They say that making a pork pie is a three-day process. This one’s taken two days. I made the pastry in the morning and formed the pie in the evening, then cooked the pie the following day.
This is the first time that I’ve used this method. I saw it on Instagram, posted by London butcher HG Walter.
It’s a work in progress, but as a first attempt, I’m very pleased with it. I’d go so far as to say that it’s the easiest method I’ve used to make a pie.
This chicken and rice mix is a great base for burritos. It’s also good in stuffed vegetables, as a soup base, or even on its own. The method may seem a little unusual, but it’s to keep it low-fat. On the UK Government’s ‘traffic light’ labelling system, it’s green in all categories. It also has good protein levels, based on calculations, of 13.5 g per 100 g.
Get the recipes…Choux pastry rings alarm bells with many people who presume it to be the domain of the professional pastry chef. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth: as pastry goes, it’s one of the simplest. It doesn’t require a light touch, cold hands or any of the other ‘special’ things that many other types of pastry do.
In 2014, I wrote:
“Until recently, I’ve never been really happy with using water instead of stock for the vegetarian soups; vegetable stock powder invariably gives a celery flavour to the whole soup, and to be honest, even when I’ve made vegetable stock, I’ve never been really happy with it.“
“However, I think I’ve found the answer, at least for mushroom soups. Dried Porcini absolutely transforms them. I’d never bothered with it until now because of the price. But recently I’ve been looking for things that help to lower my calorie intake and have been surprised; it’s not always the lower-calorie items that are best. For example, you get far more ‘bang for your buck’ from, say, high-calorie Stilton than a reduced-calorie cheese. Just try it: tiny pieces of Stilton will add flavour, whereas you’d need double the amount of the lower-calorie product. Well, when I was thinking along these lines, I also realised that the same applies to using very small amounts of expensive items, and there’s no doubt that Porcini is expensive: £60 – £80 per kilo, but if you only use 10 g it’s only 60p, or about 10p per bowl.“
That’s as true now as it was then; well, except that the price is £110 – £125 a kilo now!
These are a great addition to the buffet table. To be honest, I’m not sure which I prefer: the ‘real’ sausage rolls or these cheese and onion ones. Both are superb, and so worth making your own. There’s a world of difference between these and the shop-bought varieties of either.
Continue reading Cheese and Onion ‘Sausage’ RollsI’ve been holding off on posting this recipe as it’s not really mine, but I couldn’t think where it came from. And then, when searching for something else, the website came up. The original recipe that this is based on is from The Mediterranean Dish website – it’s a great site, well worth a look.
Mine’s a little bit of a dumbed-down version – less herbs and spice, but it suits us.
Possibly my favourite soupe recipe…
How do you title this? Chicken satay refers to the meat, but the peanut sauce served with it has become known as satay sauce so, like Baden-Baden or New York, New York, should it be satay satay?
Continue reading Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
The crepe recipe comes from Bill Neal’s book Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, which is well worth having.
Continue reading Cornmeal Crepes with Pimento Cheese and Country HamA Spanish tapas dish that’s also great for a meal or in smaller balls on skewers as part of a buffet.
