Coconut Curry Chicken Pot Pie

HAPPY PI DAY!

I rarely make savory pies and every time I do make one I wonder why I don't do it more often. I guess there's a lot of chopping involved. And usually you have to get the sauce to just the right level of thickness so the pie isn't runny when you cut into it. And that's intimidating. But, honestly, I make some pretty complicated desserts, so I need to just get over my savory pie aversion. Especially because they always end up YUMMY. This was no exception. I was initially concerned about the coconut part of the recipe because mr. is not much of a fan. But it is really subtle and just lends a richness to the flavor without making it heavy like cream would. The sauce is spiced nicely and has just the right amount of thickness. The vegetables are perfectly cooked, not underdone but not mushy. All around, completely delicious. Go here for the recipe.

I used my own crust recipe, but used a different method of making it. A method named Food Processor. That was a mistake. When you have a method that works, don't mess with it. The crust still tasted fine, of course, but was impossible to deal with, both cooked and uncooked (you can see my shoddy patching job above). It was just SO fragile. And when it was cooked, it looked okay, the patching job isn't very evident (see below), but it SHATTERED when I cut into it. So, even with a good thickness to the sauce, due to my own error in judgment the pie was virtually impossible to serve in any sort of pie-like shape. Everybody essentially got a pile of filling and crust on their plate. Not pretty.

TGIP Rating--Coconut Curry Chicken Pot Pie--KEEPER. I'll definitely try this again, and do the crust the right way. I have no doubt that it will be delightful.

Next up: Lazy Cake AKA Aunt Naomi's Chocolate Fudge Cake. I've still got that cake itch that needs to be scratched. But I need a lazy Sunday project.

Salted Whiskey Caramels and "Irish" Bread

They look promising, right? Well. Okay. *heavy sigh* I give up. I vow to never make candy again. It will save me the frustration and you the boredom of having to read about it.*another heavy sigh* I'll just say a couple of things about these caramels (just in case you are a braver man than I am, Gunga Din):

• It is not easy to get parchment paper to stay in any form other than flat. I resorted to duct tape. Even that didn't really work.

• These were delicious for about 5 minutes. I think I could have cooked the sugar portion longer to make them darker and they would have been even better. THEN, for reasons I can neither explain nor understand, the sugars re-crystallized. I've never heard of such a thing. But it happened. See?

In fact, more crystallization the longer they sat. It's a thing that could only happen to me, I'm confident. Candy-making is for greater bakers/confectioners than I. A true candy-maker would not have to spend SO MUCH TIME with a thermometer that refused to move.

A true candy-maker would also know how to wrap their candies when finished. 

BUT, I did have success with something else last weekend. What you see below is mr.'s Irish Nana's recipe for Soda Bread (she calls it "Irish Bread"), in her own handwriting. His mother (Nana's youngest, also Lucy) passed away last August and when we were going through papers and photographs at her apartment (like you do) we found this. I knew I had to make it for St. Patrick's Day this year--last March she came to visit and it was the last time we all got to spend with her.

So. Delicious. Simple. Perfect. A little sweet, crispy crust, tender crumb.

 

This recipe will be framed and hung on my kitchen wall. And I will make it every year for St. Patrick's Day with a grateful nod to both of the Lucys who made my husband the man he is.

TGIP Rating--Salted Whiskey Caramels--EPIC FAIL. Never again. No candy. Ever.
--Lucy's Donahue's Irish Bread--KEEPER. Forever.

Next up: Ran across this and it seemed like the perfect way to usher in Spring. Whole Lemon Tart.

Challah and Cheesecake--anything but the usual

Sometimes weeks go by when I don't bake at all. And my stress comes to a big, ugly head. And I have to spend a whole day doing the things that refresh and revitalize: haircut/color, pedicure, wine, time with my best girlfriend, and baking. Yeah, I'm not one of those people that gets stressed out by baking, just the opposite. And I needed it so much that I did double-duty: Fig, Olive Oil and Sea Salt Challah from smitten kitchen and Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake from Our Best Bites (which I don't visit much, my Min found that recipe, and I'm so glad!).

Now, there's only one thing you need to know about these two recipes: I baked BOTH of them (with help) between 7 pm and 1 am, in someone else's kitchen (with a mixer that needed...nudging), WHILE DRINKING WINE. Lots of it. I deserve my own youtube channel--Drunkbaking with Spiker. It would be mildly entertaining to most people, and wildly embarrassing to The Pie Queen. Anyway, if I can do both of them in that state, you can do one of them while sober. Easy peasy.

Okay, so my challah braid didn't end up as perfect as it should have, but doesn't it look delicious anyway?

And it tasted delicious too. We made french toast out of it in the morning and I loved it. Unfortunately, I'll probably never bake it again, but only because nobody in my family loves figs like I do. At least not in baked goods.

And this. This will be on the menu wherever I land for Thanksgiving this year.

Ridiculously easy. And look at those perfect layers! I especially liked the fact that the pumpkin pie filling on top meant there was no worry about cracking cheesecake. The recipe calls for a 9- or 10-inch springform. We used a 10-inch one and the given cooking time was perfect. Delicious blend of toffee and pumpkin.

Bonus: both recipes are perfect for Autumn. Spicy, rich, complimented with lots of butter and cream. Mmmm.


TGIP Rating--Fig, Olive Oil, and Sea Salt Challah--KEEPER. But I won't be baking it again. My waistline can't afford to bake things unless my family will eat them. But YOU can make it!
--Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake--KEEPER. Easy and delicious. All the right things.

