Meatballs
1 lb ground pork shoulder
1.5 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp kosher salt (halve if you use table salt)
1/4 tsp hot red pepper flakes
12 black peppercorns

Rest of Stew
1 lb dried flageolet beans (alternative: great northern)
1 large spanish or vidalia onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
large handful of white button mushrooms, diced
1/2 to 1 cup diced tomato
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced
handful of parley
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1/2 cup dry vermouth or white wine
1 tbsp tomato paste

Cook the flageolet beans until al dente: place in a large pot with 1″ of water above the top of the beans. Add 3 bay leaves, bring to a boil, then remove the lid and simmer. Soaking beforehand will speed up cooking time. While the beans cook, do the next few steps.

Pound up the fennel seed, peppercorns and pepper flakes with a mortar/pestle, then add to the ground meat along with the salt. Mix together then mold into meatballs about 1.5″ in diameter. Heat up your stew pot (I use a dutch oven) on med-high heat with a little olive oil and brown the meatballs. Then set them aside and turn off the heat.

Spoon out most of the oil left in the stew pot, leaving enough to coat the bottom. Turn the heat back on to med-low. Cook the onions until translucent, then add the garlic, celery and carrots. Cook for a few minutes, then add the diced tomato and mushroom.

Separate the parsley stems and leaves, setting the leaves aside. Create a bouquet garnis by tying the parsley stems, rosemary sprigs, and 1 bay leaf together with kitchen twine. Add the bouquet garnis to the pot, and continue to let the vegetables gently cook.

Once the beans are al dente, drain or optionally reserve the cooking liquid. Add the beans and meatballs to the stew pot, add the wine, and add either water or the bean cooking liquid until the liquid level is about three-quarters up to the top of the food. Make sure the bouquet garnis is immersed, cover and either place the pot in a 350F oven or let simmer on the stove top.

After 40 minutes, taste for salt and gently stir in the tomato paste.

Remove about 1/2 of beans and vegetables to a food processor and puree.  Return to the pot and continue to cook until the beans are soft and the flavors have melded.  This step improves the texture, thickening the stew (I hate the common use of flour or starch to thicken).

Chop up the parsley leaves waiting in the wings all this time. Serve with the parsley and a little fresh pepper scattered on top.

This vegetarian stew was completely winged tonight but I ran with the concept of trying to heighten each flavor first, and then bring things together. I loved how it came out. The idea of the turnip puree came from Kevin on Top Chef last season and I loved it — was almost like coconut milk.  It reminded another person of a chicken pot pie.  I loved how the puree thickened the meal into a great comfort dish without the need for flour.

This was a big hit so I thought I should write down my best memory of the process while it was fresh in my mind.  The amounts below are kind of rough, but it’s stew — nothing needs to be exact here!

3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup cream
1/4 tsp sugar
2 medium/large turnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 or 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb white mushrooms, halved and sliced
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 cans of chickpeas (or equivalent dried and cooked)
6 to 8 stalks of kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
5 or 6 small red potatoes
1 cup white wine or vermouth
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped (or half as much dried)
1 to 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Stage 1: cooking the separate ingredients
A. In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic in a touch of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter, and let slowly cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Add the celery and a couple pinches of salt and continue to cook.

B. Place the turnips, 1/2 cup of cream, and 1/2 cup of water in a pot and simmer until the turnips are soft

C. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a saute pan and cook the mushrooms, with a couple pinches of salt, for 15-20 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar near the end.

Stage 2: the rest!
Pour 1/2 cup of vermouth (or white wine) into the pot with the onions and celery and let it cook down a bit, then add in the kale.  Cover and let simmer for several minutes.  Once the kale has initially softened, add in the cooked mushrooms and the chickpeas, oregano, parsley. Add another 1/2 cup of vermouth and 1 cup of water and continue to cook.

Place the turnips, with the cooking liquid, in a food processor and let cool.  At this point, I rinsed out this pot, brought water to boil, and boiled the potatoes for 10 to 15 minutes to soften.

Puree the turnip and cream, and add 1/4 tsp of sugar.  Gently stir the puree into the stew, add the pepper flakes and a couple pinches worth of freshly ground black pepper, and add the potatoes when they are done.

