Chef Jamie Oliver calls the recipe below (photo #1) a picnic pie, because it’s so easy to transport and serve at picnics or other outdoor events.

Picnic season may be just past, but this recipe uses ingredients that are available year-round.

With the popularity of chicken pot pie in the U.S.,
 
MEAT PIE HISTORY

Meat “pie” has been made since man first used a wrapper to keep in the juices of cooking meat. Evidence dates back to the Neolithic Period, around 9500 B.C.E., but it’s not a pie we would recognize today.

Pastry was perfected by the ancient Egyptians. Their pies were savory pastry: a dough of flour and water paste to wrap around meat and soak up the juices as it cooked (here’s a brief history of pastry).

While our focus today is on vegetables, it’s fun to look at the ancestor of pot pies.

In the days of the Roman Empire, large pot pies served to the wealthy sometimes had live birds under the crust that would burst out flying when the crust was cut [source]. You can see this happen in a banquet scene in Fellini Satyricon.

How the birds remained live under a baked pie crust, and why people would want live birds atop their food, we can only imagine (for the former, we’re guessing that a crust was baked separately and the birds and crust added at the last minute).

While you’d think this decadence would have ended with the Roman Empire, one recipe author in 16th-century England advised how “to make pies that the birds may be alive and fly out when it is cut up….”

But most pies were simpler affairs, involving a pastry crust, meat and gravy. When there was no meat, vegetables were used.

What happened to the meat pie beyond Egypt?

Some sources explain that the ancient Greeks placed cook meats in open pastry shells, and that the Romans added the top crust.

In America, the cookbook American Cookery, published in 1796, included recipes for chicken pot pie, beef pot pie, and “Sea Pie,” which used pigeons, turkey, veal and mutton. The recipe was originally developed aboard ships, which used whatever preserved meats were available [source].

The term “pot pie” is an English term, simply describing how it was made: by molding pastry along the bottom of of pot [source]. Metal pie pans did not appear until the 16th century, and the poor could not afford them.
 
 
RECIPE: VEGETABLE PIE

This recipe (photo #1) was adopted from one by Jamie Oliver. Unlike a vegetable pot pie, it is solid layered vegetables, not chopped vegetables in a sauce.

He suggests serving chutney as a condiment, with a chilled rosé to drink.

If you don’t like a particular ingredient, substitute mushrooms or other vegetable. Serve the pie as a main course or a first course.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Place the squash on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with 3 tablespoons of oil. Roast on the top rack for 25 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and rosemary after 20 minutes.

2. PLACE the bell peppers on a second baking sheet and place on the lower oven rack for 35 minutes, or until blackened. Place them in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 10 minutes. Then peel, remove the seeds and slice into large pieces (thick rings are fine). Season them and drain in a colander.

3. HEAT 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan over medium heat and sweat the onions for 10 to 12 minutes, or until just caramelized. Stir in the balsamic and sugar and cook for another 5 minutes.

4. PLACE a griddle or large pan over a medium-high heat. In batches, brush the eggplant and zucchini slices with oil and place on the hot griddle for 5 minutes, until soft and lightly charred. Halfway through, turn and season. When cooked, transfer to a plate and set aside.

5. BOIL a kettle of water. Put the spinach in a colander and pour over the boiling water to wilt it. Let it cool, then squeeze it dry, chop it and place it in a bowl. Add the ricotta to the spinach, the lemon zest and half the parmesan. Season, stir to combine and set aside.

6. REDUCE the oven temperature to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

7. ROLL out 2/3 of the pastry on a floured surface, so it fits the base and sides of the springform. Press it into place, leaving a little overhang; trim off any excess. Sprinkle half the basil and half of the remaining Parmesan over the pastry base, then layer the vegetables.

8. BEGIN with the zucchini and eggplant, followed by a layer of bell peppers, then the spinach. Add over the squash and onions, then dots of the goat cheese. Scatter on the rest of the basil and parmesan.

