Kim's Concoctions: Rustic Peach Pie

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Rustic Peach Pie

I had a few peaches left over after making the Peachy Keen Pork Chops, and decided a dessert was in order. We hadn't had dessert in a while, and my sweet tooth was starting to suffer from withdrawl.

Now...you can't blame me if you don't like what the scale says the day after though, especially if you can't help yourself and have a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a slice of this pie (which of course, is a MUST). So I recommend a good, 2 mile walk afterwards...and probably more if you have seconds.

Rustic Peach Pie

For the crust:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 sticks very cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 cup ice water

1 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

4 ripe peaches (not too soft, but not hard either)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup ground almonds

1 teaspoon cinammon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of nutmeg

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons sugar

We'll do the crust first so it can chill out in the fridge while we make the filling.

Combine the butter, flour, and salt in a food processor. (If you don't have a food processor, just use a pastry cutter or two table knives to incorporate the butter into the flour).

Pulse the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture forms large clumps. You may not need all the water.

Dump the mixture out onto a piece of plastic wrap and gently pat it all together.

Wrap the crust up in the plastic and chill for at least 1/2 an hour.

Now we can start on the filling...and we'll have to peel the peaches first. The easiest way to peel fresh peaches is by blanching them. Bring a pot of water large enough to hold the peaches to a boil. Use a sharp knife to gently score an "x" on the bottom of each peach.

Drop the peaches into the pot, and let them boil for about 2 minutes, or until you see the skins starting to peel back at the "x."

Remove from the pot and immediately place the peaches into a bowl of ice water to cool them down and stop the cooking process.

When the peaches are cool enough to handle (it only takes about 5 minutes), gently peel the skins back--they should slide right off.

Lay your naked, blushing peaches on a cutting board, and slice 1/4 inch thick. Don't they look purty?

I only ended up with 3 peaches instead of 4. (One of them tasted like sawdust, so I threw it out. Always taste your fruit when you're making a pie!)

Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, and stir until the sugar has melted.

Add the peaches, salt, cinammon, ginger, and nutmeg...

and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes or until the peaches are tender. They don't need to be cooked all the way through, so if they're still a tad firm, don't worry about it :-).

Now we're ready to put this pie together.

Prepare your sheet pan...you'll want to use your largest one. Spray with non-stick cooking spray or use a silicon baking mat.

Take the pie crust from the fridge and flour your work surface generously. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thick.

Roll the crust up onto the rolling pin, and carefully transfer the crust to your sheet pan.

Sprinkle the center area of the crust with the ground almonds. I just blitzed some sliced almonds in my mini-food processor until they were very fine.

Gently spoon the filling into the middle of the crust.

Carefully pleat the crust around the edges, pulling it up over the peaches, all the way around. The filling will still be showing in the middle.

Brush the edges of the pie with the beaten egg and spinkle with the sugar. I used some turbinado sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and the crust is a deep golden brown.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Rebecca LOVED this pie. I let her have 2 pieces, because Joshua and Christina didn't want any, so their share had to go to somebody, right?

This is a great pie to make on the spur of the moment...easy to assemble and no messing with 2 crusts like a traditional pie. A scoop of vanilla ice cream really takes it over the top. Oh, and it makes the house smell awesome!