My 52 Weeks With Christie

Inspiration: In our wanderings, my husband and I happened upon an independent plant nursery. Whilst waiting in line to purchase some seeds, my other half spotted a rack of handmade ceramics….then drew me over to the same display to peruse some lovely pie plates! 

The one above, obviously, is the one I chose. (Isn’t it pretty!)

Now my pie game is sorely lacking, as last week’s delicious but unfortunate looking sausage rolls demonstrated. However – Pies, Glorious Pies possesses a pie dough recipe that uses a food processor rather than the traditional pastry blender or your fingers for rubbing the butter into the flour. 

So I decided to give this novel method a whirl.

Feeling moderately ridiculous, as our machine is a mini version that holds about two cups, I split the ingredients in half and blended them together in shifts. Then, when I had two relatively successful dough balls, I combined the two by hand. And much, to my astonishment — it worked. The dough wasn’t too dry or shaggy and possessed a pleasant pliability! 

Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. 

I can honestly say this is the best dough I’ve ever made — unsupervised by one of my more knowledgeable female relatives! Whilst still not perfect, a goal that honestly isn’t an interest of mine since it tends to suck the joy out of the making process (which is the part I enjoy the most), I’ve still got a lot of practicing to do until my homemade dough looks as good as it tastes!

And let me tell you when the flakey crust combined with my improvised filling of ground beef, carrots, peas, bell pepper, and a whole ton of spices…it was absolutely delicious!  

Christie: Now, why did I pair this Miss Marple mystery with the aforementioned savory pie? 

Not only can I see any one of Christie’s sleuths tucking into a handraised meat pie, Cornish pasty, clangor, or empanada. (Even Poirot, since shows like The Great British Bake Off, have produced some very fancy pies!) But, even more importantly, Christie pulled the title and plot features of A Pocket Full of Rye from a nursery rhyme that (you guessed it) features a pie! Sing a Song of Sixpence, to be exact. And I managed to choose the perfect book to feature in my photo — for once in a row!