The Recipe Post

At long last, here is our trout pie recipe...and a few other favorites, for good measure!


*** TASTY FISH BAKE ***

We adopted this recipe from Jamie Oliver's "jamie's dinners" cookbook. We all adore it, even the kids, and lick the platter clean. I make it in my cast iron skillet so that I can saute the onions & fennel seeds, pile the other stuff on, and send it directly into the oven without switching pans. I don't use the fennel bulb because I think the seeds are fennelly enough for me, and I've never used the anchovies, simply because I don't keep them on hand. I throw a couple of slices of whatever store-bought bread is around into my food processor for fresh breadcrumbs, and I use extra of the fresh-grated parmesan. We've only used trout, but if you search online you will read reviews where others have used salmon or haddock or whatever and had it turn out just as yummy.

Disclaimer: Not a one-pot meal, and not a great weeknight dinner (in my opinion). It would be much faster if you used a larger fish that was already filleted (like salmon) and less dishes with store-bought crumbs; my pie takes me forever to make (mainly preparing the fish) and lots of dishes (separate pot for potatoes, food processor etc) so I don't make it often because of that. But it's SO good. Jaime says to serve with plenty of lemon slices and plenty of cold beer. To that I say: hurrah! And a salad doesn't hurt either!

14 oz potatoes (we use reds), scrubbed and thinly sliced
4 T olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 bulb of fennel, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp of fennel seeds
4 medium or 8 small fillets of trout, pinboned
1 1/4 cups half and half
2 handfuls of freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling
2 anchovy fillets
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs
lemons

Preheat the oven to 400. First of all, parboil the sliced potatoes in salted boiling water for a few minutes until softened and then drain in a colander. Place an 8 inch casserole-type pan on a low heat, and add the oil, garlic, onion, fennel and fennel seeds. Cook slowly for 10 minutes with the lid on, stirring every so often.

Take the pan off the heat. Lay your trout fillets over the onion and fennel. Mix together your cream, parmesan, and anchovies, season with salt and freshly ground back pepper, and pour over the fish. Toss the potato slices in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and layer these over the top. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, sprinkling with the breadcrumbs and a little grated parmesan 5 minutes before the end.

*** MARTHA STEWART'S APPLE HONEY CHALLAH ***

Earlier this month we took a day off from school to acknowledge Rosh Hashanah. Every year we tend to make the same traditional foods, but this year we had some new favorites: Apple Honey Challah instead of regular challah, and our favorite roast beef recipe instead of roasted chicken...if you have never tried your hand at making challah before, this recipe is divine! It's worth a go. Justin loves challah but it is a little dry for my taste; this version is much more moist, and sweeter too, following the Rosh Hashanah tradition of eating sweet food in hopes for a sweet new year!


1 stick butter (plus some extra for the pan, bowl, etc.)
3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (and extra for your counter-top)
3/4 cup warm water
2/3 cup honey
2 large eggs & 3 large egg yolks
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 apples peeled and cut into slices

Butter a large mixing bowl to prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl. Melt 2 TB of the butter and let it cool for a few minutes. Mix together in your greased bowl the melted butter, flour, water, 1/3 cup honey (not all of the honey!), the eggs and egg yolks, the yeast and the salt. Mix the ingredients until it comes together into a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes or until the dough looks smooth. (I did this step in my stand mixer.)

Melt 1 TB of butter and let it cool off for a few minutes. Place the dough back into your buttered mixing bowl and brush the dough with the 1 TB of melted butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1.5 hours or until it doubles in volume.

Move the dough back onto your floured countertop and form it into a rectangle that is roughly 8.5″ by 14″. Place the peeled and sliced apples on top of the rectangle of dough and knead to incorporate. If pieces of apple start falling out of the dough, do not get frustrated or worry, just push it back into the dough when you put it back into the bowl for its second rise. Don’t worry if it feels or looks wet at this point! The wet dough will also pick up a bit of extra flour from your floured countertop. Put the dough back into the greased bowl and brush with another tablespoon of melted & cooled butter. Cover the bowl again and let it rise for another hour, or until it has doubled in volume again.

