Gooseberry Pie

I really hadn't intended to harvest all my gooseberries. I figured the Fourth of July was a good time to bake a pie though. And what better pie than a gooseberry pie. But I noticed the berries were starting to get ripe. Gooseberries for cooking are often picked slightly green to intensify that tart gooseberry flavor. Oh how good it is.

Gooseberries are not really in favor in the US but you occasionally find them. My first taste of one was in Missouri at a little diner. I don't care how good your fried chicken or meatloaf is, if you can't make a good pie, you shouldn't be a diner. And boy could they make a pie. I don't remember if I ordered the gooseberry pie or if it was my mother-in-law or my sister-in-law. Needless to say we all share. So whoever ordered it, I got to taste it. I had never had a gooseberry pie before and was shocked at how good it was. Sweet, tart and in perfect combination. I knew that one day I would grow them. In parts of the US and even Massachusetts they are illegal to plant, but in my town of Arlington it is legal.

Gooseberries need to be topped and tailed - which just means that the top and bottom are cut off. The bottom has a stem attached and the top has the old flower. I got those all done and ready before rolling out the dough. I would never call my mother a great cook, but she did teach me to make a pie crust as a kid. She showed me how to use two pieces of waxed paper and roll the dough out between them. I still do that today. She made her pies with shortening. My pies will never have that terrible fate. I don't care how light and flaky it might make a pie, for me butter is where it is at. It is a little heavier, but oh the taste is everything. Nothing can replace it.

The recipe I use isn't the same kind as the one from that day in the dinner. That was a plain fruit pie with just sugar, fruit, and something to thicken it. The recipe I use I found online. It has a sour cream filling. I don't follow that recipe totally. I like to add 2 cups of mashed fruit and a bit more flour. Because the pie really ought to be about the gooseberries and not about the sour cream.

The pie uses two crusts like a lot of fruit pies. I forgot to cut a pattern into the crust before putting it on, so just poked a few holes in the top. Then I decided pie number two would have a lattice top instead. I was a bit worried about the lattice topped one. As I was putting it on the lattice wanted to fall into the filling. Unlike an all fruit pie the filling for this was more liquid.

It did seem to work out though. I hope the filling set enough. I'm bringing two pies because my hostess thinks we will eat more sweet things than usual. For those not in the US the Fourth of July is typically an outdoor grilling party. But it won't be outdoors for us. Hurricane Arthur is coming up the coast and though the winds will mostly miss us, the rain will not. And it will hit tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Pie is not all that I'm bringing. I think a chard tart is in the works for tomorrow. If I have time I'll write about that too.