Pie!

We love a good pie.  Let's rephrase -- no we do love a good pie.  We REALLY love a savory pie. In the U.S., we primarily think of pie as a sweet confection, but in Britain and many other places, the word "pie" evokes a savory concoction.  We love a good savory pie.  We love finding a book that expands our notion of pie. 

We saw a photo of one of Genevieve Taylor's pies at 1000 Cookbooks and we were smitten.  So we tracked down her book, Pie!. Then we realized this wasn't the first time we had run across Taylor.  Egg-lovers that we are, we also have a copy of her book, A Good Egg.  Pie! is part of series by Absolute Press. In addition to Pie!, Taylor has published Soup!, Stew!, and Mince!.  The titles offer up an idea of  Taylor's food philosophy. 

Taylor uses simple, readily available ingredients to construct pies that as tasty as they are lovely. Don't be too alarmed at what may seem like longs lists of ingredients and instructions.  Yes, some of the pies seem a bit complicated, but don't despair.  Take a breath and remember there is a crust, there is a filling, and there is cooking. 

Start with the crust.  Taylor gives specific and cogent instruction on making the various crusts. Her fillings for her pies explode with flavors. Yes, for you sweet lovers, there is a fine apple pie, a lovely lemon meringue, and more than a few tarts.  The book really shines with its savory options.  The traditional steak is there along side an ox cheek, oyster, and stout.  There are hand pies like Cornish pasties, but there are also vegetable options like squash and cumin yogurt, and pear and walnut with gorgonzola.  The is pork, game, fish, chicken, lamb along with lots of vegetable options.

Pie! has a great mix of options that will make you a star in your kitchen.  Here is a favorite.  It has beef and rich sweet potatoes that are spiked with a spicy horseradish.  We followed it with Taylor's recipes for making the shortcrust pastry.  In her introduction to her book, Taylor offers up the option to go ahead and use a store bought pastry.  That is one of our favorite shortcuts, so go ahead and cheat a bit. But whatever you do, grab a copy of this book.

Roast Beef, Sweet Potato, and Horseradish Pie

For the pie

 

2 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped

600g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks

300ml beef stock

300g cold roast beef, cut into bite-size pieces

2–3 tbsp grated horseradish (available in jars), or horseradish sauce for a milder flavour 

plain flour, for dusting

1 batch of Shortcrust Pastry (see page below for the pastry recipe)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the crumble topping

 

100g plain flour

50g butter, chilled and cut into little cubes

75g mature Cheddar cheese, grated 

To make the pie, put the oil into a large frying pan and set over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onions, along with the rosemary, and fry for 15–20 minutes or until lightly caramelised, stirring from time to time. Stir through the sweet potatoes and then pour in the stock, seasoning well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, then cover with a piece of damp greaseproof paper pressed down over the sweet potatoes, tucking it under snugly at the edges – this creates a steamy lid to help cook the sweet potatoes. Simmer until soft – this will take around 15 minutes, depending on the size of the chunks. 

Remove and discard the paper – the sweet potatoes should have absorbed most of the stock; if it is still quite liquid, then simmer, uncovered, for a few minutes. Remove from the heat, stir through the beef and horseradish and set aside to cool completely.

Once the filling is cold, preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 4mm (the pastry needs to be slightly thicker here as the filling is robust so it needs a sturdy crust to hold it in) and use it to line a 23cm springform cake tin, bringing it about 4cm up the sides of the tin. Spoon in the filling, levelling it out as you go.

For the crumble topping, lightly rub the flour and butter together in a mixing bowl. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, mix through the cheese and season well with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the pie filling, but don’t pat or press it down as you want to leave it light and airy. 

Bake in the oven for 40–45 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through and the crumble topping is crisp and golden. Remove from the oven, leave to cool for a few minutes, then slide a knife around the inside of the tin and release the springform. Carefully transfer the pie to a serving plate or wooden board and serve hot. Green vegetables on the side are a great accompaniment for this pie, and perhaps a little extra horseradish sauce for those who like things fiery.

Shortcrust pastry recipe

 

Makes about 325g

Takes 10 minutes to make (plus chilling)

180g plain white flour

a pinch of fine salt

90g cold butter, cut into small cubes

3–4 tbsp ice-cold water 

Food Processor Method

Put the flour and salt into the food processor and whizz briefly together to mix, then add the butter cubes and pulse briefly a dozen times or so until you have coarse crumbs. If you use the pulse function in very short, sharp bursts (rather than just leave it in the ‘on’ position) to rub the fat and flour together, then I think it works more like super fast fingers and there is less chance of overdoing it. Next, you trickle in the ice-cold water, whilst pulsing all the while, just until the mixture resembles rough lumps and looks a bit like overcooked and dry scrambled eggs. Add only as much water as you need. Don’t keep processing until the mixture comes together in a big ball as that will develop the gluten in the flour too much, so be sure to stop before you get to that stage. 

