Spinach & Asparagus with Paneer

Well, we are about 3 weeks behind in getting things into the garden, so as usual for May there isn't much time to cook or post! Still, I have that big package of paneer in the fridge, and spinach and asparagus from the garden, and a ton of garlic left from last year to use up...so here it goes, and very good too. You could serve this with rice, or pasta, or even on toast.

4 servings
1 hour prep time

1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 teaspoons coriander seed

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
4 to 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 bunch spinach (about 6 cups loosely packed)
250 grams ( 1/2 pound) asparagus
300 grams paneer
2 tablespoons mild vegtable oil
1 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch

Toast the cumin seed, coriander seed, and black peppercorns in a dry skillet until fragrant. Turn them into a dish to cool, then grind them. Mix them with the salt and Aleppo pepper and set aside.

Peel and mince the ginger and garlic. Wash the spinach, and pick it over, discarding any yellowed leaves or tough stems. Rinse again and drain it very well. Chop it roughly. Wash and trim the asparagus, and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Cut the paneer into bite-sized slices.

Use a little of the oil to grease a large, heavy skillet. Heat it over medium-high heat, then cook the paneer pieces for a few minutes on each side, until well browned. Remove them and set them aside.

Add the remaining oil (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) to the pan, and cook the asparagus until it just turns colour to a brighter green. Add the ginger, garlic, and spices, and mix in well, cooking for another minute or two. Add the very well drained spinach, and cook until it is completely wilted, turning it and mixing it to cook it evenly.

Mix the arrowroot into the yogurt, then mix it into the pan of vegetables. Mix in the paneer slices, and continue simmering and stirring occasionally very gently until everything is well amalgamated and looks done to your liking - at the very least, the cheese should be thoroughly hot again.





Last year at this time I made Poached Eggs & Asparagus on Grilled Cheese Toasts. 

Pasta with Green Onions & Cheese

Usually when I make pasta, I aim to get the sauce ready in about the same time that it takes to get a pot of water boiling and the pasta cooked. It's our fast, emergency dinner, after all! However, for this one I would get everything, or almost everything chopped up first before I even turned on the water - there's a lot of chopping here.

I really liked the mint in this. I have a big patch of mint and always think I should use it more than I do. I used paneer, since we went to Costco this week and I bought a big, big block of the stuff - so there will be more. 

2 to 3 servings
45 minutes prep time

4 cups finely chopped green onions
2 cups finely chopped spinach
1 cup finely chopped fresh mint
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 cup finely chopped green garlic
OR 3-4 cloves of garlic
250 grams (1/2 pound) dry pasta
300 grams (10 ounces) paneer, halloumi, or feta cheese
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon flaked Aleppo pepper

Wash, trim, and finely chop the green onions, spinach, mint, and parsley. Mince the green garlic, or peel and mince the garlic cloves. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Cut the cheese into bite-sized cubes; if you use feta cheese rinse and drain it well first.

When the pasta goes into the pot, heat  a large skillet, over medium-high heat. It should be lightly oiled, but just enough to keep the cheese from sticking. Add the paneer or halloumi cubes, and cook, turning after a few minutes, until lightly browned all over.

Add the remaining oil then add the green onions and cook them, stirring, until wilted. Add the spinach and mint, and continue cooking and stirring until they too are wilted. Add the garlic greens or garlic, and mix in well. Season with the salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the Aleppo or similar not too hot chile pepper - Korean pepper would be about right too. Continue to cook and stir the greens for the remaining few minutes until the pasta is done.

Drain the pasta, and add it to the pan of greens. Or, if it won't fit into the skillet, return it to the pot in which it was cook, and mix the greens into it. If you are using feta as your cheese, add it now. Either way, mix them until well combined, and serve it up.

Sorrel & Spinach Soup with Poached Eggs

Well, I have to admit this uses too damned many pots for a simple bowl of soup, but still, it's a very nice soup.

I am always so dubious when I pick my sorrel - it looks kind of tough and weedy, and the slugs have been at it. When you cook it, it turns kind of brownish, so it's best to mix it with spinach and/or onions as I did here, to keep the colour looking appetising. How can this be good? And yet it is! It's so sprightly, fresh and lemony, and tastes like spring in a bowl! I am on a mission to get people eating more sorrel. It's such an easy early spring green, and perennial too. It should be more widely available. But if you can't find it to buy, then maybe grow some yourself.

