Pie Precedent

The Late September heat was trickling out of the tarmac and rising to waist height. It was already going to be a hot Saturday. Treading carefully and still feeling scratchy from an attack of heatstroke towards the end of an action-packed working day on Thursday, I lurched through an alleyway towards the doorway of my local greengrocer. As those of you who regularly read this blog will know, the greengrocer in question provides lots of excellent fresh ingredients for recipes on this blog. Indeed some of his food is fresher and more flavoursome than the "fresh" fruit and veg that's on offer at the two nearby supermarkets. 

When I reached the door of the shop, I blinked twice and checked my watch. It was after opening time, yet the stands that normally displayed fresh fruit and veg, retro crisps and puddings had not been put out and there was no sign of life within the shop. Squinting through the windows I could see a few stray bananas hanging motionless from their hooks like convicts swaying gently from the gallows pole. Many shelves looked quite bare. I turned away hoping that this was just a temporary closure.

Luckily I had salvaged some Beetroot and Pickling Onions from the shop the week previously. That said after a sunny walk, which saw the Dogg get subjected to an impromptu obedience class by two middle aged women seemingly obsessed with fibrous cereal, I employed these vegetables as ingredients in a pie.

I have previously made stir-fried beef marinated in Chilli and Ginger as well as Beetroot, Ginger and Chilli Soup. I thought therefore it would be a good combination to put into a pastry pie. 

The ingredients to make this dish are as follows:

For the filling

One pack of Diced Beef from the Supermarket. 
Eight Ounces of Root Ginger, peeled and sliced thinly.
Six Pickling Onions, topped tailed and thinly cut. 
Half a Teaspoon of Chilli Powder.
Half a Teaspoon of Chilli Flakes. 
Ten Juniper Berries. 
Four Beetroot- topped, tailed, peeled and sliced into cubes. 

For the Stock

Quarter of a Pint of Beef Stock, made thick using two or three tablespoons of Plain Flour and half a teaspoon of Ground Ginger.

For the Pastry

Sixteen Ounces of Plain Flour.
Eight Ounces of Unsalted Butter.
One tablespoon of Unsweetened Soya Milk. 

Stevie Wonder's early 1972 album "Music of My Mind" was on the player. This unjustly overlooked record regularly dwells in the shadows of it's well-known successors "Talking Book", "Innervisions" and "Songs in the Key of Life". However it shares much in common with them in that Wonder plays most of the instruments save some well-chosen appearances by guest musicians. 

It is also the first in a line of works by a mature artist who was no longer merely the accomplished child prodigy of yesteryear. Save from the fourth track the songwriting, arrangements and guest appearances are all out of the top drawer and it deserves the same recognition as the albums that followed it. I first acquired the album in my mid-twenties when my dad and I went on an all-to rare father and son outing to the record shop at a local mall. 

The method for this recipe was as follows:

1. Sweat in a Le Cresceut the Pickling Onions, Ginger, Chilli Flakes and Chilli Powder in Olive Oil for five minutes. 

2. Add the Beef Pieces and stew on a low to medium heat for fifty minutes turning regularly to avoid sticking. 

3. Simmer the Beetroot Pieces in a pan of boiling water for one hour.

4. While the ingredients for the filling are cooking make the Pastry by rubbing in the Flour and Butter in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles golden breadcrumbs. Add the Milk gradually and stir it into the pastry. Manipulate it together and knead well into a ball.

5. Put the ball of pastry in the fridge for twenty minutes. 

6. Make the Stock by adding a quarter of a pint of boiling water to a measuring jug with the Beef Stock Cube and Ground Ginger. Dissolve the Stock Cube with the water and gradually add the flour. Stir it in steadily to make a thick gravy.

7.Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll half of it out so that it covers the bottom of a twenty-five centimetre wide and five centimetre deep pie dish. 

