Inspired by another recent vintage cookbook acquisition from abebooks.com! Innocently flipping through the pages of the 1960 Amish-Dutch Cookbook, the second recipe presented caught my eye. Why? Not quite sure but it must have been my inner pie putting out the vibe or the mention of anchovy paste (do not fear) and cloves. I enjoyed making this pretty simple but really savory pie, a proclaimed favorite of the Berkshire Hotel in Reading, PA. What is the Berkshire Hotel? Appears to be memory now according the GoReadingBerks facebook page, although one in its hay day hosting the famous, such as Mae West and Duke Ellington, according to faithful Friends. Below are the ingredients and instructions, with my “upgrades”, like more sausage and eggs (from 6 ea. to 7), Dijon mustard (instead of dry) and fresh mushrooms instead of canned. Such as the tree is, such is the fruit….. Also, the Amish Dutch Cookbook didn’t include the recipe for “cream sauce” as called for but my wicked searching skills found Mr. de Gouy’s cream sauce recipe. Crisis averted!

Sausage and Egg Pie –a Berkshire Hotel Favorite adapted from Louis P. de Gouy’s The Gold Cook Book [p.6.]

Ingredients

• 7 eggs
• 7 sausage links (we used breakfast links the first time around)
• 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoon butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
• 1 cup or so of fresh sliced mushrooms
• Ground cloves
• Cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
• ½ cup cream sauce (see recipe below), I used all that I made from recipe
• 1 premade pie crust (knock your self out and make from scratch if you want); if frozen, defrost at room temp
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream (like half-half)
• ¼ cup dry sherry
• Salt
• Pepper
• Flour
• 1 bay leaf (but not really sure what this achieves)

Instructions – Cream Sauce

1. Mix ½ cup heavy cream with bay leaf, 1 clove, 1 crushed peppercorn and scald.
   1. Note: I didn’t have whole cloves so just used the ground gloves; same for peppercorn – just used a few twists of the pepper grinder. You can taste this later to see how strong the cloves are or are not and adjust up accordingly
   2. Scalding just means to bring it to a boil
2. Strain – if you have whole clove and peppercorn.
3. Melt 2 teaspoons butter in another small sauce pan, add 1 teaspoon flour and stir until smooth. Add a dash of salt, if using unsalted butter, and add in the strained cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thicken.
   1. I did just try to add the butter and flour into the pot with scalded milk, it was lumpy, as a result I think, but ultimately didn’t affect the end result IMHO
4. Taste your cream sauce and guage how strong the clove is… My last picture on the right shows the final sauce, since I forgot a photo in the sauce pan

Pie Instructions

1. Brown sausages. We cooked up the whole package and froze the rest for quick breakfasts.
2. In a small bowl blend 2 T softened butter with anchovy paste together and spread the mixture on the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate.
3. Cover anchovy butter with layer of mushrooms

1. Arrange the sausages spoke-fashion on the mushrooms and break an egg into each space between the sausages.
   1. You can see how have 6 sausages vs. 7 isn’t a big deal.
2. Season with a dash of cloves (refer back to your taste of the final cream sauce and cross reference with love of clove), cayenne pepper and touch of salt. I would go easy on the salt, since you will add sherry later
3. Add mustard to cream sauce and pour evenly over the eggs.

1. Prep the pie crust. In my case, take it out of the package. Make sure it is 1/8 inch thick.
2. Cover the pie with the crust. Make a hole in the middle the size of a dime with a knife and pierce with a fork to let steam out while baking
3. Brush the crush with cream.
4. Bake in a moderate oven, aka 350 F, for 30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
5. Remove pie from the oven. Pour sherry throught the hole in the crust.
   1. I used a funnel and poured slowly, letting the liquid run in and disperse inside the pie
6. Return pie to oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so.

1. Done!

   

   

This was a surprising delicious recipe, with hubby wanting seconds! Not to salty, but really could end up that way, so be careful. There isn’t a anchovy taste and the mushrooms are just full of flavor from soaking up the anchovy, butter and sherry. It isn’t an overly cheesy recipe (in fact no cheese, just the ½ cup cream sauce) and light on crust, if you aren’t a crust fan. Not scrambling the eggs was interesting and fun to eat. I think you play around with different sausage.

In coming up with a title, I was looking for something catchy. And came across a ton of great Amish Dutch idioms. A few favorites:

A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience

Such as the tree is, such is the fruit.