Pie pastry

"what is so difficult about rubbing butter and flour through your fingertips until they resemble breadcrumbs, then adding a little water to bring it to a ball of soft dough?" Nigel Slater

I'm afraid I've resorted to the lucky dip again. I really am getting lazier and lazier. Though as it happens I am planning to make a tart tonight for dinner from Monika's nectarines - not quite pie, but close.

So I picked one of my very recent acquisitions, Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries III - A Year of Good Eating which also happens to be one of the inspirations for the whole of this blog. Indeed this blog has really brought him to my attention. Previously I was only vaguely aware of him, but when I'm looking for information and for quotes for all sorts of things, like Terry Pratchett, but in a completely different way, he almost always has something to say.

The page I turned to was a recipe for Steak, Stilton and Thyme Pie - a tiny bit boring thought I, but when I turned to the previous page which introduces the recipe I found that what he is actually talking about here is the pastry. Here is what he says:

"There is never enough crust. The layer of puff, shortcrust or toasted crumbs seems plentiful till you bring your homemade pie to the table. It is only then, as plates are passed round, that you realise your handiwork has its shortcomings, and the beloved layer of pastry, its topside crisp and dry, its underside soaked with gravy, is inadequate.

I tackle the problem today by making almost twice the amount it would normally take to cover a beef pie, and baking the excess alongside. The pie, seasoned with Marsala, thyme and tiny shallots baked in a small cast-iron dish, shares a baking sheet with a piece of extra crust, shaped and cut into wedges and fork-pricked like a round of shortbread, ready to be offered to those who understand the glory of the crust."

And he's right you know - there never is enough crust. So you could give this a try - not necessarily with this particular pastry (a cheese and herb pastry) - "I exchange some of the weight of the butter for blue cheese, and introduce a handful of chopped herbs. The resulting dough, fragile, cheese-marbled, is rolled a little thicker than is usual, creating a Stilton and thyme shortbread so good it could be eaten, in crumbly wedges, on its own."

Maggie Beer swears by her sour cream pastry and I've no doubt other cooks and chefs have their own favourites. Me - I generally add a little bit of polenta instead of some of the flour which seems to make it crunchier somehow. And I remember Jane Grigson has one made with some oats. You can find a version of it here.

He also thinks that people don't make their own pies because they get put off by making the pastry - hence the opening quote. And again - he is right. It is not that difficult even though there is a huge mystique about it. I remember my younger son making pastry when he was really quite young. He did all the wrong things - kneaded it far too much and it was not all cool in the sense of everything being chilled, but boy was it good. And he still makes great pastry. Maybe it's like gardening, or hairdressing - it's all in the hands. Either you've got it or you haven't. Though I really don't think that's true - it really is dead easy - particularly if you have an electric mixer, which really does all the work for you in seconds.

The recipe for the pie I found - which looks extremely rich - even a bit overdone dare I say - can be found here, alongside some other interesting pie recipes.

So thank you Nigel Slater for getting me started on this project - and now for keeping me going.