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Nut Meat and Potato Pie
Use any kind of nut meat for this,-protose, nuttolene, meatose, nutcero, or a mixture of these. 2 1/2 cups sliced potato 1/2 cups sliced onion 1 cup diced nut meat 2 teaspoons browned flour 1 tablespoon oil 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon sage, if desired Put the potato and onion into sufficient water to cook them. Simmer slowly for about an hour, then add the nut meat, the browned flour and oil, which have first been mixed together, the salt, and sage. Put into a pan in which the mixture will be about an inch deep. Cover with pie crust, and bake till crust is done.
Or no-soda biscuit may be used for a crust, as they make a nicer crust for a nut meat pie. Start the dough early in the morning, so that it will be ready to roll out and cut into biscuit when the filling is ready to put into the pan. Place the biscuit on top of the filling, and allow them to rise before baking.
A vegetarian pot pie from the health-reform kitchen, built on commercial meat analogues that no longer exist under these names. The substitutions are straightforward; the leavening instructions are the part that will trip you up.
- The nut meatsProtose and Nuttolene were canned vegetarian products of the Battle Creek health-food companies, made from peanuts, wheat gluten or both; Meatose and Nutcero (the recipe's own spelling) were comparable proprietary analogues of the period. Diced seitan, canned gluten steaks, firm smoked tofu or a dense nut loaf all stand in; use about 1 cup diced, and season it, since the originals were salted and savoury.
- Browned flourFlour toasted dry in a skillet or a low oven until it is the colour of a hazelnut shell. It contributes colour and a roasted flavour but thickens less than raw flour, so the 2 teaspoons here bind the filling only lightly. Make extra and keep it in a jar.
- The onion quantityThe onion is written as "1/2 cups," which is not a usable measure. Half a cup of sliced onion is proportionate to 2 1/2 cups of potato and is the safe reading.
- Cooking the potatoAn hour of slow simmering will reduce sliced potato close to a puree. If you want distinct slices, 20 to 25 minutes is enough; simmer the full hour only if you are after a thick, mashed-textured filling.
- Water level"Sufficient water to cook them" means barely covering. Any free liquid left when you assemble will boil up through the crust, so let the pan cook down until the mixture just holds together.
- Oven heatFor a rolled pie crust, bake at 425F for 25 to 30 minutes until the pastry is set and coloured. For the biscuit topping, 400F for 20 to 25 minutes suits the risen dough better.
- "No-soda biscuit"These are yeast-raised biscuits, not chemically leavened ones -- hence starting the dough at dawn and letting the cut rounds rise on the filling before baking. Use a soft yeast-roll dough, roll it about half an inch thick, cut, and give it 30 to 45 minutes on top of the warm filling before it goes in.
- YieldThe quantities fill an 8- or 9-inch pan to a depth of about an inch and serve four.