Last month, John and I went on our first obligatory parental trip– a visit to the pumpkin patch. Ok, I can’t quite claim that it was solely for the benefit of the baby given that she’s still too little to enjoy the children’s activities and spent most of the time asleep in the baby carrier. Besides, we had fun hanging out with friends and their toddlers, not to mention the freshly fried ginger cardamom donuts and warm apple cider made the trip worth it on their own.

We wimped out of trudging through the mud puddle minefield to choose pumpkins from the actual patch and opted to get our jack o’ lantern pumpkins from the clean and tidy, pre-harvested pumpkin section next to the little shop that sells apple butter and puffed corn nuggets. Then we headed into town and had lunch at a bakery with our friends and their 2-year-old daughter. The bakery was cozy on such a grey, cold, autumn day, the sandwiches were delicious, and I behaved myself by refraining from buying the large chocolate chip, cherry oatmeal cookies that were otherwise calling my name.

John and I took a walk around town before heading back home, visiting antique shops where I flipped through vintage posters with the hopes of finding something to decorate my office at work as a means of distracting me from going back and buying those cookies. It worked to a degree, and we made our way back home where I continued to fantasize about chocolate chip, cherry oatmeal cookies until finally, I made a batch of my own.

My goal was to elevate your typical oatmeal, chocolate chip raisin cookie by adding chopped, buttery, toasted pecans, and tart dried cherries. I envisioned a cookie with crispy edges and chewy centers, but instead, I ended up with soft nuggets chocked full of cherries, pecans, and bittersweet chocolate. Not what I had pictured, but still decidedly delicious and definitely worth jotting down so I can make them again. These cookies scream fall to me, so if they’re calling your name, don’t resist it and feel free to make them!

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed, light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1.25 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecan halves, toasted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a standing mixer bowl, beat together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almond extracts. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, oatmeal, and spices. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture by adding 1/3 of the dry mixture at a time, beating until combined before adding next portion. Mix in the cherries, chocolate chips, and pecan pieces. Using a standard 2 teaspoon cookie measure, scoop out mounds of dough and quickly roll into a uniform ball before setting down on the baking sheet, about 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until brown at edges. Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Makes 30 cookies.

It’s ridiculous how quickly time has gotten away from me. When I last posted on this blog, we were in the height of our CSA season. Each week, we took home a ridiculous abundance of fruits and vegetables. And even though one might speculate from my blog inactivity that all that produce went to waste, I actually have been cooking at least 5 nights a week; I just haven’t had time to document it here. Oh there are pictures alright as I still took those. It’s just that now that fall is here, and we’re practically at winter’s door, it seems a little silly to post summery ideas like my watermelon jalapeno agua fresca or a poached salmon topped with fresh corn and sungold tomatoes. Guess I’ll just have to keep those in mind for next summer. In the meantime, I’d rather talk about this hearty side dish.

The last few weeks of our CSA season usually means we are up to our eyeballs in various winter squashes. This season was no exception– at least 6-8 delicata squash, one red kuri squash, one sugar pumpkin, and a ginormous butternut squash that makes me tired just looking at it. I just… I just can’t deal with that at the moment.

Delicata squash has been my favorite of the squashes that our farm grows. It’s easy to cut and clean up, not to mention the skin is thin enough that you can just roast and eat it or peeling isn’t a huge difficulty. I chopped up a couple of medium, seeded delicata squash and spread them out on a baking sheet with potatoes, parsnips and leeks from our CSA. I then added some chanterelle mushrooms that I picked up for relatively cheap at the local grocery store. A good drizzle of olive oil, a half palmful of salt and some pepper then a quick mix, and my vegetables were ready to go in the oven for roasting. I decided no other spices or herbs were necessary, just the simple flavors of the vegetables, all nutty and crisp at the edges from the oven’s heat.

But as tasty as those vegetables would be, they could use a boost both in color and in texture contrasts. Seeing a bunch of red kale in the fridge, I decided to chop up the leaves, toss them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne then sprinkled them on top of the vegetables to bake for the last 15-20 minutes of roasting. The kale crisped up, adding some crackly crunch to the vegetables. I loved how all these flavors melded together– subtly sweet squash, woodsy mushrooms, creamy potatoes, and slightly bitter but crispy greens. I piled them next to some pan-fried, pecan coated chicken and ended up serving such a warm and satisfying meal on the first cold, rainy night of the fall. Summer may have flown by, but cozy meals are just one reason why fall is my favorite season.