8. Spread the Beef Mixture and Beetroot evenly throughout the dish.

9. Distribute the Gravy evenly in the dish. 

10. Roll out the rest of the Pastry and use it to cover the top of the pie. 

11. Brush the top of the pie with Soya Milk.

12. Cook in the oven on Gas Mark Six for thirty minutes before serving. 

Earlier in the week I had discussed the ingredients of this recipe with my venerable colleague. She had questioned the wisdom of putting them in a pie together. I too had reservations that the Ginger would make the Pie too sweet. However it turned out to be a real revelation that was rich, healthy- thanks to the Beetroot which is good for your heart, and with sharp flavours that were not sweet enough to undermine this delicious savoury dish. 

Pie Cut- a cross section reveals the purple hue of the Beetroot. 

Late Summer Soup

There was a freshness in the air on Saturday Morning. It permeated into the house and froze my bladder in doing so. I rolled out of bed at 6am and woke the Dogg up to start the day. We went a walk near a leafy wooded hill, that once was home to notorious toilet traders but is now a local beauty spot. From the top of the hill one can see a long way towards the Mysterious East, while closer to the hill is a ruined chapel from the nineteenth century which hides in plain sight in the nearby pine forest. 

Also rife there at this time of year are berries; especially bilberries and blackberries. The sight of these berries coupled with the fresh cold of the mornings always makes me realise that Autumn is coming close, the cricket season is near an end and suddenly Winter will rear its head. 

With this in mind I decided to prepare a soup for the occasion as I was playing host to two close friends and, after a spontaneous message, was lucky enough to play host to two other good friends on top of that for good measure.

The local greengrocer, in addition to stocking retro model vintage cars and DVDs, retains its share of quality fruit and vegetables. It already has the first English Apples of the season available and these, together with the arrival of a new stock of Carrots, inspired me to make a soup featuring the fresh juices of summer and hint of the colourful Autumn to come. 

On the player was the first effort by Bruce Springsteen; 1973's "Greetings from Ashbury Park N.J" . Aside from containing "Blinded by the Light" and "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City"; both of which were covered very expertly by Manfred Mann and David Bowie respectively, the record is outstanding for gritty quasi-acoustic numbers like "Mary Queen of Arkansas". It is a song my neighbour, and Springsteen Devotee, rightly rates as one of The Boss' best songs. 

The ingredients of this recipe are as follows:

5 Carrots- peeled, topped and tailed and cut into small circular slices. 
2 Sticks of Celery- cut into small pieces and divested of their string.
1 Apple- topped, tailed, de-cored and cut into cubes. 
5 teaspoons of British Coriander Leaf.
3 teaspoons of powdered Coriander. 
2 teaspoons of White Pepper. 
The juice of a Freshly Squeezed Orange. 
Olive Oil. 
Quarter of a Pint of Vegetable Stock.
Pumpkin Seeds. 

The method is the following:

1. Lightly fry the Carrots, Celery, Apple, British Coriander Leaf, Powdered Coriander and White Pepper in Olive Oil in a saucepan on a lowish heat for fifteen minutes stirring regularly. 

2. Add the juice from the Freshly Squeezed Orange and stew for another five minutes. 

3. Add the Vegetable Stock and simmer for a further twenty five minutes. 

4. Leave to cool and once cooled blend on the highest setting. 

5. Return the soup to the saucepan and warm through before serving in bowls with a topping of Pumpkin Seeds.

This soup perfectly summed up what mid to late August is all about in that the Juice of the Orange gave it a fresh taste of hot late summer days drinking on the patio while the earthy tastes of the Celery and Apple pointed towards the smells, feelings and tastes that Autumn brings with it. 

The taste of this soup is rounded off well with the Pumpkin Seeds

Gammon Raise

The first of June had seen me involved in one of the most exciting games of cricket of my career. This time it was a close finish that saw the team I was playing in get home off one of the last balls of the game thanks to an athletic diving catch by my stocky Sri Lankan Teammate. 

After a steamy night at a Far Eastern Restaurant, a revitalising boiled Goose Egg the morning after followed by a walk to one of the highest local hills it was time for another cooking project. 

