Fresh Gooseberry Pie

There was a battle waged in my kitchen this weekend, me v. gooseberry pie. I was knocked out in round one but recovered and ultimately won the match. And in the end, the pie was delicious. The tartness of the gooseberries played well against the flakiness of the crust.

Gooseberries, a tart berry which can be cooked or eaten out of hand, appear for just a week or two at our local farmer's market. I've observed them for years; on Saturday, I decided to take the plunge after discovering a couple of  vintage gooseberry pie recipes in my collection.

The gooseberry war involved the thickener (and the lack of clear instructions, typical of the vintage recipe cards I bake from). The agony of defeat (and triumph of victory) are detailed in some photos below.

To make it right, begin by giving the berries a rinse under cold water. Next, they need trimming. There's the stem and also the brownish thing (that's the technical term) on the opposite side. I discovered that a very clean nail clipper makes quick work of this task.

My recipe called for tapioca as the thickening agent. I originally used the small pearl tapioca (right). That was a huge mistake.

Filling ingredients with small pearl tapioca.

You can see below that the pearls did not dissolve. I also probably way overcooked the filling -- the instructions said to cook until thick, but it never really got thick. I tossed out the entire batch. Luckily, I had miscalculated the amount of gooseberries I needed, and had an extra three cups for round two.

After a quick trip to the corner store, I used my new purchase: tapioca starch. I could have made my own by whirling the pearls in a food processor (I realized too late).

Perfect! I didn't cook it very long, just to the boil.

Fill an unbaked pie crust with the gooseberry mixture and dot with butter.

Cover with the top crust, cinch the edges and vent by making a few small slits with a knife. Always, always, bake pies on a foil covered cookie sheet. This not only prevents the filling from overflowing onto the oven floor, but makes taking the hot pie from the oven much easier. Refrigerating the pie for an hour or so before baking will help the crust edge retain its shape.

The edges of the crust got a little too brown, even though I covered them with foil near the end.

Since the DH and I couldn't eat an entire pie, I shared some with our neighbors, (a British-American couple) who have two teenage sons. The next day, my native London neighbor told me that his mother used to make gooseberry tarts.

Production notes: Trim both ends of the gooseberries.Use either minute tapioca or tapioca starch for the best results. Cook the filling just until it comes to the boil. Let cool before filling the pie shell. Modern day tastes may like more filling, so feel free to increase the amount of gooseberries (and sugar, tapioca, etc., proportionally).  Pie crust recipe follows.

My favorite pie crust recipe

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 stick of cold butter, cut into small pieces
6 T. cold Crisco, cut into pieces
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
3 - 6 T. cold water

Place dry ingredients in a food processor and whirl to blend.  Add butter and Crisco and process until it resembles cornmeal. Transfer to a round bowl, and add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Blend with a fork.  When it holds together, transfer to a lightly floured surface and form a large ball.  Divide in half and either roll out between two sheets of plastic wrap, or refrigerate until it's a bit firmer and then roll out.

Mom's [Apricot] Upside-Down Cake

Mom's [Apricot] Upside-Down Cake made me face my fears -- flipping over a steaming hot cake from a hot frying pan to a serving plate (can anyone say second degree burn?).  As you can see above, I accomplished the feat. But the execution was imperfect -- I'm off by at least an inch.  It was well worth the effort; what the cake lacks in presentation finesse is made up in fabulous flavor.

And in the photo of a slice below, no one is the wiser.  (Except, I guess, everyone who reads this.)

Upside down cakes are traditionally made in a cast iron frying pan.  The cake is started on the stove top and then then pan is transferred to the oven. But since cast iron and I don't get along very well (I can never get them properly seasoned), I used a stainless steel frying pan.

While pineapple upside down cake is the mother of the genre, nearly any fruit can substitute. The vintage recipe gem I followed to make this cake calls for "any fruit" and, having purchased a box of apricots at the farmer's market this morning, that's what I used.

I wasn't daunted by the lack of instruction on the recipe card; that's typical of handwritten recipes.  But when I read that the cake portion itself contains NO BUTTER, I expected failure.  Instead, I reached nirvana. And you can too.

Begin by melting two tablespoons of butter in a 10-inch frying pan.  Add a cup of brown sugar and mix well. Spread it over the bottom of the pan and turn off the heat.

Wash a batch of fresh apricots.

Cut each fruit in half. No need to peel them, saving a tedious step that must be done with peaches.

Place the apricots cut side down atop the brown-sugar-butter mixture in the frying pan.

Prepare the batter, which consists only of flour, sugar, salt, milk, one egg and baking powder.

Spoon the batter atop the fruit, spreading it with the back of a spoon to cover the fruit entirely.

Bake for 30 minutes in a 350F oven.  When done, it will look like this.

Then, the terror begins, as you try to flip it onto a pan while bubbling hot.  (Do not attempt this while you've got dinner on the stove, as I did.  It adds unnecessary pressure to an already tense situation.)  The beautiful antique serving plate I intended to use kept slipping, so I tried a smaller dinner plate about the same size as the frying pan, which seemed less terrifying.

The recipe is below. It is really, really good.
Production notes: For the topping, melt the butter completely before adding the brown sugar.  For the batter, mix the dry ingredients first, then add the hot milk and combine.  Beat the egg and then add it to the batter and combine well.