Cooking for Kids during COVID-19: Beef and Cabbage Hand Pies

Hey there everyone...coming to you from Zambia during COVID-19 lockdown.  

This is a tough time for us all, and this is a time to take the most important things in life seriously: our health, our families, how we spend our time...this disease has been a reminder that nothing in life is certain, so we better make our time count! 

I hope I will have time throughout this period--while I'm not able to cook for my catering clients--to reach out to you more through this blog. I have never posted as much as I would like; my excuse being life and work and kids. Because of this, I hopped over to Instagram (find me @ChefAlaina on IG) where I can post "quick" snapshots of what's coming out of The Global Fork kitchen and connect with you there. But here I can explain to you a bit more of what's going on over here, and let you get to know me better.

You probably know about me that that one of the ways I express myself is through food, and indeed it's one of the ways I show love. As my mom taught me to do and always says, "Dispense love through the kitchen..." I think this rings true with a lot of people, and why cooking--while wholly necessary--has also become an escape for people during this difficult period. And while many out there are trying their hand at baking bread for the first time, or testing themselves with difficult dishes they've never had time to try (which is great!), many of us are also trying to bring families together over food.  

And this means, of course, that we can't neglect the kiddos!

Those that cook often for the younger set know very well...the constant challenge is getting them to eat balanced meals. Not only are kids notoriously picky, but it seems like their preferences change daily...one day they like meat, one day they don't. All of a sudden you're getting them to eat vegetables, and in a week nothing green can touch their plate! I was trying to think of a technique and recipe that might help you guys overcome this, and I thought of one of my favorite little kiddos in the world, Micah, who LOVES Jamaican Beef Patties (which are actually spiced ground beef, tucked into turmeric-flavored dough). Now that sort of dish may not be up every kid's alley, but it reminded me of this simply fact:  

Kids LOVE hand pies! And the best thing about it is, if you have pre-made puff pastry or are able to get one pastry recipe down, you can make any type of hand pie you like, even sweet versions! 

I LOVE that my daughter wanted to help!

She did an amazing job!

I took the lead for this recipe from a Cook's Country recipe for Bierocks...the recipe you see below is very close to the Cook's Country recipe, with just a few notes of my own and suggestions for your own substitutions.

My kids absolutely ate these up...you can tell from the pictures! I served them alongside simple roasted Brussels sprouts--another kid favorite! I'll admit that three out of the four of us also added a bit of mustard...oh man the acidity of the mustard paired with the richness of the filling was exactly what these needed!

Ground Beef and Cabbage Hand Pies

Yield: 12 hand pies, approx. 6 svgs

Author: Cook's Country (America's Test Kitchen) with slight modifications and extra notes from Alaina Missbach

Hand pies of all sorts are hugely popular with kiddos--and for good reason! Delicious filling surrounded by soft, flavorful dough is super enticing and also fun to eat.

Ingredients:

Filling

• 4 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 lb lean ground beef
• salt/pepper
• up to 3 Tbsp of your favorite salt-free seasoning mix
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 small head of cabbage, shredded (about 4 Cups)
• 1 C chicken broth
• 8 oz (2 C) shredded cheddar or gouda cheese

Dough

• 1/2 C whole milk
• 1/2 C water
• 6 Tbsp (3 oz) unsalted butter
• 1/4 Cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
• 3 1/2 - 3 3/4 C (17 1/2 - 18 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Egg Wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water

Instructions:

How to cook Ground Beef and Cabbage Hand Pies

For the Dough

1. Preheat oven to 200F; turn oven off once it reaches temperature.
2. Grease a large bowl. 
3. Combine milk, water, butter, and sugar in a 2 C measuring cup.
4. Using a stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix 3 1/2 C of the flour, yeast, and salt on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer running, slowly add milk mixture and single beaten egg until incorporated and dough comes together, about 3 minutes. Increase speed to medium-low and continue to mix until dough is smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, about 8 minutes. If after 4 minutes the dough still looks wet and sticky, add 1 Tbsp more flour at a time until the dough clears sides of bowl. (It's ok if it still sticks to the bottom.) Transfer dough to greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in still-warm oven (with hot pads under bowl and door cracked) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