Tip the clumped crumbs onto a sheet of cling film and gently squeeze together into a ball without pressing too hard – little air gaps are a good thing and will add a lightness and crumbliness to the cooked shortcrust. Wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Traditional Rubbing-in (by hand) Method

The method is essentially the same, but your fingertips and thumbs work together to literally rub the flour, salt and butter together until you have coarse crumbs. Lifting your hands out of the bowl as you rub adds air. Then once again, add just enough cold water to bring the mixture together into clumps – I find a blunt table knife is best to use here, using it to stir and cut through the crumbed mixture as you mix. Again, tip the clumped crumbs onto a sheet of cling film and squeeze gently into a ball, then wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. 

Southern Pies

 Recently, I was at a Southern Foodways Alliance event and among the cool people I got to meet was Nancie McDermott.  I have several of her cookbooks and it was a joy to meet her, live and in person!  So in honor of National Pi Day, what better cookbook to write about than McDermott's Southern Pies.  Not to be confused with her equally fun Southern Cakes, which will need to get its own day.

Allow me to confess that given a choice of pie or cake, I am definitely in the cake camp, but again, it is Pi Day!  

Want proof that it's a Southern pie book?  Ask yourself how many pie books have a good recipe for the quintessentially Southern chess pie?  Now ask yourself how many pie books have multiple chess pie recipes?  Now  the lofty etymology of the name "chess pie" is that it was a pie one took into the drawing room to play chess.  None other than James Beard said the pie got its name because it held well in a pie "chest."  But most folks say the name came from Southerner's who said, "Why honey its jes pie." McDermott gives us classic, chocolate, buttermilk, and lemon, plus a variation or two.

 The list of Southern ingredients stuffed into this book for make pies include: green tomatoes, scuppernongs, peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, peaches, and the aforementioned buttermilk.  The people associated with the pies are a Who's Who of Southern cooking: Dr. George Washington Carver, Leah Chase, Nathalie Dupree, and Bill Smith.  Bill Smith came to Chapel Hill's Crook's Corner when Bill Neal owned the place.  He never left.  This is his take on Southern pie.

Bill Smith's Sweet Potato Pie

Pastry for a 9-inch single-crust pie (store bought or basic crust)

Pie Filling:

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds)

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract or vanilla extract (I used vanilla)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch pie pan with crust and then crimp the edges decoratively.

2. In a small bowl, combine flour cinnamon, allspice, cloves, baking powder, and salt and use a fork to stir them together well.

3. Place the sweet potatoes in a medium bowl and beat them well, using an electric mixer at medium speed or a whisk or big wooden spoon. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add the sugar and beat to incorporate it completely into the sweet potato-egg mixture. Add the spice mixture, milk, butter, and extract, and beat at low speed to combine everything evenly and well.

5. Pour the filling into the piecrust and place it on the lowest rack of the oven. Bake until the edges puff up and the center is fairly firm, wiggling only a little when you gently nudge the pan, 40 to 50 minutes.

6. Place the pie on a cooling rack or a folded kitchen towel and let cool to room temperature.

Nancie McDermott's Southern Pie, like Southern Cakes before it, is the best kind of cookbook, because it is not just a collection of recipes, but a collection of stories, a collection of our history with tasty pie at the end.  And who doesn't love history when there is pie at the end?  While Pi Day rolls around only once in century, Pie Day is any day you want it to be.  Add this cookbook to your collection and everyday will be Pie Day!

 

 

Did we mention the Southern Foodways Alliance and Bill Smith?  Check out this Gravy podcast with Smith's cool list of tunes.

Happy Pi Day, y'all!

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

Maya Angelou died today.  She left us with many great stories, a few life lessons, and a song or two. (Check them out at Lucindaville.)  She also shared some of her favorite recipes with us in her book, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes. 

For Maya Angelou, everything had a story.  Her recipes were no exception.  In an interview with NPR she said:

"Food served is always more than just food served. That is to say, it is more than just fuel for the body. Depending upon who has prepared the food and who has served it and with what spirit, it can uplift the--and around the world, in every culture, food is used to flirt, to be coy, a raise in the employment or to search for employment. It can bring warring factions together. Food can be used to apologize. So I use it with my respect for the ingredients and I love that it is--there's a science in cooking. I love knowing what heat under certain circumstances will do to certain foods. And then I love preparing it carefully and presenting it beautifully and sharing it generously with my table mates."

This recipe came from her grandmother, a pie filled with lemon and a long story.  Read her story and then, bake this pie.  Somewhere she will be smiling.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 1/2 cups crumbs from soft-type bread (no crusts)

4 egg yolks (reserve whites for Meringue)

1 tablespoon butter

Grated rind of 1 medium lemon

Juice of 2 medium lemons

One 9-inch pie shell, baked

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In top part of double boiler, mix well sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in hot water and combine until smooth. Add bread crumbs and cook over boiling water, stirring until smooth and thickened.

In small mixing bowl, beat egg yolks, and stir in a small amount of mixture. Then combine the two mixtures in boiler, and cook over low to medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice. Cool slightly.

Pour mixture into baked shell. Pile Meringue lightly on top, covering filling completely.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Meringue

4 egg whites

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

4 tablespoons sugar

Beat egg whites with salt until frothy. Gradually add cream of tartar and sugar. Beat until stiff but not dry.

