Natchitoches Meat Pies

Let's take a trip down south, to northern Louisiana. Why?  Because I decided to try my hand at it's State Meat Pie, the Natchitoches meat pie.  In case you were wondering, it's is pronounced NACK-uh-tush.  Unfortunately, I have been pronouncing it phonetically for awhile now and I think I'm past the point of no return.  

There is an entire festival dedicated to this delectable pie.  And yes, this festival has officially made the "must travel to" list. That, of course, means I need to start pronouncing Natchitoches properly...wish me luck.

When weekend rolled around and I was putting my shopping list together, I decided that since I really had no idea what I was doing, I would (aside from adding a few spices) follow the official recipe.  Except for a few differences in filling, it seemed to be very much in the empanada family.  No complaints there!  I did choose to bake these pies.  My track record with fried foods is horrendous and I figured this recipe could withstand a healthier cooking method.

Natchitoches Meat Pie

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 tsp. shortening 

1 lb. ground beef 

1 lb. ground pork meat 

1 bunch green onions - chopped 

1 pod garlic - minced 

1 orange bell pepper - chopped 

1 medium onion - chopped 

1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. chili powder

Dough:

4 c. All purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder 

1/2 cup shortening + 1 T
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Directions:

Melt the shortening in a large stock pot. Add the meat and cook until it is no longer pink - about 10 minutes.  Add the vegetables and seasoning, cook for another 10 minutes.

I really like the color that the bell pepper adds!

Once everything is cooked through, stir in the flour.  Continue stirring until sauce thickens - about 3 minutes.

Take the filling off the stove and set aside while you make the dough.

Sift the dry ingredients together. Cut in the shortening, creating crumbles.  Beat the eggs and milk together.  Gradually stir then knead into dry ingredients until proper consistency to roll. Break into small pieces and roll very thin. Cut into rounds using a bowl as a guide.

To assemble:

Place about 1 1/2 spoonfuls of filling onto one half of the round.

Wet the edge of the meat half of the round with water and fold the other half over, making edges meet and seal. 

 Form edges with a fork and cut slits into the pie to allow steam to vent during baking.

Preheat your oven to 400F.  Brush the pies with an egg wash and bake for 30 minutes or until brown.

These things were so amazing.  The crust came out nice and crisp.  The smell of the filling was phenomenal, the spices really came through in the smell.  Standing by the oven while they were cooking was sheer torture.  This is comfort food at its finest!

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.

My Great British Bake Off Obsession

Thanks to PBS I recently discovered the greatness that is The Great British Bake Off.  I watch it before Downton Abbey on Sunday nights and I binge watch old episodes and clips on Youtube.  Oh, Youtube, you destroyer of all my evening plans! So, it's really GBBO that we all have to thank for my return to blogging and this time blogging about food.  I watch the show and all I want to do is recreate the dishes they make.

Sadly, PBS Food does not have every GBBO recipe however, it has some, including the recipe from Season 5 for Kate's plum, apple, and rhubarb pork pies.  Now, when you go grocery shopping on January 30th in New England it is unlikely that you will find rhubarb.  So we are already wading into the world of recipe adjusting.  Add that to not finding boned pork shoulder (no, I had no desire to spend an hour cutting around a bone, I'm too lazy for that) and wanting to get rid of the puff pastry in my freezer versus making hot water crust pastry and you have a not even remotely like Kate's pie result.  However, I don't care.  Why?  Because I am making a recipe inspired by Kate so I have decided it counts.  And, I have never made a meat pie so I get that added challenge element to the whole deal.

So, welcome to my Fruit and Pork Pie Concoction

Ingredients

Oven preheated to 400F
9" pie dish
1 gala apple - peeled, cored, diced
6 pitted prunes - chopped
1 1/2 oz superfine sugar
1 lb ground pork
2 strips bacon - chopped
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground mace
1 sprig fresh thyme - leaves picked and chopped
1 sage leaf - chopped
1 bay leaf - chopped
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. sea salt
2 sheets puff pastry

Because I couldn't find superfine sugar I used regular granulated sugar that I then put into my coffee grinder.  You don't want confectioners so be mindful not to grind the sugar for more than a pulse or two.  I am also a prep first cook second person, so all my ingredients were measured out and ready to go before I moved over to the stove.

In a sauté pan over medium heat cook apples, prunes, and sugar.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.  You want all the excess liquid evaporated.  (For those of you who watch GBBO, you know Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood's utter distaste for soggy bottoms!)  Set aside in bowl to cool.

Now, on to the meat.  Cook the bacon first then just before desired crispness add the ground pork to brown.  Just before that is done add the spices.  Mix to just incorporated, drain excess liquid, then add to fruit mixture.  Squish the two mixtures together then transfer to prepped pie plate.

The pie plate:

Grease and flour a 9" pie dish.  Roll out thawed puff pastry on floured surface and roll to appropriate size.  Transfer to pie dish.  Check for holes and cracks.

Once the mixture is in the pie dish, roll out the second pastry sheet.  Brush with egg wash and place on top of pie. Crimp edges together.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until top is golden brown, in 400F oven.

The prunes give the mixture a nice burst of sweetness.  The ground mace gives a really good flavor to the meat, but be careful.  Too much and it will take over the dish and not in a good way.

All in all, a successful foray into the world of meat pies!