Monday Night Quickie

I'm a bit torn on this one... Firstly, Jiggsy has given me the night off (we're doing our first podcast tonight), secondly this is more of a snack than and meal and third, I'm wondering if this really is very manly. But hey, I gotta eat and I don't always have to eat a kilo of steak, or try and turn your average meal inside-out or even nosh on miscellaneous pig parts. As for the questionable manliness of this dish, as long as no one mentions that it's a tart (which sounds a bit girly) and sticks to my description of an 'open pie' we'll be sorted! So, keep reading after the jump for a quick easy snack or entree or plate to bring to your next potluck dinner (do people still do those? I would LOVE to do one!) - my very own Cheesy Spicy Kolbasz Open Pie (DON'T mention the tart).

Now... when I say my very own, I have to give a shout out to my mate K on this one. We cooked something similar for our respective partners just last night and to be honest, it was a joint effort. The version I'm cooking tonight is a little more heart-attacky and a bit spicier; just in an attempt to man it up a bit. Let's see how I go eh?

First, preheat your oven to 200°C (I wonder if you ever guess that when I say at the start of a post to preheat your oven that I've gotten all the way to the end and realise I should've told you that at the start?) I had just a little bit of puff pastry (you wanna use puff) left over from last night - but plenty to make a couple of ta-... PIES for myself - what better way to turn a snack into a meal than to have two? Yeah boy! You want to cut the pastry into as close to even squares as you can. My mum first taught me the trick of folding something diagonally then cutting to make a perfect square - works well here. Something I've mentioned before when working with pastry - keep it in the fridge until you're ready to use it. I.e. prepare all your other ingredients first, then whip the pastry out then get to work.

Once you've got your pastry squares, you want to make cuts like this picture. See how the cuts join up on only two of the corners? The other two are still joined together. Hard to make sense in words and pictures (I really must get on to making some videos), but I'm sure you get it! Once you've done that, brush the outside part in an egg-wash (just a flash way of saying beaten egg).

Now, this is the bit that will make this PIE look the business. Lift and fold one of the outer strips over onto the diagonally opposite inner edge, egged side down. Line it up edge to edge and stick it down gently.

Repeat with the other side so you get a shape the above. Make sure it's all squared off and brush the outer part in the egg-wash again. In case you're wondering, the egg-wash helps the layers stick when you fold it over, it also helps give a nice golden glaze when you brush on any edges that are exposed in the oven.

You'll need to make a bit of a base for these little pie-lets. I've used my favourite chutney and HEAPS of smokey chipotle sauce. Take your pick though, - as I always say, there's no hard 'n' fast rules 'round here!

I'm using Kolbász for the meat - this is an AWESOMELY smokey polish sausage, hence choosing a sauce base that sets this off and that will make this dish sing. Think about the main flavour or ingredient you want to use (the sausage in my case) and pick complimentary sauces and other flavours that bring out its best.

I diced the sausage up nice and fine - almost minced and what does a mince pie always need? CHEESE! I've mixed up little bit of whatever was in the fridge. There are about 5 different types here. In my house we seldom have less than 3 different types in the fridge at any one time. A really good trick for increasing the longevity of your chesse is to wrap it in my super-duper favourite kitchen all-rounder; baking paper - then chuck it in a container or snaplock bag. Paper-wrapped cheese won't sweat as much as if you wrap it in plastic. Mmmmmmmmm.... cheese-sweat.

And last, a sliced tomato plus some salt & pepper. You'll notice that the filling is starting to pile really high. Much higher than the sides. The cool thing here is, that as the filling starts to melt and settle, the folded over pastry round the outside will start to puff up, kind of building up the sides as the filling starts to want to ooze every where, more or less keeping everything under control.

When you're happy with the build chuck it onto a paper-lined tray and into the oven. I had a little bit of pastry and filling left over, but not enough to make another tart, so I made (WAIT! I MEANT TO SAY PIE BACK THERE) a kind of frankenpie with the left over bits. When I was about 11 or 12, me and my best mate used to always make something out of the left over bits in cooking class at school. We used to call them 'testy blobs'. Funny.

20 mins later, you'll get something like this^. Nice and golden brown, all puffy and melty! See how those sides puffed up and held all that porky, cheesy business in there? Cool right? 


Serve simply as they are or get a bit fancy like the first shot in the post and pile on a bit of rocket and add a drizzle of olive oil. Or... just pick the damn thing up, squirt on the t-sauce and shove it in your face... whatever! Nice, simple, delicious and versatile. And best of all, bugger all cleaning up!


Choice.


-Jeffois