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Birding and other pleasures and aggravations, in Berkeley and beyond, by Ron Sullivan.

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April 14, 2009

Shaker Lemon Pie Recipe

Shaker Lemon Pie
From Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken
by Ronni Lundy

2 thin-skinned and juicy lemons*
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 crusts for a 9 inch pie


Wash lemons, cut off knobs. Slice in half lengthwise, remove white pith from center, and discard seeds. Lay the lemon half, pulp side down, on cutting board and using a knife that will cut thin, slice the lemons into paper thin slivers.

Put lemon slices and their juice in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour sugar in, mixing the two together until every shred of lemon is coated with sugar. Cover and let sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours. If you let the lemons sit overnight, refrigerate and bring them back to room temperature the next day before proceeding.

Preheat over to 450 degrees F. Put one crust in bottom of pie pan. Break eggs into small bowl and beat until buttery yellow but not foamy. Blend eggs with lemon and sugar until all is mixed well and pour into pie crust. Top with second crust, trimming and crimping it closed, then slashing several air vents.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more, or until knife blade inserted near the edge comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool thoroughly before slicing.


* Recipe doesn’t specify Meyer lemons, but they’re perfect for this pie.

Responses

1 | By: VS on April 15, 2009 at 07:24 AM

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If’n I could eat lemons, I’d try it.  My poor tree is still mighty heavily burdened - despite my giving away dozens of lemons last week!

2 | By: Kate G. on April 15, 2009 at 07:30 AM

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Holy meyers. I raise my fork in graditude for this posting.

3 | By: Ron Sullivan on April 15, 2009 at 07:54 AM

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VS, as soon as I’m capable of driving that far we’ll cheerfully take you out to lunch and take some of your burden off your limbs. Er, hands.

Lemons, lovely lovely lemons.

I posted this because I told the gang over at Twisty’s I would. What I’d mentioned first was a sort of instant invention I’d made to go with the duck we roasted Sunday.

I’d made lemon simple syrup with a bunch of those Meyers sliced v. thin, and it had simmered and was steeping in the back of the stove. Joe salted down a jarful North-African-style a few months back, and they’re great too. I took half of a salted lemon and the equivalent of half a lemon in slices from the syrup, minced them together bzzzbzzzbzzzz in that junior Cuisinart gadget that came bundled with the real one, and used the result as relish. I like it! Joe likes it! I might fool around with more ingredients too, but the sweet-and-salty thing going on here plays off the lemon quite nicely.

Plus, as they’re Meyer lemons, the hides are quite toothsome and tender.

4 | By: Sally Mack on April 15, 2009 at 07:59 AM

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These Meyer lemons aren’t from a certain tree you rescued a couple of years ago, are they?

Glad you’re feeling well enough to be stirring about.

Nice scum picture, looks like my kind of place.  : )

5 | By: kathy a on April 15, 2009 at 02:12 PM

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i’m swooning, just reading the recipe.

6 | By: Pica on April 15, 2009 at 03:18 PM

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Oh my MY MY MY MY MY.

I might beg Numenius to get on this one. I suck at pies, the cooking thereof that is.

7 | By: Narya on April 15, 2009 at 06:34 PM

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This is very similar to a recipe I adapted from a fellow pastry chef. I subbed honey for sugar, and ended up having to peel the lemons, because I didn’t have Meyers and I was getting too much bitter going on. My recipe also had some cream and some vodka in it, and the crust was cookie-ish, which was nice. Plus the honey made it browner. I also let the lemons macerate for longer, thinking perhaps it was taking an extra while for the honey to do its thing.

so if anyone wants to send me some Meyer lemons, I’ll pay for the shipping . . .

8 | By: Ron Sullivan on April 15, 2009 at 08:04 PM

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Sally m’dear, every time I look at scum I think of you. Wait, let me rephrase that. We got one lemon off your tree, but something (squirrels, I suspect) keeps beating it up at the twig ends. Maybe I can get it into the ground sometime this year; that might help.

So far I seem to be capable of doing one thing a day. Today it was taking photos of a vandalized planting over neat Telegraph & Ashby. Then I picked Joe up from an appointment and he made lunch and I ate it and took a nap. I usually can’t take naps (When did I lose that? Dunno.) but I just kinda had to shut down because I didn’t have the energy to go murder the vandal, who apparently is a known entity/neighbor of the planting.

The pie really is All That. Just BTW.  Just ask Kate.

9 | By: Kate G. on April 16, 2009 at 07:48 AM

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Yup, the pie is so “all that”  that it’s on the “bring something with you when you visit” list. However Joe’s apple pie is the sleeper of the bunch.

The relish idea is verrrry intriguing. I’ve been using pickled lemons in risotto with roasted garlic and over sauteed broccoli. More fun than plain salt. Always nice to be dazzling with little effort. Yawn…a nap you say? I’m on it.

10 | By: VS on April 16, 2009 at 09:35 AM

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Good as Joe’s pies are, the memory of the vindaloo he made outshines them for me.  When *I* say an item is better than chocolate, that truly means something stupendous.  That vindaloo was better than chocolate!

11 | By: kathy a on April 16, 2009 at 03:16 PM

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vandalism at tele and ashby?  grr.  my sister and her roomies, who are still best friends for life after 25 years, used to live right there.  a couple doors down from that market that’s now whole foods or some such.

12 | By: Ron Sullivan on April 17, 2009 at 08:05 AM

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In the neighborhood—this is the traffic circle planting at Ellsworth and Russell. Film @ 11; we’re talking to the people who planted and maintain it.

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