Meat Knish

Little pockets of cooked meat and onions sealed in a bite-sized pastry crust. Where have you been all my life! This recipe was published in "Requested Recipes" in 1963 by Temple Beth El Sisterhood in Portland (recipe created by Sadye Schatz who was a Kosher caterer in Portland in the 1940s and 1950s).  I'm afraid I didn't even know how to pronounce "knish" (I thought the "k" was silent, as in "knickers," but this is a Protestant English major speaking, so I now stand corrected!).

The recipe calls for "cooked meat" so I used what we had on hand...ground sausage. It cooks up well with the onions. Fair warning, the pastry recipe makes up enough dough to feed a small army or a couple of hungry teenagers, neither of which we have billeted at this house. There was so much dough leftover that my husband happily made suggestions as to how I could use it up, ranging from slathered butter and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar "crisps" to a variety of pies...

We both agreed this is a tasty way to serve bite-sized meat, say, when you have friends over to watch a ballgame. Being as how it is COVID-19 season, that's not happening anytime soon. But we enjoyed testing out this recipe and discovered it is good to serve with such dipping delights as a brown mustard or something with a little kick, such as sriracha mayo. I found some curry mustard in the depths of the fridge today which I plan to try with leftovers tonite.

The recipe calls for making a "tube" of filled pastry, cutting it into 2 inch pieces, and wrapping dough over each end before baking, but I thought that was a little time intensive, for serving just the two of us. So I just popped the tubes in the oven. When they were done (recipe says till brown, which took maybe 20 minutes), I just sliced 2 inch pieces, and plated with dips. A little messier, but just as delightful.

I recommend baking with parchment paper, as the dough will become tough on the bottom if you spray oil on the cookie sheet.