What do you say to taking chances?

I am a recipe cook.

My theory is that I can cook anything as long as I find the right recipe. I can skim down the list of ingredients and imagine the flavors developing into a delicious dish. I practically get whiplash from turning my head so often while cooking to glance back at a recipe. Even with my chocolate chip cookies— which I’ve probably made a million times in the last 7 or 8 years – I always pull out the recipe and carefully follow its directions, knowing that in baking, precision is key.

This Christmas break, I stepped outside of my recipe-driven box and cooked two dishes sans recipe. Of course I spent more time than my pride allows me to admit researching what recipes were out there, considering what they had in common and the basic premise of each dish. Who am I kidding? I'm not that brave. I chose my own ingredients, amounts, and cooking times to make a local favorite, Cajun Meat Pies, and a New Year’s Day necessity, Smothered Cabbage.

First were the meat pies. As I searched for recipes for meat pies, I found a great deal of variety. Whole pies or individuals? Baked or fried? Potatoes or none? Premade or homemade dough? Decisions decisions. Some of the questions really were no question at all. Individual pies are a must, and – according to my meat-pie-loving husband – potatoes are a no-no. As for the other questions, I decided to try them both. Go big or go home, right?

My New Year’s Eve guests like both the baked and the fried, with a preference for the crispiness of the fried. For my health-conscious readers, baked would of course be the better option. 

As for the dough, I used two types: refrigerated pre-made pie crust dough and pizza dough mixed in my bread machine following the instructions as given in the bread machine manual. These produced two very different results. The refrigerated pie crust was thinner, crisped up nicely in the fryer, and made for a prettier pie because a large amount of flour wasn’t required to keep it from sticking as I rolled it out. The homemade pizza dough, however, had good taste and made for a “breadier” meat pie. Again, each type had its fans, but in trying out this recipe yourself, it’s all about your personal preference.

The second “off-the-cuff” dish I made was smothered cabbage, which superstition says will keep money in your wallet throughout the year if you eat it on New Year’s Day. Peas, pork, and cabbage were the three alleged New Year’s requirements when I was growing up to guarantee health, luck, and money. (The meanings differ according to different families and regions.) I, however, have never been a fan of cabbage. As a child I resigned myself to a lack of cash rather than a spoonful of cabbage. Recently, however, my mom, sister and I tasted Zea’s delicious smothered cabbage and decided to give it a shot at home. Hence, my second recipe...

So give them a shot! Or at least give them a read, and let me know what you think.

And here’s to seeing if I veer back to Recipe Lane or if I keep on my own personal road less traveled.

Cajun Meat Pies

(By Elise Michel J)

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb ground chuck (80/20 or less fat)

1 lb Jimmy Dean pork sausage (Hot)

2 onions, peeled and quartered

1 green bell pepper, quartered and cleaned

1 sweet bell pepper (yellow, orange, or red), quartered and cleaned

2 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

3 cloves garlic, peeled

½ cup green onions

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Cajun seasoning

Pizza dough (prepared in a bread machine) or refrigerated pie crust (2 or 3 boxes of 2)

Vegetable oil (for frying, optional)

Parchment paper (for baking, optional)

Directions:

In a food processor, process vegetables (onion, bell peppers, garlic, and carrots).

Heat olive oil in a pot, add processed vegetables and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Add pork sausage, and cook until brown.

Add ground chuck, and cook until brown.

Add green onions and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Season with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning to your liking.

Let cool enough so that it can be worked with in your hands.

Roll out pizza or pie dough. Cut small circles (I use a Mardi Gras cup as a cutter and get about 10 circles from one refrigerated pie crust.) Place a teaspoon or so of meat filling on each circle. Wet the edges of the circle, and fold over to form the half-circle. [Wetting the edges acts as the adhesive to close the seams of dough.]

Meat pies can either be fried or baked. If frying, heat vegetable oil in a deep pan or a fryer to 350 degrees. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until brown and crispy. If baking, line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place meat pies on the lined baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes.

Smothered Cabbage

(By Elise Michel J)

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage, coarsely cut into large pieces

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

Tony Cachere’s Cajun seasoning

Cavendar’s Greek seasoning

Pepper

1 piece salt pork

1 link andouille sausage, diced

½ stick butter (4 tablespoons)

bacon grease

Cut salt pork into bite-size pieces,  (If there is a strip of fat along the side, cut the entire strip off, but do not discard. If there is a bone, do not discard.) Boil all parts of the salt pork for 5-8 minutes. Discard the bone and the strip of fat. Skim any foam off the top. Retain the water for use in the dish.

In bacon grease, cook down the onions and garlic for about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the salt pork and sausage. Cook until browned. Add freshly ground pepper (about 5 turns) and butter. Add a couple ladles of the reserved salt pork water. Add cabbage until the pot is about ¾ full. If it doesn’t all fit, let it cook down for about 10 minutes and add the rest of the cabbage. Add Tony’s and Cavendar’s, about ½ to 1 tablespoon of each (to taste). Let cook, covered for 20-30 minutes.

Note: Make sure there is still water in the pot. Add more as necessary during the first 20-30 minutes of cooking so there is still water at the bottom of the pot at the end of a half hour of cooking.

Cook uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until very soft and cooked down as much as you want it to be. Taste, and add more Tony’s and/or Cavendar’s accordingly.

Note: I use both Tony’s and Cavendar’s because I find Tony’s to have too much cayenne pepper, so use your personal preference in the seasoning of this dish.