Fidget Pie

I’ve been feeling guilty about the fact that the info bit for this blog starts with ‘Adventures in the land of brewis, fidget pie, singin’ hinnies‘, yet we’ve never tried to make any of these dishes.  Something needed to be done about this, so the other Sunday myself and Sarah made Fidget Pie. We used a recipe from Good Things in England, a 1930 compendium of English cookery compiled by Florence White, which is currently available as a sleek looking reprint from the wonderful Persephone Books. The recipe is listed as ‘Mrs Dale’s Fidget Pie’, in the Specialities section under ‘Shropshire’.

Notes

• We debated what sort of bacon to get but ended up choosing standard rashers of back bacon which we then chopped into bitesize pieces. In hindsight we should have bought the thicker gammon slices.
• For apples we used Granny Smiths and added a dusting of sugar as they were a little sharp
• Making the dish up was dead easy – just layering the ingredients and then popping a bit of pastry on top.
• We got a bit confused about the cooking times, but it was in for at least an hour and a quarter

Results

Tasting notes

This was great! The apples mushed down to be like hot apple sauce, and the flavour from the bacon and the apple merged into the stock and into the potatoes. The only slightly off thing was the pastry crust – it was possibly a little overdone and very solid/ brittle. A little soaking in the pie juices though made it very palatable. I would absolutely definitely cook this again – in fact as soon as I’d finished eating I wanted more. I was concerned that I’d have another Norwegian Meat Stew type disappoinment on my hands, given the simplicity of ingredients and the whole layering thing, but this is worlds apart from that dish.

Prawn and Bacon Quiche

This is from 500 Recipes for Electric Mixers and Blenders by Marguerite Patten (Hamlyn, 1972).There are loads of 500 Recipes… books around – they’re large, flimsy things, usually with yellowing pages, and quite a low budget look to them. I have this one, and a casseroles and stews one, which promises a lot and delivers little. But, on to the recipe. I like prawns, I like bacon, and I like quiche. So how did this recipe go so horribly wrong?

Prawn & Bacon Quiche

8oz shortcrust pastry

2 rashers bacon

2 eggs

about 12 tablespoons hot milk

seasoning

4oz prawns

1 Roll out the pastry and line an 8-inch flan ring on an upturned baking tray (this makes it easier to remove) or a sandwich tin

2 Bake ‘blind’ in a hot oven (425-450F, Gas Mark 6-7) for about 15 minutes until the pastry is set and beginning to get slightly golden

3 Meanwhile fry the bacon – cut into pieces

4 Put the bacon, the eggs, hot milk and seasoning into the blender goblet, switch on until the bacon is finely chopped, then season

5 Put the prawns into the half-baked pastry case, add the bacon mixture

6 Return to the centre of the oven lowering the heat to moderate and cook until set

7 Serve hot or cold

Results

Notes

• I used ready mixed pastry mixed. Not the ready to roll stuff, but the mix with water stuff. This produced a very dull pastry
• I over fried the bacon. It was crispy. It needed to be a little softer
• Point 4 is ambiguous re seasoning. At what point am I seasoning?!
• I used cooked prawns, and am now thinking uncooked would end up nicer, less chewy
• I think I used too big a flan dish – the quiche was very thin, chewy and well, boring at best

Overall – a fail. I think even if I’d got the pastry, bacon and prawns right it wouldn’t have been all that.

Slowly digested by Alix

Bacon and Sweetcorn Pudding

New Casserole Treasury was written by Lousene Rousseau Brunner and published in 1970 by the Cookery Book Club by arrangement with Harper & Row. I bought it for £1.50 in a church charity shop in Dalston last May and have decided to try and make something which actually sounds as though it was conceived in another era, rather than my usual cop-out.

The first owners of my copy were a newly-wed couple in 1971, apparent by the dedication at the front of the book and the author has left space throughout the book for note-taking, some of which has been put to good use. At the end of the ‘Meat’ section:  11/10.71. Tried pork chops in cider. (NO.)

Bacon and Sweetcorn Pudding

2 6oz packets frozen sweetcorn, cooked or 2 medium tins whole-kernel corn
3 eggs, well-beaten
3 tablespoons thin cream
1 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
2 tablespoons minced onions
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Thinly sliced cheddar
3 slices bacon cut in 1-inch squares

Mix the sweetcorn, eggs, cream, seasonings, onions, and baking powder. Pour into a greased medium casserole. Cover with cheese, cut to fit, and then with bacon squares. Bake for 40-45 minutes in a moderate oven, 350 degrees, or until firm. Serves  6.

Notes

• I made a smaller portion as per – probably about a third.
• Apart from that, all very simple.

