I've decided to end my "Summer Pies" series with a visit to a very famous market in my city. The "Mercat de la Boqueria".
It is located in "La Rambla", and nowadays is always bursting with tourists. What used to be a typical market place, for the local people to go and buy the groceries, has transformed into a must-see place in Barcelona.
Not that I'm complaining, you can buy a freshly made juice of any combination imaginable while you take a stroll inside the market.
There are still lots of traditional shops where you can buy fresh fruit, meat and fish; run by people who had been in the business for their whole lives, whose shops were owned by their parents, and their grandparents before them.
Most of them are specialized shops and, if there is a special ingredient that you can't seem to find anywere, you can probably find it in "La Boqueria".
So, one Saturday morning I woke up early -to avoid the crowds- and walked to the market without any recipe in mind, hoping to find something to inspire me. And I ended up buying a kilogram of sweet cherries for a cherry pie, which, strangely enough, I had never made.
I suppose that the heat in Barcelona was not in my favor while preparing the pie crust, since it took quite a lot of fridge time for me to coax it into something manageable. It turned out a little bit sloppy, although I prefer to say that it's rustic ;)
I must say that this is a very intense pie. If you really like cherries and love bold flavors, this is for you. I would recommend to serve it with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream, in order to balance out the flavors.
Sweet
Cherry Pie
Pie
crust ingredients (for a 23 cm pie pan)
- 300g flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 60mL olive oil
- 120g butter (cold)
- 80ml water (very cold)
- 1 egg (for the egg wash)
- 2 Tbs water (for the egg wash)
Pie
crust directions
- In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Add olive oil slowly while stirring (manually).
- Slice the cold butter, add it to the mix and blend. Bear in mind that there need to be small portions of butter in the dough.
- Add water little by little, stirring until the dough forms a ball. Roll slightly and divide in two equal balls.
- Roll the ball, fold in three parts (like you would do with a letter) and afterwards fold into three more. Wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for an hour.
- Grease the pie pan with some butter and sprinkle with flour.
- When the hour has past, roll the dough again, reaching a diameter 5 cm larger than your pie pan. Line the pan with the dough and prick with a fork. Refrigerate again while you prepare the filling.
- Repeat the process with the other ball of dough if we intend to cover our pie with it.
Pie
filling ingredients
- 140g sugar
- 2 Tbs cornstarch
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 680g sweet cherries (pitted)
Pie
filling directions
- Pre-heat the oven at 200ºC (392ºF).
- Mix the sugar, cornstarch, zest and lemon juice. Add the cherries and stir well.
- Pour the mix into the lined pie crust and decorate with the remaining pie crust as desired. Paint with the egg wash.
- Bake at first for 20 minutes, checking the pie. After that time has passed, cover the borders of the pie (if necessary) with foil in order to prevent the crust from baking too much. Keep the pie baking in the oven for 35-40 more minutes until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden.
- Let the pie cool down before eating it, serve with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream.
I hope you enjoy it! Here's the pdf with the recipe.
Anna
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