Still have some leftovers? Try these Turkey Dinner "Pasties"

So yesterday was my 27th birthday! A friend told me that since my age and birth date are the same it's my Golden Birthday! Never heard of that, but I thought I'd  try to make it special.

The night before I was brainstorming what to do with the leftovers. Turkey salad, turkey soup, turkey pot pie, turkey sandwiches, etc etc ran through my mind. All sounded amazing, but I wanted something different. So remembering back to a post I read on an online expat forum I visit, a girl asked about how to make the perfect cornish pasty (the 'a' sounds like the 'a' in cat). Cornish Pasties orginates from Cornwall, England and is also known in Michigan, USA. It's an amazing dough typically made with lard or suet as the fat and filled with steak and vegetables, and the pastry is crimped all pretty-like. I did not have any lard as I planned this last minute. I thought maybe I could do butter and shortening, but I was all out of shortening as well. Luckily I had 4 stick of butter in the freezer! Instead of using steak and veg, I used some leftover Thanksgiving sides and turkey and thought I combine those and made a bacon gravy, and leftover compound butter.  I also SUCK at crimping. Something I will continue to practice at, but for now,  pinching and a fork will do!! So these are not traditional pasties hence the quotation marks! It was fun making my first meat pie, though!



They tasted amazing I only wish I had made mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes to complete it!!!

If you don't have time to make the pastry, use puff pastry dough. This dough can also be used for pot pies!!! If Santa buys me pots I will use this dough recipe. It's so delicious, buttery, and flaky! nomnom

Turkey Dinner "Pasties"
Pasty Dough adapted from Emeril Lagasse
 
For the Short-crust Pastry:


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon salt

7 ounces cold butter ( shredded frozen butter)

1 egg yolk

12 tablespoons cold water (more as needed)

Filling
3 cups worth of leftovers- i used turkey (white and dark meat) stuffing, cranberry chutney, and vichy carrots

About 3/4 cup of gravy of choice- I made bacony-herb gravy. Recipe follows

Herbs of your choice- i used fresh thyme, sage, and chives

Compound butter- optional

Bacony Sage Gravy
2 tablespoons bacon fat

4 tablespoons flour

1 cup hot chicken/turkey stock

salt & pepper

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon dried sage

Directions

Sift the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl

Add the butter. Using your fingers, 2 knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter and lard into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

 In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and water together

Add to the flour mixture

 Mix quickly, but thoroughly, until mixture just comes together to form a dough.

 Knead briefly until pastry is smooth with no cracks; the trick to making this delicate pastry easy to work with is kneading it just enough so that it can be rolled out and manipulated without breaking but yet retains its lovely crumbly texture. Press into a flattened disk shape and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight before proceeding.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and unwrap. Allow to soften slightly, then place on a lightly floured work surface and roll the pastry to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Using a small plate or saucer as a guide, cut out 6 (6-inch) rounds. (Scraps may be combined and reformed if you cannot get 6 rounds out of the first batch.)

 Stack the pastry rounds onto pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper (with pieces between each round to keep them from sticking together) and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Filling & Gravy

First prepare gravy by mixing fat and flour in a small saucepan. Cook over medium low until mixed well and a little browned. Add hot stock slowly whisking vigourously until smooth. Mixture will thicken as it cooks. Add salt and pepper, heavy cream and sage. Allow to cool.

 

Make filling using whatever herbs, sides, and meat you want. Make sure its about 3 cups worth!

Add gravy and mix

 

Assemble

Remove the pastry circles from the refrigerator.Place the pastry circles on a clean work surface and place about 1/2 cup of the filling in the center of 1 side of the pastry. Add a knob of butter if you like!

Using the beaten egg, brush the edges of the pastry and then bring the unfilled side over the filled side so that edges meet.Press edges together to seal and then crimp using your fingers or a fork.

 Repeat with the remaining turnovers and then transfer to a baking sheet. Brush the tops of the turnovers with the remaining egg and then cut several slits into the top of each pastry.

 Bake for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown around the edges. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake until the pasties are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

The Husband enjoying. He says he looks goofy here hehe

Of course I made myself cake. Well more like Peanut Buttery Chocolatey Cupcakes with....a Peanut Buttery Chocolatey Drizzle...

Potato Soup with Chorizo and Parsley Pesto

MMMM. Yes, I am starting a blog post with an MMMM. That's how delicious, flavorful, comforting this soup is. Last week, David Lebovitz made several blog post about his trip to Ireland. One of them he was a guest at Rachel Allen's home. I was captivated by is writing and photos, but one of the  dishes prepared was Potato-Thyme Soup with Parsley Pesto. THAT made me drool. A lot. I've never made potato soup, and never was that interested until I read this article.

There was no recipe for this, but I searched the interwebs for this recipe. I found the perfect one that used one of my favorite sausages, Chorizo. So I had to try this particular recipe.

This soup called for only 25 grams of butter which is almost 2T of butter. One of the things I remember from the article is that Rachel Allen's husband told David that he didn't want to know how much butter was used! Ha! So I went butter crazy using a whole stick of butter- 1/2 cup. It was salted as there is NO unsalted butter at the commissary at the moment. 

This soup is ready under 30 minutes and is as easy as it's delicious. Great after-work, soccer practice, whatever /whenever you want it meal. Now go, no, RUN to you local market and pick up these ingredients and make this! What are you doing reading? Oh wait, check out the ingredients and directions, then go. Sorry for being pushy, this soup is that frickin' great. My children all loved this and my husband ate 3 bowlfuls! 