4 to 6 servings
30 minutes prep time

2 large (450 grams; 1 pound) potatoes
4 cups packed fresh sorrel leaves
4 cups packed fresh spinach leaves
3 to 4 cups chopped green onions
4 to 6 spears of asparagus (optional)
4 to 6 small eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
plenty of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth or water
1 cup plain yogurt

Scrub the potatoes, and trim or peel them. Cut them into dice, and put them in a large pot with water to cover them generously.

Wash and pick over the sorrel and spinach. Soak them both in cold salted water if you think they may harbour insects. Drain them well and chop them roughly, keeping them separate. Clean and trim the green onions, and chop them roughly as well. Wash and trim the asparagus and cut each spear into 3 or 4 pieces, if you wish to garnish your soup with asparagus.

Bring the potatoes to a boil and boil them for 10 minutes. Break the eggs in gently with the potatoes to cook them to your liking - 3 to 4 minutes for a soft egg; 8 minutes for a hard egg, or somewhere in between. Throw the asparagus in to cook with the potatoes as well at the point where there are 2 to 4 minutes left of cooking, depending on how well-done you like your asparagus.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the green onions, and cook until wilted. Add the spinach and cook it until wilted. Mix well. Add the sorrel, and cook until it too is wilted.

Transfer the vegetables to a blender, and add the broth or water, and the yogurt. Blend until combined, but still retaining a little texture. Pour the soup back into the soup pot, and bring it back up to a simmer.

Lift the eggs and asparagus from the boiled potatoes, and set them aside. Drain the potatoes and add them to the soup; mash them in roughly if you like, or leave them in cubes. Serve up the soup, adding an egg and a few pieces of asparagus to the top of each bowl of soup.




Last year at this time I made Rhubarb Mousse Pie. 

Rhubarb - Orange Gelatine

It seems like the change from the dregs of the last year to the start of the next season happens in a twinkling. We are now picking rhubarb, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, green onions, chives, and sorrel from the garden. Or would be, if we had any time.

Dad has been a time-absorbing guest. He has a cowbell to summon aid, and it sounds at all hours of the night and day. Between his physical pain and his mental and emotional turmoil, we are all utterly exhausted. I'm typing this up as a Red Cross worker is here to help with his personal care. They come in for 20 minutes to half an hour twice a day, and they have seriously saved my sanity. On Tuesday morning he will go into the local nursing home and we look forward to being able to deal with other things in our lives - even his other disasters - and to visiting him as a pleasure again and not as a never-ending chore.

Meanwhile, this was a quick and easy dessert to make. The texture was more soft and pudding-like than jelly-like, but none the worse for that. Orange juice goes very well with rhubarb, sweetening and mellowing it.

6 servings
20 minutes prep time; 2 hours (at least) set time

4 cups diced raw rhubarb
1 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
another 1/2 cup orange juice
4 teaspoons granulated gelatine

Wash and trim the rhubarb, and cut it into short pieces. Put it in a large pot with 1 cup orange juice and the sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the rhubarb disintegrates. Stir regularly.

Meanwhile, put the remaining orange juice into a quart bowl or mold. Sprinkle the gelatine evenly over it.

When the rhubarb is sufficiently cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Slowly stir the contents of the pot into the soaked gelatine in the bowl or jelly mold. Stir well to ensure the gelatine is completely dissolved.

Let the mixture cool slightly, then place it in the fridge until it is completely set; at least 2 hours, although overnight is best. Serve from the bowl, or unmold the gelatine by dipping the mold briefly into warm water to the brim (but don't get the jelly wet!) then flipping it onto a plate.




Last year at this time I made Carrot Soup with Dill & Chives, and The Strata of Montecristo.

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

I hope you can still find some local carrots. I have a bin full, because we dug our overwintered ones up just before everything went crazy.

These worked out really well. I often find things made with ground turkey can get awfully dry, but the toasted barley flour added a little depth to the flavour and kept them moist too. Serve them with mashed potatoes, pasta, or rice; we had ours with polenta and I really liked that a lot. 