Not A Cookbook - A Pie

Yesterday's cookbook, Pies and Tarts, inspired dinner. We dug into the freezer and found a package of puff pastry. During Christmas, we made lamb stuffed with chorizo made earlier in the year. There was a chunk of the stuffed lamb in the freezer that was thawed. There was a package of mushrooms and of course, beer.

The mushrooms were sliced and sautéd as well as half a chopped onion. The lamb was cut into chunks and tossed in the pan with a bottle of dark beer and cooked down. The puff pastry went into a springform pan. The lamb and mushroom mix went into the springform and the other piece of pastry went on top. It baked for 45 minutes. And we had a savory pie for dinner.

 

Pies and Tarts

 

 I would have to say Stephane Reynaud is one of my favorite chefs.  I love, love, love his cookbooks.  I ordered Pies and Tarts from England in November.  It got lost.  I ordered it again and finally it arrived.  And just in time for the snow. Really, is there a better time to cook up pies than during the snow?  There are rabbit pies, beef pies, fish pies, cheese pies, apple pies, every type of pie one could ever want!  In fact, you will find pies that you never thought of and familiar pies put forward in new ways.

While Reynaud often has recipes that might feel overly complicated, he walks the reader through them in such a way as to make the most complicated concoction seem totally do-able.  All of his books have been like this.  The beautiful photographs often make the recipes in Pies and Tarts seem unobtainable, but following the straightforward instruction will turn you into pie rock star.

This is the cover pie:

Lorraine Pie 

2 packets puff pastry (500 grams)
4 French shallots 
4 garlic cloves
250 g veal topside
250 g  pork scotch fillet
1 bunch tarragon
1 sprig rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
200 ml Gewürztraminer wine
Salt and pepper
1 egg

Peel the shallots and garlic, then finely chop. Cut meat into strips about 1 cm wide.  Pluck the tarragon,rosemary and thyme leaves.  Marinate meat with shallots, garlic, herbs and wine. Season, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator 12 hours.

Divide dough in half and roll out two rectangles of the same size until about 3mm thick.  Line a baking tray with baking paper and lay one rectangle of dough on top.  Spread over the drained strips of meat with shallots, garlic and herb, leaving 1 cm border all around.  Whisk the egg and use to glaze the edges.

Cover with second piece of pastry. Seal the two rectangles of pastry dough by pinching edges.  Glaze them and roll the edges inward so they tick together.

 Criss-cross the dough lightly with the tip of a knife and glaze the top of the pie.   Bake at 180 C for 45 minutes. 

OK this is the British edition so veal "topside" is loin and pork "scotch fillet" is a simple shoulder.   In the US, most frozen puff pastry come in two sheets, so you need only one box.  We chose this recipe because we wanted you see the final product.  We don't eat veal, but Reynaud is French so he eats anything.  Today we are inspired and are heading into the kitchen for a beef and mushroom pie.
More later.

 

The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook

When I was a kid in Alabama, my great-aunt, Ruth, kept a jug of clabber in the larder.  As a kid, I was totally disgusted.   As an adult, not a week goes by that I don't bemoan the fact that I never learned how to make Ruth's clabber.  It started with a mother that sat there for years, never once going in the refrigerator.  She seemed to use milk made from a powdered milk.  I always thought that was false until I read up on cheese making and found that the ultra-pasteurized milk found in every store will not make cheese but powdered milk will.  Odd, I know.  Still, I have no clabber recipe, so I am relegated to that stuff in the supermarket called buttermilk which is not really "butter" milk at all, but just milk with a bit of culture and thickener thrown into the mix.  Well, I digress...

Today's cookbook is The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook by Diane St. Clair.  St. Clair has a dairy in Orwell, Vermont.  As you know from reading this blog, we do love Orwell -- George Orwell and rarely does one find a cookbook and an Orwell reference all in one!  In the culinary world, Diane St. Clair is famous for being the personal butter maker for Thomas Keller.   After a hard day of making butter for Per Se, there is buttermilk to be had.  If anyone knows how to use all that buttermilk, it is Diane St. Clair. 

We will not be holding against St. Clair that she is in Vermont by way of New York.   We will try to get our readers to refrain from making her cornbread.  While she calls it "tender" we call it "Yankee" as it has enough sugar to make sweet tea!  But there are other sweet things in the book we are fond of, like the raspberry buttermilk tart.   Raspberries are probably our favorite fruit of summer and this is a delightful way to show them off.

Raspberry Buttermilk Tart

1 Buttermilk Piecrust, arranged in a 10-inch fluted tart pan
2 cups fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
3 egg yolks
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Set the tart pan on a baking sheet.  Bake the piecrust for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.  Let the crust cool slightly, and then Spread the raspberries in the crust.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar with the flour.  Mix in the egg yolks and lemon juice  and , zest, and then beat in the butter.  Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Pour the mixture over the raspberries.