Potato Soup with Chorizo and Parsley Pesto!

Adapted from Channel4.com


Ingredients
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter
1 lb of russet or Yukon gold Potatoes, smally diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of chicken stock, reduced sodium if purchased
1/2 cup milk
1 T olive oil
3 oz of chorizo, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper

For Pesto:
2 cups of fresh parsley loosely packed, chopped
1/4 or 1/3 cup of Pecorino Romano
1/4 cup pine nuts, (toasted optional)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and potatoes. Saute for a few minutes, season with  a pinch of salt and pepper, then lower heat, cover pot and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a blender. Add parsley, pine nuts. garlic, and cheese. Pulse until mixture looks like a textured puree. Add a pinch of salt and oil. Puree until it's a coarse paste. A pestle and mortar can be used here, as well.

Any unused pesto can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks. Add olive oil after each use.

Now add chicken stock to the potatoes, then bring to a boil. Stir then lower heat and cover for another 10 minutes.

Sauté chorizo about 30 seconds per side or until nicely and crispy. Reserve red oil for garnish.

Now, add milk to potatoes and whizz with a stick blender to whatever texture you desire. 

Pour soup into bowls then garnish with fried chorizo, pesto, and chorizo oil. My husband wanted to make sure that I tell you all to stir everything in before take a bite. 

I made this comforting, warm, creamy soup at the perfect time. We are going through a rough patch right now, and will not know if everything will be resolved until Saturday. So this week's menu is full of comforting food. Sunday I made Chicken and Smokey Bacon Cheesy Pasta, Monday I made Beer-Braised Pot Roast, and last night the most amazing soup, Potato Soup with Chorizo and Parsley Pesto. If our issues aren't resolved by the end of the week, at least are stomachs will be very happy and fuller!

Naughty Sunday Dinner: Sweet Chili Root Beer Ribs with Grilled Corn with Spiced Butter

I love ribs. They're cheap and yummy to eat. My children love them some pork, so I was sure this would be a hit! It's not so healthy, but hey Sunday is a cheat on healthy food week. Though healthy cooking/eating is just as wonderful as the naughty stuff!

I got the recipe from one of my favorite cookery magazines, FineCooking. The original recipe called for the ribs to be baby back ribs and grilled. Living in Germany, finding baby back ribs is a task!! We could have bought the frozen stuff, but this was last minute, so we went with spare ribs. Also the original recipe called for a sauce called kecap manis. The commissary does not stock that (not surprisingly) and as it was Sunday, all German shops are closed so I had to come up with my own replacement. Kecap  Manis is a sweet thick Indonesian soy sauce made with palm sugar, galangal, anise, garlic, and among other ingredients (FineCooking, pg 88, June/July 2010 issue). I am sure you stateside dwellers will have no problem finding this. I, living in Germany may have to tour the Asian Shops in my city! Lastly we roasted the ribs as our grill in on its last leg and slow cooking ribs for 2 hours would not be the greatest idea! We felt our grill could only handle grilling the corn.

 Also the butter for the corn was supposed to be flavored using tasso- a smoked cajun pork, bit I just omitted the tasso ham altogether. Again, it's something else I am sure is difficult to find here. If you want to use meat to flavor the butter, and can not find tasso, look for any smoked ham.

So here is my version of the recipe. I hope you all enjoy!

Sweet Chili Garlic Root Beer Spare Ribs
Adapted from FineCooking
1 rack of Spare ribs, silverskin removed***
Kosher salt
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4 cup root beer
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chili garlic sauce
2 Tbs. hot chili sauce also known as sriaicha


Let the ribs sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300F/150C

Sprinkle the meat side of the ribs with 2 tsp. salt. Arrange the ribs bone side down on a shallow roasting tray. Roast ribs about 2 hours. To test if they’re done, insert a knife into the rib meat—if it slides out without pulling at the meat, they’re ready. The meat should be tender but not falling off the bone.

Increase the temperature of the indirect grill fire to 350°F. In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar, root beer, honey and both chili sauces. Set aside 1/2 cup of the sauce for serving. Brush the ribs on all sides with the remaining sauce. Cover rack with foil, then return the ribs to the oven. Cook another 30 minutes tuning once.

Let the ribs rest, tented with foil, for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving with the reserved sauce for dipping or for drizzling over the ribs.




Grilled Corn with Spiced Butter
2 oz. (4 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. sweet pimentón (smoked paprika)
1/2 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground mace
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
2 medium ears corn, shucked
Kosher salt


In a small bowl, mix the butter, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, honey, mace, sage, cayenne, and thyme until well combined. (The tasso butter can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 2 months.) 

Prepare a gas or charcoal grill fire for direct cooking over medium (450°F) heat. Grill the corn, turning occasionally, until tender and browned in spots, about 10 minutes. (The corn can be grilled 1 day ahead.)

Cut the corn kernels from the cobs. In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, melt 2 Tbs. of the tasso butter. Add the corn and toss until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Transfer to a warm serving bowl, garnish with a dollop of the remaining butter, and serve immediately.


****SILVERSKIN REMOVAL
On the boneside, there's a thin white membrane on the ribs. it keep flavors from penetrating and the ribs from getting to their optimum moistyness yes, I said moistyness! So with a paper towel, pull that baby off. It's easy. If you need help, here's a link showing you how: http://www.finecooking.com/item/16067/how-to-remove-silverskin-from-ribs