Chocolate Filled Pocket Pies

This is the type of recipe I really like, now that I have made it once the sky is the limit on different variations. I hate being confined to a recipe and that is the reason I started this blog, to force myself to follow recipes, in order to expand my culinary knowledge. Now down to business a pocket pie is exactly what it sounds like, a pie that could fit in your pocket. Many cultures around the world have their own variations some sweet, some savoury and some both, but the key is that this pie can be eaten on the go. One of the most famous varieties comes from Cornwall in the south of England. Miners would take pocket pies wrapped in newspaper down into the mines with them, so when lunch time came all they had to do was unwrap it and enjoy. Often one end of the pie would be filled with a savoury filling, basically like a stew, and the other end would be a sweet filling. Lunch and dessert all in one, what an idea! I hope I am not the only one who didn't make the connection between Cornish and Cornwall, Cornish being something from Cornwall. The Cornish "pasty" was some popular it was said the devil would never come to Cornwall for fear of being cooked into a pie.

This particular pie crust comes together via the biscuit method. Incorporating a fat into flour until it creates a crumbly texture and then stirring in some liquid. In this case the fat was shortening which gives the dough its flakiness and the liquid was milk. The filing was made from mainly butter sugar and cocoa powder, and this recipe makes a lot of filling! Once the dough is rolled out into rounds and the filling is complete we enter the danger zone: filling the pies. The recipe warns not to over fill or you will be sorry and of course I was sorry. I though I could crimp down the edges enough that I would be fine with a nice amount of filling... nope. Before we open that can of worms there are three cooking methods: baking, deep frying and pan frying. I went with pan frying because it is fastest. Now back to the filling dilemma, after a few minutes in the pan my crimp was pushed right out of the way by the chocolaty volcano that was oozing its way out of the pie. The recipe even warned that filling usually contain a good deal of water which turns to steam and increases in volume my about 1700 times. There was a reason steam used to power trains. Despite all the smoke from the burning filling left in the pan the pies turned out really good still. I think if all the filling had stayed inside the pie it would be overwhelmingly sweet, so maybe it was a good thing after all. Pan frying was fast but I think I would have preferred that more flaky pastry that comes from baking.

Verdict: would make again. There are so many options for fillings once you have the dough down pat you could have a different filling for each day of the year. Take my advice though for filling, when you think you have a good amount take about half of it away and you should be good.

Pocket Pie with Chocolate or Curried Mango Filling

Fried Okra

Raw okra pods (from the internet)

Okra is a green pod vegetable and is a member of the mallow family. Another famous member of that family is the cacao plant from which we get cocoa and then of course chocolate. Okra's flavour is a lot different from its chocolatey cousin (although in its raw form the cacao plant would not taste much like the chocolate we consume today, roasting and many other steps are needed to produce chocolate. That will have to wait for a later blog). Describing the flavour of something in words is in my opinion an exercise in futility but I will try anyways. The flavour is similar to that of many other green vegetables, think of combining the flavours of green peppers, broccoli and green beans and then turning down the flavour a few notches; okra's flavour is pretty subtle.

Okra is prized for its thickening abilities in Louisiana where gumbo is king. Okra pods contain a sweet mucilaginous sap that is a great thickener for soups and stews but it can also make the pods slimy. The amount of noticeable "slime" is dependent on the cooking technique, chopping and stewing produces a good deal where pan frying there is little noticeable "slime." My particular recipe called for whole pods breaded in seasoned corn meal and pan fried. With keeping the pods whole I barley even noticed the sticky sap, it was really only noticeable when the cutting off the stems. The seasoning of the breading was a nice addition to the subtle flavour of the okra and the corn meal crust got nice and crispy. One thing I would mention is that pods of the same size would work best although okra selection is generally not huge (here in Ontario anyways). The smaller pieces had a more tender texture while the larger pods retained much of their crunchiness. Its a hard call between the two textures I think I would look for smaller pods next time.

Verdict: Okra will not be a weekly addition to my shopping list I would definitely make this again.

Boiled Peanut Soup

Boiled and shelled peanuts

If I had to pick one favourite food, I think it would have to be peanut butter. I suppose it is more of a condiment then a food but that's besides the point. When I came upon the peanut episode of Good Eats I was excited to make something awesome out of peanut butter, after all it goes with everything and I have tried it with just about everything. One of the recipes was for a delicious looking peanut butter pie with chocolate and an Oreo crust but in the spirit of culinary adventure I decided to go for something I had never heard of. I had never heard of boiling peanuts let alone making soup out of them but I am always up for the adventure. All the steps are pretty straight forward but this is not something you can make in a hurry. Depending on the freshness of the peanuts they can take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours of boiling to reach the desired tenderness. I only boiled mine for about an hour and a half due to some fridge repairs but I don't think it hurt the results. Once boiled the nuts are very similar to the texture of a cooked bean. This makes a lot of sense since peanuts are not really nuts at all they are legumes. the legumes family includes other culinary staples like peas, soybeans and lentils. The worst part of the recipe is getting about a pound and a half of peanuts of of their shells, like I said if you're in a hurry find a different recipe. Once the peanuts are ready, the recipe calls for cooking bacon and onions, adding chicken stock, then seasoning. Once that is simmered for about half an hour blend and that's it. One thing I should have mentioned, the bacon is reserved for garnishing the soup. The bacons really makes the soup, it is a little bland on its own but the saltiness of the bacon plays well with the peanut's flavour. I was expecting a lot of peanut taste but it is more subtle then I was expecting.

Now for a little about the peanut and how it saved the South. In 1910 the Southern Unites State's cotton crop was devastated by boll weevils, a beetle that feeds on cotton. With farmers down and out in steps our hero George Washington Carver, a scientist at the Tuskegee Institute. He published a pamphlet detailing how to grow peanuts and 105 ways to prepare them. Some of the more interesting were: peanut milk, peanut sausage, peanut orange punch and the list goes on and on. Now a days Southern states produce a great deal of the world's peanuts, with Georgia producing almost half of the US crop. America ranks third in global production, behind China and India. Another interesting factoid: once fertilized the peanut plants' flowers droop down and push themselves underground. Being underground protects the young peanuts and allows them to mature without being disturbed.

Bacon garnish

I am adding something new to the blog, a final verdict. I thing the true test of a recipe is would you make it again? Some recipes that taste good are just not practical because of time to make, strange apparatus or ingredients that you will use once and then will sit in the back of the cupboard until the next ice age. Hopefully this section gives the overall feeling I had towards the dish and if it is worth making.

Verdict: would not make again.

Boiling and shelling just takes too long for a soup that is good but not amazing.

Boiled Peanut Soup Recipe