The Spie

The Spie is just a nickname which evolved for variations of a basic recipe and also because I was fed up with labelling containers with the full title and it stuck!

What follows is the original, “no frills” recipe for “the Spie”

Here it is :

Spie

Serves 4

500g minced steak

Celery salt and black pepper

Drop of rapeseed oil

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 Knorr beef stock pots

2 tbsp small chunk Branston pickle

or Branston sauce

2/3 cooked Jacket potatoes, sliced thinly

or leftover mashed potato

Two handfuls of grated cheese – whatever you've

got in your fridge, Mature Cheddar, Red Leicester or

Gruyere work well – or even a little of each

Using a large frying pan, brown the minced steak thoroughly in a drop of rapeseed oil and season with salt and black pepper. Add the tomato paste and stock pots, when cooked through and melted, add the Branston. If the mixture is too stiff add a drop of water. It should not be sloppy. Cook on a low heat for 10/15 minutes and set aside.

Take your potatoes from your baked stash, slice thinly (or add leftover mash) and arrange on top of the mince mixture. If you haven't any ready to use baked potatoes you can always microwave them although the flavour is not as good as oven baked. Finish off with grated cheese.

To serve pre-heat your oven to 180fan/200/Gas6 and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve on its own, with steamed vegetables or, if you like hot with cold, try my personal favourite, bazzin' beetroot relish (mentioned in the blog on 27^th July … “By the way ...”) and or a coleslaw! (mentioned in the blog on Friday 8^th August … When you're ready to serve).

This is an everyday, speedy recipe and more to the point it's easy peasy. Perfect fork food served in large bowls of comfort and joy!

If you'd like a veggie version you can use Quorn mince - or a version that doesn't use red meat but poultry, you could use chicken or turkey mince.

The recipe's coming up ...

To mash or not to mash!

Toppings on pies are a serious business - shall it be mash - if not then what?

Two of the fundamentals that I still use are baking jacket potatoes (usually six - large) in foil whilst my oven is already on. The other is grating a large box/bag of mature cheddar cheese and fridge it. You create a very useful stash!

It may seem trivial but I have found these two “bits” invaluable – for example, with the potatoes, the principle is if your oven is on, with a roast chicken, roast spuds and parsnips, stuffing et al, you can always find space for jacket potatoes. Bake for an hour and a half then test – you want your paring knife to move firmly through the potatoes. Remove them and set aside to cool – bear in mind they will continue cooking because they are insulated by the foil. When cool they can be bagged and fridged.

Which brings me to the title of this piece. You don't have to have a mashed potato topping for your Snug Shepherd or your Cosy Cottage – you can slice a couple of jackets from your stash, peeled or not for a “top” and then use some of your grated cheese to complete!

If you choose a mashed potato topping and you want it lump free then put the pototoes through a ricer – don't add milk or butter. Set aside to cool.

You can add grated mature cheddar cheese, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and black pepper to the riced potato before you complete your pie. If you want added flavour to zhuzh the mash you could add a finely diced onion softened in a little unsalted butter and a tiny drop of rapeseed oil.

Mashed potato seems to be on “the definite list” - definitely yes you love it or definitely no you hate it! If you're in the no camp then try the sliced baked potatoes.

This is my favourite method of Autumn cooking especially when you want a meal as quickly as possible when you arrive home – turn on your oven to pre-heat when you've taken off your coat and by the time you've juggled a few more balls or spun a few more plates your shepherd or cottage – posh or not - is in the oven - ready for the hungry hordes.

Whether mashed or baked the beauty of this dish is it can be made and assembled ahead and then baked in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 25 mins.

Simple stuff but it hits the spot for those autumnal chilly nights – a hug in a bowl!

The Autumn leaves …

… are beginning to fall - is it Snug or Cosy?

Depending on what you fancy, the following recipe is for either a “Snug Shepherd” or a “Cosy Cottage” – minced lamb for the shepherd and minced beef for the cottage – pie that is!

A Shepherd or a Cottage

700g minced lamb or beef

1 tbsp rapeseed oil (Canola USA)

2 tbsps Madeira

2 tbsps Ruby Port

2 tsps Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsps tomato paste

2 lamb, beef or veggie stock pots

50-100 ml water

Using a large frying pan and preferably one that is suitable for transfer to the oven. Heat the oil and then add the mince and brown, turning until thoroughly browned. Add the Madeira and the Port and bring to the boil for 2/3 minutes. Add the tomato paste and the stock pots and mix well until absorbed and melted.

Your filling should not be too dry but not too wet either. You should be able to see tiny puddles of liquid. If you need to add water then add it gradually – you can add more you can't remove it!

It's difficult to predict how much fat there'll be in minced meat. Lamb, generally speaking, will have more than beef.

You can transfer the filling into a foil tray or, as I did, leave it in the frying pan.

As a guide, my frying pan that is suitable for hob and oven is 28cms in diameter – 3 very large appetites or 4 normal.

I feel the need to describe the “puddles” :

See them glistening – not too wet but definitely not too dry.

Next up - to mash or not to mash, that is the question!