Tour of Fifty States: Pennsylvania's meal

For the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s meal, we knew we needed to have Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches. I found that in Philadelphia, they aren't called “Philly” Cheese Steak Sandwiches, just Cheese Steaks! There are so many ways to prepare a Cheese Steak – the choice of cheese and the types of veggies that are added make for lots of combinations.

I chose Shoofly (or Shoo-fly) Pie for the Pennsylvania Dutch, or Amish, that live in the rural areas. I don’t recall ever having Shoofly Pie before but I love, love, love molasses. (I think that the sticky molasses that attracts flies is how the pie got its name.) There are 2 different kinds of Shoofly pie – wet bottom and dry bottom. The dry bottom pie is baked completely and is cake-like and the wet bottom pie is baked a little less, with a custard-like consistency. The wet bottom one sounded good to me!

In keeping with the Pennsylvania theme, for breakfast we had French toast stuffed with Philly Cream Cheese. For Saturday night's dinner we had some Amish Potato Salad and for a treat, I broke out some surprise Hershey bars ... with nuts, because we’re all a little nutty.

Menu:  French toast stuffed with Philly Cream Cheese, Hershey Bars, Cheese Steak Sandwiches, Fries, Wet Bottom Shoofly Pie

Outcome:  Who doesn't love a Cheese Steak?  All of us did a 50/50 combination of 2 different cheeses --Provolone, White American, or Cheez Whiz.  We had sautéed mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers, too.  I found some “Philly Cheese Steak” rolls at the store, but these were sliced completely through.  We all agree that the next time we have Cheese Steaks that we’ll use a regular hoagie roll that is split but still hinged at the bottom to better hold the sandwich.  Lesson learned!  I also opted not to use ribeye $teak$ because wow they are pricey!!  Instead, I used a round roast that I froze and then sliced paper thin.

The Shoofly Pie was interesting.  We feel that the crumb topping was just too much and should be reduced by a third.  The texture was a little too “floury” to us and it overpowered the molasses flavor.  Perhaps a little more butter would have made a difference.  I’m including the original, unaltered recipe below.

Next up:  Brandi’s turn!  She chose Minnesota!

Cheese Steak!

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Prep time:  5 min. Total time:  15 min.

Ingredients

•         6 large hoagie rolls

•         1 ½ lb. frozen ribeye steak, sliced wafer thin

•         3 onions, thinly sliced

•         1 lb mushrooms, thinly sliced

•         3 bell peppers, thinly sliced

•         4 tsp. garlic, minced

•         1 ½ lb. Provolone cheese, White American cheese, OR 1 jar Cheez Whiz

•         Salt and pepper, to taste

These are the rolls I found (see note above)

Directions

1.      Heat a griddle or a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, cover bottom with olive oil.

2.  Add the onions, mushrooms and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until very soft, about 6 to 8 minutes.

3.   Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and cook for about 30 seconds. Then, push the mixture off to one side of the griddle.

4.      Add the meat to the hot part of the griddle. Cook, continuously flipping the meat over and slightly chopping the meat into slightly smaller pieces with 2 spatulas, until the meat is not pink, which should take about 2 minutes.

5.      Mix the meat and the caramelized onions and bell pepper together.

6.      Divide into portions, and top portions with the cheese to melt.

MMMMMelty!

7.      Hollow out some of the soft white bread part from inside and place face down on top of the meat and cheese.

8.      When the cheese is melted, and with 1 or 2 spatulas, flip the sandwiches over and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

Wet-Bottom Shoofly Pie

Prep time:  25 min. Cook time:  50 min.  Total time:  75 min.

Ingredients:

• Pastry for 9-inch one crust pie
• 3 Tbsp. solid vegetable shortening or butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup dark molasses
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 º F.
2. Prepare pie pastry. Using a floured rolling pin, roll pastry 2 inches larger than an inverted pie plate. Fold pastry into quarter folds and ease into pie plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using a pastry blender or two knives, cut shortening or butter into flour, brown sugar, and salt until mixture is crumble and particles are the size of small peas; set aside.
4. In a large bowl, add baking soda and hot water; stir until baking soda is dissolved. Add molasses and egg; beat until well blended. Pour into prepared unbaked pie shell, filling half full (you may not need to use all of the filling - if you overfill the shell, it will overflow during baking). Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.
5. Gently sprinkle prepared crumb mixture evenly over top of the pie (crumbs will both partly sink and partly float).
6. Bake 10 minutes and then reduce oven to 350 º F. Bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until the internal temperature registers at least 160 º F. on your cooking thermometer and a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack before serving. This pie is best served at room temperature.

Makes 8 servings.

Shoofly Pie!