[Previous entry: "blood... blood..."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "server move"]

11/09/05: "radsy recipes #5 - zingy pie"

The best recipes come about when you're in the kitchen thinking "christ, I don't think I could stand another stirfry." Enter zingy pie.
Take 2 A4-sized sheets of puff pastry out of the freezer. Separate and leave on the bench to defrost. Preheat your oven to 200C. Prepare an A4 sheet of well oiled baking paper and lay it on a baking tray.
bring 2 cups of chicken stock (not too strong) to just under the boil in a large pan or pot. Add the juice and the pulp (not the seeds) of a lime (note Jamie Oliver's trick of firmly rolling the lime on your bench before you cut it, to mash the inside and make squeezing easier). Now add a heaped tablespoon of pickled sweet sushi ginger, finely shredded, and a small handful of chopped fresh coriander. Yum. Zingy stock.
Toss in a finely sliced chicken breast, a big handful of roughly chopped dark mushrooms and a large finely chopped courgette (zucchini). Mix it all up and leave it simmering until the chicken is almost done. Meanwhile, mix up about 1/2 cup of cornflour/riceflour with a bit of water to make a smooth runny paste. Also at this time, prepare a mixture of an egg yolk and a tablespoon of (only just, not hot) melted butter. When the chicken's about done, pour in the floury liquid a little at a time to thicken up the mixture to a gloopy texture. Not runny, nor jelly-like, but in the middle. Gloopy.
Let the mixture cool a bit, then ladle generously into the centre of the puff pastry sheets. Fold up the pastries like little non-denominational annual celebratory holiday presents, place on the baking sheet, brush with the egg/butter mix and bung in the oven.
While it's baking, clean up the kitchen, drink heavily and steam some colourful vegetables. Something interesting - maybe honey sesame bok choy, pumpkin and some little potato cakes?
When the parcels have gone a nice golden brown, remove them and cut them in half. Serve with the vegies and a sprig of coriander for garnish. You had me at pie!