Turkey Pie in a Sour Cream Crust

This crust recipe was given to me by a classmate, Bobby. It's really delicious and I love the texture.

Sour Cream Crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened (Yes, you read that right. No need for cold butter.)
6 heaping tablespoons of sour cream
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Turkey Filling (you can add any veggies you like):
1 cup peeled & chopped carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery
2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
Turkey or chicken broth
1 cup milk
3 T corn starch
Rosemary, Tarragon, Sage & Thyme
Salt and Pepper

In a saucepan, cover the veggies with just enough broth. Add seasoning and salt & pepper to taste. Cook until tender. Mix in corn starch. Add milk and cook until thickened. Pour into 1/2 rolled out pie crust. Top with other 1/2 crust. Bake in preheated oven at 425ºF for 35 minutes.

Oeufs en Cocotte & Dave's Butter-Wheat Bread

Notice the steam rising from the hot bread. Mmmmm.

Oeufs en Cocotte is a French dish. It can be cooked with mushrooms, ham, smoked fish, veggies, just about anything you like with eggs. Sauces in the bottom of the ramekins are good too. Marinara sauce, Alfredo sauce, Salsa, etc. This recipe is very basic with butter and cheese in the bottom and cream on top. Get creative! And be sure to serve these with Dave's Butter-Wheat Bread (recipe below). This is Dave's own recipe, and it is my favorite bread lately, so rich and hearty and wonderful!

Oeufs en Cocotte
2 eggs per serving
1 Tbsp shredded cheese per serving (any cheese you like)
1 small pat of butter per serving
1 Tbsp half & half, cream, or milk per serving
Salt & Pepper to taste
Herbs & Spices to taste (I used a mixture of rosemary and oregano)

Place pat of butter in the bottom of each ramekin. Top with 1 T cheese. Drop two eggs carefully over cheese. Spoon 1 T cream/milk over eggs. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, herbs and spices. Bake in a 350ºF oven for about 30 minutes or until cooked with soft yokes (to taste). Serve with Dave's Butter-Wheat Bread.





Dave's Butter-Wheat Bread
2 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
5 T melted butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dry milk
3/4 cup mashed potato flakes
15 oz whole wheat flour

Put all of the ingredients in a large mixer bowl. Mix using the paddle (rather than the dough hook). Dave suggests beating it for 10 minutes on medium. Dough is sticky. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until double. Shape and place in greased 9"x 5" loaf pan. Allow to rise about 60 - 70 minutes until it crowns the pan by about 3/4". Bake at 350ºF for about 45 minutes or until done.

Lebanese-Inspired Spicy Lamb Pizza

I had lamb in the fridge, and wanted to do an Easter dish this week. I ended up craving Lebanese food, and used that craving to inspire a Lebanese lamb pizza instead. I don't know why it is, but I seem determined to create unique and/or bizarre pizzas. Probably because I think everything tastes better on top of bread. Where I live, it's difficult to find ground lamb, although ground buffalo is everywhere. So I use a meat grinder and grind my own lamb from a lamb roast.


Lebanese-Inspired Spicy Lamb Pizza
Pizza dough, your choice or use one from my blog such as this
1 pound lamb roast, chipped or ground
1 potato, sliced thin with skin on
oil (canola is good)
1 small onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
salt & pepper to taste
handful of cilantro, chopped
Several Tbsp organic tomato paste
1/3 cup goat cheese

Boil potato slices until tender, set aside. In a frying pan, cook onion and peppers in oil with pine nuts until tender. Add ground lamb and seasoning, cook until brown. Sprinkle cilantro and potatoes into lamb. Roll out dough and pre-cook the dough on a pizza stone in a pre-heated 525ºF oven for 5 minutes. Remove dough, spread with tomato paste. Top with lamb mixture. Sprinkle with goat cheese. Return to the oven for 7 minutes or until dough is browned and done.