Friday, December 7, 2012

EIGHT MAIDS AND HONEY PIE

Chaco is a Honey Pie

     Really.   There is such a thing as Honey Pie.   And it’s quite delicious.  I also thought it was appropriate to maids a milking because of the butter content, and because - well, really, I think you can figure out the metaphor for yourself.    
     I found out about it, appropriately, because my son’s fiancee, Amy, made it for Thanksgiving.  I mean, honestly.  Can you get a better future daughter-in-law?   
     As you read, you may think this pie isn’t so good for you, but you must remember that honey is full of nutrients.  So eat it, enjoy it, and thank the honeybees.
      The excerpt for today is from Feeding Christine, a Christmas novel which is ever so much about the language of food.   


     Excerpt from FEEDING CHRISTINE:  The food of love.

     Teresa and all her friends agreed that sexy food involved time and love.  Time to eat or lick or look at or enjoy, and the love necessary to think about making it right. 
     For Christine the sexiest food was champagne, licked from all the appropriate places.  It bubbled and frothed against the skin, making the most delicious frissons along the surface.    
     Teresa thought of honey, which was supposed to be good for the skin.  She had a very vivid memory from her childhood of watching her grandmother getting ready for her bath, wrapped in a thick terrycloth bathrobe, mixing honey and milk in a ceramic bowl.  She took this mixture and, as the water ran hot and steaming into the tub, slathered it on the deeply wrinkled skin of her face and neck.  
     Teresa could still hear the deep sigh of pleasure she'd given, and could still see her grandfather standing in the doorway, watching his wife do this.  He laughed and said something in Italian.  Grandma laughed right back, but there had been a look in her eyes Teresa never saw before, and she knew it had something to do with being married and in love.   
     At the time it had surprised and embarrassed her to think old people could still be in love, but she never forgot it.  When her own husband left her, she got herself a jar of raw  honey from a woman who kept hives outside of town, and before her bath she made herself a mixture of honey and milk to slather on her face and neck. 
     When she lowered herself into the steaming water, she thought of her grandmother, her grandfather, and what they felt for each other through years of marriage, of trouble and joy.     

       Feeding Christine is also available at Amazon as ebook, paperback, or hardcover.    
   

Two Honey Pies - Matthew and Amy
HONEY PIE

Preheat oven to 350F.  Make one shell of the pie crust of your choice, and pre-bake it.  

Filling:
1/2 c butter melted
3/4 c white sugar
2 Tbsp white cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c honey
Yum!  Big Yum!
3 eggs
1/2 c cream
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla paste, sugar, or beans
1 or 2 Tbsp flake sea salt for finishing 

Melt the butter and combine it with the sugar, salt and cornmeal to make a thick paste. Add the honey, vanilla and vinegar and mix together.(NOTE:  Some versions like to add Cinnamon, ground roasted hazelnuts or pecans, or herbs such as lavender or basil.  I can’t vouch for it, but go ahead if you want because you know the rule: PLAY WITH YOUR HONEY!)

 Fold in the eggs, add the cream and blend until all these ingredients are singing in harmony, which will be no time at all.

Pour the filling into a pre-baked pie shell and bake at 350 F for 45 to 60 minutes. The filling will puff up like a marshmallow and the center will be a bit wobbly, as if mildly drunk on its own perfection

Cool for an hour, then finish with a sprinkling of flake sea salt.  Pink Himalayan is pretty, and worthy of fairy attention.  Slice and serve with freshly whipped cream.

    An original version of this recipe comes from Pie Stars Melissa and Emily Elsen