Anne's Cookbook: Corned Beef Pot Pie

 

My family looks forward to St. Patrick's Day not because we are Irish, we aren't, but because we love a good boiled dinner which includes a yummy, stringy corned beef which are readily available in markets that time of year.  I usually cook it all day in the crock pot. This year prior to the March holiday I purchased not one but two bags of corned beef from my local grocer thinking I could make one later for the family since the bag clearly said "Use or freeze by May 12, 2020." I figured it would be a treat for us to eat this family favorite two months later. Why save favorite meals for just the holidays, right? Best laid plans. Unbeknownst to us the second corned beef kept pickling in the bag the whole time. Instead of enjoying the meal, all of us filled up on cabbage and potatoes barely able to gag down the meat because it was so sour. Hmm. What to do with the leftovers? Clearly no one was going to jump for joy at the prospect of a second boiled dinner as leftovers the next night. Then this thought hit me.

I've been wanting to try a Corned Beef Pot Pie ever since I heard a reference to it on the "Call the Midwife" series. When I looked on-line for a recipe all the ones I found looked disgusting. Clearly I would not waste my time making that horrible looking thing. But now that I had a goodly portion of corned beef on my hands why not create my own recipe? I could tweak a favorite chicken pot pie recipe and see how it turns out. This recipe is the result. I must say, it turned out quite well and will be better next time I make it with not-so-sour beef.

Corned Beef Pot Pie

Prep Time: 

• 1 hour when using leftover/already cooked corned beef
• Cooking time: 35 minutes
• Servings: 8

Notes before you get started: 

1. First, I highly recommend that you make homemade pie dough. Why waste all your time making a delicious filling and then add it to substandard pie dough? I've included my mother's No-Fail Pie Dough recipe below. It is easy to make and tolerates quite a bit of handling. 
2. Second, get all your ingredients out, chopped, measured, and lined up on the counter before you start making your filling. The french term for this is "mise en place" and it means to have everything set up ready to go before you start cooking. You'll thank me for this advice when you are in the middle of making the filling at point when everything seems to happen all at once. 
3. Chop carrots, onions, and potatoes into bite size pieces before cooking them. 
4. Make the pie dough first. Line a deep dish pie pan with the first crust, cover the second crust readying it for use after the filling is made.
   

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 1/2-2 cups peeled and diced potatoes 
• 1- 1 1/2 cups peeled and sliced carrots 
• 2/3 - 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 cup flour [60-65 gms] (I use organic)
  
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth (I made mine with 1 1/2 tsp Beef Better that Bouillon added to 1 1/2 cup boiling water)
• 2-3 cups chopped into bite size pieces or shredded cooked corned beef
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Pie dough, enough for a top and bottom crust
• 1 egg beaten into a tsp water for egg wash
  

 No-Fail Pie Dough Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour [250 gms] (I use organic); set aside 1/3 c. to use to make a paste with the water
  
• 3/4 cup Crisco
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 c. cold water

Filling Instructions:

• Mise en place (Set up):
• Preheat over to 425 degrees
• Make pie dough, fitting the bottom crust into a deep-dish pie pan
  
• Place diced potatoes and carrots in a small sauce pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil for 5-6 minutes to par cook or soften them. Drain and set aside.
• Chop or shred meat. Set aside.
• Dice a half of a large onion.
  
• Measure out beef broth, milk, flour, peas, and spices. Line up on counter in the order you will use them.
  
• Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large saute pan. Add diced onions and saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Add spices (salt, pepper, thyme) then sprinkle flour on top of melted butter and onions and cook for a minute to make a roue. Stir to evenly cook the flour.
• Whisk in beef broth and then the milk. When smooth, add the potatoes and carrots and let simmer for a few minutes. Check seasoning and adjust.
• Stir in meat and peas. Turn off heat.
• Pour filling into prepared crust. Mounding is fine as the ingredients cook down a bit and it makes for a fuller pie.
• Place second crust on the pie, trim excess, and crimp top and bottom layers together with fingers to seal. 
• Brush egg wash on top of the crust. Make several slits with a knife so that the steam can escape.
• Place pie on the middle rack of the oven. I usually place a baking sheet one rack below in the oven, just in case the pie leaks. 
• Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes until golden brown. If the bottom crust isn't browning, you may need to gently place foil over the top pie crust and leave the pie in the oven for a few more minutes to allow the bottom to brown up a bit. Nothing worse than a soggy bottom.
• Remove from oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes to allow for easier cutting. (Honestly, we don't wait this long usually!)
  
