Getting Flaky on Monday

I woke up with the alarm and, after putting on my robe, walked into the living room to look outside at the weather. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the driveway was plowed! Now, I do have the TV turned up a bit louder than a normal person, but I can still hear the doorbell over it! I felt bad that the guy had come and I didn't pay him.

So, when I was at work, I called him and apologized for not hearing him Sunday night. He said, "No, I plowed it this morning for you so you could get out to work!" (Now, that's service!) I asked where I could drop off the money and he said he'd come by at 5:30 PM to get it.

Today were the "Service Awards" where I work. It's a luncheon honoring the 2008 10, 20, 25 and 30 Year employees. I am a 20 year employee, BTW. This year it was held in the atrium of the Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, Michigan.

When we first arrived, there was a buffet table with fresh vegetables and a dipping sauce and also fresh fruit and another kind of dipping sauce for that. We sampled some of that waiting for our turn to be photographed with the two owners, the CEO and the COO.

Then came lunch. You got to choose from four entr�e selections:

- Walnut and Michigan Dried Cherry Chicken (served with Marsala cream sauce)
- Grilled Filet of Salmon (with lemon chive butter)
- Steak Madagascar (fire-grilled steak served with creamy green peppercorn sauce)
- Grilled Vegetables and Polenta (assorted seasonal grilled vegetables, creamy polenta and red pepper sauce

All entrees were served with a field green salad, chef's choice of appropriate starch and vegetable, freshly baked assorted rolls with sweet whole butter and chocolate mousse for dessert (which I passed on, of course).

The place was beautiful, BTW. I was told it was once a seminary and that the present owner's had turned it into a hotel, conference center and wedding reception halls and the seminary grounds are now a golf course.

Since I had just gone through my great green peppercorn hunt and used them to coat the Christmas roast, I went with the Steak Madagascar. It was very good, with roasted baby redskin potatoes and fresh steamed green beans. The green peppercorn sauce was pureed, though, and lacked the "pop" that the whole peppercorns imparted to my Christmas roast. I did a lot of shameless networking (hey, in these times, you never know when you are going to need a friend) in between stuffing my face.

After work, I raced home so I wouldn't miss the snowplow guy. I turned on my porch light and changed clothes. I deliberately left the stereo and the TV off so I could hear the doorbell. Then I gave the new molding and the old wooden towel rack another coating of primer.

At 6:30 PM (and still no snowplow guy) I started making the pasties. I diced up the peeled rutabaga and an equal amount of peeled, diced russet potatoes. I thin-sliced half of a Vidalia onion and then cut up the meat. Now, as the recipe calls for and my old neighbor used to say, you need a round steak. But, when I searched through this year's 1/8 of a cow, I found NO round steak (did Jake and Carla steal all the round steak? Hmmm...) So, I went with a thick sirloin steak, instead.

When that was cubed (same size as the rutabaga and the potatoes, BTW - knife skills baby), I mixed everything together with the dried parsley, salt and pepper. Then I got out the vodka dough.

I have had several off-line requests, asking me about this and here is my report. You might not know this, but that recipe was for a pumpkin pie single crust. So, I doubled it. But, when I rolled it out thin enough for the pasties, I ran into some trouble. Unlike the dough I'd used before (and derided) this was so light that the filling (raw rutabaga, potatoes, onions and the steak) punched right through it. In fact, only one of the four pasties remained unscathed!)

But, I soldiered on, added dough patches where needed. I think now I should have tripled it and not rolled it so thin. But, I put four of them on two half-sheet pans, lined with parchment paper and into the 400 degrees F preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Here is the only change I made to the recipe listed in this Blog. Instead of the teaspoon of water in every slit (to facilitate making the "gravy,") I substituted beef broth. Why? Because I had used some beef broth before and the carton, once opened, only lasts about two weeks in your fridge. So, I had it and I used it.

After adding the beef broth (or I could have used water as called for in the real recipe) the pasties were brushed with milk and went back in the oven (at 350 degrees F.) for another 15 minutes (or, until golden brown).

BTW it was almost 8:00 PM and still no sign of the snowplow guy.

When the timer went off, I pulled them out and picked out the best one for my food porn photo.

Taste-wise? Well, the crust was noticeably flakier. It would have been perfect for a pie. I'd like to try this again soon and, as I said, use twice the dough and just not roll it so thin.

And, using that beef broth was a big mistake. It did give the gravy a beefier taste, but that taste almost overpowered the subtler taste of the potatoes, rutabaga and the Vidalia onion.

Speaking of which, I also think that, next time, I'll use a yellow onion. I sliced up the correct amount, but didn't get a very "onion" flavor.

So, before you start thinking I was disappointed, I wasn't. It still tasted "good" to me, just not "great." I ate a whole one and put three in baggies in the fridge (I think I'll freeze one just to see how they hold up).

I watched TV until 10:00 PM (still no snowplow guy picking up his money) and then shut it down and went to sleep.