Baking Eggless July Challenge - Savory Pie

Have you ever experienced doing something based on someone's guidance only to vary the execution to suit your needs and situation at every step of the way such that the end result is completely different but yet a success? More specifically in cooking, we start with a tried and tested recipe given. We adapt and adjust to ingredients available or permitted and vary it along the way. And at the final stages of cooking we keep our fingers crossed hoping the final outcome of the dish is as expected. The joy when the dish turns out successful is a clear indicator that inspite of the variations we did get the technique right and we nailed it.

This months Eggless Baking Challenge was Savory Meat-Pie from Saveur with the option to vary the stuffing as per our choice.

I had no meat at home this weekend, so meat stuffing was ruled out. Mushrooms were the next natural choice, but I did not have mushrooms either. So I went through other options from Popina's book. There is a whole section on savory pies in this book. But unfortunately for no recipe do we get all ingredients in this part of the world. Spinach and garlic, sorry not available. Feta and tomatoes, what is that? just to name a few options.
I could not choose any of those recipes but got some ideas on what veggies go with what spices/herbs and how to prepare the veggies before stuffing them in the pie shells. What did I finally choose? Keep reading to the end...

I am not presenting the original recipe for the stuffing this time. The egg substitution was only for the pastry dough. So here goes the original recipe for the dough.

FOR THE DOUGH
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1¼ cups lard or vegetable shortening
2 eggs, beaten

INSTRUCTIONS

For the dough: Sift together flour and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut in lard; then add up to 1 cup ice water, stirring with a fork until dough holds together. Transfer to a lightly floured surface, and shape into 2 balls. Roll out each ball until ¼'' thick. Use a 3'' round cutter to cut 36 circles from each half of dough. Fit half the circles into 2 ½'' round fluted tart tins. Fill each with 1 tbsp. filling, and cover each with remaining dough circles. Seal edges with a fork. Brush with egg wash, and prick top once.

I scaled the recipe down, varied the butter to flour ratio slightly and substituted a little all-purpose flour with wheat flour. I made 6 small tarts and 6 medium tarts with this recipe.

My egg-less version follows:
For the Dough
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup - wheat flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup - cold butter
1/4 cup - cold milk
2-4 tbsp - cold water

Method
Sift together flour and salt. Cut the butter into the flour and gently rub it with fingers together until you get a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle the milk as you combine the flour with your fingers. If the dough comes together then you are done. If not add a tablespoon of cold water at a time and try to bring the dough together with the finger tips only, without kneading. 

For the filling:

Potatoes - 2 medium sized, sliced in rectangles. 
Onions - 2 medium sized, diced
Sweet Corn kernels - 1/4 cup

Olive Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp

Spices
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (or to taste)
Thyme - 1/4 tsp
Oregano - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Basil - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Binding
Cheese, grated - 1/4 cup (I used cheddar) See Note
Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Combine the potatoes, onions and sweet corn with the spices and olive oil. Arrange on a roasting tray and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees C. Allow it to cool for 10 mins.
Combine the roasted vegetables with the binding ingredients (cheese and garlic), and keep aside. 

Roll out the dough and cut out circles that will just cover the tart tins. Grease the tart tins slightly and line the bottom and sides of the tart tins with 4 mm thickness of dough. Stuff as much filling as possible and place the cut out circle on top. Try to seal the edges. If the edges do not seal then you can skip pricking the top. If the edges seal well then prick with a fork. Brush the tops with milk or egg-wash. I always use milk to brush the tops. 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Place the filled out tart tins on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until the tops turn golden brown. 

Note:You could add more cheese if you like your filling very cheesy. You could use pizza cheese too if you please.

Verdict 
These were delectable - mildly spiced and utterly delicious filling. I only felt that the filling could have been a little juicier. The idea was to add cream and cornflour paste to add to the moisture content, but I was out of cream too. I plan to try it out next time with either extra cheese or cream filling. So I finally decided to call it potato-corn-cheesy pie. What do you say?

 

January Punch - Banoffee Pie

I was thrilled to see the January Punch that Divya had posted for the group. I had never tried a pie before and I was glad to be trying something very simple; or so it seemed. I went through the recipe and thought that this would be a breeze to make :). 

Except for the Dulce de Leche part, that is. I had never made it before, I had not even tried a store bought one; and frankly I did not know what it looks and tastes like. So I was skeptical about how it would turn out. Finally the idea of boiling the can of condensed milk for 3 hours on a gas top, was not at all appealing... I am going green... I try to reduce electricity, gas and paper consumption as much as possible... I just want to do my bit for the environment. Of course, this does not include, hours of laptop charging and blogging while on the internet ;)

So I took the easy route out... I decided to make Dulce de Leche in the microwave. Here is what I did.

Ingredients: 
Condensed Milk-1 can (400gm)
Bananas-3nos, large
Whipped Cream-2 cups
Digestive biscuits/ Marie biscuit-200gms
Butter-100gms
Grated chocolate or Cocoa powder to decorate
Chocolate sauce to drizzle on top (optional)

Method:

Dulce de Leche
Traditional Method:
To make Dulce de Leche (pronounced dulchay the laychay), put the can of condensed milk, unopened, in a large pan, cover with water, bring to boiling point and boil for 3 hours, topping up with boiling water from a kettle as needed. Ensure that the can remains covered in water, as otherwise there is a risk of the can bursting open. Remove and leave to cool completely.
You can make this ahead of time or even boil several tins at one go and store the unopened
in the fridge for several months. This is the traditional way of making Dulce de Leche which I decided to pass for the reasons stated above.
Microwave method:
So to make the Dulce de Leche in the microwave I followed the procedure below:

Pour the contents of a condensed milk can into a deep microwave proof bowl. Microwave on medium power for 2 minutes. Stir. Continue to microwave and stir till the condensed milk becomes thick and caramel coloured. This is the quickest way of making dulce de leche; it took me all of 18 mins to make the dulce de leche in my microwave. Also, it allows you better control over how thick and caramel coloured you want your dulce de leche to be. You have to maintain a near constant vigil next to the microwave. Although I did watch it very closely, I think I did this for a couple of minutes too long in the microwave. I had no idea what the texture should be like and as my Dulce de Leche cooled down, it was not of spreadable consistency. It was a much thicker than that. I had to melt it once again before using.

Banoffee Pie
Mix melted butter and powdered biscuit. Line a pie dish with this mixture and keep it in the fridge for some time. (For a crunchy biscuit base you can bake this for 10 minutes at 160oC. I did this.).

Spread the Dulce de Leche over the layer of biscuit.
Peel and thinly slice the bananas, and arrange in a layer over the toffee.

Whip the cream until thick and stiff and spread over the bananas.

Finally, decorate with grated chocolate or dust the cocoa powder on top using a sieve. I used only grated chocolate.

Whipping cream:

I used Amul cream (200ml) and a can (150ml) of Nestle honey flavoured cream. I chilled the cream for several hours. I also chilled the beaters and the stainless steel utensil for 20 minutes. I poured out the cream and whipped on medium speed for 2 minutes. Then I added a couple of tablespoons of sugar and a spoon of melted butter and whipped on high speed for 5 minutes. I put the whipped cream in the fridge until I needed it.

Verdict: A word of caution. This pie is extremely calorific. You cannot slice this into smaller portions else the layers will not show up and if you end up eating one full portion, then you just cannot have your next meal :). That said, this is a delicious dessert item and very easy to put together provided you have the ingredients on hand.