• Enjoy with a side salad or fruit.

No-Fail Pie Dough Instructions:

• Measure out flour and salt. I think it works best to measure flour by weight if you have a kitchen scale. 
• Remove 1/3 cup of the flour and place in a small bowl. To this add 1/4 water and mix to make a paste. Set aside
• To the remaining flour cut in the Crisco using a pastry blender. Once the mixture is about the consistency of small peas, add the flour paste and work together until integrated. 
• Divide the dough in half and roll out on a floured pastry board. Fit into pie pan.
• Repeat for the top crust. Leave rolled crust on board until the filling is ready.
• Fit second crust in pace, trim, crimp, egg wash, and make small slit to allow for steam.
• Bake as directed.
  

Enjoy. This is a very flexible recipe and should work fine with chicken, turkey or even ground beef, just adjust the spices and the broth to fit the meat. The pie can be refrigerated before baking and cooked the next day, just add additional time if the contents are cold to start with. It makes a wonderful meal idea for shut-ins that you visit or make ahead of time to freeze if you are expecting company in the near future. Every time I've made a pot pie using the basics of this recipe I've received rave reviews for it. 

How did this one do using soured corned beef? My husband said that the other ingredients, especially if taken in the same bite really mellowed out the harshness of the meat flavor. And by the second day, after mellowing in the fridge, it was even better. Lesson learned, however, even if the label says "use of freeze by" a date several months in the future, I will never hang onto an uncooked corned beef for that long again.

Anne's Cookbook: Minestrone Soup with Chicken Meatballs

Anne's Cookbook: Minestrone soup with chicken meatballs 

I found a similar recipe on the Internet and adjusted it to fit my family and our likes/dislikes. Not sure you like leeks? Try them the first time and find out. They cook down so beautifully and add such a nice flavor and bouquet to the broth...even my onion-hating daughter liked the flavor of the broth and didn't try to dodge the leeks. Sometimes a yummy and warming bowl of soup is just the ticket for a meal. I recommend this one for both comfort and for wholesomeness.

Ingredients and directions for meatballs:

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1-2 T. chives, snipped into small pieces
  
• 1/2 t. Italian seasoning
• 1/4 t. oregano
• 1/4 t. basil
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. ground pepper 

Mix all the ingredients together making sure to incorporate all the ingredients well. Form into small meatballs. I weighed mine for consistency of size which is helpful during the baking process. I aimed for 15 grams which is about the size of a one inch diameter meatball. Place on a baking sheet covered in foil or parchment paper. Bake for 18 minutes at 400 degrees. While the meatballs are baking, start the soup broth.

Ingredients and directions for soup:

• 1 leek, sliced thin (1/4th inch) of the white and light green portion only
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced or sliced thin
  
• 1 T. olive oil
• 8 cups chicken broth (I used 4 cups store-bought chicken broth and 4 cups water plus 1 T Chicken-flavored Better than Bouillon)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup fresh spinach 
• 1 cup uncooked pasta, I used rotini (spiral) shaped pasta.
• 1/2-1 t. salt, to taste
  
• 1/4 t. fresh ground pepper
• Additional Parmesan cheese to sprinkle atop the soup
  

Heat the oil in a fry pan. Add the leek coins and saute 2-3 minutes, add garlic for the last minute. Add leeks and garlic to the chicken broth in a large pot. Add chopped carrots. Simmer. When the meatballs are done baking, add them to the soup base. Bring the soup base back up to boil. Add the uncooked pasta. Cook for additional ten minutes until the pasta is done, adding spinach the last minute to just past wilted stage.  Sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve with a slice of crusty bread and an orange wedge and you will have a very satisfying meal.

-Anne

Anne's Cookbook: Fish Tacos with white sauce

Fish tacos, condiments, and white sauce

I go crazy for fish tacos. If they are on the menu, I order them. I crave them and make my hubby go to the local Mexican restaurant for Taco Tuesday quite often. If, however, the fish tacos do not have a tangy white sauce, I end up feeling disappointed. I even asked at my local Taco Del Mar if they would sell me some of their white sauce. The answer was NO. That sent me to the Internet is search of the perfect white sauce, which I've modified and included here.