Cook the stew for a while longer on very low heat until you are happy the flavors have all come together.  Add some water if it feels too thick.  Taste for salt and pepper.

My predilection for comfort dishes means that gratins, bechamel and cheese are recurring themes, but before I begin, forgive me a small rant: there is a fine line between a dish that is richly delicious, and one that is so packed with cream and butter that you can barely eat a second bite.  Too many restaurants err on the wrong side of that line.

I remember reading the author of Cooking School Confidential write about learning the optimal way to prep potatoes for mashing in order to get as much butter into them as possible.  My first reaction was “interesting” and my second was “maybe this is why I never like the mashed potatoes in restaurants.”

It reminds me of watching Anne Burrell explain, as she grabbed a huge handful of salt, how restaurant food is tasty because it is “better seasoned.”  And I thought, “is that a euphamism for salty?”  It is true that many tentative home cooks under-salt in the cooking process, but at least guests have a chance to rectify that.  I find American Italian restaurants to be the worst offenders of over-salting.

This isn’t just about health, although that is relevant to this topic, but just the observation that more is not always better.  I understand a restaurant’s desire to exude luxury, but you shouldn’t need a red wine strong enough to punch you in the jaw to make it through more than a few bites of a dish.

Now isn’t that a marvelously hypocritical way to introduce a dish with bechamel (one with more butter than flour even!) and cheese?!  This dish is not something I would eat every night, but it was utterly delicious and while it went right smack up to the aforementioned line, it stayed just on the right side.

I’d quip that I ate my hypocrisy most happily, but perhaps the serious  analysis is that the term “too rich” is subjectively like what the judge said about pornography: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.”

Cauliflower and Fennel Gratin

Bechamel
4 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt

Gratin
a head of cauliflower
1 large fennel bulb, including fronds
2/3 cup grated gruyere or comte cheese
2 or 3 thick slices of country bread
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter

Making the Bechamel
Heat the milk up to a simmer and then turn off the heat.  Melt the butter on low heat in a medium sauce pan, then add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, constantly stirring the flour into the butter. Add a small amount of milk (about 2 tbsp worth) and stir in. Repeat two or three times.  At this point stir in the rest of the milk in 1/2 cup amounts, stirring constantly.  You can turn up the heat a smidgen, and keep on stirring regularly until the sauce thickens to the consistency of heavy cream.  Turn off the heat.

Prepping the Gratin

Make the breadcrumbs by ripping the bread into smaller pieces and pulsing in a food processor.  Spread out on a baking tray. Butter a baking dish (separate from the tray) for the gratin with the 2 tbsp, and then chop up and scatter the remaining butter over the bread crumbs in the baking tray.

Turn on the broiler and cook the breadcrumbs on the lowest rack (or set oven to a lower heat) until they are just turning golden. Remove from the oven and stir the breadcrumbs around. Reserve.

Cut off the tops of the fennel bulb, slice off a thin piece of the bottom, and discard the outer layer if really tough.  Save and finely chop the fine fennel fronds from the tops.  Cut the bulb in half and then slice into 1/2 inch thick pieces.  Cut or break the cauliflower into bite-size florets.

Scatter the fennel and cauliflower around the baking dish — you want enough vegetables to fill the dish.  Drizzle a little olive oil on top, sprinkle some coarse salt around, and mix the vegetables with two spoons.  Place under the broiler near the top of the oven for a short period to lightly brown the tops of the vegetables (keep an eye on this and do not let it burn).

Remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 350F.  Grind some fresh pepper on top and mix the vegetables again.  Cover the fennel and cauliflower with the bechamel, then sprinkle the cheese on top, and then the breadcrumbs.  Sprinkle the nutmeg and the chopped fennel fronds on top (no more than a tbsp of the fennel fronds).  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden on top.

I barely know how to start this post, or write it. It was the story of the recipe that turned into three. Our saga begins with our protagonist (that would be me) adapting a Richard Olney recipe for stuffed savoy cabbage. Enter cabbage stage left. Enter stuffing stage right.  The audience gasps.