6 servings
45 minutes prep time

1/2 cup barley flour
500 grams (1 pound) ground turkey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rubbed oregano
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives or green onion
2 cups finely grated carrots
3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
2 cups grated carrots (again!)
1 large onion
OPTIONAL 1/2 green or red pepper, OR a handful of mushrooms 
4 cups tomato sauce

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and put in the barley flour to toast. Stir it constantly until it is a light tan or buff colour. It will take a few minutes before anything starts to happen, and then it will toast quite quickly. As soon as it is a good even colour, dump it into a large mixing bowl right away to cool.

Add the ground turkey, break in the eggs, add the salt, oregano, paprika, chopped chives and finely grated carrots. Mix it all well, by hand or with a large wooden spoon, until thoroughly blended.

Form the mixture into 24 or 36 meatballs, putting them out on a large plate or a sheet of parchment paper as  you form them.

Grate the remaining carrots, and peel and chop the onion. Trim and chop the green or red pepper, or mushrooms, if you are using them. 

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the meatballs until they are evenly browned, turning them to achieve that. Remove them back to the plate or paper as they are browned. 

Heat the remaining oil in the skillet. Add the remaining grated carrots, and the chopped onion. Add the peppers or mushrooms if using. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened and slightly cooked down. Add the tomato sauce, then return the browned meatballs to the sauce. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the meatballs are cooked through - about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with polenta, rice, or pasta.

Oyster Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce

Here's a quick and simple little thing that came out of my experiments with the Steak and Mushroom Pie. This would make a great topping to steaks or chops, chicken or fish, tofu, rice or pasta. It's as fast and easy as can be, and once the mushrooms and garlic are prepared it will be cooked in under 5 minutes, so don't start cooking it until everything else is just about ready to go to the table.

Unlike this dish, life is pretty complicated around here at the moment. I'm fine; now it's Dad's partner who is having health problems. He's in the hospital with pneumonia and Guillain-Barré syndrome, so I was down at Dad's house for a week. Changes are coming to their lifestyle, ready or not - and unfortunately, they are mostly not ready. I begin a new career of herding cats, or at least Dad. Trevor is not going anywhere for a while. Unfortunately, I am a bad cat-herder, and Dad fell down stairs when I was supposed to be watching him. Nothing broken, but he is in a lot of pain. In short, posting is going to be intermittant around here again for a while.

2 servings
15 minutes prep time

200 grams (1/2 pound) oyster mushrooms
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Clean (but they should be quite clean) the mushrooms, and trim off the stems where they become tough and woody. Cut the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces if they are large. Peel and mince the garlic.

Just before you are ready to serve the rest of the meal, heat the butter in medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and stir them about and cook them for a minute or two. Add the garlic, and continue cooking and stirring for about 1 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, mix it in well, and continue cooking until the mushrooms look done to your liking. That will likely be just a minute or two more. That's it; serve them up!

Steak & Mushroom Pie

When I made Steak & Kidney Pie a couple weeks back, I thought I had better have a back-up, just in case somebody didn't eat kidneys. Somebody like Mr. Ferdzy, in fact. Sigh. So, I made a classic steak and mushroom pie to go with it. 

When I went to buy the mushrooms, my eyes were caught by some lovely oyster mushrooms. I have never really used them all that much for some reason, but I bought them, and liked them, and now I am on a tear! There's going to be more oyster mushroom recipes, is what I'm saying.

Even though oyster mushrooms really don't taste like oysters (I guess someone thought they looked a bit like them), oysters were a pretty traditional addition to steak pies back in the days when oysters were cheap and plentiful. Consequently, when it came time to add some seasonings to the pie, I thought oyster sauce would do very well, which it did!

