Fresh Tart

I'm too fickle to cook very far ahead - I mean, I can eat most things for two days max, then I have to move on.  Not to mention many dishes taste pretty tired the next day (pastas, pizzas, lettuce salads, fish).  But beef works, and is often improved with a day or two of rest.  Particularly the braising cuts, like the three pounds of boneless beef short ribs I slow-simmered over the weekend.  Last night they saw their third iteration (first two below) as meat pies, and oh boy were they good.  This was leftover cookery at its most fun - a bit of this, a little of that.  Puff pastry sheets from the freezer.  One russet potato and one yellow onion from the pantry.  A green pepper from the cooler.  And a generous sprinkle of curry powder for some interest.  I diced everything quite small, sauteed the potato, onion, and green pepper together with the curry powder until tender.  Stirred in the diced beef, seasoned with salt and pepper, let it all cool a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I rolled out the pastry, cut it into generous circles with a cereal bowl, filled and folded the pastry over, and sealed it up with an egg wash.  I finished with an allover brush of the egg wash (or an allover wash of the egg?), then baked the fat little crescents until crispy and golden brown, about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Result?  Rich, savory deliciousness, especially with braised kale alongside.  The lesson here is that pretty much anything, diced and sauteed into a savory hash, would taste fantastic inside puff pastry.  Doesn't everything taste fantastic inside puff pastry?  Next time you have a spot of roast - lamb, chicken beef, pork, or no roast at all, just vegetables - give it a go, see what you think.

And before that, for my lunch, I restored myself with the most hodgepodge of soups.  I conjured it up on my minus-four-degree walk, in fact, while my stomach rumbled and my face and hands stung from the cold.  Soup!

I started with chicken broth, stirred in a bit of leftover garlicky tomato sauce, then leftover orzo, a swirl of pesto, a handful of spinach, and a couple of tender turkey meatballs (which I make in batches and keep in the freezer).  Basically a healthy, flavorful Italian meatball soup to warm me through and hold me through the afternoon.  Until the meat pies.

Leftovers kind of...ROCK?

Meat pies! Rarrr! In whatever form - samosas, pasties, empanadas - the combination of savory meat and vegetables encased in tender pastry is irresistible. To me. And apparently to John and Nathan too. Before I abandoned my family for the Commanderie dinner on Tuesday night, I played the good wife and mother and tried out a recipe I'd pulled from Gourmet magazine last year for Beef and Curry Pies. Nathan helped me roll out and cut dough so that in no time he and John had hot, crispy meat pies for dinner, while I was whisked off for downtown (smelling rather of curry, a strange combination with my beloved Le Parfum de Therese, to be sure) by Stu and Debbie. The recipe in theory serves 8, but there were no leftovers between the two of them, so... I'll adjust the serving size accordingly (!) in the posted recipe (in comments, below).

If you're not in the mood to roll and cut dough (which with frozen puff pastry really doesn't take very long), I'd suggest empanadas from El Meson. Their empanadas are absolutely perfect. Tender, flaky crust filled with garlic-studded beef, with a hint of sweetness, dipped in fiery salsa... Shut. Up. I crave 'em, with cold beer, although I really only achieve them once a year. Perhaps tonight's the night, I'll have to think on that for a bit. What say ye, Johnny?

For lunch today I get to cash in on the efforts of yesterday, when I took the time to simmer a homemade chicken stock. (I use a couple of pounds of chicken thighs, brown them thoroughly in olive oil, then toss hunks of carrots, celery, garlic, and onion into the pot, with a handful of fresh herbs, water to cover, simmer partially covered- skimming often - for 2 hours. Strain carefully - discard solids - season liberally. If not using right away, cool to room temp, uncovered, then chill.) We had the hot stock as a sort of make-your-own-chicken-noodle-soup, with cooked egg noodles, sauteed veggies (asparagus tips, onion, mushrooms, carrots), grated gruyere, and chicken breast pieces (from a rotisserie chicken) as optional add-ins. With a loaf of crusty bread, it made a good, hot, filling meal on a ridiculously cold night. Even my nephew Cooper Cuteness had a few tastes of the rich broth! Coop de Loop does soup!