I stepped a long way back in time to the mid 1980s and remembered the times when my mum wasn't a quasi-vegan and used to cook delicious Gammon Steaks that were salty yet juicy. It was those memories that inspired me to cook a Gammon Steak with some adventurous ingredients that were barely heard of in the 1980s. The ingredients were:

1 joint of Gammon.
Honey to glaze the Gammon with.  
Mustard Seeds. 
Purple Sage Leaves.


For the Prune Chutney:
3 Shallots 
12 Ounces of Prunes. 
Quarter of a Pint of White Wine.

A side of New Potatoes.

At this point I'd give a big shout out to my local green grocer "Strawberry Box" who supplied the Shallots and New Potatoes. 

On the player was Roy Harper's 1988 effort "Garden of Uranium". Harper didn't release many albums in the 1980s but when he did he certainly hit his straps. Garden of Uranium combines atmosphere, emotion and dry wit and although there are some very 1980s touches to the record they are restrained enough for the album not to sound dated.

The method for this dish was as follows: 

1. Cut all excess fat from the Gammon.

2. Mix together the Honey, Mustard Seeds and Sage Leaves in a mixing bowl and then glaze the Gammon Steak with them using a brush. 

3. Cook the Glazed Gammon in the oven for ninety minutes on Gas Mark 4. 

4. While the Gammon is cooking make Prune and Shallot Chutney by topping and tailing the Shallots and slicing them thinly. 

5. Melt eight ounces of Unsalted Butter in a saucepan and add the Prunes and Shallots. Once the Shallots are cooked add the White Wine and then boil it away on a medium heat until the melted butter, residue of the White Wine and Prunes and Shallots have formed a thick paste. Leave on one side to cool. 

6. Peel the New Potatoes and Steam for 25-30 minutes until they are soft. 

7. Once the Gammon is ready, cut it into slices and serve with the Prune and Shallot Chutney and New Potatoes. 

The combination of Prunes, Shallots and Gammon isn't necessarily one I'd have put together before making this recipe. However the chutney that contained the Prunes, Shallots and White Wine had a rich and earthy flavour that complemented the sweet, rich glaze that encrusted the Gammon Steak. 

Kedging a ride

The weekend after the May Day Bank Holiday seems a time away now; a little like looking at a distant landmark through the wrong end of a telescope. At that time I was still basking in the afterglow of my career best bowling performance in league cricket a week earlier. I had been lucky to follow this up in the next match, after a controversial last minute selection, with another strong performance on a wet wicket. I bowled tightly to remove the opening batsman of a team who are based in the industrial midlands. 

Their home ground , which that particular game was played on, sits in a park in the middle of rundown housing estate where, in a previous life several years earlier, I had walked through on a one-off date with a local mattress saleswoman. 

After the game I headed east for some spontaneous frames of snooker  with a fellow law professional before hitting the sack.

The Dogg woke me early the next morning, by pawing me in the head, and to help recover from my sporting adventures the day before I cooked up my own take on Kedgeree. 

The ingredients were as follows: 

2 Banty Eggs hard-boiled sourced from brilliant local greengrocer The Strawberry Box.

2 Bay Leafs.

2 Smoked Haddock Fillets.

1 Bunch of Broccoli- also sourced from the Strawberry Box. 

2 Shallots.

8 ounces of Rice.

3 ounces of Pine Nuts

3 Spring Onions.

4 sprigs of Fresh Parsley.

2 tablespoons Curry Powder. 

The juice of 1 Lemon.

On the player was Robert Cray's funky and bluesy album "Strong Persuader". I was introduced to this talented and witty blues guitar man at a gig last October and following the gig was inspired to buy this album which stands as the high watermark of his recorded output. 

The method for this recipe is as follows:

1. Fry Haddock 8-10 minutes turning regularly then place on the side once cooked. 
2. Boil Rice for 15 minutes while the Haddock is frying. 
3. Boil Eggs for 5 minutes to make them hard boiled while Rice and Haddock are cooking. 
4. Steam Broccoli 20 for minutes while above ingredients are cooking.
5. Fry in a frying pan in Olive Oil the Shallots, Spring Onions and Bay Leafs for 15 minutes stirring regularly. Add Pine Nuts, Curry Powder, Parsley.
6. Once they have been cooked, using the method above, and cut into pieces add the Haddock, Rice, Broccoli and the Eggs once their shells have been peeled from them and the Eggs quartered.
7. Warm all the contents of the frying pan through and place in a Pyrex dish to serve.