Butter a 9″ round cake pan. Remove the dough from the bowl and form a rope that is around 24″ long. Coil the rope into a circle and place it in the pan. Butter a piece of plastic wrap and cover the dough in the pan. Let it rise yet one more time for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Mix together the remaining 4 TB of butter and 1/3 cup of honey and melt it together to form a delicious glaze. Let the glaze cool for a few minutes and then brush the dough with half of the glaze. Bake the challah until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when you knock on it (the true test of whether a challah is cooked or not!). Cook 35-45 minutes. The original recipe said 35 minutes, but it was closer to 45 minutes for me. Check it after 20-30 minutes--if the top is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

As soon as the challah comes out from the oven, brush it with the rest of the honey & butter glaze. Let the challah cool for about 30 minutes on a wire rack and then transfer the challah out of the pan.

*** OUR FAVORITE ROAST BEEF ***

...and here is the roast recipe we had for the holiday--a recipe we have made dozens of times. I have one son that has been able to eat an entire steak + since his first birthday; roasts or steak are still his absolute favorite foods, but all the boys devour this one. And Justin and I think that the dipping sauce makes the meal, but the boys just have theirs with yellow mustard for dipping. Great with garlic smashed potatoes!

Roast beef:
2 T ground coriander
1 T cracked black pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 3-pound sirloin tip roast

Sauce:
3/4 cup creamed horseradish
1/2 cup stone-ground mustard
1/4 cup white vinegar

Preheat oven to 450. To prepare roast beef, combine first 4 ingredients; rub over roast. Place roast on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Insert a meat thermometer into thickest portion of roast. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 (do not remove roast from oven), bake an additional 40 minutes or until thermometer registers 140 (medium-rare) or desired degree of doneness. Place roast on cutting board; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 15 minutes. (Temperature of roast will increase 5 degrees upon standing.) Cut roast against grain into thin slices.

Combine sauce ingredients and serve alongside roast beef. Yum!

Fall Pinto Bean & Yam Soup

Hello! We are all still too busy to blog, apparently. I have big plans for the weekend that include posting some photographs of what we have been up to the last two months....

Ari is 8 weeks old today.

Sigh.

In the meantime, here's a recipe for a fabulous fall soup we tried recently--we loved it and I know you will too. This recipe comes from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook written by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre--our local co-op's resident nutritionists.

FALL PINTO BEAN & YAM SOUP

2 cups dry pinto beans, soaked overnight

6 cups water

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1-2 inch piece kombu seaweed

(my beans had bugs in them...ugh...I substituted with two cans of pinto beans from my pantry!)

2T extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, crushed

1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

2 small yams, peeled and diced

3 carrots, cut into rounds

1T ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

8 cups water

28 oz diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2-3 ears of corn, corn cut off cob (I used a 16oz package of frozen corn)

1 small bunch black kale, finely chopped (I used collards--store was out of kale)

1 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 lime, juiced

sea salt or Herbamare, to taste

Rinse and drain soaked beans, place into a 6 quart pot with the water, garlic and kombu, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook for approximately 1 hour, or until beans are soft and mash easily. Remove pot from heat. Drain beans and reserve the cooking water.

To make the soup, heat olive oil in a large 8 quart pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and saute for about 5 mins. Then add the garlic, jalapeno peppers, yams, carrots, cumin, paprika, and chipotle chili powder. Saute and stir for another 5 minutes then add water. Mix well to remove any spices that have stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Then add the cooked and drained beans, tomatoes, cut corn, and chopped kale, mix well. If the soup needs more liquid then add some of the reserved bean cooking liquid.

Cover pot and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20-25 minutes. Add chopped cilantro, lime juice, and sea salt or Herbamare to taste.

