The title for this entry begs explanation, and you will get one. Pazienza, ragazzi, because then you will get a recipe for a dessert that even those of you who don't do sweets, and especially those of you who have little kitchen equipment, should make.
The recipe comes from the pile of recipes that Annalena always has sitting around, waiting to be made. As it is a dessert, she needed an occasion because Guyman and Annalena are trying very hard to cut back on the sweet stuff, and this one is definitely sweet. The recipe is intriguing and I kept on coming back to it.
Well, the occasion for dessert does not always have to be a dinner. Sometimes, a dessert will serve a different purpose, as this one did.
Anywhere one goes, anywhere one works, there will be good people, there will be bad people, there will be kind people, there will be nasty people, and sometimes, people will just have bad days - and inflict bad days on others. That happened at Annalena's new job last week. One of the nicer people at the new place, who does a tremendous amount of work for Annalena, was getting a solid reaming out by a more junior attorney, because the woman was not paying enough attention to his work. Nothing the woman said would convince him otherwise. When he was finished "having his yell," as it were, the woman sighed, smiled and said, as Annalena walked by on one of her many trips to the powder room: "sometimes, you just have days when you wonder whether it was worth getting out of bed."
Ok, seeming digression here: readers of this blog will know that one of Annalena's heroes is Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame. That one makes a lot of sense. Another hero, however, is a woman who was named Mary Brown. Annalena met Ms. Brown when she was thinking of becoming a school teacher, and was student teaching (it IS a scary thought: Annalena teaching the young ,isn't it?). That was 30 years ago, and Ms. Brown had been teaching 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade in Harlem, for 20 years.
Sainthood. That's all one can say. When sitting with Ms. Brown one day, after a trying morning of teaching bilingual reading, and wondering how a teacher could deal with the need and lack and struggle that she saw everyday, Ms. Brown said something that I have always remembered: "yes, I see the holes in the shoes. I see the hungry faces because there's no food at home. I see the bruises. I can't fix NONE of that. But I can give them two plus two is four, and there isn't a hole in a shoe, a missed meal or a bruise that can EVER take that away from my kids. They will have that for life. That's what I can do, and that's what I do."
Let that resonate with you for a minute. And take it with Ms. Waters statement, when she was interviewed once, and asked "if you had the leaders of the five most powerful nations in the world in a room, what would you say to them?" answered "I would not say anything, I would instead give them something good to eat. That's what I do."
I hope you understand why I consider these women heroes. "that's what I do. "That's what I can do." Neither one could fix a problem, and they knew that. But they could do something else.
Well, Annalena could not fix the problem. She could not make the bad day go away. BUT... she could promise a better one the next day. "Will thinking of a coconut pie for tomorrow make things better," I asked, and my colleague's eyes lit up. So, I headed home, with the new recipe in mind, and hoped that it would work.
It did. It worked wonderfully on all levels, to the point where this woman, smiling, brought a piece of the pie to the attorney who had abused her the next day and offered to share.
Need one say more? Well, yes, one needs to say the recipe. And here it is. When you see its simplicity, you will be glad it makes two pies.
You must preheat your oven to 350, and then grease two, non-metal pie plates . Nine inch ones, please. Put them aside.
Melt a stick of unsalted butter over low heat. While it is melting, measure a SCANT 2 cups of sugar (I say scant, because the recipe calls for 1.75 cups of sugar. If you don't have a 3/4 cup measuring cup, just be stingy with 2 cups.). Have ready four large eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 cups of sweet, shredded coconut (you know the stuff: in the plastic bag), and a half cup of flour mixed with 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of salt. (This is the equivalent of self rising flour, which the recipe calls for, but I assume that none of my readers have in their houses. Nor should they).
When the butter has melted, whisk it into the sugar. It will be clumpy. Now add the four eggs, and mix to the point where it's fairly smooth. Stir in, in this order, the flour, the coconut, and the milk, until you have a uniform mass.
Get a ladle and spoon the mixture into the pie plates. If you have baking sheets, put one on each sheet. This will give you some stability and allow you to put both pies in the oven, since a standard oven shelf will probably not hold both pies. You will want to bake these for an hour, and after half an hour, change the positions of the pies in the oven. In other words, move the lower one to the upper level, and the upper one to the lower level. Let the pies bake for the full allotment of time. You may think they are done, and one could consider that they are, but the hour time allows the pies to take on a wonderful caramelly taste, especially around the edges, and a gorgeous brown color.
This is not your standard, coconut custard pie, but you are going to be glad you made two. These disappeared in half an hour, with people envious of not having taken bigger pieces. Annalena was tempted herself.
If you wish to play with this recipe, some ideas. Those lovers of Mounds candy bars may want to stir a half cup or so of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips into their pie and see how it turns out. Those of a tropical bent might want to grate the peel of a lime into the batter.
It is difficult to think of putting something with this pie, but perhaps chocolate sorbet is a good idea? Or passion fruit sorbet? Or a fruit salad based on tropical fruits like mangoes and pineapples? Surely you have time t odo something like that, given the minimal work involved.
Let me know how this recipe works for you and, if you have hero stories, or "personal saints," like Mary Brown, remember them here.
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