• 2 medium delicata squash, seeded and cut into 1.5-2 inch pieces
• 2 medium russet potatoes, cut into 1.5-2 inch pieces
• 3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 pound chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 large leek
• 1 small bunch of red kale
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• pinch of cayenne

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. On a baking sheet lined with foil, add chopped squash, potatoes, chanterelles, and parsnips. Cut the dark green part off of the leek and discard. Split the white/light green part of the leek in half lengthwise then thinly slice crosswise. Add sliced leek to a medium bowl of water and stir around. Use a strainer to remove the leeks from the water and add to the other vegetables. Drizzle with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper and mix until all the vegetables are evenly coated. Roast for 20-25 min. While vegetables roast, remove kale leaves from stems and discard stems. Chop the leaves then toss with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and a pinch of cayenne. Mix together then sprinkle on top of roasting vegetables. Return to the oven and roast for another 15-20 minutes or until kale is crisp and vegetables are tender and browned at edges. Serve while warm. Makes 4-6 side servings.

CSA Count: 5

Delicata squash, russet potatoes, parsnips, leeks, red kale

Want to know how to make this?

Or this?

Then please join me over at Second City Soiree for this month’s Simple + Seasonal post: Fantastic Figs. You’ll get tips on choosing and storing figs along with John’s recipe for a fresh fig Manhattan and my recipe for fig and mascarpone stuffed french toast. Yum!

Last year, our CSA added fruit shares to their stock of available produce deliveries. Like a crack dealer, they included some cherries and these beautiful little miracles called donut peaches in a couple of our regular vegetable shares to tantalize us and get us hooked. We somehow managed to resist adding a fruit share until this summer. After seeing email notifications that shares included apples, berries, nectarines, cherries, and those delicious donut peaches, we caved and added a fruit share mid-season. As with all things that are or are not newsworthy, I posted the news to Facebook and received the following, lovely quote from my friend Thom who said he’d look forward to seeing what I do with our fruit share on this blog:

“I love working with what nature hands me as opposed to forcing nature’s hand to give me exactly what I want! It’s an adventure.”

That pretty much sums up what I’m trying to do here, so in exchange for this quote, Thom– this post is for you.

Well so far, in the two shares we’ve received, there hasn’t been a ton of variety, mostly nectarines and peaches. But this isn’t a complaint mind you– each piece of fruit has been sweet, juicy, and delicious. I welcomed downing those donut peaches even more during the days of hot (for Seattle) 80 degree weather we had last week. Also in town last week? Lots of family, mostly in-laws, here to officially meet the baby at her Chinese One Month party (held a month late.) We had so much fun spending time with family and were especially grateful for all the offers to babysit, particularly from Jane who claimed she didn’t mind since she missed her own grandchildren. Although Jane and my father-in-law offered to babysit one more time on Monday night, John and I opted to thank them and spend time with them instead by making dinner. A last-minute affair, I grabbed what looked good for entrees and sides from the store and from our fridge, then John panicked that we didn’t really have anything for dessert. That’s when I spied the CSA nectarines that had otherwise been neglected by the showier peaches. Since we were firing up the grill for steaks and sides, why not grill the nectarines too?

I split the nectarines in half and removed the pits then lightly brushed them with neutral flavored canola oil. To help them caramelize and add flavor, I sprinkled them with a mix of brown sugar and cinnamon. They went on the grill while we finished up dinner until they were all sweet, warm and gooey. It seemed a shame not to pair them with something cool and creamy, so I topped them with dollops of mascarpone cheese that was flavored with more of the cinnamon sugar combo along with a tiny splash of almond extract. As a finishing touch, I added crushed amaretti cookies, giving some nice crunch and added sweetness. Slightly sticky, sweet, and spicy, this was a light but flavorful summer dessert, perfect for the cooler but still summery weather we had the other night.

• 1.5 lbs (or 4 medium) nectarines, split in half and pit removed
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup mascarpone cheese
• 6-7 amaretti cookies

Heat grill, setting coals to one side so that there is both direct and indirect heat. Brush flesh side of each nectarine half with oil. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl then sprinkle half of the mixture on the nectarines. Grill over direct heat for 1-2 minutes or until grill marks form then remove to cooler, indirect heat. Cover grill and cook until nectarines are cooked through and soft, about 5-10 minutes. While nectarines finish cooking, combine mascarpone cheese with remaining sugar mixture and almond extract. Place cookies in a small plastic bag and lightly crush with a rolling pin. Plate dessert by placing two nectarine halves in a bowl then top with a 2 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese mixture and a sprinkle of cookie crumbles.

Serves 4

CSA Count: 1

Nectarines

Spaghetti carbonara has been eluding me. In the past, things would go wrong: not enough egg to create a silky sauce; too high heat so the pancetta burned; wrong kind of cheese so that the whole dish tasted funky.

