The facts were these…

Happy Valentine’s Day! Yes, we’re still sticking with the pie theme but I did attempt a plaited heart in the centre for the occasion. I suppose Pushing Daisies is a romance – albeit a wierd one – which still makes it fitting for the day. This week I tackled what is arguably one of the most famous and obscure pies of the series, pear and gruyére (Don’t worry, the cheese is in the crust not the filling.) I was very sceptical about this but at the same time was ever so curious to find out if the combination truly worked or was just written in for the show. It’s first mentioned in S1:E3 when Chuck bakes it to cheer up her grieving, cheese-loving aunts. She also included some homeopathic mood enhancers but I definitely skipped that in my recipe.

Alfredo Aldarisio: I just can’t give them to you: it’s a controlled substance. But I have a sample pack. [gives a packet of droppers to her; later, alone in the kitchen, Chuck makes a pie, uses the vial to dispense several drops and proceeds to grate cheese over it]

Narrator: Chuck wasn’t thinking of herself: she was thinking of her aunts. Though the life she was living was not her own, Chuck found a way for her living gift to be the gift that kept giving. She took responsibility for Lily and Vivian’s happiness and took action. Even after she was dead and gone, Chuck found a way to do what she had done all her life: care for her aunts. [after it’s done baking, she puts in the refrigerator earmarked for deliveries.]

For Chuck, this is a special creation to show love to her aunts when she couldn’t see them, granted that the unsolicited herbal remedies for depression are a bit extreme. However, I can say that this pie is gorgeously complex in flavour, with a nutty, savoury crust and a rich caramel filling. It’s definitely worth trying.

As a side note, it also came to my attention when making the pie that there are an absurd number of people who don’t know what gruyére is, and that NEEDS to change. It’s a wonderfully mild and nutty Swiss cheese that I recommend you all try if you never have before.

Pear and Gruyére Pie

Serves 10 (roughly)                 Takes 1hr ( + 40 mins chilling time)

Ingredients

For the pastry:

2 1/2 cups Plain four

1/2 cup Grated gruyére (and some to top)

1tbsp Sugar

1 cup Salted butter (cubed)

1/2 cup Cold water (roughly)

1 egg yolk (for an egg wash)

For the filling:

1.2kg Pears

1/4 cup Butter

1 Vanilla pod

1tsp Cinnamon

1/2tsp Nutmeg

1 cup Golden caster sugar

1/3 cup Soft dark brown sugar

2tbsp Cornflour

1/2tsp Salt

Method

1. For the pastry, put the flour, grated cheese and sugar into a bowl and mix together.
2. Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients and rub together using your fingers until it forms a breadcrumb consistency.
3. Add a little water at a time to bring the dough together so that it forms a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 40 mins.
4. Meanwhile, peel and chop the pears making sure you avoid the cores. You can cut them however thin or thick you like.
5. Add the sugar, cornflour, spices and salt to the pears and give them a good stir through so that they’re coated.
6. Cut the vanilla pod and remove the seeds, then add both to a saucepan with the butter. Once the butter is melted add to the pears, making sure to remove the vanilla pod. (Be careful not to burn the butter)
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan
8. Once the pastry is chilled roll out two thirds of the dough and lay it into your pie dish making sure you push it tight into the edges. Leave some pastry over hanging as it will be trimmed later.
9. Pour the filling into the pastry case. And brush the edges of the pie with water/egg wash.
10. Roll out the final third of the pastry and cut out a heart in the centre (you can do whatever pattern you like for this but make sure there is a hole for the steam.) Place the pastry on top of the pie to form a lid. Trim the pie edges and pinch them with your fingers or crimp them with a fork. I then used the leftover pastry to roll out 3 pieces of dough which I then plaited as a border for the heart cut out and glued to the lid using egg.
11. Egg wash the pie and add some grated cheese on top.
12. Pop in the oven for 40 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Check it half way through as you may need to cover it with foil to stop the crust burning.
13. Leave to cool a little then cut a wedge. I actually served mine with cream and it was delicious! (Ice cream would work too.)

Hope you all enjoyed this one, and at the very least buy yourself some gruyére for valentines day, because you deserve it.

lots of love,

Alice x