The Cornish Pasty – Going to Fall Down a Mineshaft? This is the Meat Pie For You!

This Cornish pasty is one of those rare recipes that novice cooks will find easier to make than experienced bakers. That’s because to make this to its original, and very sturdy specifications, you’re forced to over-mix the dough…a cardinal sin that literally gives pie makers nightmares.

Like any pastry dough, we’re just adding just enough ice water to bring everything together, but unlike classic pie dough, we’re going to knead the mixture for a couple minutes past that point.  Thanks to a little thing called muscle memory, this is not going to be easy for some of you.

Get over it; because once you taste and feel the final product, it will all make sense. The tougher, but not tough dough is the perfect delivery system for the meaty filling. Speaking of which, I went with a fairly traditional version, and provided the recipe below, but this great crust will work with all sorts of stuffings.

You could use cooked meat in these, but part of what makes them so good, is how the raw ingredients cook in their own juices, while encased in the tasty dough. I can’t imagine many things that wouldn’t be great in these.

By the way, this recipe is dedicated to my mother-in-law Peggy, who requested it about five years ago. It was one of her favorite foods growing up, and I’m curious to hear how close I got. I hope you give this easy, and delicious meat pie a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 Cornish pasty

4 cups bread flour (mine weighed in at 1-lb 2-oz)

2 oz (4 tbsp) cold butter

3 oz (6 tbsp) cold lard

1 1/2 tsp salt

about 2/3 to 3/4 cup ice water, or enough to just bring dough together (start with about 1/2 cup, and then drizzle in more as needed)

For the steak filling:

12oz cubed beef skirt steak

1/2 cup diced onions

1 cup diced gold potatoes

1/3 cup diced turnip

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

pinch of cayenne

2 tbsp butter, cut into 8 thin slices

For the egg wash:

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp water

- Bake pasties at 350 F. for about an hour or until browned and bubbly

Cranberry Pie with Pecan Crumble

I always have a hard time choosing what to make for Thanksgiving dessert. It was especially difficult this year since I’d just read a couple of new baking books and had even more delicious ideas than usual. There were two different sweet potato pies that were very strong contenders, and I’m already planning to choose one of them for the top of next year’s list of dessert considerations. After some serious reflection and dessert-focused meditation, I decided to go in a fruity direction with the Cranberry Pie from Nick Malgieri's Pastry. This was one of the recipes in the book that got my attention when I first flipped through the pages. The cranberries make a pretty filling, and the added pecans give it great texture. There’s an option for adding a nut crumb topping, and I couldn’t resist. Regarding crumb toppings, I’m one of those people who tend to double the quantities to make a very generous topping. I can report that technique is not necessary here. The amount of crumb topping suggested covered the pie completely and was almost too much. (almost) And, interestingly, Malgieri suggests baking the crumb topping separately on a baking sheet for a bit before adding it to the pie. It gets delightfully crispy and crunchy, and I’ll remember to do that with other crumb topping from now on. 

The pie was baked in a nine-inch pie pan, and a sweet crust dough was made in advance and fit into the pan. I left the prepared but unbaked pie crust in the freezer until the filling was ready. For the filling, one and a half pounds of cranberries were combined with a third of a cup of sugar, two thirds of a cup of brown sugar, a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger, the zest of an orange, a half of a cup of orange juice, four tablespoons of butter, a half teaspoon of cinnamon, and a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger. This mixture was brought to a simmer in a large saucepan and stirred often. There’s a warning in the recipe that if the filling is overcooked, it will be hard once baked in the pie. The mixture only cooked for five minutes, maybe even less than five minutes, just until thickened. It was left to cool, and then a half a cup of chopped pecans was added. For the crumb topping, one cup of flour was added to three tablespoons of sugar, a quarter teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, one half cup of chopped pecans, and six tablespoons of melted butter. The mixture was stirred together evenly and left to sit for five minutes for the flour to completely absorb the butter. It was broken into crumbles and scattered on a parchment-lined baking sheet. It was baked at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Next, the prepared pie crust was filled with the cranberry mixture, the pre-baked crumb topping was strewn about on top of the pie filling, and the pie baked at 350 for about 40 minutes. 

Even with the nutty crumb topping, this pie isn’t overly sweet. The tart cranberries give it great, fruity flavor and temper the sweetness. I served the pie with maple-sweetened whipped cream to fit the Thanksgiving theme. I don’t think any of the desserts I considered would have been bad choices, but I’m thrilled to have gotten to taste this cranberry pie. And, now that the Christmas season is upon us, I need to start making another holiday dessert decision. 

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Savory Ricotta Tart – Thin to Win

I got a food wish for a ricotta cheesecake recently, which sounded fantastic, but with bikini season rapidly approaching, my love handles and I thought we’d compromise and do a savory, sugar-free version instead.

I love the simple combination of really good ricotta and fresh herbs, baked with just enough eggs to hold things together. I was in the mood for some heat, but things like pepper and cayenne are totally optional. 

As I alluded to in the video, I usually do this as a pie, which comes out about twice as thick, but I wanted to try it in tart-form and the pan I used was clearly too large. Next time I’ll simply double the ingredients, and add about 10 or 15 minutes to the cooking time, and I recommend you do the same.

