carrots – Sheikah Plate

Meat Pie

June 22, 2018by Teri Mae19 Comments

It’s been a while. I know this. I have no apology. But what I do have is this incredible and easy Meat Pie recipe. Trust me, you’ll accidentally eat every single one the second they cool down enough to shove into your mouth. And you won’t even feel bad about it. So in honor of that feeling, let’s get rid of all guilt associated with not posting for a while and just get on with the show!

OH! And as a side note, I finished exploring every. little. section and area of BotW except the final castle. It’s done! And tonight I’m totally finishing the castle. Here’s hoping I find the last few things I’m missing there…

And without further waiting on your end:

Meat Pie

Start by making the pastry dough. This has to chill for at least an hour so it should always be your first step. If you want to make the dough far ahead it can be chilled up to overnight in the fridge before use. So make life, and dinner, a little easier on yourself and make it when you have a spare 10 minutes.

Put some water into a cup and add a cube or two of ice. The colder the water, the better the pastry will turn out. Add the flour to a bowl and cut up the cold (it must be cold, just like the pie crust recipe in Apple Pie) butter into 1-2 tablespoon chunks.

Now let’s rub the cold butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs with some pea-sized chunks of butter left. You don’t want it too fine or you won’t get a nice flaky crust! … maybe next time I’ll make a gif of how to do this. I’m just now realizing that would probably be nice…

Now add 2/3 cup water to the dough and mix until it completely comes together and forms a ball. This is a far more forgiving recipe than my pie crust (even though the method is the same) so a little extra handling won’t necessarily hurt it… but I wouldn’t work it too much. You should still see large chunks of butter in your dough.

Split it in half and press into a square shape about an inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready for it.

Now, the key to the filling on this meat pie is dicing everything up really small. Like, say, 1/4 inch cubes. This goes for the carrots, the onion, and the roast. Normally with my recipes size doesn’t really matter. But in this case we want everything to cook properly and be able to squish as much as possible in the little pastry cases, so size becomes very important.

Once they’re all cut up put them together in a bowl and mix with a spoon to combine. Add all the spices and stir until the spices coat everything. I’d start with the smallest amount of spices and then, based on look and smell (please don’t taste it! There’s raw meat in there…) add the rest if you feel like it’s necessary. I, personally, use all the spices. I like my food to have some flavor! Also – yeah, yeah, I know that meat pie doesn’t traditionally have random vegetables thrown in. But I can’t really make something like this, which feels like a full meal, without adding at least one vegetable to it. So it’ll be fine.

Take the dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour a large surface. Place the dough on the surface and roll it out into a large rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick.

Start by rolling in once direction several times until it makes a large square. Then rotate it 90°, add more flour under the dough, and roll it out until it forms your triangle. Repeat with the other piece, making sure both are the same size.

Take the largest round cutter you have (mine happened to be 3.5 inches long) and cut circles into your pastry. Cut the same amount of circles into each pastry rectangle – these will serve as your bottom and your top. If you’re really feeling ambitious you can gather the scraps and roll them out once more for even more pies. I didn’t really feel like doing that so I simply threw the scraps away. If you’re feeling lazy and the idea of wasted scraps horrifies you, simply cut the pastry into an equal amount (and equal sizes) of squares on both pastries and call it good. It’s all about presentation and how much you’re willing to give to it.

Transfer half of the square/circle pastries to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Fill each square/circle with your meat filling. Now, we want to fill to within 1/2 inch of the sides of the pastry case and we want it to be no more than stacked double in the center. That’s very specific, I know, but if you fill it too much the case will either split mid-bake or you’ll be unable to get the top on in the first place!

