Enjoy this recipe from “Top Chef Junior” contestant Rahanna Bisseret Martinez.
Makes: 6 hand pies
INGREDIENTS
Pie crust
1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
½ cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste (omit if not available)
Mushroom filling
1 ½ cups thinly sliced mushroom caps (white button or cremini mushrooms)
1 bunch of Swiss chard
½ cup of bell pepper, diced
2 small celery stalks, diced (about ½ cup)
½ small yellow onion, diced (about ½ cup)
½ teaspoon each of paprika, thyme and creole seasoning mix
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons cooking oil
DIRECTIONS
- Mix flour in a medium bowl with salt and shortening until it forms little pea-sized balls.
- Drizzle the water into the flour and shortening mixture and gently mix until it’s all combined into a soft dough.
- Take out ¼ cup of dough and add tomato paste. Once combined, slightly mix with remaining dough to create a marbled effect.
- Cut mushrooms and Swiss chard into thin slices. Dice bell pepper, celery and onions. If you do not like the trinity ingredients (onion, celery and bell pepper), you can omit one or more of them. But you should compensate with more of the other ingredients to have about three cups of mushroom filling mixture.
- Heat a pan to medium heat and add oil, onion, celery, and bell pepper.
- Once the onions are nearly translucent and the bell pepper is softened, add in mushroom, Swiss chard, minced garlic, and seasonings. Once cooked (about 8 minutes for trinity and then 3-5 minutes more for mushrooms and chard) set aside in a bowl.
- Roll out the dough. Use a 3-inch circle cutter to make hand pies and lay 12 on a baking sheet.
- Layer 4 tablespoons of filling on one circle of dough and place another circle of dough on top. Take a fork and gently press the edges together just enough for the edges to come together
- Cut an x shape with a knife on the top layer of dough for each completed hand pie.
- Bake at 350°F degrees for 10-15 until pie crust is cooked. Let cool for a few minutes and serve.
NOTES & TIPS
- You can substitute butter or cooking oil, but the dough will not be as flaky.
Rest the dough before rolling out pies. - If paprika, thyme and creole seasoning mix not available, use salt and pepper to your taste.
- Some people like to take a fork and knife in each hand and make cutting motions to create the pea-size shapes of shortening. Don’t press down with the bottom of fork to combine because the crust won’t be as flaky.
- If there isn’t a circle cutter available use a jar lid, a comparable bowl size or a hand-drawn 3-inch circle stencil shape and a knife to cut circle shaped dough.
For Rahanna’s journey from the big screen to inside of some of the best kitchens in the country, be sure to read our article, “Rahanna Bisseret Martinez: Dishing on Top Chef Junior and Her Culinary Future.”