Ruth’s Rose Petal &Pistachio Pie

Our summer roses put on a glorious showing that lasted well into the autumn. We of Rose Bank House have always been better at growing flowers than vegetables. Wanting to cook with something we had grown, I collected the last of the roses and froze them until I could come up with a way to use them. This pie was the result. I like it a lot and I found cooking with roses (albeit a bit fiddly), a pleasant and fun experience. It also smelt pretty nice!

A helpful tip before you start: You will want to create the rose syrup the night before. You might want to scroll down for that bit, you’ll find it under the section titled Making the Filling.

Pie Crust Ingredients

Quarter of a cup of honey

Quarter of a cup of carob powder

Two tablespoons of vanilla essence

One teaspoon of white vinegar

A pinch of salt

Half a cup of oil

Quarter of a cup of water

2 cups of self-raising flour.

Filling Ingredients:

For the Syrup

Three cups of food safe rose petals (please see the tips section for more details but ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE COMMERCIAL ROSE PETALS FOR THIS RECIPE. The pesticides allowed in the flower growing industry have not been approved for edible produce. You could become very sick if you try eating commercial rose petals.)       

One cup of honey

One teaspoon of cardamom (taste test at the end of creating the filling. You may want more. Flavour to taste).

Juice and zest of two large oranges

For the rest of the filling

2 cups of cooked apple in juice

Two Tablespoons of Flour

A drop of red food colouring (optional).

2 egg yolks

One teaspoon of oil

Topping

One egg yolk

The reserved rose syrup.

One cup of pistachios

Making the crust.

(I recommend making the crust first).

Mix all the ingredients just enough to bring together into a dough. Pop the ball of dough into the fridge for about ten minutes to chill.

This is a delicate pastry, I found it easy to roll, but almost impossible to transfer from the bench to the pie tin. I ended up just pressing it into the tin.

Stick into your oven preheated to 240C  (464f). for about ten minutes. Remove from the oven.

While the pie crust is baking, make the filling.

Making the filling.

Combine the rose petals, honey, orange zest, juice and cardamon in a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and allow the rose petals to marinate at least overnight.

The petals will soften and a thick syrup with settle to the bottom of the bowl. Strain off the syrup. Set half of the syrup to the side and return the other half of the syrup to the bowl.

Blitz the rose petals and syrup in the blender until smooth. (See tips).

Combine the blitzed rose mixture in a saucepan with two cups of cooked apple in juice. Bring to a simmer.

Taste. You may need to add a little bit more cardamom. I did and I added a pinch of salt as well. It’s up to you.

Whisk in two tablespoons of flour. Add the oil. Continue to stir occasionally while cooking, allowing the mixture to thicken further. When a nice texture has been achieved, remove from the heat and beat in two egg yolks.

You can add the food colouring if you want to make your pie pretty. Or you can leave it out. The petals will not have enough colour to look rosy on their own.

Making the Pie.

Drop the temperature of the oven down to 230 C (446 f)  

Fill the pie crust with the filling and return it to the oven for another twenty minutes or until the pastry is flaky and the centre is firm.

Making the Topping.

Beat the egg yolk with the reserved rose syrup. Pour over the pie and cook for about another five minutes until it is cooked to a nice gooey glaze.

Finish off with pistachio nuts just before serving. If you add the nuts sooner than that, they will go soggy, and you will lose that lovely contrast between the soft pie filling and the crunchy nuts.

Tips

I recommend carob for the pie crust because I mean it. I have found that carob is often viewed as a hypoallergenic alternative to chocolate. I have never understood this. They taste nothing alike.

I used carob deliberately in the pie crust because I thought it would balance nicely with the roses, orange zest, cardamom and pistachios.

There was also a certain geographical logic to my decision. Most of the recipes for rose related desserts I read when researching my pie, came from the Middle East. Carob is a native to the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

I have found that flavours that come from the same place, often go well in the same pot.

Regarding the rose petals, you must be very, very careful where you source them. Although the majority of commercial vegetables are regularly sprayed with pesticides, those pesticides are heavily regulated for the safety of consumption.

Whether you believe such regulations are stringent enough or not, is a subject for another time.

What I can assure you of, is that commercial flowers are also regularly sprayed with pesticides and those pesticides are not regulated for the safety of consumption.

Eating commercial roses would be extremely dangerous. You must also be careful about collecting roses from a friend’s garden.

Rose sprays are notoriously poisonous. Do not cook or consume rose petals unless you are absolutely sure they are food safe.

Since so many of the rose related recipes I read hailed from the Middle East, you may be able to buy food safe roses from a Middle Easten food store if you live in a sufficiently international area.

Regarding blitzing the roses in the blender: I did not want to deal with the texture of rose petals in my pie. So I blitzed them as I recommend in the recipe. A rather horrid thing happened, the rose petals gave of a tart, drying sort of flavour that made my mouth feel all dry and yuck. A bit like when one eats a not so ripe persimmon.

I thought I’d ruined my pie. But I kept going and it all balanced out in the end.