3. Set the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is just set in the center. Let cool before serving.

Rumor has it, this is actually better if you let it sit for a day, but I can't really see that happening.  What you need to do is make two -- you're heating the oven anyway.  Then you can have one for dinner and hide one in the back of the fridge for later.

The Complete Southern Cookbook

Tammy Algood is not the name that comes to mind when one thinks of "complete" Southern cooking, unless you live in Nashville.  Algood is quite the star on local television and at many Tennessee wineries.  Tennessee, not just for whiskey anymore! 

The Complete Southern Cookbook features 800 recipes spanning nearly 500 pages and not a picture to be found.  A cookbook with out photos these days is a rare commodity --in fact, it is often thought of as poor "commodity."  We have often complained this year (and last) bout the dearth of  seasonal-farm-to-plate-eat-locally cookbooks with chickens and tractors adorning the cover.   So the plain cover with the single etching of a Southern vernacular home and the straight forward, recipe upon recipe actually makes Algood's book stick out in this era of overproduction.  

And, it is an abecedary!  We just  love those.  Not a winter-spring-summer-or-fall recipe in the entire book.  Cook the dish when you want to without being scolded for making Fried Green Tomatoes in the middle of December.   Got bacon?  Algood has recipes with bacon.  Cola? She has cola recipes.  Mac and Cheese?  Page after page of ooey gooeynes.

(As an aside, I must admit to going back on more than one occasion to search the book for ant type of illustrative graphic as it does seem inconceivable in this day and age that a cookbook would off the press without anything...and yet.)

Yes, this is Southern cooking from A to Z.   And speaking of "Z" here is one of Oprah's favorite things. 

 Savory Zucchini Pie

2 cups shredded zucchini
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 white onion, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup all-purpose baking mix
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. paprika

 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate and set aside.

 In a mixing bowl, combine the zucchini, eggs, onions, baking mix, cheese, oil, salt, pepper, sage, and paprika. Blend well. Transfer to the prepared pie plate.

 Bake 45 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack before slicing and serving. 

This recipe is both retro and tasty.   In many ways, a fitting example of Tammy Algood's The Complete Southern Cookbook.  While no one is more overjoyed than I to see the plethora* of Southern cookbooks on the market filled with new and innovative ideas, it is equally as joyous to find a cookbook, devoid of any embellishment, that so beautifully captures Southern food.

* I recently read in some cooking magazine (hum...it just doesn't seem to stand out, now) that one should never use the word "plethora" in writing about food, something about trying to sound smarter than you are.  This begs the question -- What if you ARE smarter than the person telling you not use plethora? I personally love "P" words and plethora is one of my favorites -- so read this a veritable plethora of screw you.

Cooking In A Castle

My friend, Anne, recently sent me home with French cookbook entitled Cooking In A Castle by William Kaufman.  It's a tough job, traveling around France, visiting castles and eating their food, but someone has to do it.  (Why isn't it me?)

The book is chocked full of pictures of castles, but nary a morsel of food.  Still, it offers up some interesting recipes.  It seems that in France, as in much or the world, owning a castle is not cracked up to what it used to be.  One must keep up the building and grounds without loyal subjects who face the guillotine if they do not obey.  So many of these later day chateau owners have become defacto hoteliers to keep the lights on.

The book, published in 1965, offers up a Red Devil Cake.  This version of a Red Velvet Cake is usually found in books about the American South, not the South of France, but there it is in all its glory, illustrating that the history of our popular red cake is not as unique or as Southern as we think. 

Today's recipe is from the Cahteau de Cheronnac.  Its major claim to fame is that at one time (when this book was written) it was owned by Lily Fayol, chanteuse extraordinaire.

As summer is creeping up on us, I am always on the lookout for tomato recipes.  This recipe for a Tomato Pie has my mind spinning with all the different ways I can make (improve) it.

Tomato Pie

Pastry for one pie crust
6 large, firm tomatoes, sliced
1/3 to 1/2 cup butter
Salt, pepper, curry powder


Cut a 14 inch circle of aluminium foil; place on baking sheet and flour lightly.  Roll out pastry into a 14-inch circle; flute edges if desired.  Bake in a 425 F. oven for 10 minutes; remove.  Sprinkle tomato slices lightly with salt, pepper and curry powder.  Dredge in flour.  Melt butter in a large skillet.  Fry quickly on both sides until brown and crisp.  Place tomato slices on top of the pastry side by side. Bake in 350 F. oven 12 to 15 minutes.

This looks like a definite summer staple.

Handheld Pies

Handheld Pies was one of many Christmas cookbooks. The reason I got his book as a present was clearly stated. My friend, Ann believed that she would like to eat some of the handheld pies on the cover. Seemed like a good plan.

The book is fairly straightforward. The twist in the book is that the pies are backed in a small, transportable manner. Little tarts in cupcake tins, cream pies in preserve jars, and tiny little pop tarts. The recipes are familiar, pared down versions of pumpkin pie, cherry pie, coconut cream, lemon meringue and even a chicken potpie in a little pot.

Sarah Billingsly and Rachel Wharton visited a vast array of pie shops from East to West, North to South and offer up a short profile of these shops. The book offers up several crust options including a plain, flaky butter crust and a cornmeal crust. Then there are a series of filling options, like cherry, blueberry, and apple.

