My in-laws, Rabbi Yisrael and Chana Berman, live on a kibbutz.
No, they're not Kibbutznikim, so delelte the image of them walking around in scuffed work clothes and a kova tembel! They live in Nof Tzurim, which is the residential neighbourhood of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, in Gush Etzion. They moved there in April of 2002, just a short time before I proposed marriage to my good wife Rebecca, their eldest child (it's all in the timing, some would say!). They were given many house-warming gifts, and some had the sense to pander to my mother-in-law's interest and active pursuit of gardening. One such a gift was a peach tree.
The tree stands tall and proud at the entrance to their lovely warm and inviting home, and annually produces a prodigious amount of fruit. This year, we were blessed with two deliveries of peaches. The first batch was top quality, and was eaten with joy by us all, including our three small girls. The second batch, I must confess, was somewhat inferior in quality, with some of the peaches being suitable for eating as they are, while others just weren't.
This led to my decision to cook with them. It just so happens that I recently received a stack of cooking magazines from students at Pardes, where I work. I asked those returning to their homes overseas to kindly donate these magazines to me, rather than throwing them out. Serendipity dictated that one of them was the July 2007 edition of Bon Appetit, which just happened to contain an artictle on making summer pies. As if this wasn't enough, it contained a recipe for peach pie, that seemed interesting - and turned out to be delicious!
I had sufficient peaches to make two very nice pies; one was presented to my in-laws in gratitude, the other was consumed by my family and guests over Shabbat. Following please find my adaptation of the said recipe. Bon Appetit!
Pie Crust
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (350g) unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
200g butter or margarine, cubed
5 tablespoons (or more) ice water
Method
Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. Add the sugar and salt, and the cold butter or margarine. Pulse a few times till it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add some of the water, pulse, and continue thus until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Use additional water if need be, but do not over-work.
Transfer the dough to a floured board, knead a couple of times and form into a large flat disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge, for half-an-hour at least.
Pie Filling
Ingredients
2/3 cup Demara sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1.8 kgs firm but ripe unpeeled peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 slices
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into cubes
1 egg, beaten, for glaze
2 teaspoons Demara sugar (for topping)
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 C, place rack in bottom third of oven.
Combine sugar and flour. Mix peaches and vanilla essence, add to it the sugar and flour mixture, toss to mix through.
Roll out half the pastry, and line a greased pie dish with it, being sure to leave a dough overhang of a centimetre. Place the peach filling in the pie dish, and roll out the the second half of the dough. Place it on top of the pie filling, and crimp the edges to seal the two layers of pastry. Cut two slits in the pastry, to allow the steam to escape, and brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle on the 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Bake for approximately one-and-a-quarter hours, till the filling is bubbling and the crust is a golden brown.
Remove for the oven to a rack and allow to cool.
Delicious served with whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream
Thanks, Yisrael and Chana!
Shavuah Tov,
DSB
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