meat pies

Review | Savory Pies by Greg Henry

Nibbles
Savory Pies by Greg Henry

image via Amazon.com

Pies have always had their fans, but it’s a food usually offered as an alternative to cakey goods. One of the main best selling points is the ratio of filling to crust you get in a pie that far outweighs the filling and frosting ratio in a similar cake. But that’s all desserts–what about pie as your meal?

Probably the first thing you think of when considering a main-dish or savory pie is quiche, that brunch staple, or else a chicken pot pie might come to mind. I admit an old episode of Emeril and his crawfish cheesecake is also lurking in the back of my head, so I was more than a little curious to see what inspiration there might lie in Greg Henry’s Savory Pies: Delicious Recipes for Seasoned Meats, Vegetables and Cheeses Baked in Perfectly Flaky Pie Crusts.

I was not disappointed.

The first thing to notice is that this is not just a book of pie fillings. Henry goes beyond the simple single- or double-crust pies with fluted edges into tarts, turnovers, pizzas, and pastelles. Pretty much anything that could be put into or under a crust or covering was considered fair game. There are sections for meat & seafood pies, hand pies, vegetarian options, appetizers, and, of course, a set of pie crust recipes to carry you through.

On New Year’s Day we got our cabbage quotient in with his Sweet Sausage Cabbage Pie with Dill and Feta (p.59). Another night found us feasting on a Sausage and Red Pepper Polenta Cobbler (p.93), a cast iron skillet concoction with fluffy cornmeal dumplings covering its surface. Seeing as we’re fans of breakfast for dinner, the Irish Breakfast Pie (p. 101) with it’s cheeky eggs poking out of the pierced top crust was a must-try for us, and very filling with it’s layers of thinly-sliced potatoes. About the only thing that could have improved that pie would have been some grated cheese in between the potato layers.

Strata of bacon, potatoes, and eggs in the Irish Breakfast Pie

Strata of bacon, potatoes, and eggs in the Irish Breakfast Pie

His Arichoke Clafouti (p.125) was akin to eating a slice of warm artichoke dip with a barely-there crust of breadcrumbs. And “The Oggie” Steak and Stilton Pasty recipe (p.156) sounded so good with it’s steak, potatoes, turnips, and cheese that even though I didn’t feel like making so many individual hand pies that night, it was just as good in a store-bought gluten free pie crust.

Artichoke Clafouti

It could certainly be a main dish, but we served this Artichoke Clafouti as a side dish to lemon-pepper tilapia for a nice, light supper.

As for the pie crust recipes, they are simple and easy to follow and I was quite surprised at how tasty his Gluten-Free Pie Pastry recipe (p.20) really was, especially as this book was being tried-out when I was early into my low-FODMAP diagnostic diet phase. And one of the best parts of gluten-free* pie crusts? You simply cannot overwork the dough as there’s no gluten there to toughen up on you! It also didn’t hurt that I’d received a Cuisinart for Christmas and am overjoyed at how quickly a pie crust comes together in that thing!

Steak and Stilton Pie

The filling for this Steak and Stilton pie was amazing!

And for those who consider savory pies a little to low-brow for an elegant supper, there are also wine pairings for each recipe, written by Grant Henry, “with an eye toward easy-to-find wines, staying away from wines that would require selling a major organ to purchase them.” Now that’s my kind of wine pairing!

When considering whether a cookbook is a hit or miss with me, it’s not just about what I’ve already made from the book but how many recipes I still have flagged that I want to make as I’m writing up my review. Based on the number of sticky notes fanning out from the book’s pages, Savory Pies definitely falls into the hit category. In fact, as soon as I find a good gluten-free puff pastry dough recipe, many more delicious things will be made from this book.

——————–

I was provided a copy of Savory Pies for the purpose of review. All opinions and experiences expressed above are my own.

*For the record, gluten poses no problem on a low-FODMAP diet as gluten is a protein and FODMAPs are particular carbohydrates. Sources of gluten like wheat, barley, and rye, however, do also contain the problematic-for-some FODMAPs and starting with GF products or recipes can be a good start. Thus ends the FODMAP disclaimer.

