Pie Therapy

A couple of weeks ago, I tried out my very first Nigella savory recipe – from HTBADG (that’s “How To Be A Domestic Goddess”, in case you are wondering ). Buoyed by the resounding success of my Nutella birthday cake, I wanted to try her savory pie recipes to see if they were as easily successful as her sweet creations.

I chose the Supper Onion Pie. It seemed like the perfect choice for that day. I had just come home from a meeting where a deal I had been working very hard on for six months suffered a (temporary, as it turned out a few days later) setback. And it just felt rather appropriate to spend some time chopping onions. Lots and lots of onions. All 750g of onions, in fact! There was something quite therapeutic about chopping onions. One thing for sure: by the time I had prepped all the onions, I was feeling a lot better!

Okay, so the pie is called a Supper Pie, but I made it for a late lunch. No matter. It is only semantics after all. I think any time of the day is perfect for a slice of comforting, homey pie.

I was attracted to the pie for several reasons. I love caramelized onions, especially caramelized red onions; they are meltingly tender and soft, with a gorgeous caramel-y sweetness. And this pie came with copious amounts of the stuff. Plus, the recipe used a simple-sounding scone dough for the crust. I also liked the idea of the pie being made in the fashion of an upside-down cake; the cooked-down onions on the bottom of the pan, with the uncooked crust on top, so that it got nicely golden in the oven.

I pretty much made the recipe as it was in the book. No, I lie. Would I make a recipe without tinkering with it? C’mon. Seriously. Okay, so I did do a little bit of adjustment… but only a teeny weeny bit. And only to the onions. Instead of thyme – of which I had none on hand, be it fresh or dried – I used fresh chopped coriander (which I happen to absolutely adore). I also had no strong Cheddar or any other strong cheese in the fridge (this was hardly a pre-planned baking session after all). So, I settled for regular Cheddar. And oh, I also could not resist deglazing the pan with a little bit of wine, which the recipe did not call for.

The scone dough, however, was made exactly as the recipe requested. (I do obey instructions at least some of the time. )

And the pie came out looking gorgeous.

The crust was nicely golden, and covered with a luscious, thick cushiony layer of beautifully aromatic onions.

The onions tasted very good – but that’s because I like onions a lot. This was definitely not a pie for the onion non-lover that was for sure. It was more of a simple, two-note kind of a pie – with just onions and crust being the dominant players in terms of flavors and textures; there was little else for contrast.

I was somewhat disappointed with the texture of the crust. I’m not sure what I was expecting exactly, but the idea of a “scone dough” conjured up images of a slightly dense, yet still very tender crumb. This pastry was not only rather dense, but a little chewy and almost “dough-y” in bite. I really couldn’t say I had much enthusiasm for the crust at all. And I’m just wondering (as I know there are a lot of bakers amongst you who bake faithfully from Nigella’s recipes), has anyone made this pie before? Did you get the same result for the crust? Or did yours come out completely differently? I would love to find out. And maybe to try the crust again.

On balance, the pie was pretty good; but somehow not quite worth the effort. Sure, it was probably easier to put together than a regular pie that had a dough which needed to rest and then be rolled out. Yet, this was hardly a quick thing to serve up. From start to finish, it took almost 1½ hours (½ hour prepping, ½ hour cooking the onions, ½ hour baking) before this baby was on the table. I could have made fried rice or a simple pasta dish; grilled salmon over noodles or even a couple of stir-fried dishes served with rice in that amount of time or less. Please don’t get me wrong; this was by no means a “bad” recipe. I guess, for me personally, the results just weren’t exciting enough to warrant spending that amount of time in the kitchen.

Having said all that, I would still love to find a Nigella savory baking recipe to try out and fall in love with. So, I would welcome some recommendations; if you have had any wondrous experiences with any of her recipes, please, please let me know.

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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