Dinner for 2 - Sweet Potato Pot Pie

Yesterday, I invited a friend over to dinner, but didn't know what I was going to serve. After some googling and looking at 101 Cookbooks for inspiration, I decided to make us Sweet Potato Pot Pie along with salad and chocolate mousse!

baked in a Kerr canning jar!

Sweet Potato Pot Pie  - from one of my favorite food blogs, 101 Cookbooks
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 1/2 to 3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chilies (or more to taste) The Soviet Safeway near my house didn't have this so I had to make it on my own.
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 cups cold whole or low-fat milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 box puff pastry dough (allow 20 to 30 minutes to thaw)
1 egg white

AZ's adobo recipe:
2 tbs of green chillies from a can
a dash of cayenne pepper
a dash of oregano
a dash of thyme
a pinch of sugar
a dash of ground pepper
a dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vinegar
I mixed all this up with a hand blender. It seemed like a spicy concoction when I made it but there wasn't any spice to the pot pie. I think either I need to get hotter chillies or add more cayenne next time. 

Directions
In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the oil, onion, garlic, sweet potato and salt. Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the adobo sauce and corn.
In a small bowl, combine the milk and cornstarch, then pour the mixture into the sweet potato pot. Leave the heat at medium-high for a few minutes to bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook until the filling starts to thicken, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and season with more salt to taste. Pour the filling into small ovenproof bowls, each three quarters full.

Cut a piece of puff pastry dough to fit over each bowl, with some overlap. Place the dough on the bowls and fold over the edge of the dish. Brush the dough lightly with egg white (this creates a golden crust).
Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top of each pie to allow steam to escape, and bake until the crusts are tall and deeply golden, about 15 minutes. Tip: Bake the potpies on a baking sheet lined with foil in case some of the filling bubbles over. Serves 4 as a main course.

SP for sweet potato PP for potpie :)

I loved the idea of putting the pot pies in Kerr jars. But thought it might not be a good enough portion for a dinner meal, so I made a bigger one and a kerr jar one for myself just to see how it'd turn out - cute! I never baked in a canning jar before. But I got the idea from this pie in a jar recipe from not martha. PS canning jars are a lot cheaper than the normal baking ramekins.

Puff Pastry dough is amazing, I love how forgiving it is. Though, it makes it tough to keep any designs on the top of the pie. I think the reason the big potpie kept it's design was because I used too much egg whites on it in the middle. Perhaps next time I can cut out letters from the left over pastry dough and put them on top for a design.

Ella's inspired salad

Every time I go to Ella's in DC, I always have their Italian vegetable salad with grilled chicken. My favorite part are the cannelloni beans in that salad. I swear they soak them in the champagne vinaigrette before serving. This was my attempt to recreate those beans and dressing. It turned out pretty good. I might try fresh beans next time, think it would be so much better.

I made this dressing how I season most food. I start by smelling the spices and add in what I think fits. For this recipe, it started at the grocery store with me smelling the different options in the herb aisle. Fresh dill was the winner this time around.

Note: I came up with the below measurements after the fact cause I usually just dump things in until it tastes right. Those using my recipes should be in the mood to experiment.

Ingredients

3 tbs olive oil

3tbs vinegar

2 tsps honey

1 tbs lemon juice

1 teaspoon fresh dill

¼ tsp ginger

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can of cannelloni beans washes

Fresh herb salad mix

red pepper diced

carrots shaved

pumpkin seeds

I combined the first 8 ingredients until I thought it tasted right. Next time I might use one less tablespoon of vinegar because I had to add a lot of honey to mellow out the lemon juice and the vinegar. I might experiment with the types of vinegar, perhaps use champagne vinegar or balsamic. Comment on my blog if you tried something new and it worked! Then I washed the cannelloni beans and dumped them in the dressing to marinade for a couple hours. Just before serving, I put the the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. I added some beans, tossed and then added some more of the dressing. I think it would be good with a crisp green apple and pine nuts but this is what I had in my house. Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse

I used the same recipe as I did last weekend but only added 1/2 tsp of vanilla. I also used 3/4 cups of the whipping cream and left out a couple dollops from the mousse mixture. I put the chocolate mousse in martini glasses to sit for a couple hours. From the extra dollops of the whipped cream, I added a bit more sugar (used powder sugar this time too) and had that sit for a while. Just before serving I put the whipped cream on top of the mousse and shaved a bit off a dark chocolate bar for some nice chocolate sprinkles. A fast (prep time, at least) and easy way to have a decadent dessert!