This past week has been dedicated to decking the halls, making Christmas cards and drinking hot chocolate.  So to stay in the spirit, we created a rich winter white pie.

   I believe that some of the most creative food is made when people use the resources they have on hand and just go for it.   I picked up our fresh box of produce from our CSA and just could not be   bothered to go out and grab other ingredients for pie that we usually resort to, like mozzarella.

Hen of the woods.  (I heart our CSA)

A sophisticated spread...

Brie.

Winter White Pie

Spread

1/3 cup creme fraiche

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

 1 Tsp. fresh thyme

1 garlic glove

salt and pepper

Toppings

Brie

1/3 c. grated parmesan

1/2 c. mushrooms

1 tsp. truffle oil

Dough 

(makes 2 large pies or 3 small pies)

1 1/2 c. water

1 1/2 tsp. yeast

3 c. flour

2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

   Start off by cooking the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes.  Season and set aside. Next, make the spread.  Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse a few times.  Once everything is all set, load up the pie with the spread and toppings.  Bake in the oven for 7 minutes or until you see some char or golden brown color on the crust.  Top it off with a little truffle oil and voila!

   This is actually a very easy pie to assemble, however be careful when removing the pie from the oven.  We had an incident...Erich was removing the pizza from the oven at an unfortunately steep angle.  The pie slid and fell to the bottom of the oven.  As it made it's descent, the brie slid off the top of the pie with most of the mushrooms.  We were very sad.  So if you make this pie, and you remove it successfully, let me know how it tastes!  Even though most of the toppings fell to their deaths in the hot, hot stove, the flavor that did remain was very good!

   Hope you are all having a festive holiday season with your family and friends.

We survived Sandy Special

    Fortunately for Erich and I, we were sheltered from Sandy as she hit the surrounding New York area full force.  We live in an apartment complex in Ditmas park, and though we have many windows they all face out to a large shaft.  Instead of peering out our window and witnessing heavy rains and gusts of wind removing hundred year old trees, we viewed the windows of our neighbors, who also peered out curiously to look for signs of destruction.  Nothing appeared too terrible.  We could only hear the howl of Sandy as she bounced off the outer walls of the building and the lights flickered every now and again, but the power remained strong and so we cooked on.

    Erich and I cooked a storm worth of food.  Butternut squash soup, bread, sunflower seed chocolate chip cookies, and pizza.  We made pizza before Sandy hit on Saturday night, and then again on Tuesday night, post storm.  The first round of pizzas were delicious, but we were in survival mode, and ate for our lives!  So Tuesday night we decided to recreate them for our new blog!

    I love fall.  It is the season of the year that I crave most.  I love the colors of the trees and the patterns they create on the sidewalk.  I love layering up in cozy sweaters and mulling cider.  And, I love perusing the farmer's market and seeing all of my favorite ingredients in their prime...apples, squash, kale, cauliflower, and last but not least, brussel sprouts!  It seems silly now looking back at my childhood and remembering when my mom used to make me eat brussel sprouts.  My nose would wrinkle in disgust as the little baby cabbages were spooned onto my plate.  She didn't really think I was going to eat those?!

Now I cannot get enough of them!!!

    This pizza came to life about a year ago, but its recipe has aged wonderfully.  I start off by making the dough in advance.  I use Deb's recipe over at smitten kitchen, and double the recipe.  Warning, you can store one of the doughs in the freezer for future use, but this is unlikely if you have two great ideas for pie at the present moment!  This is usually the case for us.  Erich and I will both have new pie recipes that we simply cannot wait to make, so we end up making and eating two pies.  Sometimes there are leftovers when we are being good.  Don't judge.  That is how good our pies are.  Just saying...

    While the dough is rising, I peel the brussel sprout leaves off, and saute the garlic, onion, and brussel sprout leaves in a pan for a few minutes with some olive oil and a dash of fish sauce, balsamic, or soy sauce.  This time, I used soy sauce.  Fish sauce gives a funkier, meatier taste.  Try it!

    Then I stretch out my dough, sprinkle some olive oil on top, and pre-cook it for a minute or two in the oven at as high of a temperature as possible.  Then I top it off with the rest of the ingredients except for the truffle oil, and bake it in the oven for around 6 minutes or until the egg white appears white.  I use two eggs for larger pies, and 1 egg for smaller pies.

   After it's pulled out of the oven, I drizzle white truffle oil on top and then smear the egg yolk and truffle oil over the entire surface of the pie.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!


Sandy Sprout Special

Toppings
1/4 red onion diced
3-4 brussel sprouts
1 garlic clove
1 tsp. fish sauce, soy, or balsamic vinegar
1-2 eggs
1 tbsp. truffle oil

few slices of mozzarella
handful of grated parmesan or pecorino

salt and pepper as needed
olive oil

dough recipe found here!

Hope you all weathered the storm as well as we did.  Our thoughts go out to those who did not...

-Ash