Mushroom and cheese pie*

Categories:	Italian   Pie   mushrooms
Secondary Source:	Food alla Florentine
Cook:	Marian of Edwinstowe
Meeting Date:	0000-00-00

Steps

1. When the pie shell has thawed, prick it all over with a fork and smear the inside with beaten egg white (save the rest of the white and the yolk). Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Lower oven temperature to 350°.
   
   
2. In a skillet, heat the oil and sauté the mushrooms, garlic and parsley, adding in the salt and pepper. Allow to cool somewhat. Add diced cheese. With a slotted spoon, transfer chunks of mushroom/cheese mix into pie shell. Beat remaining eggs with mushroom juice still in the pan and pour over the chunks.
   
   
3. Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes, till chunks of cheese are somewhat melted, eggs are set, and crust is nut-brown.

Note

This recipe is from a secondary source, Food alla Florentine (by Naomi Barry and Bepe Bellini), and should be considered "medievalish", rather than authentic. I hope someday I will find the Italian original. However, it can be compared with the Menagier's recipe below. * which is authentic.

This is a extremely flexible recipe. If you don't have enough mushrooms, add more cheese; if you don't have enough cheese, add more mushrooms; if you don't have enough of either, add more eggs or another ingredient, such as ham or bacon, diced and sauteed with the mushrooms. You don't have to use Parmesan cheese -- I've had it with cheddar or Swiss or a combination of cheeses. I've probably encountered over a dozen variations and they were all very good!

*Recipe of Menagier de Paris, Paris, circa 1400

To make pastries of mushrooms.
Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese, and powdered spices.