Love is Local

Shoo fly.

I didn’t bring any leftovers back to NY (drag), but while I was in PA, in the spirit of family, I did bake two shoo fly pies. Shoo fly is the most Pennsylvania Dutch food I know.  I even bought the molasses from a PA farmer.

The first recipe I tried turned out to be the better pie, so that’s the one I’ll show here.  If you’ve never had shoo fly, you must enter into this aware that shoo fly pie is an acquired taste.  In my experience, it’s an extremely sweet dessert, best eaten in small slivers with a big mug of bold, dark coffee.

Shoo Fly Pie (wet bottom)

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup molasses

a few heaping tablespoons of butter

1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tsp vinegar

3/4 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. In a bowl, mix the flour with the brown sugar. Add butter and mix with hands or fork until there are large crumbs.

3. Add the cold water to the molasses and stir. Dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar and add to the molasses.

4. Pour the molasses mixture into the crust.  Sprinkle the flour/sugar/butter mixture on top. It should be thick.

5. Bake 10-15 minutes at 375.  Then lower oven heat to 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

Tanis’s Spinach Cake.

One of my favorite pastimes is sneaking into the Cookbook section of my local B&N and scribbling down a few of my favorite-sounding recipes to try at home later. 

The last cookbook I disenfranchised (?) in this way was David Tanis’s A Platter of Figs, which I also almost bought that same day for $36 ridiculous dollars, so convinced was I that this cookbook would become a Bible in my kitchen.

Four months later, I am $36 richer and still plagiarizing over and over again Tanis’s spinach cake, which is a fairly simple and very yummy way to eat local spinach, especially if you’ve bought giant bags of it and are trying to incorporate it into your daily dish.

I made a bigger one this time than I’ve ever made in the past (owing thanks to my mother’s 2-quart food processor, and the fact that I’m on vacation and have time to clean such a huge kitchen appliance) and I think it was the most delicious one yet.  Here’s the recipe.

David Tanis’s recipe for Spinach Cake, from A Platter of Figs

• 4 cups of spinach (local, organic!) washed
• 2 leeks or onion (I used one small white onion)
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 cups milk (whole preferred but low fat works fine)
• 6 eggs
• fresh grated Parmesano Reggiano
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 400 F. 

2. Warm butter in a medium pot over medium/high heat.  Add chopped onion and allow to become translucent 3-4 minutes.

3. Cut spinach into ribbons and add in 2 trips to the pot.  Cover and allow to steam for about 2-3 minutes or until just wilted. Stirring the spinach a bit helps it wilt more quickly.

4. When spinach is wilted, add nutmeg and stir one last time.  Then remove from heat and transfer to a bowl with all juices. Allow to cool.

5. When spinach is cooled, add it to food processor along with milk and eggs.  Blend until smooth.

6. Pour mixture into a buttered pie pan or deep-dish casserole dish.  Add salt and pepper (plenty) and grate cheese over the top.  Alternatively, you can wait until after it’s cooked to add the cheese (I did). 

7. Bake for 45 minutes until knife in center comes out clean.