Hunter's Pie

~Winter~

Snow falls, and chilly winds blow. Nights are dark, and days are short. We take shelter in our cozy homes and wool sweaters. Roaring fireplaces and favorite bottles of wine warm us.

But what to eat? Bread, steaming from the oven and slathered with butter and honey? Hearty crock-pot stews, rich with root vegetables and exotic spices? Or, maybe a warm slice of pie?

Yes! Pie. Sweet or savory, it's always satisfying, yet simple. (And, who doesn't love pie for dinner?)

Chicken Pot Pie and Tomato Pie are good options, as is Venison Pie, but I was pleased to find a terrific, recipe for Hunter's Savory Apple Pie in the recipe database of Plate Magazine. I only made a few tweaks -- you can't mess it up. (Ground venison instead of veal because I had it, and for the mushrooms, a mix of maitake, portobello, oyster and shiitakes. For the cheese, I had aged, smoked cheddar from Vermont instead of Wisconsin, and my pie crust was whole wheat.) It was so easy to make, and the house smells amazing. Served with a kale salad (with dried cranberries, walnuts and a zippy dressing), a bowl of briny olives, and a bottle of red wine, it is the perfect winter meal. 

Hunter's Pie*

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie crust, prepared and blind-baked in 350F oven

1/2 stick sweet cream butter (1/4 cup) plus more for roasting veggies

1 lb ground veal or venison 

1/2 lb button or baby bella mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup portabello mushrooms, chopped

1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup chanterelle or maitake mushrooms, sliced 

1 medium onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 shallot, minced

2 large tart apples, peeled, cored and diced

2 cups butternut squash, roasted and diced 

1/4 cup red bell pepper, roasted and thinly sliced 

12 fresh sage leaves, chopped

Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 cup smoked VT cheddar or Wisconsin white cheddar, shredded

1/4 cup diced bacon

1-2 scallions, chopped

*Adapted from the recipe for Hunter's Savory Apple Pie, www.plateonline.com

Moderate MESS/ingredients/clean-up: Category 4

To Do:

• Place the squash and peppers in a roasting pan and roast in 400F oven with some butter (or olive oil) and a few extra cloves of garlic until tender and staring to brown. 
• Heat butter in a large pan and sauté venison/veal until starting to brown.
• Add the mushrooms, onion, garlic, shallot, apples, and the roasted squash and peppers and cook until the onions are translucent.

• Stir in the sage and season with salt/pepper to taste. 

• Mound into pie shell and top with cheese, bacon and scallions. 

• Bake about 30 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and the pie is warm throughout. 

 

Looks like the "hunt" for the perfect dinner is over, thanks to Hunter's Pie.  Yum!

xoxo

P.S. Want pie for dessert, too?
Try a fan favorite, the always delicious and impressive Apple-Pear-Cranberry Pie with Pecan Crumble  or embrace the chill with a slice of creamy, dreamy Peanut Butter Pie.

Shortbread Sweeties

Happy Valentine's Day, loves!

We've had a snowy February so far, and yesterday was no exception. An accumulation  of more than a foot of snow in a few hours meant working from home instead of dealing with delayed and canceled trains into and out of NYC. (We didn't want to be stranded in Penn Station for the night. Ugh!)

Being snowed in with your sweetie the day before Valentine's Day is pretty awesome -- even if you both are working from home and spending more time on conference calls than snuggling by the fire. (Sigh.)

Since this is the season of love and flowers and sweets, I decided to practice my baking skills yet again, with some cute little shortbread sandwiches. (Yes, baking, again! What is wrong with me?)

I made the dough and let it chill for a couple hours while I answered some emails. On my "lunch break," I rolled out the dough and baked a couple dozen of these beauties. 

When they cooled, I spread one cookie with either Nutella or a tasty combo of almond pastry filling mixed with raspberry preserves, and topped with another cookie of similar size. 

Crumbly and buttery, and filled with gooey chocolate or a fruity filling, these bite-sized cookie sandwiches are the perfect treat to share with your favorite person. (Don't forget the bottle of bubbly!) Sweet!

Shortbread Sweeties

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp each baking soda and salt

Filling ideas:

Nutella or melted chocolate

Seedless raspberry preserves

Almond pastry filling mixed with preserves 

Minimal MESS/ingredients/clean-up: Category 2

To Do:

• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, vanilla and sugar. 
• In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour, soda and salt, then add to the butter/sugar mixture. 
• Stir into a loose dough. 

• Divide the dough in half, then wrap each half in plastic wrap and chill for about two hours.
• When dough is chilled but still malleable, remove one of the halves from the fridge. 
• Flour a surface and your rolling pin, then roll out the dough until it is about a quarter of an inch thick. 
• Cut dough into circles 1-2 inches in diameter (if using pastry rings, use the second or third smallest size).
• Re-roll the dough and keep cutting circles until the half of dough is used up, baking the cookies in batches for about 10 minutes or so, until firm. (If they are brown on top, you're too late.)

