Maggie’s Kitchen – July 05
FROM MAGGIE’S KITCHEN
July is something of a time of conflicting loyalties for me. The First, of course, is Canada Day, but since I spent the first half of my life in the States, I haven’t quite got the Fourth out of my mind and heart.
When we came to Canada, we weren’t intending actually to leave the States. We really did think we would be here three years or so, and then return. But the years stretched out, our children began to marry and otherwise settle in, and Canada was growing on all of us, with its simpler aspirations and decidedly less litigious frame of mind. We liked the Anglican Church of Canada, too, because it wasn’t the class-conscious affair we had known in the Episcopal Church. Besides, our old diocese was going completely bonkers. Especially in the rural Maritimes, life — political or ecclesiastical — was gratifyingly sane by comparison.
That, of course, was “then”. The “now” in Canada isn’t as attractive as it was when we arrived. As the principles of justice and democratic rights are one after another twisted into marvellous new tyrannies (what else can you call those “human rights tribunals”?), I might be thinking again about going back over the border — except that it’s just as bad there. Same disease, slightly different manifestations. Both nations are infected with what has always, everywhere, infected human institutions: rebellion against God. Just read Second Kings or any of the Old Testament prophets for case studies. Of course, the same holds true for church bodies, which is why we are comforted by knowing that we are, through Baptism, members of the Church, who happen now to be under the protection of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. Otherwise, we might justly be accused of having deserted our first loyalty!
My first loyalty, then, is to God in Christ, and all other loyalties follow as an expression of my devotion and obedience to Him. His commandment to me to honour — to be loyal to — my father and mother simply because they are my father and mother, regardless of their deserving, can be extended to my honouring fatherland or motherland, regardless of its deserving. But what form does this honour take? I can’t help but think of Jeremiah, in the stocks, in the muck and mire, proving his loyalty to Israel by continuing to speak the Lord’s word to them, the very word they didn’t want to hear!
The pages of July, which began this year still in the octaves of St John the Baptist and the Apostles Peter and Paul, are filled with saints who proved their loyalty through steadfast obedience to God, proclaiming the cure of Christ to nations and rulers who didn’t even know they were sick — among them Thomas More, Margaret of Antioch, and the Apostle James, at the cost of their very lives. “These all died in faith. . .having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” If we sometimes feels like strangers and exiles in this land, we’re in wonderfully good company.
In rural England in the 17th and 18th centuries, the rector of the parish distributed meat “pyes” on the Feast of the St. James to any who came to the door for them. The following is one of the actual recipes, followed by my modifications:
STEAK & KIDNEY PIE
Cut 1-1/2 lb beefsteak into 1-1/2 inch cubes, and 3/4 lb veal kidney into slices. Sautè 1-1/2 cups chopped onion in 3 Tbsp butter, browning lightly; add beef and brown on all sides. Add 3 cups stock; simmer for about 1-1/2 hours. Then add the kidneys and simmer 20 minutes more. Season with 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce and salt & pepper to taste. Place in a baking dish, cover with piecrust, slit the top to let the steam escape, and bake at 450 degrees 20-25 minutes, until the crust is done.
My own take on this: Unless you have real veal kidneys (lamb, pork or small beef are good), soak the slices in milk to cover. In 3 Tbsp melted butter, brown the beef first, then the onion and some sliced mushrooms. Set aside, with the drippings. In another skillet, using another Tbsp butter, sautè the drained and rinsed kidney slices. Lift out with a slotted spoon and add to the beef. For the gravy: add stock or water to half a bottle of McEwan’s Strong Ale (the rest doesn”t go to waste!) to make 2 cups; whisk in 3 Tbsp flour. Bring to a boil, stirring till thickened; add meats, salt and pepper to taste. Line piepan with piecrust, fill, and cover with top crust. Brush with milk. Bake at 425 degrees 30 minutes, till nicely browned.