Let me know if you try it!

Chickpea Stew

Here's another recipe that's just too good not to share: Chickpea Stew! This one is definitely up there on my list of favorites--it's one of those dishes that I start to actually crave if it's been too long since I've made it. (Plus I love any recipe that enables me to drink a glass of wine while I'm cooking!) When I woke up yesterday morning I was glad that I had bought the ingredients for it earlier in the week; Sammy and I had ourselves a little pizza party on Tuesday and I woke up yesterday feeling LOUSY. This body is way too sensitive to junk food when I'm pregnant! Two bowls of stew for dinner last night and I woke up feeling great today!

This recipe comes from my Vegetarian Planet cookbook, by Didi Emmons. These amounts serve 4--I usually make a double batch so I can eat it the next morning for breakfast, too (if we're being honest)

STEW:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup sliced onion

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, sliced thin diagonally

2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2" squares

2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup red wine

1 heaping teaspoon paprika

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup (or more) cooked chickpeas

1/4 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

COUSCOUS:

2 1/3 cups water

1 1/3 cups couscous

1/2 tsp salt

In a large sauce pan or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Stir in the carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, salt, pepper & wine. Then add the paprika and cinnamon. Stir and bring the stew to a boil. Turn the heat to low, and cover the pan tightly. Simmer the stew for 15 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Stir in the chickpeas.

Meanwhile, make the couscous: In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil, and add the couscous and salt. Remove the pan from the heat, cover the pan, and let the couscous stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous by lightly running a fork back and forth in the pan, starting with the very top layer of granules and gradually working your way down.

Stir the almonds, lemon juice and cilantro into the stew. Spoon the couscous into bowls, make a little well in the middle of each and spoon in the stew. Enjoy!

Back To Basics

Judi: I dare say: you've given me a bit of a Fat Head with your lovely comment about searching out my recipes. Truth-be-told, I've neglected my freezer far too long, and my children have been subsisting almost entirely on the 160 lbs of jonagolds we picked a week and a half ago. They are actually to the point of begging me NOT to serve them apples anymore. Whoops. With Justin's help (I get dopey if I'm out of the kitchen too long) I finally made a meal plan yesterday--with plans to restock the upright built right in! Here's what's on the docket for this week:

Wednesday: my famous Hot & Sour Soup and potstickers (two batches--when it's available I eat this soup three meals a day, and for dessert)
Thursday: Homemade Spaghetti and salad (two batches--each batch makes about 12 servings, so we should get four meals out of this)
Friday: Brittany's Black Bean Soup and homemade cornbread (three batches--another favorite, and one that freezes well)
Saturday: ...taking a break from cooking...we'll have appetizers for dinner....
Sunday: Enchiladas Verdes (four batches; two pans for Sunday and two pans for the freezer)

Whew! When I started making my grocery list, I calculated that I needed 31 cups of chicken stock just for the next five days. 31 cups! I buy plenty of packaged stock, don't get me wrong, but with these numbers, it's worth making my own.

I think that people don't make their own stock anymore because they think it's scary, or time-consuming, but the truth is that it's easy and does most of its own work. Here's what I do:

Buy a whole chicken. Bring it home, unwrap it, rinse it under cold water and pull all the "extras" out of the cavity (I usually just toss these). Now at this point, you can decide whether you want to boil the whole chicken, boil part of the chicken, or roast the chicken. Boiling the whole chicken gives the most flavor, but you won't get to use any of the meat. Boiling part of the chicken gives you more bang for your buck, but it takes a few extra minutes since you have to cut off the breastmeat or whatever else you'd like to save. Roasting the chicken first makes the flavors deeper, and you can use some of the roasted meat before making your stock, but it will make a dark brown broth, which isn't suitable for some recipes that require a clear broth. You can't really make a "wrong choice" here, but it's worth thinking about what your end product will be.

