This is a fairly standard shortcrust pastry with the addition of a bit of cornmeal and an egg. (The original recipe actually called for two egg yolks, but I nicked the yolk of my first egg with a piece of shell and decided to just toss the whole egg in and it seemed to work fine, so I think I'll just do it that way on purpose in the future.)

Cornmeal Shortcrust Pastry

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 250g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 75g cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 3-4 tsp. cold water

Directions

1. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and mix well.
2. Cut in the butter until crumbly.
3. Mix in the egg with a fork.
4. Drizzle in the water, a little at a time, just until the pastry comes together.
5. Press into a ball, flatten into a thick disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.

This made for a phenomenal brunch! The flavours were great and it looked very nice too. The only slightly hiccough (and I do mean slight) was that, in order to get the egg whites to fully set, I had to cook it until the yolks were also hard. They were still delicious. It just wasn't the set white, runny yolk result that I'd been hoping for. But, given how this one went, I think you'd need to cook the whites and yolks separately for that. That said, it was good enough like this that I probably wouldn't be inclined to bother most of the time. And, I will admit: having the yolks fully set did make it easier to serve.

I've given ranges for a lot of the ingredients here because I do feel that you have a fair bit of flexibility. Our green onions were large, so I only ended up using three. But with smaller ones, I think that the full six called for in the recipe would have been more appropriate. The recipe also called for just over 100g of each kind of cheese. I used 100 and felt that was very generous. I think that I probably could've gotten away with half that amount and still been quite happy. That said, maximum cheese was delicious! And I followed a similar logic with the asparagus, bacon, and garlic. For the eggs, the original recipe actually called for 4-6. But I had a very large pie plate and, even with six eggs, it still looked a bit sparse, so I tossed in an extra two and that seemed just about right.

Asparagus, Corn, and Egg Tart

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 recipe cornmeal shortcrust pastry
• 100-150g asparagus, trimmed
• 100-150g pancetta or bacon, chopped
• 3-6 green onions, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 50-100g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 50-100g cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/3 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 6-8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. sunflower or similar sprouts (optional)

Directions

1. Roll out the pastry and use it to line a 23cm (9") deep-dish pie plate or 25cm (10") tart tin. Chill for 20-30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
3. Line the pie shell with baking paper, fill with pie weights, and blind bake for 12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus for 1-2 minutes and then drain and shock in cold water.
5. Cook the pancetta/bacon over medium heat for a few minutes, then add the green onion and garlic and cook until softened (5 minutes + 3-5 minutes).
6. Add the corn and cook for another minute or so.
7. Remove the paper and pie weights from the pastry shell and spread the bacon mixture in an even layer in the bottom of the pie shell.
8. Place the asparagus on top and sprinkle with the cheese.
9. Drizzle with the half-and-half and season to taste with pepper.
10. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes.
11. Crack the eggs into the tart, doing your best to space them evenly. If it's important to you to have set whites and runny yolks, then separate the yolks from the whites and pour the whites on first. Set the yolks aside for now.
12. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
13. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.
14. If you reserved the yolks, add them now, doing your best to space them evenly atop the tart.
15. Return to oven, turn off heat, and allow to sit in hot oven for 10 minutes to finish setting whites and thicken yolks.
16. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
17. Garnish with sprouts (if using), cut into wedges, and serve.

I made some burnt caramel sauce a while back. It was a bit too burnt, but when mixed with the next, slightly undercooked batch that I made, it was just about right. We'd been gradually using it up as a topping on waffles and desserts, but there was still quite a bit left and I didn't want it to go begging. So, when I ran across this simple tart recipe, it seemed perfect.

The original recipe actually called for making six 3" tartlets. I don't have any small tartlet tins though. But, some quick, back-of-the-envelope calculations told me that one 10" tart would require ~ the same amount of crust as six 3" ones, so I just went with that instead. And that did seem to be about right. I mean, the crust was a bit thicker and tougher than I would have liked, but I'm hoping that swapping out the AP flour for pastry flour and correcting the mistake in the recipe¹ will help with that.

Chocolate-Caramel Tart

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Pastry

• 90g unsalted butter
• 60g icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 150g soft (plain/standard/pastry) flour
• 30g natural cocoa powder
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 Tbsp. milk

Caramel

• 1 c. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 2/3 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Ganache

• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 185g dark chocolate

Directions

Pastry

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Sift the icing sugar and cut it into the butter.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder and cut them in as well.
4. Beat the egg and mix it in with a fork.
5. If the pastry is still not coming together, add a little milk a tsp. at a time until it does.
6. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of a loose-bottomed 25cm (10") tart tin.
7. Place the tart tin on a baking sheet, line the pastry shell with baking paper, fill with pie weights, and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 10-15 minutes.
8. Remove paper and weights and return to oven for 5 minutes.
9. Set aside to cool.

Caramel

1. Combine the sugar and water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Uncover and continue cooking, swirling (but not stirring!) occasionally, until sugar is completely dissolved (~5 minutes).
3. Contine cooking until caramel is fairly dark (~4 minutes longer).
4. Remove from heat and carefully stir in cream.
5. Return to medium-low heat and cook, stirring, until smooth.
6. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
7. Once butter is incorporated, stir in the salt and vanilla.
8. Pour the caramel into the baked tart shell and chill for at least an hour to firm up the caramel a bit.

Ganache

1. Combine the chocolate and cream and warm over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. (Althernatively, scald the cream over medium heat and then pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for five minutes. Then stir until mixture is smooth.)
2. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. Once ganache and caramel have both firmed up slightly (but ganache is still pourable), pour the ganache into the tart shell.
4. Chill for at least two hours or until firm.
5. If desired, sprinkle with a small amount of flaky salt before serving.

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¹ The original recipe calls for "1 1/4 c. (6 1/2 oz./200g) all-purpose flour". Unfortunately, I just went with the metric measurement without checking their conversions. And their math is way off! 1 1/4 c. of flour weighs ~150g, not 200! So, my pastry was way too dry an dwould not come together at all. So I ened up having to add a bunch of milk to get it to the right consistency. But that really wasn't ideal. And between the extra mixing and the extra volume and having to work it so much to get it to a not completely ridiculous thickness, it was pretty tough by the time I'd finished with it. So, as noted, hopefully by using the corrext amount of a soft flour next time, I'll be able to mostly avoid that particular failure mode. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was still good! I just felt that the pastry was a bit of a letdown and detracted from the delicious filling a bit. ^Back

This pastry challenged me. It didn't sound complicated, but the proportions and procedure were very different from what I'm used to for pastry.

My usually pastry is just a standard shortcrust; a simple butter-and-flour-plus-a-bit-of-water affair. But I've also made sweet shortcrust, rough puff, sourdough shortcrust, hot water crust, and a few others. They all have their differences and I find some of them easier to work with than others, but I feel reasonably comfortable with all of them. This was unlike any other pastry I've ever made before.

