In the kitchen: road trip hand pies.

When we're on the road from MKE to MN, I'm usually in such a "let's get home as fast as we can" zone that there's hardly anything that will make me stop...excluding some necessary coffee needs every now and then. Stopping somewhere for food is definitely not worth it to us, especially since these little hand pies are so easy to make. And, as an added bonus, we use up any leftovers before leaving for a few days; this makes the recipe really cost effective because you're using what you've already made. Plus-plus!

Hand Pies For the Road. 

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Shortcrust dough, via Gordon Ramsey's Great British Pub Food. 

400 grams plain flour

1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

200 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

3-4 Tbsp. ice water

Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter pieces until the mixture looks like coarse bread crumbs. 

Add in ice water and mix with a fork, just until dough comes together. If it seems dry, add a bit more water, but don't make the dough too wet. 

Lightly flour a work surface, and gently knead the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out for the pasties. 

Ingredients to make 5 pasties***

3 medium potatoes, such as Yukon gold, peeled

1 large sweet onion

3 carrots, peeled

Leftover chicken or pork, about 2/3 cup shredded meat 

1 Tbsp. grainy mustard

Olive oil 

Salt, pepper 

1 egg, lightly beaten 

***I saved time the morning of our trip home last week by just cooking together the leftover potatoes, carrots, and pork shoulder Andrew had made for dinner the previous night. It really doesn't matter what filling you use for the pies - use anything you have on hand! 

Dice the potatoes, carrots, and onion into equally sized pieces. 

Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat, add vegetables and cook 5-8 minutes until tender. Add the chicken pieces and cook to warm through. Add in mustard, and season with plenty of salt and pepper. 

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough into 5 rounds to fit 3.5 inch baking dishes; leave an inch of overhang. Fill pasties with cooked filling, adding a bit more salt to each. Pinch overhang to seal, and brush with beaten egg. 

Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown. 

And of course, as per any car trip, store in Tupperware containers and get ready to hit the road! 

Going vegetarian...for tonight.

For dinner tonight, our dishes were all vegetarian. Now, this is by no means an everyday occurrence, as some of our absolute all-time favorite dishes involve meat (and lots of it). Our families know from experience that most of our hosted family dinners center around pork shoulder or some other sort of slow-roasted meat. We didn't consciously decide that we were going to "be vegetarians" tonight, but it just so happened that every recipe that stood out to us called for vegetables, not meat. 

On the menu: 

Broccoli and leek pie, from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty.

Apple and ginger chutney, from Max and Eli Sussman's This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life (we first saw this new cookbook highlighted on Smith and Ratliff and can't wait to try out more recipes!). 

Zucchini and hazelnut salad, also from Ottolenghi. 

All so fresh, flavorful, and (relatively) healthy...except for that pie, which definitely wasn't healthy, but it tasted so, so good. And honestly, we didn't miss the meat at all. There are some all-veg dishes that taste fine, but leave you wanting something heartier. All three tonight were completely satisfying. We've felt that way about most of the dishes we've tried in Plenty, a really great book that proves vegetarian cooking can be exciting and creative (the eggplant croquettes are a personal favorite). And I can't wait to try more of the Sussman brothers' recipes after flipping through their book; I'm especially looking forward to the s'mores with maple-bourbon marshmallows...maybe this weekend?!? 

What are your thoughts on vegetarian cooking? Love it? Hate it? Give Plenty a try - we promise you won't be disappointed! 

~N.