For the Filling

1. While the dough is rising, make your filling.
2. Heat 2 tsp oil in Dutch oven over med-high heat until just smoking. Add beef plus salt and pepper to taste, and/or 1 Tbsp your favorite salt-free seasoning mix. Break up pieces with a spoon and cooking until liquid is mostly evaporated and meat begins to sizzle, 10-15 minutes. Drain meat in colander and set aside.
3. Add 2 more tsp of oil to empty Dutch oven and heat over med-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in drained beef, cabbage, and chicken broth. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook until cabbage is tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover, stir, and add 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce. Taste the mixture, adding 1-2 more Tbsp seasoning mix, if desired, and/or more salt/pepper. Continue to cook uncovered until liquid is completely evaporated and the mixture begins to sizzle, 5-7 more minutes. 
4. Transfer cooked mixture to bowl and let cool, stirring occasionally, until no longer piping hot, about 15 minutes. Stir in shredded cheese and continue to cool. (Once room temp, can be transferred to refrigerator until ready to assemble hand pies.)

Assemble and Bake:

1. Line 2 sheet trays with parchment paper or Silpat liners. Transfer dough to a lightly floured counter and divide into 12 equal (2 3/4 oz) portions using a knife or bench scraper. Form dough pieces into balls, cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let rest 5 minutes.
2. Working with 1 ball at a time, roll out into 5 1/2" rounds with a rolling pin. Transfer 1/2 C (3 oz) of filling to center of round, and use hands to compact filling. Stretch the edges of the dough up over the filling and pinch/twist together to form a bun. Arrange 6 hand pies, seam side down, on each prepared sheet tray, about 2" apart. Cover again and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. While rising,  adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375F.
3. Brush hand pies with egg wash and bake both trays at once, 22 to 25 minutes, switching and rotating sheets half way through baking. Hand pies should be a lovely golden brown. Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving, or serve at room temperature.

Notes:

This recipe can absolutely be modified to suit your family's needs--or what's in your refrigerator! Mince your chosen protein and vegetables and saute them with your chosen seasoning--just be sure that you don't have a lot of liquid left in your mixture as this will affect the end product. If using vegetables with high water content like summer squashes, chop them fine and saute until browned with little liquid left.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @chefalaina on instagram and hashtag it #theglobalfork

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Slow Cooker Pork and Mushroom Risotto - Except don't use your slow cooker!

Ah risotto, my love...what a perfect dish. Warm, comforting, delicious, and best of all versatile. Risotto is one of those dishes you can clean out the fridge and make...these are the types of dishes I love!

Now risotto is not generally considered a main course...Italians usually eat it as a “primo piatto” or first course (after the antipasti but before the main course, “segundo piatto”). Primo piatto usually consists of some type of pasta, soup, or polenta, and rarely contains meat. But I love preparing risotto as a main course, both with and without meat, because a) I don’t often find myself cooking multi-course Italian feasts (although I have!) and b) I always want to eat an entree’s worth of it!

For this dish I wanted to incorporate braised pork with mushrooms and creamy risotto...doesn’t that combo sound delicious? There are plenty of “pork risotto” recipes on the internet, but most of them call for quick-cooking cuts like pork loin or chops. I was envisioning silky, tender braised pork and how well that would pair with perfectly al dente but creamy rice. Oh, and I wanted to use my slow-cooker. More on that in a minute....

Mise en Place

Ok, so I knew I wanted the pork...the mushrooms...the Arborio rice...what else? Well, onion and garlic of course...lemon...parmigiano reggiano...but what to make it POP?! Parsley?? Sure...but that’s still sort of boring. OHHHH...gremolata!! And fried pancetta! Bam. I’ve got my dish. Oh and I remembered I’ve got this fantastic mix of dried mushrooms in the pantry...that sure would help the mushroom flavor stand up to the long cooking time of the pork and infuse that flavor into the meat....yes!!!

Now let's get to the part about NOT actually using the slow cooker. I thought, what could be easier than risotto in the slow cooker? It only takes about 90 minutes to cook, you don't have to do all that stirring that you normally do...what could go wrong? Turns out, a lot. My risotto dish came out flavorful, delicious, comforting...but the consistency? It was NOT right. It was clumpy. It was sticky. It was NOT true risotto, which should glide easily from your spoon to your plate like a wave: "all'onda" as the Italians say. So here's my advice to you...cook your risotto the traditional way, in a pot, and just commit yourself to 30-45 minutes of stirring. It's worth it. You'll love it. Your friends and family will call you their hero.