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis should know that when I find something to be culinarily challenging, I’ll keep returning to it until I’m satisfied. Plus, who wouldn’t want to master spaghetti carbonara– eggs, cheese, bacon, so delicious not to mention that it’s a super fast meal to throw together when pressed for time.

The other challenge to spaghetti carbonara for me? Trying to find a way to make myself feel a little better about eating it. In this case, I had rainbow chard and shell peas from the CSA. I thought that the bright burst of green vegetables would not only make this a dish as pretty to look at as it is to eat, but that it’d be a great way to punch up the nutritional value of this meal. It turned this pasta dish into a one pot meal since the fresh vegetables mixed in meant that I could skip out on making a side salad… or at least so I convinced myself.

With three eggs, 4 slices of bacon, some garlic that sizzled in the bacon fat, and 6 oz of ground up Parmesan cheese, I achieved the right balance for a silky sauce and the chard and peas brightened up the flavors. Fast, seemingly healthy, filling, yet light– perfecto!

• 3/4 lb spaghetti, cooked according to package directions, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water
• 4 slices thick cut bacon, diced
• olive oil
• 3 eggs beaten
• 6 oz Parmesan cheese, ground in a food processor
• salt and pepper
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1/2 bunch rainbow chard, chopped
• 1/2 pound shell peas
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Boil water, salt it, and cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp then remove to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon. While bacon cooks, beat eggs in a large mixing bowl and grind cheese in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add cheese to the eggs along with 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon black pepper. Mix until combined. Add garlic to the bacon fat and cook for 30 seconds or until aromatic. Add the rainbow chard and peas and cook until chard is wilted and peas are bright green. When spaghetti is cooked to al dente, drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Quickly toss spaghetti in egg and cheese mixture, tossing to coat each noodle in the sauce. Add pasta water as needed to achieve sauce consistency. Mix in cooked vegetables. Plate and serve immediately, topping with parsley and more cheese as desired.

CSA Count: 4

Rainbow chard, shell peas, garlic, parsley

I bet that this post won’t get many hits. Snow peas? Radishes? Sounds boring right?

But in this salad’s defense, I’ll say that I was surprisingly pleased. For one thing, this salad is so refreshing on a hot day: chilled in the fridge, the snap peas and radishes stay crisp and are full of cool, hydrating water.  The lemony dressing and grassy dill are bright in flavors, pairing nicely with tangy, creamy blue cheese.

Then there are the colors: vibrant magenta and purple from the Easter egg radishes pop against that deep jade green of the snow peas. It’s a feast for the eyes, making this salad look and taste more exciting than what you’d expect from just hearing the ingredients. During these hot, late summer days, try a scoop of this salad next to food fresh off your grill. You’ll be pleasantly surprised too.

Note: Snow peas have to be trimmed of the tough fiber that holds the pod together, unless you want to see your fellow diners spitting out chunks of the pod. Simply twist the flowering end of the pod and peel down. If there’s no flower end, peel along the side where you can see the peas are attached inside the pod.

• 3/4 lb snow peas, ends trimmed and fiber removed
• 2 large Easter egg radishes, ends trimmed and sliced into match sticks
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon each fresh chopped chives and dill
• blue cheese crumbles to taste

In a large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and honey. Add in the snow peas and radish match sticks and toss to coat. Mix in chives and dill then plate. Add blue cheese crumbles to taste.

CSA Count: 4

Snow peas, Easter egg radishes, chives, dill

If there’s one flavor trend that I don’t get, it’s lavender. The polite way would be to say that it tastes like soap; however, I prefer saying that it tastes like old lady. Does that make you gag? Well, that’s what the taste of lavender normally does to me.

Which is why whenever our CSA includes a bunch of lavender in our share box, I groan. If there’s one thing we don’t need, it’s lavender. Aside from the fact that I’m not a fan of the flavor, we’ve got metric buttloads of it growing around our house. (An aside, should any neighbors be reading this: you know who you are, the one who snips our tulips that border the sidewalk. Please leave the tulips alone, but feel free to harvest as much lavender as you like.) We usually end up putting it in a vase with flowers or drying them out. In fact, I ended up making a mess recently while trying to empty out a vase to make room for some lovely CSA flowers since I had to throw out some dried lavender. Out of 6 vases in our house, 4 of them were filled with dried lavender at one point.

