Category Archives: pie

Party!

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veggie party food!!

We had a christmas party in our store the other night. That’s right! We have a store. It’s called ANTICK, and we have beautiful furniture and built-ins, and all kinds of wonderful other things as well, from hand-blown wine glasses to the nicest cutting boards you’ve ever seen, to stuffed felt owls. But this isn’t actually an advertisement for our store. No it’s not. It’s about vegetarian christmas party food made by pastry-dorks such as myself!

I had the brilliant idea to try to serve red and green food. So we had red and green cerignola olives, which are my favorite kind of olives. And I made bright green chermoula sauce, which I dusted with bright brick red spanish paprika. Very pretty! (chermoula is a mix of cilantro, parsley, olive oil, lemon, garlic, cumin and, um, paprika) I served it with small slices of baguette.

And I made pretty rosy little paprika cracker cups with membrillo and manchego. And spicy dark chocolate cookies.

And I made chard rolls in flaky pastry. A little bit like vegetarian sausage rolls, with red and green swiss chard (I know, I know, it’s not so red and green anymore once it’s all baked in pastry). These had olives, capers, hazelnuts and mozzarella. They’re nice because they’re small enough that people can have one or two as a snack, but they’re substantial enough that you can have a few and call it dinner. If, say, you’ve been making party snacks all day and don’t feel like making an actual meal.

Here’s Antick decked out in holiday regalia.

Antick

And here’s my current favorite holiday song…The Ethiopians’ Ding Dong Bell. It’s the best!

Empanadas with chipotle and butternut squash

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Red bean and butternut squash empanadas

These empanadas are like an evening in autumn – the leaves are all golden, red, and orange, and the smoke from somebody’s fireplace fills the air. Made with yellow corn, red beans, roasted butternut squash, and smoky paprika and chipotle puree, they’re pretty and delicious. They go well with artichoke heart salsa, which brings coolness to their smoky warmth. I baked mine, but you could fry them if you wanted.

Here’s Red Beans by Coleman Hawkins with the Red Garland Trio
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Greens & roasted butternut squash in a hazelnut crust

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Greens & butternut squash in a hazelnut crust

It’s a big handsome pie! This is another good option for a vegetarian holiday meal. It’s pretty enough and satisfying enough. I love the combination of butternut squash, goat’s cheese and hazelnut. Something about the nuttiness, tartness and sweetness just blends perfectly together. The crust is crispy and delicious, with ground hazelnuts and white & black pepper. Inside we find layers of butternut squash roasted with sage and rosemary, alternated with layers of fresh ricotta mixed with greens, artichoke hearts, capers, and goat cheese. It sounds complicated, but it’s not hard to make. I love this particular shape of pie. I think I might have invented it! I think it looks nice, but it’s completely easy and forgiving and fun to make.

This is delicious served with romesco sauce or a simple tomato sauce.

Here’s Squash Dance, from the Anthology of Central and South American Indian Music
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Roasted carrot & apple with goat cheese in a rosemary crust

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When I was little, I loved the Little House on the Prairie book that was about Almanzo Wilder’s childhood in upstate New York. In one scene, he gets all excited because his mom makes him his favorite dish – apples and onions. As a child, I thought this was a very odd combination, because apples were sweet. Well, it turns out that little Almanzo was a culinary genius, because apples are lovely in a lot of savory environments. In these little pastry parcels, carrots and apples, roasted with shallots and garlic, show off their sweetness to tart goat cheese and sharp cheddar, and all the tastes are enhanced by the lovely combination of golden raisins and rosemary. A surprising mix-up, perhaps, but really delicious. I made these quite small, because the filling is soft and it contrasts nicely with the crispy crust. Have 2 or 3 with soup or a salad for dinner, or take them to a party as a fancy appetizer.

Here’s Neutral Milk Hotel’s King of Carrot Flowers. Might not actually be about carrots, but such a good song.
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NPR’s history of the pie

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I’m not the only pie geek out there! Here’s an article on the history of pies from NPR. Fascinating! And I LOVE magpies!!

And here’s Alfred Deller’s The Tailor and the Mouse, which used to freak me out a little when I was young. He bakes his mouse in a pie! Why would you do that?

Pie, Mash & Liquor – vegetarian style

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I first came across pie, mash & liquor in the wonderful blog Spitalfields Life. This meal is an east London phenomenon, which consists of a meat pie, a pile of mashed potatoes, and a drenching of liquor (parsley sauce). And it seems to be accompanied, traditionally, by jellied eels. (I haven’t come up with a vegetarian version of this, but it would probably involve okra.) The meal is served in gleaming marble and glass pie shops, which I vow to visit one day!

