My parents had a friend named Gary with whom they had many food adventures. Gary spent a lot of time at our house after the death of his partner and then he eventually moved to New Orleans where he opened a small cafe on Royal St. We visited him there twice and one of his house specials was Cornish pasties, which he filled with meat, vegetables, and small pieces of potato. They were delicious and I can still remember the tender, flaky outer dough, combined with the warm, moist filling. Stupendous. Gary passed away from HIV/AIDS many years ago, but I still think of him and his little cafe.

With that in mind, I was ready to try Chicken and Sweet Potato Hand Pies. You can find this one in Sept Everyday Food. This was an easy recipe.  But I didn’t like it ! Use one sheet of puff pastry and roll out to 12×12. Cut into 4 square. Mix 2 cups mashed sweet potato with 2 cups cooked chicken and add1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp coriander. Fill the pockets and fold into triangles. Brush with egg wash. Bake at 400 30 minutes.

They looked nice, but I did not like them at all. I even added in some leftover broccoli to give some color. In general I am not a fan of potato surrounded by breading and this was just all potato. I don’t like potato knishes or potato pierogi, so I guess I should have known better. This would be good with another filling, so it is just my peculiar tastes that give this one a thumbs down. It turned out nicely and if you don’t mind lots of potato in puff pastry, you would like this.

My parents had a friend named Gary with whom they had many food adventures. Gary spent a lot of time at our house after the death of his partner and then he eventually moved to New Orleans where he opened a small cafe on Royal St. We visited him there twice and one of his … Read more →