Mmmm. The Tuna Pie was good. Little pastry biscuits on top. Yum, yum. I’m looking for an alternative Cary recipe for the book to replace the apple pie. He’s got some good ones too. He’s a man who loved his fish. This could be the one. Chicken of the Sea in a pie.
It’s a busy week this week and I SHOULD be making some Bette Davis marmalade tonight but there is just too much to do. I guess it can wait until the weekend. I’m cat sitting for Paulette and Ivor and they do have a lovely big kitchen for cooking. Would it be mad to take my biddy-bag trolley full of jam jars round there and make the marmalade in Paulette’s nice copper preserving pan?
Cary Grant’s Tuna Fish Pie
200g* / 1 cup tuna
140g / 1 cup diced carrots
150g / 1 cup peas
140g / 1 cup diced potatoes
35g / ½ cup mushrooms
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
475ml / 2 cups milk
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp salt
½ recipe for baking powder biscuits (see appendix)
Flake the tuna fish. Cook the carrots, peas, potatoes and mushrooms separately in small quantities of water for 15 minutes. Melt the butter, add the flour and blend well. Add milk, mushrooms and stir, cooking gently, until smooth and thickened. Add seasonings. Combine with cooked drained vegetables, eggs and fish. Pour into baking dish. Roll out biscuit dough to ½ inch thickness, cut with small cutter and place biscuits on top of fish and vegetables. Bake in hot oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until biscuits are brown.
Note: I usually add some extra seasonings such as 1 tsp celery salt in place of the salt and one tsp dried dill to joosh up the white sauce.
* A 200g tin of tuna yields about 140g tuna which is about 1 cup.
I don't think it's mad… do it! Do it!
Facts I thought I'd never discovrer about Cary Grant, Number 327:
He's a man who loved his fish.
Thank you PJ – I have decided to DO IT! Will report back on whether all the jam jars make it intact…
Matthew – it is a FACT. He loved them. Cathcing the them AND cooking them. All will be revealed in the book!
I like the idea of this project. One never knows about Hollywood issued publicity as one of the sources, but the authors are obviously well versed in the history of glamour Hollywood. And armed with such qualifications, can discern that which works and that which does not. Besides, I suspect some of these recipes and asides were based on truth, provided such truth enhanced the luster of the star. One equipped with kitchen skills, and food savvy, knows pretty much what will work when reading a recipe. And one knows very well when consuming the result. I wish the project well and I await the book’s appearance.
Thanks Gerald! It’s lots of fun trying to ascertain which of these recipes ACTUALLY came direct from the star themselves and which were just given the nod by the publicity department. Sometimes it is quite clear as the star provides a personal message (Joan Crawford for example saying that she cooking steak is her specialty and always cooks it a certain way) other times it’s obviously a shoo-in. I’m planning to write an introduction to the book which will explain the provenance of some of the recipes and discuss the whole publicity machine too. What fun!