I have loved mushrooms since I was a child and could smell them as my parents sautéed them for dinner. I must have been very young. According to family lore, I have eaten them since I was 3-4 years old. If I am pressed to identify my favorite food, after denying to have one favorite, I say mushrooms.
My father made a Mushroom Pie from the 1961 New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne. He would serve this as side dish at dinner parties and holiday meals. However, sometimes he would make it just because he enjoyed it. When my father cooked just for himself, it was often very early Sunday morning. He would go into the kitchen early enough to prepare himself a breakfast before his golf tee time. Although he usually made ordinary breakfast dishes, every so often he made something he really enjoyed that my mother didn’t particularly like, such as tamales, biscuits with spicy sausage gravy, Finnan Haddie, and Mushroom Pie. When I discovered his early morning kitchen escapades, I began to join him. I would crawl back in bed if he was just making poached eggs and toast, but I was ready to go for the more unique early morning cuisine. Mushroom Pie was a definite favorite.
I decided to make a Mushroom Pie for Pi Day 2021. I have a New York Times Cookbook with the recipe, but I decided it needed an update to incorporate the increased variety of mushrooms that are readily available and reflect my interest in making savory pie crusts. Here is the recipe for my Pi Day 2021 Mushroom Pie.
Pi Day 2021 Mushroom Pie
Whole Wheat Gruyere and Thyme Pie Crust
(Double Crust for 9" Pie)
4 oz grated Gruyere Cheese
1/2 cup (72 grams) all-purpose flour
2 cups (284 grams ) whole wheat flour
4 tbsp (12 grams) chopped thyme
Grated zest of 1/2 Meyer Lemon
1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
1 cup (2 sticks; 226 g) cold unsalted butter (optional - substitute 4 tbsp (55 grams of leaf lard for 4 tbsp butter), cut in cubes
5 to 6 tablespoons ice water (high altitude: in Park City I use about 8 tbsp ice water)
To Finish:
1 egg yolk plus 1 teaspoon water
Flaky sea salt (e.g., Maldon) and freshly ground black pepper
Cut butter and leaf lard, if using, in approximate 1/2 in. cubes and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Place the flours, cheese, thyme, lemon zest and salt in a food processor and pulse several times to combine and evenly incorporate ingredients. Sprinkle butter cubes or butter and lard cubes evenly over the surface of the dry ingredients and pulse quickly to break up the cubes into small peas sized pieces. With the processor running add the ice water, beginning with 2 tablespoons, then add 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough begins to clump together.
Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on the counter, dump out the dough onto the plastic. Use the plastic wrap to shape dough into a ball. Cut the ball evenly in half. Shape each half into a flat disk and wrap each disk separately in plastic wrap chill for 1 hour up to overnight. Make mushroom filling while dough rests.
Mushroom Filling
4 tbsp (1/2 stick, 57 grams) butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 lb assorted mushrooms sliced (i.e. oyster, maitake, shiitake, chanterelle, cremini, morel)
1 1/2 tbsp flour
2/3 cup half and half
1 1/2 tbsp cognac or sherry
Salt and pepper to taste
In large skillet, heat the butter, add the onions and sauté until transparent with a bit of browning.
Wipe the dirt from mushrooms with a damp cloth, remove stems, then slice. Add to onions and sauté for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Mix in flour, add the half and half and bring to a boil, stirring. Remove from heat, and add cognac or sherry, salt and pepper. 4. Let cool while you finish the pastry.
Roll out each disk of dough between layers of parchment paper. Lightly flour the parchment then roll dough to an 1/8" thickness, 1" larger in diameter than the pie plate.
Preheat oven to 375°F
Remove one layer of parchment from one of the rolled-out dough disks. Cut the dough into 1/2 inch wide strips to make lattice strips for the top of the pie, using a straight or zig-zag rotary cutter and ruler. (If you do not have a rotary cutter, use a knife or bench scraper.) Leave the strips in place on the parchment. When finished, put the top piece of parchment back on to cover and refrigerate on a sheet pan until ready to top the pie.
Prepare remaining sheet of dough for blind baking: place the other sheet of dough in the pie pan, carefully pressing into the "corners" of the pan and crumping edge as desired. Crumple one of the parchment sheets used to roll out the dough then smooth out and place it on the pie crust dough. Fill with pie weights, beans or rice. Chill for about 20 minutes. Partially blind bake for 20 minutes.
Place partially blind baked crust on cooling rack. Remove pie weights and let cool 10-15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Add filling to pie crust. Arrange strips of pastry over the top in a lattice fashion, pressing the ends to rim of the pie pastry.
In a small bowl, use a fork to mix the egg yolk with the teaspoon of water to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the pastry. Sprinkle the top of the pie with flaky sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Bake until the crust has browned, 20-30 minutes. If the edges brown too quickly, cover the edge of pie with foil.
Cool at least 20 minutes before serving.