Until this year, I’ve had a complicated relationship with pie, mostly in that I absolutely hated it. And yet, some kind of pie shows up at seemingly every holiday throughout the year. I’ve had to confront and reexamine my pie aversion over the last several years, after throwing myself into baking.
Luckily, in creating my own pie concoctions for my friends and family, I’ve changed my tune. I am now embracing seasonal pie by baking two pies for every month, one savory, one sweet. Admittedly, this is more for my benefit than yours, but I’m sharing the recipes I come up with for all to enjoy the magic of seasonal produce.
For anyone who has trouble picking out what’s in season while strolling through the produce section, I highly recommend visiting a farmer’s market in your area, otherwise, these are all wonderful resources.
There are all kinds of benefits to eating seasonal produce, including lower prices, higher quality fruits and vegetables, and being more environmentally-friendly.
For the October pie duo, I made a veggie Shepherd’s Pie, and for dessert, an Apple Raspberry Pie.
Veggie Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally a beef pie topped with mashed potatoes, but because I wanted to embrace seasonal vegetables, this one is meatless.
The three main components are your mashed potatoes, veggie mix, and pie crust. This recipe is also easily made vegan by swapping butter for olive oil or vegan margarine in your crust and potatoes.
I used carrots, onions, garlic, celery, sweet peas, and ginger, and lots of fresh herbs. You could use lentils in place of, or in addition to the sweet peas, if you want to increase the protein and make this heartier. You can really personalize your combination of vegetables and spices to your taste, but I tend to go heavy on the thyme and sage, and toss in some rosemary and oregano.
For the mashed potatoes, pretty much any variation will work, but I would add a little extra salt and butter to your normal recipe. If you’ve never made mashed potatoes, this recipe is pretty straightforward.
You can make your own pie crust easily, but a store bought crust will work just as well.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and start sautéing your veggies until they are cooked through.
Bake the crust for about 10 minutes before filling it, then layer in your veggie mix on the bottom of the crust. Finally, pile those mashed potatoes on top. Put it back in the oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
Apple Raspberry Pie
Who doesn’t love apple pie, right? But to make it a little more interesting, you can always choose another seasonal fruit or berry to toss in.
I used the last of the late summer raspberries to amp up the tartness of my apples, and emphasized warming spices to make it still feel appropriately autumnal.
Any classic apple pie recipe can be tweaked by substituting in 1/3 or 1/2 of the apples with a seasonal fruit. I added extra cinnamon, and a touch of cardamom and nutmeg, as well as a generous amount of cinnamon sugar sprinkled over the crust.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, your taste buds will surely thank you.
If you’re craving a pie on pie meal, I can now tell you from first hand experience that this pie duo makes for an insane one-two punch as an entrée and dessert.