My pictures here show my slow cooker because that's how I made it, but the instructions below tell you how to make the risotto in a pot on the stove. I recommend using a heavy pot like a dutch oven, but any large pot (not a small sauce pot) will do.

Braise your Pork

Fork Tender, Silky, Delicious!

If you want to make this recipe a little less "hands-on", you can braise the pork in your slow cooker or in your dutch oven (in the oven) and make your gremolata during the day, and then cook the risotto in the evening. No need to wash the dutch oven in between...you can use it through all the steps and benefit from the fond and flavor you build up in it from start to finish.

ALSO!!! Scroll through to the bottom to see how you can use up your leftover Risotto!!!! BONUS!

Mushroom Risotto with Braised Pork, Crispy Pancetta, and Gremolata

Yield: 6-8

Author: Alaina Missbach

This recipe combines silky braised pork with mushroom risotto, topped with a citrusy gremolata and fried pancetta.

ingredients:

Braised Pork

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
• 1/4 C mixed dried mushrooms
• 1/4 C dry Italian white wine
• Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tbsp paprika
• 1 1/2 lbs pork shoulder/butt or blade steaks
• 1 C chicken stock (homemade or no-sodium)

Gremolata

• 1 large clove garlic
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 C flat-leaf parsley (loosely packed, a large handful)

Risotto

• Reserved solids and liquid from braising pork (see instructions below)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms (aka baby bellas), sliced
• 1 3/4 C Arborio rice (short grain, starchy)
• 1/2 C dry Italian white wine
• Chicken stock, amount depends on how much cooking liquid you have left over from pork (total should be 4 Cups)
• Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, grated
• 100 g thinly sliced pancetta
• Lemon, cut into eighths

instructions:

How to cook Mushroom Risotto with Braised Pork, Crispy Pancetta, and Gremolata

Braised Pork (using the slow cooker is okay for this part):

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a dutch oven, or in your slow cooker if it has a sauté function, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft, about 6 minutes.
3. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 more seconds.
4. Stir in dried mushrooms well, then turn up heat and add wine. Simmer until wine is mostly evaporated.
5. Season pork generously with salt and pepper (use less salt if your stock is already salted), and rub with paprika. Brown all sides of your pork, without crowding your pan if you have multiple pieces, about 3 minutes per side. Redistribute solids in pan and place pork on top, then pour chicken broth over everything.
6. Bring liquid to a boil, then cover your pot and transfer to the oven (or transfer contents to your slow cooker, if using, and set to low). Cook pork until fork tender, 45 min - 1 hour in the oven or 3-4 hours in the slow cooker on low.
7. Once pork is ready, remove meat from pot and shred with two forks. Set aside.
8. Strain cooking liquid into fat separator or into a bowl using a fine mesh sieve. Set aside both the liquid and the solids, separately.
9. DON'T BOTHER WASHING YOUR DUTCH OVEN! You can use it for making your risotto.

Gremolata

1. Place all listed ingredients in a food processor and pulse until chopped and combined, but still chunky. You can also chop all of this together on a cutting board with a chef's knife for the same result.

Risotto

1. In previously used pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add sliced fresh mushrooms, stir initially, and cook for 3 minutes without stirring. After 3 minutes, stir mushrooms with wooden spoon and scrape up browned bits in the bottom of your pan. Continue cooking mushrooms until tender, about 2 minutes more. Add reserved solids from braising pork and stir to combine everything.
2. Lower heat to medium. Add rice to pot and stir well to coat grains. Toast for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Increase heat to medium-high again, and add wine. Bring wine to a boil and cook until almost completely evaporated.
4. Combine pork cooking liquid with enough chicken stock to equal 4 Cups. Lower heat to medium again. Add 1/2-1 Cup of liquid at a time, stirring well to incorporate all ingredients and to release the starch from the rice. When most of the liquid is absorbed, add more liquid and stir stir stir to continue releasing starch and helping rice to absorb liquid. Continue this pattern until your rice is completely tender, starchy, and your liquid is absorbed. You will use 3-4 Cups of liquid total, but if more is needed, use more.
5. Once your rice is tender, take off the heat and stir in most of the grated cheese (leaving a little to garnish with). Cover to keep warm.
6. Fry your slices of pancetta in a small non-stick skillet until crunchy.
7. Put risotto onto individual plates or a large serving platter (not a bowl!!!) and sprinkle with a bit of shredded cheese. Top with desired amount of gremolata, then crumble prosciutto on top. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy!