Next up: Caramel Coconut Cluster Bars. For real.

Book Review (?) & Pain Au Levain

Okay, maybe it's a stretch to say that this is a book review. I only made one recipe from it. But, I've discovered a new way to "preview" cookbooks: check them out from the library! It's perfect. I can pour over the recipes, decide on one or two to try and use those experiments as a measure of whether it's a cookbook I want to buy. Of course, so far, of the 5 cookbooks I've checked out from the library, I want them all. Anyway.

This is the book:


I've been hearing and reading a bit about using a cold fermentation process for bread dough. It makes it possible to spread the bread making process over several days rather than setting aside an entire day for rising, etc. (because, who has an entire day anymore?!). There are several books out there that use this method and this is the first I've tried. The thing is, for me, spreading the process over several days means that I spend EVERY HOUR of each of those days obsessing about what I'm supposed to do next. Three days thinking about bread with only working on the dough for (at most) an hour each day...I don't know if that trade-off works for me. Maybe it gets easier once you're used to the method and you can just work it into your weekly routine.

That criticism aside, this bread was unbelievably delicious. And incredibly easy. I used my own sourdough starter (thank you, John Graham for this piece of you that CAN'T move out of state). It's a little more loose than the starter in the book, which meant making small, but simple adjustments in the amount of flour I used. A Pain au Levain is a lot like San Francisco sourdough. I think the only difference is the addition of a small amount of whole wheat or other multigrain flour (I used rye). This gives it a little heartiness, a little color, a little texture. I love it. Not that I don't still have a giant place in my heart for San Francisco sourdough. But this was probably one (2) of the best (and most beautiful) loaves of bread I've ever made. Chewy outside, not too soft inside. Nutty, hearty, sour. We used it for panini sandwiches (filled with herbed turkey breast, thinly sliced apple, avocado, and gouda) and it was so so good. Sometimes homemade food IS actually better than what you can get at a restaurant/deli. Okay, sometimes it's always that way.

TGIP Rating--Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day--Judging on this recipe alone, I will most likely buy this book. There's one other book that uses cold fermentation that I want to try first.

Next up: Oy. Apparently I'm gun-shy of the hand pies. I am. It's the same but different and I feel like I really need to gird up my loins to move forward with making them. I don't want to use any of the recipes I've seen because they're not mine. I want to use my pie dough recipe and my filling recipes, but I think the filling will need to be altered a little. Anyway, it is eluding me right now. I need a little time to work up my courage--maybe I'll do it in June. In the meantime, BAKED Sunday Mornings has the Orange Creamsicle Tart up next on their schedule. I'm all over that.

Jack-o-Lantern Pie PLUS!

Although the Pumpkin-Chocolate Tart turned out spectacularly delicious, I wanted to try another idea: a simpler and more rustic version of a chocolate pumpkin pie, with a traditional crust. I used this recipe and spread 1 cup of chocolate chips in the crust (just like I do with Cherry Chocolate pie) before pouring the custard in.

And then after it cooked and cooled I gave it a face.


Pretty easy, eh?

I genuinely liked both versions. I can't say that I prefer one over the other. I guess it would depend on what sort of mood I'm in.

But...but...spiker...(you sputter)...there's nothing new here! Give us a little something that we haven't seen before!

Okay. But, I have to admit, this is me taking credit for someone else's work again. And it's not a dessert. But it is baked. Or roasted. Whatever. It's cooked in the oven. This is a well-loved recipe in my extended family. My cousin, The Phlebotomist is responsible for the original recipe, which is a variation of a sausage-rice casserole (I don't know, I've never made sausage-rice casserole). My sister, The Quilter, is responsible for some of the ideas in the updated version. And then I ran with it.


Dinner in a Pumpkin *click here for printable version*

Original:

1 small-medium pumpkin, top cut off and cleaned out
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 4-oz. can sliced mushrooms (drained)
1-1/2 c. cooked rice
1 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts (drained)

Brown ground beef and sausage. Add onion. Drain. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, soup, and mushrooms. Simmer all for 10 minutes.

Add rice and water chestnuts. Spoon all into pumpkin. Put lid on and put in baking or serving dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until knife goes easily into side of pumpkin. Poke a couple of holes in the bottom of the pumpkin after 45 minutes of cooking so that some juices can drain.

Serve, making sure to scrape some of the pumpkin off the sides to combine with the casserole.


Updated (fresher, less fat/more fiber):

1 small-medium pumpkin, top cut off and cleaned out
1-1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage (or you can use turkey Italian sausage, if you can find it)
1 onion, chopped
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. half and half
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1-1/2 c. cooked brown rice
1 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts (drained)
salt and pepper

Brown ground turkey and sausage. Add onion. Drain. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, half and half, and mushrooms. Simmer all for 10 minutes, until it starts to thicken slightly.


Add rice, water chestnuts, and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon all into pumpkin. Put lid on and put in baking or serving dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until knife goes easily into side of pumpkin.


Serve, making sure to scrape some of the pumpkin off the sides to combine with the casserole.



I use this kind of rice:


And I prepare it according to these directions. And we live off of it. Quite literally.

I really loved it using the updated method. It was fresh and natural tasting. Not heavy or oily. The texture and mild taste of the pumpkin with all the other flavors and textures is just perfect.

TGIP Rating--Jack-o-Lantern Pie--KEEPER
--Dinner in a Pumpkin--KEEPER for sure with the updated version.

Next up: Fruit & Nut Oatmeal Muffins. I need a little breakfast variety.