Today I wanted a good clear broth (asian soups don't lend themselves to roasted stock) and the benefit of some of the meat, too. I carved my raw chicken and saved the breastmeat and thighs in a freezer bag to use later this week in the enchiladas. Everything else went in the stockpot. Now chop one onion, one carrot, and one rib of celery into chunky (like 2") pieces and toss those in, too. Add cold water to your pot until it covers all of that goodness by about an inch. Throw in 5 or 6 black peppercorns and a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley (or dried, in a pinch). Now, these are my two secret ingredients: seaweed and a splash of white wine. The wine (or you can use vinegar) in your cold water will work to draw calcium out of the bones--which we get excited about in our house, since we are sort of anti-dairy. And the seaweed adds so many amazing mineral and nutritional properties, but you won't notice the taste in the final product. I keep a small package of Kombu in my cupboard, and add a small piece to the water whenever I make stock. Don't wash it before adding it though, as you'll scrape off the white film--which contains much of the seaweed's nutritional makeup.

That's about it! See, now wasn't that easy? Set your heat a little past medium and check your (uncovered) pot anytime you happen to pass through the kitchen. Don't stir the pot at all, and don't let it come to a rolling boil. Once it really starts to bubble, it will develop a foamy cover on top, which you can skim off gently with a slotted spoon. At that point, go ahead and turn the heat down to medium-lowish and simmer gently, still uncovered, for a few hours while you go about your day. It will be done when two to three hours have passed, and you notice the level of the liquid has dropped about an inch. All the flavor should be gone from your chicken and vegetables. You can try a bit of chicken--if it doesn't taste completely bland and lifeless, keep cooking. You want all that goodness in your stock. Once you determine it's done, go ahead and pour it--through a colander or strainer--into a large bowl and let it cool. Refrigerating the stock overnight will set all the fat on the surface, and you can easily remove it before transferring your stock to the freezer. Just remember to portion it into smaller containers if you don't have plans to use the whole batch at once.

Yum! So economical, and good for the bod, too. I'm sitting here looking at the label of my Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth, and it says: Organic chicken broth (filtered water, organic chicken), organic chicken flavor (organic chicken flavor, sea salt), natural chicken flavor (chicken stock, salt) sea salt, organic evaporated cane juice, organic onion powder, turmeric, organic flavor.

Now, does that make any sense to anyone else out there?

Know what's in my stock? Water, free-range chicken, carrots, celery, onion, black pepper, dried parsley flakes, kombu, vinegar. I like that ingredient list a whole lot better.

First Week Of School, part one: Meal Plan

Hooray for the arrival of the first week of school! Like everyone else, we've been bustling around the last few weeks trying to get everything in order...

Today we're cleaning the house and trying to prep as many foods as possible. This is the first year I will have all 3 boys at the table, and I'd love to have every day free to be with them instead of feeling stressed about getting dinner made and on the table.

Since it's the end of the month, the grocery envelope is close to empty and we're using up the last of the foods in our freezer--ground beef for the pastie and meatloaf, one lone flank steak, and some trout that our neighbor caught and gifted us with. Seasonal veggies, rice and legumes round out the remaining meals!

Here's our plan for the week:
Sunday: Indian spiced rice (with chicken)
Monday: Fresh pasta and pesto
Tuesday: Pastie
Wednesday: Split pea soup
Thursday: Marinated flank steak and grilled vegetables
Friday: Fish pie
Saturday: Basil/sundried tomato meatloaf and roasted fingerlings

...and how about one of my favorite recipes?

Indian Spiced Rice

This recipe is from a lovely book that my mother bought for me when I was in college: Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons. It has become my favorite meal to make the day after roast chicken. Because of the lentils, it's a complete protein on its own, but Justin's one of those bodies that requires animal protein on a daily basis, so I just chop up whatever chicken remains from the previous night and stir it into the finished rice, and the two pair beautifully. Yum! (and so economical, too! These ingredients cost pennies!)