Blueberry Filling

3 cups/340 g fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
1/4 cup/50 g sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix gently so as not to crush the berries. Use immediately.

You can pick a crust and make a pie in a jar or little pop tart pies.

As you can see, the recipes are familiar but the deliver provides several cool options for presenting and pie that one might have in their repertoire.

Pieminister

We have acquired several British cookbooks as of late. Now we love a good pie, but frankly we love a great savory pie. Apples and pears and berries, oh my. But for a really spectacular pie try chicken and rabbit and leeks...among other things. Enter the Pieminister. The most funnest pie shoppe in Britain and now the best little pie book one can lay one's hands on. Loads of savory treats and sweet touch or two.

Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon were just two blokes who loved their pie. Then one day it dawned on them that they could be piemakers. They tried out a bunch of recipes and in 2003, they opened a little shop in Bristol. The next year, they became the official pie shop of the Glastonbury Festival. Then they became the pie shop of the Borough Market in London. Pieministers started sprouting around and now, for those of us who live outside their delivery area, Pieminister, the cookbook.

Really, the book is filled with yummy casseroles stuffed into pastry. So if one to find one's self trapped at home with no flour or suet, the book would still work. (Though, frankly, if one has,sausage, cider and potatoes, my guess is there is some flour around.) Of course, in America, it is rather hard to find suet anywhere, except in the occasional bird feeder. Keep your fingers crossed that suet will become the new "It" ingredient and start showing up everywhere. While we don't like to tamper with a recipe, the suet-challenged can stuff this into a fine plain pastry.

Sausage, Cider & Potato Pie

500g new potatoes, cut into slices 6-8mm thick
25g butter
1 onion, sliced
1 dessert apple, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 tsp sugar
100ml good-quality cider
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
500g herby sausages
1 quantity of suet pastry
handful of grated Cheddar cheese
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten, to glaze
sea salt and black pepper
a little chopped thyme and/or sage, to decorate

Cook the sliced potatoes in boiling water until tender, then drain and set aside. Melt the butter in a pan, add the onion and cook gently until softened. Stir in the apple and sugar and cook until the apple slices are tender but sill hold their shape. They should just be starting to caramelize a little. Pour in the cider and simmer until almost completely evaporated. Stir in the mustard, season with a little black pepper and remove from heat.

Slit the sausages open and peel off the skins. Mix the sausage meat with the potatoes, using your hands to break it up a little. Finally, stir in the warm onion and apple to give a loose mixture.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Roll out half the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm thick. Use to line a pie tin and then fill with the sausage and apple mixture. Brush the edge of the pastry with beaten egg. If you like, you can add the Cheddar at this stage, pushing it down into the filling to make cheesy pockets. Roll out the rest of the pastry to about 3mm thick and use to cover the pie, trimming off the excess and pressing the edges together to seal. Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and then make a couple of holes in the centre to let out the steam. Place in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is cooked through – check by inserting a skewer in the centre; it should come out hot. Serve with a WI-competition-winning chutney.

What could be better? I am headed to the kitchen now.

Cold Dishes For Hot Weather

It seems that EVERYONE is talking about the weather. It seems funny that during this horrible "hot" spell, no one is raising the issue of global warming. It is 104 in Washington, D. C.! So it seems time to pull out this little gem, Cold Dishes For Hot Weather. As with the weather, many of these dishes are libel to end up "hot" or at the very least lukewarm before they can be served.

this book was written in 1896 and it features many a simple and straightforward offering.

Egg-Plant Salad

boil the egg-plant until cooked; peel and cut into small pieces; add the juice of a lemon , 1 tablespoon of oil. Mix well and serve.

Simple and to the point.

This book loves "patties" for cold dishes and offers this time saving advice:

The cost and trouble of making patty-cases is such that it is far preferable to buy them at the caterers'; especially is it desirable as when the cook will run the risk of spoiling the paste. Pie pastry is not so easily spoiled as patty of puff paste, and as this is not obtainable, the cook will have to tempt fate and try her own skill at making it herself.

And then... the reader receives absolutely no information on making one's own puff pastry or pie pastry for that matter. It is obvious that the cook is obliged to buy those puff pastry cases and be done with it. After you buy yourself some pie crust you are instructed to make pies like this one...

Cheshire Pork Pie

Skin a loin of pork; cut into small steaks; season with salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Make a pie-crust, and fill with a layer of pork, then one of apples, pared and cored, and sugar enough to sweeten it, then another layer of pork; pour over half a pint of white wine, and cover all with a little butter before covering the pie.

OK, that is all the instruction provided. One assumes the pie must now be cooked. Since it has chunks of pork and raw apples, one would think it might just need to be cooked for quite some time. Since it is 1896 and most stoves are still wood-fired, I'm going out a limb here and saying that this "cold" dish is going to seriously heat up my house. My "hot weather" is going to be blazing hot in my house! But the time this pie cools down it may well be tomorrow! I believe that Cheshire Pork Pie should therefore be a 'Hot Dish for Cold Weather."