Recipe for Fish Tacos with white sauce

Fish and marinade:
1-2 pounds of firm fish. I usually buy the frozen, packaged cod from Trader Joes. Or buy fresh.
1/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil
1 lime
1 garlic clove

Thaw fish. Cut into small pieces. Marinate for 15-30 minutes. Never over-marinate fish or it will get mealy. For the marinade use 1/4 cup of canola or grapeseed oil, juice of one lime, one garlic clove smashed, salt and pepper to taste. Place fish pieces on a sheet lined with parchment and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees F.

White sauce (can be made ahead of time for better melding of flavors)
1 cup sour cream, plain yogurt, and/or mayonnaise combination. (I like 1/2 cup of sour cream and a 1/2 cup mayonnaise, but I've made it with 100% yogurt and it is still good.)
1 tsp. dry coriander
1 tsp. dry oregano
1 tsp. dry dill
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. capers, chopped fine
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, depending on how spicy you like your food or chopped spicy fresh pepper, like jalepeno
4-6 drops of Tabasco sauce
Juice of 1/2-1 lime
4 springs of fresh cilantro, chopped up
Salt, to taste

Mix together and refrigerate until fish is ready. If the sauce is too thick, you can milk it down to desired consistency.

Other condiments for the tacos, use what you like:
Shredded cabbage
Avocado slices
Pico de gallo and/or salsa and/or fresh, chopped tomato pieces
Grated cheese

Pico de gallo, I made it for the first time myself last night and it is so easy and good. Try it.
4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
4-6 springs cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped very fine (use gloves to protect hands and eyes)
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste

Corn tortillas
We buy the soft corn tortillas and heat them one by one on the burner. It just takes a few seconds per side. But you can wrap them up in foil and throw them in the oven to heat as the fish is cooking.

Serve
Each person should make their own tacos to taste. Heat tortillas, add a few pieces of fish, a slice or two of avocado, a sprinkle of cheese, a dollop of white sauce, a spoonful of pico de gallo or salsa, and handful of shredded cabbage for the crunch. Fold in half. Eat, enjoy, repeat.

Anne's Cookbook: Baked Ground Turkey Meatballs, choose your style

Lately we have been making lots of ground turkey meatballs, thinking, possibly mistakenly, that they are more healthy than ground beef meatballs. Even though they are roughly equivalent in fats and nutrients, we find them to be very, very versatile. We have made teriyaki meatballs, Italian meatballs, Swedish meatballs. And now we are ready to made Thai meatballs. By adding hidden vegetables, you do bump up the healthiness of these little gems. The possibilities are endless. I encourage you to be creative.

Teriyaki Ground Turkey Meatballs with Brown Rice

Basic Baked Ground Turkey Meatballs (basic)

• 1 lb. ground turkey. Look for the organic kind if you can find it.
• 1 egg, who need something to bind the meat together so it holds its round shape
• Salt, 1/2 tsp is a good place to start, add more or less to your taste
• Pepper, 1/4 tsp
• 1-2 minced garlic cloves
• Add ingredients below for teriyaki, Italian, Swedish, etc.
• Shape all the ingredients into meatballs. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake in a hot oven, 400 degrees F, for 20 minutes until lightly colored.
• Serves 4.

Teriyaki Meatballs, to the basic recipe add---

• 2 green onions chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 cup grated Asian pear, pear, or crisp/tart apple
• Follow directions above for shaping and baking. While meatballs are baking, make sauce.
• Sauce. Mix the ingredients in a pot on the stove top and allow to simmer and thicken:
• 3 Tablespoons of agave syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup, or honey
• 2- 1/2 T. soy sauce
• 3 Tablespoons white distilled or rice vinegar
• 1-1 1/2 T. fresh ginger minced/grated
• When the meatballs are done baking, add them to the simmering sauce in the pot. Roll them around to become coated.
• Serve the teriyaki turkey meatballs with rice and a green vegetable like bok choy, snow peas, zucchini, or even a vegetable stir-fry, whatever you like.
• Leftovers: serve in lettuce wraps with marinated vegetables like carrot twigs, bean sprouts, spiralized cucumbers, thinly sliced green peppers, etc.

