Tourtière du Shack (Pork Pie!)

Meat and I have been on tender terms. Being "vay-gun," as would say my dad, lasted through many of my youthful years until 2007, when the first thing I ate fresh into France was a foot-long spicy lamb sausage with a side of mayo fries; I returned for a second helping the very next day. And oh my god, the rillettes. France stole my Earth Balance'd heart and gave 'er back to me all buttery and larded, but it still wasn't until just last week that I handled and cooked a cut of meat for the first time. Even on the farm in Maine, I professed my love of steak but surreptitiously left the meat-touching to my less squeamish compatriots. My poor dad had to deal with our roasted duck at Christmas too, even though I swore I could handle it; no one told me there would be guts to remove! But my plan this year is to generally be less of a wiener, so it was with only the slightest of squirms that I manhandled this pork in the name of this most delicious and worthwhile pie. 

The recipe hails from Montreal's Martin Picard, who was profiled along with his maple syrup-hungry family last year in this entertaining bit from Bon Appétit. The mag doesn't have much to say on the genesis of tourtière, but it seems to be a French-Canadian specialty that has trickled down into parts of New England. Some of my farmer buddies in Maine, for instance, swore they make the best beef and venison tourtière ever, but they never got around to proving it so we can just leave the accolades for Picard. Squeamish about meat or not, you've gotta give this pie a shot; with some red wine and a round of Carcassonne, it was the most satisfying meal we'd enjoyed in ages.
 

Visible toothpick aid!

Tourtière du Shack
Adapted from Martin Picard for Bon Appétit

This pie is named after Picard's Montréal sweet spot, Cabane à Sucre Au Pied de Cochon (Sugar Shack at Pied de Cochon). He is famed for his creations with maple syrup--these doughnuts!--although there is none in this beast of a dish. His pie crust recipe uses an entire pound of butter, which I just couldn't justify, so I went with my favorite, less butter-filled pie crust instead. Feel free to swap in his original if you're lookin' to perfect your buttery sheen. 

For pastry
Adapted from Apt. 2B Baking Co.

12 ounces pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
8 ounces (two sticks) very cold butter
4 to 6 ounces ice water
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1.  On a clean counter, dump your flour and salt; mix it around with a bench scraper. Chop one stick of butter into quarters, and cut it into the four with your bench scraper. When butter is about the size of Lima beans, cut in the second stick, pulling, folding, and tossing with the bench scraper as you go, until the butter is about the size of quarters. Add the vinegar to the ice water.

2. Using your fingers, flick the water onto the butter-flour mixture, gently folding with the bench scraper all the while. You have added enough water once the mixture holds together when squeezed; it should be very shaggy.

3. Next, push the butter into the flour. Using the heel of your palm, push a small section of the dough down and away from you; this creates long layers of butter in your dough, which translates to long flaky layers in your crust. Use your bench scraper to scrape up the smear, and put it a bowl. Repeat until all the dough has been smeared and you have a bowlful of long, buttery layers. Push these into one mass, divide in half, wrap each in plastic, flatten into disks, and chill overnight.

For filling
Adapted from Martin Picard for Bon Appétit

1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 1/2 medium onions, chopped, divided
4 garlic cloves, chopped, divided
5 whole black peppercorns plus freshly ground black pepper
5 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), pref. local + organic, cut into 2" pieces
Fine-grain sea salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
8 medium button mushrooms, stemmed and finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 pounds ground pork, pref. local + organic
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I added a smidgen more at the end)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup grated, peeled russet potato, from about one medium potato
1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend, for brushing on crust

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Combine broth, 1/2 chopped onion, 1 chopped garlic clove, whole peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaves in a medium pot. Add pork shoulder; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover pot. Transfer to oven; braise until pork shoulder is tender and shreds easily, about two hours. Remove from oven; let cool.

2.  Transfer pork shoulder to a work surface. Shred meat with your fingers and transfer to a medium bowl. Strain pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve; add 1/2 cup juices to pork; discard solids in strainer.

3.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add remaining one chopped onion and three chopped garlic cloves; cook, stirring often, until soft, five to seven minutes. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring often, until almost all liquid is evaporated, five to seven minutes. Add wine; stir, scraping up browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring often, until liquid is almost evaporated, about five minutes.

4.  Add ground pork, cinnamon, and cloves. Cook, stirring to break up into small pieces, until pork is cooked through, about five minutes. Add potato. Cook until potato is soft, about ten minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in shredded pork with juices. Season to taste with salt and pepper; let cool slightly. Chill until cold, about one hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled.

