The Mysterious Passionfruit Chiffon

I'm not feeling up for pie. I think all the creative cooking energy is being sapped by my students and my work. I know. It's a pie blog, right? Maybe there's a time for dessert, and a time for ... health food. Or maybe it's the weather. Houston in late January is more about margaritas and chips, beer and samosas. It's me pounding through classes, thesis, trivia night, art museum tours, stories, plays (that's a nice little list, right? I shouldn't complain. It's a bourgeois life). Taking in some family drama. Trying not to get bronchitis or procrastinate with cable. That said, here's one cloud-like tropical concoction that is a pie but somehow doesn't quite fit my idea of pie. It's so...spongy. Voila, passionfruit chiffon!
A Hawaiian delicacy, I'm told. I could only find frozen passion-orange concentrate, which I have to say, gave the pie a distinct popsicle flavor. I'd look for the real juice next time - maracuya, lilikoi, passionfruit, call it what you like, yum. I once ate fresh passionfruit in a steamy Peruvian jungle town called Yurinaki; I remember the crunchy black seeds, the bright sour fruit, which made the dusty town disappear for a minute, or at least the feeling I had of being stared at, which I never quite got used to. A stranger in a strange land - like passionfruit in Washington (I served this at T-giving). Or the white lady who teaches poetry at the urban elementary school? Or the fiction writer who does not read plays teaching Intro. to Drama? I sense a theme. More pix, and recipe, after the jump.

PASSION FRUIT CHIFFON PIE

(recipe from the Honolulu Advisor newspaper)
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup passion-fruit concentrate (or fresh juice)
  • 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
  • 9-inch one-crust pie shell
  • 1/2 cup whipping cream

    • Beat egg yolks until thick. Add 1/2 cup sugar, salt and juice. In a medium saucepan, cook over low heat until thickened. Do not allow to boil; if you have an instant-read thermometer, keep temperature at about about 150 degrees. When thickened, remove from heat.

    Soften gelatin in cold water; stir into egg-yolk mixture until dissolved. Add lemon rind and allow mixture to cool. Beat egg whites until stiff, gradually beating in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Fold egg-yolk mixture into stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into pastry shell; chill until firm. Whip heavy cream to garnish pie.

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