I recently indulged in a little spending spree at my favourite bookshop. Amongst the treasure I brought home was a book that I've been ogling for some time - HomeBaking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. The only reason I'd put off buying it previously was that all the recipes were in cups and I wasn't overly comfortable baking that way. However, after a few months of baking delicious things from Epicurious I decided to take the plunge. I'm very glad I did so....
If you've ever seen any of Alford & Duguid's other books ("Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet", "The Seductions of Rice" and "Flatbreads and Flavours") then the format of the book won't be a huge surprise to you. For me, this was extra-special. The recipes have a good preface which tell you either the history of the recipe, an anecdote about the village/country the recipe hails from, or just helpful hints and substitutions for the recipe. Interleaved between recipes are glorious travel photographs and the occasional short essay on a particular bread or other goodie. It's fantastic reading and I've barely put it down since I bought it.
I chose to make the Jamaican Coconut Pie as it reminded me a lot of the brown sugar/coconut drops that my grandmother from Barbados used to make. I've never had any success in trying to recreate them, so I was quite keen to make a pie that seemed to have the same great mix of flavours.
The pie was incredibly simple to make. The most difficult part was rolling the dough out into a round - I seem to be incredibly bad at rolling dough out evenly these days. I used to be able to do it! Despite mangling the dough horribly, it came out with a wonderful texture and flavour after baking. I've never had such flaky/melt-in-the-mouth pastry before. Very yummy. The filling was delicious - very coconutty but not too sweet. Due to the soaking and pre-cooking of the filling, the coconut was nice and moist. I'm told it smelt good too - alas, I have a cold and can barely smell anything just now.
Jamaican Coconut Pie, adapted from Home Baking.
Dough
140g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose flour)
8 tablespoons/1 stick (110g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 tsp fine salt
1 large egg yolk
1-2 tablespoons ice water
Filling
Scant 1 1/4 cups dried unsweetened shredded coconut (dessicated coconut)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (I used light)
1/4 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, shortening or lard
8" pie plate or loose-bottomed sandwich tin
Put the flour and butter in a food processor and process to the consistency of fine meal. Add the sugar, salt and egg yolk,and pulse briefly to combine. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water and pulse. Try to pull the mixture together into a dough; if its still dry and crumbly add a little more water.
Transfer the dough to a heavy plastic bag and press from the outside into a disk. Refridgerate for an hour or until ready to use.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling: place one cup of the coconut into a small bowl and pour over the boiling water. Leave to soak for 10-15 minutes.
Mix the sugar and cornflour in a small bowl, then stir into the coconut mixture.
Melt the butter or fat in a small saucepan. Add the coconut-sugar mixture and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning or sticking, until the mixture thickens.
Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature, then, if not using immediately, refridgerate, covered. (You should have about 1 1/2 cups filling.) Thirty minutes before using it, take the filling out of the refridgerator. It hardens once chilled, but it can be stirred and softened with a wooden spoon.
Stir in the remaining scant 1/4 cup of coconut and set asid.
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and then preheat it to 375F/190C/Gas 5.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a round about 10 or 11 inches in diameter. Drape it over the pie plate or sandwich tin and gently ease it down the sides. Trim off the edges just wider than the edge of the plate. Reserve the trimmings.
Spread the filling in the pie shell, mound it in the middle and spread out to the edges. Use the reserved trimmings to make a lattice top.
Bake the pie for approximately 35 minutes until lightly touched with brown (mine took 29 minutes). Let stand on a rack for at least 10 minutes to firm up and serve warm or at room temperature, with a scoop of lemon or mango sorbet for contrast if desired.
LiveJournal feed
Comments
This long-lost comment has been restored from backup.
I am from Barbados and just 'bumped' into your blog. The coconut dessert that your grandmother made is called a sugar cake.
Will try your Jamaican coconut cake.
Che
1. Posted by Che on November 19, 2007
This long-lost comment has been restored from backup.
Hi Che! Thanks for stopping by and telling me about the sugarcakes! I remember coming back from holidays in B'dos with large tubs of them... I've found a few recipes, so I might have a go at making them myself later in the summer...
2. Posted by Angela on November 19, 2007