Mini-Cornish Pasty

I'm continuing my autumn pie-mania with a savory turn today: the Cornish pasty.  I know, I know, it's past unofficial pie season and we're now in cookie season!  But this pie lover thinks it should always be pie season.  I also hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as I did.  We got to spend it with our families, which is a treat when you've spent as many Thanksgivings working in a newsroom as I have.  And I started out stressed, thinking about all the things I could cook and bake and how to make everything perfect.  Then I loosened up.  My pumpkin pie looked imperfect.  I helped Mom make the meal instead of interfering with the planning or trying to take over.  I shrugged when the the table wasn't styled like a magazine spread.  Because the whole family was together, and it was a darned good meal.  A plentiful one.  My dad suddenly bought lobsters, of all things, Thanksgiving morning.  My brother went out and bought Italian cookies and a ricotta pie.  "Gee, you think we have enough?" I asked them.  And then we feasted.

My niece, Audrey, on Thanksgiving. She's going to be my apprentice baker one day.

Let's say this is a pie sendoff before I kick off cookie season.  Some friends are throwing a British-themed Christmas party this weekend, and I will be bringing these Cornish pasties.  They're like beef stew in pie form, the flaky pastry filled with beef, carrots, onion, and potato.  And because people will be milling around the party and there will be lots of other food, I made them minis.

Besides scaling them down, I adjusted the filling.  The recipe doesn't call for cooking it before the pies go into the oven, but I figured beef and vegetables steamed in a crust can't taste as good as the pan-seared and sauteed variety.  I put that to the test by making them two ways, and I was right.  The uncooked filling was bland (though Joe was happy to polish those pies off), but the cooked filling was aromatic and full of flavor.  The recipe, from Jamie Oliver's Great Britain, also included zucchini and butternut squash in the filling.  I kept the ingredients closer to that of a traditional beef stew, and I didn't want watery squash or the trouble of dicing hard butternut anyway.  Swap in whatever you like -- the recipe suggests peas, fava beans, or asparagus in spring.

I won't lie -- these are kind of a production.  But worth it!  Don't attempt the whole thing in one day.  Make the dough one or two days ahead, the filling one day ahead or the day of.  Give yourself time to roll and re-roll the dough and assemble the pasties.    They can be fully assembled, frozen, and baked later.  When done, reward yourself with a beer and a couple pasties.  They'll make a great holiday party starter, or a hearty winter lunch.

Bison Chili

Forget ground turkey.  When you want a lean chili, try bison.  It's got that beefy flavor that poultry just can't imitate.  In addition to being leaner than beef, bison has the benefit of being free of antibiotics and hormone injections because the animals are a protected species.

I won't lie to you: one drawback is the price.  Bison costs close to $10 a pound around here, and this recipe calls for 2 pounds of meat.  Eating healthy ain't cheap.  I initially thought about halving the recipe, but halving the cans of beans, hominy, and tomatoes becomes inconvenient.  What can you do with half a can of hominy?  But if you think of the cost in servings instead of the total, at 6 servings it works out to $4 a serving.  Not bad.

I think the recipe loses a little of the rich mouthfeel that a traditional beef chili has because the bison tastes leaner, but that's the fat missing.  Joe gave a better review, saying he preferred this to traditional beef chili.  With the holidays coming up and winter being full of heavy foods, it's nice to have a leaner alternative when you want a hot bowl of chili on those wintry days.  Your waistline will be thankful.

And if you really want to be healthy, try this recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts that has dried cranberries and walnuts from Oh My Veggies.  It also has baked apple but I ate my last one, so I roasted some grapes with the sprouts.  I discovered on my Facebook page that lots of you out there are sprouts lovers!  Alas, this was my first taste of sprouts and I don't really dig them.  But I was in the minority -- two of my friends loved them and asked for the recipe.  And the flavors of maple, cranberry, and walnut are great.  If you like sprouts, you'll love this recipe.

Bittman's Bulgogi (Korean Barbeque)

One of my fondest childhood memories is my parents taking us to eat Korean barbeque.  We'd make the trek from Brooklyn to Flushing, in Queens.  I would arrive home with my jacket smelling like the grilled beef, and it was Carnivore Nirvana.  When I moved to the Boston area, my sister would eagerly make the treks with me to Koreana in Cambridge.  The waitresses would bring us nearly a dozen side dishes, and we would cook the meat on the tabletop grills.  The beef would be flavorful and juicy, but just slightly crisp and charred at the edges.

When I saw Mark Bittman's Backyard Bulgogi article, I got excited.  Sure, he's not Korean, but the man can cook, can't he?  I liked how simple the recipe was, but it sure didn't look like the time my summer term college suitemate from South Korea made bulgogi (I remember a lot more soy sauce, and sliced white onions).  The verdict: It didn't taste quite like bulgogi, but it was still pretty damn good.  You really can't go wrong with marinating beef in a paste of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and scallions.  The only real change I made was to broil the beef, since the last time I used my gas grill it caught on fire -- no, not the way it's supposed to.  But the broiler did the trick, and it was close to Carnivore Nirvana.

Brisket Melt

I had this sandwich with my sister at a restaurant last month.  It was a bitterly cold day, and we were starving.  I couldn't decide what to order, and asked Sis what she was getting.  "The brisket melt," she said, and I decided I had to have it too.  The brisket was juicy and fall-apart tender, and served on challah with melted cheese, onions, and peppers.  And I've been thinking of it ever since.