Honestly, this dough doesn't even really look or taste like pastry to me. What it really seems like is sugar cookie dough!

Everything about how it's made, looks, tastes, and handles really seems very sugar cookie-esque to me. And yet it's apparently meant to be a roll-out pastry.

Unfortunately, being so high in sugar and relatively low in flour, I couldn't really get mine to roll out properly. I tried! I really did! But it just kept tearing. No matter how careful and gentle I tried to be. Eventually I just decided to treat it as a press-in crust and mashed all the bits together until they'd formed something contiguous and relatively even.

I couldn't use that technique for the top crust, but luckily I was able to get that into place with only one big tear down the middle.

I did try to follow the recipe for this! I started by creaming the fat and sugar together just as specified. I swapped in some lard for the shortening because that's what I had on hand, but I kept all the proportions the same. I mixed in the vanilla, eggs, baking powder, and evaporated milk just like it said. And then I mixed in the 3 c. of flour. And ended up with a dough so wet that there was no question of even attempting to roll it out. I might have been able to turn it into drop cookies, but that's about it.

After mixing in an entire additional cup of flour, it was still very soft, but seemed like, with sufficient care and a well-floured surface, I might be able to at least attempt rolling it. And that was without the 3 Tbsp. of water called for in the recipe!

It rolled okay, but stuck to the work surface fairly easily, so I had to be quite generous with the flour -- which it took up extremely readily! Once it was rolled out though, I could barely even look at it without it tearing. No amount of care and flour seemed to be sufficient to keep it when transferred from the bench to the pie plate. So, as noted, I ended up resorting to treating it as a press-in dough for the bottom crust and using it that way. And, for the top crust, I had to just resign myself to having a huge tear down the centre.

So, as you can see, not the easiest pastry to work with. But it does taste nice. (And it is very cookie-like.)

I might actually try baking the rest of the dough into cookies later today and see how they come out.

Bahamanian Sweet Pastry

Slightly adapted from ??

¹

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c. lard or shortening, softened
• 2 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 c. evaporated milk
• 3-4 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp. water²

Directions

1. Cream the butter with the lard.
2. Beat in the sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Beat in the vanilla.
5. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
6. Beat in the milk.
7. Mix in the flour until a soft, but roll-able dough forms.
8. If the dough seems too stiff, add water, 1 tsp. at a time, until consistency seems about right.
9. Divide into four equal portions, cover/wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use. One portion makes one 23cm (9") single crust pie. (Use two portions for a double crust pie.)

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¹ My mom has a Bahamanian cookbook and shared this recipe from it. I have neither the title nor the author of the book. I'll come back and add them later if I can. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for water, but I didn't use any. Even without it, the dough was still very, very soft. I actually used a full 4 c. of flour plus a generous (but unmeasured) additional quantity for dusting my work surface while I was rolling out the dough. ^Back

I don't normally use sourdough starter or vinegar in my pastry. I just cut some butter into a bit of flour and then stir in cold water until it comes together. Then it's just a matter of chilling and rolling it out.

Very occasionally I'll make a sweet shortcrust with a bit of sugar and maybe some egg yolk in it. But most of the time I find the regular, flour-butter-water version works just fine.

This weekend though, I was staring at some very hungry sourdough starter and figured, "why not give sourdough pastry a try?" I've seen various recipes floating around, but I never bothered to take particular note of any of them since I wasn't really interested in sourdough pastry. I was in a hurry, so I just Googled "sourdough pie crust" and rolled with the first recipe I found. It calld for a small amount of vinegar in addition to the sourdough discard, but my starter was already very hungry and smelling pretty acidic, so I just used it + a bit of water and didn't bother with the vinegar. I didn't add the salt either. I don't generally find it necessary for pie crusts. I did add the small amount of sugar called for in the recipe though. I thought it might be necessary to help offset the tang of the starter.

I found the final result slightly more bready than my usual pastry, but it was pretty good overall. I would definitely use this recipe again. Especially if I was looking to use up starter! It worked out great.

Sourdough Pie Crust

Slightly adapted from Little Spoon Farm

Ingredients

• 125g all-purpose flour¹
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 113g unsalted butter, cold
• 125g sourdough discard
• 1-4 tsp. ice water²

Directions

1. Combine the flour and sugar.
2. Cut the butter into the flour.
3. Stir in the discard and 1 tsp. of water (or vinegar).
4. If the dough is still too dry to come together, add more water 1 tsp. at a time until the dough forms.
5. Shape into a ball or disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes or as long as 3 days.
6. When ready to bake, roll dough out on a well-floured surface, line your pie plate/baking dish, and then chill again before filling or blind baking.

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¹ The recipe called for all-purpose flour and that's what I used, but I'd be tempted to try it with soft (pastry/plain/standard) flour next time just to see how it goes. ^Back
2 If your starter is not very acidic, then you can replace 1 tsp. of water with a tsp. of vinegar to compensate. That said, I don't think this is hugely necessary. I've always been happy with my pastry results without any acidic ingredients. ^Back

So, this is one of several slightly insane recipes that I originally saw on the Something Awful cake thread. I originally assumed that "pumpkin pie cupcakes" meant "pumpkin pie-flavoured" and was expecting pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin pie spices in the batter. Or maybe even just the pumpkin pie spices without the pumpkin itself. That's not the way this recipe rolls though! They start out by having you make a bunch of tiny pumpkin pies. (I guess maybe that makes them pumpkin tarts? I'm not sure.) And then you make your cupcakes, carefully nestling a mini pie in the centre of each one. And top it all off with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Like I said: insane. And fairly time-consuming and labour-intensive if you're making everything from scratch.
Tasty though.

