Witchy Woman

Samhain Meat Pie
1 bay leaf
10 bacon slices
1 pound wild mushrooms, sliced thickly (or domestic mushrooms)
2 leeks chopped into 1 inch pieces (or onions)
3 carrots chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 rabbit or squirrel or chicken, cut into serving portions
3 TBS chopped parsley
3 sliced potatoes (peeled or not, your option)
1 TBS red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic (optional)

Place the bay leaf into the bottom of a dutch oven or cauldron.(You will need a lid.) Place half the bacon over the leaf and coverwith half of the mushrooms, leeks and carrots. Place the meat piecesatop the vegetables and then cover with the rest of the mushrooms,leeks and carrots. Season to taste, adding half of the chopped parsley,and one of the crushed garlic cloves. (Extra water or broth can be addedif thought necessary, just not too much.)Place the potatoes on top of everything else. Add a bit more salt andpepper, the rest of the garlic and parsley. Place the rest of thebacon over this and pour the red wine vinegar over them. Place a tightlid on the pot and cook in the oven at 325 degrees (F) for two hours (2hr)Do not check inside too often as it will dry out the meat. Be sure todiscard the bay leaf.

And, as usual, my version(s) which got double thumbs up from all.

Onions, no parsley, used a healthy splash of low sodium instead of red wine vinegar (for some crazy reason I forgot and did it this way), organic, free range chicken broth. Used garlic, bay, and pepper. T hates rabbit, thinks it's too gamey, so I used stew meat (steak) instead for one dish. I personally preferred the steak rather than the rabbit because

1. I heart red meat.

2. As I went to carve the rabbit carcass, I realized that I've never even carved a chicken before. It took me an hour to get as much off that damned thing as I could with a dull, crappy knife.

I want, but do not own, either a Dutch oven and/or cauldron. Instead, I used a large glass casserole dish covered in tin-foil and baked for 2+ hours at 400 degrees.

Both functions that I brought this to, everyone who could eat it loved it.

And Happy Halloween to those who celebrate!

"Some folks on the library's board of trustees were just a little spooked.
What's that? A real live witch was going to practice his craft at the library on Halloween? In front of children?
Yes, said Linda Puetz, president of the Friends of Sprague Public Library. And the witch, the Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman, was going to charge admission and donate the proceeds to the library."

1. Separation of church and state people. That doesn't just mean Christians, that means us, too. The library receives public funding, therefore should be off-limits.

2. Samhain, the remembrance of our ancestors and coming to terms with death, is hardly an appropriate holiday for something such as this. Choose something a little more public-relations friendly, such as Yule, Imbolc, or practically any of the others. You've got 7 (I wouldn't recommend Beltaine, either) others to choose from, 20 if you count the esbats!

3. Charging admission? Come on, what are you? A megachurch?

You know what I love, is how practically all Pagan recipes are grain-based. Yes, we are a nature based religion. Yes, grains are the closest to the earth in energy. Yes, many of us are vegetarian/vegan.

Samhain, however, is the MEAT HARVEST. SLAUGHTER. So why the heck are 95% of the recipes out there for breads, cookies, and the like? That should have been Lammas.

*Throws hands in the air and stalks out.*