Conclusion

This didn’t smell particularly appetising when it was baking but actually turned out rather well. This was mostly because half of the onion had been used a few days before and the remainder (used in this dish) had been stored in the fridge with the resultant mellowing of flavour, particularly the acid notes. I left it in the oven a little longer than the recipe suggested so that the bacon crisped up – I hate flabby bacon. My only criticism of the flavour was that with bacon and cheese, it was rather salty. If made differently – with a deeper dish and subsequently a smaller top surface area, this wouldn’t happen.

It isn’t what springs to mind at the word casserole (which I only learnt was a type of vessel, not a type of stew, about a year ago). My mini-version, in particular was so thin, it was more like a pancake. I ate half for supper and the second two quarters for breakfast over the next two days, reheated in a dry frying pan and stuffed into half a wholemeal pitta bread. Although I found it very enjoyable, I’m not convinced it has any advantages over a frittata – they are, in my experience faster and contain less fat. (If I’m going to eat something that would make a dietician fret, I want it to taste like it.)

Parsley Scones

I was recently given three industry-sponsored recipe leaflets, one of which is dated 1966 and I assume the others are of a similar age. 

This one was written by Audrey Ellis, a British cookery writer who wrote 65 books, including Colourful Entertaining: Cooking for the Hostess, Easy Freeze Cooking and Cooking for your Outline: Slimming in Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. I know it’s partly to do with the currently crowded market, but I love the versatility of cookery writers of the past. This recipe is from the ‘Substantial Snacks’ section.

Parsley Scones

8oz self-raising flour
2oz margarine or cooking fat
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
2oz streaky bacon chopped and fried
¼ pint milk

Sift flour into a bowl.rub in fat til mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add parsley and bacon. Mix into a soft dough but not sticky dough with milk. Turn onto a floured board, knead lightly into an 8 inch round, about ¾ inch thick. Transfer to a greased baking sheet and score into 8 triangles with back of knife. Brush with milk. Bake towards top of oven, at electric 450 degrees, gas mark 8 for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly, break scones apart and serve warm with butter.

Notes

• There is quite a bit of prep involved, for scones – chop the parsley, fry the bacon…
• The last time I made scones I forgot to score the top and ended up with just one massive scone. Not this time!

Conclusion

Perfect first-meal-of-the-day-at-the-weekend food. I wasn’t sure how these would turn out as my scone guru informs me not to overknead but the texture was fantastic – a very thin, almost biscuit-y crust with soft, springy interior.  I also thought I might have overcooked the bacon as I cooked it to the crisp, dark stage bu the variation in texture was perfect. They don’t need any extra seasoning either – the bacon/parsley combination was savoury but not overpowering. Not sure how to store these, considering they contain meat and a large amount of flour (i.e. would probably go stale in the fridge). It seems best to freeze them and defrost and toast as necessary.

Sconed By Elly

Canadian Lima Beans

Ugh, I am not in the mood to do this today. I had about half as much sleep as I need last night, I’m seized with the urge to order pizza and I don’t have the fresh tomatoes necessary for the dish I planned to make. Only a recipe containing the instruction ‘top with bacon’ will console me. Luckily, Potluck Cookery (Beverly Pepper, Faber and Faber, 1955) can furnish me with this and the means to use up the navy beans lurking in the back of my fridge.  Yes, I said navy beans, not lima as specified, I know Dr Pepper would forgive me, so you should too.

Canadian Lima Beans

LEFTOVER: COOKED LIMA BEANS
at least 2 cups

AND

Chicken stock or bean liquid ½ cup
Paprika, ½ tablespoon
Worcester sauce, 1 teaspoon
Cheddar cheese slivers, 1 cup
Bacon strips

Mix chicken stock with paprika, Worcester sauce, and beans. Place in buttered baking dish alternating with layers and cheese. Top with bacon. Bake in a moderate oven 350 degree oven until bacon is crisp and cheese has melted.

Serves 4.

VARIATION: Add mushroom

SUGGESTED: Serve with cucumbers, chopped spring onions, peas and escarole salad with Blue Cheese Dressing (No. 299) – and hot rolls.

Notes

• Bean liquid is on no planet a substitute for chicken stock.

• I would definitely serve this with cucumber but I don’t have any. I used peas because I am too lazy to wash or chop a fresh veg after the great effort of cutting the bacon into strips and grating an ounce of cheese.

• I used about 1 cup of beans, halved the other quantities and baked it in a dish about 6 inches square.

• I cooked the dish for an hour until all the liquid had evaporated.

Conclusion

Despite appearances, 2 rashers of bacon was suitable for this quantity of beans. If I made the recipe as specified, more would be needed to adequately flavour the whole dish with the sweet, sweet taste of bacon,

Again the title baffles me. If I were north American, would I understand? I thought poutine was a layered dish and thus comparable, but wiki informs me otherwise. Anyway, this is delicious comfort food for drunks albeit with a slightly higher nutritional content.

Transcription Note: Beverly Pepper is very fond of commas.

Disgruntledly cooked by Elly