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon minced, fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/4 cups uncooked jasmine rice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dried lentils

3 cups water

1 large potato (russet or sweet) or 2 small (reds or yukons)

1 small bell pepper, seeded and minced

1/2 cup peas

3 tablespoons raisins

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, cardamom, nutmeg and cumin. Cook for 3 minutes more, stirring frequently.

Add the rice and saute 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the salt and lentils, then stir in 3 cups water. Add the potato and cover the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn the heat to the lowest setting. After 10 minutes, lift the lid and add the bell pepper, peas and raisins. Stir well, then cover the rice again. Cook 10 minutes more, or until the rice, potatoes and lentils are tender.

Bored With Breakfast?

Try this!

Here's a Cooking Light recipe I've been wanting to try for a while; I finally made the couscous this morning and we all devoured it. I made a double batch and scrambled a dozen eggs and a few of the boys were still hungry...guess I'll have to make even more next time. But it still worked out to be an inexpensive breakfast, and oh so good! We splurged and bought the craisins, and walnuts are a staple in my freezer, but I'm sure you could just use what you have and omit what you don't. This basically tastes like a fancy oatmeal.

***Oh, and here's the coolest part--if you substitute 1/2 cup dry milk for the regular milk, and increase the water to 1 1/4 cups--it's a CAMPING BREAKFAST! Just boil the water alone, then stir in the dry milk before adding everything else. How's that for wonderful? I am definitely making this on our next camping trip...

Breakfast Couscous

1/4 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup uncooked couscous

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

2T brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Toss together couscous, cranberries, raisins, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl; set aside. Bring water and milk to a boil in a saucepan, stirring constantly. Once mixture boils, take it off the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and let stand 10 minutes, then stir, and serve!

Chicago Dog Salad

Here's another favorite meal in our house: Chicago Dog Salad. All of my boys inherited their mother's love of vinegary foods in utero (remind me, Sam, was it Cole that used to eat mustard with a spoon?). Justin's the only one around here who's not wild about vinegar, but even he loves this meal, because of all the crunchy veggies, and the hot dogs!

This is a Rachel Ray recipe we discovered a few years ago. It begins to pop up on my weekly menus every spring right around daylight savings time. There's just something about long evening shadows that pairs beautifully with seared hot dogs and tangy slaw!

(Big D--I can see you shaking your head--only your daughter would find a salad recipe that uses yellow mustard as its dressing...)

Here it is!

Chicago Dog Salad

1/4 cup yellow mustard

2T cider vinegar

1 rounded teaspoon sugar

4T vegetable oil

a few thin slices of red onion

16 ounces shredded cabbage

1 heart of romaine, shredded

2 tomatoes, diced

3 large garlic pickles, chopped

salt and pepper

8 hot dogs (we like Hebrews National), cut into 1" slices on an angle

Mix mustard, vinegar, sugar and 3T of the oil in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Add onion, cabbage, romaine, tomatoes and pickles and toss well, until salad is evenly coated. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1T oil, turn to coat pan, then arrange dogs in a single layer. Sear them for a couple of minutes on each side.

Mound the salad on plates, top with the seared dogs and serve.

Pastie, Anyone?

Friday night I made pastie for dinner--the first one of the year. The first pastie is always a special occasion. I usually save it for a good, chilly, fall night...but it also works well on a night that you can't handle the thought of shlepping all the kids to the store and you realize with a start that you actually DO have the makings for dinner--a pound of ground beef, a couple of carrots, a slice of onion, some leftover potatoes. That's about all it takes. And oh, the wonder it can create!

Pastie is nothing more than a Finnish version of shepherd's pie, but it has huge clout in our house. It's a recipe I learned from my mother in law, who learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother, etc etc. I listened to Justin rave about it for years before I finally had the opportunity to try it for the first time. It's one of those dishes that doesn't have to be fancy or expensive to still make you feel like you're part of something bigger, a deeper history. I was honored to have the recipe given to me, and I look forward to the day I can pass it on to the wives of my boys.

