Allen Gathman

About two months ago I decided to quit using Crisco in my pie crusts.  I’ve made pies with Crisco for about thirty years, and one might suggest that they haven’t killed me so far, but it seems clear that trans fat is bad for you and should be minimized in the diet.  So, I figured I’d just learn to make pie crust with a different fat.

A lot of people swear by lard, but I just find the idea distasteful.  I learned to make pies from my sisters, who learned from my mother, who always used Crisco. (It was first sold in 1911, the year she was born, which is fitting).   Besides, I have some vegetarian friends; I wouldn’t want them to be unable to eat my pies.

So, I figured I’d use butter.  My first attempts at this came out pretty badly.  Butter isn’t just fat, like Crisco; it has some water in it too.  If I make pie crust with butter using the same amounts of flour, fat, and liquid that I do with Crisco, the crust sizzles when baked, and turns tough.  It’s kind of like very tasty leather.
So made up a bunch of little test batches of crust with different amounts of liquid and butter added; I found that you get a very nice, flaky crust if you keep the amount of liquid really low (like 3 C flour, 1 C butter, 6 Tbsp water for a large two-crust pie).   The problem is, the crust is practically powder before baking.  I can line the bottom of a pan with it, but as a top crust, it’s almost impossible to get onto the pie. It crumbles.  And forget woven lattice tops.

Still, it tastes good, and it doesn’t have any trans fat in it.

But today, after a frustrating experience with an apple pie for the Unitarian potluck tonight, I went to the Crisco web site, and discovered that they’ve replaced all their formulas with a new “zero trans fat” formula.  Okay, it has some trans fat, but since it’s less than 0.5 g per serving, they can round down.  And I’m ready to accept this as a triumph of food technology, and resume making pie crusts the way God intended, with Crisco.  Preferably butter-flavored Crisco.

Slice four or five medium yellow summer squash, a red sweet pepper, a yellow sweet pepper, and four green onions.  Spread in a single layer on a Pam-greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.  Put under the broiler.  Turn every 2 minutes until they have brown spots on all sides.  Turn oven down to bake at 350.
Heat 10 whole wheat tortillas, one at a time, in a dry frying pan or griddle.  Stack on a plate.

Microwave four cups of frozen spinach. Salt to taste.
Grate about two cups of cheese (mozzarella and a little cheddar)

Open two small cans of diced green chiles, and three cans of red enchilada sauce.

Spray a 9×12 baking pan with Pam.

Put 1 oz of cooked spinach (I used a black Volrath disher to measure), 1/8 of the grated cheese, 1/8 of the roasted veggies, and a heaping teaspoon of diced chiles on a tortilla.  Roll it up and place in the baking pan.  Repeat until you have 8 in a row across the pan, then put the last two at right angles lengthwise along one long edge.

Pour the three cans of sauce over the enchiladas.  Sprinkle any extra cheese and chiles over the top.  Place in oven and bake until cheese on top is lightly browned and sauce is bubbling — 30 to 40 min.

Serve hot with a nice Shiraz.