The original recipe actually called for using store-bought pastry and canned pumpkin pie filling. But that's not the way I roll, so I started with a pie pumpkin and went from there. That said, if you'd like to save a little time, feel free to shave off a few steps with ready-made alternatives!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Slightly adapted from Bake It in a Cake via the Something Awful forums

Ingredients

Pumpkin Pies

• 250g flour
• 95g unsalted butter
• 75-90mL cold water
• 1 recipe pie filling from pumpkin pie

Cupcakes

• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. sugar¹
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 1/3 c. milk², divided

Decoration

• 1 recipe icing from cayenne-pumpkin cupcakes³
• cinnamon-sugar roasted pumpkin seeds (optional)

Directions

Pumpkin Pies

1. If you're starting with a whole pumpkin, scoop the seeds and get it roasting first.
2. Cut the butter into the flour.
3. Mix the water in with a fork, adding 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4. Shape the pastry into a ball or disc, cover (or wrap in plastic wrap), and chill for at least an hour.
5. While the pastry is chilling, make your pumpkin pie filling: combine pumpkin, egg, egg yolks, sugar, coconut milk, and spices. Use an immersion blender to purée if using home-cooked/roasted pumpkin.
6. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
7. Divide the pastry into two roughly equal portions.
8. Working with one portion at a time, roll out fairly thin (maybe 2-3mm) and cut out 7.5cm (3") circles. Repeat with second portion of pastry. Then roll out scraps and continue until all pastry has been used (or nearly so).
9. Use the pastry circles to line the wells of a mini muffin pan (3-4cm diameter wells).
10. Place mini cupcake liners/papers inside each tart shell and place a few pie weights/beans inside each liner.
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~5 minutes.
12. Remove liners and pie weights and fill each tart shell with pumpkin pie filling.
13. Return to oven and bake for another 6-7 minutes.
14. Let pies cool in tin for 5-10 minutes, then use a spatula to carefully remove each one from the tin.⁴

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease the wells of a muffin tin (5cm/2" diameter wells). Alternatively, you may line the wells with cupcake liners.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese with the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Beat in the vanilla.
5. Add 1 c. of flour, but don't mix it in yet!
6. Sift the baking powder and baking soda in on top of the flour.
7. Add the salt on top of the flour as well.
8. Now mix in the flour.
9. Add about half of the milk and mix it in.
10. Add another c. of flour and mix it in.
11. Mix in the remaining milk.
12. Add the last 1/2 c. of flour and mix it in.
13. Mix for an additional 30 seconds.
14. Add a generous Tbsp. of batter to each well in the muffin tin.
15. Place a mini pie into each well and press it down a bit so that the batter comes up the sides.
16. Place another Tbsp. or so of batter on top of each pie and spread it out to completely encase the pie.
17. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
18. Let cool in pan for ~5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Decoration

1. Make icing as directed: beat butter and cream cheese together, beat in icing sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.
2. Chill icing until ready to use.
3. Once cupcakes are completely cooled, decorate with icing as desired.
4. If desired garnish with cinnamon-sugar roasted pumpkin seeds. (I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this until after I took the photo. The seeds were right there!)

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¹ The original recipe called for 1 1/2 c. of sugar, but that seemed like a lot, so I scaled it back a bit. I think the final cupcakes taste plenty sweet enough with only 1 c. of sugar. Especially since they end up getting iced as well. ^Back
2 Whoops! Just realized that the recipe says 1 1/3 c. milk, not 1 1/2. Oh well, it still seemed to turn out fine with 1 1/2 c. ^Back
3 The original recipe came with its own icing recipe but, as far as I can tell, it was pretty similar. The base was the same combination of cream cheese, butter, and icing sugar. The main difference seems to be that it also called for melting "cinnamon chips" and mixing them into the icing. I have never heard of cinnamon chips before. I assume they're some sort of cinnamon-flavoured white chocolate baking chip? Anyway, I had some icing left over from making the cayenne-pumpkin cupcakes the previous week, so I just used it here and was quite happy with the results. I figured it's still a cinnamon-y, cream cheese-y icing, so it amounts to just about the same thing. ^{Back 4} Full disclosure, I don't have a mini muffin pan, but I do have a Babycakes Cupcake Maker so I just used that to make my pies. This worked alright, but the crusts did end up a bit underbaked since you can't really blind bake them that way and the filling cooked faster than the pastry. I've written out the instructions to do them in the oven here both because I don't expect everyone to have a cupcake maker and because I think that blind baking the crusts will likely provide better results. (And I have used the pie weights inside a cupcake liner approach for making tart shells before. It works quite well. Although I usually use liners one size smaller than the wells on the muffin tin, so I'm not sure how that works when you're already using a mini muffin tin. If you can find "extra mini" liners, that would be idea. Otherwise I think slightly crumpling the liners so that they're a little more flexible and willing to conform to the smaller shape would probably work reasonably well. It may take some experimentation, but I'm sure it can be done! ^Back

Wolfert notes that Moroccan warqa pastry is often compared to several other thin, high-gluten pastries from other cooking traditions (fillo, strudel, brik, etc.), but warqa is distinct from all of them and, she notes, thinner.

Based on the description in the book, it sounds like the traditional way of making warqa leaves is to tap a large ball of dough multiple times onto a hot pan to deposit a thin layer pastry onto it. Wolfert has given an alternative method that involves painting batter onto a hot pan with a pastry brush. Aside from the fact that my batter was a little lumpy and my pastry brush may never be the same again, I think this worked reasonably well.

I think that using an actual food processor -- rather than trying to use a blender as a food processor -- might help with the lumpiness of the batter next time. (Not that I have a food processor, but I do think that would help.) As for the pastry brush... Despite the fact that she specifically calls for a natural bristle brush for painting the batter onto the pan (and a silicone brush for oiling them afterward), I'm thinking that I might want to try out a silicone brush for both tasks next time. I'm not sure if it'd work or not, but I'd like to at least give it a go so that I know for sure.

Warqa

From The Food of Morocco

Ingredients

• 225g hard (high grade/bread/strong) white flour
• 1/4 c. all-purpose or atta (extra-fine semolina) flour¹
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 3/4 c. water, divided
• 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil

Directions

1. Combine the flours and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple times to get everything mixed.
2. With the machine running, add 1 c. of the water along with the vinegar.
3. Process until the dough forms a smooth ball, then add the oil through the tube and process for another 30 seconds.
4. With the machine still running, pour in the remaining 3/4 c. water and process for another minute or so.
5. Pour into a container, cover, and chill overnight.
6. The next day, set a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a fast boil.
7. Set a non-stick skillet that fits snugly over the pot. Secure it with kitchen twine if necessary.
8. Use a silicone brush to lightly oil the skillet, then wipe it out with a paper towel.
9. Use a natural bristle brush to stir up the batter (or experiment with using silicone for this), then quickly brush the batter evenly over the hot skillet. If necessary, do another pass to fill in any empty spaces.²
10. Cook for ~2 minutes. Once the warqa turns completely white and the edges start to curl, it's ready.
11. Grab the curling edges of the warqa with your fingertips and lift it out of the pan.
12. Place it cooked-side-up on a paper towel, then use a silicone brush to lightly brush it with some of the oil.
13. Place another paper towel on top.
14. Stir up the batter again and repeat the process until all batter has been used. (I got ~24 warqa from this recipe.)
15. If not using right away, place the stack of warqa and paper towels into a plastic bag and store in the fridge. They will keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days. For loger term storage, they may be frozen.

