Thursday 15 January 2015

A Pie But No Patty-Pan

Hello, thank you for dropping by.  The Mathematician has come home from university today, just for a few days so that we can all celebrate her birthday.  I wanted to cook something special, something to remind her that there's no place like home, something to let her know how much we love her.  I have wanted to make a Shropshire Fidget Pie for ages, it's probably our county dish, although you don't see it very often and I've never actually seen one, but it requires 250g of ham which is beyond our budget for one dinner.  However, last week I was given a significant piece of ham so this seemed like the perfect situation in which to use it.  Who wouldn't want to be welcomed home with a pie when it's cold, dark and raining?
 
I found a likely looking recipe here.  A scout around the kitchen revealed that I had the requisite potatoes, onions, apples and ham so I just needed to buy cream and cider for the sauce.  Oh yes, and there was the pastry.  The Pastry. Da, da, daaaaah!  You see, I don't make pastry.  In fact, what I usually say is, "I can't make pastry, my hands are too warm."  It's not that I don't know how to make it, but rather that I made it at school and it wasn't very good, so I haven't made it since.  That was 35 years ago.  And I don't have a food processor, so I can't do the almost-hands-free method.  However, today my determination has overcome my fears.  It was cold here, so that played in my favour - I know that everything has to be cool to make pastry.  And I had a secret weapon: Delia Smith.
 
I was given a copy of Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course for my eighteenth birthday and have sworn by it ever since.  Truly, Delia taught me to cook.  So today I turned to the unthumbed chapter about pastry where Delia told me that there is "a sort of psychology involved" and that I should be "bold and assertive".  So I was very assertive with that flour and that butter as I gently rubbed it in.  I sang a little song to keep myself calm.  I took pauses when I needed to.  I maintained "a confident attitude".  And do you know what?  I MADE A PIE.  Now I know that plenty of other people make pies every day and that this is nothing to write home about but for me, this is a Very Big Deal.  Would you like to see it?
 
 
It's not a very glamorous pie, I know that it's very rustic, but I made it all by myself.  We ate it with steamed greens and it was absolutely scrummy.  The Best Beloved had seconds and he and The Mathematician both agreed that the pastry was excellent.  The next time a piece of ham comes my way I shall make it again.  Thanks to Kath and to Delia, a whole new world may be opening up to me...
 
 
Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x
 
 

9 comments:

  1. It looks perfect. I hope your daughter has a lovely birthday weekend. Jx

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    1. Thanks, Jan, you are very kind. It was so lovely to try something for the first time and for it to be a complete success. x

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  2. I am really glad you made the fidget pie. I make it quite a lot, eve if I only have a bit of ham. I just add some more veg. I experiment with white wine instead of cider or sometimes if I don't have that just stock. It is always delicious. Your pie looks delicious and I am flattered to have helped a fellow Salopian. Best wishes Kath

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    1. Thank you, Kath - for the recipe and for the tips. We shall definitely be making this again and I think I shall be looking at some more of your recipes. You make them very easy to follow. x

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  3. Oh well done. Just goes to show how "mind over matter" CAN work. I do a lot of baking, and whilst my pastry isn't the best (esp. in myh late m-in-law's eyes, who thought good pastry HAD to be so short it would hardly roll out) it's filled many a hungry tummy. We've just cooked a BIG piece of boiling bacon (half price at Christmas and frozen), and I was thinking about a chicken and bacon pie. So that might be supper tonight.

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    1. Thank you! I cannot tell you how proud of myself I am. It's been so uplifting to realise that something doesn't have to perfect to be perfectly good enough. I wish I had learned that years ago.

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  5. Tonight I made fidget pie using the recipe recommended by you. Advised that I need to make it again when my daughter's boyfriend comes round. A huge tasty success. I will try to add a picture but not sure how!

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