Now, I don’t know what kind of uber-cabbages Olney was eating in the south of France, but as my imaginary heckler would say, “zat stuffing will nevarre feet in zat cabbage! Zat ees not a vrai Franche cabbage!”

I had a lot of extra stuffing. I mean I had 6 pork pastries and a meatloaf worth of extra stuffing.  But like all good tales, our protagonist learned along the way and came to a happy conclusion. The learnings: that I prefer to stuff individual leaves to an entire cabbage, and that this stuffing makes a damn good meat pastry/pie!  Yes valiant readers, unlike a French movie, this tale ends happily (and with no cigarettes or accordian music either!).

In order to make this as readable as possible, I am going to start with the stuffing ingredients (which have been halved) and process, and then discuss two delicious uses.

Making the Stuffing

1/2 lb ground or chopped pork
1/8 lb guanciale (or good bacon), chopped
1/8 cup long grain white rice
1/8 cup farro (optional, otherwise use 1/4 cup rice)
5 large leaves of Swiss chard
3 of the best stems from the swiss chard, chopped
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 medium-sized roma tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried oregano
chicken or vegetable stock
salt
pepper
nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, bring some water to boil and dunk the tomatoes for 30 seconds (having carved a shallow X in the flower end) in order to skin them.  Bring the water back to a boil, and boil the rice and farro for 12 minutes, then quickly drain. (Note: the farro is optional, but even at this small amount, it brings a nice flavor to the stuffing)

Parboil the chard leaves for 4 minutes, drain and cool, then squeeze out the moisture with your hands and chop.

On medium low heat, saute the guanciale (or bacon) until it is just browning (i.e. not yet crispy), then remove to the side.  Leave the melted fat in the pan, turn the heat up slightly and brown your finely chopped or ground pork, and remove to the side.  In the same pan and in the melted fat, saute your onions, chopped chard stems, garlic and butter on low heat for a few minutes.

Stir in the rice, farro, guanciale, pork, tomatoes, chard leaves, thyme, oregano and a pinch of nutmeg and cook for a minute or two, then turn off the heat, letting the mixture cool and tasting for salt and pepper.

[Differences with Olney: he does not pre-cook his stuffing, but I like browning the meat and believe that this process makes it safer to season the mixture with salt and pepper, ie you can taste it without worrying about the raw meat; I also added the use of farro and chard stems, and replaced salt pork with guanciale]

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Recipe 1: Pork Pastries with Pickled Onions

This was the recipe shown in the picture at the top of the blog post, and it made for an great meal.  A mmmfffffgh you can’t talk because your mouth is so happily stuffed kind of meal.  The below amounts will feed 4 ravenous adults.

Pâte Brisée Pastry
Enough for 12 to 15 5″ rounds
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour*
18 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 tsp salt
icewater

*Note on the flour: I know many people are trying to switch to weight, but I did not have a scale handy, and frankly, since some of my favorite cookbook authors each have their own ratio of flour to butter, I don’t think scientific precision is necessary here for a great result.

There are many ways to make pate brisee pastry. This currently is my favorite method but use whatever method you like best: chop the butter into 1/4 inch cubes and then place in the freezer for a few minutes.  Combine the flour and salt in a food processor, and then add the butter. Pulse quickly twice.  Add 2 tablespoons of water, then pulse, and repeat twice more.

Dump the loose mixture onto your work surface and push it together with your hands.  As needed, add small amounts of ice cold water and mix it in until the pastry dough is starting to stick together.  You do not want to overwork it, or add so much water that the dough is sticky, and there can still be some crumbly elements that are not yet sticking to the mass.  Push it all together into 4 separate balls, including as much of the crumbly elements remaining, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Place your stuffing in the food processor and pulse several times until everything is more finely chopped and mixed.

Flour your work surface and roll out one of the balls to approx. 1/8″ thickness, leaving the others in the fridge until needed. You can make whatever size meat pies you want: little 3″ diameter circles like empanadas, or in my case, larger 5.5″ diameter circles that were made by inverting and pressing down with a rimless bowl.  Use a paring knife to trace the circle outline and remove the circle of dough to a different surface.