Operation Bierock

Nibbles

So, apparently in Nebraska there’s a local chain of restaurants that specialize in their namesake sandwich: the Runza–a mixture of ground beef and cabbage inside of a yeast bread package. Born and raised in Nebraska, Todd really missed them and the recipe he’d tried in the past just didn’t make the grade. While that’s enough, on it’s own, to make me want to give it a whirl, the cabbage-factor made it a perfect meal for New Year’s Day. Add some black-eyed peas on the side and our traditional food requirements are taken care of!

Looking at the recipe he’d used in the past, I noticed that the filling was fairly simple: ground beef, onions, cooked cabbage, salt and white pepper. While I’m all for the purity of ingredients standing out, the missing ingredient was obviously flavor! Because bierocks come from a German background, I flipped through some of my books from International Cuisine class to see what herbs and spices came up the most so we’d have a jumping-off point for experimentation. I automatically suggested paprika (for a warm, homey feeling), then we picked out nutmeg, ginger and caraway seed to round out the seasonings. One other addition: garlic. Whether it’s appropriate for the recipe or not, garlic is a staple in our home so I had to add some.

Digging around the Internet some more, I found several recipes for beirocks that all seemed pretty much the same. One interesting tidbit I picked up in the comments of one was to cook the shredded cabbage in beer rather than just water. Awesome idea and we had a bottle of Pumpkin Ale in the fridge that would be perfect (though any spiced ale would work–not a lot transfers to the cabbage, just enough to add another layer of flavor overall). Todd also said that the source recipe was a bit heavy on the cabbage, so we cut that down a bit.

The results were amazing! Never having been to the Midwest or tasted a Runza, according to my audience I not only replicated what he’d been missing but improved it, as well. Go me! Here’s the recipe we ended up with (aka our new New Year’s tradition):

Bierocks
makes 24

Dough:
11 c All-Purpose Flour
1 pkg (.25 oz) Active Dry Yeast
.5 c Sugar
2 tsp Salt
2.5 c Water
1 c Milk
.5 c Butter
2 Eggs

Combine 4 cups of the flour with the rest of the dry ingredients (yeast, sugar and salt) in a large bowl (preferably one that fits on a stand mixer) and mix well.

In a sauce pan, combine the water, milk and butter and heat until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and let cool to between 120 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit (too cold and the yeast won’t grow, too hot and you’ll kill it).

With the mixer on low, add in liquids until just moistened, followed by eggs. Crank up the mixer to medium and beat for 3-5 minutes. Returning the mixer to low, gradually add in the rest of the flour until all is incorporated. Transfer to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.

If you have a super-sized mixer you may be able to do this in the bowl but my 4-quart Kitchen Aid didn’t have the space to let this huge mound of dough move around and do it’s thing enough without some additional kneading by hand. Besides, it’s a good arm work-out!

Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl, turn to coat evenly, then cover with a towel and let rest until doubled (1 hour for regular yeast, only about 10 minutes for rapid-rise), punch the dough down and let it rise again for another hour.

Filling:
20 oz Cabbage, shredded, the finer the better
1 bottle Ale
1 c Water
2 T Olive Oil
2 lb Ground Beef
1 lg Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 T Salt
1 tsp ground White Pepper
1 T ground Ginger
1 T Paprika
1/2 t Caraway Seeds, bashed in a mortar and pestle for a bit
1 T ground Nutmeg

Cook the cabbage with the ale and water in a covered saucepan until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain off the remaining liquid.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the ground beef and brown, adding the seasonings towards the end of the process. Drain off any liquid (if you used lean ground beef there shouldn’t be much) and add the cabbage to the ground beef.

Divide the dough into 24 even pieces. Stretch, roll and pull a piece into a 5-inch square (or as close as you can get–dough doesn’t like making corners on it’s own). Moisten the edges of the dough with a little bit of water and add 1/3 cup of filling to the center of the dough. Pull up the four “corners” of dough to meet in the center, pinch together and then pinch the x-like seams that form. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Place, seam down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

I had to ask Todd how we were supposed to eat them (with knife and fork or just in hand) and the verdict was definitely hands-on. Since this makes a LOT of bierocks, wrap each leftover one individually in foil and then place them in a large freezer bag and store in the freezer until you a craving hits. Place a frozen bierock, still in it’s foil packet, into a 375-degree oven and bake 20 minutes or until completely heated through (165 degrees in the center).