Next, dip your fingers into water and brush the empty edges of the pastries. Lay the last half of the pastries on top of the first half to make enclosed pies. Gently press the pastries halves together with your fingers and then seal with a fork by pressing into the edges. This will crimp the pastries together and (fingers crossed) hopefully prevent them from leaking. After your pastries are crimped poke 3-4 holes in the top. It helps release the steam to prevent mini explosions in your oven

Whisk an egg with a fork and brush the top of the pastries with the beaten egg. This will give you a nice, beautiful, crispy, shiny crust! The best kind, in my opinion! Place in the oven and bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until the pastries are nice and browned and/or and internal temperature has been reached of about 165ish. We can be less specific because we’re using roast and beef instead of poultry.

Remove from the oven and serve warm!

Link’s Meat Pie recipe:

- - Any Meat
  - Goat Butter
  - Rock Salt
  - Tabantha Wheat

Meat Pie

Servings: 13 3 inch pies
Time: 2 hour prep time, 1 hour bake time
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Meat pies with carrots and onion

Pastry

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (455g) all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 5 tablespoons (300g) cold butter, cut into tablespoons
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (150ml) ice cold water

Filling

1 pound beef roast
2 medium carrots
1/4 medium onion
2-3 teaspoons salt
2-3 teaspoons garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons black pepper

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F and add some ice to a small cup of water.
Add the flour and salt to a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized pieces. Add the butter to the flour and begin rubbing it between your fingers while adding flour. This will create a breadcrumb-like texture. Make sure you leave some butter pieces as large as peas.
Add 2/3 cup of your ice water and mix until combined. There should still be chunks of butter visible in the dough.
Split the dough into two equal pieces, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour but up to overnight.
Dice the roast, carrots, and onion into small 1/4 inch cubes. Place them in a bowl and mix with a spoon until combined.
Add the smaller amount of spices and then, based on look and smell add the rest if you feel it’s necessary. I, personally, use all the spices. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
Take the dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour a large surface. Place the dough on the surface and roll it out into a large rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick.
Roll the dough by rolling in once direction several times until it makes a large square. Then rotate it 90°, add more flour under the dough, and roll it out until it forms your triangle.
Repeat with the other piece, making sure both are the same size.
Using a large round cutter cut circles into your pastry. Repeat on the other half of the pastry dough, ensuring you have the same amount of circles on each side. You may gather the scraps and re-roll the dough to cut more circles if you wish, but only re-roll once to prevent a tough pastry. Or, alternatively, cut your pastry into even squares, ensuring there’s an even number on each half.
Transfer half of the square/circle pastries to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Fill each square/circle with your meat filling to within 1/2 inch of the sides of the pastry case and no more than stacked double in the center.
Dip your fingers into water and brush the empty edges of the pastries.
Lay the last half of the pastries on top of the first half to make enclosed pies. Gently press the pastries halves together with your fingers and then seal with a fork by pressing into the edges. Poke 3-4 holes in the top.
Whisk an egg with a fork and brush the top of the pastries with the beaten egg. Place in the oven and bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until the pastries are nice and browned and/or and internal temperature has been reached of about 165ish. Serve warm.

Recipes

Prime Meat Stew

March 13, 2018March 13, 2018by Teri Mae5 Comments

I realize I totally fell off the goal train last month. I’m sorry for not writing as many posts as I claimed I would. I got pretty caught up in the goal I was focusing on for February and sort of ignored EVERYTHING else. Not good, I know, but at least hopefully understandable? But it’s okay because this month is focusing on my social goal a.k.a. focusing here! YAY! I’m working on getting a backlog of recipes (for when I don’t have time to post), organizing my thankful recipes (for the upcoming months), and writing a couple of thoughts posts. I’m also working on being better about reading on commenting on all of your wonderful blogs. I know that community is the thing I struggle most with… and for that I am sorry! You guys are all so great to be here and I want to be there for you, too.

One more thing I’m working on for this month? Brainstorming a way to get videos to you all so you can follow along with me and learn some new skills. After my poll, where a Twitch stream was the overwhelming favorite, I feel like I actually do want to help everyone up their cooking game. This isn’t about making it pretty or cutting out vital pieces to make a succinct video. It’s about teaching you the techniques I use to help the people who keep commenting “they can’t cook” feel like they can. Because trust me, if my self-taught self can do this, so can you!