[2] Vegetable pies are popular in the U.K. Here’s another version from Delicious Magazine.

[3] We spotted this mushroom pie on the Facebook page of Hope Foods.

[4] Don’t want a pie? How about a tart? Here’s the recipe from Tasting Table.

[5] Perhaps a vegetable strudel? Here’s the recipe from The Pool.

[6] The recipe uses year-round bounty from the fields (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

10. BAKE the pie for 45 minutes or until golden. If the crust becomes too dark, cover it with foil for the last 10 minutes. Let cool in the springform pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan to cool completely. Serve hot, room temperature or cold.

[2] Garlic olive oil with crushed red pepper and tri-color peppercorns (photo courtesy Style Craze).

[3] Use olive oil and herbs as pasta sauce. Here, garlic, crushed red pepper do the trick. See the recipe from Real Simple.

[4] Mashed potatoes with truffle oil and truffle bits. You can use portobello bits or omit entirely (photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma).

If you’re a good cook, you probably own more than one flavored or infused olive oil. We own basil, chile, citrus (blood orange, lemon, lime), garlic, rosemary and truffle oil. We’re either a very good cook or an impulsive shopper.

There’s a difference between flavored and infused, although not many people know it. The front label of the bottle may not tell you, but a look at the ingredients label might.

 
Check out the different types of olive oil in our Olive Oil Glossary.
 
 
USING FLAVORED / INFUSED OILS

We love flavored/infused oils, and tend to buy too many different flavors, that stand shoulder to shoulder in the pantry.

Open* bottles of olive oil have a particular shelf life, depending on olive variety and storage conditions. Flavored oils have an even shorter time before freshness fades. Try to use them within six months, and certainly within a year.

That’s why we look for opportunities to use them on a daily basis.

Note that just as wines pair to specific foods, so do olive oil flavors. Those flavors that are good for meats, such as chile or garlic, may be too strong for delicate fish. For the latter, use oils with citrus or green herbs.

Note that quality olive oils are not meant to be cooked at higher temperatures or for longer times.

 
And now, 20 ways to use flavored/infused oils:

 
Experiment with your favorite foods. We’re partial to a bit of basil or rosemary oil on vanilla or chocolate ice cream, and some chile oil lemon sorbet.

*Over time, even oil an unopened bottle begins to degrade. Again, it depends on variety and storage conditions (in the warehouse, at the store, in your kitchen).

September 18th is National Cheeseburger Day. That typically means a slice of supermarket American, cheddar or Swiss cheese: The same old, same old.

How about some better cheese, for a change?

Murray’s, a New York City cheese and specialty food store, has a separate restaurant that has fine cheeses in every course. If this is your idea of paradise, be sure to visit Murray’s Cheese Bar on Bleecker Street.

Of course there are cheeseburgers on the menu, using the great cheeses from the store. While the options change, the recipes from one recent menu are below.

You’ll note that some of these cheeses are not “melters.” Who says that the cheese on a burger has to melt?

The reason melty American cheese is the most widely used is tradition: The cheeseburger started at a sandwich shop where American cheese was the a popular ingredient.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE CHEESEBURGER

Adding cheese to hamburgers first became popular in the late-1920s. While there are several claims as to who created the first cheeseburger, Lionel Sternberger of Pasadena, California is largely given credit.

In 1926 at the age of 16, he was working as a fry cook at his father’s sandwich shop, The Rite Spot. The creative lad placed a slice of American cheese to a burger sizzling on the grill, to see what the combination might taste like. We all know the answer.

The next step: A 1928 menu for O’Dell’s restaurant in Los Angeles shows a cheeseburger “smothered” with chili.

Other claimants to cheeseburger history:

 
Since local news didn’t travel in those days, we might credit the claims to the concept of multiple discovery, a.k.a. simultaneous invention. The hypothesis is that scientific discoveries and inventions can be made independently and more or less simultaneously by different scientists and inventors.