Keep this humble pie in mind when the “way too many vegetables” part of summer rolls around. This could be a great base for using up leftover veggies in a very fritatta-like way. I hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 thin portions:

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, toasted in some olive oil

olive oil to coat pan

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

cayenne or other hot peppers to taste

1/4 cup fresh chopped or torn basil

1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

tiny pinch nutmeg

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

1 oz finely greated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (about 1/2 cup if the real stuff, otherwise 1/4 cup packed of the fake “stuff”)

*Bake at 325 for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until set.

Happy National Pie Day!

I realize it’s almost over, but I just heard from my friend, and world-famous pie guru, Kate McDermott, that today was National Pie Day. To celebrate, I decided to repost my personal favorite pie video – the strawberry rhubarb custard pie!  This sweet/tart pie is ultra-simple to make, and a great way to enjoy rhubarb’s bright, unique flavor. Click here to see the original post and ingredients. Enjoy!

Lemon Bars for a Lasting Mother’s Day Impression

Mother’s Day is coming up, and since so many of you brave souls will be attempting a celebratory brunch, I thought I’d post this much-requested lemon bars recipe, in case things don’t go as smoothly as anticipated. 

Preparing brunch can be tricky anytime, let alone under mom’s watchful (aka “extremely concerned”) eyes. Can someone please get her a mimosa and walk her into the garden?

So, even if a few poached eggs break, or the toast gets a little too golden-black, no worries! If you finish the meal with these gorgeous, and absolutely impossible to mess-up lemon bars, she'll be as proud as she will be impressed. Our moms may have taught us the importance of a good first impression, but its America’s restaurateurs who discovered the importance of a delicious last impression. There's nothing like a well made pastry to make one forgive a tough steak.

Other than a baking dish, there’s no special equipment or techniques required. Both the shortbread base and the lemon custard take only minutes, and are simply hand-mixed in a bowl. 

Basically, if you can move your arm in a circle, and effectively set a timer (there’s one on your phone), your lemon bars should look just as good as these (maybe better – see meringue note below). Anyway, whether you’re going to make these for Mother’s Day or not, I hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 16 Small Lemon Bars:

For the shortbread crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup room temp unsalted butter (1 stick)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

Bake crust at 350 degrees F. for 22 minutes

For the lemon layer:

2 large whole eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp grated lemon peel

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes

Garnish with powdered sugar; or top with *meringue (the extra egg white whipped with 1 tablespoon of sugar) and brown with torch.

*My Meringue
If you decide to turn these into lemon meringue bars, do yourself a favor and actually measure the sugar. I couldn’t be bothered to check a recipe, so I only tossed in a teaspoon of sugar, and it should be closer to a tablespoon. The technique is the same; beat the extra white to the ribbon stage (where drips of white stay on the surface for a few seconds), and then add the sugar and continue whipping until you have nice, glossy peaks. My “by eye” batch worked fine, but it was a little too dry, and not quite sticky enough. Be advised.

View the complete recipe

Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

The final component of my Thanksgiving dinner was perhaps the most important part, the dessert, and this year I wanted to try something a little new, a chocolate pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is often the dessert of choice for Thanksgiving and since chocolate and pumpkin go so well together I was thinking that a chocolate pumpkin pie would be amazing! At first I was just planning on simply mixing chocolate into a regular pumpkin pie recipe but a quick search on the web led me to this triple chocolate pumpkin pie recipe and with three kinds of chocolate I was thinking that it would have to be at least three times as good!

This pumpkin pie uses a pretty basic graham cracker crumb crust with some pumpkin spices mixed in, though you could easily add some cocoa powder to the crust to get a fourth form of chocolate into the mix. The first chocolate comes in the form of a layer of bittersweet chocolate on the crust that is topped with the semisweet chocolate pumpkin pie and the final chocolate comes in the form of a milk chocolate drizzle that is added just before serving. This triple chocolate pumpkin pie is pure chocolaty decadence at its best!

Read the recipe »

Tarte Tatin – See What the Others Aren’t Willing to Show You

When I looked at some other tarte tatin recipes on YouTube, I noticed that very few showed the “flip on to the plate” step. They would just skip from the out of the oven shot to the final beauty shot. The reason of course, is that very few tarte tatins come out of the hot pan perfectly, and if they showed that, then you may not think they are as awesome as their profile says they are.

So, it’s with much pride that I show you the whole ugly scene that is the tarte tatin dismount. The good news is, it’s very simple to slap everything back on the crust before it cools, and none will be the wiser. This is even easier if you’re doing a version with very soft and tender apples and lots of caramel, which is my preference, as you’ll see.

If you do a Google image search for a classic, old recipe like this, you usually see a lot of photos that look alike, but that’s not necessarily so with tarte tatin. You’ll see an amazingly diverse array, which is fascinating since they were all made with the same few basic ingredients. Most of this is a result of cooking time in the pan before baking.

Some feature firm, barely cooked apples, while others cook the fruit all the way down to a buttery, caramelized jam. The beauty of a recipe that uses just pastry dough, butter, apples and sugar to make the magic, is that no matter how yours comes out you’ll enjoy it. Of course, you’ll want to hedge your bets with some vanilla bean ice cream to be safe. I hope you give this classic French treat a try soon. Enjoy!

