• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms (I bought pre-sliced)
• 1 large onion
• 6 slices fakin’ bacon (or 4 of real bacon if not being fed to vegetarians)
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• about 4 ounces Swiss cheese
• about 1 teaspoon fresh dill
• 2 crusts for double-crust pie

1. Preheat the oven to 350°
2. Shred the cheese
3. Peel and chop the onion
4. Chop the fakin’ bacon into about half inch pieces
5. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat
6. Add the mushrooms, onion, and bacon
7. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender
8. Reduce heat to medium
9. Add the cream and dill
10. Cook and stir for about 10 minutes
11. Remove from heat
12. Stir in the cheese
13. Pour mushroom mixture into a pie crust
14. Cover with top pie crust and flute the edge to seal
15. Score the crust so steam can vent
16. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until crust is done

Recipe is what I made, not what’s in the book.

• 6 tablespoons margarine (I would have used butter, but that’s what they have)
• 1 medium leek
• ¾ teaspoon fresh ginger
• ¾ cup unsweetened almond butter
• 1 medium carrot
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 1½ cup frozen cooked chicken
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 cup cream

1. Melt the margarine in a dutch oven kind of pan
2. Chop the leek
3. Chop the ginger
4. Sauté the leek and ginger until it turns soft
5. Lower heat
6. Chop the carrot
7. Add almond butter, carrot, peas, and chicken, and ½ cup of water
8. Cook until everything is cooked/not frozen
9. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes
10. Transfer mixture to blender
11. Add 1½ cups water
12. Process for about 90 seconds
13. Pour back into pan
14. Bring to boil while stirring
15. Lower heat
16. Stir in cream
17. Stir in chopped cilantro

This was super super tasty.

• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 large tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 bay leaf

1. Rinse the rice several times in cold water
2. Let rice drain in strainer
3. Chop the onion
4. Cut the tomato up
5. Put tomato, onion, garlic and oregano in a blender
6. Puree
7. Remove mixture from blender when the blade just spins through the tomato chunks
8. Put mixture in food processor and/or chop stuff by hand until the chunks are much smaller
9. Put mixture back into blender
10. Puree vegetables until they are liquefied
11. Add water to make 4 cups total liquid
12. Pour vegetable liquid into 3 quart saucepan
13. Add salt and bay leaf
14. Bring liquid to boil
15. Add rice to saucepan
16. Reduce heat to low and cover
17. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes until liquid is absorbed
18. Remove lid, stir, and let stand

So here’s the recipe as I’ve adapted it. In particular, I left out the saffron because that stuff is expensive. For the original, follow the link. Pictures follow.

Ingredients

• 2 large leeks
• 2 large Granny Smith apples
• ¼ pound celery root
• 1½ pounds bulk sausage (mixture of bulk breakfast sausage and leftover mild Italian bulk)
• 4 tablespoons fine gauge tapioca
• dry sherry
• 4 tablespoons butter
• all purpose flour
• salt
• top and bottom crusts for pie (however you like to make/buy these)

Prep work

• Peel and core apples
• Slice apples to even ¼ inch thickness
• Wash leeks (I actually found it easier to wash the leek after cutting lengthwise in next steps)
• Cut leeks lengthwise, then into ⅓ inch pieces
• Pare celery root
• Slice finely

Cooking

1. Preheat oven to 425 °
2. Brown sausage, breaking it apart into small pieces
3. Set aside
4. Put leek and celery root in just enough water to cover the vegetables
5. Bring to a boil and cook just until vegetables are wilted
6. Drain, reserving broth
7. Toss 3 tablespoons of tapioca with vegetables
8. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan
9. Add 4 tablespoons flour
10. Stir until thick/done (i.e., make a roux)
11. Add in vegetable broth, a splash of sherry, and salt to taste
12. Give it a quick stir
13. Add in vegetables
14. Set aside to cool a bit

Assembling the pie

1. Lay bottom crust in pie plate
2. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons tapioca on bottom crust
3. Dredge apples in flour
4. Layer apples in compact circles, two levels for my deep pie
5. Layer half the leek mixture on top
6. Put in the sausage next
7. Put remaining leek mixture on top
8. Add top crust
9. Vent the crust

Baking

1. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes
2. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or it appears done
3. Let cool to solidify a bit

As always, what I did is somewhat adapted from the cookbook. If you want the official recipe, buy the book.

• ½ stick unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion
• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 2+ cups chicken broth
• 1½ pounds frozen green peas
• 6 ounces bacon
• ½ cup breadcrumbs

1. Cut bacon into small pieces
2. Fry bacon until crispy
3. Drain fat and dampen bacon on a paper towel
4. Mix bacon and breadcrumbs
5. Peel and thinly slice onion
6. Wash and shred lettuce
7. Heat butter in large soup pot over medium high heat
8. Cook the onion until tender
9. Add lettuce
10. Cook just until wilted
11. Add chicken broth
12. Wait for boiling
13. Add peas
14. Cook about 10 to 15 minutes until peas are tender
15. Purée soup in blender a couple cupfuls at a time
16. Salt and pepper soup to taste
17. Sprinkle breadcrumb/bacon stuff on top of served soup

This time the soup was pretty tasty. I think the addition of onion and bacon helped quite a bit. I don’t remember exactly what was in the last recipe, but I’m pretty sure those weren’t in it.

Pea Soup