Authors in the Kitchen (2 of 21)

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COPYRIGHT
Authors in the Kitchen by Megan Halpern. Copyright 2009 by Megan Halpern.
All Rights Reserved. Sharing not permitted.

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IN AND OUT OF THE KITCHEN WITH ANNIE BARROWS

Annie Barrows is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. She is also the author of the children's books The Magic Half and the Ivy & Bean series. Although Annie is incredibly busy finishing up her next book, she took a few minutes' time to talk with us about real potato peel pie and the memories she has of cooking for her aunt and co-author Mary Ann Schaeffer, who sadly passed away soon after their book was finished.

Will Thisbee's Guernsey Literary Society Potato Peel Pie

Potato Peel Pie

Will Thisbee's Potato Peel Pie is a fictional concoction, yet it is true to the spirit of Guernsey cookery during the Occupation, by which I mean that it's pretty dismal. Shortly before The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was published, I decided that authorial duty obliged me to make and consume a potato peel pie, using only the ingredients available during the Occupation. So I made one, and I ate it, too. I want a lot of credit for that second part, because it tasted like paste. However, in the service of gluttons for punishment (or punishment for gluttons) who would like to try it themselves, I offer a recipe for a very small pie:

1 potato
1 beet
1 Tablespoon milk (this is probably too deluxe for a genuine Occupation pie, but if you aim to eat the thing, you'll want the milk in order to reduce lump-size. )

Peel the potato and put the peelings in a pie pan. Don't cook the peels, because you're in the middle of an Occupation and you don't have any fuel. Boil the potato and the beet together in the salty water, but not for very long, due to the fuel problem. Just until you can stick a fork in the potato. Take them out and mash them up with the milk. Pour the glop in the pie pan. Bake at 375 for as short a time as is consonant with digestion (fuel again), say, fifteen minutes.

The finished product will look quite attractive and pink. If you cross your eyes, you can almost imagine raspberries. Don't be fooled. It looks a lot better than it is. However, if you forgot about historical accuracy and added a bunch of butter and milk and maybe some nice sour cream, it could be quite tasty.

Cooking for Mary Ann

I have very few food-memories about my aunt Mary Ann, because she was not even a bad cook, but a non-cook. I don't think I ever ate a single meal that she made. I once served her a meal, though. I was nine. My cousin Cary and I had learned how to make something called Happy Monkey Burgers in a cooking class. We locked ourselves in the kitchen, chopping and mixing and tossing, and then voila! We paraded to the table with our platter: Happy Monkey Burgers all around! Eat your hearts out! Mary Ann took a bite. Then she asked, “Did you girls cook this meat?” Cary and I looked furtive. We had cut a few corners on the actual cooking, because, well, cooking is boring. Mary Ann threw her napkin in the air and hugged Cary. “The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!” she cried. And then we went straight on to dessert.

On being a “food outcast” (her words, not mine!)

In almost any place in the United States, I would be considered a violent food-snob, but I live in Berkeley, California, where I am considered a food troglodyte. I eat only fresh vegetables, I know what arugula is, I cook for my children—but in Berkeley, that hardly gets you to the threshold of the temple of food. My problem is that I can't retain food information. I've had Omega-3 explained to me a hundred times and I still can't summon the word that comes after it—is it acids? I know that there are nine fruits and vegetables that you simply cannot buy unless they're organic, but I can't remember what they are. I know blueberries aren't one of them, which is a great relief to me. Quenelles—what are they? Do I like them? Basil ice cream—why? Am I supposed to get more excited about black truffle oil or white truffle oil?

Obviously, I'm not paying attention. And obviously, I'm not paying attention because I don't care very much about food. What I do care about is meals. I care about sitting down at my table and eating something tasty with people I like, and I laboriously shop and cook in order to make that happen four or five nights a week. I bake scones so that my kids and I can eat them while reading the horoscopes in the newspaper at breakfast time. I drive long distances to get the ridiculous things my children like to have for lunch. The point, for me, is eating well and happily, not eating particularly. So—maybe I'll die from lack of Omega-3s (whatever they are), but I'll die contented.

Read the first chapter of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and visit Annie Barrows' author website.

Support your local independent bookstore and buy Annie's book from Indiebound.

www.authorsinthekitchen.com

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