The Wonders of a Pre-made Piecrust

The Wonders of a Pre-made Piecrust

The Swiss Chard Torta is such a delicate savory pie. The secret is in the crust. Making your own piecrust is not necessarily on the top of anyone’s to-do list, but it is well worth the effort. The trick to good piecrust is to use cold ingredients, cold utensils, and cold hands. You mix the flour (1 cup) and salt (1/2 teaspoon) and then cut in the shortening (1/3 cup). Add a tablespoon of ice water and gently work the dough. Add a couple more tablespoons of ice water and keep working the dough until it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Then you have to refrigerate it for at least an hour, but it’s better to chill it overnight. This “allows the fat to re-solidify, so the gluten will not develop as much when the piecrust is rolled out.” Rolling out chilled pie dough is like pushing Sisyphus’ stone. You roll and roll and don’t seem to be getting anywhere. But as the dough warms a bit and is worked under the pin, it finally begins to give way. The next thing you know, it’s spread thin on your bakery board. Ah, the jubilation at having made your own crust.

Now, who really has time for all that? In our day and age where scheduling is our medium, multitasking is our method, and busyness is our art form, we have to look for shortcuts, cut corners where we can. So when we want to make a Swiss Chard Torta with only an hour to spare, we reach for the wondrous pre-made piecrust. Patented in 1954 by Bill Hamilton Armstrong this pre-made piecrust was first packed as a roll not formed in a tin. It has since saved a many dinner, and dessert. As I’m not into high fructose anything and stay away from BHA, BHT, and TBHQ, I prefer the piecrust from Trader Joes. They actually do have better ingredients, better pizza or piecrust in this case.

So when you are short on time (and who isn’t), don’t pass over the Swiss Chard Torta recipe. Instead, sauté some chopped Swiss chard (1 pound), onion (1/2 cup), and garlic (3 cloves); whip up those eggs (2 large); mix in the ricotta (1 cup) and grated Parmesan (1/2 cup); add the chopped parsley (1/2 cup) and then reach for the premade piecrust. Viola, in about fifteen minutes at 400°F, and then thirty minutes at 350°F, you will have a wonderful semi-homemade dinner for four. And if you don’t tell anyone, chances are they won’t know that you didn’t slave away making your own piecrust from scratch.

Geoffrey