Have you ever heard of a steamed cheeseburger? It’s the cooking technique used at Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden, Connecticut. They developed the steam box and trays used to cook the “World Famous Steamed Burgers.”

While Ted’s didn’t open until 1959, Wikipedia credits a restaurant called Jack’s Lunch in Middletown, Connecticut, with the creation, in the 1930s.

TRIVIA: McDonald’s opened both kosher and non-kosher restaurants in Israel. A kosher cheeseburger can be created with vegan cheese (made from soy or nut milk).
 
 
“GOURMET” CHEESEBURGER TOPPINGS

The way to make the best cheeseburger is to use the best ingredients: not just the meat and the roll, but the cheese.

Some of the cheeses used at Murray’s Cheese Bar follow. You may not be able to get these specific brands, but go to the best cheese shop in town and ask for something similar.

You don’t even have to follow these recipes. Our goal is simply to expand your cheeseburger horizons.

BACON BURGER

 
GOAT GOUDA BURGER

 
SPICY BBQ BLUES BURGER

 
FRENCH ONION SOUP BURGER

 
THE HOT MESS

[1] Pimiento cheese cheeseburger (photo courtesy Gardenia Restaurant | NYC).

[2] The blue cheese-bacon cheeseburger, almost a classic, at The Cheesecake Factory.

[3] How about a mac ‘n’ cheese burger, at Glory Days Grill?

[4] A bacon-wrapped jalapeño burger at ViewHouse Eatery | Denver.

[5] Apple, bacon and Brie burger. Here’s the recipe from Olivia’s Cuisine.

[2] Add some ice cream, pan sauce or caramel sauce, and maybe some toasted pecans. Here’s the recipe from Jo Cooks).

[3] Apple dumplings as rugelach. Rugelach was rolled with a filling, but not apple. This version uses refrigerated crescent dough. Here’s the recipe from Cincy Shopper.

But before the rise* of Asian restaurants in the U.S., most Americans thought of a dumpling as a sweet pastry wrapped around sliced apples or other fruit (photos #1 and #2).

September 17th, National Apple Dumpling Day, celebrates that pastry, a different form for the ingredients of apple pie. If you’re in the mood, we have a recipe below.

These delicious filled pastries are made by putting cored and peeled apples on a piece of dough, along with butter, cinnamon, lemon zest and sugar. Sometimes raisins or dried cranberries are added.

 
The dough is then folded over the filling, and dumplings are popped into the oven.

What’s the difference between an apple dumpling and an apple turnover, you may ask? Largely, the shape:

APPLE DUMPLING HISTORY

The word dumpling is first found in England around 1600, in the Norfolk dialect. It possibly derived from the Low German word for lump, dump. It described a small, usually globular, piece of boiled or steamed dough. Initially, dumplings were savory, filled with meat [source].

But the first dumplings—bite-size packets of filling wrapped in dough—are thought to have originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty of China, some 1,800 years ago.

They were a way to serve meat in smaller, cheaper amounts. The first dumplings were thought to be filled with mutton, chilis and herbs, followed by other meats and seafood.

Much later, in Europe, a dumpling was a ball of dough cooked and served in soup or stew.

In Northern Europe, the dough was usually made with suet†, and was boiled, as in today’s Chicken And Dumplings. These pastries were also fried or baked.

Other regions used other ingredients: potatoes (like Italian gnocchi, matzoh meal (Jewish matzoh balls) and flour dumplings that were often filled (Jewish kreplach, Polish pierogis, Russian pelmeni and numerous others).

Dumplings likely emerged as a food of the poor: a cheaper way to satisfy hunger alongside a small piece of meat. The concept evolved into pastries filled with ground meat.

Later, the word was ported to describe larger pastry dumplings filled with fruit, which became popular in Northern Europe. Apples, pears, plums and other fruits found their way into these sweet dumplings.