I still remember clearly an afternoon last fall when I was attempting to make this dish, and Reuben, who was only about 10 months at the time, was throwing a fit and was absolutely inconsolable. You know the times they want nothing else but for you to sit and hold them? And here I was, watching the clock and trying desperately to have dinner on the table on time, even with the rolling and the chopping and the baking. I finally gave in and held Reuben on my hip while simultaneously trying to prepare my pastry for the pie. It was a mess. Dinner was still ready on time, and it tasted the same, but it wasn't the prettiest pastie. Parts of the crust were thicker than others and there were parts that were hanging over the edge of the pie plate....but when I finally got it in the oven, exhausted, I suddenly thought of how many other mothers over the centuries must have made sloppy pasties because their babies were cranky and needy and wanted to be held....and it made me all weepy. I am just one of a long line of women trying to take care of their families. I don't worry about how pretty my pies are anymore.

Here's the recipe, for any of you curious readers:

PASTRY

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup + 2 T shortening

1) Cut these three ingredients together in a large bowl (with two knives or a pastry blender). Don't blend it too much--it should look like it has a bunch of little peas in it (the lumps of shortening). Add 6T ice water, 2 T at a time, stirring with a fork after each addition. The trick here is to make the pastry dough a little "wetter" than you think it should be, so that when you roll it out with the extra flour, it'll be just perfect. If it's too dry at first, it will crumble into little pieces when you try to roll it out!

2) Divide the dough into two halves, and roll out one half to fit in your pie plate (with a bit of overlap). For those of you new to pastry: fold your circle of dough in half, then in half again; lift the pie-shaped piece into your plate and then gently unfold it---this method is much easier than trying to lift a single piece of dough without tearing it!

THE FILLING

1)Peel 3 or 4 russet potatoes, placing each one as you peel it into a big bowl of ice water. Now take them back out one at a time and cut them up, letting the pieces fall back into the water bowl. Cutting potatoes for pastie should involve no cutting board whatsoever; just hold the potato in one hand and use your cutting hand and a paring knife to cut off little irregular bite-size pieces, starting at the back of the potato and pulling the knife towards you. Each bite should look totally different from the others, yet all about the same size and thickness, so they'll cook evenly. My mother in law swears that these funny little potatoes are one of the trademarks of a good pastie. Once they're all cut, go ahead and pour them into a colander to drain while you get your other ingredients ready.

2)Shred about 3 large carrots and dice up a slice or two of yellow onion (about 1/4 cup).

3)Okay, here's the good part. Take your dish lined with yummy pastry dough and

put in about a handful of the potatoes, spreading them evenly. Season with salt and pepper (I do this quite liberally). Now take your raw ground beef (1/2 lb to a lb....this is meant to be a "poor man's dish"...just use what you can afford!) and squish it between your fingers to break it into little bites over your pie plate. Keep squishing and dropping the pieces until you have a good even layer. Add more pepper, sprinkle on your diced onion; now add your carrots, making a good mound of them that is higher in the middle and slopes towards the edges. This gives your pastie its shape. Put on the remaining potatoes, add a few good dollops of butter, and more salt and pepper. Now turn up the overhanging sides of the crust and put a few drops of water on them so they will stick to the top crust. Roll out your other piece of pastry, cut a few slits in it so steam can escape, and crown your pastie! Bake at 350 on the low/middle rack of your oven for about an hour, then make a little foil tent and cover it to prevent browning; bake for another 30 mins or so.

**Here's the final note about pastie: It's all in the presentation. The proper way to enjoy this pie is to slice a nice big piece, take off the top crust, flip it over, and slather it with butter. Drizzle the meat and potatoes with ketchup and enjoy!

Here's the finished product.

Isn't it lovely?