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¹ If the warqa will be used for bastilla, use the all-purpose flour. If it will be used for briwat, use the atta flour. ^Back
2 I found that one pass/brush-full was nowhere near enough to coat the whole bottom of the pan. I don't know if my brush was too small or my pan too big or my technique was not good or what, but it generally took me at least six passes to get full coverage. It still seemed to work out okay though. My warqa were tissue-thin, but quite strong and flexible. ^Back

I've been wanting to try my hand at making bastila ever since I was given this book. It looks fascinating and delicious. But I always found the recipes a bit intimidating. First you have to make your warqa, which already looked pretty challenging to me, and then you have to assemble that into a pie! A pie that needs to be baked and flipped over multiple times! It all sounded a bit too daunting to me. Especially since I kept eyeing up the fancy "bastila of Fes with chicken or quail". Somehow it felt like I should start with that one -- it being the famous classic version and all. But it's also quite intricate and complicated. And eventually I realized that maybe it would be better to start with one of the simpler bastilas.

This bastila uses ground beef (rather than chicken, quail, squab, or lamb like many of the others do) and the filling can be prepared in advance, so you don't have to do everything the day of. And, aside from feeling like I need to work on my warqa-making technique, I was very happy with the results. So now I have finally made a bastila!

Beef Bastila with Peppers, Raisins, and Olives

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 225g ground beef
• 2/3 c. chopped onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 tsp. la kama spice mixture
• 1/2 tsp. ras el hanout
• 3 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 55g vermicelli pasta or rice vermicelli
• 1 large (or 2 small) bell peppers, grilled or broiled, peeled and diced
• 1 c. chopped tomato
• 1/2 tsp. harissa or biber salçasi (Turkish red pepper paste)
• 3 Tbsp. golden raisins
• 10-12 Picholine or green olives, pitted and sliced
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• black pepper, to taste
• 24 warqa leaves or 225g fillo leaves
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. water¹
• 2-3 Tbsp. melted ghee² (2 Tbsp. for warqa; 3 Tbsp. for fillo)
• lemon slices and/or parsley sprigs, for garnish

Directions

1. Combine the beef, onion, garlic, la kama spice mix, ras el hanout, parsley, cilantro, and salt and cook, covered, on low heat for ~20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, boil the vermicelli in salted water until al dente (probably 1-4 minutes depending on your pasta).
3. Drain the pasta/noodles, shock with cold water, and then cut into 5cm pieces and set aside.
4. Add the bell pepper, tomato, harissa, raisins, and olives to the pan with the meat and increase heat to medium.
5. Cook the meat mixture, uncovered, over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and add the vermicelli to the pan along with the lemon juice. Toss to combine.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Chill until ready to use. (Can be made a day in advance.)
9. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and brush the bottom and sides of a 25cm (10") tart tin or pizza pan with the oil.
10. Beat the egg yolk with the water and set aside.
11. If using warqa:
    • Arrange all but 5 or 6 of the leaves, shiny-side-down, overlapping, and overhanging the sides of the pan.
    • Spread the filling over the pastry leaves, lightly pressing down, then fold the edges of the pastry leaves up over the filling to enclose it.
    • Brush the folded leaves with some of the egg yolk mixture.³
    • Place the remaining leaves shiny-side-up and overlapping on top of the bastila. Tuck in the edges to create a fully-enclosed pie.
    • Brush the top of the pie with the melted ghee followed by a light coating of the egg yolk mixture.
    If using fillo:
    • Arrange half the fillo leaves, one on top of the other, so that they cover the bottom and overhang the edges of the pan. As you arrange the pastry, brush every second leaf/sheet with melted ghee.
    • Spread the filling over the pastry leaves, lightly pressing down, then fold the edges of the pastry up over the filling to enclose it (or nearly so).
    • Brush the folded leaves with some of the egg yolk mixture.
    • Cover with the remaining fillo leaves and tuck the edges under the pie.
    • Brush the top with a light coating of egg yolk.
12. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes.
13. Shake the pan a bit to loosen tthe pie.
14. If necessary, tilt the pan to pour off any excess fat.
15. Invert the pie onto a greased baking sheet.
16. Brush the pie with the remaining egg yolk.
17. Return to the oven and take at 200°C (400°F) for another 10 minutes.
18. Remove the pie from the oven and, if necessary, tilt to pour off any excess fat.
19. Put a serving platter or cutting board over the pie and invert the pie onto the platter/board.
20. Decorate the top with lemon slices and/or sprigs of parsley.
21. Cut into wedges and serve hot (with extra harissa)!

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¹ I forgot to add the water to my egg yolk, which made it a bit too thick to easily brush onto the pastry. ^Back
2 I got a little discombobulated and just ended up using melted butter for this instead of melted ghee. It still seemed to work out alright, but I think the ghee would've been even better. ^Back
3 I totally missed this step when building my bastila. It was buried in a long paragraph of instructions and I think my eyes just skipped a line and it didn't get done. This is why I tend to break the instructions down a bit more when I do recipe write-ups: less chance of missing a step. ^Back

I had some lemon filling/curd left over after making my kolaches last weekend. I also had some frozen pastry kicking around the chest freezer that wanted to be used. It wasn't the "rich sweet shortcrust pastry" called for by the recipe, but I'm not really bothered by that. I don't generally find sweet shortcrust worth the extra effort. (And neither does anyone else if North American recipes and grocery stores are anything to judge by. Recipes here don't tend to call for sweet shortcrust and grocery stores don't sell it. I could make it from scratch and I have done before but, as noted, I don't generally feel it's worth it. It doesn't make that much of a difference and it's a lot harder to handle than standard pie pastry.)

With the pastry and the lemon curd already sorted, this pie was pretty easy to throw together. The author calls it a cousin of the Bakewell Tart, and I can definitely see the family resemblance. The jam has been replaced with lemon curd over which a lemon-almond custard is poured. It doesn't have as strong an almond flavour as a standard Bakewell tart, but I enjoy the burst of lemon you get in its place. TF and the Kidlet both loved it as well.

The original recipe is written for a shallow 23cm (9") tart tin. I absent-mindedly grabbed my 9" American-style pie plate which is much deeper than the shallow tin called for. I ended up doubling the amount of lemon curd called for (1/2 c. rather than 1/4 c.) and used an extra tablespoon of brown sugar over it (2 Tbsp. vs. 1), but left the amount of almond custard the same. I'm happy with the results this gave me. You may want to adjust the proportions if you're using a different sized tin though.

Lancaster Tart, assembled and decorated by the Kidlet

Lancaster Tart

Slightly adapted form the Book of Old Tarts by Elizabeth Hodder

Ingredients

• 175g of sweet shortcrust pastry
• 1/2 c. lemon curd
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• zest of 2 lemons
• 115g unsalted butter, softened
• 150mL heavy (35%) cream
• 55g ground almonds
• 115g sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg

Directions

1. Blind bake your pie crust according to your favourite method.
2. Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F).
3. Spread the lemon curd in the bottom of the baked pie shell.
4. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
5. Combine lemon zest, butter, cream, almonds, sugar, egg yolks, and egg and mix very well. (I used an immersion blender.)
6. Pour almond mixture into the pie shell and smooth the top.
7. Decorate with sliced almonds and/or any extra bits of pastry.
8. Bake at 170°C (325°F) for 40-50 minutes.
9. Warm with extra lemon curd and/or whipped cream.

