Category: Pie

Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie

Hello friends and greetings of the season!  Today’s Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie comes from Singers and Swingers in the Kitchen.  I last visited that book in 2013!  The recipe comes from Eva Marie Saint, star of On The Waterfront, North by Northwest and many other films. The Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie is so called because it was a pecan pie, made every Christmas by Eva Marie’s sister Adelaide.

Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie

You’ll see from the above that a made little pies rather than one big pie.  I had some mini pie crusts in the freezer from another cooking project so I decided to use them up instead of buying a big pastry shell.  Cooking time on the small tarts was 30 minutes.   I also could not find dark corn syrup in my local supermarket. I subbed in a mix of 2/3  golden syrup and 1/3 maple syrup.  Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie3

Is pecan pie served traditionally at Christmas?  I would love for one of my American readers to tell me?  It feels like it should be  – it certainly makes sense when Christmas falls in winter and fresh fruit is in shorter supply than in the summer months.  

Chrismas Adelaide Pecan Pie Recipe

Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie

 

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If you wanted to double down on recipes from this book, the Christmas Adelaide Pecan Pie would be divine with a scoop of Barbra Streisand’s Coffee Ice Cream.  This might also come in handy if you need a snack while reading Barbra’s nearly 1000-page memoir!  

Singers and Swingers in The Kitchen The Book

Singers and Swingers

This little book is so much fun!  As well as Eva and Barbra, it also includes recipes from The Rolling Stones, Jane Fonda, Don Adams and Barbara Feldman from Get Smart, The Mamas and The Papas, The Monkees and a host more “scene makers”and “groovy gourmets”.  My records…well Amazon’s records show I bought this back in 2012 for a measly $15.  It now regularly sells for over a hundred!!!  If you don’t want to be spending that kind of money, please feel free to browse the archives here for the recipes I’ve already shared.  I’m also sure this won’t be the last time I dip into this book. 

Have a great week!  

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Savoury Impossible Pie

This past week saw the 155th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my favourite books so I celebrated with a savoury impossible pie!

Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day.

Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

Savoury Impossible Pie

This recipe comes from my vast collection of clipped recipes.  I think that this one came from the wrapping of the deviled egg plate that my friend Ali gave me for my birthday a few years ago.

Impossible Pie?

“Why it’s simply impassible!
Alice: Why, don’t you mean impossible?
Door: No, I do mean impassible.

(chuckles)

Nothing’s impossible!”

The  Impossible Pie was invented by Bis-quick in the 1970s.  The idea was that instead of making a filling and a crust you could mix everything together and magically, in the oven, the ingredients would separate out so you end up with a crusted pie.

The OG impossible pie was coconut but since then pretty much every flavour imaginable has been made.  Yinzerella over at Dinner is Served 1972 has made a number of them both sweet and savoury so if you want a primer in them, head over there pronto!  Then come back here for my try at Savoury Impossible Pie!

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My pie had peeled tomatoes, bacon, parsley, corn, spring onions and cheese – someone cue Blink 182 singing “All the good things” please!

It also looked like some sort of Klimptesque art when I started to mix it through.  So pretty!

However, the success of an impossible pie surely has to lie in whether or not that magical crust appears.  So was this recipe a success?

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Was there a crust?  There was something.  But a proper pie crust? No. So technically…cooking fail.

 

Having said that, it was absolutely delicious.  It may not have turned out exactly as planned but it was still worth making and definitely one to put on the rotation list!

You know what?  If it bugs you like it bugged me that it wasn’t impossible, leave out the flour and call it a Klimt Garden Frittata.  I promise I won’t tell anyone and believe me, you and your friends will love it!

Savoury Impossible Pie

Savoury Impossible Pie – The Recipe

“I suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great question is ‘What?’”


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And we’re done!

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end:

Then stop.”

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Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets

I’m not exactly sure where this recipe for Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets came from.  It has obviously been clipped from a magazine and sticky taped to a  piece of paper. But when?  And by whom?  It has been floating around in my collection of “Recipes to Cook” for as long as I can remember.

The recipe gives both imperial and metric measurements which would indicate it comes from some time after 1970 which is when Australia went metric but not too far after because people still understood imperial measures.  So it likely was not me who clipped it but whether it was my mum or my nana or a complete stranger I do not know!

Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets

Well, whoever clipped it so it could fall into my hands deserves a round of applause because I thought these were really delicious.  Emphasis on the” I” there.  The fussiest eater in the world was not convinced.  “What’s in these?  It is cream?  It’s not like the usual quiche you make.”

“I used cream cheese”

“It’s too much”

“Well…you did eat six of them….”

Both sides make a fair point here.  The Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets are richer than a normal quiche, primarily due to the cream cheese filling.  But you also don’t have to eat half a dozen of them in one sitting.

