packed puff pastries



My graduate program had a welcome back rooftop party so I decided to make these. I kinda made it up in my head as I went along so there's nothing really exact.

Here's a recipe:



2 packages Dufour puff pastry
1 1/2 pound package of meatloaf meat (that has a 1/2 pound each of  ground veal, beef and pork) or just buy them separately
1/2 pound ground lamb
a handful of fresh tarragon leaves chopped
a large handful of fresh oregano chopped
a bunch of fresh flat parsley chopped
8 cloves garlic chopped into small pieces(or to taste)
1/2 vidalia onion minced fine
fresh cracked pepper to taste
a pinch of cumin seeds ground up in a mortar and pestle (I ran out of powder)
a dash of ancho chili powder
a dash or three of Penzy's Arizona Dreaming spice mix
5 dashes of Hungarian sweet paprika
a dash of cayenne pepper
a couple dashes of Worchestershire sauce
a couple dashes of soy sauce
a dash of sweet balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of chicken soup base (better than bouillon)
1/2 a small package of feta cheese
6 oz parmigiano reggiano
1/2 pound blue or gorgonzola
butter
2 egg yolks mixed with water for an egg wash



the puff pastry:

You can leave it out at room temperature for 40 minutes, or do like the package suggests and defrost in the fridge for 3 hours. My fridge did not really completely defrost it in more than 3 hours, but if you press your hand against the dough to warm it wherever it needs it will roll out fine.



the filling:

I started out by using some bacon ends I had to render oil for the onions and garlic to caramelize. You can use olive oil or nothing and just add them along with the meat. Once that was done I added the meat and cooked till browned and the juices were almost absorbed.

I drained the meat and put it back in the pan with a pat of butter to replace any oil lost, but not risk the puffs coming out soggy from too much liquid.

I added the freshly chopped tarragon leaves and oregano to the pan. Then I added the other seasonings. This was mainly trial and error, I didn't know what sort of flavor I was going for yet so I kept adding things till I liked the taste.

Once everything was cooked through I chopped up the fresh parsley and added it to the mix. Then I added the Parmesan cheese.

I let this sit on the stove for a while then popped it into my fridge in a container to cool more after adding half the package of Greek feta.

Once the mixture was cool enough I crumbled the blue cheese in and added it to the rest.

You will have half of this mixture left over and can use it on pasta or in more puffs later!



putting it together:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F

Lay the pastry out on a floured board and roll out the rectangle to a 12x12 square. Cut 16 ~3 inch squares out of the sheet with a pizza cutter.

spoon a teaspoon full of filling into the center of each square.

moisten the edges of each square with egg wash and fold over. You can make triangles or rectangles. FYI rectangles are easier when you're tired of folding pastry.

Crimp the edges with a fork or if you're fancy, crimp them in a nicer way.  My crimping attempts tend to look like a dog got a hold of the edges and shredded them with its teeth so I still use a fork.

Place the puffs on parchment paper on a cookie sheet or in a roasting pan. You can pretty much use whatever you have handy.

Brush the egg wash on top of each.

Bake in the oven for 25-40 minutes or until the tops are browned and the pastries are puffed out plumply.

Repeat with the other package of pastry.

This will make 32 puffs.

surprise! quiche


 I ended up leaving some eggs out so I decided they needed to all be cooked right away... surprise! quiche.

I use Mdme. Fromage's recipe from epicurious, but I use all cream and a bunch more cheese.... also no crust!

This one had cubed ham and sauteed zucchini inside along with a bunch of extra sharp cheddar.


sweet curried kidney bean soup with tomatoes and coconut



This was very quick to make:

2 cans of pinto beans (I used whole foods' organic)
sweet curry powder
smoked paprika
crushed tomatoes ( I used enough to fill up a small saucepan, so about 1/3 of a large can)
sweetened shredded coconut
garlic powder
1/2 stick butter
maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste
a dash of soy sauce
2 drops of liquid smoke (optional)

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the beans.
Mash about 1/3rd of the beans with a potato masher.
Add seasonings, coconut and tomatoes and cook on low for 20 mins or more.

grease and groupons - park slope chipshop



So the wonderful thing about Groupons
is that Groupons are wonderful things....

...unless you get them for a place you don't normally go to in the middle of Brooklyn.

Not only do you not visit this part of Brooklyn regularly, but the Groupon expires in 2 days and you have TWO of them.

So you end up going to this place two days in a row: once for dinner and then for lunch on a gloriously warm and sunny day.

Since I planned to go back on Monday, the Sunday night we went there I decided to try the sausage and chips.

I saw Myers sausage and, for some reason, thought of the delicious Elgin sausage from Texas instead of what arrived on my plate.


It was ok. It was not what I was expecting and the fried batter around it tasted better than the actual meat.

The chips were awesome, as always.

The funny thing about this chip shop is how un-bar-like it is compared to the one on Atlantic Avenue.  It was brightly lit at night.* The tables were decorated the same and there were similar posters on the walls but that's where the similarity ended.

The next day I headed over from the Woolworth Building downtown ard realized that the N only went there on the weekend because of scheduling so I waited for an R.

It was much nicer in the afternoon, though unseasonably hot outside, so I got a ginger beer and salad instead of chips to cool me off.


This is the plaice. I like plaice; it's an unassuming fish. It sounds pleasant. It tastes a bit like flounder's saucier cousin that goes out late on a bender once a week.

Oh, and that thing up top? Twice fried cherry pie. There is nothing quite like getting powdered sugar up your nose when trying to bite into something  repeatedly.

*This is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a place I like to eat at nighttime, besides the apocalypse or running out of the fish I want.