5.  Roll out one dough disk on a lightly floured surface into a 12" round. Transfer to a nine-inch, deep-dish pie plate, leaving overhang. Fill with cooled meat mixture. Roll out remaining dough disk into a 10" round. Place dough over meat filling. Fold overhang over top crust and crimp edges. Brush crust with egg yolk. Cut three two-inch slits in top crust. Chill for one hour.

6.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake tourtière for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F; bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving. Leftovers will keep covered in the fridge for about three days; they are best rewarmed in the oven.

Suggestion: Make pastry and filling on day one; bake the whole she-bang on day two. From rolling out pastry to eating takes about 3.5 hours, so be sure to factor that in on the day you serve this.

Savory Roasted Garlic and Goat Cheeses Tart

Yesterday, I broiled a pie. It was not some ingenious technique to caramelize the sugars, but a percocet-induced blindness to details that reduced my walnut pie to a smoldering mess that tasted like "baked beans and burnt popcorn," according to Joey. Hooray. It really was truly disgusting, and though I blame my altered state --thanks doctors! -- I think that the copious molasses might have had something to do with it as well. I usually love molasses, but this pie recipe called for it in excess of one cup and in addition to brown sugar, which frankly is just way too much sweetness for my palate. I'm still curious to try this pie and its cousins -- shoo-fly! --just not made in my own kitchen on prescribed, heavy narcotics.

Luckily, however, before going under the knife, I helped chef one of DC's numerous underground restaurants and emerged (lucidly) with this roasted garlic tart featuring plentiful herbs and goat cheeses. Other standouts were Eric's roasted fennel-celeriac salad, James's spicy stuffed onions and quinoa, and of course the cocktails invented by the geniuses behind the bar. I baked a couple of espresso-white chocolate-citrus tarts too, but this garlic jam might have been the queen of my contributions. It's pretty much an Ottolenghi recipe, though I swapped in a quiche crust, increased the garlic, and cooked the garlic at a lower heat and for much longer than he did. However! These weren't scientific changes, and no matter what your technique or substitutions, this tart will turn out beautifully and delicious. It must seem a welcome reprieve from the usual parade of sweets on this blog. Maybe my percocet disaster could be considered a sign that I ought to spend more time baking savory goods; butter is good in any light, after all!

Roasted Garlic Tart

Adapted somewhat from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty

I didn't tweak this much, but my changes are noted where applicable. Get to it! This tart is too good to ignore.

13 ounces puff pastry, defrosted if frozen, or your favorite quiche crust recipe

3 medium heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled (not crushed) (I used 4 heads)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (I upped this to two)
3/4 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, plus 3 sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon fine sea salt (orig. calls for 3/4 teaspoon), divided
4 1/2 ounces soft, creamy goat cheese, such as chevre
4 1/2 ounces hard goat cheese, such as goat gouda
2 large eggs
6 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
6 1/2 tablespoons creme fraiche
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Roll out puff pastry/dough into a 13-inch circle. Fit puff pastry into an 11-inch round fluted pan with a removable bottom. Place a parchment paper round on top of puff pastry or crust; top with pie weights or dried beans. Transfer to refrigerator; chill for 20 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and set aside. Transfer tart shell to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove weights and paper and bake until pastry is golden, 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. Place garlic cloves in a small saucepan filled with water. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer; simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and return cloves to saucepan. Add olive oil and place saucepan over high heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fried, about 2 minutes. Add vinegar and 1 cup water; bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add sugar, rosemary, chopped thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Continue simmering over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated and garlic is coated in a dark caramelized syrup, about 10 minutes more (I ended up going for more than 15). Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Break both goat cheeses into pieces and scatter in tart shell; spoon garlic cloves and syrup over cheese. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, creme fraiche, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt; season with pepper. Pour egg mixture over cheese and garlic filling, making sure the cheese and garlic are still visible.

5. Transfer tart to lined baking sheet then to oven, and bake until tart filling is set and top is golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes (I ended up going for 50). Remove from oven and let cool slightly before removing tart from pan. Garnish with thyme sprigs; tart can be reheated but is best straight from the oven and served warm.

Pine Nut Rosemary Cookies

Dudes, trust:  These cookies are the jam.  I have a friend who jokingly refers to them as "roasted chicken cookies" (I hope you're already sold) because rosemary is so elemental to oven meats, and another friend who started talking to me about pesto after he had them, but these aren't the unclassifiable troll child of a savory-sweet marriage that friendly jokes make them out to be -- these are an awesome cookie reinvention.  They're also a completely crossable bridge between savory and sweet, falling deliciously short of being overwhelmed by either flavor.  And as we know, savory-sweet land is, of course, the most addictive land of all.   

