For the love of Produce...

Vegetable pie.

Oooo.... Cauliflower and mushroom. Yum.

Thanks for the kind words @AnnPT77. I wouldn't think of it as inspiring, but I had fun making it. I want to make more. I need to find people to help me eat them, though. That pie allegedly was 340 calories per slice assuming eight slices per pie. Actually a little less because a lot is from the crust, and I didn't use all the dough. Bonus - I have dough I can use without logging because I already logged it!

I like whole wheat for most things too. I like the flavor/tooth and also the fact that it has improved nutrition. It's just that the flour doesn't last as long because it can get rancid. Things like challah should use white flour though. Well, maybe someone can show me otherwise. I'm totally open to that.

Making the pie crust was pretty easy. To show how much I like cooking better than cleaning, instead of using my food processor, I cut the very cold butter into the flour by hand. Aside from a little salt, that's all that was in the dough. I separated it into two balls, the smaller one was for the top crust. I still have the smaller one, so I'm going to experiment with a tempeh pot pie tomorrow. I was going to add tempeh to this pie, but it was still frozen, and I wasn't sure how it would go. I'm thinking making a simple roux with butter and flour and then maybe some sherry, then just simple ingredients like celery and carrot. I might pre-steam the tempeh and put it in some marinade. Actually, this might be a project for Friday or the weekend.... Anyway, there ya go.

The leaves were fun to make. The first ones are flakier because the more you roll or re-roll the crust dough, the more the butter melts into it. The last leaf was like the first pancake; you can just toss it. I want to work on my technique to make maple leaves, too. These were easy to freehand.

The pie wasn't as good as I expected. It needed a little more salt and maybe some more umami to round it out. I've been thinking about ways to improve it for next time. In a year I plan to bring it to a festive holiday meal when we're allowed to congregate in groups again. One change will be to not layer the ingredients. The potatoes will still lay flat. I might caramelize the onions. I might briefly roast, steam, or saute the potatoes first. I might add vegemite, brewer's yeast, or maybe even Lee & Perin's for some of that umami. I was pleasantly surprised it was a little tastier reheated for lunch today, but still not good enough to "share" with neighbors. Foist. Whatever. They might like it. I'll make it again.

It's been a long time since I did anything bready. I love to cook, but I've gotten out of the baking habit. I am thinking about getting a starter going and playing around with bread. I used to make bread pretty frequently in grad school. I kept a starter going, and since I also made beer, I had plenty of yeast to make some tasty, tasty loaves.

I remember this one batch.... I had made some dry-hopped beer. I used the dregs to make bread. It was SO AWFULLY BITTER from the hops. Pretty much inedible. I fed some to ducks. This was before I learned what a bad idea feeding ducks is. I had made a very beautiful braided loaf with a gorgeous egg wash on the crust. Knowing the batch of bread was really not edible, I hung it on the wall. Between living in the high desert and having all the hops in it, that loaf of bread never developed any mold. It hung on that wall over a year until I moved away.

I have no idea what got into me to make pie. I never make pie. I think I may start. I'm going to mostly focus on savory pies rather than sweet ones. Then again, I have a freezer full of marionberries, raspberries, and blueberries. They also go good in yogurt. I was also thinking about making a crust-less pumpkin "pie" because - crust. But it actually was really easy.

The crust I used to make was also easy, but not as flaky. I don't recall the proportions, but it was whole wheat flour, vegetable oil, and milk. Just mix, then roll between two sheets of waxed paper. Super SUPER easy; no cutting in. But that really wasn't that hard, and it was even kind of fun.

When I'm comfortable going back to second hand stores, I'll be looking for a tart pan....

I put the leftover pie dough to use. It's an experiment. I've never made anything like this before. I looked at a few recipes and then decided to wing it.

Browned some tempeh and set it aside.

Sauteed some onions, mushrooms, parsnip, carrot, celery, and potato. Garlic of course; goes without saying. The onions first, then everything else.

Added some aleppo chilies, fresh rosemary, dried thyme, dried dill seed, and salt. And smoked paprika. When nearly done, I added some whole wheat flour and some brewers yeast. Set aside to cool.

Rolled out the dough and found the right size baking dish. I thought that dough ball was bigger and had a dish in mind. The bottom crust was going to be smaller than planned, so I found another very small casserole of the right size. I was somehow able to fit all the filling even though it was a huge mound.

I assembled the top crust and called it a pie.

I was smart enough to put it on a baking tray in case it leaked. I was surprised it didn't It's cooling now; I'll dig in soon. No idea if it is edible or not.

The rest of the tempeh is in some marinade; I'll bake it later and have it for tomorrow. Sesame oil, tamari, spices, fish sauce, vinegar, and sesame seeds.

With fresh buttermilk cornbread, of course....

Beautiful!

One of our Thanksgiving sides (for my tiny gathering with my sister) was roasted veg with duck fat, although we used turnips, parsnips, and carrots. We also had a succotash made with kabocha squash, summer squash, corn, and lima beans, plus onions and herbs.

Decided to make fettucine w mushrooms. Here are mixed frozen mushrooms before cooking.