Peach pie in the raw

Saturday was a very Martha-Stewartsy day. I cut our homemade soap. Planted 60 tulip bulbs. And baked a pie for the naturalization party of a good friend's daughter, whose birth country is Tibet.

Orginally I had thought to make brownies, but when our neighbor presented us with a bag of peaches from the tree across the street, the die was cast.

At the party we were asked to write our ideas of what it means to be an American for the new citizen. I wrote something lame about self expression, but later thought that it's really about possibility. That in spite of the damage we've done to our reputation as Americans on the global stage, the world is watching this election slack-jawed, amazed by the diversity of the tickets and the message of possibility for future generations contained therein. Kinda makes you want to wave a flag, doesn't. Albeit an itty bitty one.

Anyway, our country is lucky to have the newly minted citizen we celebrated on Saturday. At 13 she is a poised, empathetic young woman who works hard and cares deeply about others. Lucky us to have her on our team.

Back to dessert. I didn't skin the peaches, because I'm lazy preferring a rustic pie, but simply sliced and tossed them with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 TBs flour, the juice from 1/2 a lemon and a 1/2 tsp almond extract.

I use another neighbor's crust recipe, which goes as follows:

2 cups flour

7/8 cup butter

1.5 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1.5 tsp vinegar

1 small egg

1/4 cup cold water

Instructions: Combine the first four ingredients in a food processor and pulse gently. Combine liquids and whisk together in separate bowl. Add slowly to food processor and pulse until mixture is moistened. (Don't over pulse or you'll end up with cardboard. Ask me how I know.)

Mold into ball and chill at least 15 minutes before rolling. Make crust. Fill. Back at 375 degrees for about an hour. Allow to cool.

Arty raw pie picture

Local pie