Happy Pi(stachio) Day!
Every March. I present a pie in honor of Pi Day, which is on 3/14. This year is no exception, although I find myself writing the column before I’ve even conjured up the pie in my mind, much less physically baked the pie. Somehow, there’s a plan. Lurking.
And I’m trying to entice it out of my brain into tangibility. Into
reality. And into edibility. And I can’t begin to imagine the
photographability yet.
That said, I’m letting loose the dam in my brain, sitting back, and watching what washes by. And here’s what I’m seeing. I see chocolate first. And that chocolate leads me to the chocolate oreo crust for the pie. And somewhere back in my brain, I’m thinking, “Golly, St. Patrick’s Day is somewhere up ahead,” so then the color Green pops out. And I’m pondering, “OH, Nuts! How am I going to make it green?” And all of a sudden, all these pistachios start swimming by in my stream of consciousness and I have part of my answer. Next, do I make a pistachio custard or a pistachio pudding for my pie filling? Well, being the multitasking, hyper-achieving, angst-ridden being that I am, I decide to do both. And there you have my convoluted mental process leading to my Pie for Pi Day. It’s an Oreo-based crust with a pistachio custard first layer (which are baked together) and a pistachio pudding filling (which is just spooned on) for the second layer.
Before I start, let’s differentiate between custards and puddings. A custard, by definition, contains egg yolks to thicken it. It has a heavier, richer, firmer, and denser texture than pudding. And custard needs to be cooked, generally in a double boiler or water bath, to keep the eggs from curdling. Pudding, on the other hand, uses a starch like flour or cornstarch for its thickening agent, resulting in a slightly looser texture and a more gelatinous consistency. And a pudding is not as fussy as a delicate custard. It can be cooked and thickened over the stovetop without having to worry about egg proteins coagulating as they might in a custard, ending up with scrambled eggs.
Before I start, let me emphasize the beauty of this. I’m starting out with a deep-dish pie dish and I’m making a super simple crust, then I’m making both custard and pudding layers. You, on the other hand, can take a regular pie dish and you can choose: Crust and Custard? Or Crust and Pudding? You have options. My launch sequence has been set already, so I’m going with Crust, Custard, and Pudding. And beyond that, I have whipped cream topping lurking somewhere, perhaps something else green for St.Patrick’s day, maybe some chocolate leaves. It’s totally open for me.
Enough intro. Here's the column I wrote for the Outer Banks Voice:
Celebrate π Day With πstachios
Every March, I offer a pie recipe in honor of π Day, March 14, or 3/14. My contribution this month is a twofer – I’m making Pistachio Pie using both pistachio custard and pistachio pudding. I’ll be starting with a chocolate and mint crust, then adding pistachio custard and baking the pie. It’s perfectly fine if you want to stop here and just serve the custard pie as is, but I’m taking it one step further. I’m adding a second layer of pistachio pudding on top. Then I’ll decorate with some whipped cream and crushed pistachios and call it a day.
For the crust:
Process Oreos until fine crumbs, then pour in melted butter. Pulse several times to combine. Press crumbs firmly into a deep pie dish, using a spoon to press where the bottom and sides meet so when you slice it the side crust doesn’t separate from the bottom.
Pistachio Custard
Process the pistachios and ½ cup sugar until you get a fine crumb.
In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, ricotta, and remaining ½ cup sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating and mixing well after each addition. Slowly beat in the milk and cream until well-combined. Stir in the extracts. Whisk in the ground pistachio/sugar mixture.
Rosie Notes:
1) If all you have is an 8 oz. stick of cream cheese, you can use that and leave out the ricotta. You don’t need to buy ricotta specially for this recipe. I only had ½ stick of cream cheese so I subbed ricotta, which I already had, for the rest.
2) You could use whole milk instead of the 2% and the cream. I just never have whole milk on hand, but I always have either skim, 1%, or 2% and cream, so I used a combination of 2% with cream.
Pour custard filling into Oreo crust. Bake at 350° about 55-60 minutes, covering the edges with foil about halfway through baking. Custard may be a little jiggly in the center, but will firm up as it cools.
Cool completely, about 2 hours. Then refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Now, if you’d like to call it quits here, you certainly can, but I would decorate with whipped cream, crushed pistachios, and perhaps some chocolate curls for good measure.
If you’re still up for more, I’d recommend the pistachio pudding to spoon over top. The pudding uses pistachio butter which gives it an intense earthy and nutty flavor. You’ll end up with two layers when you slice the pie. When it comes to desserts, I live by the philosophy “More is more.”
Pistachio Pudding
Rosie Note: As with the custard, I used a combination of 2% milk and cream for the whole milk. In this case 2 cups 2% milk and 1 cup cream. Again, I opt for more fat.
Make the pistachio butter:
I shelled a one-pound
bag of raw, lightly salted pistachios.
This yielded about 2 cups of nuts which processed down to about 1 cup of
pistachio butter. Pour the nuts into a
mini-processor and blend on high speed.
First, process to a fine powder and use a spatula to scrape down the
sides. Continue processing until the
pistachios start to clump together and keep scraping every now and then. Eventually, after enough processing, the
pistachios will release their oil and turn into a creamy paste. Be patient.
This takes about ten minutes or more of processing, depending on the
strength of your processor.
In a medium size pot, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in eggs, milk, and pistachio butter until fully combined. Cook mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture has thickened and large bubbles are plopping up, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat.
Optional step at this point: If you like, you can strain the pudding through a fine-mesh strainer to leave behind any pieces of nut and get a creamy smooth pudding. I happen to like the bits of nuts, so I didn’t bother to strain. Plus, I’m lazy.
Stir in the butter and almond extract.
Pour the pudding over top of the custard filling and wrap with plastic to prevent skin from forming. Chill at least 4 hours.
Rosie’s Riffs:
This pudding recipe would make a fine pie on its own. Simply pour it into an already baked pie crust, refrigerate until set, then decorate with whipped cream, pistachios, and chocolate. You could use crumbled Oreos or perhaps make chocolate curls or shavings with a vegetable peeler, or sprinkle on grated dark chocolate. Lots of possibilities here.
You could also use the pudding to make a pistachio pudding trifle. Using a clear glass deep bowl so you can see the distinct layers of this dessert, layer cubes of angel food cake or pound cake with pudding and whipped cream. Tuck in additional whole pistachios, cherries, and chocolate crumbs for accents.
Happy π Day.
Enjoy.
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