no. 147: passion fruit pie with Biscoff crust

Plus my triple-header catering weekend!

At the risk of sounding too sappy, I am feeling very proud of myself because I catered three events last weekend back to back to back. I have never done 3 events in 3 days, and I most definitely would not have been physically able to achieve something like this a couple weeks/months ago. Healing is such a beautiful thing!!!

I have to say, private cheffing is such a schlep. We don’t talk about it enough. Like, you need to be strong to do this work. When you see me posting food from these private events, please know that I am merely a person who has gotten good and efficient at picking up things and bringing them from one to kitchen to another. That’s, like, more than half the battle of this job.

When I got injured, one of my main concerns was…how the hell am I going to work? After a few quiet months without private cheffing, I am so, so happy to be back, and I am genuinely shocked I could pull off three events in a row. I don’t usually take on 3 events in a row, but this new ACL isn’t going to pay for itself, now, is it?! And my health insurance doesn’t want to contribute much, either!

So, here’s what I got into last week. I catered a 70-person buffet style dinner which included some grilled chicken and a toasted hazelnut and red pepper salsa, slow roasted citrus salmon, smashed potatoes, and the dreamiest, spring-iest salad.

Next, I catered a 30-person Passover seder experience. I made matzo ball soup, matzo brei, potato kugel, matzo-breaded chicken, and a salted dark chocolate tahini matzo tart. I haven’t catered Passover in a while, and it was fun to revisit some of the classics. My chicken broth was prepared with chicken feet (COLLAGEN) and it was some of the jiggliest I’ve ever made. Huge professional achievement.

And finally, I catered a 10 person birthday dinner (1 of those 10 people admittedly being myself, because this was for a friend) and I revisited a Thai-inspired menu from a dinner party that I catered a few weeks back. All in all, I’m just feeling really, really good to be BACK in the kitchen.

Here’s that menu:

Family Style Mains

Thai-Inspired Grilled Hanger Steak with Thai Chimichurri

Spicy Chicken Larb (ground chicken with herbs) with Lettuce Cups

Coconut-Lime Rice

Crispy Japanese Sweet Potatoes Wedges with Tahini & Cilantro

Thai Cucumber Salad with Red Onion, Cashews, and Coconut

Dessert

Passion fruit Pie!!!!!

I don’t have recipes for all of these items, but if you want one of ‘em, please let me know. Most people seemed to want the recipe for the passion fruit pie, so that’s what you’re getting…

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Passion Fruit Pie with Biscoff Crust

Makes 1 pie

Active time: 25 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes, plus 2 hours chilling

I make this passion fruit pie (which I will sometimes make in bar form) a lot because it is just that damn good. It’s pretty much everything that you love about a classic key lime pie, except it has the extra pucker from passion fruit puree, and that extra nutty sweetness from the Biscoff crust.

I use thawed Goya passion fruit puree for this. Fresh passion fruit can be hard to come by, but definitely check the freezer aisle for frozen passion fruit. If you can’t find the Goya puree, this stuff is amazing, and these frozen cubes will thaw to liquid, as well. If you can’t get your hands on any of these, use frozen mango puree.

If you’re using fresh passion fruit puree for the filling, make sure to the strain out the seeds. If you aren’t able to access fresh passion fruit puree for the topping, garnish with citrus zest, citrus slices, or some fanned out mango slices. If you’re in LA, I buy fresh passion fruit puree from Silom Market. It’s $4.99 for a 16 ounce bag in the freezer aisle. HOT TIP.

I can’t get enough of this pie, and it’s such a hit every time I make it.