6 servings
1 hour 45 minutes - 45 minutes prep time

Make the Filling:
700 grams (1 1/2 pounds) round steak
450 grams (1 pound) oyster mushrooms
2 large shallots
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons savory
 freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 to 1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup tomato paste or thick tomato sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce

Cut the steak into bite-sized pieces, trimming off any bits of fat or gristle, and discarding any bone. Clean the mushrooms, and trim off the stems where they become tough and woody. If any are too large to be eaten in one piece, cut them up accordingly. Peel and chop the shallots, and peel and mince the garlic.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown the steak pieces on both sides, then add the mushrooms and continue cooking and mixing, until the mushrooms are softened and slightly browned as well. Add the shallots, and cook to soften them, then add the garlic.

Once the garlic has been in for a minute or two, add the flour, savory, and pepper. When they are sufficiently mixed in that no white can be seen from the flour, add 1 cup of the beef broth, the tomato paste, the vinegar, and the oyster sauce.

Simmer the mixture for about 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Add a little more broth if the mixture becomes too thick. Taste and add a little more salt or pepper, if you think it requires it.

Place the stewed beef mixture in a 10" pie plate, and spread it out evenly.

The stew can be made a day ahead, and the crust added and baked the next day if you like. In that case, keep it covered and refrigerated, and let it sit out for half an hour to warm a little before the crust goes on and it is baked.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350°F.


Make the Crust: 
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup mild vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

The butter should be very soft. Mix it with the oil and buttermilk. The butter can be in fairly large lumps.

Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour.

Mix the flour into the wet ingredients. Stir until everything is amalgamated. There should no longer be large lumps of butter, but small lumps or streaks are not only fine, but good.

Put the dough out on a piece of parchment or waxed paper a little larger than the pie plate, and roll out the dough until it will cover the pie plate.

When you are ready to cover the pie, lift the paper to the edge of the pie, and turn it over so the dough sits on top of it. Peel off the paper and discard it. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Bake the pie at 350°F for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how warm (or not) it was when it went into the oven. The crust should be nicely browned and the filling hot and bubbling.

Egg Fu Yung

I have to say, I never order egg fu yung in a restaurant. If I'm in a Chinese (Canadian) restaurant, I'm always convinced there are much more interesting things to order. As a home-made dish though, this was good - really good! I'm going to make it a regular item in the rotation.

If, perchance, you don't wish to make the sauce, add a bit of salt to your eggs. Otherwise, - don't! Rice is the obvious thing to serve with this, but I thought it was a substantial enough meal without any. Of course, the two of us ate it all. I used 5 eggs for the two of us; to have it serve 4, add the extra egg and serve it with rice.

I had tofu to use up, but if you prefer it you could use a skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs, likewise cut into smallish cubes and cooked ahead of the other ingredients. 

2 to 4 servings
45 minutes prep time

Make the Sauce:
1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mix the arrowroot and water in a small bowl until well dissolved, then add the remaining ingredients, stirring after each addition. Set aside until needed.

Make the Egg Fu Yung:
200-225 grams (scant 1/2 pound) firm tofu
125 grams (1/4 pound) button mushrooms
3 cups mung bean sprouts
3 to 4 green onions
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
OPTIONAL: 1/4 red or orange pepper,
1 stalk celery
OR 1 medium carrot
2 to 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
5 to 6 large eggs
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the tofu into 1/2" to 3/4" cubes. Clean and quarter the mushrooms. Rinse and pick over the bean sprouts. Rinse, trim, and finely chop the green onions. Peel and mince the garlic. Optionally, chop up a quarter of a pepper, or clean and slice a stalk of celery, or peel and grate or julienne a medium carrot. Don't use all of these; one will be sufficient.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu cubes, and cook them, turning occasionally, until they are lightly golden brown; this will take about 10 minutes. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.

Heat the pan on high now, and add the carrots, if using, along with a tablespoon of water, and cook, stirring around,  until the water is evaporated. Add the mushrooms, along with the celery or pepper is using, and continue cooking and stirring until the mushrooms are softened and slightly browned. Add the bean sprouts, and stir them in; continue cooking until they are just shiny and slightly wilted; about 1 minute. Next add the green onions, cooking again for just a minute or so. Finally, in goes the garlic and again, just mixed in and cooked for about a minute. Finally, add the tofu back into the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Add a little more oil to the pan if you think the eggs will stick if added at this point.

Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl, and add about a tablespoon of water to them. Pour them evenly over the pan of vegetables, season with a little pepper, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for about 5 minutes more, until the eggs are set. For the last minute of cooking, turn the egg fu yung over if you can - ideally all of it at once, but just by the egg-lifterful if that's what you can do (raises hand.)

While the eggs are cooking, heat a very small skillet or pan with the sauce ingredients in it, until they come to a boil. Simmer until thickened and clear; just 1 or 2 minutes.

Serve the egg fu yung with rice, if you like, and with the sauce ladled over the top of it.




Last year at this time I made Potato & Sorrel Salad.

Spicy Parsnip & Tomato Soup

Well spring is here, I guess; but it's still soup weather, that's for sure.

This one uses our own dried tomatoes with someone else's nice fat parsnips (I think we have some, but we would have to squelch through quite the swamp to look for them). Onion, garlic and chile flavours take the parsnips in a direction they don't often go in - at least not around here - but it all works very well. As ever, be prepared to adjust the seasoning quantities to your own taste, and to allow for the fact that different chile sauces can be... quite different.

If you can't get dried tomatoes, use some canned crushed tomatoes instead. It will increase the final amount of soup slightly, but not exactly a problem.

4 servings
1 hour - 30 minutes prep time

500 grams (1 pound; 4 large) parsnips
1 large onion
4 to 6 cloves of garlic
1 tablespon mild vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed, ground
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted chicken stock)
4 cups (1 litre; 1 quart) chicken stock
1/2 cup dried tomatoes
OR 2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce

Peel the parsnips and cut them into 1/4" or so slices. Peel and chop the onion. Peel, trim, and slice the garlic. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet along with about 1/2 cup of water. Add the parsnip slices and cook, turning regularly, until the water has evaporated and the parsnips are beginning to brown. Add the chopped onion, and continue cooking and stirring until the onion has softened and is slightly browned as well. Mix in the garlic slices, the ground cumin seeds, and the paprika, and cook for another minute or so, until the garlic too has softened, and the spices are well blended in.

At this point, you can add the chicken stock and tomatoes to the skillet if it is large enough, or transfer the vegetables to a large soup pot with the chicken stock and tomatoes if it isn't. Bring the mixture to a simmer and simmer until the tomatoes are tender, or about 30 minutes. Test the broth and add the salt if it is needed. Stir occasionally.

Purée the soup in a blender, and season with the sugar, pepper, and chile garlic sauce; adjust any other seasonings as seems necessary. Reheat the soup to serve. 




Last year at this time I made Lentils with Rhubarb - things were definitely a little further along! - and Arugula Pesto.

Medical Update

No recipe post today; I have had my operation and am recuperating.

I had my operation yesterday, and I would say it went well. I am fairly sore and uncomfortable, and somewhat strangely have a very sore throat and could not even speak last evening. I think that is because I was unable to drink anything for about 18 hours and got very, very dehydrated. Still, it's no worse than you would get with a bad cold and it seems to be much better this morning.

In other words, there isn't much to complain about! Nevertheless I intend to sit around reading and eating jelly, tea and cookies for the next couple of days. It's my first operation and I intend to milk it for everything it's worth - although apparently that won't be much. Just as well!

Anyway, I'll probably be back next week. Enjoy this nice spring weather at last!

Lamb (Steak) & Kidney Pie

Certain parts of the lamb tend to linger in the freezer longer than others. I actually had 4 sets of kidneys in there, which at the rate of 1 lamb per year, well... you work it out. Some of them were old.  I just can't feed them to Mr. Ferdzy. Fortunately, they had been well-wrapped by the butcher, in brown paper, and they had kept much better than should have been expected.

We had invited an English guest over for dinner, and I strongly suspected that he would enjoy a version of this classic English dish. (Yes!) I got the recipe originally from my stepfather, Jack, who was also English. He made his the traditional way, with calves kidneys and beefsteak. What was sitting in my freezer, though, was the afore-mentioned lamb kidneys and lamb stew meat. Well, traditions are there to be adapted! There is no reason not to revert to the original beef though, if that is what you want, or can get.