Fruit dumplings were popularized in the U.S. by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who immigrated from Germany (Dutch is an American mis-spelling of their nationality, Deutsche).

This recipe is adapted from Southern Living and uses refrigerated pie crusts as a hack.
 
Ingredients For The Syrup

 
For The Apple Filling

 
Plus

 
Optional Garnishes

[5] A bit of lemon zest perks up any fruit dessert (photo courtesy Microplane).

1. COMBINE the sugar, water, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. REMOVE from the heat and add the butter. Stir to combine and set the syrup aside.

3. COMBINE the apple filling ingredients in a small mixing bowl Mix with a fork until you have a crumb consistency. Set aside.

4. CUT each pie crust in half. Form each half into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll into 8-inch circles.

5. PEEL and core the apples. When you core, leave enough of a well to hold the filling.

6. PLACE each apple onto the center of each circle and fill the empty core with the crumb filling. Fold the dough over the apples, pinching at the top to seal. Place apples in a lightly greased 13″ x 9″ baking dish. Drizzle with the syrup.

7. BAKE at 375°F for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and other garnishes as desired.
________________

*The 1965 Immigration & Nationality Act enabled many more Asians to immigrate to the U.S., where they established restaurants.

† Suet is a special type of fat, the hard white mass of fat surrounding the kidneys and loins of cattle (plus sheep and other animals). It has long been used in European cooking to make puddings, pastry and mincemeat. Suet has the the cleanest and mildest taste of all the animal’s fat. Fat from grass-fed beef fat is the best (although in the suet-loving past, all beef was grassfed!).

September 13th is National Peanut Day. January 24th is National Peanut Butter Day, and PB&J lovers can look forward to April 2nd.

A bit of history about the peanut, also known as a groundnut and goober. First, it isn’t a nut, but a legume.

The difference: A legume is a pod with multiple seeds. A nut has a hard outer shell protecting a single seed, the “nut.” You can drill down here.
 
 
A NEW WORLD CROP

Along with the bean, cacao, cassava, chia, chile, corn, papaya, pineapple, potato and sweet potato, quinoa, squash, sunflower, tomatillo and tomatoes, peanuts originated in Latin America.

According to the National Peanut Board, botanists believe that peanuts originated in Brazil or Peru. While there is no fossil record, we have a pottery record: Pottery in the shape of peanuts or jars decorated with peanut motifs date back as far as 3,500 years.

The archaeological record also shows that as early as 1500 B.C.E., the Incas in Peru used peanuts as a sacrificial offering. They were entombed with mummies for the afterlife. Tribes in central Brazil made a beverage from ground peanuts and maize.

Spanish and Portuguese explorers encountered peanuts in the 16th century; the Spanish in Mexico, the Portuguese in Brazil. They brought peanuts back to their home countries, and from there traders and explorers spread them to Asia and Africa.
 
 
PEANUTS COME TO THE U.S.

Peanuts came to North America in the 1700s via Africa, where they had been introduced by Portuguese traders. But it wasn’t until the early 1800s that peanuts were grown in the U.S. as a commercial crop, first in Virginia, where they were used mainly for oil and as a food for livestock and the poor.

Peanuts were eaten by Civil War soldiers as a protein-rich subsistence food. The Southern folk song “Goober Peas” was sung by Confederate soldiers (here’s a version sung by Burl Ives and Johnny Cash). After the war, Union soldiers brought them north.

[2] Boiled peanuts are a popular Southern food, boiled in salted water that gives them a fresh, legume flavor. Here’s a recipe (photo © Bittersweet Blog).

Around 1900, labor-saving equipment was invented for planting, cultivating, harvesting and picking the peanuts, then shelling and cleaning the kernels. With an abundance of supply, demand grew and their use expanded, especially for oil, roasted and salted nuts, peanut butter and candy (source).

And you get to enjoy them!