Lemon Buttermilk Pie

For some reason, it's difficult for me to find the pint sized buttermilk.  The grocery stores around here stock either the half pint, which is too little for most recipes, or a whole quart, which is always too much.  After making buttermilk pancakes on Saturday, I was left with more than enough buttermilk to try something else new...and the opportunity to use lemon #12.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine suggested that I check out a restaurant called Green Chile Kitchen in NoPA.  I thought the dinner part of the meal was just ok, but I had their lemon buttermilk pie, which they serve with a huge scoop of strawberry ice cream.  Delicious!  It tasted so fresh and summery.  I had never heard of lemon buttermilk pie before, but have since been told that it is popular in the southern part of the country. It is super easy to make, but so rewarding.

Ingredients
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar, less 1 tablespoon
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 large eggs yolks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
3/4 of the juice from the lemon you grated
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ice Cream, if you are so inclined.

Directions
1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2)  Blind bake the frozen crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
3)  In a bowl whisk together the butter, the sugar, the buttermilk, the egg yolks, the flour, the vanilla, the zest, the juice, and the salt and pour the filling into the shell.  It's ok if the shell is hot.
3)  Bake the pie in the lower third of the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F, and bake the pie for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until the filling is set and golden. (I used a small toaster/convection oven.  I baked the pie at 350 degrees F for 23 minutes and then reduced the temperature to 325 degrees F for another 24 minutes.)  Let the pie cool on a rack and serve it at room temperature or chilled.

Don't forget the strawberry ice cream!  Haagen Dazs does it for me.  =)


I often cheat when it comes to pie crust.  Sometimes I use Trader Joe's frozen pie crusts and this time I used a Mrs. Smiths.  One of these days I'll master crust from scratch, but for some reason it always drops to the bottom of my priority list.  Perhaps I secretly fear it.

The pie was so tasty, that I made another for our neighbors to welcome their newborn daughter.