I don't have any clever "use your left overs" pairing for you. For one thing, We didn't have a traditional thanksgiving this year. My parents didn't come over as planned because #2020 and we're not huge fans of turkey. Also Bill eats a lot, so we didn't have a ton of leftovers. You'd never guess looking at him, but that man eats like two teenage football players in October. This is another dinner I tried during harvest that was a great "make whenever and great for reheating." It might be my favorite thing I made this year.
it all started when I was trying out different pie crusts. i've never really mastered all the pie crusts. There are legit different crusts for different reasons - fruit pies need a sturdier crusts than squishy pies (pumpkin/pecan - what do real bakers call them?), which need flakier crusts than tarts. I didn't want to make just pies because not everyone has bill's metabolism but we're all aiming for his waistline. so i decided to start incorporating them into dinners and forcing them on the guys after they worked all day at harvest (that burns enough calories, right?). so i found a bunch of recipes for hand pies and just skipped the crust part. I found some interesting filling mixes, and experimented with a lot, tossing left over street taco meat with american cheese and onion (delicious, sure) or chicken with provolone and barbeque sauce. We learned one thing, no matter the crust or filling, If you're going to try any filling, just make sure there is a sauce. It needs a sauce. Anyway, what we ended up loving was a bit of a surprise and it took me over a month to find the fillings. Yes. A month. Do you know how hard it is to find fig jam in Chelan, WA?? I was about to look for it online when i stumbled across it at the Manson Bay Market of all places. Normally, you find the weird things at bear foods, but i couldn't even find it there. at one point i thought i would just make the jam, but i couldn't find figs; i had my mom look for it at her grocery store in mill creek and she couldn't find any either. it was a little ridiculous. so what was it you ask? it was this very simple "breakfast" ham and brie hand pies.
The first crust we tried was my fruit pie crust, but the crust that actually tastes most amazing with it is this shortcrust pie crust. The crust is strong enough to stand up to the fillings, not too flaky like my fruit crust, but also not too stiff like my squishy pie crust. It was perfect. i chilled the pies after putting in the fillings for 10 minutes in the fridge; i'd probably do it a bit longer next time to help avoid top splits as most shortcrust you should freeze for 10-15 minutes before baking. there was something about the filling, too. that fig jam - it was well worth the hunt. It mixed with the stone ground mustard in such a way that was like a fairy dance in my mouth. it was amazing. It had so much flavor i needed a wine that had soft mouth feel, and sat mostly on top of the roof of my mouth.
it needed our '13 merlot. Or the syrah? i tried both. And while the syrah was good, the merlot was sooo good with the fig jam. the merlot has a spicy open that seems to pull the jam through and finishes dry like the mustard, seeming to heat the mustard flavor up. it also brings out the brie more than the pie does on it's own. the brie i used was a basic brie, so light smokiness, which was hinted at by the tabacco flavors in the merlot. this was very much a like-on-like pairing. but i will definitely be making these hand pies about as often as i make my Bolognese.
Grocery list
Fillings
Deli Ham
Fig jam (sorry)
Brie
Stone Ground Mustard
crust
flour
sugar
salt
butter
vanilla
egg
heavy cream
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