Monday, June 30, 2014

Simone's Pet Strawberry Pie




At last, after a month of cooking a variety of pies, here is the long awaited Pieathalon Pie swap pie recipe! I was assigned Simone's Strawberry Pie, which was simultaneously a relief and a disappointment. Having read through the archives of many a recipe swap I'd looked forward to a crazy vintage recipe combining strange ingredients in never before thought of ways. Of course, I hadn't looked forward to eating it, and this recipe produced a lovely pie that I've been happy to eat most of myself!


I will say that for a recipe that calls for Jello and a prepared pie crust this was remarkably tricky and I even used a shortcut not available when Simone wrote this recipe. Out of general squeamishness I used pasteurized egg whites since they aren't cooked in this recipe, and I had to whip up two batches to get them airy enough to fold into the egg yolk custard. I did make another change--because I'm bad at following directions, and jazzed up the pureed strawberries with some lemon zest. 


The eggs were the hardest part of the whole thing--cooking the yolks over the water bath without them curdling, then getting the whites beaten up enough to fold in. I used less sugar  in the whites, because the first time I added the sugar it deflated the whites. So the second time I added half as much sugar--which was plenty.





I was a big worried about the jello--the recipe called for strawberry gelatin, but no indication of the size of packet. The package I used was pretty small, so I worried it would not set up properly. This turned out not to be a concern, as the whole thing came together very well. In fact there was extra filling, more than could fit in the graham cracker crust. I figure that maybe the crust Simone used was bigger.

             


The filled pie goes in the fridge to set up. I left mine in there overnight because I wasn't ready to eat it after I made it, but it set up after a couple of hours. I topped it with sliced strawberries as directed, and served it with strawberry puree and whipped cream from a can. You can probably see the texture in the picture--it was super light and airy, with a good strawberry flavor.

One thing I really liked about this recipe was that the pie held onto the water and didn't leak liquid like other pies I've made. So it was good for several days after it was made, which is nice when it is just me to eat it over the week.

I was pretty lucky with this recipe from Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers--if you want to check out some other lucky bakers trying their hands at pie construction I listed the links at the end of the post!
Brian of Caker Cooking – Chess Pie
Mimi of The Retro WW Experiment – Nesselrode Pie
Erica of Retro Recipe Attempts – Curried Egg Pie
Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers –Mile-High Lemon Chiffon Pie
S.S. of A Book of Cookrye — Upside Down Chicken Pie
Sarah of Directionally Challenged Cooking –Simone’s Pet Strawberry Pie
Kelli of Kelli’s Kitchen –Butterscotch Pie
Ashley of A Pinch of Vintage –Schoolteacher Pie
Poppy of Granny Pantries –Black Bottom Pie
Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl –Chocolate “Pie”
Emily of Dinner is Served 1972 –Seafoam Cantaloupe Pie

14 comments:

  1. I'm just happy to hear no pets were harmed during the making of Simone's Pet Strawberry Pie.

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    1. Oscar, my dog, believes he was harmed by not being able to eat this pie. I was somewhat disappointed that the recipe just calls this a Chiffon Pie, not a Pet pie!

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  2. Oh wow, looks delicious, I love strawberry pie, especially when the strawberries are fresh! :)

    check out my Caramel Pie!
    http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/ooey-gooey/

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  3. Wow, what a pretty pie! The process looked a bit strange but it clearly came out alright in the end :-)

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  4. Yours looks so tasty, and it came out a really nice shade of red!

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    1. I think that was mostly due to the strawberry jello! It gave it a lot of color.

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  5. This looks really great! You did a great job - I believe I have had this pie when I was a little girl and yours looks much better!

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    1. I may have had it, but most of the people in my family would have just saved all the messing with the eggs and used cool whip and jello alone.

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  6. Hi Sarah - really pleased that you liked Simone's pie! It's Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers here and I'm glad it turned out OK as I'm the one who sent it in! I think it looks utterly lovely and you are my (pet) guinea pig! I figured if the person who tried it out liked it, I would try it out too. So I'll have a go sometime soon.

    Great to "virtually" meet you through the power of the Pieathalon - Jenny

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  7. That's a mighty fine looking pie!!! It's seriously pretty.

    I am glad that you joined in on the Pieathalon. Thanks for contributing!

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  8. That is a damn fine looking pie. It is downright pretty.

    Thanks for participating in the Pieathalon. I hope you had fun!

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  9. That pie is so pretty! Great job!

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  10. Great pie! So glad you joined the Pieathalon! Well done :-)

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