Pie....

I officially suck at keeping up to date with my blog. Its been a few hectic weeks at work and also at home, and whilst I have been whipping up a number of treats, I have just been too lazy to write. I'll give myself a D- and must do better.

Pie...NOM!

 

Last Sunday was a cold, wet, horrible day. One of those days that made you want to just stay indoors, watch trashy TV and eat. I had one thing on my mind that day and that was pie. I love pie. Any pie, but in particular savoury. Pie is also a bit of a topical choice, as it is apparently a key food trend for 2011 (see here for the full story). In my opinion, pies aren't something that you can consider a "trend" food they've always been around, from schools, to football terraces and to pubs. they're among the top of the foods I have in my "comfort food" list. I defy any non vegetarian who doesn't love a pork pie and brown sauce! 

Anyway, aside from the pie rant, I actually made a really good steak, ale and stilton pie. Homemade pastry and everything, which I was particularly proud of. Steak, beer, cheese and pastry are four of my favourite foods, so to combine them all = winner!

The pie filling was an adaptation of Jamie Oliver's Steak, Guiness and Cheese Pie. The base recipe can be found on Mr Oliver's site. 

My changes to the recipe was that I used a lovely British Stout by Hook Norton instead of the Guiness and insead of the cheddar cheese I used the classic cheese of choice in this kind of pie - Stilton! So not to over power the pie, I used about 120g of Stilton.

This is brilliant, long slow cooking at its best. The only real bit of "cooking" is frying of the pie filling before whacking it in the oven for a couple of hours.

Whilst the pie filling was in the oven, I got on and made the pastry. I've never made pastry before, basically because I've always thought it would be too difficult and it's much easier to buy my own. However, I took the plunge and used Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Rough Puff Pastry recipe from his River Cottage "Meat" book. However, you can also find the recipe for it on the C4 Food site

Puff pastry relies on layers and layers of butter and flour - rough puff essentially a halfway house between puff and flaky pastry, but eeasier to make.

The key to achieving a good flake to the pastry is not to rub the butter in too much, you want to see lumps of butter - rather than cube the pastry as in the recipe, I grated it whilst super cold and then bright it together with the flour and the water. 

You also need to work very quickly and try and keep the pastry as cold as possible. If you feel that it is getting too warm, then pop it in the fridge for 30 mins and continue. Roll and fold the pastry at least a dozen times and chill until you need it.

When the pie filling is ready and you have added the cheese, line the pie dish with 2/3 or the pastry, fill with the meat mixture and top with the other 1/3 of pastry. Roughly crimp the edges, seal with egg wash and cook in the oven for 45 mins at 190°C.

The beauty of this dish is that you can make the pastry and filling in advance, the pastry and filling freeze really well too.

We just ate it with peas, and a glass of Hook Norton Stout! 

How I met your Father....

My husband often tells me that the reason he married me was because of my meatballs. They are one of his favourite things to eat and I often end up making them at least a couple of times a month. My usual ones are of the Italian variety and I serve them with tagliatelle or spaghetti.

I have to say that I never really tend to stick to a tried and tested recipe, I like to try different variants every time, just to see if I can make them that little bit better.

This time, I made a few tweaks, namely the inclusion of breadcrumbs to the meatball mix (I have never really seen the point of using them before but have heard these really keep them tender) baking the meatballs rather than frying them off, and the addition of a bay leaf to the sauce.

Spiced Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

For the meatballs
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed (depends if you like garlic!)
500g minced beef / pork or a mixture of the two
60g breadcrumbs (I used an old pitta bread and blitzed it)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 a freshly grated nutmeg
Grated zest of 1 lemon
small bunch of parsley, finely chopped (I used parsley because I had some in my fridge, but feel free to use whichever herbs you choose, I often use basil).

For the tomato sauce
1 large jar (650g?) passata
1 med - large onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic,
a few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked (Again or use whichever herbs you have at hand)
1 bay leaf
1 chilli (optional) - deseeded if you don't want too much heat or leave them in if you do. 
glug of olive oil
1 tbsp sugar

To serve
Tagliatelle or spaghetti
Chopped parsley
Grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 200°C / gas mark 6

Firstly, make the meatballs. Simply mix all of the ingredients into a bowl (or whiz up in a food processor like I do) and season well. Form the mixture into walnut sized balls and place on a greased baking tray.

Then place the meatballs in the oven for about 10-15 mins or until golden brown. (They don't need to be cooked through)

Whilst the meatballs are in the oven, make a start on the sauce. Add a glug of olive oil to a large pan and add the onion and celery. Soften for around 5 minutes, taking care not to brown them too much. Then add the garlic, herbs, chilli and bay leaf. Stir and soften for another 3 minutes and then add the passata and the sugar. (The sugar takes the acidity away from the tomatoes). Then fill the passata jar  a third full with water and add that too.

Allow the sauce to come to a simmer then add the meatballs to the sauce.

Leave the meatballs and sauce to rumble away on a low heat until the sauce has thickened. (This can take from 30 - 45 mins, but it's worth the wait!)

Cook the pasta and stir it into the sauce and meatballs. Serve in a large, heated shallow bowls and scatter with parsley and serve with grated parmesan

Enjoy with a glass of red (or white or pink of you prefer!)