3 large apples, quartered

3 tbsp butter

3/4 cup sugar

pie dough for a single crust

View the complete recipe 

A Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Pie Worth Brawling Over

Because I grew up listening to baseball on the radio, whenever I heard the word “rhubarb,” I wouldn’t think of something edible and delicious like this amazing Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, I’d think of fights.

Back in the early days of radio, when they wanted to get the sound effect of an angry mob, they’d tell the performers to repeat the word “rhubarb,” over and over. It sounds heated and contentious, yet the listener doesn’t hear any specific words.

Baseball announcers of the same era began to call baseball fights “rhubarbs,” since they sounded so much like those radio effects. I didn’t learn about this until recently, and it made me think of all the games I’d listened to during all those summers, and how never once when I heard “rhubarb,” did I think of pie.

That was until I got this wonderful recipe from my mother Pauline, who I believe got it from my Aunt Angela. As you longtime readers know, both are fantastic bakers and while I love all their pies, this might be my favorite.

So, when Matt Cain drills Matt Kemp in the back this summer, and he charges the mound prompting an ugly benches-clearing brawl, and the play-by-play guy says, “we’ve got ourselves a real rhubarb now,” I will think of this pie. This delicious, rough and tumble pie. Enjoy!

3 cups sliced rhubarb

1 cup quartered strawberries

3 large eggs

pinch of fresh nutmeg

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

*I didn’t mention, but I added a very tiny pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter for "dotting"
pie dough for one 9-inch crust 
For the glaze:
2 tbsp jam with 1/4 tsp water, warmed in microwave

View the complete recipe

Butterscotch Meringue Pie

I am a caramel person and a butterscotch person. They’re different but similar, but caramel is a little more photogenic. I accept that I’m not capable of making a butterscotch filling in its unfortunate color look good in a photo, but I won’t accept anything butterscotch that doesn’t taste great. I have a history with butterscotch puddings and pies. I've tried a few puddings that tasted as bad as they looked. And years ago, I attempted a butterscotch pie that left me completely disappointed. The filling was thin and runny, and once cut, the pie was useless. When I complained about this to my Mom, she mentioned that butterscotch pie was my Grandmother’s favorite. I had no idea. Grandma also loved meringue, and I didn’t previously know that either. Since Mom didn’t have Grandma’s recipe for a meringue-topped butterscotch pie, I became determined to find a good one. At last, that day has arrived. This pie is from Gesine Bullock-Prado’s new book Pie It Forward, and I received a review copy. This book is as fun to read as her last one, and the lighthearted nature of it makes you want to get baking and enjoy the results. It starts with a few different dough recipes and some great tips for working with dough and baking a perfect crust and then moves through sweet and savory pies and tarts. Going through the book, I kept longing for the start of different fruit seasons. There are gorgeous Blueberry Brown-Butter Tartlets, a Schwarzwald Tart that’s like a black forest cake in pie form, a German Apple Custard Tart, and a Buttermilk Peach Pie. One section is devoted to chocolate with a Fleur de Sel Caramel Almond Brownie Pie and Chocolate Orange Souffle Tartlets among others. At the end of the book, there are recipes for more challenging desserts involving multiple layers, fillings, jaconde sponges, and chocolate transfer sheets. They’re beautiful creations, and someday I’d love to try making the tall, striped Bee Sting with flavors of almond, chocolate, and honey.

When I spotted the Butterscotch Meringue Pie in the book, I knew I had to try that first. I have to tell you about the four parts of this pie because they were all fantastic. First, the crust was one of the flakiest I’ve ever made, and interestingly, it included some sweetened condensed milk which gave the dough great flavor. Then, after the crust was blind-baked, it was covered with a layer of caramel. I actually made the caramel twice because the first time I didn’t think it was dark enough. Gesine was kind enough to answer my question about the caramel being light in color on Twitter, and she suggested cooking it longer or to a higher temperature than noted in the recipe. The second time, I melted the sugar first and cooked it until amber in color, then added the butter and cream, and cooked the mixture while stirring until it reached 240 degrees F. That time, it was a good caramel color. After spreading the caramel in the pie crust, I couldn’t control the urge to sprinkle it with sea salt. Next came the butterscotch filling. It was a delicious custard of brown sugary butterscotch, and there’s really nothing you can do about its color. Butterscotch is always an unappealing, dull brown. That doesn’t matter here though considering that the filling was entirely covered by the meringue, and stop everything now if you have never made a brown sugar meringue. You must. It’s a pearly brownish color rather than a bright white, and the flavor is like fluffy, mild butterscotch. I swirled the meringue on top and torched it to a toasted brown. 

This was a decadent pie, and it was heaven for a butterscotch and caramel fan. I’m pretty sure it’s not exactly how my Grandma made her butterscotch pie, but I’m glad I’ve found such a great version to make for myself. And, now that berries and peaches are coming into season, I have more pies to bake. 