This version proved to be real easy.  Instead of placing the brisket and vegetables in a roasting pan covered with foil like the recipe said, I used my cast iron braiser and its lid.  Stick it all in the braiser, then in the oven, and come back in a few hours.  Toast a roll, melt some cheese on it, top it with some sliced brisket and onions, and you're done.  And really full.

I used Ina Garten's Brisket recipe, but downsized it for a 2½-pound brisket instead of the 6 or 7 pounds the recipe calls for.  If you can't find brisket at your supermarket, ask the butcher.  My only other deviation from the recipe was to use a can of tomato puree with some water instead of the tomato juice the recipe calls for, since I thought that was a weird choice of braising liquid and I didn't have any.

Beef Chow Fun (Beef with Rice Noodles)

So I spent a hectic few days in New York, and learned this recipe from Mom.  I wanted to take her out someplace for a belated birthday dinner, but she didn't feel like going out.  She really wanted to cook with me.  I decided not to push for a restaurant if she wouldn't enjoy it, plus I took away a lesson for one of my favorite dishes.

And it was way better than a restaurant meal I'd had earlier in the week.  My sister and I agreed Bellini on Manhattan's Upper West Side was awfully underwhelming for Italian food.  Dessert was another disappointment, at the famed Magnolia bakery.  My devil's food cupcake was all right but nothing exciting, and the frosting was just too sweet.  The Crack Pie at Momofuku's Milk Bar was good, if a bit on the too-sweet side, but it wasn't as addictive as its name would have you believe and I was disappointed after all the hype.  Ippudo with my friend Bao, who writes some dining pieces for The New York Times, was a real winner -- delicious pork buns and ramen noodles that are nothing like what you get in the cheap plastic packets.  I also had some mooncakes (yue bing) with the Mid-Autumn Festival not far away, and this pandan version was not only flavorful but very pretty.

But back to the important stuff.  This dish is often called Beef Chow Fun on restaurant menus, and the wide, flat rice noodles are called sha he fen.  They're only sold fresh, not dried, and sometimes they're already sliced and other times sold in a sheet.  Look for them and the bean sprouts, which lend a nice crunch, at your Asian market or Chinatown. 

And Mom says the Chinese restaurant secret to getting that beef so tender is a pinch of baking soda.  Sounds weird, I know, but it works!

Satay!

I think this satay would make my Malaysia-born mom proud.  I love ordering it in restaurants, dipping the perfectly grilled strips of meat into a peanut sauce.  The recipe calls for chicken, but my red meat-lover self used beef; both are common.  The sauce takes some time to put together but is great and complex, not like those flat, sugary peanut sauces you find in chain restaurants.

Some of the ingredients, like tamarind, were unusual for me, but don't let that put you off.  Despite my heritage I don't cook a lot of Malaysian, Singaporean, or Chinese food, since I learned to cook on my own rather than from my mom.  But I've been picking up a dish here and there, and getting less intimidated with each one.

One other minor note: some of the recipe instructions tell you to process ingredients to a smooth paste, but don't knock yourself out.  Ginger and lemongrass are very fibrous, so my spice paste was a bit chunky and stringy.  In the end, though, it all smells great on the grill.

Short Ribs and Corn Puddin'

This is perfect cold-weather comfort food.  The short ribs require minimal setup and then simmer away until tender, and the corn pudding puffs up like a souffle but stays creamier in the middle.  The pudding might be a little bland for some, but the addition of some hot peppers or cheese would do the trick.  Some reviewers of the short ribs recipe suggested adding red wine or tomato paste, but I'd already made a beef stew with red wine recently and was looking for something different.  I'm also one of those people who likes beef for beef . . . why cover it up with 20 spices and seasonings?  You might as well eat chicken or tofu.  Aside from a few vegetables, these short ribs needed no enhancement -- they were perfect.

The corn pudding recipe calls for cornmeal (which I didn't have), but I read on Wikipedia that in the US the finely ground stuff is known as corn flour (which I did have).  I figured I would like the finer texture anyway, since I'm one of those rare people who doesn't care for cornbread and its gritty texture.  Plus, it was an excuse not to run out to the grocery store!

When It Gets Chilly, Make Chili

I make and eat this year-round, but it's especially comforting in the cold months. I first found a recipe on Epicurious but have tweaked it a lot, cutting down the massive size of the recipe, cooking the bell pepper at the beginning instead of the end (too raw for me), and adjusting seasonings and ingredients. Instead of biscuits or cornbread, I spoon up the chili with tortilla chips. When I cook it for my sister, she asks me to make enough for leftovers.

CHILI

1 large onion, chopped

3 tbs vegetable oil

2 carrots, sliced thin

1 tbs minced garlic

1 green bell pepper, chopped

About 1½ lbs lean ground beef

1½ tsp cayenne pepper (more to taste)

1½ tsp ground cumin

1½ tsp dried oregano

1 tbs paprika

1½ tsp red pepper flakes

8 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained

3 tbs tomato paste

6 oz beef or chicken broth

14 oz can red kidney beans

1 bag tortilla chips, preferable in the "scoops" shape

In a large pot or dutch oven, saute the onion and green bell pepper in the oil until the onion is translucent, then add carrots and garlic. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the beef, breaking it up and cooking until browned.

Add the cayenne, cumin, oregano, paprika, and red pepper flakes and stir. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and broth. Bring to a simmer and cover, cooking for 1 hour. Add the beans and cook 15 minutes more. Taste and add more cayenne if desired.