Experiment Gone Awry

I own what I have deemed as an absolutely ridiculous number of cookbooks, especially considering the fact that I rarely ever open one.  There are some I have never opened and I decided it was time to rectify that error.  The first cookbook I decided to try a recipe from was Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds [and no, I'm not including the link because I think you should purchase it or use this particular retailer if you do, I just would not want to be accused of not giving appropriate credit...even though, yes, I think it's a worthy addition to the cookbook arsenal].

The recipe that peaked my interest the most was Hollywood's Temptation, which is an adaptation of Jansson's Temptation, a traditional Swedish recipe.  Of course I chose this recipe because it allowed me to combine my anglophile ways with my love of Alexander Skarsgard.  Honestly, how can you not love a man whose resume includes vampire and Tarzan?!  But I digress...

The original recipe calls for pickled sprats, which are a small bait fish in the herring family.  Paul modified his recipe and chose to use hot smoked salmon. I, for no other reason than because it's my recipe now and I can if I want to, decided to use beef instead of fish.  As a side note, bad idea, which we will discuss later.  I also added leafy greens so that this could become more of a one-dish meal.  I picked up two different greens at the farmers market and I knew they would add some really nice flavor to the dish.  The first was Lamb's Quarter, which has a similar flavor to spinach.  It's great either cooked or raw, though some people might find the hairy underside to be a bit of a turn-off.  It's not something you would detect when cooking but you know they are there when you are handling the leaves.  I also picked up some rainbow chard and decided it would add some nice color to the pie.

Lamb's Quarter

Steak and Potato Pie

Ingredients:

Phyllo dough - thawed according to directions on box
14 oz sirloin tips - cut into small chunks
28 oz white potatoes (I chose the ones labeled as good for boiling, steaming and roasting) - peeled and thinly sliced
1 lg onion - sliced
1 qt whole milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 tsp mustard powder
2 c. chard
1/2 c. Lamb's quarter (spinach is a close substitute)
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Over low heat, melt 1 1/2 Tbsp of the butter.  Add the onions and sweat them for approximately 20 minutes.  You want them to be soft and turning a golden color.  Add the lamb's quarter and chard, cooking long enough to wilt the greens.  Set aside.

Place the potatoes in a large pot and add just enough milk to cover.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  You want them softened but not cooked through.  Remove the potatoes and reserve 1/2 c. of the milk.

Melt the rest of the butter.  Now that all of your food is prepped, you can unwrap the phyllo dough and begin creating your crust.  You will want to grease a 10 inch spring form pan.  Before putting in each layer of dough, brush with the melted butter.  I used about 8 sheets of 9x14 inch phyllo.  You want to have excess hanging over the side because you will use that to cover the top of the pie.

To layer the filling, start with 1/3 of the potatoes, then add 1/2 the vegetable mixture, then half of the meat.  Repeat, ending with the final third of potatoes.

Mix the reserved milk, cream, and mustard powder.  Pour over the filling.  Fold the excess dough on top of the pie and brush with butter.  Bake for 35 minutes.

For me, cooking is a way for me to connect with people, get creative, challenge myself, and learn.  In that educational spirit, I am going to let you all in on the "good, bad, and ugly" of this particular challenge...

Good:  The taste.  It really did come out well.  The potatoes came out nice and soft, soaking up the flavor of the milk.  The greens added some nuttiness that I personally enjoyed.

The bad:  The phyllo dough.  Part of what drew me to this recipe was the phyllo dough.  I could not remember if I had ever used it before and I always like challenging myself so this was a great opportunity.  Phyllo and I do not get along.  However, I still have a package and a half of sheets so phyllo and I will be getting better acquainted over the next few weeks.  Also, using a 10 inch pan was a poor choice, just a bit to large.  Use an 8 inch pan and you'll have better, well formed, layers.

The ugly:  Using beef.  That was such a bad decision I cannot even express that enough.  The beef tasted great but raw meat creates juice and so it was a poor choice for a pie with a phyllo dough crust.  I should have known better, I have no one else to blame but myself.  Honestly, I'm lucky the pie didn't explode when I unleashed the pan latch!  Pies with juicy contents should have a standard pie crust, something hearty that will be able to hold the juice and not turn to mush.  If I had stuck to smoked fish the pie would have turned out perfect because the milk was sucked up by the potatoes.

So, the moral of this is "choose your crusts wisely."  I will definitely do this recipe again but, the meat version will use a more appropriate crust.  If I decide to stick to phyllo dough, I will be using smoked fish.

Live and learn friends...and enjoy the spoils even when they come out a little wonky.