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Curried Lentil Turnovers

I spotted a similar recipe to this on Vegetarian Times. Theirs looked too sweet to me, so I decided to roll my own.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup green lentils, washed and picked over
  • 1 yellow onion minced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 cup chopped green beans
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp cumin seed
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cayenne powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup minced cilantro
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 batch of rough puff pastry or store-bought puff pastry dough
  • 1 egg, beaten with a tbsp of water
  • black sesame seeds

Instructions

Place the lentils in a pot and cover with water. There should be at least an inch of water above the lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Add the carrot and green beans to the pot, cover, and cook until the lentils and veg. are tender, another ten minutes or so.

Heat a bit of oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it is translucent, 5 minutes or so. Add the cumin seed, garlic and ginger, cook for another 2-3 minutes, then add the rest of the spices and soy sauce. Cook until fragrant. Add the lentils and cook, uncovered, until almost all of the liquid has cooked off. You’ll want this curry to be fairly dry, or the turnovers won’t be crisp. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 400. Divide your pastry in half. Keep one half in the fridge while rolling out the other. Roll the pastry thin, and trim it to an 8″ x 12″ rectangle.

Trimmed puff pastry

Divide this into six 4″ squares (using a ruler or framing square makes this much easier). Save the trimmed pieces to roll out again later.

Ready for filling

Place the pastry squares on a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet. Place 2-3 tbsp of filling on each square, brush the edges with egg wash, then fold and crimp the edges. I used a fork dipped in flour, but you can simply pinch them shut. Brush the tops with the egg wash, and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes.

ready for folding.
Oven-ready.

While the first batch is baking, continue with the second half of the pastry dough. Roll, trim, fill, wash, and crimp. You should have enough trimmed dough left over to make one more batch, giving you a total of eighteen turnovers.

They are good hot or at room temperature. If you are so inclined, you can also freeze the turnovers before cooking. Put the frozen turnovers directly into a hot oven, and add ten minutes to the cooking time.

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Rough Puff Pastry

I can’t believe I don’t have this recipe up on the blog. This is my go-to crust for almost everything, from Cornish Pasties to fruit pies, to grilled tarts. It is super-flaky, yet strong enough to be used in hand pies.

I also find it quicker and easier than either true puff pastry or traditional pie crust. It is forgiving, so it makes a good beginner crust, if you’re just starting making pies.

Ingredients

  • 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 16 tbsp unsalted butter (or 8 tbsp butter and 8 tbsp leaf lard, if you can find it)
  • 1 cup cold water

Technique

Measure the flour into a large bowl, stir in the salt Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the flour, tossing it so the butter gets well coated. Add the water all at once and stir until a lumpy, shaggy dough forms.

dust a work surface with flour and flour a rolling pin. Turn the dough out onto the surface. Gently start rolling it until you have roughly a 9″ by 12″ rectangle. The first time you do this it will be lumpy and pieces will fall off. Don’t worry. Letter fold the dough: Fold it in thirds, overlapping the ends in the middle, as if you were folding a letter to put in an envelope.

Turn the dough seam side down and repeat the process, adding additional flour if necessary (don’t add too much). After 5 or so letter folds, you should have a supple dough with large, flat, thin smears of butter visible. Letter fold it one last time, then wrap it securely in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. The rest will both relax the gluten and firm up the butter.

Variations

If you are making a fruit pie or something else sweet, toss a tablespoon of sugar in with the flour and salt.

For savory pies (or, for that matter, apple pie), reduce the butter by 4 tbsp and toss in 1/4 cup of grated Gruyere or cheddar cheese.

The dough freezes well, too. Put it in a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the fridge before starting your pie the next day.

Brushing the dough with a bit of beaten egg before cooking will give it a nice shine. It will also let you stick something to the top: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or somesuch.

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Squash, leek, and bacon galette

There are a plethora of squash, so it is time to get inventive. I’ve never cared for squash puree, the disappointing younger brother to mashed potatoes. I prefer my squash to retain a bit of texture and to share the stage with other autumnal flavors: Sage, leek, and smoky bacon.

