Summer of Squash; A West Oakland Dinner; The Improvised Pie Post

As summer comes to an end, so does the season for summer squash, summer squash of all shapes, sizes, and colors- dark green oblongs, bright yellow multi-point stars, cute little chubby striped ones. Before these quirky vegetables disappear, I wanted to make the most of the bounteous amounts being sold at the farmers’ market. Luckily, my beauteous friend, Anya, had the same thought, so when she invited me over to cook dinner with her, I brought a variety that resembled a pale yellow to dark green gradient.

Going into Anya’s kitchen, I knew she was a much more experienced cook than I, since she grew up in a family where each member took turns making meals (I’m so jealous!), so I was prepared to be schooled by her in the making of a Shepherd’s Pie. Funny enough, she thought I was an expert pie-maker so she was expecting to take direction from me. We ended up just doing whatever we thought sounded good, playing it by ear the whole time. I chopped up a myriad of vegetables and sautéed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Anya had already made mashed potatoes and pie dough, so we laid the dough in a cast-iron skillet and pre-baked the bottom crust for about 15 minutes [Note: Weigh down the crust with something and punch holes in it, because it WILL puff up.] Then in went the vegetables along with a sprinkling of pepper jack cheese and on top of them went the mashed potatoes with another sprinkling of pepper jack and some butter cubes. We stuck it in the oven and just left it until the top slightly browned. Recipe-less and carefree, we had no idea how it would turn out. To my surprise, our creation came out of the oven looking and smelling… pretty good! It also tasted quite delicious, if I do say so myself.

As a side, we also made Kale- Goat Cheese Frittata cups but this time from a Kitchn recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/easy-breakfast-recipe-kale-and-goat-cheese-frittata-cups-166901. It was less of a surprise that those turned out tasty and frittatalicious.

Feasting around a coffee table with jazzy tunes accompanying the meal, Anya’s awesome friends/housemates appreciated our improvised pie and not-so-improvised frittata bites. It was a cozy little dinner circle that Addie most perceptively compared to a scene from a Woody Allen movie. Muffins, feminism, and late nights at bars were some of the conversation topics of the evening- it was one of the most fun, inspiring, and hilarious dinners I’ve experienced. They are such a warm, loving, supportive group of people (Anya included)- I loved their positivity and greatly appreciated their compassion. I’ve found myself growing more and more cynical, but am realizing that’s not a great path to go down. As a random French-Canadian named Guillaume quoted to me one day, “I’m not cynical at all, just experienced.” Oh Oscar Wilde, no wonder so many women loved you. Anyway, Anya and her friends reminded me that you can be wise and intelligent without being cynical. Thank you for that, Magnolia house!

We finished with a pie of a different kind- classic strawberry lattice à la mode. Anya left that pie up to me, since I love making dessert pies. I completely improvised this one as well, simply chopping up strawberries, adding sugar and flour by the spoonful until it seemed sweet and thick enough. With Anya’s grandma’s perfect pie crust, we made a lattice crust and again, I was surprised at how well it turned out! I didn’t measure anything for the filling and it didn’t bubble over or get soupy. Yay!

 Two weeks later, after reflecting on this kitchen experience, I realized improvisational cooking and baking can lead to an amazing meal- no rules, no measurements, no recipes- every cook for him or herself! I believe once you have a solid, quality foundation, you can start to experiment freely with different flavors and techniques. This can apply to life as well. It can be stifling and tiresome to be constantly planning every move you make. Sometimes it can be refreshing and rewarding to just go with the flow and see where life takes you.

Shepherd’s Pie:

Pie Crust
Carrots

White Mushrooms

Zucchini

Anya at work with a carrot

Yellow Squash

Onions

Olive Oil

Garlic

Thyme

Salt

Pepper

Potatoes, boiled and mashed- may leave the skin

Milk

Butter

Pepper Jack Cheese

Me and Mr. Fig