Rustic Peach Raspberry Slab Pie

Last Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the one-and-only Martha Stewart at an event at the Macy’s store in Salt Lake City. She was there doing a book signing for her latest cookbook “Martha’s American Food” and I got to have a good sixty seconds of one-on-one time with her. :-) Yes, it was short, but still very exciting!

Martha has been an inspiration to me for as long as I can remember, so this week when I was looking for a recipe I knew I could count on Martha as a resource.

Let me back up a step. The recipe I was looking for was called “slab pie.” I happened to spot one on a website recently (unfortunately I don’t remember which one it was) and was completely enamored with the idea! I’ve never been a great pie maker, but this looked like something I could definitely sink my teeth into. :-)

So back to Martha. I did an internet search for “slab pie” and was actually kind of surprised that Martha has several recipes for something as unsophisticated sounding as “slab pie.” :-) Originally I wanted to try a peach slab pie, but her idea of a peach RASPBERRY one sounded even better, so that’s what I decided to attempt.

Here is the recipe…or actually TWO recipes…one for the crust…and one for the filling.

Slab Pie Crust

adapted slightly from MarthaStewart.com

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I haven’t tried gluten-free flour, yet.)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 sticks cold butter, cut into small pieces (after cutting up the butter, return to the fridge until just before you are ready to use it.)
• 6 tablespoons ice water

Process flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined (I used my Blendtec blender.) Add the diced, COLD butter.

Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream just until dough comes together. (Do not process more than 30 seconds.)

Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten and shape into a rectangle then wrap tightly in the plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or overnight).

Slab Pie Filling

• 2 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into thin wedges (I used two 16-ounce bags of frozen peaches since they aren’t in season right now)
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 recipes Slab Pie Crust (see above recipe)
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• cooking spray
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss peaches, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

Transfer one recipe of the dough crust to a floured work surface. Roll out dough into a 12-by-16-inch rectangle approximately 1/8 inch thick. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and then line with with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the sides. Transfer dough to the baking sheet. Trim edges of dough to hang over sides of baking sheet by 1/2 inch.

Roll out the remaining recipe of crust dough into another 12-by-16-inch rectangle. If desired, cut out small polka dots for decoration. I used a fluted canape cutter.

Pour fruit mixture onto the dough in the baking sheet.

Cover with remaining layer of dough. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then “unroll” it onto the filling (or pan.)

Trim edges of dough to hang over sides by 1/2 inch. Fold edges of top layer over edges of bottom layer, and pinch to seal. Whisk together egg yolk and heavy cream in a small bowl.

Brush crust with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until crust turns golden and filling is bubbling, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 3 hours. Pull up on parchment to remove.

As I sit here typing this post while eating a piece of slab pie….I can tell you this turned out SO good!  I love the rustic look of it ALMOST as much as I like the delicious taste! I would suggest serving a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream with it, or perhaps a little half-and-half poured over it in a bowl. Oh yeah.

If you’re intimidated by pie-making (like I am,) I hope you will give this a try. The process from start to finish takes a while, but it’s a very easy recipe and the results are SO worth it!

Thanks again Martha, for the delicious inspiration! :-)

Have you ever tried making slab pie? What is your favorite variation?