Withe 3″ circles, you might only want to use a heaping teaspoon of the stuffing. These larger rounds took 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of stuffing.  Wisk up an egg wash (just beat an egg) and apply it around the stuffing with a brush. Fold over the circle creating a half-circle, and use a fork to flute the edges and create the seal.  You can also apply the egg wash to the top and sides of the pie to get a beautiful golden color and gloss, although you can see with the top photo that I did not bother with that step this time around.

Place the pies upright on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 30 to 50 minutes, until nicely golden.

I served these pies with some pickled red onions, and the combination (taking them both in the same bite) was just fantastic. You can do a fast pickle, where you put the sliced onions in a hot mixture, or take a more patient approach. In this case, I applied Stephane’s pickling method for ramps, which you can find halfway down this post [link].

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Recipe 2: Stuffed Cabbage or Cabbage Leaves

Whether you want to stuff the entire cabbage or just the leaves, the first step is the same: remove the outer green leaves of the cabbage, trim the stem, bring a large pot of water to boil and then simmer the cabbage for 10 to 15 minutes, drain in colander and let cool.

To stuff the full cabbage, lay it atop a large square of cheesecloth and gently peel back the outer 20 or so leaves. Then remove the heart by slicing across the core, being careful not to cut through the stem holding your 20 leaves. You can then chop up some of the heart and add to the stuffing, if desired. Shape the stuffing into a ball, placing it atop the center, and reform the cabbage leaf by leaf. Enclose the cabbage with the cheesecloth and tightly tie off the top using kitchen string. This can be kept in the fridge overnight, or you can move ahead to cooking, covered in chicken or vegetable broth (you might need as much as 3 to 5 quarts depending on pot and cabbage sizes), for 3 to 4 hours at a very light simmer.

To serve, place it in a bowl and unfold the top of the cheesecloth. Place a plate on top of the bowl and flip. Remove the cheesecloth, and flip the cabbage back into the bowl.

Now, serving an entire cabbage has a nice rustic, family feel to it, but we decided we preferred individually stuffing cabbage leaves (or if you prefer, large chard leaves with the stems removed). The advantage of stuffing leaves is that you can just get two cabbages and use as many leaves as you need, not having to worry about matching stuffing amount to cabbage size (although that problem did lead to delicious pork pastries!).  Individual leaves also create nicely packaged portions.

To stuff individual leaves, mold the stuffing into individual meatballs 1.5 or 2 inches thick, and roll each one up in a parboiled cabbage leaf. Place in an oven capable pot, like a large dutch oven, and pour enough heated broth to cover. Place in an oven set to 325F and cook for an hour or two.

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Postscript: Meatloaf

As I mentioned, I did also make a meatloaf with extra stuffing (which had gone through the food processor, similar to pork pastry recipe), by mixing in two eggs, molding into a loaf on a baking dish, covering with bacon, and cooking for an hour at 350F.  It was a huge hit with my 4 year old, and I enjoyed it paired with a shallot, spring onion and mushroom pilaf.  I still prefer my normal meatloaf recipe, but this made for a nice change.

What defines a “comfort” dish?  Sentimentality, based on good home cooking? Texture? Ingredients? Process?  Rustic presentation? I can’t quite put my finger on it.  This particular dish qualifies, but perhaps anything with the word “stuffed” in its name stacks the deck a little too steeply in its favor.  It is interesting how a word so derogative when applied to humans becomes so delightful when applied to food.

As I mentioned the other day, Gourmet Worrier’s recipe for Qarabaghli mimli bil-laham caught my eye. I ran with the concept, and created my own version, which combines ground pork shoulder, some nicely smoked bacon, aged asiago cheese, breadcrumbs, crème fraîche… oh nevermind, the recipe is below the fold!