• When the cookies are done baking, remove them from the oven and let them rest for about 5 minutes until set, then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

• Repeat with the remaining half of the dough. (Take it out of the fridge when you have only 1-2 batches left of the first one.)
• When all of the cookies are completely cooled, match them into pairs, according to size and shape.

• Spread your favorite filling on one cookie then top it with its mate. Repeat until all of the cookies are matched. 

• So easy, so pretty and so yum. Make some for your sweetie, too!

xoxo

I Baked! Yogurt Cake w/Cinnamon-Orange Glaze

You might want to sit down for this: I wanted to bake something. 

I'm so tired of all the snow and ice and cold and shivers, and thought baking a treat would warm up the house and my spirits. I didn't want something complicated or overly sweet, but I wanted to bake a cake.  But what kind of cake? I remembered reading about using yogurt in baking, so I found a few recipes online and added my own two cents (i.e. the almond extract, cinnamon, cointreau, the glaze).

I wanted to make a bundt cake, but I couldn't find my pan. I know I have one, I just can't seem to locate it. (Maybe if I baked more...) I used a normal, round cake pan and the cake turned out golden brown on top and light and spongy inside. It reminded me a bit of the texture of a dulce de leche cake.

When I popped the cake out of the pan (I breathed a sigh of relief when it all came out in one piece), I noticed that the middle was still a wee bit gooey--not raw, but not totally done--which means my trusty convection oven may be on the fritz, or that cake baking just isn't my thing. But, since being resourceful in the kitchen is my forte, instead of covering the cake with foil and putting it back in the oven to continue cooking at a lower heat, I used a pastry ring and cut out the middle -- instant bundt cake. Ha!

This isn't an overly sweet cake, so I whisked together some powdered sugar, half & half, orange extract and cinnamon and brushed it on the cake while it was still warm. I put the cake on a pretty plate and put some water on for tea. All I could smell was sugar and orange and cinnamon. It tasted pretty great, too. A perfect pick-me-up on a winter's day.

Yogurt Cake with Cinnamon-Orange Glaze
Ingredients:
11/4 cups plain yogurt (Greek is fine)
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 TBS Cointreau (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
For the Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4+ cup of half & half or heavy cream (add more for thinner glaze)
1/4 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Minimal MESS/ingredients/clean-up: Category 1

To Do:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a round cake pan with parchment paper (or use baking spray).
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. (Yogurt-salt.)
• In a different bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, then stir the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. (Don't overmix.)

• Transfer the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake until the top is golden brown and the cake is firm, about 45 minutes. 
• Let cool about 10 minutes, then invert cake onto a plate and gently remove from the pan. If you used parchment paper, peel it off the cake and discard.
• While the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar, half & half, cinnamon and orange extract (adding more or less to taste), then spoon over the warm cake until it is completely glazed, and enjoy!

Stay warm!

xoxo

Sautéed Fennel, Apple and Kale Salad

There's nothing quite like working in New York City.

It's one of those fabulous places where all of your senses are attacked at once, 24/7. There is so much to see, touch, taste, hear and smell that it can be overwhelming.

On any given day, there are a lot of things I'd rather not see, hear, taste, touch or smell. (Just step on a subway train and you'll see what I mean.) But, there are also the wonderful smells of roasting garlic and browning meat wafting out onto the street as restaurants prep for the lunch crowd. Street carts offer up little hand warming pouches of fire-roasted almonds, chestnuts, peanuts, or pecans. The tantalizing aroma of spices and sugary, toasted nuts stops even the most hurried of us in our tracks. And then, there are the coffee shops and bakeries with their windows filled to the top with gorgeous pastries, cakes and other confections that seem to call out to you as if you were Alice at the bottom of the rabbit hole: "Eat me!" And I do. And they are delicious.

From my office, I can see the food trucks and bikes and buses and delivery vans whiz by -- everyone in motion, always in a rush. Crowds of tourists stop to point up at buildings, nearly falling backwards into each other as they try to get a glimpse of the tallest spire. Walking down the sidewalk, I hear the constant sounds of commerce and traffic and travelers -- plates clinking, phones ringing, cameras snapping, headphones blaring, taxis honking. Strangers touch, as we push by and up against and past and through. And we do this every single day. Together, yet on our own path. It's an amazing place. And, an amazing race.

Yet, thankfully, at the end of the day, I get to leave the wonderful chaos of the city and head home to a quieter, more serene atmosphere. I like the balance of the crazy with the calm, but with that comes a tedious commute -- two hours each day spent getting from here to there instead of doing something, anything else.

Which means getting home and having dinner before 7:30 p.m. is a challenge. And when I'm feeling rushed and not overly hungry, but still want something to nosh on, it gets downright tricky. (What to make?)

