Last night I attended an online cooking class through the Cambridge Center for Adult Education taught by Jacqueline Church to make winter savory pies. We made 3 pies in total – Shepherd Pie, Vegetable Turkey Pot Pie and a Chilean Pie called Pastel de Choclo – Beef and corn pie.
The class kicked my butt! I had a lot of prep work a head of starting the class but it still was a lot for me to manage. Another skill for me to master in 2021, prepping complex meals.
The results were fabulous. I learned how to make a quick dinner with the vegetable pie recipe. Jacqueline said that it can be modified easily to use up what happens to be in your refrigerator. I added some left over turkey and rice from our Turkish Turkey dinner as well as some chicken broth. We added store bought puff pastry to the top, a pastry that I’ve never used before. My family loved it so this is a recipe that I’ll replicate often.
We made a lovely shepherd pie is a large casserole dish. I flunked at piping mashed potatoes! I think my piping tip was too small. Jacqueline said that she used a large tip. Hmmmm, something that I need to look for during my next shop at King Arthur Flour.
My family loved the shepherd pie with a definite request to make it again! We used Alton Brown’s recipe as a starting point for this delicious lamb dish with peas, corn and potatoes. I added some beef to lighten up the lamb and enrich the flavor. I added more spice to the filling. Jacqueline deglazed the pan with Madeira, something that I need to be prepared to do next time.
My mashed potatoes were flat on the top. My mom told me that she used to make them tall on the pie like a meringue. This is a pie that I’ll definitely need to explore this winter.
The Chilean Beef and Corn Pie (Pastel de Choclo) tasted amazing. Definitely a pie that is better as a left over. Unfortunately it was the least popular with my family.
Pie Reimagined 