So the NorthEast was hit with a huge snowstorm last night. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it , here in PA we only got about an inch...not like my friends scattered across New England who are reporting up to 3 feet (personally I'm ready for 80 degree hit the beach weather, but if you love the white stuff, well, I guess I'll forgive you) . This post is dedicated to them...especially the ones with kids who are reading this via cellphones because their power is out and OMG WE"RE BORED WHAT IS THERE TO DO WITHOUT THE XBOX PLAYSTATION TV IPAD BLAH BLAH BLAH HE LOOKED AT ME SHE TOUCHED ME MOOOOOMMMMM WE'RE BORED. At least that's how it would sound like in my house...which would result in a shovel in each of the kids' hands and a swift boot out the door. So, even though we're not in that boat, we still did a fun snowed-in/no electric sort of thing today for lunch--we made Mountain Pies in the fireplace!
What are Mountain Pies? So glad you asked. Well, first you need a fireplace or wood stove (or if you're brave this time of year, a firepit area outside cleared of snow). Then you need a pie iron. I would suggest if you're going to get a pie iron, you don't get the really thin metal ones they sell at discount stores. I'm still all for pinching pennies, but in this case, it's really worth it to get the good/heavy cast iron ones like this one from campmor.com:
Rome Double Pie Iron - Cast Iron (Google Affiliate Ad). I don't really remember when or who came up with the name "Mountain Pie" but I know it came about years ago during one of our many trips camping up in the Northern mountains of PA (I can't remember many of the details of those camping trips, but that's a whole different post). We like to make our Mountain Pies with shredded cheese and pizza sauce, but really the sky's the limit--whatever fillings you want to put in them, go for it! You could fancy it all up with brie, apples, and walnuts or something like that. But then the kids would be all "GROSS", so here's the redneck, slummin' it, kid approved version:
So, if you have your fire, and you have your pie iron, all you need now is a few simple ingredients:
squeeze butter
bread
shredded cheese (we like mozzarella)
pizza sauce/pizza toppings
To assemble:
You'll want to warm the pie irons up over hot coals first so that your butter melts. Push the burning wood to the side so that you have an area of hot coals where your pie iron will fit, close the iron, and put it on the coals for a couple minutes. Be careful when you pull them out--they are VERY hot!!! Open the hot irons and squirt a pretty liberal amount of squeeze butter onto each side (and before I go on, I must say sorry for the poor picture quality--I am not one of those fancy bloggers, if you don't like it go look at Martha Stewart's site. Oh, and ignore the double pie iron under the one I'm using in these pictures. Sorry Martha):
Next put a slice of bread onto each side of the pie iron on top of the melted butter. Make sure you push the crusts of the bread down into it to fit:
Then, squirt some pizza sauce on one of the pieces of bread (not too much or the bread will get soggy) Try to get the sauce on the bread not the stone around your fireplace:
Spread the sauce evenly (you really don't have to do this if you don't want to, but if your kids are anything like mine, if you don't you'll hear "EWWWWW THE SAUCE IS ALL CLUMPY AND THERE'S NO SAUCE IN THIS LITTLE SECTION OVER HERE I'M NOT EATING THIS!!!):
Once the sauce is spread, sprinkle the shredded cheese over the sauce:
Add any other toppings you want, then put the 2 pie iron sides together. You'll want to make sure the side with just the piece of bread is on top and the one with the cheese stays flat while you're closing it, otherwise the cheese will fall out all over the place. Place the pie irons directly on top of the hot coals:
Now, here's the tricky part--how long you cook them depends largely on how hot your coals are. I usually will flip the pie iron over after about a minute or two, cooking both sides about 2 minutes (and make sure the little clasp thingy is clasped, otherwise it will open when you flip!). Take out and check the progress at this point (remember, it's VERY hot!)
This one's not quite done, so close and clasp the iron and put it back on the coals, checking/flipping every minute or so--be warned, they burn very quickly! Our dog Casey likes this step--he doesn't mind burnt Mountain Pies! He also doesn't mind licking pizza sauce and shredded cheese off the stones! When finally done separate the pie iron and flip the sandwich out onto a plate and enjoy!
Yes, you might correctly be thinking "well that just looks like a regular grilled cheese sandwich" and yes, yes it does. But somehow everyone loves these...devours these...faster than they can be made. Something about the fire and the snow outside just makes these something special...or maybe it's the distraction from all the electronics or the cessation of all the bickering among siblings. Whatever it is, this is seriously something fun to do when snowed in (or even when pretending to be!!)