Bonus summer-awarded points for level of ease too!  While I am generally uninterested (disinterested?) by claims of ease in the kitchen, on this fifty-first day of heat above 98 degrees in the swampy wonderland that I call home, I'll grasp onto anything that minimizes my time in the kitchen.


Pine Nut Rosemary Cookies
Via Martha Stewart

I'd say these are pretty customizable too.  If you're not a fan of pine nuts, try hazelnuts and a pinch or so of cardamom instead of the rosemary, or maybe walnuts with thyme.  Lemon thyme is supposedly budding in everyone's backyards these days, and I think that could make a bright substitution for the rosemary.

1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup pine nuts,* toasted + extra for topping cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (remember, trust!)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons good-quality olive oil
3 tablespoons heavy cream (I used half-and-half)
1 large egg, lightly whisked
About two tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar for sanding

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Finely chop rosemary some more in a food processor. Add pine nuts, and pulse until coarsely ground, about like the consistency of coarse corn meal. Transfer to a large bowl; whisk in two cups of the flour, baking soda, ginger, and salt, and set aside.

2.  In another large bowl, cream butter with white sugar on high until light and fluffy, two to three minutes (may take less time if your kitchen is of hellish temperature). Slowly mix in oil. Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture in three increments, and then add cream. Using a fork, mix until well combined.  Mix in egg, then final 1/4 cup of flour.

3.  Using a 1 1/2-tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving at least an inch between each mount. Very slightly flatten tops, top each with a pine nut or two, and then shake some raw sugar on there.

4. Rotating halfway through, bake cookies until edges are golden, about 13 minutes.  Let cool on sheets for ten minutes, and then transfer to wire racks to let cool completely. Cookies are best if eaten the same day, though they'll be fine for a day if store in an airtight container.

* Moment of Science:  Instances of "pine mouth" have reportedly been on the rise in recent years, so to avoid turning your mouth into a piney wonderland, be sure to use pine nuts that are neither rancid nor imported from China. Thems the rules.

Bacon-Feta-Scallion Scones

Basic creamy scones (with vanilla bean sugar), from which this savory recipe was created

Happy new year!  I'm all shiny and new from my ten-day vacation in California that consisted almost entirely of tacos, burritos, avocados, Fat Tire, fresh-squeezed orange juice, Yahtzee, the beach, and of course my family.  After a long post-high school life of thinking I'd never move back to San Diego, ten days and too much sunshine has nearly unwound this of my most certain certainties.  If only we hadn't actually picked the oranges that made the orange juice, or if the cactus out back hadn't skyrocketed to 25 unholy, California feet tall, well then maybe I'd feel more like taking DC's bitter-cold hand than like falling blessedly back into my mother's avocado-stained kitchen where produce means something and tacos happen.

Bacon-feta-scallion scones!

My sister spent much of her time in San Diego clad in a green onesie making terrariums and with tacos in her mouth.  My mom mercilessly teased my aunt's dog, added immodest pats of butter to each of her already buttery scones (on three mornings total), and squealed at my dad during Chinese checkers.  From our kitchen window, my dad used his 22 to shoot squirrels that he had attracted to his vantage point with peanut butter and pomegranates, and later he also squealed at my mom during Chinese checkers.  With family like this, breakfast is all the more important because it's the best reason (besides orange juice) to get everyone to sit together for two hours and read the sports pages while we wait for it to be time to eat burritos.

Bacon-Feta-Scallion Scones

Recipe influenced by Karen DeMasco's The Craft of Baking

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder*

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup feta, or other creamy cheese
6 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces 
4 slices of bacon (or less or more), chopped and cooked to your preference

3 scallions (or more), chopped small
1 cup heavy cream

1.  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Sift flour, baking power, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl.  Mix in feta or other cheese.  Quickly cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal with some large buttery lumps in it.  Add the bacon and scallions, but don't mix just yet.  Gently stir in heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until mixture begins to form a dough, about 30 seconds.

3.  Transfer mixture to a floured surface and knead for about ten seconds until the dry flour bits and everything comes together as a (sticky) dough ball.  Form scones by pressing dough into a very lightly floured 8" x 8" square pan.  Cut into eight wedges (cut square in half diagonally, then each half into four equal, if slightly misshapen, triangles).  Scoop triangles out of pan and place onto baking sheet.  You could also use a round cake pan and cut the wedges like slices of cake or pie.

4.  Bake scone wedges for 20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.  Cool for ten minutes.

*Sorry pals, just realized this said 1 teaspoon instead of 1/2.  This portion has been updated.