Craft Pie

It was the final Saturday in June, the heatwave had subsided and the fresher weather had come in. It was perfect weather to walk in to get away from it all. Then the familiar, deliberate thud of my mobile phone sounded and meant it was ringing. I saw the identity of the caller and my heart sank a little. It was a call that shouldn't have been necessary but it was a call I could have worked hard to stop had I known better.

I unpacked my picnic bag and decided to rain check my planned walk. I then sat in the kitchen disbelieving for a time. Eventually I pulled myself together and wandered aimlessly through the fields near my house with the dog.

When something hits you between the eyes and knocks you back I find the best things to do are go on a long walk and do some cooking. On my return home I decided to modify a steak pie recipe by adding some vegetables to it and some craft beer that a very good and longstanding mate of mine had introduced me to in the last year.

The ingredients for the pie were as follows:

A pack of diced beef.
Two tablespoons of dried Oregano.
A tablespoon of Tomato Puree.
Half a diced White Onion.
Three Spring Onions, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced thinly.
Two Carrots, topped, tailed, peeled and diced.
Eight ounces of fresh Broad Beans.
A stubby can of Piston Head Lager.
Half a pint  of Vegetable Stock.

The method I used was as follows:

1.I fried the beef, vegetables, Tomato Puree and Oregano for twenty minutes in my Le Cresceut in Olive Oil.

2. I then after twenty minutes added the Piston Head Lager. Then I stewed the ingredients for another twenty minutes until the Lager had almost all been absorbed.

3. Next I added the stock and stewed the ingredients for another forty minutes.

4. In the meantime I made the Short Crust pastry in two parts. The first part was for the bottom and I used ten ounces of Plain Flour and five of Butter with a little Milk to bind the Pastry together. The top half of the pie was created with eight ounces of Plain Flour and four of Butter and a little Milk.

5. I rolled out the bottom bit of Shortcrust Pastry and spread it in a greased pie dish.

6. I then put in  the filling from the Le Cresceut and then covered it with the top part of the Shortcrust Pastry once I'd rolled it out. I left some holes to let the heat out.

7. I cooked the pie for 30 minutes on gas mark 6.

It was an exceptionally flavoursome pie as the Craft Lager and the Oregano helped bring out the taste of the Beef and the fresh Carrot and Broadbeans. It certainly filled me up as I watched the series climax of one of the best episodes of the New Doctor Who for some time.

The remainder of the pie was packaged up and served as my picnic lunch on a walk through the wet moors the following day. It tasted just as good, if not better, than it had fresh out of the oven. As I looked over the hills I could see a storm gathering around the tall tower blocks guarding the city I would need to head over to at the start of the working week. I knew one thing though; a storm may have been coming but I was good enough to sort out the issues that awaited me...

Life of Pie: a cross-section showing the meat and vegetables hiding underneath the crisp pastry.

Eggs Benedict Honeycomb

It was the weekend of Fathers' Day. The country baked and groaned under temperatures that made it feel like Benidorm. It had been a three day weekend for me and one of making plans and a few decisions; the outcomes of which, I suspected, would make me find out a lot about myself over the coming weeks.

On the player was an obscure Fleetwood Mac record in the form of 1991's "Behind The Mask". The album resides in that interregnum between Lindsey Buckingham's departure, which was shortly followed by that of Stevie Nicks, and the full-fledged reunion in 1997. Nicks is still on this record but  she is overshadowed partly  by the two guitar players parachuted in to replace Buckingham and chiefly by keyboardist/ singer/ iconic siren Christine McVie. This record is very much her baby and her shimmering songs keep it from being a train wreck. The pick of the bunch here is the haunting title track which, with some of my dealings in the preceding weeks, I could well relate to.

On Sunday morning plans had changed, just as they had earlier in the weekend, and I decided to make an indulgent breakfast to set me up for the tea. I'd promised someone important an Eggs Benedict recipe and I made it with one eye on this promise.

Typically the recipe had my own idiosyncratic take on it and in this case it was because the Hollandaise Sauce used the whites of the Eggs as well as the yolks. This in turn made it thicker and gave it the look of Honeycomb.

The ingredients for the Hollandaise Sauce were as follows:

Two beaten Eggs
A teaspoon of dried Tarragon
A pinch of Mustard.
A pinch of Nutmeg
A tablespoon White Wine Vinegar

After beating the Eggs aggressively in a measuring jug, until they resembled a thick golden paste, I added the herbs, spices and White Wine Vinegar. I next melted twenty five grams of Unsalted Butter in a saucepan on the hob. After that I added the ingredients for the sauce and simmered them for five minutes while stirring them with a wooden spoon. Once they'd solidified into a paste I took them off the heat and left them to one side.

In the meantime I'd brought a separate saucepan of water the boil. I did not have an egg poacher so I improvised and used a ladle greased with butter. I added an Egg to the ladle and lowered the ladle into the boiling water without letting the water run over the egg too much. I held it there for about five to six minutes.

