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Type as Art » 3rd Wednesdays

By: NickC on September 5, 2011

Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, one member of the Creative team provides a delicious, home-baked pie for everyone to enjoy whilst another member of the team delivers a lunchtime lecture to share insight and provoke discussion

Ciao pie supporters,

So here we are at the height of the British summer and with it our eleventh 3rd Wednesdays event.

Stepping up to the plate this month was our Aussie-bred designer Jordan blood who, “having never made a pie…blah blah”, produced two wonderfully cooked, well-balanced beauties.

A traditional Steak & Ale (using none other than local London Pride) was served for the meat-eaters, whilst, as an attempt to use seasonal produce, an all mushroom pie was served up for those vegetarians amongst us.

Having never really plucked up the courage to make an all-mushroom pie we were pleasantly surprised that, although the filling consisted of mushrooms only, it wasn’t boring at all and was really quite tasty. So, below you will find the recipe as taken from Vigie num num:

for the filling

• 50g (2oz) assorted dried mushrooms
• 350g (12oz) button mushrooms, sliced
• 250g (9oz) Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 200g (7oz) baby onions (approx. 5), sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 stock cube (I used a no-animal-content ‘beef’ stock)
• 2 tsp cornflour (corn starch)
• ¼ cup soy cream or natural set yoghurt

for the pastry

• 225g (8oz) flour
• 115g (4oz) vegan margarine or butter
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ¼ cup cold water
• 1 tsp black sesame seeds

Place the dried mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to soak for 15-30 minutes until tender. Drain reserving liquid, slice the mushrooms and set aside. Combine 1 cup of the reserved liquid with the stock cube and cornflour (cornstarch) until dissolved, set aside. Heat the olive oil in a good sized frypan over a medium heat, add the sliced baby onions and fry for 3-4 minutes until soft, add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the button mushrooms and continue to cook over a medium heat until they start to soften, add the Swiss mushrooms and cook for a further few minuted. Add the sliced assorted mushrooms and bring the heat to high, add the wine and allow to simmer for 1 minute before adding the reserved liquid, stock and cornflour mixture. Turn down the heat to low and let the mushrooms cook over a very gentle heat for 10-15 minutes.

Once the mushroom mixture has gentle cooked for 10-15minutes and is reduced, remove from the heat and stir through the soy cream or yoghurt. Check seasoning and add salt if needed and lots of fresh cracked pepper to taste. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 180°C/356°F. Rub the margarine or butter together with the sifted flour in a large bowl until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the dried thyme and a pinch of salt, combine. Drop by drop add the cold water until the mixture forms a dough, you may not need all the water. Roll the dough into a smooth ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Grease a 35cm pie dish and set aside. Remove the pastry from the fridge and cut into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger ball out on a floured surface large enough to line the base and sides of your pie dish. Lay the pastry into to prepared dish prick with a fork a couple of times and return the dish to the fridge for another 10 minutes. Roll out the remainder of the pastry to form the pie lid. Pour the mushroom filling into the prepared pie crust, trim the edges of the pastry from the dish and top with the pie lid. Seal the edges of the pastry case by gentle pressing drown with a fork or your fingers. Cut a cross in the middle of the pie lid, sprinkle with black sesame seeds and wash with non-dairy milk.

Place in the pre-heated oven for 20-25minutes until pastry is golden and pie bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for a few minuted before devouring. Serve with blanched spinach or steamed green veg for a wonderful elegant vegetarian meal

Following on from Pie, we were treated to a first class lecture from Sadhbh O’Breirne (literally, as it turns out, having been the basis of her dissertation) on the topic of ‘Type as Art’. The presentation took a look at typography within the framework of communication, language and art.

Starting with the Futurist poets, Sadhbh talked us through three distinct stages of development across a one-hundred year timeframe wherein non-designers (artists, poets, etc.) implemented typography as the main component of their work, raising questions about whether the final outcome was text or texture.

The mingling of typography with literature and art has unleashed much of its inherent potential and has helped to narrow the gap between typography and language, revealing the art in communication, or indeed, word as art.

So there you go folks, our eleventh 3rd Wednesdays meeting and the penultimate installment before our one-year anniversary.

See you next month for our birthday!

(if you’re interested, we’ve got more typography-based posts which you can find on the blog here)