It is summer and too hot for the oven. The grill awaits. Inspired by a lesson on grilling at Chef JJs in Indianapolis, I explored the possibilities on my own grill.
People: Grill masters who can adapt their skills to make a Grilled Pie. The grill master at Chef JJs uses the Big Green Egg. Admittedly the temperature is easier to 
control in the Egg, but my own gas grill works just fine.
Places: Your own backyard grill (aka outdoor kitchen!)
Pies: At Chef JJs, we learned to make an appetizer pie with chard, mushrooms, and ricotta and a meat pie with ground meats, peppers, onions and spices. 
The chef uses a pizza-like dough, and for the mushroom pie rolled this crust in herbs. The chef then spreads the filling in the center and brings up the sides of the crust towards the center. The pie “bakes” for 30 to 40 minutes and then is cut into small serving slices. Using the same technique, it is also easy to make a pizza pie either as a main dish or another appetizer.
I made a dessert pie on my grill and used my usual lard and butter crust. I filled the crust with seasonal stone fruit. I call it “Grilled Fruit Pie Rustique.”
Grilling brings out the flavor of the summer-ripe fruit. The crust rises to make a “shell” around the fruit and has an interesting crispy texture, but maintains the rich flavor of this crust. Most fruit pies, single or double crust, grill up nicely.
- Crust for single crust pie
- 4 cups sliced fruit
- 1 Tbsp tapioca or ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup sugar (brown, white or mixed) to taste depending on sweetness of fruit
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- Sugar for crust
- Using your favorite recipe for crust (mine is from Kate McDermott’s book, [i]Art of the Pie[/i], and crisped up nicely)
- Preheat grill to 400 degrees. Place a large disposable (but reusable) aluminum lasagna pan on the grill while preheating.
- Mix all ingredients for the filling.
- Roll crust to fit a disposable aluminum pie pan with sides overlapping; sprinkle with sugar if desired.
- Place crust in pan; edges will drape.
- Fill crust with fruit and fold sides of crust toward the middle of the pie. Sprinkle with more sugar if desired.
- Place pie in grill on top of the lasagna pan.
- In the closed grill, bake the pie for about 20-30 minutes. Check frequently and remove when crust is brown and the fruit is bubbling.
- Cool and enjoy.