I'm headed back to the air-conditioning with a Dove Bar.

Plenty

In 2006, The Guardian asked Yotam Ottolenghi to write a weekly column on vegetables. “The New Vegetarian” proved to be a runaway hit with readers and it spawned Ottolenghi second cookbook, the vegetarian That led to a vegetarian Plenty. It is often noted that Plenty spent a great deal of time on the England’s best-seller lists jostling with some girl with a dragon tattoo! Who knew veggies could be so scintillating.

If there is any irony to this accomplishment, it is that Ottolenghi is not a vegetarian, himself. In fact, he caused quite the stir when he boldly announced, “You can be vegetarian and eat fish.” This sent the died-in-the-wool (or should I say, the-vegetable-dyed-in-the-hemp) vegetarians into a frenzy and her later tweeted, “To all, fish eaters are NOT vegetarians!”

I feel if you are going to be a vegetarian, you should be a vegetarian that eats meat, but I digress.

Recently, Yotam Ottolenghi paid a visit to Martha Stewart, who was gaga over Plenty. He made the following tart:

Caramelized Garlic Tart

375g all-butter puff pastry
3 medium heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
220ml water
¾ tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped thyme, plus a few whole sprigs to finish
120g soft, creamy goat’s cheese
120g hard, mature goat’s cheese
2 free-range eggs
100ml double cream
100ml crème fraîche
salt and black pepper

1. Roll out the puff pastry into a circle that will line the bottom and sides of a 28cm, loose-bottomed tart tin, plus a little extra to hang over the edges of the tin. Line the tin with the pastry. Place a large circle of crumpled greaseproof paper on the bottom and fill up with baking beans. Leave the tin to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Place the tart case in the oven and bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, then bake for a further 5-10 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Set aside. Leave the oven on.

3. While the tart case is baking, put the garlic cloves in a small saucepan and cover them with plenty of water. Bring to a simmer and blanch the cloves for 3 minutes, then drain well.

4. Dry the saucepan, return the garlic cloves to it and add the olive oil. Fry the garlic on a high heat for 2 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes.

5. Add the sugar, rosemary, chopped thyme and ¼ teaspoon salt to the garlic in the pan. Continue simmering over a medium heat for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the garlic cloves are coated in a dark caramel syrup. Set aside.

6. To assemble the tart, crumble both types of goat’s cheese into pieces and scatter them over the bottom of the pastry case. Spoon the garlic cloves and their syrup evenly over the cheese – the deliciously caramelised garlic will try to stick together in clumps.

7. In a jug, whisk together the eggs, creams, ½ teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Pour this mixture over the tart filling to fill the gaps, making sure that you can still see the garlic and cheese peeping through.

8. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/Gas Mark 3 and put the tart in the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the tart filling has set and the top is golden brown. In my oven, this took almost an hour in total. If the tart’s golden and cooked on top but still wobbly, remove it from the oven and don’t worry – it will set as it cools. Leave the tart to cool a little.

9. When you’re ready to serve, remove the tart from its tin, trimming and tidying the pastry edge if needed, lay a few sprigs of thyme on top and serve warm (but not burning hot) with a crisp salad.

On Martha, he used American measurements, but my copy is from England so you have to ask Martha for conversions.

Or, you could pick up your own copy, which is what we would suggest. Ottolenghi has a nifty blog and he talks about his trip to New York, so, do check it out.

Flavors of Chile

Someone gave me a small promotional cookbook that was produced to highlight the cuisine of Chile. Flavors of Chile is a kind of a glorified church fundraiser cookbook in a slick format.

There is no exposition and a few typos, but basically, it is quite a nice little cookbook, featuring some easy and interesting recipes. It makes me want to eat more Chilean food. The book is heavy on seafood, but offers a good mix with vegetables, and sweets. The plain little translations of the recipes are a bit funny.

Sometimes, you find some really nice little cookbooks in the guise of a publicity brochure. This apple dessert is an easy take on a tarte tatin and really deserves a better moniker than "apple dessert". Keep in very thin and serve with a bit of cream.

Apple Dessert
Postre de manzana
6 cups apples, peeled and cored and in thin slices
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 a lemon, its juice
2/3 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted frozen butter, in lumps
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to high heat. In a bowl, mix the fruit with half the cinnamon, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon sugar. Pour the mixture into an 8 inch square or 9-inch round baking tin.
2. Place the rest of the ingredients in a food processor, including the remaining cinnamon and sugar, and process for a few seconds until coarsely mixed. Spread the mixture over the apples in the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden and the apples are cooked. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You just never know where you might find nifty little recipes.

Intimate Gatherings

Chronicle Books has an excellent track record with the production of cookbooks. They tend to favor a slightly small and square format, the paper stock is thick, the photography is beautiful and while they might not be as exhaustive as some cookbooks, but every title is solid and true to their titles.

Intimate Gatherings feature meals for groups of two, four or six individuals set in each season of the year. Ellen Rose runs a cookbook shop, The Cook’s Library, in Los Angles and Jessica Strand is a journalist and writer. The purpose of this book is to provide an outline to prepare simple and uncomplicated meals for small gatherings.