https://theglobalfork.blogspot.com/2019/12/slow-cooker-pork-and-mushroom-risotto.html

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @chefalaina on instagram and hashtag it #theglobalfork

Created using The Recipes Generator

Delicious braising liquid and more mushrooms that we'll use for our Risotto...

Beautiful, Simple, Fresh!

Toasting the Arborio Rice after sauteeing fresh mushrooms...

You can't forget the wine!

Combine braising liquid and stock = 4 Cups

Fried Pancetta seals the deal

Gorgeous and delicious!

So you've eaten your fabulous Italian meal and you have leftover Risotto...what to do?? Why, make Arancini of course! Arancini are rice balls coated in breadcrumbs and fried. Traditionally from Sicily, they were flavored with saffron (hence the name "little oranges" in Italian), but in your kitchen, anything goes. Arborio rice is best for arancini because it's already starchy and sticks well together.

Simply chop your leftover braised pork into fine pieces, and stir well into your leftover risotto. Add eggs (1 egg at a time) and breadcrumbs (1/3 Cup at a time) until your rice mixture sticks together well and can be formed into 1 1/2" balls. Coat rice balls with more breadcrumbs, then refrigerate for an hour. (You can refrigerate these for longer--up to overnight--but you'll need to roll them in more breadcrumbs before proceeding.)

Heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F. Working in batches, fry the rice balls, turning, until golden brown on all sides, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; season with salt. Serve as an appetizer topped with some gremolata, or alongside a crispy salad as a meal.

Frying your Arancini

Another delicious family meal, or something to impress your friends!

"Grazing Streets" in Frankfurt

Many are familiar with the famous "Fressgaße" (loosely, "Grazing Street") in Frankfurt (actually Kalbächer Gasse and Große Bockenheimer Straße) as a spot that has been known for shopping and eating since the turn of the 20th century. But Frankfurt is an ever-expanding city that has a whole lot more than just one street of "grazing" to offer!

Since the weather has turned BEAUTIFUL and inviting us all to head out for a spring stroll, I thought I'd post today about three streets that have a lot to offer by way of food and casual shopping. There are SO MANY more than this, so please share your thoughts in the comments! I've included maps to help you find them...

1. Oederweg

Take the ubahn to Eschersheimer Tor and walk north along Oederweg and there are all sorts of great places...I have eaten at Vipho (Vietnamese), Kowloon City (Chinese/Dim Sum), Gokio Bros. (Korean Fried Chicken) and all three are excellent, but there are many other restaurants there (Tex-Mex, Burgers/Steaks, Indian Street Food...many looked good). If you just keep walking north on that street, there are cute shops and stuff too. We walked north and eventually walked West on side streets to get back to the Gruenebergweg Ubahn stop to head home, but you could keep walking north if you have time as it looks like there's lots of cute stuff.

2. Weissadlergasse

This cute (short) street is adjacent to my favorite sushi place in the city, SuperKato. There are several adorable cafes and restaurants on this street. I haven't been to any of those but I think there's one that sells a bunch of soups that looked really interesting called Souper! Die Suppenküche. There's also a Tex-Mex Cantina. To get here, you could go to several different ubahn stations and walk...it looks like the closest might be Willy-Brandt or Hauptwache (which isn't shown on this map screenshot but is just North, adjacent to the Goetheplatz). I like this area because there's lots of shopping (not just on Neuekraeme, which is that street that leads to the Roemer). One of my favorite places in all of Frankfurt is nearby...the Kleinmarkthalle. My Frankfurt universe rotates around Kleinmarkthalle. 🙂  Definitely worth a visit...it's a market but there are places to eat inside and even more upstairs, as well as a wine bar that's so much fun.

