Bok Choy Handpie

 

Pasty, empanada, bierrock, turnover, samosa, tourtiere, spanakopita, pyrizhky, piroshki, bisteeya, xian bing. These are hand pies from around the world. Today I needed to figure out what to do with several bok choy I had in the fridge. I found an Asian market here in the northland and went kind of nuts. So what to do?

Bok choy is a cabbage, and that reminded me of my German heritage, the bierrock. It's basically dough stuffed with cooked cabbage and ground beef. I chopped the bok choy, white onion, an orange bell pepper, then grated some carrot and sautéed it all in olive oil. Then added dried parsley, basil, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper. Last step was to add cream cheese once the pan was off the heat. A squeeze of lemon and some kosher salt finished it off.

While the stuffing mixture was cooling and melding, I found the dough recipe. I wanted a soft, yeasty, puffy roll, not so much a flaky crust. I turned to my favorite baker blog, Sally's Baking Addiction. She never fails me. Her Soft Dinner Rolls recipe worked perfectly. It yielded a baker's dozen, and I had to try one! Wow wow wow. The dozen I took to my weekly writing group, the Kansas City Writer's Workshop. Needless to say, they were thrilled.

I love feeding my creative friends! It makes my heart grow three sizes. Now I'm thinking about all of the savory AND sweet handles I could make. They are super portable, freezable, easily reheated, and can be filled with seasonal goodies. Stay tuned!