Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sally Ketchum: In The Kitchen

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February 15, 2009

In the Kitchen: Pork Pie only thrilled half

By SALLY KETCHUM

Ladies, are the roses wilted yet? Your Valentine roses? (Of course, we know that you gentlemen readers are off to work, shorts unseen, but covered with little red hearts to warm you.) But, ladies -- surely roses arrived Saturday, or chocolates. I, of course, wore my rubies and pearls all weekend, as I wear my emerald earrings at Christmas. He-Who-Must-Be-Fed loves them -- for two reasons.

First, they are completely imaginary, something like the Emperor's New Clothes.

Second, he doesn't have to shop or spend. He just has to tell me how the jewels complement me. Oh, how men shop ... or not!

One true tale is that HWMBF forgot about Valentine's Day one year. This was an error of classic proportion since I was expecting a baby. However, HWMBF, never at a loss, made up for it on April Fool's Day. He went to a drapery shop and bought five yards of strings of those plastic bangles and beads that hang in fortuneteller's doors in B movies.

When he came home that April 1, I was at my station at the stove (well as close to the stove as I could get it with a baby overdue) stirring a pot. HWMFB advanced, swinging his pop-art lasso, the cowboy in the kitchen and, with rhythmic circles, looped the purple, turquoise and fuchsia beads round and round and round my own rotund being. Such tender affection! It took me only a few years to understand his purchases.

Consider the pork pie vs. the pasty episode last week. The feeling that we had been eating the same winter stuff over and over as the snow descended upon me. Pasta, stew, chicken, meatloaf, etc. Although the list was pretty long, the in-a-rut feeling remained.

Brightly, I said to my cowboy, "We should try something new."

"Huh, oh." He put down the article he was reading about snow-removal machines.

"I have a recipe for ground pork."

"Ground pork?"

"You brought it home Tuesday."

"It was in the ground beef section," he said, now reading a how-to book.

"I'm thinking of making a pork pie. It's English, maybe Irish."

"Ummm ..."

"The ground pork, dear. You brought it home. I know you like pork sausage, but this is just plain ground pork." He turned a page.

"I'm going to collect parts of old snow blowers and build a paddle boat with them."

"Oh," I said.

A word of explanation: Meat pies have crusts, usually top and bottom. Shepherd pies have mashed potatoes for the top crusts, and are classically made with lamb (all those shepherds). Now, I won't eat lamb any more (formerly a favorite) because I live near a lamb farm and see those darlings gamboling -- just as they do in the sweet poems about spring. But, there I was with HWMBF's ground pork. So I tweaked a bunch of recipes and made a Pork Pie.

I served it with a jar of gravy because HWMBF thinks gravy is a staple on everything except ice cream. I thought the pork pie I made was delicious. I will serve it hot or cold when I open a small bistro in Paris, then serve it with small dollops of ketchup and a honey-mustard on the plate for dipping. Also I will wear my sapphire chain and a white organdy apron when serving.

Um, back to reality and my Pork Pie. "What do you think?" I asked HWMBF.

"It's different."

"I know it's different. It's the ground pork you bought. Do you like it?"

"Well, it's different. I can't tell if I like it if you give me different things."

Dear readers, you know: In times of tasting dilemmas, actions mean more than words. HWMBF hied off the store the next morning and came home with a bag of pasties. Meat, potatoes in a pastry pocket -- the ingredients of my Pork Pie.

So it was that last week, we had the same meal three times -- "the same" meaning I ate Pork Pie. HWMBF joined me, across the table, eating a pasty, with ketchup and an immoderate amount of gravy. Alas, this week pasta, stew, chicken ...

This recipe is easily adapted to family tastes. Pork-to-beef proportions can be changed, spices tweaked (Italian seasoning?), mushrooms deleted, cheese added, etc. If the family likes pastry, put mixture into an unbaked bottom crust, too. The pie can be cut cold and served neatly, or slices can be heated in the microwave. Start with 30 seconds.

Pork Pie

2 t. canola oil

1 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground chuck

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 (6.5-oz.) can mushrooms (stems and pieces), drained

1 T. Worcestershire sauce (or to taste)

1/2 t. McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning

2 c. mashed potatoes

Pastry dough, for one crust or two, to taste

1 egg (for egg wash)

In a large saute pan, break up and brown meats and onions in canola oil until cooked through. Drain off grease. Add drained mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, steak seasoning and mashed potatoes. Mix fairly well.

Firmly, but not squashing, mound mixture into a well-greased, glass deep-dish pie baking pan.

Cover with pastry, flute edges. Brush entire top crust with egg wash (1 egg beaten with fork into 1/4 cup of water). Loosely cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil; bake until crust is golden, about 15 minutes more.

Sally Ketchum is a northern Michigan journalist who loves food. She can be reached at ketchum1985@gmail.com or through www.ketchumwriter.com.

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