Oh! And one last thing before we get one with it. You guys are the best.

Prime Meat Stew

One of my favorite things about these BotW recipe’s is trying to take some really strange additions to normal meals and make them into a reality. This recipe is no exception. Why on earth would you add wheat to a stew? And how can I make a beef stew with something like milk? It’s just weird, people. Weird. But that’s what makes it fun! So get ready for a surprisingly delicious recipe. P.S. this recipe makes a lot. I like having stew for leftovers for days. If you don’t, you’ll want to scale it back.

This recipe started when I accidentally purchased the most expensive roast of my life. Here’s how it went.

Me: Do you have chuck roast in your Prime beef?

Butcher: Nope. We have rib roast, though. Would you like that?

Me, super naively: Sure! Is that like a regular roast?

Butcher: Yep.

Me: Let’s do it.

Cut to him handing me the 2 pound package of roast.

Me: *Checks price on package. Price says $45.00* Oh.

So, while the beef was definitely insanely delicious, I don’t recommend doing what I did. However, with the information we learned about the different levels of quality with beef in this Salt Grilled Prime Meat recipe, I knew I needed prime… Do I recommend using it to you readers? Only if you have a lot of money you like to very quickly eat away. Will I ever do this again? Well, it’s a bit too rich for my bank account. But it was amazing. So what should you use instead? Any rump, chuck, or stew roast will do nicely. That’s what I usually use and it turns out like a dream.

So now that we’ve got the “Prime” out of the way we needed to figure out how to add those strange Breath of the Wild ingredients. The first one: Tabantha Wheat. It feels like a bit of a cheat but I simply dredged my meat in flour before searing it. Have you ever had a stew where the meat breaks up into tiny little pieces because it’s perfectly braised? Annoying because you can’t get a full piece of meat, but delicious, right? Well, dredging prevents it from breaking up into tiny pieces. It gives the meat a bit of a crust to stew in and holds it together until you decide to chew, leaving you with the perfect, falling apart bite. So let’s start with cutting the roast into cubes, about an inch squared. Then add flour, salt, and pepper to the cubes and roll them around to completely coat each one. It’s pretty easy. You can totally do this.

Add the oil to the bottom of a heavy-bottom pan. I used a pot because I was silly. A pan works just as well. As I’ve mentioned in… pretty much all of my previous posts, I love cast iron and use it almost exclusively for pans. But a regular pan will work just fine as long as it can handle high heat and then sustained low heat… so, like, a regular pan with a lid. Heat the oil on medium high and, once it’s hot, starting adding the dredged meat.

Don’t add it all together. We really need to shake off the excess flour, because excess flour sticks to the bottom and makes it even more of a mess to clean than it already will be. Oh! By the way, this will be a mess to clean. So grab a handful of meat, shake it to remove excess flour, add it to the pan, queue to 3rd grade boys laughing hysterically. Continue doing this until all the meat is added. Then stir continuously with a plastic or wood (never metal) spatula until all the beef is browned and beautiful.

During this process you will get a brown crust sticking to the bottom of the pan. That’s totally normal. It’s called a fond (French for “bottom”) and provides some of the best flavor to any sauteed or braised meat. If you stirred continuously and scraped the bottom of the pan often, like you should have, the fond won’t be a thick layer. If you didn’t… like me… you’ll get stuck with a thick fond, which is harder to handle. The way to scrape up this delicious flavor and add it to the stew is to deglaze the pan. It’s easy. The next step has us adding beef broth to the pan to braise the meat for an hour. To deglaze, simply add a few tablespoons only at a time. When you do that it sizzles and creates steam. While it’s sizzling scrape the bottom of the pan. The fond will scrape up and leave you with some nice flavor. If the liquid gets soaked up before you’re done scraping just add a little more, and, while it sizzles, scrape the rest. If you have a thick layer it’ll more difficult (maybe even impossible) to scrape it all up. That’s fine. It just makes clean up harder. If you have a thin layer it’ll be a piece of cake.

