I recently visited a fellow cooking enthusiast, and she made the most amazing and delicious lunch I had in a very long time. There was a light, summery salad made with spinach, prosciutto, mozzarella and peaches. Little pancakes with cream cheese, smoked salmon and dill. Grilled herb marinated scallops and tiger shrimp. Spaghetti with lightly cooked vegetables. And there were tiny pastries with eggplant and tomatoes. (There were three different desserts as well!!!) It was the first time she made those pastries and she used the recipe from some cookbook, but the actual dough didn't work too well. It was extremely crumbly and a bit sandy. My friend was really upset about it, but the filling of those pastries was absolutely delicious. So, I got her recipe for the filling and I used the other dough recipe that I knew would work. The result was really good! Juicy, tasty, garlicky filling wrapped in thin layer of tasty pastry. I made a simple dip for those little pies: equal measures of mayo and yogurt cheese mixed with minced garlic and cilantro. Perfect combination!

filling recipe adapted from carina-forum

makes eight medium (12 cm) pies

Pastry

• Unbleached all purpose flour -500ml (2 cups)
• Salt -2.5 ml (1/2 tsp)
• Water - 60 ml (1/4cup)
• Maple Syrup - 15 ml (1tbsp)
• Canola oil - 125 ml (1/2 cup)
• Oil for brushing

Filling

• Tomatoes - 250 g (2 medium)
• Eggplant, cut into 2cm cubes - 500 g (1 medium)
• Onion, chopped - 1 medium
• Cilantro, finely chopped - 1 tablespoon (my store didn't have fresh cilantro, so I used one frozen cilantro cube)
• Garlic, minced - 1 clove
• Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon (I didn't use it)
• Tomato paste - 1 teaspoon (forgot to use it)
• Olive oil, salt, pepper

- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

- Heat some oil in a large pan and saute the onion until it's soft.
- Add the cumin and cubed eggplant to the pan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop the tomatoes in the boiling water for 30 seconds.
- Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and drop them into cold water for 2 minutes.
- Peel the tomatoes and chop them.
- Add the tomatoes to the eggplant and cook for another 10 minutes until the eggplant is cooked.
- Add the minced garlic into the mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the cilantro, salt and pepper. Let the filling cool.

- In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Set aside.
- In a measuring cup, combine the water and honey.
- Add the oil.
- Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until flour is just moistened.

- Roll out the dough to 3-4 mm thickness.
- Cut 12 or 8 cm circles, put some filling in the middle and fold the circle in half to create a half-moon shape. Press the edges together with a fork.
- Put the pies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Brush the pastries with milk, eggwash, or oil.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until the dough is baked through and golden brown.

I don't like mushrooms. Yep, I'm one of those weird people. You see, I don't like the texture of mushrooms. If they are sliced and diced and cooked (very cooked), then I am ok. I can have a Cream of Mushroom soup with no problems, I can have a clear mushroom soup. I can even have them in a sauce, as long as they are finely diced, but whole? Nope, I just don't like them at all. So, when I saw this recipe, where mushrooms are finely processed into an almost paste, I thought that it's something I'd like and I wasn't mistaken. Although my boyfriend (who adores mushrooms in any form) said that the pie turned out to be very "mushroom-ey", I didn't taste them at all, so that's a big plus for me. I was a little worried about the dough, but it tasted wonderful. So perfect, in fact, that I think I'll be using it in the future. It's going to go really well with traditional apple pie in the fall.

recipe adapted from Ricardo magazine volume 3 number 1

Filling

• White mushrooms - 1 lb (454 g)
• Chicpeas, rinsed and drained - 1 can (540 ml/19 oz)
• Onions, chopped - 2
• Garlic, chopped - 4 cloves
• Olive oil - 45 ml (3 tbsp)
• Vegetable stock - 50 ml (1/4cup)
• Dijon mustard - 60 ml (4 tbsp)
• Nutmeg - 1 ml (1/4 tsp)
• Salt, pepper

Pastry

• Unbleached all purpose flour -500ml (2 cups)
• Salt -2.5 ml (1/2 tsp)
• Water - 60 ml (1/4cup)
• Maple Syrup - 15 ml (1tbsp)
• Canola oil - 125 ml (1/2 cup)
• Oil for brushing

- In a food processor, finely chop the mushrooms. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Coarsely chop the chickpeas in the food processor. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, soften the onions, and garlic in oil.
- Add the mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the vegetable stock, mustard and spices.
- Simmer until the stock has evaporated.
- Add the chickpeas and mix well.
- Adjust the seasoning. Set aside.

- With the rack in the bottom position, preheat the oven to 180C (350F)

- In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Set aside.
- In a measuring cup, combine the water and honey.
- Add the oil.
- Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until flour is just moistened.
- Shape the dough into 2 discs about 2.5 cm thick.
- Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
- Line the 23 cm (9 inch) pie plate with one pastry round.

- Spread the filling evenly in the pie shell.
- Cut a few slits in the second round, then cover the filling.
- Seal ightly by crimping the edges of the pastry using a fork or your fingers. brush with oil.
- Bake for about 55 minutes.

Comments

- I served it with Spicy Apple Jelly (store bought), the combination of sweet, salty and spicy worked really well with this tourtiere.