Somehow it seems apropos to start this the day after Thanksgiving, a day of grand feasting. I can't think of another day that commands culinary excess and grand scale cooking than this. Ultimately, I drew a fairly simple assignment for the potluck affair, pies and cranberries. Two types of each, because one isn't enough. The cranberries were of the cooked and uncooked variety, and I must say, the uncooked dish rocked, as it contained a somewhat more than modest dose of apple brandy. Yum!
As for the pies, the apple-cranberry crumble was fine, but the buttermilk pie is the real winner here.
It is a very simple pie, and while many assume that buttermilk means butter+milk, it really is a light pie, with lemony flavors. It was adapted from a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen.
Without further ado, I give you the recipe:
Buttermilk Pie
1 pie crust for a 9" pie, pre-baked at 350 degrees for 15 minutes
6T butter, at room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, separated
3T flour
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
1 c. buttermilk, at room temperature
Keep the oven at 350 after pre-baking the crust.
Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks. Sprinkle in the flour, then lemon juice, nutmeg and salt.
Gently pour in the buttermilk.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks, fold into the yolk mixture. Pour into the pie shell.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, it should be lightly browned and slightly jiggly in the center. Serve at room temperature.