Each menu begins with a “Meal Manger” which provided an outline or a “to do “ list for the meal. You can begin the meals at least three days or an entire week before your gathering. The recipes are simple and you have probably seen most of them before. I am not sure that is such a bad thing in this instance. The idea of the book is to create an intimate gathering, bringing together a small group or even a single friend or lover to share a meal. The communion is the most important ingredient.

I wouldn’t mind communing with someone who made me this cobbler.

Aunt Jennie’s Mixed Summer Fruit Cobbler

1/4 cup walnuts

Topping

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

Filling

5 cups mixed fresh fruit, such as peeled, sliced peaches or nectarines, and blueberries or blackberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar (or more depending on the sweetness of the fruit0
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt


Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan. Put the chopped walnuts in the pan and roast in the oven for 6 to 8 minutes.
2. To prepare the topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and confectioners’ sugar and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the salt and vanilla and beat for another minute. Add the flour and beat until just combined. Stir in the nuts by hand. Roll the dough between two sheets of waxed paper into a square the size of a baking pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. To prepare the filling: Place the fruit, sugar, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.
4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the filling is hot and bubbling. Remove the pan from the oven
5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Peel off the top layer of waxed paper, place the dough on the fruit, and peel off the remaining piece of waxed paper. Tuck any overhanging pieces of dough between the fruit and the sides of the pan. Cut 3 or 4 small decorative slits in the dough with the tip of a sharp knife. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the crust is pale golden.
6. While the cobbler is still warm, run the blade of a small knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Serve warm with a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

While the meal manages are spelled out in this book, they are a good idea to plan any party, large or small. Next time you plan a meal, think of what you can make ahead, plan it out a bit and make a simple to-do list. It will make your part of the meal a lot more enjoyable.

The Pastry Queen

When I had a bookstore in D. C. I was often referred to as "The Queen" by friend and most probably, foe, alike. I was once asked by the New York Times to comment on fashion and being Southern I focused on hair. I told them, "The three most important things to Southern women are God, Family and Hair; almost NEVER in that order."

So it is no wonder I love a cookbook that features something called Texas Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Meringue Tarts written by a pastry queen. These tarts are the signature recipe of Rebecca Rather and are featured in her book aptly entitled, The Pastry Queen. As a child I was not particularly fond of meringue. My mother made lemon meringue pie and, like Rather, couldn't resist seeing how high she could get her meringue to stand-up. This meant that the meringue was at least 4 times as tall as the pie itself. I could never find a way to get through the meringue to get to the lemon, so I would carefully remove the meringue in one giant piece and set it to the side, much like one removes a crown.

Now that I am grown-up, I see the remarkable ability it takes to produce those towering meringues and would give anything for one more of my mother's pies.

Rather's book is chocked full of treats for both the eye and the stomach. It is one of those books you want to have, even though you may never cook a single recipe. But do yourself a favor and cook away.

Texas Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Meringue Tarts

Crust

1 ½ cups pecans or sliced almonds
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt

Lemon-Lime Curd

10 extra-large egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the meringue)
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Meringue

10 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
3 cups sugar

To make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Arrange the pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast them in the oven for 7-9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. (If using almond slices, toast for 5-7 minutes). Coarsely chop your nuts.

With your fingers, butter eight 4 3/8 inch, 1 cup capacity disposable foil tartlet pans using about 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter total.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add the vanilla, then gradually add the flour and salt and combine on low speed until incorporated. Add the nuts and mix on low speed just until they are incorporated. Form the dough into a ball-it will be sticky-and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, divide into 8 equal portions and press into the prepared pans, making sure it comes up to the top edge of the pans. If the dough sticks to your hands, dust them with flour as often as necessary.

Bake the crust about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes before filling with lemon-lime curd.

To make the curd:
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, lime juice and zest in the top of a double boiler. Add the butter to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until melted and smooth. Cook about 40 minutes, stirring about every 15 minutes. The curd should be thick, resembling the consistency of loose custard. Transfer the warm mixture to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface of the curd, sealing it and leaving no air between the wrap and the curd. Refrigerate the curd for at least 4 hours and up to 3 days. For express cooling, freeze it for at least 1 hour.

Making the meringue:
Set a large, perfectly clean metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Pour in the egg white and sugar. Heat the egg whites and sugar while whisking constantly until the sugar melts and there are no visible grains in the meringue. Take a little meringue mixture and rub it between your fingers to make sure all sugar grains have melted. Remove the meringue from over the simmering water and whip it with a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on low speed for 5 minutes; increase the speed to high and beat 5 minutes longer, until the meringue is stiff and shiny.

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the broiler. To assemble the tarts, spoon the chilled lemon-lime curd into the crusts, filling them about three-quarters of the way to the top. Pile the meringue on top of the curd. Style the meringue with your fingers by plucking at it to tease the meringue into jagged spikes. Set the tarts on the middle rack of the oven and broil until the meringue topping turns golden brown, about 1 minute. Watch the tarts closely, as they can turn from browned to burnt in a matter of seconds.