The Stuffing
4 to 6 medium green zucchini
4 pieces of thickly cut bacon
1 lb ground pork shoulder
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry vermouth
1 large bunch of ramp greens (can substitute spring onions or leeks), cut in a large chiffonade
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
1 large bunch of parsley, chopped
1/2 cup aged asiago cheese, grated (gruyere would be excellent as well)
1 egg
1/2 to 1 cup bread crumbs

The Sauce
8 oz crème fraîche
pinch of nutmeg
1 or 2 lemons, zested and juiced
1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
freshly chopped parsley

Step 1: turn your zucchini into little boats.  Chop off the ends, halve them, and lightly run the knife down the sides of the zucchini as if you were de-seeding it, but stop with the knife before you get to the end.  Using the knife is optional but it makes things a little easier, for the next step is to carve out the hollow of your vegetable canoes with a teaspoon. Put the center parts of two of the zucchini halves aside for this menu, and save the rest for something (like ratatouille, see end of post).

Make some breadcrumbs by removing the crust from an older loaf of bread (I used a sourdough bagette here), and breaking down in the food processor.  Spread the breadcrumbs out on a small baking tray, scatter some dots of butter, and bake at 350F until just golden brown.  Reserve.  Leave the oven pre-heated at 350F.

Cook your bacon in a large saute pan until almost crispy then chop up and put to the side. Remove most of the bacon fat and saute the onions on medium low heat for a few minutes. Turn up the heat to medium and add in the ground pork, sauteing until lightly browned.  Add in the vermouth and cook for a few more minutes, then stir in the ramp greens, red pepper flakes, parsley and bacon. Cook for a few more minutes and turn off the heat.  Stir in the asiago cheese and taste for salt and pepper. When you are happy with the seasoning, beat an egg in a separate bowl and stir it in.

If you have a grill, I highly recommend rubbing a little olive oil on the “cut” side of the zucchini and searing quickly on the grill top.  Partly this is for aesthetics, but for the final presentation I was wishing I had been able to take that step (my grill needs some fixin’).

Place the zucchini halves on a baking dish, and rub the bottoms with some olive oil (depending on the size and number of zucchini, you might need two — I did).  Scoop the mixture into each of the canoes.

Drizzle some olive oil around the edges of the zucchini, and sprinkle a healthy amount of breadcrumbs over each one.  Bake in the oven at 350F for about 50 minutes.

The Sauce
The crème fraîche sauce makes this dish, so you do not want to skimp!  Take about 8 ounces of crème fraîche, and thin it slightly with some lemon juice.  Add in a pinch of ground nutmeg.  When you serve the zucchinis, generously spoon the sauce on top, and then scatter some lemon zest, freshly chopped chives, and freshly chopped parsley on top.

Notes
This goes nicely with a simple side salad and a full bodied white wine. We finished off the meal with some strawberries and blueberries coated in honey and a chiffonade of fresh basil. Zoe reminded me how much I liked this simple desert. Honey and basil together transform into something new and delightful.

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Summer “Leftovers” Menu Idea
I thought I would also append this post with a simple dinner that is not worthy of it’s own post. After reading Stacey Snacks and Tartelette, I had to cook up a ratatouille. Mine had its own touches but was pretty basic, so I won’t repeat a recipe here.  I sliced up some cold beef (from a gorgeous porterhouse steak we grilled the other day, but a grilled, cold london broil would work too), and served it with a pesto-like green sauce. The sauce was created by combining parsley, basil, half a garlic clove, lemon juice, capers, pine nuts, olive oil, hot red pepper flakes, a small amount of salt and pepper, a touch of white wine vinegar — all mashed together to taste with a mortar and pestle.  We served this with some pickled ramps, and a chilled pinot noir.

I really enjoyed this meal because it worked for a hot evening, with the ratatouille adding substance without heaviness, and the sharp sauce adding a contrast that worked well with the cold beef. As usual, my plating skills left something to be desired, but that is a skill I have yet to conquer.

Every once in a while, you read amusing stories about the tension and strife that ensue when cooking in your mother’s kitchen. The hovering. The unsought advice. The skeptical brow. Unfortunately for you, dear reader, I have no such stories from this recent dinner. In the making of this ramp and mushroom risotto, I had free reign. Perhaps it is because I am male, or perhaps it is simply the nature of my mom, but there was no drama to rivet this tale.

