Just a few years ago Angela Boggiano treated us to Pie, her carefully selected set of recipes from the United Kingdom [or Great Britain or England or even Wales]. Now, there is a revised edition of Pie which you may want to consider, particularly if you have a sweet tooth.
There are many critics of British cuisine but it would be a total oversight to miss the true highlights that Britain affords us. While Southern United States chefs may claim dominance for sweet pies, the British can now dispute that with force. One of the new adds to this edition of Pie is a Banana, Chocolate and Salted Caramel Pie that takes second place to none.
In fact, almost all of changes to this edition of Pie come in the sweetpie chapter, a recognition of the power of sweets on both sides of the Atlantic. The other Pie Chapters, which focus on savory pleasures, are almost unchanged [some shifting in the order, a few pictures dropped]. Those savory chapters are full evidence that the British own pies. You’ll find:
- Asparagus Turnovers: half pie and half tart and spring ready
- Spanish Pepper and Chorizo Pie: something Suzen could make every week
- Beef Wellington: of course
- Cheshire Cheese and Onion Pie: Angela’s own mix of cross county tastes
- Chicken and Mushroom Pies: elegantly presented with a basket weave crust
It is natural to term these savory pies as hearty. Surely they are that. But there is, and I’ll use the word again, a quiet elegance to these recipes. They represent centuries of daily cooking. The combinations of ingredients and proportions have been honed to a razor sharp degree. Angela has dutifully captured these recipes and made them available to us: poetically photographed and written in easy prose. Browse through Pie and you’ll be seduced into some combination of protein and veggies. Maybe, just veggies alone!
If you did not catch Pie in its first edition, do give this revised edition a look when you can. You don’t have to begin with that Banana, Chocolate and Salted Caramel Pie, but you can. Darn those veggies.