My love of rhubarb is no secret around here. There are almost 10 rhubarb recipes on this site. I eat rhubarb all year long. I must resort to frozen for 11 months, but then, in late May, fresh local rhubarb arrives in Ottawa and I can be found squealing with joy at the market. When rhubarb is this pretty, it deserves to be tied up with a bow.
Rhubarb is one of those polarizing ingredients. Most people either love it ot hate it. I think the haters object to the sourness and stringy texture. The key is to add just enough sugar so that edge is taken off, and you avoid that mouth puckering astringency. I find that baking the rhubarb in the oven helps to melt the rhubarb down into a silky smooth texture.
Pairing the rhubarb with other ingredients and flavours can also help to convert those haters. Strawberries and rhubarb are a classic pairing. I added some ginger for a bit of zing. It’s a surprisingly delicious flavour combo.
The pastry for these hand pies is most unusual. Created by cookbook author Abby Dodge, it uses browned butter and eggs. The browned butter adds a gorgeous nutty flavour. The eggs make the texture of the dough more like a cookie than a pie crust.
A sprinkling of coarse turbinado sugar adds sweetness and crunch.
Happy Pi Day (3.14/March 14). Pie making is not my strong suit. I have always struggled with uneven and cracking dough while rolling, and shrinking dough while baking. I’m much more comfortable whipping up a swiss meringue buttercream for a cake or a dozen salted caramel macarons.
It seems like every day is National Something or Other Day. There is actually a calendar to keep us informed. Did you know that April 14 is National Ex-Spouse Day? Maybe people celebrate it with a smash cake? Some food bloggers are super organized and maintain an editorial calendar to track and feature all these days. Sadly, I don’t fall into that category. But, Pi day is something I feel like I can get behind. Last year we celebrated with Spiced Lamb Hand Pies.
I have a thing for hand pies. They’re just so adorable and I feel no guilt about eating a tiny pie.
The pie dough for this recipe comes from pastry wizzard Stella Parks, over at Serious Eats. She calls for a 1:1 ratio of flour:butter, by weight. Most typical pastry dough recipes use more flour than butter. The extra butter in her dough creates a dough that’s pliable but strong, making cracks and tears a thing of the past. It gets folded once, to create extra flaky layers.
The apple filling is classic and simple. Apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Sharp white cheddar makes a fine companion for apples, but use orange cheddar if that’s all you have. I decided to get fancy and make a decorative braided border on my pies. Ever since I saw this Apricot Pie I wanted to try my hand at dough braiding. I still need a bit of practice, but it was fun to do. You can simply leave them plain and they’ll be equally delicious
Happy Pi Day! Did you know that March 14 is Pi Day? Somehow a day that honours a mathematical symbol is feted with the baking of a pie. I’m okay with that. I have always loved math. Algebra and geometry made sense to me. Calculus, not so much! I could never understand its application to real life. Here at salt and serenity we’re going to mark the day with a savory little hand pie, made with ground lamb and a combo of spices that will leave you feeling very joyful. Food that you can eat with your hands is always more fun, and these flaky little pies are as charming as they are delicious. Redolent of Morocco, the scent of cumin, coriander and cinnamon will perfume your kitchen.I made a dairy-free pastry, using refined coconut oil (refined coconut oil has almost no scent). You could of course use butter if you wish. I added a bit of cornmeal to the all-purpose flour for a bit of a crunch. You could make them rectangular or round. Just make sure to cut a few holes in the top crust so that the steam can escape during baking and they don’t explode.Sautéed onions, frozen peas and corn were added to the filling for a welcome sweet vegetal hit.
Just the words “Hand Pie” make me smile. Could there be anything more adorable and appealing than a little pie you eat with your hands? To be honest, I’m not a huge fruit pie fan. Perhaps it’s because of my peach pie blunder. Or maybe it’s just that if I’m going to ingest copious amounts of butter and sugar, I’d rather partner it with chocolate or caramel rather than fruit. Plus, there’s something about a fruit hand pie makes me think of McDonald’s deep-fried apple pies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
But stuff something savory in pastry and I’m all over it!
I was watching The Chew last week and Carla and Clinton teamed up to make Chili Hand Pies. They had way too much fun making them, and I wanted in on it. I think it would be so much fun to have the cast of The Chew over for drinks! Cooking dinner for them would be too much pressure, but I know that certainly after a few cocktails, they’d all be in my kitchen with me cooking away. Michael would be laughing while he prepared some porky goodness, Mario would be grating Parmesan Cheese over everything and Clinton would surely keep the cocktails flowing.
My sisters just read the last paragraph and I know they are thinking that I am turning into my mother, having imaginary parties with my TV friends.
Carla and Clinton did a Beef Chili. I decided to do a vegetarian version, substituting Veggie Ground Round for the beef. I also added some onions to the chili and ramped up the heat, using 3 kinds of peppers: fresh jalapeno, diced pickled jalapeno and ancho chili powder. You want the filling to be quite spicy because the pastry crust is quite mild.
The dough is made with cornmeal. They recommended cutting the butter into small slices, but I took it right from the freezer and grated it into the dry ingredients. This is a wonderfully supple dough and rolls out without any problems. I used a 5 inch tin to cut out my circles. Use whatever you have on hand. Smaller ones would also be a wonderful hors d’oeuvre. You can make the chili and the pastry a day ahead and refrigerate them separately. I rolled out all my pastry circles and stacked them between sheets of waxed paper, before chilling. That way, the next day it was all ready to assemble and bake.
Onions, garlic, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, cumin, chili powder and salt form the flavour base.
Make sure you let the chili cool before mixing in some grated cheddar.
Don’t overfill them or you will have trouble sealing them. You can simply press the edges with the tines of a fork, or get fancy and roll the edges like a rope.
Cut a few slits so the steam can escape. 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and they are ready to serve.