Butterscotch Meringue Pie 
Recipe re-printed with publisher’s permission from Pie It Forward. 
Makes 1 (9-inch, 23-cm pie)

For the crust: 
½ batch Simple Tart Dough (recipe below) 

For the caramel lining: 
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar 
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream 
2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter 
1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt 

For the filling: 
3/4 cup (165 g) dark brown sugar, firmly packed 
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vanilla bean paste 
1/4 cup (32 g) cornstarch 
4 egg yolks 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt 
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) whole milk, divided 
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) heavy cream 

For the assembly: 
1 cup (220 g) dark brown sugar, firmly packed 
4 egg whites 
pinch salt 

Procedure for the crust 
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Roll the dough into a rough 11-inch (28 cm) round. Line a 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate with it and crimp the sides decoratively. Dock the bottom and freeze it for 20 minutes. 
2. Line the crust with parchment, fill it with pie weights or dried beans, and bake it for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and pie weights. Bake the crust for 20 minutes more, or until it is golden brown and baked through. Set it aside to cool completely. 

Procedure for the caramel lining 
1. Combine the granulated sugar, cream, butter, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar has melted. Clip on a candy thermometer and heat until the caramel reaches 240 degrees F (116 C), then allow it to cool completely. 

Procedure for the filling 
1. Whisk together the brown sugar, vanilla, cornstarch, egg yolks, salt, and ½ cup (120 ml) of the milk in a mixing bowl. 
2. Heat the remaining milk and the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Slowly pour the milk-cream mixture into the sugar mixture, whisking constantly until smooth. 
3. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook it over medium heat, whisking, until it thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise. Transfer the custard to a bowl, and cover the top with a piece of plastic wrap laid directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool to room temperature. 

Assembly 
1. Pour the caramel into the cooled crust and smooth it along the bottom and sides, using a small offset spatula. Spoon the custard over the caramel and refrigerate the pie until the filling is cool and set. 
2. Begin making a meringue by combining the brown sugar and ½ cup (75 ml) water in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar has melted. Attach a candy thermometer and heat the sugar mixture until it reaches 234 degrees F (112 C). 
3. While the sugar syrup is cooking, place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk until the egg whites are foamy. 4. Once the sugar syrup has reached temperature, turn the mixer to medium-low and pour the sugar along the inside of the bowl (not directly into the egg whites, to keep from scrambling the eggs). Increase the mixer speed to high and whisk until you achieve stiff peaks. 
5. Top the custard layer with the meringue, creating swirls and peaks with the back of a spoon. Gently brown the meringue with a kitchen torch. Do not use a broiler to brown the meringue, as this will melt the custard. 

Simple Tart Dough 
Makes 2 ½ pounds (1.2 kg) dough, enough for 3 to 4 (8- to 9-inch/20- to 23-cm) tarts or 12 to 16 mini tarts. 
(*Note: only one half batch of this dough is needed for the crust for the Butterscotch Meringue Pie) 

4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, cold 
2 cups (480 g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled 
1 teaspoon (6 g) salt 
1/3 cup (75 ml) sweetened condensed milk 
1 egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten 

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse together the flour, butter, and salt until the mixture resembles cornmeal. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the condensed milk and egg. While pulsing, slowly pour this into the flour until the dough just comes together. 
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently turn over a few times until it is smooth, the dry ingredients have been completely integrated, and the dough holds together. Take care not to overwork it. 
4. Shape the dough into a loose circle, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. 

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Broccoli, Cheddar, and Mushroom Flipsides

It's fitting that a book with the title Cutie Pies was made in a cute little shape. It's a small square of a book, but there are 40 recipes for pies in various shapes and sizes including cutie pies which are baked in a muffin tin, petit-5s baked in a mini muffin tin, pie jars baked in mason jars, flipsides or hand pies, pie pops which are tiny lollipop pies, and full-sized pies. This is the new book from Dani Cone of Seattle's High Five Pie and Fuel Coffee, and I received a review copy. Although some pies are recommended for specific shapes and crusts, there are also tips for mixing and matching the fillings with other pie shapes and crusts where possible. And, there are both sweet and savory options in most configurations. A few ideas that caught my eye were the mac 'n cheese cutie pies, banana-blueberry pudding petit-5s, peach-ricotta-honey pie jars, caramel-pecan pie pops, and the peanut butter and jelly full-sized pie. I'm always drawn to the idea of hand pies since they're so easy to grab and go, and making savory ones sounded like a great idea for lunch. I zeroed in on the flipsides filled with broccoli, cheddar, and mushroom which are made with the all-butter crust.

The crust recipe is a straightforward one, and the mixing technique suggested is using a pastry blender or your hands. I actually prefer to work butter into flour with my hands so I can feel when the pieces seem to be about the right size. So, flour, salt, and a scant teaspoon of sugar were combined in a large bowl, and cold, cubed butter was worked into that mixture by hand. Ice water was slowly added while hand mixing until the dough came together. It was wrapped in plastic and chilled for an hour before being rolled and cut into circles. For the flipsides, six-inch circles are suggested, but that seemed kind of big to me. I found a round plastic lid to use as a guide, and it measured just over five inches in diameter which seemed fine. Before cutting the dough into circles, the filling was made by combining chopped broccoli florets, chopped mushrooms, and salt and pepper. Some cheddar was grated, and I left that in a separate bowl rather than mixing it with the vegetables. That way, I could top the pies with some extra cheddar, that wasn't mixed up with the vegetables, before baking. I found that the twelve ounces of suggested cheddar was a lot more than I needed, and I think six to eight ounces would have been plenty. With all the fillings ready, the dough circles were filled, pinched to close, and then cut with a fluted-edge pastry wheel. They were brushed with egg wash, topped with more grated cheddar and a sprinkling of sea salt and black pepper, and they baked for about 30 minutes.

