If you follow this site, you know that I seem to make a variation of Colcannon (Irish mashed potatoes) most St. Patrick’s Day — varying the potatoes (sometimes sweet potatoes) and the greens (cabbage, kale, even spinach), but this year, I stuck with transitional russett potatoes and cabbage, but make “cakes”, sort of like potato pancakes. Fried up, they are a great side dish to Irish-style sausages, or even for breakfast with bacon and eggs. Very filling!
As I have mentioned before, I am a big fan of “wild game” whether it be venison, boar, elk, etc. This recipe takes my Vension Ragout, adds a whole lot more mushrooms to make it very thick, and then fill into delicious, buttery puff pastry. totally decadent. Very earthy, savory, comfort food.
Hand pies freeze well! Wrap in foil, then pop each one in a ziplock baggie. To reheat bake in the tin foil for 12-12 minutes, then unwrap and bake an additional 5 minutes without the foil to crisp up. Great for a lunch or dinner with a salad.
I am a huge fan of “wild game”, even if most of the stuff that is available is farm raised around here. I pound a few pounds of venison mince the other day and made two recipes (this and the next one). They are delicious. And I am guessing that they are pretty healthy because venison is very lean. Amazingly flavorful for something that is that lean too. While this recipe is a bit time consuming, it is one of the best “cooked” (vs “baked”) things that I have made in recent memory.
I was a little apprehensive about making these. I love goat cheese and fried cheese in general is a good thing, but somehow I was both intrigued and nervous about these. Turns out, that nervousness was unfounded because OMG are these delicious. They are tart and salty, crunchy and silky and the honey really puts them over the top. Do not skip the freezing step otherwise the goat cheese will be too soft and will melt while you are frying. Also, really only make as many as you think that you will need because they aren’t as good when they cool to room temperature and you definitely don’t want to microwave to reheat, unless you like cleaning goat cheese from the inside of your microwave. Just saying.