The Soy-free Kitchen Bakes Pie

Memorial Day calls for cookouts and all-American food; my husband likes pie. So, mixed berry pie is on the menu. (Red, white, and blue.)

Pie crust is not as hard as some things to make soy-free. You can't use Crisco, a mixture of soy and cottonseed oils, and my pie-dough experiments with Spectrum, a palm-oil shortening haven't turned out so well. Nor have all-butter crusts. However, since our grocery stores have begun stocking more Hispanic foods, lard is easy to come by now, and lard makes great pie crust.

But, you say, pie crust is hard, and I never make it! I know. Lots of times I don't want to make it, either. Pillsbury comes to the rescue. Their refrigerated pie crust works just fine, and is made with lard, not shortening. I seem to remember that Cook's Illustrated magazine taste-tested pie dough mixes and ready-made crusts, and, while they didn't l-o-v-e the end results, they thought the Pillsbury refrigerated was the best of the bunch. (The frozen pie shell bottoms are not as good.)

Cherry-Berry Pie

Pastry for a 2-crust pie, homemade or commercial
1 egg, optional
1 1-lb (or close, like 14 1/2 oz.) can of tart cherries, reserving 1/3 cup juice
1 1-lb (or close, like 14 1/2 oz) bag of frozen mixed berries
2 full and 1 scant tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
1 pinch salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice (use balsamic vinegar if you don't have any lemons)
1/4 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.

2. Line a 9" pie plate with dough. Brush the dough with a glaze made from 1 egg mixed with 1 Tbs water, if desired. This seals the dough so it doesn't get as soggy later on, but it is not required. Put the pie plate in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

3. In a large bowl, combine the cherries, unthawed frozen berries, tapioca, salt, sugar, lemon juice and extract. Stir, then let sit for about 5 minutes. Fill the pie plate with the fruit.

4. The top crust can be whole, have decorative holes cut into it with small cookie cutters, or be a lattice. Wet the bottom crust rim with water and then seal the top crust down by pressing the times of a fork all the way around. Trim the edges by running a paring knife all the way around the pie plate. You can also egg-glaze the top crust, if you want.

5. Bake in the lower third of the preheated oven 40 minutes. Check it after 20 minutes or so to see if you need to put foil over the edges so it doesn't get too brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serves 8.

In my opinion, this pie is best at room temperature, not warm, and tastes awesome with vanilla ice cream.