They came out of the oven golden, crispy, and delicious. Leftovers can be re-warmed in the oven to bring back the crispness of the crust, or you could freeze extra pies before baking and then bake as needed straight from the freezer. The flipsides were fun to make and delightful to eat, and now I can't wait to try making a cute little pie on a stick.

Broccoli, Cheddar, and Mushroom Flipsides
re-printed from Cutie Pies with publisher's permission, Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC

makes 10 flipsides (or 16 cutie pies, 36 petit-5s, 8 pie jars, or 50 pie pops)

1 pound fresh broccoli florets, chopped (about 5 cups)
4 ounces fresh white button mushrooms, sliced (about 1 cup)
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded shard cheddar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
All-Butter Crust (recipe follows)
1 egg, slightly beaten

All-Butter Crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 cup ice water

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar, and mix well.
2. Add the butter to the flour mixture, and mix gently with a pastry blender, a fork, or your hands. The goal is to lightly incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients. The butter pieces should be well coated with the dry mixture and somewhat flattened.
3. Gradually add the water to the flour mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue mixing the dough until it comes together and forms pea-sized or crouton-sized crumbs. The dough should look like coarse individual pieces, not smooth and beaten together like cookie dough.
4. With your hands, gather the dough crumbs together to form 2 patties, gently molding the crumb-like mixture into a patty shape and being careful not to overhandle the dough. Wrap each patty in plastic wrap.
5. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days. The dough can also be frozen for up to 2 weeks.
6. When you're ready to use the dough, let it sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes to soften it and make it workable. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each of the 2 dough patties to about 1/4-inch thickness, lightly dusting it with flour, if needed, to prevent sticking, and making sure to roll the dough evenly.

For the flipsides:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, a silicone mat, or lightly spray with nonstick spray.
2. To make the filling, in a large bowl, combine the broccoli, mushrooms, and cheese, stir to thoroughly combine.
3. Pour the salt and pepper over the broccoli mixture, and toss to evenly distribute.
4. To make the crust, follow the All-Butter Crust recipe and roll out the dough per the instructions.
5. Cut 10 (6-inch) circles from the dough. Reroll the dough to make all the circles, being careful to avoid overhandling the dough. Brush each circle lightly with beaten egg, making sure to brush right to the edges.
6. Spoon the broccoli mixture evenly onto the center of the 10 circles. Pick up a dough circle so that it's lying flat(ish) in one hand. With the other hand, fold the circle up (like a taco) and tightly pinch the edges together flat to seal the crust, starting at one corner and pinching around to the other corner. Lay the circle down on the work surface, and with a fluted-edge pastry wheel, cut around the outermost edge to give the crust a neat finish. (This edge is for looks, not to seal the crust, so make sure you've thoroughly pinched the crust together.) Make 3 small slits in the top of the Flipside, and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this process for each of the 10 Flipsides.
7. Lightly brush the tops of the Flipsides with the remaining beaten egg.
8. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden.

Note: I used only six to eight ounces of grated cheese, and I left the cheese separate from the vegetables rather than mixing it all together. After brushing the flipsides with the beaten egg, I added extra grated cheddar on top and sprinkled them with sea salt and black pepper.

Corn and Tomato Pie

With fresh local corn in season I certainly have been enjoying a lot of it! In particular I have been making my favourite hot corn dip a lot, maybe a little too frequently even, so I was thinking that I should change things up a bit. The first idea that I had was to try to use the flavours from the corn dip to make something else like a corn casserole to make more of a meal out of it. I searched for a recipe with a few of the ingredients that I wanted to use in addition to the corn and a few corn casserole dishes came up but the recipe that caught my eye was this one for a corn and tomato pie on Gourmet.



With field tomatoes being at their peak right now it was difficult to pass up on a pie that used them along with the corn that I had started the search for. Add to that the use of mayonnaise, cheddar cheese and fresh summery basil and you had a winner that was impossible to resist! I tweaked the recipe a bit replacing the chives with green onions and adding some applewood smoked bacon for even more flavour. The original recipe called for peeling the tomatoes, slicing them and then neatly layering them with the other ingredients but I wanted to keep things quick and simple so I skipped peeling the tomatoes, diced them and just mixed all of the ingredients together. The next interesting thing about this recipe is the biscuit crust which is a nice light alternative to your more standard all butter crust and I mixed some basil into it.

Corn and Tomato Pie

This pie defines late summer with its juicy and tasty field ripened tomatoes, corn straight from the cob and fresh basil. Of course the bacon, mayonnaise and cheese don't hurt either! :)

Servings: makes 6+ servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups corn, about 3 ears
• 1 1/2 pounds beefsteak tomatoes, about 4 medium, diced
• 4 strips bacon, cut into small pieces and cooked (optional)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise or sour cream
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 handful basil, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 pie crusts pastry or biscuit
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

1. Mix the corn, tomatoes, bacon, mayo, green onions, basil, cheddar cheese and cayenne and season with salt and pepper.
2. Fit one of the pie crusts into a 9 inch pie plate, pour in the corn and tomato mixture and fit the remaining pie crust on top folding it over the edges of the bottom one and crimping to seal in the juices.
3. Brush top of the pie with butter and cut 3-4 1-2 inch slits in the crust to let out the steam.
4. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 30-40 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Tomato Pie
Hot Corn Dip
Tomato and Melted Cheese Open Faced Sandwich
Tomato Tart
Chicken Pot Pie
Maque Choux