But my feelings about lavender changed recently, thanks to my sister-in-law who gave us a gift of blueberry lavender jam when my brother and his family visited us the weekend after our baby was born. Although sleep-deprived, John and I had a quiet breakfast of eggs and biscuits on which we cautiously dabbled the jam. It was so delicious, what with the lavender being subtle, a light floral complement to the sweet berries and a heady, spicy flavor from cinnamon.

So when lavender arrived in the CSA share box later that week, I wasn’t as horrified as I normally would be. I got excited, thinking about making a blueberry pie, only this time, instead of plainly (but lovely) flavored with lemon zest and almond extract, I’d try adding lavender and some spicier, heavier, and fruitier flavors: cinnamon, cardamom, and balsamic vinegar. Let me tell you, this was no sleep deprivation induced mistake but a beautiful concept! The pie was nicely balanced between sweet and tart, and in fact was declared by John to be my best blueberry pie ever. No more dried bunches of lavender to make messes around our house now! From now on, when the life gives me lavender, I’m making pie.

• 1 recipe of your favorite double pie crust (or do store-bought, if you wish.)
• 5 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried lavender leaves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, finely diced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray your 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray, then roll out a little more than half of your pie crust. Trim excess and flute the crust if you wish. Place in fridge while you mix together filling. Add blueberries to a large bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients except butter and vinegar in a small bowl then mix into blueberries. Add the vinegar and mix again, then let blueberries sit for 15 minutes. Pour filling into pie crust then top with remaining crust, making a lattice if you wish. Lightly cover crust with a piece of foil or pie shield then bake on a rack placed in the bottom third of your oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, remove foil or pie shield, and slide a baking sheet under your pie to collect any juices. Bake for another 30-45 minutes or until top crust is golden. Cool on a wire rack then serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

CSA Count: 1

Lavender

Want to learn how to make these beautiful and tasty snacks to showcase the best in seasonal eating at your next summer get together? Then please join me over at Second City Soiree for my Simple + Seasonal post for the month of August. You’ll learn all about how to select, prepare, and store beets along with this easy, yet impressive recipe for Beet & Herbed Chevre Bruschetta.

A couple of weeks ago, we got our first batch of shell peas of the season from the CSA. I wanted to try something new with them, other than sautéing them, adding them to a stew, or making a spread. After seeing a post on fresh pea pesto on another food blog, I thought I’d try making a pasta sauce out of the peas too.

I dutifully started shelling peas, a task that I oddly enjoy but has become a game of sorts lately– how many pea pods can I get through before the baby needs a diaper change or needs to be nursed? In any case, there’s something oddly satisfying about splitting open that crispy, green shell, running your finger along the peas to release them from the pod, and hearing the plinks of each pea as it falls into the bowl. The one downside is seeing how much work you did for a relatively little yield. I took this picture to show how much I’d be tossing in the compost compared to how much I’d actually use for this dish. In this case, I think I shelled 1.5 lbs of peas to get about 1.5 cups of peas.

But the work is worth it. I took those peas and blanched them before adding them to a food processor with some toasted walnuts, garlic, lemon zest, fresh mint and dill and salt and pepper. I then took some of the water in which I cooked the pasta and streamed that in while processing until I had a smooth, pesto like puree. I added my pesto to the cooked linguine and mixed in some marscarpone cheese and a splash more of that pasta water. The noodles were soon covered in a slick, pastel green sauce. How did it taste? The sauce was sweet and creamy with an underlying grassy taste from the peas and fresh herbs, yet warmed through from the toasty, nutty taste of the walnuts. This was a fast, refreshing, and relatively healthy meal. The only heat generated was from water boiling on the stove, so definitely a dinner to keep in mind during high summer heat and peak shell pea season.

• 12 oz whole wheat penne pasta
• 1 cup walnut halves, toasted
• 1.5 lbs shell peas (or 1.5 cups fresh peas)
• 2 medium cloves fresh garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons each fresh dill and mint, chopped
• 6 oz marscarpone cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Bring a small pot of water to boil then add the peas. Simmer for 4-5 minutes or until peas are bright green. Drain and submerge under cold water to stop cooking. Add the peas, toasted walnuts, garlic, lemon zest, mint and dill to a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process while streaming in pasta cooking water until you have a smooth paste, about 1/3-1/2 cup of water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the pea pesto mix to the hot pasta along with the marscarpone cheese. Splash in more pasta water until you get a sauce consistency to your liking. Serve immediately.

Yields 4 servings.

