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Share your favorite pie recipes
I'm going to a supper club this Saturday and the theme is pie. Now, I love making me some pie (and subsequently eating it), but I'd like to do something a little different from my normal pie.
What is your favorite (ideally esoteric) pie recipe? I'm making one sweet, one savory. Gimme your best shot!
My preference for a savoury pie is to use hot water crust pastry - sadly you really need that lard/butter mixture to make it the best it can be, the vegan versions just don't have the same unctuousness. For the filling I would go for chicken, ham and apricot, with a white gravy made with white wine. Hot water crust is surprisingly easy and forgiving, just make sure you have everything ready to go before you mix the pastry up, and handle it while it's still warm. You don't need to hand raise your pies, which can be somewhat fiddly - it works just fine in a normal pie dish.
Then I would go for treacle tart for a sweet option. If you can make clotted cream to serve with it then you're going home crowned Queen or King of All Pies.
I would suggest a Kentucky Derby pie. It is easy, most people haven't eaten one, and pretty much everyone loves it.
Dough for 9" pie. You are on your own for the dough, blind bake it at 350(docked and weighted) for 10 minutes then uncovered for 5 more minutes
4tablespoons butter, melted
2large eggs
1teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 shot of Kentucky Bourbon
½cup flour
¾cup chopped walnuts
¾cup semisweet-chocolate chips
Whisk the wet together, then stir in brown sugar and flour. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate. Pour into pie shell and bake for about 30 minutes, until puffed and brown on top.
I have taken this pie to lots of potlucks and have never brought home any after the shindig. You can skip the bourbon if you don't have any and it turns out 99.78% as good.
This Gingered apple Cream Pie has a ton of crystalized ginger and sour cream in the filling but it's honestly one of the best apple pies I've ever tasted. Don't mess with proportions, it's balanced as is!
For something you may not have tried but is delicious, I suggest an Argentinian Quince Pie if you can find the canned quince. It's a sweet and fruity tart that's easy to put together, looks beautiful and is a favourite in Argentina!
And finally a savoury option! Samosa Pie. I couldn't believe how great this turned out. Make a bit of tamarind sauce, or some raita or yogurt to serve with and this is honestly a showstopper.
Have fun with your pie supper club! It sound alike a blast.
I made a strawberry pie once. I can't remember many of the ingredients, but a shitload of strawberries and some shop-bought pastry stuff makes some surprisingly good quality food.
It might not be what first comes to mind, but you should give it a go!
I had a phenomenal strawberry pie recently, and the bitter and sweetness of it is mind blowing. I see what you're saying, because it was unexpectedly the best pie I've ever had.
Not sure if this hits the 'esoteric' mark, but For savoury, a few ideas beyond the more standard north american fare (sorry if im making a wrong assumption) might include deep-dish pizza, beef wellington, turkish pide, or any number of hand pies (empanadas, pasties, jamaican patties..).
For dessert, i cant get fruit out of my mind. Maybe you could do a twist on a lemon curd, like raspberry curd tart. Not sure where you are, but butter tarts are a thing in canada. Or, maybe you want to argue cheesecakes are pie; i dont have a recipe but my fave ever cheesecake was chocolate-orange liqueur.
if you want to get nerdy-esoteric, you could go with a historical recipe, and bring a story with your food. Tasting history and Townsends are 2 good youtube channels for food history.
I get the impression steak and ale pie isn’t very common in America, is that true? If so, Jamie Oliver’s steak, ale and cheese pie is a firm favourite for my husband to make: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/steak-guinness-cheese-pie/
Honestly, the Tenderflake recipe but with a quarter cup less flour is pretty close to the best crust.
Betty Crocker's Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie WITH the Cookie Crust. It's very easy to put together and the best way to eat pumpkin pie imo. For the filling you can just use pumpkin pie seasoning (all the same stuff) and I personally season it a little more than what the recipe calls for.
This was the only pumpkin pie I'd had as a child so my disappointment was immeasurable when I had store bought/other's home made pumpkin pie. The cream cheese just adds a really good flavor, and you can make cute designs when adding the cream cheese filling! I don't think it hits esoteric and to be honest I'm not sure what that means in regards to pie, BUT I do know I have had a lot of people who haven't had it before.