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I made these twice recently which is something I rarely do with recipes for the blog.  Usually, I make something, eat it, blog it and move on.   However, the first time I made the tartlets I used fresh asparagus.  I was going to post that version.  But it felt like cheating.  Of course a fresh asparagus and bacon tart was going to be amazing.  It’s asparagus!  And bacon!  And for those of us who like a little bit of rich – cream cheese!.  Would these taste as good using tinned asparagus?

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They weren’t quite as good as the fresh version but they were still really good.  And I am not being an asparagus snob here.  I grew up on tinned asparagus.  My nana’s asparagus rolls which only ever used tinned asparagus are one of my top ten things to eat ever!  The only reason I have not posted that recipe here is that I honestly think I could not do nana’s memory justice as my version would never live up to hers!

Anyway…that’s given me some food for thought…maybe I will post that recipe one day.  But as for the Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets?  They’re really good.  And if you find them too rich?  Stop at four, or two or one.

These also reheat up well and I thought they were also quite nice to eat cold.

They are also perfect fare for a socially distanced picnic in the park!

The Recipe

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Have a wonderful week!

Chicken Salad Pie – Pieathalon 7

Hello friends and pie eaters!!!  Welcome to Pieathalon 7 – that very special time of year when bloggers from all over the world get together and celebrate the weird and wonderful world of vintage pies.  And oh boy did it get weird this year!  Surly over from at Vintage Recipe Cards sent me a hybrid concoction which much like my detested chocolate cheesecake takes two things that separately are wonderful and combines them into a Franken-monster Chicken Salad Pie!

Are you ready, are you ready for this?  Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

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Glorious is it not?

Before we even get to the eating of it, let me tell you that Chicken Salad Pie was an absolute BASTARD of a thing to make!  Even before that though, let’s start with possibly the only positive to come out of this which is the perfect late ’60’s styling of the original recipe!  Perfection! I want that leaf plate so, so much.  And those gold glasses!

Easy as Pie Chicken Salad

So, you’ll notice that my pies are a lot more round that those in the recipe.  Let me tell you why.

Chicken Salad Pie: Hours 1-3

I finished work at around 6 and started cooking.  Given that I now mostly work from the dining table, I probably started making the Chicken Salad Pie at around…6:01.  Put the chicken on to poach.  Start cutting the pastry into the right size of rounds.  Oh, yeah, did I mention I was doing this on the Tuesday night before we posted today?

6:30: Everything on track.  The chicken was poached and was cooling. The pastry had been blind-baked and was also cooling.

6:45 The broth, salad dressing, onion, lemon juice and salt were in the bowl waiting for the pimentos.  Oh.  That’s right.  We don’t have pimentos here.  So, in order to get pimentos, I bought a jar of stuffed olives and picked them out of the olives using a kitchen skewer.

How long does it take to pick out a peck of pickled pimentos?

Too damn long.

Especially if you eat half the olives you are meant to be picking.

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7:15:  Pimentos were picked.  Gelatine was added.  Mixture was beaten and left to chill.

8:15: Has the mixture thickened?  I don’t think it’s thickened.  Better give it another half hour.

8:45:  The mixture has definitely not thickened.

8:50: Research what do to if gelatine does not set.

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Chicken Salad Pie: Hours 3-6

9:00.  Tip the mixture into a saucepan and heat it.  Add more gelatin.

9:20: Place mixture back into the fridge.  Wonder why you chose this week of all weeks to be alcohol-free.

9:45: Mixture shows no sign of thickening.  But it was warm so it will probably take longer right?

10:15 Still not thickening.  Realise you have not had dinner.  Eat some olives.

10:45 It’s like water.  Pour runny gelatine back into the saucepan.

11:15 Add more gelatine to the rewarmed mixture.  Have a glass of wine.  This is not the week to quit drinking.

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11:30 Put the mixture back into the fridge.  Curse the non-specificity of vintage recipes.  How much gelatine was in an envelope of gelatine in 1968?  And how does that translate to spoonfuls which is how I am measuring mine.  Wonder why you leave everything to the last minute.  Vow to change. Eat more olives.

Midnight:  The mixture is thickening!!!!  REEEEE-SULT!  Add the chicken and celery

12:15:  Still thickening but still too runny to pour into the pie shells.  Because as they keep telling you on The Great British Bake-off, no one likes a soggy bottom!  Decide to pour the mixture into teacups, allow it to set inside them and turn them out the following day….later that same day.

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CHICKEN SALAD PIE – THE VERDICT

Cutting into the chicken salad pie was reminiscent of cutting into that jellied loaf style of dog food which was a real hurdle to overcome when tasting it.  I did have a tiny bit and it wasn’t….awful.  It tasted and smelled mostly of the dressing.  But the association with dogfood was enough to prevent me from eating any more.

So in summary, no sleep, no dinner and a pie that looked like Pedigree Chum.   It was certainly no winner, winner chicken dinner.  I can’t even feed it to the dogs, who would love it due to the onions!  This one, sadly, is going straight into the trash.

Chicken Salad Pie

Pieathalon 7

Thanks as ever to Yinzerella for organising Pieathalon 7! You’re the best!