We have a lot of eggs and I wanted something tasty for breakfast; quiche seemed like a good option. The mushrooms, zucchini, and feta worked quite well together here. I think a bit of thinly sliced leek would've made it even better, but it was plenty good as is.

Mushroom and Zucchini Quiche

Adapted from Good Housekeeping

Ingredients

• 200g pie pastry (enough for one 9" shell)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 250g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 leek, sliced thin, white and pale green only (optional)
• 1 smallish zucchini, chopped fine
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• ~50 grinds black pepper
• 150g feta, cubed
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. milk

Directions

1. Roll out the pastry and place it in your pie plate, crimping the edges as desired.
2. Crumple a sheet of parchment paper and place it in the pie shell. Fill the shell with beans, sugar, or pie weights.
3. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the parchment paper and pie weights and continue baking for another 10-12 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat.
6. Add mushrooms and cook, covered, stirring occasionally until they release their liquid.
7. Add garlic, leek (if using), zucchini, salt, and pepper and cook, uncovered, stirring often until veggies are softened and liquid has evaporated.
8. Remove pie shell from oven and allow to cool slightly.
9. While pie shell is cooling, place a baking sheet in the oven to warm up.
10. Spoon the cooked veggie mixture into the bottom of the pie shell.
11. Sprinkle the feta over the veggies.
12. Whisk the eggs with the milk and pour this mixture into the pie shell with the veggies and cheese.
13. Place quiche onto the hot baking sheet in the oven and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 30-45 minutes until just set.

We had a bunch of potatoes and blue cheese that needed to be used up so it seemed like a good opportunity to try out this recipe. The instructions having you making the pastry from scratch and rolling it out into a rectangle, but I already had some frozen pastry rounds in the fridge, so I just used one of them.

This is quite rich and very starchy: three kinds of cheese + potatoes and pastry. I served it with a salad to try to get some more vegetables and variety in the mix. Possibly a goat cheese and prosciutto salad was a bit too rich to be paired with this particular tart, but I really wanted to try it! I think, if I were to do it again, I'd go with a slightly lighter salad and probably add a soup as well just so the meal doesn't lean quite so heavily on the tart. I think a spinach salad with some fruit and nuts (maybe strawberries and almonds) and a nice balsamic vinaigrette would be a good complement to the tart. And maybe a fresh, homemade (not-too-creamy) tomato soup to go along with it.

Potato and Blue Cheese Tart

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2020

Ingredients

• ~200g pie crust pastry
• 120g cream cheese, softened
• ~1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese, divided
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. Roman Mustard
• 3/4 tsp. dried rosemary, divided
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 large egg, separated
• 450g russet (or other floury) potatoes, sliced thin
• 1-2 shallots, sliced thin

Directions

1. Roll pastry into a large circle or rectangle and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
2. Whisk 1/4 c. of Parmesan and 1/4 c. of blue cheese into the softened cream cheese.
3. Add oil, mustard, 1/2 tsp. of rosemary, pepper, and salt and mix well.
4. Mix in egg yolk.
5. Add potatoes and shallot to cream cheese mixture and stir/toss to coat.
6. Transfer potato mixture to centre of dough and spread evenly to cover, leaving a border for folding up edges later.
7. Sprinkle filling with remaining 1/4 c. of blue cheese and 2 Tbsp. of the remaining Parmesan.
8. Fold edges of crust over filling. (The aim isn't to cover all the filling, just give it a neat border.)
9. Lightly whisk the egg white and brush it onto the exposed bits of crust. (You won't need it all.)
10. Sprinkle the crust with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of Parmesan.
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 45 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.
13. Carefully transfer to wire rack to cool for another 20 minutes or so before serving.

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Variations

Potato and Parmesan Tart

Just replace all the blue cheese with more Parmesan. Done.

I've always enjoyed a good lemon meringue pie, but I didn't come across the concept of the lemon tart or tarte au citron until relatively recently. You don't really see them much over here. Small, single-serving lemon tarts show up frequently enough, but not full-sized pies. I had some extra lemons left over after making a batch of chicken piccata, so giving this lemon tart a whirl seemed like a good way to use them up.

Tarte au Citron

Slightly adapted from Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 300g sweet shortcrust pastry¹
• 4 large eggs
• 170g sugar
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest (1.5-2 lemons)
• 1/3 c. lemon juice (~2 lemons)
• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar, to garnish

Directions

1. Roll out pastry and press into a 23cm (9") shallow tart tin.
2. Set oven to 190°C (375°F) and place pastry-lined tin in fridge to chill while oven preheats.
3. Cover pastry with crumpled parchment/baking paper and fill with pie weights, dry beans, or sugar.
4. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.
5. Remove paper and pie weights and bake for another 5 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
7. Place a baking sheet in the now empty oven.
8. Whisk the eggs with the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice until well-combined and homogeneous.
9. Whisk in cream.
10. Open the oven and pull the middle rack out slightly. Place baked pie shell (still in its tin) onto the hot baking sheet. Pour the lemon mixture into the pie shell. (It will be very full.)²
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 5 minutes.
12. Reduce heat to 150°C (300°F) and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
13. Remove from oven when filling is set but still has a wobble to it.
14. Dust with icing sugar.
15. Serve warm or cold.

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¹ The recipe calls for sweet shortcrust. I had some ready-made pastry in the freezer so I just used that. I'm sure the sweet shortcrust would've been lovely, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out with the "regular" pastry. (We don't really do sweet shortcrust in Canada. Most of our pies are sweet, rather than savoury, but they all use "regular"/savoury shortcrust without any added sugar. ^Back
2 Placing the pie shell in the oven first and then filling it tends to be easier and less messy than filling the shell first and then attempting to transfer a very full shell to the oven. ^Back

Potato, Spinach, and Raisin Tart (Quiche)

Wow! This one was good! I have to admit, I was dubious of the raisins in this combo, but it really worked. Only thing I'd do differently next time is to be a bit more diligent about pressing excess liquid out of the various components before they go into the pie shell. The end result was slightly soupy (although still totally delicious).

