Rhonda Schember’s column Wednesday is all about sour cherries. For some reason, I had sour cherries on the brain this summer, and reading Rhonda’s column Friday was the tipping point. I hit Frank’s Farm Market on Sterrettania on my way home. (ran into a dear friend while I was there, bonus) I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, other than make a pie, or how many I’d need, so I bought four quarts.
When I started pitting them Saturday morning (I have a gadget that does 4 at once) I realized I had more than plenty — enough, it turns out, to get sour cherries out of my system.
My kid helped pit them for about 10 minutes, and then I was on my own. That, combined with the hassle of making pie crust turned the project into a several-hour (on and off) job, so it’ll be a while before I do it again. But it was fun. As usual, I used “Joy of Cooking”‘s cherry pie recipe. I had enough to make two, and used the leftover cherries to make jam with the same instant pectin I talked about last week.
The pie was surprisingly tart (but still delicious), and it occurred to me that I might never have had fresh cherry pie before. Weird, but true. If I have, it was a good long time ago. Incidentally, every source in the world says sour cherries make better pie than Bing, cherries, but “Joy” says you can use either one.
FRESH CHERRY PIE
5 cups pitted sour (or Bing) cherries
1 1/4 cups sugar for sour cherries, 3/4 cup for Bing cherries
3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca or cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional
2 tablespoons butter, diced small
2 9-inch pie crusts
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine cherries, sugar tapioca (or cornstarch), water, lemon juice and almond extract (if using). Let stand 15 minutes.
3. Fit one pie crust into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan and fill with cherry mixture. Top with second pie crust, crimp edges to seal. Cut several vent holes into the top.
4. Bake 30 minutes. Slip a baking sheet under the pie, reduce the oven heat to 350 and baking 25 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling.
5. Let cool completely before serving.
“Joy of Cooking”