I used a black bean and mushroom substitute for the meat. From the recipes I’ve seen, there’s a bit of leeway with different flavorings – it’s not as pure and simple as a cornish pastie, for instance. I added marmite, mustard powder, paprika, and beer, and the result is really delicious! I have made parsley sauce in the past, but I was in the mood for something different, this time, so I made an herbed walnut sauce, and stirred a big helping of pesto in at the end so it would be green (and tasty!!)

I used a hot water crust on the bottom and a paté brisée on the top, which seems to be traditional, according to some sources. But you could use one or the other. And I used a large-sized muffin pan, but you could use a regular muffin pan, or, to really keep it simple, just use paté brisée and fold them over like turnovers.

Here’s Dee Dee Sharp doing Mashed Potato Time
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Empanada Gallega – vegetarian style

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This is the time of year for savory pastries! (somebody told me I say the word “savory” too often. And perhaps I do, but somebody’s got to!) They’re so warm and comforting, and they’re the perfect solution to the problem of trying to feed vegetarians a holiday meal. Or to feed non-vegetarians a meal special and satisfying enough that they don’t miss their meat.

Let’s start with the grandmother of all savory pies…the Empanada Gallega. This empanada is probably the source of empanadas all over the world. It hails from Galicia, in Northwestern Spain, and it’s a large flat pie that would be cut into pieces. I’ve never been to Galicia, and I’ve never eaten a genuine empanada gallega, but I’ve been so taken with the idea of it, and I’ve read so much about it, that I feel like I have! I’ve cobbled together a vegetarian version of my idea of an empanada gallega. It’s delicious, relatively simple to make, and it feeds a lot of people. I believe that seafood, specifically tuna, is used in the real version. I’ve experimented with different types of vegetables…mushrooms, eggplant, spinach, zucchini. The combination I like best, in the end, is artichoke hearts and zucchini. Baby spinach would work well in that combination, too, if you’re in the mood. If you’re not a fan of zucchini, you could stick with artichoke hearts by themselves. Whatever you like! We’re making it up as we go along, so it’s very adaptable. You know what would be good? Artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers. I’ll try that next time!!

empanada gallega

In Galicia, the patterns on the pies help to identify what kind of filling is inside. Since I just make one at a time, we just have fun with them. My son made the owl!

Here’s Grant Green’s Empanada

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White bean & tarragon pie

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White bean tarragon pie

It’s handsome and delicious! This pie has a filling of white beans, mushrooms and tarragon, and an oatmeal-pecan crust. You’ll have to forgive my enthusiasm, because I wasn’t sure how it would work out, but it was really really tasty. A number of strong flavors combined perfectly, so that nothing seemed out of place or in your face. Tarragon is a bit of a prima donna herb – it can be a little too prominent. But its lovely hint-of-anise/hint-of-lemon flavor shined perfectly in this pie. The dough, with pecans and toasted oats, is not as hard to work with as it might sound, but it does lend itself to this simple & forgiving form. You just roll it out and then fold it up like an envelope. And it makes wonderful crackers!

Here’s Les McCann’s Oatmeal.
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Vegetarian jerk patties … with pigeon peas!!

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vegetarian jerk patties

Pigeon peas are delicious! They’re nice because they have a subtle, distinctive flavor, and because they retain their shape and texture, even when cooked. And I just read on wikipedia that pigeon peas make a well-balanced human food! Sounds tasty, doesn’t it?

Jerk spice is a Jamaican blend of spices that is most commonly rubbed onto meat before cooking. It consists principally of Allspice, thyme, and hot scotch bonnet peppers. An unlikely mix, but one that is quite delicious! I used this spice to flavor a filling for a vegetarian version of jamaican meat patties – a pastry with a curried crust and a spiced-meat interior. Our meat-free version combines spicy, intriguing flavors in a crispy yellow crust!

This recipe for preparing the peas also goes well with rice (no crust!), if you add some water and cook till they get nice and brothy.

And while you’re waiting for your jerk patties to cook, you can do the Cool Jerk with the Capitols. What a song!
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Deep Mushroom Pie

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This pie is so comforting it’s almost Dickensian, but it’s not stodgy at all. If you think of it as mushroom paté in a flaky crust, it’s actually quite elegant. It’s fun to make, doesn’t take too long, and is special enough to be a vegetarian holiday meal. I use a hot water crust on the bottom, and a paté brisée crust on the top, but you could use one or the other for both. I like to put a layer of chard or spinach, sauteed, finely chopped, because I think it adds a nice contrast of flavor and texture, but you can go full-mushroom if you like.

Here’s Ella Fitzgerald, with Louis Jordan singing the delicious Petootie Pie

You’re such a tasty, lump of pastry.
Gotta light the oven –
Gonna cook a dish of lovin’

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