4 June 2020 – Old Maid’s Day

Today I’ve been celebrating spinsterhood by eating pie. It’s Old Maid’s Day, a delightfully termed day of celebration that started in America after WW2 to honour those women who didn’t quite make it down the aisle. Which is perhaps a little outdated, but a pie, even if it is made out of leftovers, is still a pie. 

Anyhow. An Old Maid’s Pie has five main ingredients: mashed potatoes, cooked meat, grated cheese, fried breadcrumbs and fried onion. None of which I had knocking around in the back of the fridge. So first I boiled some of my Whit Sunday spuds, then fried up a load of onions, then made some fake meat out of tofu and seasoning, grated some coconut cheese, and found the box of strange rice crumbs I actually did have left over from the plum duff

Then it was time to assemble. Think ‘What if a shepherd’s pie was a lasagne?’ and you’ll get there. And as everything was already edible, it was then just a case of warming it all though.

I really did grow some exceptional potatoes, as my mash was gorgeous. In fact, the whole thing was lush and I would have happily licked the pan clean had I not needed packed lunches for the next couple of days. But as far as the name goes, I thinking Old Maid’s Pie has had its day, maybe Independence Clanger is more 2020? Or Spinster Spanakopita? Bachelorette Battenberg?

I’m off now to finish today’s celebrations with a bit of Destiny’s Child, feel free to throw your hands up at me.


Resources

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2007/06/old-maid-day.html

http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/clanger.htm

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