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Berries and cherries and basil, oh pie!By Larry Dreiling
I had the recent honor of being part of a three-judge panel at a special food contest at the Colorado State Fair at Pueblo. The Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust Pie Baking Championship gave the state's bakers a chance to win some pretty nice-sized premiums, including $200 cash and a silver commemorative pie knife to the top pie producing person. The rules of the contest were pretty simple. Bake a two-crust pie using one package of Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts. Include fruit in the filling. Bake in a nine-inch pie pan or a 10-inch tart pan. Include a bar code label from one package of crusts with the entry form. Billie Crump, a retired social worker, is the superintendent of special contests at the CSF. These special contests include the C&H Pure Cane Sugar Cinnamon Roll Challenge, Great American SPAM Championships, Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship, Hidden Valley The Original Ranch Dressings "Fresh Taste For The Family" Recipe Contest, and the Fleischmann's Yeast "Bake For The Cure" Contest. "We also hold a special potica (po-TEE-sah) contest here at the fair every year. Potica is Slovenian nut bread," Crump said. "We had a lot of Slovenian families come here in the early days of Pueblo to work in the steel mills. They brought their bread recipes with them and pretty soon everyone from all different ethnicities who settled around here was making potica. The Italians were late catching on, but even they have their recipes." The 16 pies entered into this contest ran the gamut of fillings, from peaches to cherries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, mangoes, green tomatoes, rhubarb, and grapes. There was even a pie that was a blend of peaches, raspberries and a sprinkling of basil. A big crowd was seated around the edge of the Creative Arts Kitchen at Colorado State Fair as this reporter was joined by Deann Pujol, a student in the culinary arts program at Pueblo Community College, and Debbie Shosky-Billings, a retired real estate appraiser who has been a longtime CSF creative arts volunteer, as we eyeballed each pie for appearance sake before the pie was cut into slices and we all took several bites of each entry. We were told to not eat for a day since we'd be eating so much. One of things we noticed was that, for the most part, we found an overwhelming number of pies were undercooked. We judges attributed this to the high altitude at which the pies were baked. Foods generally take longer to cook at high altitude because the boiling point of water is lower. Like any challenge handed a cook, we all issued the recommendation that any cook who wants to improve hears: Practice makes perfect. This year's champion was Jim Woodworth of Pueblo West with his cherry strawberry pie. Woodworth began his baking hobby upon his retirement in 1995 and has placed in national scratch baking contests. "Nobody can beat my crusts," Woodworth said. "These aren't bad, though." Woodworth's recipe entry goes on to further national competition for the opportunity for a $1,000 grand prize from Pillsbury. Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com. Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust ChampionshipFirst Place--Cherry Strawberry Pie
1 package of Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium-sized saucepan, mix well: sugar, tapioca, cornstarch and salt. Stir in reserved cherry and strawberry juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 to 10 minutes, until the juice becomes thick and boils. Remove from heat. Stir in cherries, strawberries and lemon juice. Line a pie pan with a Pillsbury piecrust and brush with egg white. Add the filling and dot with butter. Cover with the top crust, then flute and vent the crust. Bake pie for 45 to 50 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Decorate cooled pie with fresh strawberries and maraschino cherries (optional). Second Place--Cherry-Berry Pie
1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
Drain cherries, reserving 3/4 cup of juice. Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, cherries, raspberries, juice and almond extract in a bowl. Mix well. Prepare pie crusts according to directions. Line a nine-inch pie plate with bottom crust. Spoon cherry-berry filling into an unbaked pie shell. Dot with butter. Place top crust over filling. Seal and flute edges. Cut slits in top crust to vent. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Third place--Colorado Peach Pie with Raspberries
1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
Mix all ingredients together, except butter and cinnamon sugar. Place bottom crust in nine-inch pie pan. Pour in filling. Dot with butter. Create lattice with second crust and layer over top. Spinkle top with cinnamon sugar. Cover edges. Bake on bottom rack at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes (15 minutes on stone; 15 on bottom third rack.) 12/15/08 Date: 12/8/08
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