Potato, Spinach, and Raisin Tart

Slightly adapted from the Book of Old Tarts by Elizabeth Hodder

Ingredients

• 225g shortcrust pastry (homemade or store-bought)
• 25g salted butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil¹ (optional)
• 2 leeks (white part only) or 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 tsp. garlic paste (or 3 cloves garlic, crushed)
• 3 medium-sized potatoes, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• 220g spinach, rinsed and trimmed²
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 55g raisins
• 140g grated Cheddar cheese
• 4 eggs
• 200mL table (18%) cream³

Directions

1. Line a 9" deep dish pie plate with the pastry and blind bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
2. Remove the pie weights and parchment paper and return the pie shell to the over for 5 minutes.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat (with oil, if using)
4. Add the onions or leeks and cook until softened.
5. Add the garlic and cook until just starting to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Bring some water to a boil and add the potatoes.
7. Season water with a bit of salt and boil for 5 minutes.
8. Remove potatoes from water with slotted spoon, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
9. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute.
10. Remove spinach from water and drain, squeezing out a much liquid as possible.
11. Sprinkle spinach with the nutmeg and set aside.
12. Add the raisins to the hot water and let them soak for a few minutes.
13. Drain the raisins, dry off, and set aside.
14. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
15. Sprinkle ~60g of the cheese over the base of the baked pie shell.
16. Spread half the potatoes over this.
17. Spread half the spinach over the potatoes.
18. Sprinkle half the raisins over the spinach.
19. Repeat the layers once more.
20. Top with the sautéed onion and garlic mixutre.
21. Whisk the eggs with the cream and season with salt and pepper.
22. Slowly and carefully pour the the egg mixture into the pie, giving it time to percolate down through the various layers.
23. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
24. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 40 minutes.

---

Variants

Lighter Version

Ingredients

• 15g salted butter
• 2 leeks (white part only) or 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 tsp. garlic paste (or 3 cloves garlic, crushed)
• 3 medium-sized potatoes, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• 250g spinach, rinsed and trimmed
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 55g raisins
• 100g grated (low-fat) Cheddar cheese
• 1 egg
• 4 egg whites
• 200mL milk
• 2 Tbsp. flour

Directions

1. Cook and prepare fillings as above.
2. Grease a 9" deep dish pie plate.
3. Sprinkle 40g of cheese in the bottom of the pie plate.
4. Spread half the potatoes over this.
5. Spread half the spinach over the potatoes.
6. Sprinkle half the raisins over the spinach.
7. Repeat the layers.
8. Spread the onion mixture over top.
9. Whisk together egg, egg whites, milk, and flour.
10. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
11. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the fillings, giving it time to seep in.
12. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 40 minutes.

---

¹ I actually completely forgot the oil. I don't think it really missed the extra fat though. I probably won't bother with the oil next time either. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for 450g of spinach, but I only had 220g and I found that to be enough. I think more would've been fine, but it definitely would've required a larger pie plate. ^Back
3 The original calls for 225mL of cream, but I couldn't quite fit all of the egg-cream mixture into the filled pie, so I'd try it with slightly less cream next time. ^Back

This recipe is lifted straight from the Great British Bake Off. I made it about half size and had to substitute sweet bell peppers for sweet Romano peppers and kale for the spinach, but other than that did it to spec. I do think that spinach (or a kale-spinach mix) would've been nicer than straight kale. The kale ended up being a little tough.

The flavour was good, but I think it could've done with a little more seasoning. Some of that is down to me just not having a good handle on how much salt to add. But I also think that a few more herbs, some onion, and a bit more garlic wouldn't've gone amiss. I think next time I'd add roasted garlic purée to the potatoes and an onion and some savoury to the greens. I think I'd probably also add a mushroom layer.

Kale, Caramelized Garlic, Red Pepper, and Potato Pithivier

Adapted from Brendan Lynch

Ingredients

Potato Layer

• 450g new potatoes
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. roasted garlic purée

Mushroom Layer (Optional)

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 250g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• black pepper

Pepper Layer

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 large red bell peppers, sliced
• 1 fresh red Thai chile pepper, minced
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 Tbsp. sugar

Caramelized Garlic

• 15 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 2 Tbsp. fresh tarragon
• 1 tsp. dried savoury (optional)
• 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

Kale/Spinach Layer

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 500g spinach (or 350g kale), chopped
• 1 egg
• 250g soft goat cheese

Everything Else

• 150g shredded Cheddar
• 900g puff pastry
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbsp. water

Directions

Potato Layer

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender.
2. Drain and cut into 5mm (1/2") slices.
3. Toss with pepper and garlic purée and set aside.

Mushroom Layer

1. Heat butter over medium heat.
2. Add mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and most of the liquid has cooked off.
3. Season with black pepper to taste.

Pepper Layer

1. Heat oil and butter over medium heat.
2. Add bell pepper and chile and season with salt. Cook until peppers have softened.
3. Add cumin and sugar and cook for another minute or two. Remove from heat and set aside.

Caramelized Garlic

1. Boil garlic for 3 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
2. Heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add drained garlic and cook for 4 minutes.
4. Add balsamic vinegar and 1 c. of the reserved cooking water. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
5. Add herbs and sugar and cook until liquid is mostly gone and sauce resembles a runny caramel. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spinach/Kale Layer

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until it has softened and begun to brown.
3. Add greens and a little more of the reserved garlic cooking water. Cover and cook until greens have wilted. Remove from heat.
4. Press out as much liquid as possible. (If you're using kale, there won't be much.)
5. Stir in caramelized garlic mixture.
6. Beat egg.
7. Add goat cheese to egg and mix well.
8. Stir goat cheese mixture into spinach/kale mixture. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Roll out your pastry. You will need either one 13" and one 14" round or two 9" round and two 10" rounds.
2. Place the smaller round(s) on a parchment lined baking sheet and preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
3. Beat the egg white with the water.
4. Brush the edges of the smaller round(s) with egg wash.
5. Layer potato over the pastry, leaving a 1-1.5" (2.5-3.5cm) border.
6. Sprinkle a little shredded cheese over the potato.
7. Layer mushrooms on top of cheese.
8. Layer the peppers over the mushrooms.
9. Add the spinach/kale mixture on top of the peppers.
10. Put the rest of the shredded cheese on top of the greens.
11. Shape the filling stack into a rounded mound.
12. Place the larger pastry round(s) over everything and crimp the edges of top and bottom rounds together. Trim into classic scalloped shape around the edge if desired.
13. Brush pastry all over with egg wash.
14. Cut a hole in the top of the pithivier to let steam escape.
15. Cut four small slits around the top.
16. Score the sides of the pastry, being careful not to cut all the way through.
17. Chill in the freezer for 5 minutes (or in the fridge for 15).
18. Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 25-30 minutes until pastry is well-browned and cooked through.

Photo is bad, pie was good!

I've been baking a lot of bread lately and really enjoying that. I'm looking forward to making more, but in the meantime I'd like to keep baking other things. I'm a bit burnt out on sweets at this point, so I've been thinking more along the lines of savoury baked goods. We ended up watching pie week on the Great British Bake Off and that was enough to get me set on doing pies.

