Pacific Northwest Pie-Way: Pie Recipes

FarmMade’s Inaugural Pie-Way

What happens when THREE pie plates, TWO girls and ONE vintage trailer converge to hit the open road? A Pie-Way is born and ultimately bakes itself through four agricultural regions of the Pacific Northwest and into five distinctly different farm pies!

Each region we visited held the promise of a fall harvest that we meticulously sourced at each stop. We expertly whipped up a Nantucket Cranberry Pie and Dungeness Crab Pie along the Oregon Coast, Pear Pecan Star Galette in Hood River, Blackberry Woven Lattice Pie in the Palouse and a Wild West Bison Pie in the Wallowa’s. It was a culinary journey of epic proportions! Each pie presented us with a lesson in reverence for the farmer and all they do.

Most importantly, we witnessed first hand that not only does the farmer take a blank canvas of land and sow a masterpiece of colorful and nutritious food for our daily indulgence, they also craft other beautiful things into existence as well. Wendell Barry said it best: “We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.” Our journey’s goal was to create a union between what a farmer grows, raises AND crafts, all of them being a creative process by which the farmer expresses themselves. We accomplished this by using a Swallowtail Pottery pie plates handcrafted by a farmer. Lining each beautiful pie plate with a crust, the likes of perfection, using Shepherd’s Grain Unbleached Pastry Flour milled from grain grown by farmers dedicated to preserving precious soil with a sustainable no-till method. And finally filling each crust-lined pie plate with local ingredients from various farmers who had hand-planted, hand-cultivated and hand-harvested the ingredients we selected.

Beginning to end, our inaugural Pie-Way was an unforgettable experience and one we intend to repeat. We are already planning our next Pie-Way road trip! It will see us traveling from the Northern Oregon Coast hugging the shorelines down to Big Sur, California in the Spring of 2019. So many of you asked us to share our “pies on the road” original recipes and so we invite you to visit our Facebook & Instagram pages for many more photos of the rich agricultural regions we visited and the markedly marvelous pies we baked. The visuals might just have you planning a Pie-Way of your own!

Regions & Recipes

Region: The Oregon Pacific Coast

Nantucket Cranberry Pie

Dungeness Crab Pie: FarmMade Original Recipe

3/4 lb shelled crab meat

4 scallions sliced

5 crimini mushrooms sliced

1/2 package cream cheese

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 tbsp  melted butter

2 cloves minced garlic

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper and more to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Warm cream cheese in microwave until soft and spreadable. Combine cream cheese, scallions, mushrooms, parsley, salt and pepper in medium sized bowl. Gently fold in crab meat until incorporated, being careful not to break up the bigger pieces. Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat, add garlic and stir until just cooked. Roll out pastry dough an inch or two bigger than the size of your pie pan. Lay in pie pan, trimming overhang until 1 inch remains. Spoon crab filling into the pasty, make sure to distribute evenly. Drizzle melted butter over filling, and begin to fold pastry overhang in galette style. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbling. ENJOY!

Region: Hood River Fruit Loop

Pear Pecan Galette: FarmMade Original Recipe

4 Star Crimson Pears, sliced thinly

1/2 cup + 1/4 cup cajeta (a must watch video on how to make yummy goat caramel!)

1 cup pecan halves

Pie crust

1 egg white

3 tbsp turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Arrange pecan halves in a single layer and place into preheated oven until slightly toasted. Roll out your pie crust and place in pie pan. Trim until 1 inch of overlay remains. Arrange sliced pears in a single spiraled layer on top of pie crust. Drizzle cajeta evenly over the top. Arrange toasted pecans over the top of pear slices and again drizzle with cajeta. Fold crust overhang galette style. Brush folded pie crust with egg white and sprinkle liberally with turbinado sugar. Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours or until pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Drizzle extra cajeta over the top. ENJOY!

Region: The Eastern Washington Palouse

Blackberry Woven Lattice Pie: FarmMade Original Recipe

3 pints fresh blackberries

3/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tbsp butter – cut into very small cubes

2 tbsp heavy cream

2 pie crusts

Preheat oven to 350

Combine blackberries, sugar, flour, vanilla extract and lemon in a large bowl. While mixing, be sure to lightly macerate some of the berries, ensuring a juicy well-incorporated filling. Set aside. Roll out two pie crusts. Reserve one, folded in quarters, refrigerated. Lay one pie crust in the pie pan, neatly trimming the overhang to 1/2 inch. Tuck the overhang under itself, and crimp the edges with a fork in typical pie-crust fashion. Spoon blackberry filling and juices into the crust. Sprinkle small butter cubes over filling. Cut and arrange second pie crust into a woven lattice.  Brush woven lattice with heavy cream and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Bake in oven for 1 hour, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling. ENJOY!

Region: The Wallowa Mountains

Wild West Bison Pie: FarmMade Original Recipe

3 lbs. Buffalo Stew Meat (substitute beef brisket or stew meat)

1/2 cup Shepherds Grain Flour for dredging

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup oil plus more as needed

1/2 lb. mushrooms of choice

4 carrots chopped

1 red onion sliced

1 white onion sliced

6 cloves garlic

4 celery ribs

2 cups dark beer (we used hazelnut lager)

2 cups beef stock

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

3 sprigs thyme

1 sprig rosemary

1 beaten egg

2 pie crusts

Combine flour, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder in a large bowl. Dredge buffalo stew meat in flour mixture. Heat 1/4 cup oil in large, heavy pan such as a cast iron. When oil is close to smoking, add buffalo pieces to flash fry. Stir constantly. When pieces are golden brown, remove from pan and set aside. Add more oil as needed, and more buffalo, frying in small batches.

When done frying, clean pan and add 5 tbsp butter to melt over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions begin to sweat. Add carrots, mushrooms and celery to the pan, along with herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are close to done, about 10 minutes. Add buffalo to the vegetables and cook for another 2 minutes. Add dark beer and beef stock. Simmer on medium-low heat until a thick gravy has formed, about 25-30 minutes. Fold in one cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese. Spoon the stew into the pie crust and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Brush scored edges of pie crust with water to aid in sealing the pie. Place second rolled out crust on top of filling, trimming excess crust until none remains. Crimp edges with fork to seal. Use pairing knife to cut four small slits in the middle of the pie. Brush top of pie with egg and pop in oven for 1 hour. ENJOY!

If you would like to share a fabulous pie or pie crust recipe PLEASE DO and we will be sure to make it, bake it and post it for our FarmMade audience to enjoy!!!!