CSA Count: 3

Shell peas, fresh garlic, dill

Garden Count: 1

Mint

Having grown up an airline brat, I can tell people that I’ve been to places like Italy, Hong Kong, France, and England; however, most of these trips were made when I was a kid with a kid’s typical palate, and therefore, I’m sad to say, I wasn’t particularly culinarily adventurous. I remember being in Rome but whining unless I got a plain cheese pizza. I remember being in Hong Kong and demanding American fried chicken from KFC instead of Chinese food. (There’s a story for a blog post some day involving my grandmother’s kindly housekeeper, her attempt to placate a bitching 4-year-old by making fried chicken, and instead terrifying said 4-year-old by killing the chicken in front of her.)

One foreign food memory instantly came to mind when My Kitchen, My World announced that the July destination was Great Britain. I remember being in a cafeteria style restaurant with my parents when I was maybe 11 or so. Hungry, but finding most of the options non-appetizing, my mother tricked cajoled me into eating a rather tasty looking savory pie. A sucker for buttery crusts, all I saw was the flakey pie topping and failed to see the little sign labeling it as steak and kidney pie. It wasn’t until we sat down at the table and I had taken a few bites when I saw the word “kidney” on the receipt. I freaked out, asking my mother if there really was kidney in the pie. My mother shrugged and waved her hand dismissively, saying that it was just the name. Gullible, I finished off the pie, but when I found out weeks later that there really was kidney in steak and kidney pie, I felt ill and think that was the beginning of my adolescent maternal resentment.

Well there’s no kidney in this dish, but that food memory made me think of trying my hand at making a savory British pastry for my MKMW submission. With shell peas and more turnips from the CSA, I thought that adding ground beef to those ingredients would result in a great filling for Cornish pasties. Pasties are handheld pies, believed to have been made from leftovers in order to be a cheap and portable meal for miners. I adapted a fast puff pastry recipe from King Arthur Flour for the pasty crust, swapping some cream cheese in place of some of the butter to add a little more tang to the crust. I then started to brown ground beef, but I had to pass the reins of cooking the filling over to John so I could nurse the baby, shouting directions to him from the living room. John either follows direction well or did a bang up job of interpreting my directions which were to saute the vegetables in butter, add back in the cooked beef, season the beef with Worcester sauce and seasonings, then make a slightly thickened sauce with flour and chicken stock. I got to jump back in to finish off the filling with a touch of cream and some fresh dill before folding them up in circles of the pastry dough. You’ll notice in the final plating picture that these pasties weren’t picture perfect: in a rush to get these in the oven so we could hopefully eat before the baby started her nightly colic crying, I didn’t crimp these suckers. They still look and tasted pretty darn good though. Sound complicated? Well, to sound like a smug mother for a second, if I can make them while juggling caring for a newborn, then what’s your excuse? Give it a try: the slightly creamy filling tastes light from the sweet peas and grassy dill, counterbalancing that flaky, buttery pastry shell. I promise it’ll be worth the effort.

Note: This puff pastry recipe is even faster and easier when made in the food processor. Just pulse the butter and cream cheese in the dry ingredients until you have fine crumbs, then process the sour cream until you see large clumps of dough, kind of looking like spaetzle. Instead of pasties, you can make this filling and then make small turnovers, following the directions in the KAF recipe regarding cutting the dough into 16 squares and using 1 tablespoon of filling in each square.

• 1 recipe of “Fast and Easy Puff Pastry” substituting 4 oz cream cheese for 4 oz of the butter
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 16 oz lean ground beef
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 small to medium Tokyo Cross turnips, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 lb shell peas (or 1/2 cup fresh peas)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
• 1 large egg, beaten

Make the puff pastry according to recipe directions, but substitute 4 oz of cream cheese for 4 oz of butter. While dough chills, make the filling. Start by heating canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned, seasoning with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Drain off fat then set cooked beef aside. Add butter to pan and melt over medium heat. When foam subsides, add the turnips, onion, and garlic and saute until onion and turnips soften, about 10-15 minutes. Add the peas and continue to cook until bright green, another 4-5 minutes. Add back in the beef then mix in Worcester sauce. Sprinkle with flour and let cook for 1-2 minutes to get rid of raw flour taste. Mix in the chicken stock and simmer for 1-2 minutes then stir in cream, looking for a light sauce consistency. Stir in dill and adjust salt and pepper to taste. If you can, let the filling cool before filling pastry.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough to 16 inch by 16 inch square. Using a bowl as a stencil, cut circles, approximately 4 inches in diameter. Brush the edges of the circles with beaten egg then add approximately 1/4 cup of filling, just slightly off center, of each circle. Fold the edges of the dough together and crimp with a fork, then place on prepared baking sheet. Brush pasties with beaten egg and sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.

Yields 4-6 pasties.

CSA Count: 4

Shell peas, Tokyo Cross turnips, fresh garlic, dill