Once the fond is scraped and removed from the pan add 2-3 cups of broth, until the meat is barely covered, and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to a rolling simmer, cover, and allow to simmer for an hour. During this hour make sure you check at least every 10 minutes to stir the meat (so it doesn’t stick and burn) and to make sure all the broth hasn’t boiled off. If it’s getting low, simply add more.

While the meat is cooking cut up the veggies. We just want to dice the carrots, onion, and celery into large, bite size pieces, like I have you do in my Veggie Cream Soup. If you’re using fresh herbs strip them from the stalks and mince. Again, let’s not belabor something I’ve already taught you so check out the Veggie Cream Soup if you want to remember how. I don’t dice up the potatoes until the very end because potatoes exposed to oxygen will turn black (an oxidation of the starchy liquid, for those science nerds out there). If you do want to dice the potatoes now simply place them in a bowl and cover them entirely with water. It’ll act as a barrier to the oxygen so they shouldn’t go black.

When the hour is almost up let’s move on to how I added milk to this recipe. I’ve never, in my life, added milk to a beef stew. It was a puzzle worthy of being it’s own shrine (though not dungeon). So I turned to an old-fashioned roux. But instead of using a roux to thicken the stew with broth (which is the normal route, for heaven’s sake, Link) we are going to use a little milk and then finish it up with broth. Complicated, but necessary to include that odd ingredient.

I feel like I mention it so often you don’t need the link, but for instructions on how to make a roux, check it out in Fish Pie. Heat butter on medium in a heavy-bottom saucepan, add flour a bit at a time once the butter has melted completely, whisk until thickened and bubbly. Now add the milk all at once and whisk until combined, smooth, and thick. At this point add 3 cups of beef broth, 1 cup at a time, and whisk until thick and smooth. Once that mixture is ready dump all the beef and remaining liquid from your meat into the sauce. Be careful. Since everything is hot you don’t want to get splashed and burned. Add the vegetables, herbs, and more salt and pepper to taste. Add another cup of beef broth and stir until homogeneous. Bring liquid to a boil and then lower to a gentle simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. Serve and be delighted! P.S. this recipe goes really well with Becky’s Rolls.

Link’s Prime Meat Stew

- Rock Salt
- Hylian Rice
- Hearty Blueshell Snail or any Porgy

Prime Meat Stew

Servings: 8-10
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Roast beef stew with carrots, celery, and potatoes

Ingredients

2 pounds chuck, rump, or other stew roast
6 celery stalks
5 medium carrots
4 medium potatoes, any variety
1 tablespoon dried oregano or 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme, or 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 medium onion
8-10 cups beef broth
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour, plus 3-4 tablespoons for dredging
2-3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Directions

Cut the roast into 1 inch square cubes
Add the 3-4 tablspoons dredging flour, about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the cubes and roll them around to completely coat each one.
Add oil to the bottom of a heavy-bottom pan. Heat the oil on medium high.
Add the dredged meat, one handful at a time, first shaking off the excess flour. Continue until all meat has been added.
Stir continuously with a plastic or wood spatula until all the beef is browned.
Remove the fond by adding 2-3 tablespoons beef broth to the pan and remove the fond by scraping. Repeat until all the fond has been removed.
Add 2-3 cups of water, until the beef is barely covered, and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to a rolling simmer, cover, and allow to simmer for an hour. During this hour make sure you check at least every 10 minutes to stir the meat. If the broth level is getting low simply add more.
While the meat is cooking cut up the carrots, onion, and celery into large, bite-sized pieces. If you’re using fresh herbs strip them from the stalks and mince. Dice the potatoes when the meat has stewed for nearly the entire hour to prevent oxidation.
Heat, on medium, a large 6-7 quart heavy-bottom dutch oven or pot. Add the butter.
Once the butter is melted and bubbling, add half the flour and whisk continuously until it’s completely incorporated and thick. Add the remainder of the flour and repeat until combined and bubbling slightly.
Add the milk to the flour mixture and stir until homogeneous and thickened. Add 3 cups of beef broth, 1 cup at a time, and whisk until thick and smooth between each addition.
Once the sauce is ready add all the meat and the braising liquid to the sauce. Stir until combined.
Add the vegetables, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste to the stew and stir to combine. If there isn’t enough liquid to cover the vegetables add the remainder of the broth and stir until combined.
Bring stew to a boil and lower to a gentle simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. Serve and be delighted!