Mini Cranberry Meringue Pies

I thought this recipe was from last year. The image of these cute, little, mini pies had been on my mind since last winter when I vowed to attempt them when fresh, fall cranberries came around again next time. Actually, this first appeared in Living magazine in November 2006, but it did appear again in a special holidays publication last year. I had the 06 article tucked away in my files, and I pulled it out last week to finally try this. The pasty is a citrus version of a pate sucree I've made before with the addition of lemon and blood orange zest. It occurred to me that I should make a big batch of these mini pastry shells and keep them in the freezer to use as needed. They would come in especially handy when I have some leftover pumpkin puree like I probably will later this afternoon. In this case, those handy pastry cups were filled with thickened cranberry sauce that was made in two stages. First, cranberries were cooked, and the juice was strained from the berries. Second, that juice was combined with whole cranberries to make a sweet, tart, filling with pops of flavor. Fluffy, toasted meringue topped it off.

The pate sucree was cut into four-inch circles which were crimped and fitted into twelve standard muffin cups. Each cup was lined with a small square of parchment paper, filled with weights and baked for fifteen minutes. The weights and parchment were removed, and the cups were baked for another five minutes or so. Once cool, they were ready to be filled. For the filling, first, fresh cranberries were brought to a boil with sugar and water. They were simmered until the cranberries burst and then passed through a sieve to extract the juice. The recipe states the solids should be discarded, but I'm getting more and more militant about not wasting food, so I kept the cranberry solids and enjoyed them on plain yogurt for breakfast. Next, the cranberry juice was returned to a saucepan, and sugar, lemon and blood orange zest, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and more whole cranberries were added. This time, the cranberries were cooked over a lower heat to prevent them from bursting. They should just become soft. Cornstarch was whisked into a mixture of blood orange juice and water, and that was added to the cranberries and juice to thicken it. Once cooked and cooled a bit, the filling was divided among the pastry cups, and they were chilled until set for at least an hour. Last but not least, a meringue was whipped to glossy peaks, spooned onto each mini pie, and the tops were browned under the broiler in about a minute.

While trying to get these pies done in less time than I should have planned to spend on them, the extra step of straining cranberries and then adding more whole cranberries seemed a little fussy. In the end though, I see why it mattered. The thickened juice nicely suspended the softened, whole cranberries in a way that a standard cranberry sauce would not have done. That being said, for a quicker version, a thick, sweet cranberry sauce would work fine here. Also, I'm always up for a meringue topping, but Kurt suggested that whipped cream would have been just as good. Either way, these festive, seasonal treats have earned a trip from my temporary, to-try file to my permanent, keeper file.

Mushroom and Feta Phyllo Pie

A while ago I was brainstorming mushroom recipe ideas and one that particularly caught my attention was for a mushroom and feta phyllo pie. This idea was of course inspired by one of my favourite dishes, spanakopita, a Greek spinach pie. I envisioned the recipe as something along the lines of sauteeing some mushrooms, mixing them up with feta cheese, wrapping it all up in phyllo and baking it until it was golden brown. I wanted to bulk the filling out a bit and a bunch of sauteed leeks seemed like the perfect way to do it and they would add some flavour at the same time. For some reason, I kept coming back to trying to work some balsamic vinegar into the dish and I decided that by using a scant splash to deglaze the pan with would be a nice was to get it without it overpowering the pie. These days when I am looking for a herb to go with mushrooms, thyme seems to get all of the attention but I also enjoy the dill and mushroom flavour combo and it seemed like the natural choice this time. Next up was the feta along with some ricotta and eggs to bind everything together. Normally when I make spanakopita I do it like a pie with layers of phyllo on the bottom and on the top but this time I wanted to try something new and I rolled the phyllo up around the mushroom filling and then spiraled the rolls around the inside of the baking pan. The mushroom and feta phyllo pie turned out even better than I had hoped. All of the ingredients and flavours worked well together and you really cannot go wrong wrapping it all up in light and flaky phyllo pastry!

Mushroom and Feta Phyllo Pie

(makes 4+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 leeks (cleaned and sliced)
1 pound mushrooms (diced)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (or white wine, or broth)
1 handfull dill (chopped)
1/2 cup feta (crumbled)
1/2 cup ricotta
2 eggs
8 sheets phyllo dough (thawed over night in the fridge)
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the leeks and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms start to caramelize, about 20 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
5. Add the balsamic vinegar, deglaze the pan and cook until it evaporates.
6. Remove fromh heat and mix in the dill, feta, ricotta and eggs.
7. Lay out a sheet of phyllo dough, brush with oil and repeat with another layer. Spread the mushroom mixture alon the long edge of the phyllo, roll the phyllo up and gently fit it around the outer edge of your greased circular baking pan.
8. Continue until the pan is full and then brush the top with oil.
9. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown on top, about 20-30 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Savoury Pumpkin Pie (Kolokithopita)
Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Tart
Asparagus and Walnut Phyllo Pie (aka Asparagus Baklava) with Avgolemono Sauce
Lamb Exohiko (Lamb Stuffed Phyllo Parcels)