 Italian Meatballs, to the basic recipe add---

• 1/2 cup of grated (fine) carrots, zucchini, summer squash, or sweet potato. I use the finest grate for the carrots and they are so moist and wonderful!
• 1-2 T. of Italian breadcrumbs, or plain bread crumbs and 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning mix 
• 1-2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 T. fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
• Bake according to the above directions
• Serve with marina sauce on pasta, or (our favorite) polenta, or blanched spiralized zucchini 
• For leftovers, make these into turkey meatball subs with marina sauce and a slice of mozzarella cheese on a halved baguette, toasted (or broiled) to melt the cheese.

Swedish meatballs, to the basic recipe add---

• 1/4-1/2 cup finely chopped or grated onion
• 1/4 cup finely grated sweet potatoes or carrots
• 1/4 cup of plain bread crumbs
• (Only use 1 minced garlic clove or none, as most Swedish meatball recipes do not call for any.)
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 t. allspice
• 1/4 t. cardamom (optional)
• 1 T. parsley, chopped
• increase black pepper to 1/2 t.
• Gravy Sauce: While meatballs are baking, as per above directions above, make the gravy.  (Swedish meatballs are all about the gravy.)
• Make a roux with 1/3 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk together in a saute pan over medium heat until slightly brown and thickened, slowly whisk in---
• 1 qt of beef, chicken, or turkey broth (I've only used beef broth) when the roux and broth are nicely mixed, stir in--- 
• 1/2-2/3 cup sour cream or heavy whipping cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• When the meatballs are done baking, add them to the simmering gravy and cover each one.
• Serve on egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Garnish with more parsley.

Thai Turkey Meatballs and Peanut Sauce, to the basic recipe add--- (I haven't made these meatballs, yet, but I have made the peanut sauce and served it with cooked chicken pieces. Delicious.)

• 1-2 chopped green onions
• 1/2 c. finely grated carrots
• 1 tsp. curry
• 1-2 tsp. grated ginger, fresh
• Bake according to directions above. While meatballs are baking, make peanut sauce in a saucepan on the stove:
• Peanut Sauce:
• One 14 oz can of coconut milk
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 T. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 T. sugar or honey
• 1 T. lime juice
• Simmer until hot and all ingredients are well mixed.
• Serve with jasmine rice (or whatever rice you like). Top each serving with several meatballs and plenty of peanut sauce. I bet this will become a family favorite.

Have fun experimenting with Baked Turkey Meatballs. Let me know if you have any favorite meatball recipes I can try.

Remember to PIN the recipes to your page for easy access when you want to give baked turkey meatballs a try.

Anne's Cookbook: Green Smoothie

Anne's version of the Hippy-Dippy green smoothie: A new breakfast staple at our house is a homemade green smoothie. I copied the idea from a restaurant in Santa Fe where the ingredients were listed but not the proportions. Here is my version of the Hippy-Dippy. Try it, you really might like it.

Anne's Hippy-Dippy Green Smoothie (Serves 2) 

8 oz. of organic apple juice, unsweetened (I use Treetop Organic Honeycrisp Apple Juice or Trader Joe's Brand Apple juice---select the cloudy-looking juice) 

1 largish organic kale leaf with the center stem removed 

10-15 cilantro leaves 

5-10 parsley leaves, depending on size, remove as much of the stem as possible 

Fresh ginger, peeled and grated. I use about a half inch of the root and use a ginger grater. (This is the secret ingredient that makes this smoothie so delightful. Use fresh ginger for sure!)

Juice of one small lemon, seeds removed. 

Blend thoroughly. Pour into juice glasses immediately. The smoothie will separate into layers (see photo.) 

1-3 ice cubes, I like it cold. 

I have a KitchenAid  blender and it works beautifully, really pulverizing and juicing up the ingredients and grinding up the ice. If you don't have a good blender, this drink may end up being too pulpy for you. After suffering through many, many low powered, bad blenders I finally bit the bullet and bought this expensive one and it is worth every penny. 

You may want to use a spoon to stir it as you drink.  Yum!  I hope you enjoy it. 

Anne's Cookbook: Curry Chicken Summer Salad Wraps

ANNE'S COOKBOOK is a new feature here at My Head is Full of Books. Once a week, or thereabouts, Anne will open up her own cookbook and share favorite family recipes with you. Feel free to try them, tweak them to fit your needs, PIN them, and share them.

