Friday, August 26, 2011

Dinner and a Movie: Sense and Sensibility

The theme for this month's Forever Nigella is "Picnic Pleasure."  Naturally, I thought of this scene in one of my all-time favorite movies, Sense and Sensibility:


I'm assuming that given the demographics of my readers that many of you have probably seen this adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. If you haven't, you're in for a treat.  Emma Thompson's screenplay is an improvement on the source material and the cast is fantastic.  I've owned this movie on VHS and DVD and have been watching it fairly regularly since 1995 and it never gets old. That's how awesome it is.

Egg and Bacon Pie
Egg and Bacon Pie

I wanted to have a proper picnic to go with this post, but the weather has either been rainy or very hot.  Welcome to August in Kansas!  Maybe we'll have a nice picnic in September or October. I hope so! I do love a picnic! For my recipe, I chose Boxing Day Egg and Bacon Pie from How to Be a Domestic Goddess (one of my favorite cookbooks, for cooking and reading).  The recipe is also at Nigella.com. Egg and Bacon pie is perfect for a picnic because it can be made a day or two in advance (or months, if you freeze it) and eaten cold.

As with the Nursery Fish Pie, I divided the portions in half: twelve instead of six.  With eighteen ounces of bacon and a double-crust, a twelfth of a pie was more than enough, especially with a couple of vegetables!  Egg and Bacon Pie is homey, hearty and delicious.  It's a keeper!


Helen at Fuss Free Flavors is the host for Forever Nigella #8.
Forever Nigella was created by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.

Yesterday, I found a copy of Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book at a used bookstore over on the west side of Wichita. So, of course, I had to try a recipe to go with dinner. The produce selection has been really bad this summer. We had hotter-than-average June and July, so the farmers' markets were short on produce and everything we tried to grow at home during those couple of months shriveled up and died, so I've been more reliant on the grocery store, which at least has an organic section. Since none of it was local, I went with some cabbage because I happen to really like cabbage! This recipe is adapted from "Buttered Cabbage" in Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book.

Black-pepper and Nutmeg Cabbage


Black Pepper-Nutmeg Cabbage

serves 4

1 cabbage
4 tablespoons butter
sea salt
black pepper
nutmeg

Remove outer leaves and quarter the cabbage, steam for approximately 8 minutes, or until just tender. Meanwhile, melt the butter over lowest heat and stir in salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Use a good amount of black pepper and nutmeg.  Drain the cabbage and pour pepper-nutmeg butter over the top.


Yesterday on The Past on a Plate: "Focus on Ingredients: Grass-fed Beef"

15 comments:

  1. Mmmm. I love cabbage. And bacon, and eggs, and pie. I do not necessarily love picnics, but I'd love to go to *that* picnic (in your first photo). I want a bacon and egg pie with cabbage on the side, and to re-watch Sense and Sensibility.

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  2. "Sense and Sensibility" is a well-made and well-acted film, shows you the range of director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Brokeback Mountain).

    Egg and Bacon Pie, Yum!

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  3. Austen and bason and egg pie. What could be better? How about a picnic and Austen and bacon and egg pie? Okay, that sounds about perfect. :)

    I love cabbage cut into strips and then sauteed in butter with a bit of salt. Yum.

    Your recipe sounds good too. ;)

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  4. Okay, yum! I eat a lot of cabbage because it's so good for the digestive system. I eat a lot of eggs and bacon, too because... well...they're tasty. :)

    As far as the movie choice - excellent!

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  5. Love te addition of nutmeg to the cabbage. A great flavor boost!

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  6. Oh, bacon and egg pie sounds wonderful! I adore Nigella :) And you've put me in the mood for cabbage, too...I'll have to try it with nutmeg next~

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  7. Fantastic, I have never seen this film, how terrible am I?! X

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  8. that pie looks so hearty and delicious! :)

    katslovefashion.blogspot.com

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  9. yuuuuummm, bacon pie! I think I would love this.

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  10. Looks delicious! One of the best freelance jobs I ever had was watching every available Jane Austen film and TV adaptation for an exhibition of costume at the Fashion Museum in Bath. I then assisted in trying to track down original costumes and selecting clips to be shown in the museum alongside them. What a JOY!

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  11. That does sound like a fun job! Of course, anything involving Jane Austen adaptations or fashion museums sounds like a good time.

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  12. Fantastic pie for a picnic, I love it! I saw Sense & Sensibility at the cinema but not sure I've watched it since. I remember Willoughly making quite an impression on me!!

    Thanks for taking part in Forever Nigella!

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  13. Wow, love this post...Sense and Sensibility, Nigella Lawson and Jane Grigson together! Terrific reading and recipes. :)

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  14. Oh, love, love Sense and Sensibility. The bacon and egg pie looks yummy!

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  15. I adore Sense and Sensibility - thanks for the great screen shot. Your egg and bacon pie looks devine!

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