PIES sweet and savory

PIES sweet and savory
By Caroline Bretherton
Published at DK Canada

About the book

From traditional apple and cherry pies to trendy mini-meat creations, Pies: Sweet and Savory provides everything needed to produce tasty creations.

Broken down by key ingredients, Pies: Sweet and Savory helps choose the "pie of the day" according to what's in season and what's lurking in the fridge and then shares a wealth of step-by-step instructions for producing the best results.

My Thoughts

I consider pies as a comfort food.   I remember having numerous pies as I grew up from cherry ones to maple syrup.   The ones I preferred was – and still is – the maple syrup pie.  But I didn’t resist when there was a chocolate pie, a cherry pie or a blueberry pie on the table.   At Christmas time, when we went to visit my maternal grand-mother (usually at New Year week-end) there were numerous pies made with much love.

So imagine my delight when I could review a recipe book specially dedicated to pies.   How could I pass this?   It was a delight for me to explore this book and decide on which recipe I would do for the purpose of this review.   There were a lot of tempting recipes – trust me – but I decided to pick a dessert pie for my family. But before I tell you which recipe I picked… why not look at the table of contents together?

• Recipe Planners
• Meat Pies and Tarts
• Poultry Pies and Tarts
• In Praise of Pie Dough
• Fish Pies and Tarts
• Vegetarian Pies and Tarts
• Fruit Pies and Tarts
• Chocolate Pies and Tarts
• Other Sweet Pies and Tarts

As you can see this book cover a multitude of options when it comes to pies.   It’s not all about dessert as you can make pies for your main meal as well.  In the section where you learn more about dough – you will have step by step pictures in order to guide you on how to make the dough.   But unfortunately it isn’t the case for the rest of the book.  Most recipes don’t have pictures – not even the final result of making the meal.   Even so, I must admit that the ingredients are clearly presented and the instructions are easy to follow.  Still I personally like to see the final product photo when I do a recipe.  

I had multiple choices when it comes to make a recipe for the purpose of this review.   As I mentioned above, I have selected a dessert made with a fruit that we love to purchase on a regular basis… MANGO!

Caramelized Mango Tartlets

Before I give you the recipe, let me specify that somehow I have not realized that the dough recipe was included in this recipe.   I had read that I needed to do one recipe of the sweet pie dough found at page 105.   However, upon completing the dough I realized that I needed to follow the steps found on page 105 but use the ingredients listed to make the dough.  Nevertheless, the results was fabulous…

Makes 6.  Prep 40-45 minutes plus chilling and cooling.  Cook 30 minutes.

Equipment:   Six 10 cm baking dishes.

Ingredients

FOR THE DOUGH

3 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces

FOR THE FILLING

3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 mangoes – total weight of about 3 1/2 lb (1.5 kg)
juice of 1/2 lime, or to taste
1-2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar (optional)

1. To make the dough, combine the yolks and vanilla.  In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt for 5 seconds.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the egg yolks, and work until the mixture resembles peas.   If dry, work in 1-2 tablespoons of water.   On a floured surface, knead the dough until smooth.  Chill for 30 minutes.
2. Gently heat the sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a sauce pan until dissolved.  Boil, without stirring until the mixture starts to turn golden around the edge.  Reduce the heat and cook, swirling the pan once of twice so the syrup colors evenly, until the caramel is medium golden.  Immediately plunge the pan into a cowl of cold water.  Pour one-sixth of the caramel into the bottom of the baking dishes, tilting the dishes to coat with a thin layer.  Set aside to cool.
3. Peel and cut each mango lenghtwise on both sides of the pit.   Cut the remaining flesh away from each pit in 2 long slices, and set aside.   Discard the pits.   Cut each large piece of mango into 3 diagonal slices.  Arrange 3 slices, cut side up, on top of the caramel in the dishes.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 C.  On a floured surface, shape the dough into a cylinder about 30 cm long and cut it into 6 equal pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball and roll them out to 12 cm circles.   Drape the circles over the dishes and tuck the edge down around the mango slices.  Chill for 15 minutes.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden.
5. Purée the reserved mango in the food processor.  Stir in the lime juice, taste, and add more confectioners’ sugar or juice.  Chill and serve with the tartlets out of the dishes.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t photos at that recipe so I had to improvised when I couldn’t get exactly what I needed to do.   The result was a delicious dessert cooked in a ramekin.

Two more recipes are available for download on the DK Canada website - Herby Feta Filo Pie and Banana and Nutella Crumble Tartlets.  Enjoy!

The book is packed with delicious and mouth-watering recipes that will fill your belly throughout the year!

PIES sweet and savory is only one title available at DK Canada in their gift boutique.  Discover the suggestions that the staff at DK Canada has for the people in your life.

PIES sweet and savory is available at your favourite bookstore, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned title for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.