FFwD: Hachis Parmentier

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Ok guys, we are entering the forth week of cooking from the new book by Dorie Greenspan - “Around my French Table”.  This is my third contribution, since I skipped last weeks choice, the Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup.

But, this week I could not resist, because mashed potatoes and meat, in this case chopped meat - are like a great marriage.  

In France this is the equivalent of the English Shepard pie. “Hachis”, which means a dish in which the ingredients are chopped or minced, come from the same root as the English word “hatchet”.  I did not use a hatchet of course, but I like the mental picture of it.  The rest of the dish is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French pharmacist, nutritionist, and inventor who, in the late 18th century, was instrumental in the promotion of the potato as an edible crop.

Let’s all stand up right now and thank THAT MAN!

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Sweet Kitchen Tips 11

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And since I got myself on the road to pie making here is a couple of tricks that I found make things much easier.  Trial and error folks, the best teacher.

The first thing I learn was that sometimes even the most planned mixing can leave your dough too dry and crumbly (refer to the empanada post and you know will know what I’m talking about) when you start to roll it out.  But, the cardinal rule to pie making - DON’T OVERWORK THE DOUGH, meaning, the less you mix the better it will be.  So what to do? 

Get yourself a spray bottle full of ice water, and use it to sprint the dough when you need a bit more to make it soft.  This method distributes just the right amount making it unlikely you will add to much.

and if you are rolling along …

and your dough often sticks to the counter, adding more flour is not the best solution, since it can actually make the dough tough.  Instead, slide a pastry scraper under the dough every 30 seconds or so.  This way the dough never has a chance to stick, and it won’t tear when you need to move it.  If you don’t have a pastry scraper, you can use a metal ruler, which works just as well.

or you can go the route sandwich route…

Roll out the dough between sheets of parchment or plastic wrap paper.  And if your sandwiched package starts to roll away from you in the counter, place a nonstick silicone mat underneath to hold it in place and give you an additional smooth, stable rolling surface.

TWD: Caramel Pumpkin Pie

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If I had a cooking bucket list, I will be marking these two items off today: 
  • make pie crust - DONE!
  • make pumpkin pie - DONE!
Yep, people THIS is a milestone for me.  Because 
  • I have never made pie crust from scratch (seriously why go thru all the trouble when you can buy it made at the supermarket?)
  • Pumpkin - hate it. 
  • I stayed far, far away from these baking items most of my life
And I was happy.

Then I meet Tom.

And Tom loves me.

And I love him back.

And being in a loving relationship you do things for each other that you don’t like to do.

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