I then removed the Egg from the ladle and placed it on top of two Toasting Muffins that were sandwiched with lettuce and two pieces of Serrano Ham. The yolk of the Egg was just right; part runny and part well-done. I drizzled the still warm Honeycomb Hollandaise Sauce on top of the Egg, Muffins, Lettuce and Ham and enjoyed this delicious but indulgent breakfast while my dog snored away on the sofa.

Going for gold: the Honeycomb Hollandaise Sauce sits well with the Egg, Ham and Lettuce while the Muffins are barely visible. 

When Five Counties Go to War

It was Wednesday Night at the start of June. It had been a day of conflict on the news and in other places more close to home. Sometimes after a day like that you need to stick on a record that's one of your favourites and never fails to gladden your heart. It was a tip I picked up from my Dad when he was working; if he'd had a tough day then he'd ask me to put on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" or (if Mum was out of the house) the Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks".

In my case both of those records would have done the job but on this occasion I chose a record who's fame and the infamy of its creator has often overshadowed the music within; the record was Michael Jackson's Thriller. It's easy to forget the great music contained within this album, yes there is cheese- albeit performed sincerely, but there is also a lot of cutting edge music that pointed bold new ways forward. It captures MJ when he still ability and innovation in his armoury and before celebrity squashed him.

In order to revitalise me to tackle the challenges ahead I decided to make a Risotto. The ingredients were as follows:

1 Clove of Garlic thinly sliced.
2 Shallots finely sliced.
1 Butternut Squash filleted, peeled and then cubed.
1 teaspoon of Basil
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning- such as Rosemary, Marjoram and Thyme.
8 ounces of Risotto Rice.
2 diced Tomatoes.
3/4 of a pint of Water
1/2 a slab of Five Counties Cheese.

I fried the Garlic, Shallots, Butternut Squash, Basil and Italian Seasoning in Rapeseed Oil in my Le Cresceut dish for 20 minutes. I stirred the ingredients at intervals so as to ensure they didn't stick to the bottom of the dish.

I then added the 2 diced tomatoes and the Risotto Rice. Now came the tricky part of preparation as I needed to make sure that I didn't under cook the Risotto Rice. To assist with this I gradually added 3/4 pints of  water into the Rice and the rest of the ingredients over a period of 30 minutes until the rice absorbed the water totally.

At the end of the cooking I added most of the half a slab of Five Counties Cheese and allowed it to melt in to the Risotto to ensure it thickened. Five Counties Cheese is widely available at the delicatessens of most good quality local supermarkets. It comprises of five cheeses fused together being; Cheshire, Derby(shire), Double Gloucestershire, Red Leicester and Cheddar, a cheese of course from Somerset.

When I served the Risotto I added a little bit of the cheese and some Chives from my garden as extra decoration. The meal itself was extremely rich and flavoursome while the Butternut Squash  made it very nutritious as well.

Garden Fresh- the Chives stand out atop a deliciously rich and nutritious Risotto. 

Smoked Tuesday

It was wet and windy outside and I was still feeling the effects of a chilli con carne and strong coffee that I had consumed the night before at The Temple. Despite the late night, at work the next day I had felt in the one place you want to be; in the zone. It meant that I ploughed through what on first blush seemed an impossible task.

Jaded I returned home and with some eighties synth pop by a short-lived chart topping act playing in the background I set about making a dish with Smoked Haddock. The ingredients were as follows:

2 Carrots- topped, tailed, peeled and then cubed.
1 Turnip- topped, tailed, peeled and then cubed.
1 Leek- topped, tailed, peeled and then sliced thinly.
A pinch of Mustard.
1 Teaspoon of dried Parsley.
1 Smoked Haddock Fillet.

I started by steaming the vegetables for around thirty-five minutes until a fork could go through them pretty easily. I then mashed them with the Mustard and Parsley and mixed them together to form a square. I then put this "food cube" in a frying pan filled with Rapeseed Oil and placed the frying pan under a grill on a low heat for about ten minutes. This trick means the cube becomes crisp and sticks together a little more. It is an approach that's used in making dishes such as Duchess Potatoes.

I made sure the end of the cooking of the cube was done to coincide with the preparation of the Smoked Haddock which I grilled for eighteen minutes and turned it half way through cooking.

I served the food by placing the cube, which had lost its shape a little, on a plate with the Haddock Fillet balanced on top of it.

The Leek and Carrot were certainly flavoursome as was the Parsley but the Turnip and Mustard had a slightly bitter taste. Luckily the rich taste of the Smoked Haddock balanced this out very well to make this dish an ideal "pick me up" after the action- packed day at work, trip to the Temple and also after a wonderful weekend in the north country with old and good friends.

Smokin' Aces- the Smoked Haddock sits well on top of the vegetables.

Bank Holiday Broccoli

It was a typical Bank Holiday Monday, in terms of the weather at least, the rain fell in the morning and something was needed to occupy me while the weather cleared. Realising I was away the following weekend I decided to relax and cook up a recipe for the blog.

Broccoli is one of those vegetables that tends to polarise people, a little like a green version of marmite. Either way it's a vegetable that's very good for you. On Bank Holiday Monday the Broccoli I'd sourced from the local greengrocers was going in a soup.