I think we got most of the mother-child conflict out of our systems when I was in high school and needed heavy pushing to study and get into a good college. Her obstinate determination at that task exceeded even my own innate and not-insubstantial stubbornness. In the end, her mission was accomplished, for which I am eternally grateful.

Turning the tables and making her a great meal is the least I can do. This risotto, while not innovative in the slightest, was particularly good for three reasons: a homemade vegetable broth made with patience, the use of the last of my ramps, and a mix of porcini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

Ramp and Mushroom Risotto

Vegetable Broth
1 1/2 sweet or yellow spanish onions, quartered
4 carrots, peeled
3 celery stalks, halved to fit in the pot
handful of dried porcini mushrooms
4 garlic cloves, un-peeled
bouquet garni: large bunch of parsley, 2 bay leaves, and thyme sprigs, tied with kitchen string
12 cups of water

Risotto
1 lb arborio rice
1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
20 small ramps, white stems thinly sliced and greens chopped (keep them separate)
handful of dried porcini mushrooms (treatment below)
2 large handfuls of shiitake mushrooms, chopped
2 handfuls of oyster mushrooms, chopped
4 tbsp unsalted butter
splash of olive oil
1/2 dry vermouth (or dry white wine)
8 cups of broth (see above)
salt and pepper
1/3 cup pecorino cheese, finely grated
1 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Make the broth early in the day or on a previous day by combining all the ingredients, bringing to a boil, and then immediately reducing to a very gentle simmer. Cook for 5 or 6 hours, discard the vegetables, and strain the broth through a fine strainer.

Take another handful of dried porcini mushrooms and soak in boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes before starting the next step. Add most of the soaking liquid to the broth, but discard the last bit with the sediment from the mushrooms. Remove any hard parts still on the mushrooms and chop.

Bring the broth to a boil, reduce to the lowest heat and keep covered. Prep your pecorino cheese and parsley at this point.

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot (or high-sided saucepan), melt the butter and olive oil on medium heat. Add in the onion and chopped white stems from the ramps and saute for several minutes. Stir in the 3 types of mushrooms and continue to saute for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the rice and cook for several minutes, stirring well.  Turn up the heat to just above medium. Add in the vermouth, and stir it into the risotto, and then add a ladle full of broth. Stir until the liquid is mostly absorbed by the risotto. Add another two ladles of broth and then repeat the stirring process, the addition of liquid, the stirring, etc. Do not let the risotto dry out at any point, and do not add so much broth at any point that you flood the pot.

After 20 minutes, add in 1/8 tsp of salt, some freshly ground pepper, and stir in the ramp greens.

Cook for another 5 minutes and begin tasting for tenderness and salt and pepper. You want the risotto to be tender but not mush. It will probably take between 7 and 8 cups of the broth, and be done somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in most of the pecorino cheese and fall of the fresh parsley.* Plate and sprinkle the last of the pecorino on top, along with some ground pepper.

*save the parsley until the very end, because uncooked it adds a nice fresh flavor and texture to the dish.

Note: some argue that you do not need to continually stir risotto, but I like the results that arise from the extra diligence.

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I’ll depart with a little taste of most-welcome spring:

Previous Risotto Posts:
Fennel Risotto

Chard Leaves Stuffed with Mushroom Risotto

On Saturday, we crawled through traffic back up the Eastern seaboard and returned from visiting family in Washington DC. There are few things more soul destroying than hours stuck traffic. Naturally, I needed to make a chicken pot pie to recuperate. Chicken pot pie is scientifically proven to pack high levels of emotionally recuperative bosons and gluons by the ounce.

It is a little known fact that they plan to test FermiLab’s Large Hadron Collider by accelerating a chicken pot pie to the speed of light and thus duplicating comfort food conditions at the origins of the universe. It will either cause the end of the world, or it won’t; there appears to be some debate, which is comforting in and of itself.

Below is a recipe for a simple pot pie, and a decent framework for elaborating upon with other ingredients (leeks, peas, turnips, parsnips) and herbs (parsley, rosemary, oregano, tarragon, etc). Note: I hope you’ll excuse the hack-job of the pastry edging in the above picture… I was moving fast in a race against the clock for Munchkin’s dinner time.

