The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Ann Barrows
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
EGG RATING
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
It wasn’t until I’d chosen this book to read for the Foodie Book Club did I realised it had been made into a movie. I guess I could’ve cheated and just rented it to watch, but I was intrigued to see if the book and the film would match up. After all, this is a book club not a movie club.
I haven’t yet watched the movie, but its on my list to watch over the next couple of months. If there’s anyone who has both seen the movie and read the book, let me know how they compare.
So to the book.
It did take me a little while to get into the rhythm of the writing. I hadn’t realised that it was based around a series of letters. It wasn’t too long before I forgot about the sometimes short back and forward notes of the letters and let myself get engrossed in the characters.
At the beginning of the book, my least favourite character was the “author” Juliet Ashton. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to grow to like Juliet as part of the story arc, or if it was just me reacting to an entitled young woman’s privileged life . Once I read on I saw the developed humour of her personality in the letters and more of her own history.
As Juliet began her interactions with the Potato Peel Pie Society, revealing more of her background, I began to warm to her hoping that she would be able to write an honest account of the characters she was learning about.
I do sometimes have to remind myself that I don’t have to like all characters in the books I read. I do have a tendency to look for a happy ending, which can sometimes taint my view of characters.
History has never really been a thing I have ever spent too much time looking into in my adult years, unlike my Mum who used to devour historical fiction and relished speaking to us all about every aspect of the current book she was reading. So I was surprised to find how interested I was to learn more about Guernsey during the war.
I hadn’t realised the extent of the isolation the people of Guernsey must have felt. As soon as the German army invaded in 1940 the island was cut off from all communication with the mainland. With food restricted to the point of much of the population starving, electricity cuts so that candles were the norm with numbers of these restricted and curfews ensuring that no one was out after dark.
As this book was set in 1946, it brought back memories of my Mum telling me of her experiences during the war. The descriptions of the Doodle Bugs reminded me of the fear and surprise she described listening to them fly over head and the guilty relief that they were landing on someone else’s house.
The evacuation of children to places of safety was another thing Mum used to tell us about, drawing on her not too happy memories about being taken away and placed with supposedly loving parent substitutes for years, an unimaginable thing today
From Juliet’s first written interaction with Dawsey Adams (the perfect name for a leading man) to the time when they became a couple (you didn’t really think I’d be able to keep from giving you a spoiler did you?) he was instantly a Guernsey Mr Darcy. Taking over the role of carer that Elizabeth McKenna left behind.
Elizabeth McKenna, the accidental founder of the Society, is a powerful, invisible character that is a thread that runs right through the book.
Elizabeth silently kept lots of the characters alive using her wit and brains, Showing initial bravery when confronting German guards after the secret pig eating dinner party evening at Amelia Maugery’s house, falling in love with a German soldier, to her last act of bravery in a German concentration camp which led to her death which made her daughter Kit McKenna an orphan.
The book dealt openly and gently with very contemporary issues in a non-judgemental, empathic way. The homosexuality of her friend and publisher Sidney Stark and the unmarried mother status of Elizabeth McKenna who’s lover was a German soldier on the island.
Initially I would have liked a little more conflict between some of the characters. To my recollection, apart from one disapproving Guernsey character and an American suitor for Juliet, the tension was covered by the German army invasion of the island in 1940. Reading this back, and thinking more about this aspect in the book, it was probably enough to have the German invasion as a character on its own. Overall I would recommend this as a good read.
The recipe in the book is just what is on the front cover, Potato Peel Pie. The pies first outing was made with the character Will Thisbee who created the pie when the participants of the dinner party realised that because they had used the excuse of a book club to be out after curfew, they would actually have to form a real book club. Everyone knows that books and food goes together, so the group began inventing snacks to share at the group using the poor rations they had available to them. One of the foods was Potato Peel Pie.
The pie consisted of a crust of potato peel with a filling of mashed potato and mashed beetroot. Not the most appealing thing, and but for a initial but brief “Should I Do It” moment, I opted for a one of my recipes.
Onto The recipe
The Potato Skin Roll is a very easy recipe, still using the potato peel but in a way that actually tastes good. Give it a go and tell me what you think.
Try it yourself and let me know how it turns out.
Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Potato Skin Roll
A little cooling to make it easier to cut and its ready to eat.
What You Need
4/5 large potatoes –Washed, skins left on and sliced thinly – See Tip Box
170g Grated Parmesan
1 pepper - finely chopped – See Tip Box
150g Mushrooms – finely chopped
1 medium onion – finely chopped - See Tip Box
500 gms turkey mince – See Tip Box
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons Vegeta – See Tip Box
200 gms Mozzarella – Grated
Flat Sheet Tray
Non- Stick Baking Parchment
Raw Sliced Potatoes with Skin On. Overlapped like Fish Scales
How It’s Done
Heat the oven to 180c.
Wash and thinly slice the large potatoes set aside.
Grate both cheeses and set them aside n individual plates to be use separately.
Finely chop the onion, pepper and mushrooms and set aside.
Line a shallow flat baking tray with non-stick parchment paper.
Sprinkle all of the Parmesan cheese onto the oven tray so that it’s evenly spread out.
Place the sliced potatoes on top of the Parmesan so that they overlap (like fish scales) until the entire tray is covered with potato slices.
Place the tray of potatoes in to the hot oven and cook for approximately 20 minutes until the potatoes are a little brown.
While the potatoes are cooking, place a little oil into a large flat frying pan. Heat p the oil and then add the onion, pepper and mushrooms.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook slowly until the vegetables are soft. Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside to use later.
In the same hot pan, add the mince meat and season with pepper and Vegeta and cook until brown.
When the mince is brown, add the vegetables back t the pan, mix well to combine everything. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly to your taste.
Take off the heat and set aside.
Once the potatoes are ready, sprinkle all of the grated mozzarella over the potatoes, then spread the meat mixture over the mozzarella.
Leave about 1-½ inches at either end free of meat – this will make it easier to roll
Picking up the end of the parchment paper, start to roll the potatoes over (See pictures).
This will be hot so you may need to use a tea-towel to help.
Keep rolling until the whole thing is rolled together.
Leave the potato skin roll on the tray and return it to the hot oven for a further 20-25 minutes until lightly brown
Remove it from the oven and set aside for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving – Letting it stand will make it a little easier to cut
Just out of the oven. Ready for the Mozzarella and the mince mixture
Tip Box
Parmesan – Don’t throw your Parmesan rind away. Store it in a bag in the freezer and bring it out to pop in home made soup stock. It adds to much flavour
Potatoes – Slice your potatoes thinly , take a look at the photos. If there are any slices left, keep them and fry them in a little seasoning and butter for some crispy potato slices, great for breakfast with scrambled eggs.
Turkey Mince- I used turkey mince because that’s what I had. It’s a great recipe to use any other mince too. Or keep it vegetarian and use soy mince
Pepper- I had a yellow pepper, but don’t limit yourself to just that. Use red or green.
Onions- Don’t stress out thinking about medium chopping or rough chopping. Go to my YouTube channel and watch the chopping for beginners’ video.
Vegeta - This is a staple of Croatian cooking. It’s a mixture of dried vegetables and herbs and seasoning. Find it on Amazon or some supermarkets. Once you’ve used it you’ll want to use it in everything.
Rolling with a little help from a knife to guide the hot potatoes.
