Impulsive Cooking

The joys and pleasures of cooking. Believe it or not, few things hold as much pleasure as cooking on an off-from work day. There might be things that I would have lined up to do on my off day, but I would wilfully and happily, put them off, if sudden inspiration struck me on that very day, prompting me to act on impulse, and get up and cook something in the kitchen. Oh and the kitchen! My parents lovingly decorated and furnished it a couple of years ago, and it truly is a pleasure now to work in it. I truly believe that your work spaces should be places of joy and happiness and in which you work with full confidence and reliance on your kitchen and trusty utensils.

So, it being an off-from work day, (mine is Tuesdays this month) I got up from the sofa while watching TV, when sudden insipiration struck and I was quickly thinking of making a pie. I wanted apple pie, but there being no apples in the house, decided to go for the next best fruit - and that was mangoes! They're in season, and the ones I had were small and sweet with a soft flesh, so they were perfect were cooking.

They say an apple pie is very easy to make, hence the saying 'as easy as apple pie'. I have never made a pie in my life, let alone an apple pie, but I was going with intuition and acting on impulse. A few rummages through a couple of cookbooks, and I found the proportion of flour, butter and water to make the pastry for my pie. Nigel Slater's cookbook advised making the dough with hands and using cold butter and ice cold water, as the 'tactile pleasures of pastry making' could only be enjoyed if you went in there and grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak.

And it was amazing. Absolutely amazing! and so wonderful how the flour and butter mixed together in my hands, and became so soft and fluffly and so beautiful in my hands! And I can't help but agree with Nigel on this! It truly was a pleasure! And I would recommend that to anyone who was thinking of making a pastry at home. Use your hands! Nigel says you can always use a whip or a beater but there's really no need. And I agree! There's  really no need!

Ok, so the filling for the pie... I have been making a fruit jam-my sort of thing with syrup and butter and honey for my pancakes so I decided to go along with that with a few modifications. Into a saucepan, some butter, my peeled, chopped mangoes, and loads of sugar, cooked on medium high heat, till they become sort of soft, and then some water. Now on low heat, till it becomes gooey and delicious, with a final sprinkling of good cinammon powder (LOVE that stuff!), and set aside from the flame.

Next, greased my pie pan with a generous amount of butter, lined it with pastry, and put in the oven to heat up for a few minutes.

Got it out of the oven, and filled it with the mango mixture, and topped it with the pastry lid, covering the sides well, making a few pastry leaves for decoration on top :) that was optional of course. Perforated the top and sent to the oven for baking till golden brown, for about 55 minutes, checking every so often on it.

When it came out of the oven, it smelled oh-so-good, and looked good too, so I decided to take some pictures.

The acting-on-impulse thing continued into the evening as well, and I decided to make some cheese samosas with olives and oregano and black pepper. Gave me a few ideas for further modifications for a good tea time snack! The best part of it all, was working with flour. I absolutely LOVE it!

Inbetween it all, I watched Julie and Julia, for the third time, and fell in love with it all over again.

I want to read both of the books that the movie is based on, it would be great to read them! Want. Want. Want.