Use leftover phyllo dough in:
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Kolokithopita (Greek Zucchini Pie)
Agginaropita (Greek Artichoke Pie)
Mushroom and Goat Cheese Strudel with Balsamic Syrup
Tomato Tart
Baklava
Apple and Cheddar Quiche
Galaktoboureko (Greek Custard Pie)
Chicken and Date Pastilla
Asparagus and Walnut Phyllo Pie (aka Asparagus Baklava) with Avgolemono Sauce
Roasted Pumpkin Quiche with Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola and Sage
Strawberry Goat Cheese Banitsa
Lamb Exohiko (Lamb, Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Phyllo Parcels)
Fiddlehead and Gruyere Tart

Asparagus and Walnut Phyllo Pie (aka Asparagus Baklava) with Avgolemono Sauce

Not too long ago I came across this truly inspired recipe for a savoury asparagus baklava on innBrooklyn that sounded so amazingly good that I just had to try it! This asparagus phyllo pie is constructed like baklava with layers of light, flaky golden brown phyllo alternating with the layers of a walnut and asparagus filling and a cheese filling. Given the layers of cheese in this pie, it also reminds me of a lasagna, only made with phyllo instead of noodles. The combination of the cheese and the asparagus also made me think of spanakopita, a Greek spinach and feta pie that is another savoury pie made with phyllo and I could not resist swapping some feta into the recipe replacing some of the mozzarella. Continuing to be influenced by spanakopita I wanted to use some fresh herbs and dill seemed like the perfect choice.

Baklava is normally drenched in syrup and this savoury version does not forget about it but in this case the 'syrup' is an avgolemono sauce. An avgolemono sauce is a Greek sauce made with eggs and lemon. Although avgolemono sauces normally use a whole egg, I decided to stick with just the egg yolks to give the sauce a richer yellow colour.

Although this recipe is pretty easy, assembling all of the layers is a bit time consuming but it is definitely worth it! The asparagus phyllo pie was everything that I had been hoping for and more! You really cannot go wrong with light flaky pastry filled with asparagus, cheese and nuts! I had been a little worried about how all of the walnuts in the recipe would work out but they were quite nice and the contrasting textures added a lot to the dish. I really enjoyed the dill and lemon flavours and the lemony avgolemono sauce finished off the dish perfectly! What a great way to enjoy some of the in season local asparagus!

Asparagus and Walnut Phyllo Pie (aka Asparagus Baklava) with Avgolemono Sauce

(makes 6-9 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 pounds asparagus (trimmed and cleaned)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 lemon (zest)
1 handful dill (chopped)
1 cup walnuts (toasted and chopped)
1 1/2 cup mozzarella (grated)
1/2 cup feta (crumbled)
1 cup ricotta
* olive oil
8 ounces phyllo pastry (thawed as directed on package)
3 egg yolks
1 lemon (juice)

Directions:
1. Cook the asparagus in boiling water until it just turns dark green, about 2 minutes.
2. Drain the water, reserving 1/2 cup of it.
3. Rinse the asparagus under cold water to stop the cooking process.
4. Cut the asparagus into pieces roughly the size of the walnuts.
5. Mix the asparagus, garlic, lemon zest, dill and walnuts in a bowl and set aside.
6. Mix the cheeses.
7. Brush the top of a sheet of phyllo pastry with olive oil and place it in a greased 8 inch square baking pan. Repeat 5 more times.
8. Spread half of the asparagus mixture over the phyllo followed by half of the cheese.
9. Repeat another layer of phyllo, asparagus and cheese and top with a final layer of phyllo.
10. Cut the pie into pieces shaped as you like.
11. Bake the pie in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown on top and bubbling on the sides, about 30-45 minutes.
12. Pull the pie out of the oven and let it cool.
13. Whisk the egg in small sauce pan until frothy.
14. Slowly whisk in the lemon juice followed by the reserved asparagus water.
15. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until it thickens, about 5-10 minutes.
16. Plate the phyllo pie and drizzle with the avgolemono sauce when ready to serve.

Similar Recipes:
Baklava
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Kolokithopita (Greek Zucchini Pie)
Asparagus with a Poached Egg in a Dill and Caper Avgolemono Sauce
Mushroom and Feta Phyllo Pie
Lamb Exohiko (Lamb Stuffed Phyllo Parcels)

Use leftover phyllo dough in:
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Mushroom and Feta Phyllo Pie
Kolokithopita (Greek Zucchini Pie)
Agginaropita (Greek Artichoke Pie)
Mushroom and Goat Cheese Strudel with Balsamic Syrup
Tomato Tart
Baklava
Apple and Cheddar Quiche
Galaktoboureko (Greek Custard Pie)
Chicken and Date Pastilla
Roasted Pumpkin Quiche with Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola and Sage
Strawberry Goat Cheese Banitsa
Lamb Exohiko (Lamb, Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Phyllo Parcels)
Fiddlehead and Gruyere Tart

Golden Beet Tatin with Goat Cheese

Beets are another great winter vegetable and I don't seem to have them nearly often enough. A couple of weeks ago I was at a restaurant near work, Mildred's Temple Kitchen, and they had a lot of great sounding dishes using seasonal ingredients including a golden beet tatin served with salad greens and goat cheese. Given my enjoyment of seasonal ingredients I was pleased to see the dish on the menu and I just had to order it. The beet tatin turned out to be really good, so good in fact that I just had to try to make it at home!

