OYSTER PIE

Try serving a piece of this as an appetizer on St Patrick’s Day  *  The recipe call for an enticing mixture of leeks, apple, blue cheese and oysters  *  But first the pastry  *  Heat oven to 400 degrees  *  Whisk one cup of all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp of salt  *  add 6 Tbsp of butter in bits and combine until the mixture’s crumbs are the size of small pebbles  *  Take one large egg and separate yolk from white  *  Beat the yolk with 3 Tbsp cold water ( a fourth may be needed later on) and add the flour mixture  *  toss with a fork or pulse in a by machine until the mixture starts to come together to form a dough  *  With some flour on a rolling surface gather the dough on the floured surface  *  form in a disk and roll in a 12 inch circle  *  Fit the dough into an 8 inch pie pan and crimp the edges  *  Take a fork and puncture the dough five or six times for even baking  *  bake for fifteen minutes with a foil covering  *  remove the foil and bake until golden – another ten minutes or so  *  remove from the oven  *  While the pie shell is baking prep for the pie filling  *  Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a 12 inch skillet and add 1/2 cup of finely chopped leeks, 1/2 cup of peeled and chopped green apple and 1/2 cup of finely chopped fennel bulb  *  Saute on low heat until tender and translucent  *  Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and remove from the heat  *  Now for the oysters  *  The oysters may be from the east coast; such as Fishers Island or Beausoleil  *  Or they may be from the west coast such as Hood Canal  *  Place the oysters in a 3 quart saucepan with just enough water to cover and heat the water just above 140 degrees  *  Shut off heat and let it sit on the burner for 5 minutes  *  allow the oysters to cool  *  open the oysters flat side up and remove the oysters over a bowl to catch the juices  *  In a separate bowl mash 5 ounces of blue cheese adding three Tbsp of reserved oyster juice  *  Beat egg white until softly peaked and fold into the cheese  *  Spread the leek, fennel and apple mixture in pie shell and spread cheese mixture on top  *  Place in oven and bake twenty minutes  *  Melt last Tbsp of butter and allow to turn light brown  * Mix in with the oysters  *  Remove the pie from the oven and arrange buttered oysters on top  *  Bake two more minutes and remove from the heat  *  Let pie set about 10 minutes  *  cut in four portions and serve  *  Give yourself about 1 hour to prepare this oyster pie –  layered with blue cheese  *  May want to think about some Irish whiskey  or a Guinness stout if serving this on St Patrick’s Day