What did Keats say, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." Or at least until you devourer it!

Once Upon a Tart

Once Upon a Tart is a restaurant and cookbook and lovely art object all at once. Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau met while working for a French hotel group. They knew from the start they wanted to work together outside their corporate life. Frank’s original idea was a line of condom key-chains. I know I speak for many people saying I’m glad that idea didn’t fly.

They decided to make tarts. After feeding them to friends and family, they gave some samples to other people and they got one order – for 40 tarts. Jerome was leaving the next day for a vacation. Undaunted, they make 40 tarts. After working in a space with a tiny refrigerator and one oven. One particular Thanksgiving week, while making their first delivering in their first used car, a woman ran a red light and Jerome wrecked the car and 100 tarts.

It wasn’t long before a café was in the works. Soho has never been the same. When Once Upon a Tart became a cookbook, it became one of the most beautiful cookbooks published in years. It is printed on thick, glossy paper. It jacket is a brown Kraft paper, like much of their packaging. The boards feature a glossy table of apples and the jacket has a cut-out, revealing the apple. I hate books with cut-outs. The jacket ALWAYS gets torn. While it is beautiful, there is always a danger of damaging the cover.

And speaking of beautiful… try this tart.

Baked Lemon Tart

3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup lemon juice (juice of 4 lemons)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 par-baked 9 inch Flaky Tart Crust

1. Position your oven racks so there is one in the center, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the eggs and yolks together in a medium-sized bowl. Add the sugar with one hand while continuing to whisk with the other. Still whisking, pour in the lemon zest and juice, then the cream. Pour this lemon custard into you par-baked tart shell. It should come to 1/8 inch from the top edge of the tart. You may have a little leftover custard, which you can bake in small ramekins – a little treat for yourself.
3. Place the tart on the center rack of the oven, taking care not to spill the custard, and bake the tart for 25 –30 minutes, or until filling is firm to the touch and doesn’t jiggle when you shake the pan.
4. Remove the tart from the oven, and set it on a wire rack to cool slightly.
5. To remove the tart from the pan, the pan, rest it on a big can, Make sure the tart is steady and balanced. Slide the outside ring of the pan down off the tart. Move the tart to your work surface, and slide the tart off the pan bottom onto a rimless serving dish or cutting board. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

They suggest using you leftover egg whites for one of their meringues. You can freeze egg white easily and they are quite good. Just remember to note how many whites you have in the container.

How Mama Could Cook

William Randolph Hearst was the master of invention. When he needed a column for women to run in his papers he simply invented a woman to write for his papers, Prudence Penny. In the late 30' and 40's Hearst's paper, the New York American, hired Dorothy Malone as their Prudence Penny. For twelve years she dispensed advice on cooking, housekeeping, entertaining and child rearing.

Dorothy Malone, was a failed ballerina. After dancing and teaching school, Malone found her true calling as a newspaper reporter. Malone attributed her knowledge of cooking to her mother. When Malone decide to publish a collection of her mother's recipes, she chose to use her name over her profitable nom de plume. The resulting book, How Mama Could Cook, blended her mother's recipes with Malone's memories of her headstrong and flamboyant mother.

Malone’s Mama was a bit of an “Auntie Mame” character. Malone explains her in a succinct list of attributes.

Mama Knew Everything
Mama Had Everything
Mama Was A Feminist To Her Soul
Mama Had Drama
Mama Could Cook
Mama’s Parties Always Ended Up In The Kitchen

Mama was not adverse to using her feminine wiles even with her support of women. Malone tells us:

“she considered femininity the strength , hope and light of the world. She believed not so much in women’s rights as in women’s privileges, and she never hesitated to spread the idea.”

As much as she believed in femininity, she also believed in pies. Mama considered pie “man’s most appealing dish.” Her show stopper was her famous Petticoat Pie.

Petticoat Pie

4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine sugar, flour, and salt in the top of a double boiler. Add the milk and egg yolks, mixing thoroughly. Cook over boiling water for about 10 minutes, stirring all the while, until the custard thickens and is smooth. Then take from the fire, put to cool, stirring occasionally to break up any skin; when the heat is out of it, pour into a baked waiting pie shell, the rim of which is fluted like a starched petticoat.

Cherry Glaze

2 cups pitted cherries
1 cup sugar
1 1 /4 cups sherry juice
1/3 cup cornstarch

Drain the juice from the cherries, heat to the boiling point. Blend together sugar and cornstarch, add enough cold water to make a smooth paste, then pour this into the boiling cherry juice. Cook for about 3 minutes, until smooth and very thick. Cool slightly, fold in the drained cherries, and pour over the cream filling. The top the pie with swirls of sweetened whipped cream so only the pie’s stiffly fluted edges show.

So, the next time you need a tire changed, offer to bake a pie and have some man change it. Me and Mama know you can fix that tire, but we also know you can bake a pie!


The Los Angles Times recently ran an article about Hearst's "fictional" women's writers, but alas, it never mentions Dorothy Malone, or her Mama!