It was soup weather as the temperature had dropped after the extreme heatwave that had pervaded the last couple of days of the previous working week and the lion's share of the Bank Holiday Weekend. The kitchen was dimly lit because of the heavy cloud and lack of sunlight and on the player was Neil Young's engaging but equally dark comedown album "Tonight's the Night".

First job was to finely slice a clove of Garlic. Next I cut up a stalk of Broccoli and added it together with the Garlic and a tablespoon of Black Pepper to the Le Cresceut where I fried the ingredients in Rape Seed Oil for twenty minutes.

Then I added half a pint of Vegetable Stock and simmered everything for half an hour. After leaving the ingredients to cool in the dish I blended them and returned them to it. I then added a quarter of a pint of unsweetened Soya Milk and mixed it in. I then warmed it through and served the soup.

There's not much to this soup ingredients wise however there was enough to it to make it a fairly rich and filling one and certainly a dish to pep up the damp day.

Green Goddess- this one looks good for you and tastes better than you'd think.

Rum Cake

The other Bank Holiday Monday project was making a cake. It was something I'd not done since the Simnel Cake I made the previous Easter Weekend. I noticed I had some White Rum left from last summer's birthday antics and it was that which inspired me to make a fruitcake that was laced with the stuff.

The ingredients were as follows:

5 tablespoons of White Rum
140 grams of Brown Sugar.
150 grams of Margarine.
200 grams of  Self Raising Flour.
155 grams of  Sultanas
3 Eggs.

First I added the Sultanas and the White Rum to my mixing bowl and left them to soak for ten minutes.

Then I added the Brown Sugar and Margarine and with a wooden spoon creamed together these ingredients with the Sultanas and the White Rum. Once everything was completely mixed together I added the Self Raising Flour and fully mixed it in until I had a thick paste that smelt very alcoholic.

After that it was time to add the Eggs which I cracked and poured the whites and yolks into the mixture. Once they were stirred in I found the mixture had become very runny which is just the way it should be for a cake of this type.

I poured the mixture into a greased cake tin and then cooked it on Gas Mark 4 for one hour and five minutes. I did the usual trick of putting a skewer into the cake and making sure that it came out clean to check it was totally cooked.

After heading out on a brief and misty walk and then falling asleep at my laptop, a side effect of some previous events and lack of sleep in the recent heat, I tasted the cake and found it sweet and flavoursome; much like a good quality rum cocktail.

Planet of the Cake: a cross-section offset against a random globe in my conservatory.

Mediterranean Steak

The last twenty-one days had seen things seesaw, personally, professionally and socially. Through all that  I'd fitted a lot of wonderful stuff in with great people, avoided being overwhelmed by the extreme heatwave and ridden the tide on a few other things that might have gotten the better of me a few years earlier.

Bank Holiday Sunday morning started with my phone beeping and slightly dazed I wandered out a walk with one of my oldest and best mates and our dogs. After enjoying that I headed home with a clearer head and a plan or two to keep ticking over.

As it was the Bank Holiday I had bought in some special meat to cook as my main weekend meal. I don't have loads of meat in my diet and, as those of you who read this blog regularly will know, my main meals are largely vegetarian and fish dishes. However I still think you can do some great meat dishes as a change from vegetarian food or fish.

I decided that to go with the Mediterranean Weather I'd make a Mediterranean dish in the form of a beef stew with pasta.

On the player was Neil Young's first class compilation "Decade". It is that rare "best of" compilation by a major artist that functions as a great album in its own right. It is chock full of classics and non-album rarities that span the first ten years of Young's solo career and membership of various bands. Musically it spans acoustic folk, hard rock, rock 'n' roll and some country music. Its wild range of styles perfectly mirrored the wide range of emotions I'd experienced in the previous three weeks. It was therefore a very appropriate choice of music.

When I need to get my head together I cook a big dish. So on this day I took a packet of beef chunks and fried them on a low heat in Rapeseed Oil in my Le Cresceut Dish for twenty minutes. I made sure that all sides of the chunks were slightly browned at least. I also put a couple of tablespoons each of Basil, Black Pepper and Oregano in with the Beef when it was fried.

After that I added two Carrots that I'd peeled, topped and tailed and then cut into batons. Also added at this time was a thinly sliced Garlic Clove, half a diced Onion, and three Tomatoes I'd quartered. I shallow fried these for around ten minutes.

After this I added half a bottle of Red Wine that had come to me from a grateful client. The other half was to be drunk steadily later that evening to help to unwind and rationalise a few recent events.

After simmering the food for another half an hour I added half a pint of vegetable stock and let the ingredients simmer, without allowing them to boil over, for another three hours.

In the last ten minutes of the cooking I boiled up some Tagliatelle and served it with the stew. It was still muggy in the house and outside too but when eaten with a glass of red wine the meal served to revitalise me considerably. The wine in the stew gave it a rich taste while the addition of the Tagliatelle helped me feel like I was in a warm part of Southern Italy.

Shadowy Beef: the stew sits on top of the Tagliatelle.