At my Uncle Pal's 90th birthday party last week, conversation drifted to the recipes of our Aunt Susie, the most extraordinary baker in the family. Each of us has a few fragments of her repertoire, and a story I had heard many years ago was repeated that afternoon. Susie "left out" ingredients when she passed on a recipe, the family insists, because nobody has been able to replicate her amazing culinary feats. In addition to the missing item, Susie's recipes often don't contain measurements, just a list of ingredients. She was a magician, unwilling to reveal her secrets.
Somehow, many years ago, I managed to extract from her the recipe for what we called the "sweet pie" at Easter, complete with amounts. It seems to work, so if something is missing, I haven't detected it. I'll be baking it tomorrow for our Easter dinner. The recipe that follows is reduced by half from Susie's original.
Crust
(Susie made a pastry crust, but I tried this cookie crumb crust one year and have continued to use it.)
1 ½ cup fine crumbs from either macaroon cookies or anisette toast cookies
6 Tablespoons butter
Filling
1 lb. ricotta cheese
½ cup sugar
4 eggs
½ cup heavy cream
Zest of one lemon, grated
Zest of one orange, grated
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt the butter and blend with the cookie crumbs. Spread mixture over sides and bottom of a 9- or 10-inch pie plate. Bake for 15 minutes at 300 degrees. Cool.
Combine all filling ingredients and stir until smooth.
Bake for 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees until filling is firm.
Squeeze lemon juice over top of the pie after baking and sprinkle with sugar.
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