3. Kaisserstrasse

The area of this street that runs between Willy-Brandt Platz and the Hauptbahnhof has a lot of good restaurants and is fun to walk. They also hold a lot of markets on this street (closer to the Hauptbahnhof end) when the weather is warmer. On this street I have been to Urban Kitchen (reliable cuisine from all over the world), EatDoori (Indian Street Food), and Kabuki (Japanese Tepanyaki--very expensive, special occasion type of place but AMAZING FOOD AND EXPERIENCE). There are a lot of other places to eat on this street, and for shopping walk along Kaiserstrasse towards Willy-Brandt Platz (Northeast) and just continue walking until it turns into Rossmarktstrasse. You'll end up in the Hauptwache/Zeil area. Or you could follow Goetheplatz North to get to the "Rodeo Drive" of Frankfurt, Goethestrasse.

Happy Grazing, and enjoy the weather!!

Hello Again and Check me out on Facebook and Instagram!

Hello there!

If you've landed on this page after doing a quick Google search, took a quick look over it, and then thought "Well, shoot...this is just one of those neglected blogs that the owner never does anything with............"

You'd be pretty much right. BUT! That doesn't mean I'm not doing ANYTHING! Quite the contrary...it's true that running The Global Fork catering company (not to mention my household...in a foreign country...with a big international move coming up...) DOES keep me pretty busy and I've neglected posting here around much of that, nor have I been good at providing you with the cool tips and tricks that I enjoy sharing. However, I am much better at keeping in touch with all of you out there via Facebook and Instagram.

SO! Head on over to your lil' appies there on your phone and search for @TheGlobalFork on Facebook and @ChefAlaina on Instagram. (You should also be able to find me under The Global Fork on Insta.) There you'll get nearly daily updates on the goings-on over here in my kitchen...oh and in all the yum yum restaurants I'm able to frequent, as well...all across the world!

Speaking of restaurants, I've started putting together some restaurant guides that will be useful to you folks here in Frankfurt, so look for those COMING SOON!

And as always, please feel free to comment or message me with your burning questions, catering quote requests, etc. etc. etc.!


Thanks,
Alaina

"Cooking in Germany" Tip - Potatoes!

There are two different types of potatoes (Kartoffeln) most commonly found in German grocery stores, labeled “mehligkochende” and “festkochende”.

Festkochende Kartoffeln are high moisture potatoes, most similar to American Yukon Gold or chef’s potatoes, and are best for boiling, steaming, braising and stewing (whenever you’re using moisture to cook). The point here is that these potatoes already contain a lot of moisture, so they have a nice even consistency, but they don't fall apart when you cook them in liquid. This is important when you're making soups and stews, as the potatoes will retain their shape and not fall apart, so that your soup is not murky with chunks of potatoes everywhere. They're also great for potato salads for the same reason. These types of potatoes also boast great flavor.

Mehligkochende Kartoffeln are high starch potatoes, most similar to American russet potatoes, and are best for baking, puréeing, and frying. After the potato is cooked, it still maintains a relatively dry interior, so it's very easy to flake it or mash it. For American mashed potatoes, you definitely want that consistency as opposed to wallpaper paste! These starchy, drier potatoes are also great for frying because they spatter much less and, due to less moisture inside, brown even better.


Here's another tip regarding mashed potatoes! If you love making mashed potatoes and do it a lot (or are willing to purchase a useful piece of equipment to make it easier), I highly recommend buying a food mill. This is a light-weight, non-electric, handheld tool that generally comes with 2-3 blade sizes and works for effortlessly making the fluffiest mashed potatoes, but also is great for making your own applesauce, tomato sauce, pureed soups, etc. The beauty of the food mill is, not only do you get a quick, even mill/grate of whatever you're putting through it, but you also get rid of skins and seeds, eliminating the need to peel your potatoes, apples, tomatoes, etc. before cooking them and milling them. This is particularly useful for potatoes as you can help maintain the starches inside if you cook them with the skin on instead of peeling before you boil.

If you're looking for a better selection of potatoes here in Germany, check out the Sunflower Gartenshop...they have an incredible selection of all sorts of types of potatoes that would be fun to try, not to mention other gourmet grocery items and a HUGE garden store with anything you could dream of. Look out for a future blog post on all that they have to offer!

Have a question or need some help cooking here in Germany? Comment below or shoot me an email at TheGlobalFork@gmail.com!