“Making pie, I love the hunger and delight of the hands. You don’t have to touch cake, but you have to touch pie.” ~ Kate Lebo
Kate Lebo, the Pie Poet (photo by Christopher Nelson)
Sometimes you just gotta have pie.
That’s why I was positively giddy when I chanced upon Kate Lebo’s prose poem, “Lemon Meringue,” in the Summer 2013 issue of Gastronomica.
Kate’s been on my foodie radar for a couple of years now; I first saw her drool-inducing double crust fruit pies at Cakespy.com, and earlier this year, Susan Rich shared Kate’s “Chocolate Cream Pie” at The Alchemist’s Kitchen.
Seeing “Lemon Meringue” made me want to find out more about this Seattle-based poet who loves shaping dough as much as crimping a good line of verse.
“Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” ~ Barry Lopez, Crow and Weasel
Call my name, brand new cookbook! I’ve dallied between your covers and I’m under your spell. You speak my language: Animal Crackers, German Chocolate Cake, Alice B. Toklas Brownies, New York Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Pie.
Like she says: “everything tastes better with a backstory.”
Think about the hundreds (okay, thousands) of doughnuts you’ve eaten in your lifetime. Who invented the holes? And did you know “the hole is so the calories can fall out”? (I feel so much better now.)
You probably already know that Ruth Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie at Massachusetts’ Toll House Inn, even that Nestlé gave her free chocolate for life in exchange for permission to print her recipe on the back of their semi-sweet chocolate bars. But did you know it wasn’t until after the cookie became a national superstar (featured on a Betty Crocker radio show), that Nestlé invented chocolate chips?
Do you fancy a cream-filled lady lock, a rich chocolatey buckeye, a peanut butter blossom?
No need to toil in your kitchen beating butter, sugar, eggs, and flour into submission or raid your neighborhood bakery. Just invite yourself to a Pittsburgh wedding!
Those in-the-know will tell you that a well laden Cookie Table is absolutely de rigueur in the Steel City, where skyscrapers tickle the clouds and arched yellow bridges invite exciting adventures on both sides of the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela Rivers.
I’m happy to report that since I attended my first Pittsburgh wedding about two weeks ago, I am now officially in-the-know. Just call me “Crumbs.”
Fruit tart with raspberries, blueberries, kiwi and mango.
Isn’t it a beauty?
My half-sister Sylvia, who is a passionate foodie and chef extraordinaire, recently made this gorgeous fruit tart for her grandson’s birthday. Doesn’t it perfectly capture the essence of summer — all its colors and sweetness with its bounty of fresh fruit that’s ours just for the taking?
Of course when I saw it, I just had to ask for the recipe, which she graciously agreed to share with us. Next time you visit your farmer’s market or grocery store, look for a colorful selection of fruit to make your own tart. This is a nice dessert to celebrate Independence Day or to take to any picnic or cookout, sure to impress all your friends and guests.
Sylvia: To make the fruit tart, bake the crust until golden brown and pour enough of the cream filling to line it well (it doesn’t have to be too thick). Arrange any selection of fruit that appeals to you on top of the cream layer, just keeping in mind contrasting color and design. To finish it off and give it that polished, professional look, melt some currant jelly and brush it carefully onto the tops of the fruit. Bon Appétit!
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11″ TART SHELL
1-1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1-1/2 sticks butter 1 T sugar 1/8 T salt
1. In food processor, combine flour, butter, sugar and salt and process until the mix resembles coarse meal.
2. Add one at a time, 3-4 tablespoons of cold water and process until mix resembles small peas. Do not mix until it forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly just until dough comes together. Flatten into a 6-inch dish and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or longer.
3. Roll dough into 15-inch disk. Press dough against the fluted side of the pan and trim off any excess. Prick the bottom, cover with plastic, and freeze for about 30 minutes before baking.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add pie weights and bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is almost dry. Remove foil and weights and bake for 5-8 minutes longer or until the crust is lightly browned.
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VANILLA CREAM FILLING
(for 8″ pie or 11″ fruit tart)
½ cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch ¼ tsp. salt 2 cups milk 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon vanilla
1. Stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt in a sauce pan.
2. Blend egg yolks and milk together and gradually stir into sugar mixture.
3. Cook over medium heat , stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens.
4. Boil and stir for one minute.
5. Remove from heat, blend in butter and vanilla.
6. For fruit tart, pour into bowl and cover with waxed paper or parchment.
7. Refrigerate until at room temperature.
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Thank you so much, Syl! I’m still hoping you’ll adopt me, so I can pretend it’s my birthday all the time and I can eat treats like this every day ☺.
#9 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.
