Potluck Pie Party 2015 – Rose Hip Meringue Pie in Ginger Crust

Last Saturday it was all about pie, savory and sweet. 75 food bloggers gathered at the exquisite new ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) headquarters in lower manhattan to connect with each other, the great sponsors and to indulge in pie.

This is the first time this event, expertly organized and produced by the talented Jackie Gordon and Ken Leung, has been held in this space. 

Located in Liberty Street tower in NYC’s financial district, the space is enormous and has spectacular views of the Hudson river. 

Upon arrival, we all took pictures of ourselves and our pies in front of the step & repeat. 

After labeling and placing our pies on the appropriate table, we indulged in delicious appetizers passed around by the top notch ICE staff.

Last year we were served some lovely wines. This year the bar section was a whole other level. Between the artisanal vodka, tequila and Japanese spirits, there were so many wonderful innovative cocktails to sample. 

I tried Tomba Tequila‘s Milk Maid, consisting of white tequila, coconut, lime cucumber and salt. A perfect alternative for people who don’t like their cocktails too sweet. 

Japanese spirit Mizo presented their foamy Whisked Away containing Mizo, matcha, vanilla soy and coconut milk. 

They also showcased my favorite Mizo cocktail of the day, an apple flavored concoction called Ringo I love You, with apple juice and cinnamon syrup.

Ryka vodka, handcrafted in Iceland, threw down their Honey Jack Diva, a lovely fall inspired cocktail with honey liqueur, orange bitters, pomegranate-cranberry juice and spices. 

Ok back to the pies. As always, I am amazed at the creativity and talent of bloggers. So many beautiful and mouth watering creations. 

For my contribution, I decided to do something with rose hip flavor, popular in Germany. Since I was in Munich last week, I picked up a jar of rose hip vanilla jam at the supermarket and a pouch of vitamin C rich rose hip powder at the Viktualienmarkt. 

I made curd out of the jam and poured it into a ginger flavored pie crust. Then I added rose hip powder to the meringue topping which gave it a lovely orange glow. 

I accidentally added salt instead of the sugar to the meringue. I was rushing and did not taste it before baking. After tasting it at the party(TG I was the first one to do so!) I scraped the meringue off the pie and flung it into the garbage. 

Classy. 

However, the curd part was lovely. Sweet and tangy and a nice complement to the ginger tinged crust. Very happy with both of those. The stupid part is how careful I was in creating the crust and the curd. I only had one jar of rose hip jam to play with so if it failed, I would have to switch gears entirely and make something else. Since I had just returned from Europe, I’m renaming it jet lag pie.

Seems I have a history of pie disasters at this event. Last year, I took a very crowded rush hour subway to the event, carefully cradling my precious offering between my feet. All was going well until someone kicked it and it spilled over the sides of the pan. The pie looked like the dogs dinner when I arrived. 

Hopefully next year there will be no pie drama.

Regardless, my disaster of a pie was lost in a sea of stupendous others. Fabulous flavors and beautiful presentations won the day.

When it was time to dig into the pies, Wüstoff provided lovely servers to help us out.

Prior to the party, Cabot Creamery and King Arthur Flour both generously offered to send attendees product to use in creating our pies.

Cabot put on a gorgeous edible display with fruits and all types of breads and crackers to pair the different cheese varieties with.  

They teamed up with King Arthur Flour to create an apple pie in a cheddar cheese crust. Yes. Please.

Generous sponsors had fun twitter giveaways set up including Anolon’s beautiful  Advanced umber 12 piece cookware set as well as a covered cake pan and a popular bread knife from Wüstoff. 

The bake and cookware display from Anolon was pure kitchen porn. Every piece was more beautiful than the next. 

The Wüstoff display showed off fabulous knives. Be still my permanent resident of Germany heart, I need to visit that factory next time I am home.

DUB Pies were cranking out their Australian hand pie specialties and Susan Palmer of Girl in the Little Red Kitchen was Anolon Cookware’s guest blogger for the event.She made Beef and Chorizo Empanadas.

We were provided with an optional guided tour of the space. The kitchens and classrooms were beautifully appointed. They even have a chocolate lab. ICE also sponsored a giveaway where attendees could win a free class.

As if the food, pies, giveaways, fabulous cocktails , facility tour weren’t enough, One of the lovely ICE staff, Sarah Chaminade, assisted by Trevor, a future pastry chef,  gave a demo called, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about making pie, but were afraid to ask. I picked up some good tips.

But wait, there was more! We all walked out with swag bags stuffed with goodies from the above mentioned sponsors as well as  Wild Hibiscus, Honey Ridge Farms, Half Pops and Tovolo home. 

I can’t believe I’ve got to wait a whole year to attend another Potluck Pie Party. Looking forward and planning my (hopefully non-disastrous) contribution.

• 8 egg whites
• pinch each of salt and cream of tarter
• 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar (NOT SALT)
• 1 +1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons rose hip powder

Directions:

• Place the egg white in a stand mixer or bowl if you are using a hand held mixer.
• Whip until foamy and then add the salt and cream of tarter.
• When the egg whites start to solidify, slowly stream in the sugar.
• Add the ground ginger and rose hip powder.
• When the mixture forms stiff peaks, it’s done.

• Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Press the pie crust into a 9” pie pan.
• Line the op of the crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil. 
• Place pie weights on top of the lining. If you don’t have pie weights use dried beans or pennies.
• Bake the crust for 15 – 20 minutes, until the edges start to turn slightly golden borwn.
• Remove the pie weights and the parchment paper/ or afoil.
• Place the pie shell back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes .
• Remove from oven and place the pie shell in the pan on a cooling rack.
• Let cool for 10 minutes.
• Spoon the curd into the pie shells and use a rubber spatula to spread the meringue on top.
• Place the pie back in the oven for 10 minutes ,until the meringue starts to turn golden brown.
• Remove from oven, place on the cooling rack. 
• Let cool completely before serving.