Chicken Pot Pie

1.5 lb chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes
1 white onion, diced
3 medium/large garlic cloves, peeled, woody end removed, and minced
3 medium carrots, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds or smaller
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 tsp ground savory (alternative: 1 tbsp parsley and/or 1/2 tsp dry thyme)
1/2 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper
olive oil
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken stock (or water)

Pastry
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt + a couple more pinches
7.5 tbsp butter
approx 5 tbsp ice cold water

Egg wash: 1 tbsp water, 1 egg yolk

Making the Pastry
For this pot pie, I decided to work off of Alice Waters’ savory pastry proportions from The Art of Simple Food. I was only making the pastry for the top, so reduced the amounts from the 2 cups of flour in her book, keeping with her proportions (hence the extra pinches of salt to get to around 1/3 tsp).

Cut the butter into 1/4 inch cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Fill a glass with ice water and place next to your food processor. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter to the processor and add 4 tablespoons of the ice water, pulsing the mixture between each tablespoon.

Remove the mixture to a clean surface and gently work it together. If it is not holding together at all, add another tbsp of the ice water. When the crumbly mixture is just holding together (you do not want it sticky or wet, and it is ok to have a little still crumbly), form into a rough ball, wrap in plastic wrap, flatten, and place in the fridge for an hour.

Preparing the Filling

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Bring some lightly salted water to boil in a medium sauce pot and boil the potato until just tender, no more than 10 minutes given the small cut. Drain or remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon, and keep the sauce pot around for the white sauce.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large saute pan on medium heat and brown the chicken, then remove to the bowl with the potato. Lower the heat to medium-low and saute the onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, then add the carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the celery, ground savory (or other herbs), white wine, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Cook for another few minutes then turn off the heat.

At this point, turn to the sauce pot: melt 5 tbsp of butter on medium-low heat, then wisk in the 1/2 cup of flour and cook for a minute stirring regularly. Theoretically, it is best to have your milk and stock (or water) already at a near boil, but if you haven’t had time or the energy to dirty another pot, it isn’t the end of the world just to add them directly now. Cook at a gentle simmer for another 5 minutes. (If you like your pie really rich, you can add 1/4 cup of cream too)

Stir the white sauce into the saute pan with the vegetables and taste for salt and pepper. Then stir in the chicken and potato. Spoon the mixure into your pie dish until it is near the edge.

Photo note: the mixture looks a little green-ish because of the ground savory.

Finishing the Pie
Remove the wrapped pastry from the fridge, and on a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll out your pastry into a thin layer an inch or so bigger than you need for the pie dish. Lightly flour the top, to prevent it from sticking, and gently fold the pastry in half or in quarters to safely lift it in one piece to the top of the pie dish. Crimp the pastry around the edge of the pie dish, and then cut off any excess pastry hanging over the edge with a sharp paring knife. Make some vent holes in the top with the knife (or a fork).

If you have the time, it is nice to mix an egg yolk with a tbsp of cold water and brush this egg wash on top of the pastry. (I did not, this time around)

Place the pie in the oven (which was pre-heated to 375F) for 45 minutes, then let cool for 10 or 15 minutes before serving.

Tonight however, as a prelude to the looming Turkey Day here in the US, I changed things up a bit and brought hints of Thanksgiving “stuffing” into my meatloaf. The reaction was gratifyingly positive, so I deemed it blog-worthy. Apologies for the less-than-great photo above, but it gives you a sense of texture.

(Note: what kind of stuffing do I love? It comes from a 1973 NYTimes recipe for Thanksgiving turkey that my mother cut out and we have been making ever since, because it is just that good!)

Meatloaf
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 large onion (spanish), finely chopped
8 white button mushrooms, finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
10 large black olives, chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped (if you love sage, add more)
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
bacon

Pre-heat oven to 425F.

Heat up a splash of olive oil in a saute pan, and saute the onions until transparent. Add the mushrooms and cook for several minutes, and then add the celery. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine everything but the bacon. (note: I mix it all up with my hands, well-washed before and after)

In a large baking dish, shape your meatloaf. I usually mold it into a roughly-rectangular shape about 1.5 to 2 inches high and 4 or 5 inches wide. Then drape slices of bacon across the top.