Last night, however, I threw together a lovely dish with fennel, apples and kale that took less than 10 minutes. I heated a wee bit of butter (olive oil is fine, too) over medium-high heat, then added a bit of minced shallots. When they were soft and fragrant, in went some sliced fennel. I sautéed the fennel until it started to brown, then in went slices of apple, a splash of maple syrup, a pinch of red pepper flakes and salt/pepper to taste. When the apples and the fennel were tender, I added a couple handfuls of baby kale and stirred to combine. Once the kale had wilted, I removed the pan from heat and sprinkled the dish with some chopped fennel fronds, more salt/pepper, and that was it.

A big bowl of this tasty, warm salad was just what I needed. (For a more substantial dinner, you could also add a bit of cream and chopped, cooked bacon with the apples and then toss the finished dish with some pasta.) Also, the smell of shallots being sautéed has to be one of the best aromas ever. Mmmm. So good. Now if only I could bottle it up and take it with me for those less than pleasant moments on the E train...

xoxo

Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul

Things are heating up! Ha. No they aren't. (Polar vortex, remember?)

I made some homemade chicken stock not too long ago, and when the temperatures became ridiculously frigid this week, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

What the world needs at a time like this is chicken soup. Nothing keeps sniffles and shivers at bay like a steamy, dreamy bowl of a golden, garlicky, ginger-infused broth, filled with velvety pieces of protein and colorful, crunchy veggies.

Found this at funkypigeon.com

After grabbing the quart of stock from the freezer (btw, it is colder outside than in the freezer, folks), I sautéed some minced garlic and ginger in a wee bit of olive oil until tender, then stirred in my gorgeous, defrosted stock along with a few cups of water. In went some shredded cooked chicken, a tablespoon or so of low-sodium soy sauce, and a one-inch piece of peeled ginger root.

I heated it to a slow boil over medium-high heat, and then let it simmer gently for about 30 minutes or so. Then, I brought it back to a boil, removed the ginger root, and stirred in a cup or so of diced extra-firm tofu, along with some julienned carrots, slim green beans, chopped kale, and a couple handfuls of uncooked egg noodles. When the noodles were al dente, I turned off the heat. To finish: a handful of chopped parsley or cilantro, a bit of salt and pepper to taste, and a squirt or two of sriracha. Voilà!

Warm and toasty from the inside out. Yum!
xoxo

Warm Up with Lasagna Roll-Ups!

Wow, it is FREEZING!!!!

So what's a girl to do (besides curl up in her fleece sheets and wait for it to be over)?

She makes something warm and gooey with whatever she can find in the fridge and pantry because she is NOT going outside. Something hot and bubbly, like a pan of lasagna roll-ups. It looks like lasagna and it tastes like lasagna, but it's more fun to eat -- and to make. And, who doesn't need a bit more fun in their lives? Especially when it is FREEZING outside!

There's no recipe for these. I boil the lasagna noodles and then spread a few spoonfuls of my filling across each individual noodle, then roll it up and place in a baking pan until it is filled. Then, I top with sauce and cheese, and bake in a 375 degree oven until browned and melty (30-45 mins). That's it!

Noodles: I used whole wheat lasagna noodles. Filling: Ground turkey breast (browned and crumbled), grilled artichokes (finely chopped), raw kale (finely chopped), garlic (minced), tomatoes (peeled, seeded and pureed), half and half, fresh ricotta, Romano cheese (grated thin), and mozzarella cheese (shredded), Italian seasoning mix, red pepper flakes (a dash), and salt/pepper to taste. I added the artichokes, kale, garlic and tomatoes and a couple tablespoons of the half and half to the just-browned turkey, then heated through so the flavors would mix. Then, I removed the pan from the heat and stirred in the cheeses and spices. Sauce: Tomato and garlic marinara (or your favorite jarred version). Toppings: More mozzarella and a dash of Italian seasoning mix.

Tip #1: Put the noodles into the boiling water one at a time, each crisscrossing the one below it. Keeps them from sticking. 
Tip #2: Put some sauce in the bottom of your baking pan before adding the roll-ups to prevent a baked-on mess later.

More tasty options for fillings/toppings:

• Mix together shredded Provolone, thinly sliced/chopped Prosciutto and finely chopped broccoli florets. Roll up and top with an Alfredo-type sauce and bread crumbs.
• Combine diced roasted eggplant, chopped spinach, fresh ricotta or goat cheese, and crumbled Italian sausage (cooked). Roll up and top with a spicy Arrabbiata sauce.
• Change up taco night: Mix together cooked ground turkey breast or good quality ground beef, taco seasoning, sliced black olives, diced green peppers and shredded cheddar. Roll up and top with a jar of your favorite salsa and Pepper Jack cheese.
• Meat-free: Try rolling up thin slices of fresh mozzarella and basil leaves, then top with a light marinara sauce.
• Or, mix together fresh ricotta, goat cheese and smoked mozzarella (sliced thin), add a dash of nutmeg, and roll. Top with a light creamy sauce and more nutmeg -- or your favorite meatless tomato sauce -- decadent!

Stay warm!

xoxo