Mixed Summer Fruit Crostata

2020 continues to be challenging. While my waistline argues with my taste buds daily, I’m afraid it’s time for more comfort food. You were warned…

Mom was a pie girl. You know how some folks bake cakes, or brownies, or cobblers? Mom baked pies. Pumpkin, lemon meringue, lemon sponge, fresh glazed strawberry, shoo fly, old fashioned cream… the requisite wheat germ was added to the pie dough, but by and large, the pies from her kitchen were delicious and highly prized by a kid who loved sweets. There might have been a few surreptitious visits to the kitchen when there was leftover pie… until suddenly, there was no pie…

There was one pie, though, baked on the grayest of Ohio’s wintry overcast days that captured the essence of summer sun. This was Mom’s mixed fruit pie. She prepared and froze her chosen fruits in the summer, because that was when they were fresh, ripe and at their personal best. Her mix did not vary, consisting of pineapple, peaches, strawberries and Bing cherries. Mixed with sugar, flour and a hefty slug of Jamaican rum, then frozen in pie sized portions. I think she believed these pies to have restorative power. She would make an annual announcement, with great regret, when the last of the fruit mix was made into pie. There would be no more until the following summer.

Life in southern Arizona is all about never ending sun, so I don’t try to freeze summer in a bag. Besides which my freezer is already overflowing with citrus products from our grove of citrus trees. But I do make my version of Mom’s fruit pie right about now, when peaches and cherries are beautifully ripe and plentiful. My fruit mix emphasizes whatever summer fruits are best at the moment, but typically includes peaches, berries of various sorts, and Bing cherries. A tiny bit of sugar and spice, with a hefty slug of bourbon. It’s a mighty fine pie, if I do say so. 

And what makes it even better? Baking it into an easy to shape and bake crostata. A crostata is an Italian style free form tart, like a pie without the pie pan. Just roll out the dough into a rough circle, pile the filling in the center, and fold the dough up around the edges before baking. Simple enough for a family dessert, rustic and special enough for company as well. And, of course, you can always choose to use the pie pan if you are so inclined; just use a double crust pie dough. 

Warning: do not try to bake this pie with commercially frozen fruit. It doesn’t have the sweetness or juiciness of fresh ripe fruit. Of course, I know this because I’ve tried it… It has been a banner year for beautifully ripe fresh summer fruit, peaches in particular. In fact, given the fateful turn of events thus far this year, fresh summer fruit might be one of the very few redeeming events. Gotta find the bright spots where they exist, however small they may be. I recommend that you rush out and purchase the fruit for this pie while it is still available. It might disappear tomorrow, because that’s just how 2020 rolls, don’t you know?