When I'm holidaying, Kedgeree is one of the luxury breakfasts that I plump for. I really enjoy the smokiness of the Haddock coupled with the curried flavours. My take on it was motivated by my cricket adventures and promise to the Dogg and others to walk in a wider range of more taxing terrain which in turn required me to improved my fitness. Part of improving my fitness naturally means watching my diet. That's why the fresh Broccoli and rich Pine Nuts ended up in the recipe and they in turn made the dish rich yet healthy. 

Colourful Kedge- bright Haddock and lots of greens give this recipe a healthy glow. 

Screw the diet, have a Stuffed Pepper

Friday Night. I had taken in some hard travelling at two offices where I found lots of good company. One office was located in an ex-mining town, the other near a former steel mill. Then I hit the road in the Panda and took the Dogg to my pad to kick off an action packed bank holiday weekend. 

On the player was Miles Davis' underrated and quite wonderful 1986 effort Tutu that finds Jazz's greatest artist duet-ting on his trumpet with numerous overdubbed instruments including drum machines and other, at the time, modern instruments. However, unlike some 1980s efforts by other great artists to embrace contemporary fashions Davis' effort hasn't dated and still sounds fresh today.

It genuinely was the first full game of cricket the following day and I needed to cook something quick and easy to give me some energy. I settled on a stuffed pepper recipe. The ingredients used were:

One Yellow Pepper, de-seeded with the top removed. 

One Clove of Garlic, peeled, topped, tailed and cut finely.

A tablespoon of Smoked Paprika. 

A tablespoon of Onion Salt. 

Three Fresh Basil Leaves. 

Six Spring Onions, topped, tailed and sliced thinly. 

Three Fresh Tomatoes cut into cubes. 

Eight Ounces of Quinoa.

A tin of Butter Beans.

The method to make this recipe is:

1. Line a Le Cresceut or Sauce Pan with Olive Oil. Add the Pepper, Garlic, Paprika and Onion Salt.

2. Warm through with the lid on the pan or Le Cresceut on a medium heat for ten minutes turning the Pepper regularly to make sure each side is done properly. 

3. Add the Tomato, Basil, Spring Onions and stew on a medium to low heat for a further twenty minutes stirring regularly. 

4. In the meantime boil the Quinoa in a separate saucepan of boiling water for twenty minutes.

5. Drain the Quinoa with a sieve and add to the ingredients in the Le Cresceut or Sauce pan with the Butter Beans. 

6. Warm through for five minutes and serve. 

There's lots of fantastic protein in this recipe with the Quinoa and Butterbeans while the herb and spices give the whole recipe a real kick and make it a meal of goodness and eclectic flavours. It certainly gave me some energy to take five wickets in the cricket match the following day and help our team win in a match where every team member contributed something positive. 

Stormy Soup

The storm quickly closed in on Friday as we left work. A colleague hurried quickly to her stables so as to move her horses to new pastures. I meanwhile pushed the Panda to the limit to retrieve the Dogg from a local safe house and do the shopping before the worst of the weather hit. 

I had been selected for the first game of cricket of the season, which was supposed to be taking place the following day. That said I had the usual mix of excitement at the promise of good cricket and making more memories, slight nerves and burning anticipation that comes before the first match of the season after long months of practice in Winter and early Spring. If the game was going to go ahead I realised that I needed to be fortified with a warming homemade soup as the match temperatures would be Baltic and the wicket and outfield a sodden glue pot fashioned from the hordes of local clay and buckets of rain. 

I went for a Leek and Potato Soup recipe but decided to put a bit of a twist into it in order to make it more flavoursome and avoid the blandness this recipe can create if it's not done properly.

On the player was, appropriately in light of the weather outside, Bob Dylan's 1977 live album "Hard Rain". The record documents Dylan's legendary 1975/76 Rolling Thunder Tour and while there are better recordings of that tour available, this album still packs a primal power that makes it essential listening. 

