Seafood & Sweet Potato Pie

This would be one of the few adventures I've had that involves taking a recipe and turning it into my own creation. Chicken pot pie and shepherd's pie are at the top of my comfort food list so it was safe to assume a seafood pie would give me the warm and fuzzies too. What I didn't want was a lot of fat and little food value, so I upped the vegetable count and replaced some of the butter with yoghurt. In some cases I simply reduced the amount of butter overall. I'm pleased with the results, although I found my first attempt at it was a bit labour intensive.

There are four steps to this casserole: the sauce, the shrimp and veggie mix, the fish and the potatoes. Many pots were dirtied in this experiment, but that's where your dishwasher makes an appearance. Use it, readers. Use it.

It took me about an hour to assemble the pie, plus the baking time, so an hour-and-a-half from start to finish. In the big scheme of things, this isn't a long time, but if you've got hungry families to feed, it might be too long for you. I also find myself multitasking while cooking, so that hour included a load of laundry among other things. Anyways, it was worth it. Creamy comfort food, without any heaviness or guilt and loads of leftovers, which I can handle better than in previous months.







Adapted from: http://www.shrinkingsingle.com/

Serves 8-10

Ingredients 

• 350g white fish
• prawns thawed and tails removed
• 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 Anaheim pepper, chopped
• 1 onion; 1/2 diced and half cut into quarters
• 1 cup spinach leaves
• 1 large yam/sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped
• 2 T chopped cilantro or parsley
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T unsalted butter
• 2 T low fat yoghurt
• 1 litre of low fat milk
• juice of half a lemon
• 3 T butter
• 3 T flour
• 10 peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup shredded white cheddar
• salt and pepper throughout

Method

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9"X13" baking pan and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the yams and potato. Boil for ten minutes or until soft when poked with a fork. Drain the potatoes and add the unsalted butter and yoghurt. Blend with a hand held blender or potato ricer. Combine two tablespoons of the chopped parsley/cilantro and salt to taste into the mash and set aside.

In a frying pan heat the oil and add the pepper and diced onion, sautéing for one minute. Add the shrimp and stir until they lose their translucency; about 3 minutes. Add the peas and spinach and toss until the spinach begins to wilt. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a saucepan combine the milk, peppercorns, quartered onion, lemon juice and bay leaves and bring
to a boil. Reduce to simmer and add the fish, allowing to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the fish from the milk and set aside to cool. Once cooled, remove all the bones, pat dry and flake the fish.

In another saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of butter on medium heat and add the flour, stirring until combined. Pour the milk through a sieve into the saucepan to drain it of any remaining fish, bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce to simmer until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat.

Using the baking pan, begin by layering the bottom of the pan with the shrimp and vegetable mix. Add half of the sauce, follow with the fish and then with the remaining sauce. Top with the blended potato and cheddar cheese and bake the casserole in the oven, uncovered for about 20-30 minutes or until the top is browned.

Tamale Pie

I had the most flavourless Shepherd's pie on Friday night. So dull in fact, that it shook my confidence in all things pie-related. I need to restore my faith in meat and dough. I can't say Anglo-meat pies are known for their flavour, but they do have some dimension to them. That said, I figured a Mexican twist would truly liven this classic, so I jumped on this recipe as soon as I saw it.  That and our afternoon plans consist of climbing so I wanted dinner to be ready upon our return. 

http://cookingbride.com

Serves 6

• 
  
• Tamale Dough
• 
  
• 2 cups instant Masa Harina (Mexican corn flour!)
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 
  
• Filling
• 
  
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 (10 oz.) can red enchilada sauce
• 2 T cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 t chili powder
• 3/4 t ground cumin
• 1 cup beef broth

Whisk together masa, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add broth and oil and stir to combine until dough becomes soft paste. Cover bowl let dough rest for at least 15 minutes at room temperature.

In the meantime, preheat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add ground beef and onions. Cook until meat is no longer pink, being sure to break up any large chunks. Add minced garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Stir in enchilada sauce.

In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and broth. Add mixture to meat and stir to combine. To assemble, spread meat in an even layer over the bottom of the bottom of a slow cooker. Gently spread tamale dough over the top of the meat mixture. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours until dough is set.