Because we avoid butter, we use the crust below with oil.  It is very easy to work with and is more “bready” once made.  Works great for this recipe.   This recipe will make two pies, a little on the thinnish side, or one gigantic, deep dish pie with quite a thick crust.  We have decided we sort of like the two pies best — we cook both and if we don’t need two, freeze the 2nd.  It can be re-heated later and still tastes fresh. (Though we hauled the 2nd one out after being in the freezer only 5 days).

If you prefer a more traditional crust — use your favorite and just use the filling below.

Filling:
1 1/2  lbs ground dark turkey
Large onion or so, chopped fairly small
cook until browned, mashing to eliminate lumps
add
2 t allspice
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
(optional teaspoon sage)
mix in
2 + cups mashed potato (or dice potato small and cook with the meat until tender and mash)

fill crust, bake at 375 about 40-60 min.

Crust:
4 c flour
1 1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder – mix dry ingredients
1/2 c canola oil – blend in
1 c water – mix in to form dough
divide for top and bottom crust, press or roll out

It started when I “won” the home preserving book Put ‘em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton, through the Food on the Food blog. I had preserved a bit before, so had the supplies and the basic knowledge. But these recipes were inspiring. Here are some of the results.

• Pickled Beets w/ Dill: Great — Have a stash at work for an afternoon snack
• Ginger Carrot Slaw: great ginger taste – still figuring what it goes with best that we usually eat.
• Granny’s Chow-Chow Relish: quite sour — am thinking about adding sugar as I eat it — crispy and otherwise fine.
• Dilly Beans: mixed white and green string beans — wicked good!
• Oven-Dried Tomatoes — tasty, great on flat bread.

Not from this book is “Golden Glow Relish” from my MIL, our favorite. Wicked good — probably similar to Bread and Butter pickles – quite sweet.

Next up (eventually) : Spicy Tomato Aspic, Rhubarb Jelly, Radish Relish, Ginger Peach Jam, Fennel and Onion Jam, and Classic Crock Pickles.

That’s it for now!  Need to go get more jars before I can go any further.

Our Chantetelle crop, so far has been a bit sparse.  Will look again in a couple weeks.   We check the piney woods near the brook in the Mt. Washington area of NH.  They are easy to spot as they have a nice buttery, pale orange  color. The gills underneath fade down into the stem (not a perfect cut off- which could mean a dangerous mushroom), and they have a wonderful, almost raspberry smell to them.  Only found about 6-8 medium sized mushrooms this past weekend – a small amount, but a flatbread/pizza handled them quite nicely.

Chanterelle mushrooms sliced (cleaned well and sliced – get rid of any slugs).
garlic (4-6 cloves crushed or chopped fine)
fresh basil – chopped
small onion – thin sliced
parmesan cheese (2 Tbsp)
olive oil (1-2 Tbsp)
salt and pepper – to taste

Spread on top of home made dough on parchement paper – and cook in a 450 oven about 20 minutes I suppose a store bought flat bread or something would work, but never tried it.

Enjoy!

Adapted from multiple on-line and Boston Globe recipes.

3-5 garlic cloves ( slightly crushed but still whole)

fresh dill  (3-6 sprigs – I like lots)

1 tsp whole black pepper (or more)

1 tsp whole mustard seed (optional)

2-3  bayleaf leaves

2 Tbsp kosher salt mixed into 1 qt water

small cucumbers – whole- as many as will fit in the jar with the seeds, garlic and dill packed in

Pack it all in a jar, make sure your salt is well dissolved  – pour salt water up to the top.

Shut tight (no need to can) and refrigerate about 3 – 4 days before eating.

Notes:

I recently started adding mustard seed, but haven’t really noticed much difference.

Everything is optional, but keep the salt to water ratio consistent to get the right texture and brine flavor.   I’ve tried adding fresh cauliflower and beans to the mix. While it wasn’t offensive, it really didn’t do the trick as far as pickling.

Enjoy!

A gray(scale) day at Niagara Falls - October 2009