Christmas Slab Pie, Part 1

As you may know, we're fans of FINE COOKING magazine. One of the things I like most is that it calls me to my best cooking time and again.

Sometimes, it even calls me back to it. Until I saw a recipe for a slab pie in the magazine, I hadn't thought of this old-fashioned dessert since I was a kid in the South.

If you don't know, a slab pie is like a gigantic, baked turnover: a flaky butter crust, like a long thin envelope, sealing in a sweet fruit filling. You cut the pie into narrow strips. There's no pie tin or plate, so the crust gets extra-crunchy--so much so that those thin slices can be eaten out of the hand.

This summer, there was an apricot slab pie recipe in the August/September issue, in Karen Barker's fabulous article called "A Pie in the Hand," all about fried pies and other pie-ish delights that can be eaten without a fork in sight. (If you want to look at that article, click here.)

I dog-eared the page to try it--but never got around to it.

Until last week--when I wanted to make a dessert for the book group at the Norfolk Library. (If you want to know more about the book group I lead, click here.) We were reading Colum McCann's LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, it was a dreary and cold day, and I thought about that slab pie. Apricots? No way. Not at this time of year. But maybe I could reinterpret it for the holidays.

And I did. (Hey, sometimes I not only write, I actually cook.)

Here's my version of Karen Barker's recipe. We're going to do this in two steps. This post is about getting the crust and the filling ready. The next (here) will be about putting it all together.

First, put 3 1/3 cups (425 grams) all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons (38 grams) sugar, 1 teaspoon (about 2 grams) ground cinnamon, a generous pinch of grated nutmeg, and a less-generous pinch of fine sea salt in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Pulse a few times to blend. (Karen's dough is not spiced, more in keeping with her summery pie.)

Add 18 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons--or 270 grams) cold unsalted butter and 3 tablespoons (36 grams) cold, solid, trans-fat-free vegetable shortening into the machine, the butter and shortening cut into small chunks. It's important that both be cold so that they don't "goo" the crust. Process until like coarse sand.

Add 6 tablespoons (90 ml) ice-cold water and pulse many times until a dough starts to come together. (Again, very cold water so the fat doesn't melt.) If a dough doesn't come together after 10 or so good pulses, add a dribble or two more cold water and pulse a few more times

Dust a clean, dry work surface with flour, then turn the dough out onto it. Gently press the dough down, flour it lightly, and shape it into an irregular rectangle, about 12 x 8 inches (30 x 20 cm). I flattened a bit with my palms, rolled a bit--and wasn't too concerned with the exact dimensions because more rolling is ahead. Seal the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

On to the filling. Here's where I changed the recipe quite a bit--to make a dried-fruit filling, perfect for the holidays.

You'll need 16 ounces (1 pound--or 455 grams) pitted, dried fruit: dates, dried cranberries, dried figs, and raisins. For mine, half the weight was pitted dates, plus 5 dried figs; I filled out the rest with raisins and a few dried cranberries for a little sour pop. (Make sure you take the hard stems off the dried figs.)

Mince the dried fruit and put it in a large saucepan. (Always helps to spray a knife with nonstick spray when you're mincing sticky dried fruit.) Stir 2/3 cup (160 ml) red wine, 2/3 cup (160 ml) water, 2/3 cup (130 ml) sugar, 1/3 cup (80 ml) orange juice, and 3 tablespoons (45 ml) whiskey. Bring to a simmer over medium heat--then reduce the heat to very low and cook slowly until the dried fruit is incredibly soft and mushy, about 50 minutes. Stir it every 5 or 10 minutes at first, then more and more as it goes on. By the last 10 minutes, you'll need to stir the mixture almost constantly to keep it from sticking and scorching. Stir in 1/2 tablespoon (7 ml) lemon juice and remove the saucepan from the heat.

Use a potato masher to mush the dried fruit into a filling, about like that in Fig Newtons. Cover and refrigerate overnight with the dough.

In the next post, it will all come together.

Comments

[Laura Flowers]

LOVE this one! You make me want to run out and buy everything to make this beauty. You know, I just might!

Laura

[Denise]

Great tweak on Karen's slab pie, Mark!

[Michaela@finecooking]

Fantastic! I am in awe (and wishing I could reach in a grab a piece)!