Jack's recipe is unusual in that it calls for a generous amount of rosemary, which I think goes amazingly well with the kidneys. It didn't call for any flour to thicken, but I thought it could use some, and put in a tablespoon. Having done so, I conclude it could have used even a little more, so I'm calling for 2. Many people like to replace some of the broth with beer. That's up to you, but I'm putting it out there. I'd probably be more inclined to do that with beef than with lamb. And finally, that's my favourite biscuity crust for meat pies (again). It's easy, and flaky without any fancy technique required.

6 to 8 servings
2 hours - 30 minutes prep time - done in stages

Make the Meat Filling:
450 grams (1 pound - about 6) lamb kidneys
900 grams (2 pounds) stewing lamb
2 medium onions
4 stalks celery
2 medium carrots
2 tablespoons bacon fat or other oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon rubbed rosemary, ground
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups lamb or beef broth, or water
2 to 3 bay leaves

Cut the kidneys into bite-sized pieces, discarding the white fatty cores and any stringy bits. Trim excess fat and gristle from the lamb, and make sure it is cut into bite-sized pieces as well.

Peel and chop the onions. Wash, trim and chop the celery. Peel and dice the carrots.

Heat the fat or oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the lamb stew meat pieces, and brown them , turning to brown them evenly. When they are browned, add the onions, celery, and carrots. Continue cooking and turning, until the vegetables are softened and slightly browned. Add the lamb kidney pieces, and mix in well.

Sprinkle the flour over the meat, along with the rosemary, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper. As ever, the amount of salt depends on your broth - up to 1 teaspoon if it has none; adjust that amount down as needed, to zero if the broth is salty. Once the flour has been mixed in and absorbed, pour in the broth and add the bay leaves. Stir well to make sure nothing is sticking to the pan. Simmer for 30 minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened and the meat is cooked. Stir regularly.

This can be done a day ahead if desired; bring it out of the fridge half an hour before the crust is put on and the pie baked, to get the chill off before it goes into the oven. Either way, the stew should be put into a large, deep pie plate or a 2 quart casserole dish to be covered with the crust and baked.

When ready to make the crust and finish the pie, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the Crust:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup mild vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

The butter should be very soft. Mix it with the oil and buttermilk. The butter can be in fairly large lumps.

Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour.

Mix the flour into the wet ingredients. Stir until everything is amalgamated. There should no longer be large lumps of butter, but small lumps or streaks are not only fine, but good.

Put the dough out on a piece of parchment or waxed paper a little larger than the casserole dish, and roll out the dough until it will cover the casserole. If your casserole dish has a lid, this is useful for using as a template for the dough.

When you are ready to cover the casserole, lift the paper to the edge of the casserole, and turn it over so the dough sits on top of the casserole. Peel off the paper and discard it. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Bake the pie at 350°F for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how warm (or not) it was when it went into the oven. The crust should be nicely browned and the filling hot and bubbling.




Last year at this time I made Pasta alla Pierogi.

Rhubarb & Carrot Muffins

I was quite pleased with how these turned out. I was afraid I was putting in a lot of rhubarb, but it was really quite subtle, and did not overwhelm the spices which then played their part very well. I did find that I had to bake them longer than expected - mine took the full 30 minutes - but I used frozen rhubarb and was not careful about draining it well. I expect the amount of liquid in the rhubarb could make quite a difference in how long it takes to bake them, so check them at the 20 minute mark and take it from there. 

12 muffins
45 minutes - 15 minutes prep time

Mix the Dry Ingredients:
2 cups soft whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
8 pods green cardamom, ground

Measure the ingredients into a small mixing bowl. When you get to the cardamom, crush the pods, remove the green papery hulls, then grind the remaining seed finely before adding it to the bowl.

Mix all the ingredients lightly and set aside. 

Mix the Wet Ingredients, and Finish:
2 cups grated carrots (2 medium-large)
2 cups finely chopped rhubarb
1/4 cup mild vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with paper muffin cups. 

Peel and grate the carrots and put them in a larger mixing bowl. Add the rhubarb, making sure it has been well drained first. Add the oil and honey, and break in the eggs. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients, and mix. As they are absorbed and the batter gets dry, add the milk. Mix until well blended, but no longer. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake the muffins for 20 to 30 minutes, until firm and lightly browned.