The ingredients for this soup are:

8 Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced. 
1 Leek, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
1 Garlic Clove, topped, tailed and sliced narrowly. 
1 ounce of Mustard.
1 ounce of Mustard Seeds.
1 ounce of Dried Tarragon. 
1 White Potato, peeled and cubed. 
Half a pint of Vegetable Stock. 

The method is as follows:

1. Stew the Shallots, Leek, Garlic Clove, Herbs and Spices in Olive Oil in a Le Cresceut on a medium heat for ten minutes. Stir periodically and when not stirring keep the lid on the Le Cresceut dish to help cook the ingredients. 

2. Add the Potato and repeat the stewing process referred to above for a further ten minutes. 

3. Add the Vegetable Stock and then simmer the ingredients on a medium heat for forty-five minutes. 

4. Leave ingredients to cool and once cooled blend them. 

5. Once blended warm the soup through in a pan or Le Cresceut and once warmed serve in bowls with a garnish of Fresh Parsley. 

Tarragon and Mustard always make a tasteful pairing and when they were coupled with the overripe Shallots it give a richness and flavour to the Leek and Potatoes that made this a filling soup that was delicious. Although the horizontal rain put paid to the cricket match the soup proved good brain food as I used Saturday's Downtime to plot a new course. 

Fancies Allsorts

My Gran always warned us about hanging washing outside on Good Friday. Apparently it's bad luck because of what Christians believe happened on Good Friday and therefore could mean that hanging washing outside could lead to the death of someone close to you. Fortunately for me my washing remained hidden inside the house. Hopefully that meant I had dodged a bullet. 

One activity that isn't frowned upon on Good Friday however is baking and in my case during this Good Friday some Fancies. I put a twist on the traditional approach to preparing Fancies, that usually involves putting Dolly Mixture Sweets atop the cakes, by decorating mine with Liquorice Allsorts. 

As the late April Sun slow cooked the Chilli Plants in the conservatory, I commenced work on the Fancies. On the player was Rush's excellent live album "Snakes and Arrows Live". I was lucky enough to see the band on the UK Leg of the tour this record was culled from with two people who've had a very positive influence on my life. There's something about the rhythm and feel of Rush's music that tends to make me push hard to produce quality food and this cooking project was no exception to that rule. 

The ingredients for this recipe were: 

For the Cake Mix

175 grams of Unsalted Butter.
175 grams of Brown Sugar.
175 grams of Self- Raising Flour. 
3 beaten Eggs. 

For the topping

525 grams of Icing Sugar.
5 tablespoons of Warm Water.
Some food colouring.
Various Liquorice Allsorts. 

The method for this recipe is:

1. Cream the Butter and Brown Sugar until it is fluffy. 

2. Gradually mix in the beaten Eggs until you have a thick paste. 

3. Stir in the Self-Raising Flour until you have a thick paste mixture.

4. Grease 12 Bun Cases and distribute the mixture equally between each bun case. Add the bun cases to a baking tray with 12 spaces for the Bun Cases. 

5. Cook in the top shelf of the oven on Gas Mark 5 (or 190 degrees) for 35 minutes. 

6. Remove from the oven and cool in the fridge for an hour. 

7. Make the topping by sieving the Icing Sugar into a bowl and gradually stirring in the water and no more than three tablespoons of food colouring. This should result in a thick paste. 

8. Once the cakes have cooled spread the Icing evenly over each of them and top them with a Liquorice Allsort of your choice. 

9. Return to the fridge to allow the Icing to solidify and when ready to eat remove from the fridge and allow to warm up at room temperature for about 30 minutes. 


These alternate take on Fancies proved popular both with a good friend, and intellectual giant, when he consumed one after we'd conquered a challenging local mountain on Easter Saturday. While another visitor enjoyed one with a strong glass of pale ale after an evening shift at work. 

They were tasteful cakes for a tasteful and extremely memorable Easter Bank Holiday. 

Two of the Fancies made a delicious late night snack accompanied by some strong Pale Ale.