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.
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.
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’ Rolls
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.
This is a great recipe for all those odds and ends of ham that are left after slicing. It’s also a good way of using the hock or shank of a pig’s leg.
Original post made in 2007.
An article called ‘Leftovers are a cheaper, greener option’ at the Daily Telegraph reminded me of a snack/starter I hadn’t made for some time. Croquetas – croquettes or croquets in English, are a tasty way of using up small amounts of leftovers.
Continue reading Croquetas
Having made the sausagemeat for rolls it’s a fairly simple task to make it into sausage rolls.
I prefer to use a rough puff pastry rather than a shortcrust or shop-bought puff pastry but these could also be used. I make the pastry using this quick rough puff pastry recipe.
I’ve dropped a clanger by not taking a photo of the sheet of pastry after it’s rolled out, but I roll it to approx 275mm (11″) by 400mm (16 “). Square the edge that’s nearest you. I will make 2 long rolls from this; I’ll then divide each one into 4 individual sausage rolls.
For approximately 100gm rolls use 170gm of sausage meat and roll pieces to form a long sausage to lay along the nearest edge. Then, lifting the pastry, roll it to just encase the meat. At this stage dampen the next inch or so of pastry with water (I think that water is better than egg wash for this) and roll the meat/pastry roll onto this. The roll can be cut away from the sheet at this stage.
Continue reading Sausage RollsFrom 2008.
A friend brought me some samosas from a shop on Green Lane Road, Leicester to try and they are superb. Mind you, the tamarind dip which accompanied them about blew my brains out!
Continue reading Samosas