Initially I was thinking that I'd do some sort of of... I guess pub-style meat pie. I briefly contemplated doing a basic mince pie, but... I just wasn't feeling it this week. And I've been trying to avoid buying meat lately. (I have a bunch of beef stashed in the freezer, so I've still been cooking with that from time to time.) Eventually, it came down to a choice between a potato, spinach, and bell pepper pithivier or a kale, lemon, and cheese phyllo pie. TF cast his vote for phyllo, so phyllo it was! (I'll probably still make the pithivier at some point.

Kale, Lemon, and Cheese Phyllo Pie

Slightly adapted from BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 leek, sliced (white parts only)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 green Thai chiles, minced
• 1 small preserved lemon, flesh and pith removed
• 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/8 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 500g frozen kale (or kale-spinach blend), thawed
• 100g fresh green herb of choice¹
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 eggs
• 300g ricotta
• 300g feta, crumbled
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 227g phyllo pastry
• canola (or other neutral oil) for brushing

Directions

1. Head olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add leek, onion, garlic, chile, preserved lemon, cumin, fennel seeds, and salt and cook until soft and fragrant (~10 minutes).
3. Add kale, herbs, and lemon juice and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
4. Beat the eggs until smooth and slightly frothy.
5. Mix in ricotta and feta.
6. Press as much liquid as possible out of the kale mixture and stir it into the cheese blend.
7. Stir in nutmeg and set filling aside.
8. Oil an 8 or 9" (20-23cm) springform pan.
9. Lay a sheet of phyllo over the pan, gently pressing it into the corners and up the sides, letting the extra hang over the edge.
10. Brush the pastry with oil and lay another sheet on top at a slight angle to the first. (I tried to place mine so that the corners were offset by ~1cm from the previous layer.)
11. Continue adding more layers, brushing each one with oil, until the tin is well-lined.
12. Spoon the filling into the pastry and fold the excess pastry over the top, brushing each bit with oil as it's folded in.
13. Once all the overhanging bits have been brought into the center and the pie is completely enclosed, brush the top with more oil.
14. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 50 minutes.
15. Cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from tin.
16. Release the sides and carefully transfer the pie off of the tin base and onto a serving platter.
17. In theory the pie should now be chilled before serving, but I cut it while it was still warm and quite enjoyed it that way.

---

¹ I used a mix of cilantro and flat-leaf parsley. ^Back

Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Glazed Mushroom Brie en Croûte

I have a backlog of about half a dozen recipes that I've made in the last week or so and haven't gotten around to writing up yet. I was doing them more-or-less in order. I think I have to jump the queue with this one though. I ended up improvising a bit and I'm afraid that I'll forget what I did if I don't write it down right away.

This recipe ended up being a hybrid of two other recipes I came across online. I wasn't intending to do this. The plan had been to just make the brie en croûte recipe I found on Food52. I didn't realize until I was already mostly done cooking the onions that I'd somehow managed to get the wrong tab open and had actually been following a completely different baked brie recipe on Eipcurious. So, from there I just kind of improvised to merge the two recipes into something delicious.

Onion and Mushroom Brie en Croûte

Ingredients

Onions

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 onions, sliced
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• few grinds black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

Mushrooms

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 227g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1 tsp. light soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Everything Else

• 454g puff pastry, divided
• 2 small (4-5"/10-13cm) wheels of brie
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbsp. water

Directions

1. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter over medium heat.
2. Add onions and cook until softened.
3. Add thyme and salt, reduce heat to medium low, and cook, stirring often, until nicely brown and caramelized. This will take about half an hour.
4. Add pepper and cook for another minute or so.
5. Add wine, stir and cook for another minute.
6. Stir in sugar and cook for a further 2 minutes.
7. Remove onions from pan and set aside.
8. Increase heat to medium and add remaining butter to pan.
9. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook until mushrooms release their liquid.
10. Pour wine, soy, and vinegar over mushrooms and cook until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are nicely glazed.
11. Preheat oven to 425°F (210°C).
12. My puff pastry came in 2 squares, each one pretty much the perfect size for wrapping one of my wheels of brie. If yours are packaged/portioned differently or if you're making your pastry from scratch, you'll have to roll it out to an appropriate size.
13. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
14. Place a square of pastry on the lined baking sheet.
15. Bisect each wheel of brie horizontally.
16. Place the bottom half of the brie in the centre of the pastry.
17. Spread half the mushrooms over the brie.
18. Spread about a quarter of the onions on top of the mushrooms.
19. Place the top half of the brie over this.
20. Spread another portion (about 1/3 of the remaining onions) on top of the brie.
21. Mix the water with the egg white.
22. Gently pull the pastry up over the brie stack. Brush a little of the egg wash over the corners to help them stick. Press gently to seal.
23. Entire assembly can be frozen at this point for later baking.
24. Brush the outside liberally with more egg wash.
25. Repeat procedure with second portion of pastry and brie, using up the remaining mushrooms and onions.
26. Bake at 425°F (210°C) for 25 minutes.
27. Serve warm on its own or with baguette and/or crackers.

This recipe didn't work out so well for me. I think there are things that could be done to make it work better. But I'm still not sure I'd really like it. Which is a shame, because it looks and smells wonderful. I'm just not a big fan of the flavour or the texture.

First off, the cardamom was completely overpowering. The recipe called for 1/4 tsp. of ground cardamom, so I ground 1/4 tsp. of cardamom seeds. It completely overwhelmed all the other flavours. I couldn't really taste the vanilla or the pear, just cardamom. And, much like ginger, I don't generally like cardamom when it's front and centre. I don't mind it as a component, but I dislike it as the primary flavour. So that already has this recipe off to a bad start. I'd cut the cardamom down to 1/8 tsp. next time.

The pears also seemed to have dried out a bit on top during baking. The very top layer was a bit leathery. The original recipe was for a galette, so that would've covered some of the filling, but the middle still would've been open and prone to drying out. I think I might try it with a lattice top if I did it again. Don't know if that'd still be too open to protect it from drying or not.

And I feel like the fruit could've done with more cooking too. The filling didn't get as soft and easy-to-cut as I would've liked. I sliced them nice and thin. And I wouldn't've wanted to have left it in the oven any longer as the pastry would've started to burn. But the pears were still a bit firm for my taste. Not sure what to do there. I guess I could try pre-cooking the filling, but I'm not sure how that would work out with an uncooked crust. Maybe the answer is to start the oven high and then turn it down after the first 10 minutes or so? That way the high temp crisps the crust and gives it that kick-start while the lower temperature allows it to stay in the oven for longer without burning, giving the pears time to cook through. That's the theory anyway. If I end up making this again, I'll give it a try and see how it works out.

