 David Rubel'sWhat's For Dinner?11/15/06
2. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 3. Remove the skin from the roasted potatoes (it should slip off easily), place the flesh in a large mixing bowl, and mash well. Add the remaining ingredients and stir with a whisk or spatula until well blended and smooth. Transfer the filling to the prebaked pie shell. 4. Bake until the filling sets, about 45-50 minutes. Cool before serving. Tips * Most recipes call for the sweet potatoes to be boiled, as you would for regular mashed potatoes. But I don’t like having to peel them, and I prefer the slightly caramelized taste one gets from roasting them. Just make sure you leave them in the oven long enough for them to become completely soft. * You can roast the potatoes several days in advance and refrigerate them until you’re ready to make the pies. * Although cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are the traditional spices for sweet potato pie, there are alternatives. Some people use ground ginger, but I don’t think the flavor comes through very well in the finished pie. One option I do endorse is ground cardamom. It may sound odd, but just a hint (about an eighth of a teaspoon) makes for a heady pie. Pie Shell yields one nine-inch pie shell If you plan on making two shells, just double the amounts rather than making two batches. The dough ball can easily be cut in half before rolling.
2. Measure the flour and shortening into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Chop the butter into half-inch cubes and add them to the flour and shortening. Pulse the machine until the dough reaches the consistency of a course meal with some pea-sized pieces, about 20-30 seconds. Add the salt to the ice water and, with the machine running, drizzle the water through the feed tube until the dough comes together to form a ball. Turn out the dough onto some plastic wrap, wrap it securely, and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). 3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to form a circle large enough to cover the pie plate with a little overhang (a total diameter of about eleven inches). Transfer the dough circle to the pie plate, folding and crimping the overhanging edges. Refrigerate for at least fifteen minutes. 4. Cover the pie shell with aluminum foil, weighing down the foil with rice, beans, or pie weights. Bake until the dough sets, about 15 minutes. Remove the weighted foil and continue baking until the shell turns a light golden brown, about another 10-12 minutes. Remove and let cool, pricking any bubbles that may have formed with a fork to let the crust settle down. Dough Tips * The ideal pie crust is both tender and flaky. Pastry chefs achieve these two qualities with skilled kneading that creates layers (or sheets) of fat without overworking the dough. (Overworked dough turns tough and spongy, like bread.) My food processor method doesn’t yield dough as tender as an English scone or as flaky as a croissant, but it does produce a consistently good result without the need of a pastry tutor. * When making pie dough, you want to keep your ingredients and equipment as cold as possible. Otherwise, the butter melts a little, resulting in a rubbery dough. * You want to add the water to the dough fast enough so that the food processor doesn’t overwork the dough yet slow enough so that you add the least amount necessary to bring the dough together. I usually add a couple of tablespoons quickly and then drip in any more that’s needed. After a try or two, you’ll get the hang of it.
Listener Feedback Jay DiPucchio of Turners Falls, Massachusetts, sent along this recipe for Sweet Potato Pecan Pie, which he calls “even more life threatening.” It makes enough for a nine-inch pie shell.Sweet Potato Foundation
2. Reserving the pecans, stir together all of the other ingredients for the pecan roof until the mixture is smooth. Chop up thre-quarters of the pecans and add them to the roof mixture. 3. Transfer the foundation to the pie shell, smoothing the top. Then add the roof, topping the whole thing off with the reserved pecans. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 75 minutes and then begin checking regularly to see whether the pie is done. (It puffs up quite a bit, so you should include a spill pan under the pie plate.) Cool before serving (preferably overnight on the porch in the November air). If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future. David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality (DK, 2005). |
