A Festive Feast for a Wintery Night: Salmon Pot Pie, Green Beans and Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

We got our tree this weekend!  We had very high intentions to drive to Chantilly, venture into the woods, and cut down our own tree.  Romantic, right? Then, as we were getting in our car, we saw that the elementary school across the street was having a tree sale. Yes, we took the easy way out, but hey, at least we’re supporting the local PTA!  Right now it only has cranberries, white lights, baby’s breath and two ornaments, but it really is quite lovely.  If you came to our wedding, you might recognize our tree skirt (you might have actually eaten your dinner on our tree skirt); I’m all about recycling!  Anyway, our little house is feeling very Christmassy.

Perhaps I’ll divulge more about our festive Christmas weekend later, but today I am sharing with you the menu I made for my family last night.  It’s very wintery and I think it would make a lovely Christmas Eve meal!  I while back I discovered TasteSpotting.com.  It’s the best website for recipes ever.  Want to make chili?  No problem, they have 42 pages of them.  Want to use up those left over figs?  No worries, there are 26 pages of ways you can do just that!  Perhaps my favorite part, however, is that each recipe card brings you to the blog of the cook, so if you like the recipe you can browse what else they have to offer.  That’s how I found the Rustic Salmon Pie that I made last night.  I really loved this recipe and would definitely make it again.  It’s a bit time-consuming for a weeknight, but you can get around that by making the dough and cooking the salmon the night before.  It’s also a great dish to make for company because unlike most of the yummy things I make, it’s pretty.

I modified the recipe a bit to make it somewhat lighter, and for other purposes.  Other purposes primarily being to accommodate my husband, who hates potatoes; only sweet potatoes are allowed in our house {don’t get me wrong, if he didn’t like chocolate, I would not “accommodate.”  I don’t trust people who don’t like chocolate.  But I can compromise on some things, and orange potatoes vs. white potatoes is one of them}.  I also used whole wheat flour instead of spelt flour, quite frankly because a) I had to google what spelt flour is and b) we have already reached our small kitchen quota of three types of flour.   I chose to use fat-free Greek yogurt too, which thickened it up and added protein!

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• ¾ cup reduced fat buttermilk
• 1 egg

Filling

• 500g sweet potato; I prefer to leave the skin on, but you can peel it.
• 1lb cooked salmon
• 6oz container fat-free plain Greek Yogurt
• 1 cup reduced fat buttermilk
• ½ cup frozen peas
• ½ cup frozen corn
• 2 carrots
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 100g sharp cheddar cheese, grated – Get the good stuff and grate it yourself – it’s worth it.

Topping:

• 1 egg white
• sea salt
• parmesan cheese
• Dried rosemary

Instructions

Crust

• Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl; whisk oil, milk and egg in smaller bowl; combine and stir to form fairly smooth dough. On floured surface, knead until smooth, 2 minutes. Press into disc; wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).

  

Filling

• Cook sweet potatoes in salted boiling water until nice and tender. Drain and transfer them to a large mixing bowl.
• In water from potatoes, boil carrots.
• With a potato masher, give sweet potatoes a quick smash but don’t over do it. You want them chunky.
• Add  yogurt, buttermilk, salt, pepper, carrots, peas and corn. Stir gently until well combined.
• Very delicately fold grated cheese and cooked salmon into the potato mixture. You want to have nice big chunks of salmon.

Assembly

• pre-heat oven to 375F
• On floured surface, roll out dough to form a 18 inch disk. Fit into greased (brush with olive oil) 9 inch cast iron skillet, letting excess hang over edge.
• Mound filling in center; lift pastry up over filling, letting it fall naturally into folds and leaving 2-3 inch opening in the center. Brush dough with egg white, sprinkle with sea salt, rosemary and parmesan.
• Bake in bottom third of oven until pastry is golden and filling is steaming, about 30-45 minutes. Let stand  before cutting.

For a side, I made these easy green beans with cranberries and almonds.

Ingredients
2 pounds fresh green beans, stem ends trimmed
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into quarters
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions:
Toss green beans with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar directly into a lasagna pan. Roast the beans for 15 minutes, then add almonds and cranberries stir with a spatula to promote even cooking. Continue roasting until beans are tender, slightly browned and just starting to shrivel, about 10 minutes more.

But wait… save room for dessert!  I decided I’d make oatmeal cookies, since they are Matt’s favorite. Of course, I browsed TasteSpotter.com for a good recipe.  The only problem with the website, is that if I want to make an oatmeal cookie, I have to look at all eight pages of oatmeal cookies to find the perfect one.  After debating for a bit between decadent and healthy, I settled on this Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie which falls on the healthier side of the spectrum.  The bits of apple that gets baked into the cookie make them super tasty and the nuts were a nice addition. I’m glad I have a bunch of the batter left in my fridge!

Ingredients
3 cup quick oats, uncooked
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar – firmly packed
1 egg
1/3 cup reduced fat milk
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup apple, peeled, cored and chopped finely

Johanna