Recipes

Glazed Veggies

August 22, 2017August 22, 2017by Teri Mae7 Comments

I seriously underestimated the amount of fun and lack of free time I would have on my vacation last week. I suspected that, since I had to be back to the hotel by 9ish to put my small child down for bed I would have plenty of time to write a blog post in the evening. What I did not account for was the extremely late nights and loads of fun my family would have staying up till 12 or 1 each night playing card games. Never underestimate the hilarity of a game like Balderdash at midnight when all the adults are exhausted but cant. stop. playing.

But that serious fun does mean I missed a lot of posts! I’m sorry! And after I specifically made two recipes the week before in order to not miss a week… So thanks for your patience, thanks for the continued support and follows, and let’s get on with the show!

Glazed Veggies

Guys, this recipe is super easy but super delicious. That makes it a win-win, right?

First we chop the veggies and, if you’re feeling bold, chop and mince the fresh herbs. If you’re not feeling bold, no worries, this recipe is equally awesome for all types. Just measure out those herbs and get them handy because, frankly, herbs of all sorts look pretty.

Start boiling the tiny, finger height portion of water in a nice, deep pot. If you haven’t noticed I’m super exact with my measurements… Just check out this post for proof…

Once it’s boiling add the carrots and cover with the lid. We want this to boil for 7-9 minutes, depending on how full your pot is, or until the carrots are “crisp-tender”… Who makes up these cooking terms, anyway? For those of you who can’t guess based on the name, crisp-tender means the stage after raw but before mushy. It’s a pretty big ballpark, you can’t really miss it unless you’re being negligent. And you’d never be negligent with carrots, would you?

Remove the carrots, drain the water, and put the pot back on the heat. Add the honey and butter until they melt together. Add your herbs and carrots back in and stir until the carrots are coated and the herbs are a little fragrant, about 2 minutes. Serve warm!

You wanna know how to best use this recipe? Add it as a side to either the Salt-Grilled Prime Meat or the Salt-Grilled Meat. That’s what I did and it made for one amazing meal!

Link’s Glazed Veggies

- Any Vegetable
- Courser Bee Honey

Herb Glazed Veggies

Servings: 4
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Print

Carrots glazed with honey and fresh herbs

Filling

1 lb carrots
1.5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
1-1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
1-2 teaspoons pepper
1.5 tablespoons fresh thyme (or 1-1.5 teaspoon dried thyme)
1.5 tablespoons fresh oregano (or 1-1.5 teaspoon dried oregano)

Directions

If you use fresh herbs wash and then mince the herbs. Use a very sharp blade to mince in order to prevent bruising. Mix both the thyme and sage together and set aside.
Cut all carrots equally and evenly to ensure they all cook the same amount and finish at the same time. If you desire, peel the carrots first.
Boil enough water in a 4 quart saucepan to cover the first joint in your finger.
Add carrots and cover the pot. Allow to boil for 7-9 minutes, or until crisp-tender.
Remove carrots and drain pot.
Add honey and butter and allow to melt together. Add herbs and carrots and stir until carrots are completely glazed and the herbs become fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Serve hot.