Place in the oven, and after 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 350F. Cook for another 50 to 60 minutes — if the meatloaf is firm, it should be done.

We served this with a potato, brussel sprout and celeriac gratin (in milk) — good, but I want to continue to tinker with that recipe and improve it before blogging.

What’s not to love about meatballs stewed in tomato sauce? It’s a timeless combination, no? I love to cook variations of a recipe I originally picked up from Jamie Oliver (I’m a big fan of his cookbooks). My original adaptation of the recipe is posted here. The other day, I remade it with some changes to the meatballs — there are so many directions you can go and still have it be delicious, as long as you don’t use spices that will conflict with your tomato sauce. The other major difference was the use of a big bunch of arugula instead of basil to add more body (I’m guessing that kale would be good as well).

For this variation, I created a simple tomato sauce that combined 20 oz of peeled san marzano tomatoes with some sauted onions and garlic, ground savory, dried oregano, a splash of red wine vinegar, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Meatballs
1+ lb of ground beef
2 slices of italian / farm bread, pulsed into breadcrumbs
1/2 cup of finely chopped parsely
1 tbsp dried mexican oregano
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
healthy pinch of salt
1 egg

Combine everything and mold the mixture into meatballs. I made 9, each about an inch and a half in diameter. Then brown them in an oven-proof pan and then turn off the heat when browning is complete.

Once the meatballs are ready to go and the tomato sauce meets your approval, turn off the heat to the tomato sauce and stir in a large bunch of torn arugula leaves (my guess is about 5 oz worth – considerably more than the amount of basil that went into the original recipe).

Pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs and add some chunks of mozarella cheese.

Place in an oven preheated to 400F and cook for 20 minutes.

This is where the blogosphere gets fun. The other week, I blogged our usual Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Today I discovered that Kali Orexi (aka Maria), a blogger also here in the New York area, made her version (link to her post). So tonight, I bumped my previous cooking plans and riffed off of her version (not having the exact ingredients in my pantry) and loved the result. Thanks Maria!

The key differences are adding grated cheese to the potatoes, and using a different spice base for the meat mix. In some ways, this version is richer than our usual and I was glad to have an Italian red wine with decent body to accompany. Then again, I’m always glad to have a full bodied red, who am I kidding!

Mashed Potatoes Topping
6 large red boiling potatoes, peeled
1 cup milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (or pecorino romano)
salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until cooked all the way through (or steam them). You can cut them into smaller pieces to speed cooking. Drain the potatoes, return to the pot, add the butter and mash. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, grated cheese, and 1/2 cup milk. Taste for salt. Continue adding milk until the mashed potatoes are quite moist without crossing over into being liquid.

The Base
1 lb of ground beef
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 medium onions, or 1 large, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2 small/medium zucchini, grated
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 to 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 to 1/2 tsp ground all spice
2 pinches of ground cumin
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 to 2 tbsp ketchup
salt and pepper

In a cast iron or oven-proof pan, brown the ground beef and use the spatula to break it up into small bits. Cook with a few pinches of salt, cinnamon and all spice. Remove any excess liquid and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F

Add a little olive oil to the pan and saute the garlic and onions until the onions start turning translucent, then add the carrots and a few pinches of salt, cinnamon, all spice, cumin, a pinch of nutmeg and some ground pepper. Cook for several minutes, then add the grated zucchini and tomato paste. Once that is folded in and cooking, add the wine. Let this cook for several minutes and stir in the ground beef.

Cook it all together for another five minutes and taste for salt and spices (I kept the spices at a level where they were there but still subtle). At this stage, I wanted to sweeten the mixture up a little bit more, so added the ketchup.

If the mixture starts to dry out, add a little bit of water. Once you are happy with the taste of the mixture, turn off the heat and flatten the top of the mixture. Carefully spoon your mashed potatoes on top, and using the back of a fork, smooth it around. As noted before, I like to then decorate the top with the tines.

Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, then turn the oven to broil and let the top brown (but not burn). Let the shepherds pie rest for a few minutes before serving.