Oh, do you all feel it ragazzi? "It" is, of course, the pressure of the last days before the holiday is upon us. Does it not seem to all of you that, regardless of how you try to alleviate the last minute stress , it is still there? Annalena certainly feels it. Indeed, the layers of stress, on stress, on stress, are one reason why she has not been back here for a week, when all of you need recipes. (Although the statistics say that you are all reading three recipes: the spaetzle, the braciole, and the cranberry chuckles. That should be an interesting Christmas dinner).
Annalena's dinner this year will be a complex one. She is giving herself a reprieve from her "try to reduce your cholesterol and your weight" diet, and is going full out. Sort of. What follows is one of the things she is cooking, which is far from Christmas traditional on a surface level, but dig deeper. And it makes sense.
You know of the Shakers religious sect, do you not? If you do not, please read them up. They are important, and they have influenced our society, way beyond what Annalena could talk about in a cooking blog. If you have ever sung "Simple Gifts," you are acquainted with the Shakers. And if you haven't, go look it up. Look at the words. Was there ever a song that so codified everything good, without being too preachy? Annalena thinks not.
Let us go a bit deeper here, as Annalena promised. This is a lemon pie, which does not sound very Christmassy. BUT.... citrus is in season in the depth of winter. Not in cold climates like the Northeast, certainly, but in Florida, in Louisiana, in California, from which the Citrus Bomb, the Citrus Stud, and the Queen of Artichokes dispatch the beautiful fruit that sustains Annalena when if she eats another apple or another pear, she will scream. And while the Gang of Three have not always been around, citrus at the holidays was always a special treat. Annalena knows families who wait for the crate of grapefruit, or oranges, etc, that relatives send. In times past, these were chancy, difficult transport, and you made them last. And you were happy to get them (there is a line in the song "The Wells Fargo Wagon" which does express this. Look it up). And, as Annalena has pointed out previously, in the original Cinderella, the Prince falls in love with Cinderella because she gives up her precious orange to her evil step sister, who didn't get one.
So , you see, ragazzi, whatever we think of them now, citrus were, and should be, thought of as precious. And the Shakers did, and do think of them that way. Shakers are known for their philosophy of wasting nothing. So it is, in this pie, which is made from the WHOLE lemon. Yes, indeed, all of it (seeds exempted). And ultimately, it uses less of this (at one time) expensive fruit than you would think , for what is a great, great holiday dessert. There is not much labor here, but you do have to have some patience. And here we go.
First, the lemon filling . Get about a pound of lemons, and mix them up. Get about 2/3 meyer lemons, and 1/3 regular lemons (these will be lisbons, they will be larger, more yellow, tarter, and with a thicker skin. This is what the Shakers would use: meyer lemons are a relatively new cultivar. Now, wash them, and then cut off the little tips of the fruit, at the ends. Cut them down the midlle, lengthwise. Now, the fun part. Put the cut side down on a firm sturdy surface, and with a very, VERY sharp knife, slice half moons, as thin as you can. The original recipes said that you should finish the song "simple gifts" (one verse and one refrain), in the time it takes you to cut up one lemon. If you work faster than that, your slices are too thick. Keep slicing, until you've worked through all the lemons. Then, put them in a bowl, with 2 cups of sugar (another expensive item at the time. Stir this all together with your hands, cover it, and leave it , overnight, at room temperature. You'll be curing the lemons, and the next day, you will have a thick, incredibly interesting lemon syrup.
Next, let's make pie crust. Now, t his is certainly not a traditional Shaker pie crust, but it certainly is good. We need a double crust, so we put 2 cups of all purpose flour in a food processor, with half a teaspoon of salt. Pulse it five times. Now, get about 4 ounces of cream cheese (and Annalena has told you the one from Pennsylvania is really fine here). Break it into four pieces, and process it in the machine until it's incorporated. Next, add twelve ounces - a stick and a half - of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes. Pulse this for 10-12 times, for three seconds or so a pulse.
We have a much wetter dough than we normally would with pie crust, so we'll use less liquid. Add a tablespoon of cider vinegar, and two of ice water, and process until it begins to come together. Dump the dough out, divide it in about half (one should be just a bit bigger than the other. Weigh it if you can: you're looking for 60/40 ideally. Flatten your halves into discs, wrap them in foil, and let them sit overnight.
On baking day, turn up your oven to 425, and let the dough come to room temperature. It may take a couple hours to do so, but you want this to roll easily, and it will if it's soft enough. Meanwhile, break four eggs into the lemon mix, and stir this all up.
When the dough is soft, put a good snow of flour on a surface, and roll the bigger piece of dough out to about 1/8 inch thick. It should be thin enough so that it can fit into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan (ceramic or glass), with overhang. Now, pour the filling in. Repeat the procedure with the dough, to make your top crust. Lay this on top, and crimp the corners. (there are many illustrations of this on line. Annalena commends you to them for information). Put the pie on a baking sheet, and make a few cuts in the top. If you are so inclined, beat an egg, and brush the pie with it. This will darken and crisp it. Annalena does not bother. Put it into the oven, and check after forty minutes. If you have thick, bubbling syrup coming out of the vents, you are done. Take out the pie, and let it cool to room temperature. It will take a while. NEVER refrigerate this pie.
Slice it with a nice, berry based ice cream. Annalena is using huckleberry, but strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blackberry, all seem just fine to her.
Give it a try, kids. Citrus season is here. Make the most of it.
Tomorrow, we balance this with a ridiculously easy Indian style vegetable, courtesty of the Goddess: Alice Waters
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