HFF #7: "An Herb Pye for Lent"

An Herb Pye for Lent

Take Lettice, Leeks, Spinage, Beets, and Parsley, of each a Handful, give them a boil, then chop them small, and have ready boiled in a Cloth one Quart of Groats, with two or three Onions in them, put them in a Frying Pan with the Herbs, and a good deal of Salt, a Pound of Butter, and a few Apples cut thin, stew them a few Minutes over the Fire, fill your Dish or raised Crust with it; One Hour will bake it, then serve it up.

Raffald, Elizabeth. The Experienced English House-keeper.  (Manchester, 1769) Pg. 134-135

It's been a few weeks but I'm catching up!

This pie in particular I was skeptical about, even after watching the Townsend video on it.  A pie with boiled lettuce and oatmeal?  It seems quite strange.  But I found that I was pleasantly surprised!

First I gathered the ingredients listed.  Lettuce, spinach, leeks, parsley, swiss chard (in substitution for beet greens), an apple and an onion.

I then chopped up the lettuce, spinach, leeks, parsley, and swiss chard before boiling them.  I decided to do it this way rather than chopping it after boiling because I thought it would be much easier to process.

So once the pot of water was boiling I added all the greens in to cook down, which only took a few minutes.

I then sliced the apple and diced the onion up and fried them in a pan with a little butter.  (In hindsight I should have diced the apple to make easier pieces to eat.)

Once the apple and onion pieces were cooked down a bit I added the cooked down green mixture (which had cooked down ALOT) and salt to taste.

I then took the cooked groats (which were steel cut oats cooked in cream) and added them to the veggies/onion/apple mix.  I ended up using a pint of groats rather than a quart because it seemed like alot.  It was a good call because it seemed to be the perfect amount.  I also added the half pound of butter to it as well and stirred it all together.

I know, it doesn't look very appetizing, but it certainly smelled great!

 Now, for this pie there is no description of what type of crust to use.  So I decided to go with puff paste, mainly because I had it available.

Got the pie plate, put the apple/onion/greens/oatmeal/butter mixture into the crust, and covered it up.

Then I attempted a pretty design on top.  Leaves!

I then put it into the oven at 375 for 50 minutes, till the paste was nice and puffy and brown!

Then it was taste time!  And, surprisingly, it was very good!  The leeks, onions and apple gave it a good flavor.  And the grouts cooked well, it kind of reminded me of a quinoa salad.  The only thing I would change is the pie crust.  I feel like this filling would be better with a firmer crust.

Would I recommend it?  Yes I do!  I would probably add some savory herbs and some spice, but I think it is a great base for a savory, filling veggie pie!