FUNGHI POT PIE A LA KOONIE

Yesterday's dinner nearly didn't happen. One weekend morning last week, May and I just happened to be watching Rachael Ray on TV.  She was in Chicago visiting the local favourite eating joints and resaurants.  We were intrigued by a dish she tasted.  It looked like a mushroom pot pie with spaghetti sauce.  So I decide to to make a couple after we got all what we saw were the ingredients.

I needed two porcelain bowls. The pot pie we saw was baked in a bowl, not dish, one bowl for each diner. Alas, there was none in the house. Go and buy some. Easier said than done. No bowl that can be use for baking. Not even at Phoon Huat, the baking haven. Almost gave up. But then my resourceful wife found some at N2 Shopping Street ( that's Tampines Neighbourhood 2 Shopping Street; what's else?) right in front of our noses. But Phoon Huat did have prepared puff pastry sheets. Bought a pack.

Come Sunday, yesterday. All the ingredients were ready. May lightly stir fried about 120 grams of minced beef with chopped garlic and onions in a sauce pan. Poured in half a bottle of a 737 gram bottle of Prego spaghetti sauce ( given by May's friend Mary).

Placed two slices of real, not the processed kind, cheddar cheese at the bottom of each pie-pot.

      
       Halved the button mushrooms, about 5 to 8 medium sized ones for each pot, and dropped them into the pots.

Filled the pots with the spaghetti sauce. Covered the pots with the puff pastry.

 

Began pre-heating the oven to 220°C.  Temperature determined by looking at the baking instructions for the puff pastry sheets. No recipe; everything ‘agak agak’ (guessing, educatedly, be assured).

Poof ... all the lights went out. Tried to reset the earth-leakage circuit break. No joy. Switched off the mains to the oven and tried again. Lights on again. Switched on the oven, lights off. Conclusion – oven faulty. So now what to do with the unbaked funghi pot-pie a la Koonie?

Resourceful May to the rescue again. Use the turbo broiler, said she.

Voila, ready, top brown and crispy.

Turned over the pot and dropped the pie onto the dinner plate. Ready to be eaten with fresh cucumber. Let me say that getting the koonie pie onto the plate was quite a feat. The pot was smooth and oily and hot, and had no handle. Difficult to hold. Nearly made a mess of it.



I must say, for a concoction without a recipe, it was good. The funghi was succulent and earthy, the sauce was piquant and tangy (Prego is good) and you could still feel the crispiness of the crust despite the sauce. Yum, yum. Now to see to the oven.