Capitol Reef Fruit Pie

It's been a long time since I stopped by here. Sorry about that. There have been many ups and downs and unexpected events with this move. Plus I'm still not in a regular rhythm of cooking here yet. I don't have my own kitchen yet and its a bit strange to try and recreate my old Portland routine in someone else's kitchen.

The first thing I cooked upon arriving in Denver was a fruit pie.

My dear friend S. Compton (of lamb chop fame) was kind enough to drive with me from Portland to Denver. Instead of going the boring old way, we decided to take a few extra days and have a nice road trip. My favorite pit stop was Teasdale, Utah, where S. Compton's brother, C. Compton, and some family friends live. The drive in was gorgeous and our drive out the next day was even more beautiful. I think I might love Utah state route 24. Swoon...


C. Compton made us a lovely dinner and the family friends brought peach cobbler for dessert. The cobbler topping was light and slightly sweet, and the peaches were heavenly. They came from the orchard in Capitol Reef National Park, just a few miles down the highway. Mormon homesteaders had planted the now well established orchards in the park. We were told that we had to stop and pick peaches on our way out of town the next day. Apparently we had timed our trip just right for ripe peaches.

We drove through the park the next day, down a curvy two lane road through red canyons. We stopped at a pear orchard first but they were not quite ripe yet. A few miles down the road we found the peach orchard. At first we didn't find any ripe peaches but we finally found them on some trees near the edge of the orchard. We ate a few up in the trees, filled our arms and a grocery bag with peaches and apples and hit the road.


I wanted to make a plain apple pie but hadn't picked quite enough apples to fill one. So I supplemented with some of the peaches. Both the crust and filling recipes I used are from the Joy of Cooking. My crust required a little more water than the recipe called for because of the altitude and dry air, but it turned out well in the end. I had forgotten the fun of double crust pies.

So I don't think I'll type out a recipe because any old pie crust will do. Toss the fruit with a bit of sugar, flour, and lemon juice before filling the pie. Then bake. That's all.