Poetry is the home for all my yearnings each poem a separate room where wandering words find a cool bed, a bowl of soup
where names of trees and cities and people I know who want to know knock on doors, ring bells, invite me in for coffee and a rhyme
~ from “Homeroom” by Kathi Appelt (Poems from Homeroom: A Writer’s Place to Start, Henry Holt, 2002).
I’m thrilled and honored to welcome multiple award-winning poet and author Kathi Appelt to our Potluck today. As you can see by the opening stanzas of “Homeroom,” Kathi is a poet after my own heart.
A good poem makes us feel as though we’ve come home — to our own doubts, sorrows, joys, fears, wonder, gratitude. There is nothing quite like a room of carefully arranged words that invites you in for a quick visit, only to inhabit your soul forever.
I love the poem Kathi’s brought today, not only because it’s about pie — but because of its transcendent beauty. It speaks of that quiet inner space where love, memory, and longing converge. How would you build a room strong yet gentle enough to hold a fleeting moment in time? This poem is a flutter in the heart, a sweet reflection hovering in our imaginations.
Emma on her wedding day.
Kathi: I adored my husband’s grandmother, Emma. She was a wonderful cook, and her pecan pies were a staple of our holidays. Right after we were married, she wrote down her recipe for me, and I’ve had it ever since. Several years after she passed away, at the age of 96, I found myself baking her pies for Thanksgiving. Seeing her handwriting, with the faded ink, made me want to “toast” her in the best way I knew — with a poem.
via Dan’s Photo Art
Pecan Pie
Emma was my grandmother too, tied through wedding vows to her youngest grandson my one true love. On her back porch, she held my hands and sang ancient nursery rhymes in German, her very first tongue. The songs, her soft, steady voice, called up hummingbirds hovering just above pots of lantana and marigolds. Now what’s left is a scrap of paper, the whispy blue ink turned brown, her recipe for pecan pie. Each time I fold in the butter, chop the pecans, measure the light brown sugar, same shade as the ink, she holds my hands, hums an old tune about the little girl down the lane. My kitchen heats up.
Next thing I know, there are hummingbirds. A slice of pie, a cup of coffee, a language I don’t know, but still it comes to me. We hover there, our tiny wings, our rapid hearts, our solitary belief in sugar and pecans.
Thanksgiving, 2002 Copyright 2012 Kathi Appelt. All rights reserved.
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I can’t even imagine the fall holidays without baking one of Emma’s pecan pies. And whenever I bake one, I feel like Emma is right there in the room with me. It’s a sweet feeling, like I have an angel on my shoulder. I make these pies every year for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
via LOL
Southern Pecan Pie
1 cup light brown sugar (packed) 1/2 cup granulated white sugar 1 tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons milk 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup butter (stick) melted 1 cup pecans, chopped 1 unbaked pie shell
Mix sugars and flour, beat in thoroughly, eggs, milk, vanilla, butter. Fold in nuts. Pour into pie shell. Bake 40 to 50 minutes in 350 degree oven.
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Kathi Appelt is the award-winning author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. Her picture book, MISS LADY BIRD’S WILDFLOWERS: HOW A FIRST LADY CHANGED AMERICA (HarperCollins, 2005) was given the “Growing Good Kids Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature.” In 2003 Appelt won the Irma and Simon Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, given by the Bank Street College of Education, for her picture book BUBBA AND BEAU, BEST FRIENDS (Harcourt Brace, 2002). Her memoir, MY FATHER’S SUMMERS (Henry Holt, 2004) won the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Poetry.
Her first novel, THE UNDERNEATH, a haunting story of love and survival in the pine forests of East Texas, has been described by reviewers as a “classic.” It was named a National Book Award Finalist, a Newbery Honor Book, and most recently awarded the PEN USA Literature for Children Award.
Ms. Appelt was presented with the A.C. Greene Award by the Friends of Abilene Public Library, which named her a “Texas Distinguished Author.”
In addition to writing, Ms. Appelt is on the faculty in the Masters of Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Her newest book is KEEPER, published by Atheneum, 2010.
She and her husband Ken live in College Station, TX with four adorable cats, Django, Peach, Hoss and Jazz. They are the parents of two even more adorable sons, Jacob and Cooper, musicians who both play the double bass. For more information, check her website: www.kathiappelt.com.
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SURPRISE DOOR PRIZE!
Kathi has generously offered to send one lucky reader an autographed copy of her beautiful picture book, My Father’s House, illustrated by Raul Colon, published by Viking (2007).
For a chance to win, please leave a comment at this post no later than 12 noon (EDT) Saturday, April 14, 2012. Winner will be announced on Sunday, April 15th, along with the other door prize winners.
This post has been linked to Beth Fish Read’s Weekend Cooking, where all are invited to share food related posts (fiction/nonfiction/cookbook/movie reviews, photos, musings, recipes, etc.).
I’m thrilled and honored to welcome multiple award-winning poet and author 
Jama's Alphabet Soup 