Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Pat in the Pan (it may not look pretty, but it tastes great)



My bookclub meets this Wednesday night (and another one on Thursday. More on that later).
Our book choice for this month was "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", which is a great read if anyone wants to give it a try. I loved it.

We meet at my house and a couple of my friends and I are doing a "theme" dessert/refreshment.
Kathy is bringing a "potato pie". She said it's savory dish, so I am assuming it will be similar to a Shepherds Pie.
April is bringing a "buttermilk pie" and I decided to make an "oatmeal pie".
Our dessert pies are both pies that are made from just a few ingredients...kind of a poor man's pie.

In the book, the residents of the small town had to "make do" with little or no food during the German occupation of the Guernsey Islands during World War II.
So... we are making very rustic desserts. But they are also very good. I'll take pictures tomorrow night of all the refreshments and desserts.

I have an old cookbook by Marcia Adams called, "Cooking from Quilt Country" and in it she has a recipe for a "pat in pan" pie crust, where you do just as the title suggests.
You put your ingredients into the pie pan, mix it up and then pat it to fit the pie pan.
How much more rustic can you get?

Tonight the pie crust, tomorrow the pie....


Pat in Pan Pie Crust
It make not look pretty, but it does taste great!
makes a single -crust for an 8-9 inch pie

1 1/2 cups plus 3-tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cold milk

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the pie pan and mix with your fingers until blended.
In a measuring cup, combine the oil and the milk and beat with a fork, until creamy. Pour all at once over the flour mixture. Mix with a fork until the flour mixture is completely moistened. Pat the dough with your finger tips, up the sides of the pie pan and then in the bottom.
Shell is ready to be filled. If you are preparing a shell to fill later, or your recipe requires a pre-baked crust, pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Prick the pie crust with a fork and bake for 15 minutes, checking often and pricking more if needed.

The ingredients......



Mix in the pan



by hand....that's what it said to do, and that's what I did.




mix the oil and the milk in a measuring cup (oil and milk don't mix well)



pour into the pie pan







mix with a fork until moistened



pat in pan
ready for the oven


cooling until tomorrow...... when we'll add some eggs, oatmeal, butter, corn syrup, etc.
Stay tuned......


7 comments:

Netts Nook said...

Can't wait to come back tomorrow it sounds very interesting. Do you know of a group of Nevada food bloggers?

Robin said...

Wow that is it- made in the pan just like that. I hate rolling pie crust and now I have an answer to my phobia! Thanks!

Cathy said...

Your pie crust looks great. I don't like the rolling out part and sometimes shy away from making a pie because I don't want to bother with it.

This is the solution.

Anonymous said...

I have three of Marcia Adams' cookbooks and I love them all.

My favorite recipe comes out of one of her books, but I haven't tried this one. I make a lot of pies, so I'll have to give this one a try.

Karen said...

Great idea to go with desserts that correspond to the book you read. Will wait to see pics :)

Lyndas recipe box said...

Sounds like you are going to have fun! Can't wait to see the finished pie!

Terri said...

Great idea, but what are they going to be when they grow up? I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow!

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