PASTY PIE

I always find making pie's a rather satisfying.  It's such a homely comforting thing to do and I get a real sense of achievement from doing it. This recipe is not a particularly christmassy one but it's good to have in reserve over the festive season.  You can make it ahead and have it in the freezer for those days when you've been too busy because you're out christmas shopping or hung over from the works doo and can't face having to think about what to cook.  It's great hot or cold so you could also have it as part of your boxing day splatter or in the summer on a picnic.

I've made one giant one here, in fact, I doubled up the recipe and made two so I'd have another in reserve.  You could of course make the more traditional individual pasties if you wanted.

Heat  the oven to 160c fan.  Make your pastry with 300g Plain Flour.  Rub in 100g Butter/Margarine and 50g white fat like Cookeen.  This gives you a shorter more crisp pastry.  When you have the bread crumb finish, add enough cold water to bring it together to a dough.  Tip in onto a floured surface and knead slightly till it's smooth.

Now line am 8/9" cake tin with the pastry leaving a bit of an over hanging edge.  When you add your filling the pastry will draw in slightly so leaving an overhang ensures you have enough for your crimping.  

Next prepare your filling.  Thinly slice 3 medium potatoes and 200g swede.  Slicing them thinly means they will cook with ease.   Season 500g steak mince with 1 tbsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp mace 1/2 tsp salt and add 1 large onion finely chopped.  Now layer your filling into the lined tin starting with 1/3 of the potato and swede then 1/3 of the meat.  Repeat the layers till all your filling is in.  To finish your pie, trim the overhanging edge and brush it with a little water.  Top the pie with a pastry lid,  pressing the edges together.  Give it a lovely crimp and any other embellishments you like, personally I can't resist a bit of lettering, then brush with beaten egg and make a couple of steam holes with a knife.

The pie should take about 1hr 30 mins to bake, individual pasties will be around 45mins.

MINI BLT

Now then, I know I'm not the only one out there who is enjoying the current TV scheduling.  In fact, there's so much good tv at the moment I'm having problems with things clashing.  Added to this dilemma of what to watch is the what to eat issue.

They say it is better for you if you eat earlier in the day rather than late at night so I do this but truth be told it's so I can have a little smakeral of something whilst settling infront of Downton, Spooks, XFactor, Strictly......the list goes on.  I'm at the point now that I'm planning my snacks for next weeks episode at the end of this weeks!

The chosen treat for Downton this week was something I'm sure Mrs Patmore would have approved of. Mini BLT's.  It's pretty obvious really, it's just what it say's on the tin - Bread brushed with olive oil and griddled, pinned together with Parma Ham, L & T  There was also some mayo going on in there or even - a real guilty pleasure salad cream but ssh, don't tell anyone x

Saturday Lunch

My Dad is visiting this weekend so I want to make a bit of effort with the food but he's also having to fit in around all the comings and goings and general busyness of the household.  The morning was taken up taxi-ing children to various classes or parties followed in the afternoon with a trip to Port Sunlight for a spot of culture at the LadyLever Gallery

Something quick for lunch was needed and these cheese scones are perfect.  10 minutes to make and 20 minutes to cook they are delicious straight from the oven and topped with some butter.




I've adapted this recipe from my McDougalls Better Baking book which was given to me when I was about 10 from a friend of my mothers who saved tokens from flour bags.  It's very dog eared and has a lot of cellotape keeping it together but I refer to it all the time.

This recipes makes about 6 depending on the size of your cutter but they're not going to go very far so I tend to multiply it by 4 and if there are any left they go in the freezer for another day or a lunch box.  I've also added some crispy onions, you know the sort you get in a tub to sprinkle on salads, soya bacon bits are good too.

200g Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp Wholegrain Mustard
Pinch of White Pepper & Salt
35g Butter
75g Grated Cheese
30g Crispy Onions
100ml Milk

Start off with the flour, mustard, S&P and butter in your processor or mixer and mix till butter is all rubbed in.  Add the remaining ingredients apart from the milk and combine everything.  Slowly add the milk while mixing until it forms a dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead till smooth.  Roll it out to about an inch thick and cut them out using a 3" cutter.  Lay the scones onto a baking tray and brush with milk.  Grate a little pecorino on top and bake at 220C for 15-20 minutes.