Balsamic Raspberry-Pear Pie

This post is dedicated to a bunny I once had a pet whom I named Pear...because she was shaped like one.

 You may not know this, but I have many food-world crushes. One of them is Joe Basitanich from Master Chef. The way I feel when Joe unnecessarily uses words like acidulated must be akin to how others feel when Giada De Laurentiis overly pronounces pancetta; yeah it’s ridiculous, but whatever, it touches me deep down in my soul.

Also, I have his use of the word acidulate to thank for inspiring me to create this pie. For those of you who don’t know (and I did not either) acidulate means to make something slightly acidic, in other words, to add acid. Now, while a lot of fruit pies use things like lemon juice to add acidity, I kept thinking about how balsamic is used in a lot of fresh fruit desserts. For some reason, its bitterness really brings out something beautiful in the fruit. So, I whipped up some of my favorite crust or pate brisee, which can be found here: (http://zenandsugar.blogspot.com/2014/08/sky-high-blueberry-pie.html) and put together a little acidulated fruit pie of my own.

And, because I really want to be a domestic goddess like Nigella Lawson, I decided to make my crust out of leaves! Not real leaves, obviously, but rolled out crust, cut out in the shape of leaves. It added a lot of space for the steam to release from the pie, and also made quite a pretty picture!

Balsamic Raspberry-Pear Pie

Ingredients:

1 recipe pate brisee found here: http://zenandsugar.blogspot.com/2014/08/sky-high-blueberry-pie.html

For filling:

½ cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

¼ tsp salt

1/3 tsp ground cinnamon

6 ripe pears (preferably Bartlett) peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4^ths

8 oz fresh raspberries

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 large egg yolk and 1 tbsp water for egg wash

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. After allowing the crust to chill, roll out the disc for the bottom crust on a floured surface into a large circle around ¼ inch thick.
2. Use the rolling pin to move the crust to the pie plate, leave a ¼-inch overhang, but trim any excess beyond that.
3. Take the pie plate with the crust inside and freeze it for about 30 minutes. (Also, preheat the oven to around 400 degrees Fahrenheit right about now so it’ll be ready to par-bake your crust)
4. While you freeze the bottom crust, roll out the other reserved disc to about ¼-inch thickness and using a cookie cutter of your choice (creativity is the spice of life, kids) cut out around 50 of your chosen shape.
   
   
5. Place cut-outs on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze (if you don’t have room in your freezer you can put them in the fridge) for about 30 minutes.
6. While the cut-outs are chillin’, you can make the fillin’ (that rhymed) and par bake the bottom crust.
7. Remove the pie plate from the freezer.
8. Cover the crust in the plate with aluminum foil, taking care to curl the excess out over and around the rim to protect the outer layer of crust, and fill the center of the pie with pie weights (or uncooked beans or rice) and place in the oven for about 20 minutes.
9. Start to make the filling by whisking together the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in a large bowl.
10. Add the pears and raspberries (GENTLY! You want the raspberries to hold their shape) along with the balsamic vinegar, and use your hands to mix it all together so that the pears and raspberries are evenly coated with all the other ingredients.
    
    
11. Remove the pie plate with the bottom crust from the oven and gently spoon the filling inside.
    
12. Place a small pat of butter in the center of the fruit filling.
13. Use water as adhesive and, starting from the rim of the pie crust, begin attaching your cut-outs. It’s okay if they don’t all stick, some of them might just float on top of the filling, and that is totally cool. It all looks fun. Think of it as a rustic choice.
    
    
    
14. Take a small bowl and combine the egg yolk and water together to form the egg wash.
15. Now, for me, brushing the egg wash on was quite difficult, because it started moving the cut-outs I had placed on the pie…so…eventually…I just gently poured it over the top cut-outs and sprinkled the Turbinado sugar over that. Again, rustic choices.
16. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes (the oven should still be at 400 F from when it was par-baking) The crust should be really pretty and golden, and you should be able to see the fruit bubbling inside.
17. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cover the outer rim of crust with tin foil to protect it from over-cooking.
18. Return the pie to the oven and bake for about another hour and fifteen minutes.
19. Once the pie is done, allow it cool on a cooling rack for, like, at least four hours. Believe me, the firmer it is, the better it’ll look when it’s sliced and served.
    
    
    
20. Enjoy it!

PS. This pie is awesome! It’s sweet, but the balsamic adds a mature flavor, making it the perfect fall dessert to pair with a nice glass of red wine. I had mine with a tall glass of milk while listening to the couple next door fight and tell one another to get out of each other’s lives. Isn’t it romantic?

Til next time,

D