Thanks  / Curses to Surly for the recipe.  It was very fun to make despite it taking forever and being the closest thing to dogfood I have ever eaten.

I really hope Wendy from A Day In The Life on The Farm fared better with my recipe for Cherry Blossom Pie!

To see how Wendy went and to check out all the other pies, please click on the links below.  If they are not all up at the time of posting, I will update during the course of the day.

Okay friends, stay safe and most importantly…eat pie!

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Individual Shepherd’s Pie

Maybe it is the whole Covid thing or maybe it is just because it is getting colder here but I have been craving comfort food like nobody’s business.  My particular drug of choice has been potatoes.  I love them at the best of times but nowadays?  I have eaten them pretty much every day since lockdown.  And one of the best comfort foods around that has been feeding my potato addiction is Shepherd’s Pie!

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Normally when we make Shepherd’s Pie, it is the job of the Fussiest Eater in the World. He can’t cook much all that well but he knows how to do good British stodge to perfection.  And his Shepherd’s Pie is great.

But wait…I am probably making some assumptions here.  So let’s start with…

WHAT ON EARTH IS SHEPHERD’S PIE?

Shepherd’s Pie is a dish made of cooked lamb topped with mashed potato.  The same dish made with beef is called Cottage Pie or Hachis Parmentier if you want to be French and fancy.  Which usually is my default mode (wound up to eleven)  but today I am using lamb so common or garden Shepherd’s Pie it is!

Traditionally, this was made with the leftover lamb from a Sunday roast.  We usually use bought minced lamb for our Shepherd’s Pie but this time round, I wanted to, what they would call on the cooking shows, ELEVATE the dish, so I used some diced lamb.

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 A DIGRESSION ON WORKING FROM HOME

I was very pleased to read Yinzerella’s post the other day on the pleasures of lockdown.  I too am enjoying many of the aspects of being at home 24/7.  For instance I have

  • More time to spend with Oscar and Holly.
  • More time to read, to craft, to study, to do yoga and to blog!
  • Started to declutter and organise my life
  • Massively reduced my carbon footprint  The last time I filled my car with petrol was in March!  We got solar earlier this year so even though I am using more electricity by being at home, it is being paid for by the power we are generating.
  • Invented a push-up challenge and am doing a Buzzfeed core challenge.
  • More time to cook. 4-hour slow-cooked lamb on a Tuesday night?  Not a problem. Grapefruit brulee for breakfast?  You betcha!
  • Totally embraced my basic B instincts!  These faux fir booties?  I know,  so chav,  but wearing them made my feet warn for the first time in DAYS!!!!  I may never take them off!

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Anyway, back to the Shepherd’s Pies.  I slow-cooked that lamb for four hours with red wine and herbs and garlic and tomatoes until it was melt in your mouth tender.

Then I made mashed potato with heaps of butter and milk to top it, and then topped that with a heap of grated cheese!

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This was so good.  Tender lamb, cheesy mashed potato…what else can I say except if you are craving a cuddle in the form of food, make this straight away!!!  Of course, you can use this mix to make one large pie but I love small food so individual serves it was – one for each of us and one for lunch the following day!  This reheats beautifully so you can make a few extra to warm up for additional meals.

I cut the recipe in half for these pies because I only had 500g of lamb but the full recipe will make one large or 6 small pies (depending of course on the size of your small pie dishes).

The Recipe

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Individual Shepherd’s Pie

This hearty British dish combines slow-cooked lamb and cheesy mashed potatoes to make the most comforting of comfort foods

Ingredients

  • 60ml olive oil
  • 1kg diced lamb
  • 1 brown onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 celery stick, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 40g plain flour
  • 250ml  beef stock (more if cooking for a long period of time)
  • 200 ml red wine (I used a cabernet merlot)
  • 145g tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 sprig of rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 kg potatoes peeled and halved
  • 50g butter
  • 175ml milk
  • 180g Cheddar cheese, grated
    Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add half the lamb and cook, turning as required until browned on all sides.  Transfer to a plate and repeat with another tbsp of oil and the remaining lamb.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook until the vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring to ensure that the garlic does not burn.

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook, stirring,  for 1 minute.

Gradually add the stock to the pan followed by the wine, stirring to remove any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Add the lamb, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, rosemary and bay leaves.  Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for between one to four hours – you may need to add more stock or wine if you are cooking for longer than an hour.

While the lamb is cooking, boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes or until tender.  Then drain and return to the pan.  Add the butter and milk and mash until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the office to 200C.

Once the lamb is cooked, measure it out into 6 small (1 cup capacity) ovenproof dishes.  Top with the mashed potato and then with the grated cheese.

Cook in the pre-heated oven until the cheese is golden brown and melted – around 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

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What is your go-to comfort food?  I hope you get to have some this week! My next post  will also be comfort food but of the cake variety,,,,

Have a good one and stay safe!