You might know Day reporter Claire Bessette in her full-time capacity as a crime fightin’ writer, cruising around Norwich in the Mystery Machine with Shaggy and Scooby, looking for white collar criminals. (My favorite episode: Kentucky Derby Dirtballs.) But once a year, Claire organizes the Pi Day celebration (March 14) in our newsroom. I answered her call for volunteer bakers, not once, but twice. I cranked out a Strawberry Slab Pie from a NYT recipe and made a dozen Pork Pasties for the folks in the newsroom to enjoy.

While I’d like to say that both my efforts were a great success, only the Pork Pasties were something I’d try again. The Strawberry Slab Pie looked good in print, but was messy and underwhelming in reality. The recipe had interesting features: low in sugar, made in a quarter sheet pan instead of a round pie pan and there’s cracked black pepper in the crust. But none of these things really mattered when the final result came out of the oven. The lower amount of sugar in the filling didn’t really transform the strawberries into a jammy jamboree. The one-hour baking time meant it didn’t have that springy flavor that comes with a fresh fruit tart. And the black pepper in the crust was completely overshadowed by the sloppy filling.

My own failing with this recipe was trying to fancy up the top crust. The original recipe calls for rolling it out and making discs with a biscuit cutter and placing them on top of the filling after about 45 minutes in the oven. Did I do that? Noooooooo sirree. I tried to make a faux lattice crust with a roller cutter and it ended up looking like a chicken wire fence. And then the chicken wire crust stuck to the parchment I had rolled it out on and it folded over on itself. Sorry, guys, not my best work.

If you’re at all intrigued by the Strawberry Slab Pie, click here to check it out: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018797-strawberry-slab-pie

Now the Pork Pasties, that was a whole ‘nother story. So simple, filling and delish. BTW, it’s Pasties (pass-tease), not Pasties (like the burlesque accessory, Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction pace-tease). My spin on this traditional Cornish-based hand pie was based around the extra package of pork loin (with some decent marbling) and a package of puff pastry that I had in the freezer. It went something like this...

Pi Day Pork Pasties

1 500g package of frozen Puff Pastry, thawed (2 Sheets)

1 lb pork loin, diced into half-inch cubes or minced

1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and diced into half-inch cubes

1 lb rutabaga or turnip, peeled and diced into half-inch cubes

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

Butter

Salt & pepper

1 egg, whisked with 1 tsp water (for glazing the crusts)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Place pork potatoes, rutabaga, chopped onion into a bowl and mix together with a tsp of salt and a liberal amount of pepper. I used 2 tsp of Momofuku Savory Seasoning Salt, which I put on just about everything these days. Alternately, you can place all of these ingredients into a food processor and pulse it a few times till you reach the desired size of grind.

Unroll each puff pastry sheet and cut each into 6 equal sized squares (use the folds in the dough to guide your cutting). Put one teaspoon of butter on each of the pastry squares and add 1/3 cup of packed meat filling to in the center.

Fold the dough over and crimp to seal forming a triangle. Put pasties on the baking sheet, six to a sheet.

Brush pasties with egg wash and bake for one hour until crusts are a deep golden brown or until filling has reached an internal temperature of 165°F.

Makes a dozen individual pies.

Upcoming and Ongoing

I got an email from Orange Pippin Trees telling me that my 1-year-old Golden Russet apple tree has finally shipped. This will join the 5-year-old Rhode Island Greening and Newtown Pippin apple trees in my front yard. All three have dwarf or semi-dwarf root stock, which means they won’t get over 8-12 feet tall. Why these three varieties? Because they are all great baking and cider apples. Also, the Greening needs two pollinators for full yield of fruit.

I am currently waiting on a shipment of two blueberry bushes, the Brunswick and Burgundy varieties. These will be planted adjacent to the existing Maine blueberry bush I planted last summer. The nursery I bought the existing plant from had recommended these two varieties for cross-pollination to get maximum yield at harvest.

Last fall, an article popped up onto my Facebook feed about the rare MSU kiwi plant. Of course I clicked on it. I’ve been on a kiwi kick recently, and I thought it might be something good to plant here at the homestead. It turns out that the Michigan State University kiwi is supposed to be sweeter and juicier and, best of all, it has an edible skin with no fuzz. So you can eat them like giant grapes. I ordered two of these kiwi vines, because, of course, they need a male and a female plant for cross pollination to produce fruit. Jeez, my plants are getting more action than I am.

If you’d like to read the original article on the mysterious origins of the MSU kiwi, click here: https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2023/mystery-of-the-michigan-state-kiwi

Gearing up for the Waterford Farmers Market on April 27. My application is in for the CT Cottage Food license, which I need to finalize my application with WFM. I’ve purchased a food vendor insurance policy. I’ve been testing recipe after recipe for the nuts and baked goods I’ll be offering. I can safely say that my Cookied Cashews are stellar, the Cocoa Puffed Pistachios are a knockout and the Nashville Hot Pecans are downright addictive. I have to get the food jury to weigh in on this before I go public. If you are interested in trying a few samples, send me an email at the address below. I’ll pick six people at random and let you try some of these nuts in return for your feedback.

Rich Swanson is a local cook who has had numerous wins in nationally sponsored recipe contests. He is also the layout specialist here at The Day.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Rich Swanson can be reached at TheSurlyTable@gmail.com.