The crust

  • 1 cup rolled oats (NOT instant oats!)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 14 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
  • up to 1/4 cup cold water

Heat a skillet over medium low heat, toss the oats in and toast gently until lightly browned and fragrant, 10-15 minutes. Put in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Allow the oats to cool. Add flour, salt and butter, pulse in the food processor until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with a few larger bits of butter still visible. Gradually add water and pulse until dough forms. Turn out onto a floured work surface, roll to 1/2″ thick, fold in thirds, wrap in plastic, and chill in fridge for 1/2 hour.

The filling

  • 4 slices smoky bacon, cut into lardons
  • 2 leeks, quartered and sliced, white and pale green parts only (roughly 2 cups)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-3 delicata squash, halved, peeled, seeded, and sliced into thin semicircles (roughly 2 cups)
  • 2 tsp fresh sage, minced
  • 1 itsp fresh thyme, minced
  • 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
  • 4 oz. good goat cheese, crumbled.
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 egg., beaten with 1 tbsp water

In a large pan, brown the bacon over medium heat, remove to paper towels to drain, pour off all but 1 or 2 tbsp of the dripping. Return the pan to the heat, add the leeks and garlic, saute until the leaks soften, 10 minutes or so.  Place leek, bacon, squash, and herbs in a bowl and toss thoroughly.

Assembling the tart

Folded galette

Preheat the oven to 375.

Take the crust from the fridge. Roll out to a 15″ circle (you can neaten the edges if you choose, it’ll make for a cleaner looking galette. I left mine rough). Transfer to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Brush the middle 12″ with the egg wash, saving some back. Mound the leek, bacon and squash mixture in the middle 12″ of crust. Scatter the goat cheese on top of it.  Fold the outer edge of the crust over the filling, pinching the creases lightly to hold it together. Brush the crust with the remaining egg wash.

Bake until the squash is soft and the cheese is browned and melted, 1 hour. Cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

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Raspberry Walnut Tart

Or, Tart Alma

I’ve got a raspberry patch in my yard. In late June, early July, and again in October, I get a gallon or two of raspberries. One of my favorite things to make is this tart. The toasted walnuts compliment the raspberries wonderfully. As an added bonus, the tart works as well with frozen raspberries as with fresh, so you can make this one in winter, as a Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert.

I call this “Tart Alma” since my friend, author Alma Alexander, flew from the west coast to Vermont solely so I could make her this tart.

Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups (200g) flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (60g)
  • 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup or 12 Tbsp) butter

Filling:

  • 3/4 cup (75g) chopped walnuts
  • 10 ounces (283g) frozen or fresh raspberries (do not defrost if frozen)
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup (150g) white granulated sugar
  • 1/4 (35g) cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Make the crust. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a dough forms (it’ll be crumbly, but don’t bother adding any additional liquid).  Cut a round of parchment to fit in the bottom of a 10″ tart pan. Tip the crust into the pan and press it flat, evenly, over the pan. I find using a flat-bottomed glass works well, but fingers are fine. Be sure to press the crust into the edges of the pan. When the crust is flat, place it in the freezer and let it set for 30 minutes to an hour.

Take the crust out of the freezer, line it with foil, add pie weights (or dried beans, or rice) and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and bake until lightly brown, another 5-10 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack.

Prep the Filling: While the pie is baking, toast the walnuts in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat, shaking frequently, until fragrant. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Remove from the heat.

Beat together the eggs, sugar, flour, powder, salt, and vanilla.

Assembling the tart: Scatter the walnuts over the crust. Scatter the raspberries on top of the walnuts. Pour the egg mixture over the raspberries and nuts. Bake the tart for 40 minutes, until the top is slightly browned. The center should still jiggle just a little. Remove to a cooling rack. Take a sharp knife and work it around the edge of the tart to loosen it from the pan. This will make it easier to remove from the pan when the tart is cool (I use a two-piece tart pan, so I can lift the tart out of the pan and slide it onto a serving platter, which I recommend).