother, the Zen relationship to pastry making, the best sort of apples, growing rhubarb, lots of good things. With pie on the mind, along with rhubarb and shortcrust in the fridge, pie was inevitable.
Rhubarb pie is just the easiest thing - 'Easy as Pie!' Mix 5 cups of chopped rhubarb (roughly a bunch, if you are buying it) together with 5 tablespoons of plain flour, 1 1/2 cups caster sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside.
Roll out shortcrust to line a 9" pie dish (I always use Emile Henry pie dishes, they are vastly superior because the clay they use conducts heat brilliantly, ensuring your pie has a crispy bottom crust. Next best option is Pyrex, I think). Tumble in the filling, and dot with about a tablespoon or two of butter.
Roll out your top crust, press over, trim the edges and then crimp them. Cut several steam vents. If you'd like, you can brush with egg wash and sprinkle on some sugar. Bake at 220 for 15 minutes, then 180 for about 35 minutes or so.
You know it's cooked when a) it's a lovely golden brown on top and b) you need to see some thick, pink juices bubbling up from the vents. If you're not seeing a good amount of juice bubble, it's not done! It needs to be in long enough for the flour to thicken the juices, otherwise the pie won't set.
Here is a good start - but not enough juices yet...
I pulled it out when it looked like this. It could have stayed in for another 5 minutes, probably, but it was fine.
It was a really ugly pie! I had a house full of people, Tabitha was trying to climb me like a monkey, and also, because it was just for us to eat at home, I didn't bother making it too pretty. But, like scones, the ugly pies are often the best, and a pretty pie does not mean it will taste good, necessarily.
You MUST let a fruit pie cool completely before cutting. Otherwise the juices will not set. Think of the classic 'pie cooling on a windowsill'. It has to cool. If you have cats, do not leave your pie to cool on a windowsill - sit it on a wire rack instead!
Pie is good for dessert, breakfast (hey, it's fruit) and morning or afternoon tea. I have just had pie for three consecutive meals (dessert, breakfast, lunch). Rhubarb pie is, of course, quite tart, so it is best served with ice cream, custard or sweetened whipped cream.
Remember I told you that you must let pie cool completely before slicing? Here is why. Last night, the pie was 'cooled down' to a faint warmish feel, but not completely cooled. We had some anyway - you can see the section on the left where we cut it. This morning, it was completely cooled, and I cut some from the right:
Don't keep your pie in the fridge! It will do bad things to the crust. For 2-3 days, a fruit pie (no eggs, no milk or cream) can happily sit on the bench, covered with cling film. This will also ensure it gets eaten - no one can resist the siren song of the fruit pie on the bench.
I told you the pie was ugly. I feel ashamed of the ugly pie, because you, the reader, cannot taste how crisp the pastry was and how delicious the filling was. So pride forces me to show you one of my prettier rhubarb pies:
Actually the one above was rhubarb and strawberry - a very good combination, and sweeter, for those who can't handle the full hit of rhubarb intensity.
I have never baked a chocolate cream pie. I am going to try one soon.
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