I started off the recipe with the easy part, roasting the golden beets. Next up was trying to figure out what the pinot noir gastrique was from their description in the menu. It turns out that a gastrique is made by caramelizing sugar, adding a vinegar and then reducing to the desired consistency. Along my search I came across a gastrique that caramelized honey instead of sugar and I liked the sound of that. So in the end I had a gastrique made with caramelized honey, red wine vinegar and pinot noir and it sounded really good.

Now that I had a recipe for the contents of the tatin I just needed to cook it. Normally a tatin (a pie with the crust on top) is made in a full pie plate but I decided to make it in ramekins so that they would be in individual serving sizes. The individually sized golden beet tatins in a pinot noir gastrique garnished with goat cheese turned out great! The roasted golden beets were perfectly soft, nice and sweet and they went so well with the savoury gastrique. Of course you really can't go wrong with the light, flaky, all butter pastry and the tangy goat cheese finished everything off perfectly. I served the beet tatin along with some salad greens and the remaining gastrique made for the perfect dressing.

Golden Beet Tatin with Goat Cheese

(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 small golden beets (washed and trimmed)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
pastry to cover 4 ramekins
1/4 cup goat cheese (crumbled)
2 cups salad greens

Directions:
1. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil.
2. Bake the beets in a preheated 350F oven until soft, about 1 to 1.5 hours.
3. Let the beets cool, peel and slice them.
4. Caramelize the honey on a pan.
5. Add the red wine vinegar and red wine and simmer to reduce to a sauce like consistency.
6. Pour 1 tablespoon of the gastrique into each of the 4 ramekins followed by the beet slices and the pastry.
7. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the pastry is golden brown.
8. Flip the ramekins over onto the plates and let the tatin slide out pastry down.
9. Garnish with the goat cheese, salad greens and remaining gastrique.

Similar Recipes:
Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and Cashews
Apricot Tatin
Roasted Beets with Caramelized Onions and Feta
Caramelized Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Salad

Chicken and Date Pastilla

I have been wanting to try making a pastilla for a while now and when I saw a recipe for a chicken and date pastilla in this months Food & Drink magazine it was like fate as I still had a bunch of fresh medjool dates! A pastilla (aka bastilla, bisteeya, b'steeya, bstilla and b'stilla) is a sweet and savoury Moroccan meat pie that is wrapped in light and flaky phyllo dough. The pastilla contains a lot of my favorite things from a good tagine including a really nice combination of Moroccan spices, tender meat, sweet dates and raisins, slivered almonds and fresh parsley and cilantro. After the pie is baked until the phyllo is nice and golden brown, light and flaky it is dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon adding another nice layer of sweet to weave into the already complex dish. This pie takes a bit of effort to make but it is well worth the trouble! The pastilla is a perfect combination of sweet and savoury and the flavours, textures and the spicy aroma will just make you swoon. I am certainly looking forward to enjoying the leftovers!

Chicken and Date Pastilla

(makes 6+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds chicken breast (about 4 chicken breasts)
2 onions (sliced)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tablespoon cumin (toasted and ground)
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 pinch saffron
2 cups chicken stock
3 eggs
1 cup dates (pitted and chopped coarsely)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup slivered almonds (toasted)
salt and pepper to taste
8 sheets phyllo dough
1/2 cup olive oil
icing sugar and cinnamon

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the chicken, skin down, brown and set aside.
3. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 7-12 minutes.
4. Add the garlic, cumin, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, chili flakes, turmeric and saffron and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
5. Put the chicken back in the pan along with the stock, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 30 minutes.
6. Remove the chicken, let it cool and shred it.
7. Put the chicken back in the pan along with the eggs, dates, raisins, cilantro and almonds, mix and season with salt and pepper.
8. Place a sheet of phyllo on your working surface and brush with the olive oil.
9. Place a sheet of phyllo on top forming a plus sign and brush with olive oil and repeat until all sheets are done.
10. Place the phyllo into a 9 inch spring form pan, fill with the chicken mixture and fold the overhanging phyllo over the top sealing the pie.
11. Brush the top with olive oil.
12. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until golden brown, about 30-40 minutes.
13. Let cool and dust with icing sugar and cinnamon.

Similar Recipes:
Pomegranate and Date Lamb Tagine
Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
Chicken Pot Pie
Medjool Date Pecan Pie
Lamb Exohiko (Lamb Stuffed Phyllo Parcels)

Use leftover phyllo dough in:
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Mushroom and Feta Phyllo Pie
Kolokithopita (Greek Zucchini Pie)
Agginaropita (Greek Artichoke Pie)
Mushroom and Goat Cheese Strudel with Balsamic Syrup
Tomato Tart
Baklava
Apple and Cheddar Quiche
Galaktoboureko (Greek Custard Pie)
Asparagus and Walnut Phyllo Pie (aka Asparagus Baklava) with Avgolemono Sauce
Roasted Pumpkin Quiche with Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola and Sage
Strawberry Goat Cheese Banitsa
Lamb Exohiko (Lamb, Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Phyllo Parcels)
Fiddlehead and Gruyere Tart