Curry Chicken Summer Salad Wraps

This is a favorite family meal during the summer months when no one wants to heat up the house by using the stove or oven. Every person can personalize their wrap to fill their own tastes, too.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 chicken breasts
• Marinade
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. mild vinegar, I used white champagne vinegar, but red wine vinegar would be good, too
• 1 tsp. seasoning mix, I used 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder
• Sauce
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt, I used plain Greek yogurt for a thicker sauce
• 1-2 tsp. curry powder, depending on how spicy you like it.
• Package of burrito-sized tortillas
• Fixings
• Green or red seedless grapes, small bunch
• Red or Green tart apple
• Raisins, 1/4 cup
• Blanched, slivered almonds, 1/4 cup
• Celery, 1-2 spears
• Shredded romaine lettuce

Directions:

Marinate chicken breasts in the marinade for around 30 minutes. While chicken is marinating, get BBQ up to temperature. When the grill is ready, grill chicken as per your particular BBQ dictates for boneless chicken breast. (10-20 minutes). When grilling is complete, set chicken aside to rest for five minutes before slicing into small, bite-sized pieces.

While the chicken is grilling, prepare your sauce and fixings. I use small bowls for each ingredients instead of mixing everything together because my family members all have different likes and dislikes. Wash and cut grapes in half. Clean celery and then chop into small pieces. Wash and core apple, cut into bite-sized pieces. Shred or tear lettuce into small pieces. Place raisins and almonds in bowls. For the sauce, simply mix curry into the yogurt. We like it spicy at my house so I use at least 2 tsp. of curry. Some curry is sweeter than others, you may want to add a teaspoon of sugar if you think yours isn't sweet enough.

When chicken is done resting and is cut up, heat tortillas for 10-15 seconds in your microwave. Just long enough to take the chill off them. If you don't have a microwave, you can quickly heat them up using a hot pan and some sort of tongs for turning them over. A few seconds per side should do fine.

Fill your tortilla with the ingredients you like. I start by smearing the whole thing with the yogurt sauce, then I add the pieces of chicken followed by my favorite fillings (we call them do-dads.) Wrap like a burrito which means you close off the bottom and then bring the sides around, leaving only the top open. Enjoy. Go back for seconds!

Serves 4.

Note for variations: The fixings of our summer salad lean toward the sweet side of things. You can certainly add other crunchy vegetables to make it a bit more savory. Try green or red peppers, jicama, water chestnuts, shredded carrots. Don't use ingredients you don't like. For example, if you are a raisin-hater, skip them altogether.  If everyone in your family loves the same do-dads, you can mix the fixings up together with the sauce ahead of time (minus the lettuce.) You can also use flat bread or pita bread instead of tortillas. We have tried them all and have decided we like tortillas best. In fact, if you prefer, you can eat this as a salad and skip the tortillas altogether. Just mix all the fixings together and serve on a bed of lettuce

Cous Cous Salad (a recipe)

This is a book blog but I just have to share this new salad with my readers. This is a salad that works well with whatever extra ingredients you have in the fridge or garden. I didn't measure a thing, so I am guessing on the amounts of each ingredient.

Cous Cous ( or quinoa) Summer Salad
(I've made it with each grain at different times, but I am just going to explain how to make it with Cous Cous here.)

1/2 cup dry cous cous
1/2 cup boiling water
1 to 2 T olive oil (I used good quality EVOO)
8 mint leaves, cut into small pieces
1 to 2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1/4-to 1/2 tsp salt
Juice of one small lemon
1/2 avocado chopped into bite sized pieces,
1/4 to 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 to 1/2 cup green pepper cut into bite sized pieces OR cucumber pieces
5-8 grape or cherry tomatoes cut in half or quarters
Your favorite vinegar to taste. I used Spicy Honey Serrano (you can order from Marisolio Tasting Bar)

Serves two, full meal portions

Increase ingredients and amount of cous cous if you want to serve more. Cous cous to water proportion is 1 to 1. I used left over quinoa another time I made the salad. I used about 1 1/2 cups of the already cooked quinoa. I added a whole cucumber and no avocado or green peppers. Adjust salt.

My daughter doesn't like vinegar or tomatoes so I leave these off the salad and add them at the table.