I'm not going to bother trying to reproduce what I did below since I wasn't happy with the results. Instead I'll write up what I would do if I was going to make this again. (Caveat emptor and all that jazz: I haven't actually tested these modifications yet.)

Pear Pie

Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

• 1 recipe sweet shortcrust pastry
• 1 vanilla bean
• 40g-50g (vanilla) sugar
• 20g tapioca starch
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. 5-spice powder
• 1/8 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 735g sliced pears
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp. cream (anywhere from 10-35% should be fine)
• 1 Tbsp. (vanilla) sugar

Directions

1. Scrape seeds from vanilla pod and add to bowl. (Save empty pod for another use.)
2. Add sugar, tapioca starch, salt, 5-spice, and cardamom to vanilla and mix well.
3. Add pears and vinegar and toss to coat.
4. Place an empty baking sheet on middle oven rack and preheat to 425°F (220°C).
5. Roll out ~2/3 of the pastry to ~12-13" circle.
6. Transfer pastry to a 10" loose-bottom pie/tart tin. (Do not trim edges yet.)
7. Dust pastry shell with a small amount of flour.
8. Roll out remaining pastry ensuring that it is at least 10" in at least one dimension.
9. Cut strips from pastry to make a lattice. You'll probably need 10-12 strips of varying lengths depending on how wide you make them and how much space you leave in the lattice.
10. Weave your lattice leaving a slight overhang at the edge of the tin. (I find it easiest to work from the middle out.)
11. Press down all around the edge of the tin. This should work to both trim the pastry and seal the top lattice to the bottom crust.
12. Combine egg, egg yolk, and cream and mix well.
13. Brush top of pie with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
14. Place on hot baking sheet on middle oven rack.
15. Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F (180°C) and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until crust is desired done-ness and pears have softened.
16. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes before transferring to serving plate.

So, I did this wrong. I haven't made pastry for a while and it didn't seem like it was coming together very well and I just kept adding water and I overshot and made it much, much too wet and soft. Even after chilling for an hour or so, it was still extremely soft! I was still able to roll it out and use it. And it does seem to have baked up reasonably well. But I definitely wouldn't add quite so much water next time.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 2 c. soft (cake/plain/standard) flour
• 150g butter¹
• 1/2 c. (caster) sugar²
• 2 large egg yolks³
• 2-4 Tbsp. cold water⁴

Directions

1. Sift flour into bowl.
2. Cut butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in sugar.
4. Add egg yolks.
5. Add water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until mixture comes together. Err on the side of too crumbly/dry over too sticky/wet.
6. If pastry seems difficult to work with, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 15 minutes.
7. Roll out on floured surface. Shape, fill, and bake as desired.

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¹ Edmonds didn't specify that it should be unsalted butter, so I assume they're intending that salted butter be used. That said, I was all out of salted butter, so I ended up going with unsalted anyway. I could see a tiny bit of salt being nice as it might actually accentuate the sweetness. But I worry that using that much salted butter would make it too salty. I might try it with salted next time just to test it an see. ^Back
2 I just used regular granulated sugar here. The Edmonds recipe does call for caster sugar though, so I'd suggest using that if you have it. Technically I probably should've increased the volume of sugar slightly (or just done it by weight), but I thought the pastry tasted pretty sweet anyway, so I didn't worry about the couple grams of sugar I might've missed by using a coarser type. ^Back
3 I tossed in a third yolk because my eggs were a bit small. ^Back
4 Edmonds actually only calls for 1-2 Tbsp. of water, but there's no way that was going to be enough. I ended up putting 5 Tbsp. (plus an extra egg yolk) and yes, that was too much. But 1 Tbsp. was definitely way too dry. I think 4 Tbsp. (1/4 c.) would've been just about right. I'll try that the next time I'm making this recipe and see how it goes. ^Back

Renaissance Meat Pies

I ended up accidentally skipping over this one in my initial writings, but I do think it's worth mentioning. This was the first recipe I tried out of my Shakespeare's Kitchen cookbook.

Individual Meat Pies with Cointreau Marmalade
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground mace
6 pitted prunes/dried plums, minced
1/2 c. dried currants (original recipe called for "1 c. currants", but wasn't clear on fresh or dried)
1/2 c. freshly squeezed orange juice (~1 orange worth)
pie pastry
1/2 c. Cointreau
1 c. thick-cut orange marmalade

1. Combine beef, salt, pepper, nutmeg, mace, prunes, currants, and orange juice in a non-reactive bowl. Chill overnight.
2. Roll out dough (~1/16" thick). Dough for sufficient for one double-crust pie should be enough to make all your tarts.
3. Cut dough into tart-sized rounds. Three-inch rounds are recommended, but smaller or larger could also be used although this will change the ratio of crust to filling.
4. Fill the tart shells with the meat mixture and bake at 450F for 15 minutes. (I made my tarts in my Babycakes cupcake maker, so they only took about 8 minutes.)
5. Bring Cointreau to a boil and add marmalade. Cook, stirring, until well-combined and heated through.
6. Top meat pies with marmalade glaze.

I was surprised by the amount of fruit that was called for in these meat pies. The filling actually reminds me quite a lot of my grandmother's traditional mincemeat recipe. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that this was an early precursor or variant of mincemeat.

The book includes a recipe for "Renaissance Dough", but I simply bought ready-made dough for this since I wasn't sure what I'd have time for. I'm sure they would've been lovely with home-made dough, but they still turned out lovely as it was.

I only ended up using about half the glaze. That said, any leftovers can always be poured back into the jar and saved for spreading on toast or any other applications where you might enjoy marmalade. But, if you don't want to deal with excess marmalade/glaze, I would recommend only making a half portion for the amount of meat.

I wasn't sure whether to use a cup or half a cup of currants since the recipe didn't specify whether fresh or dried were expected. Since it didn't specify, I assumed that amount was for fresh. Since I only had dried available, I put in half the amount figuring they'd plump up a bit from sitting in the orange juice with the beef overnight. Next time, I might try soaking them a bit first to give them a bit more volume and a bit of a softer mouth feel. I'd also like to experiment with making these tarts with fresh currants if I can find some in season next year. I think it'd be interesting to see how the fresh berries affect the flavour and texture of the filling.

Overall, I think these little tarts came out quite well and they seemed to be enjoyed at Thanksgiving. If you're not used to sweet meat dishes, this might seem a bit strange. However, I think anyone who enjoys old-fashioned mincemeat -- the kind with actual beef, rather than modern "mock mincemeat" that seems to be composed predominantly of raisins -- will probably find these tarts quite appealing.

I certainly plan on making another batch or two of these tasty little tarts to go with Christmas dinner! Happy Holidays! :)