The humble homity.

I said previously I was a potato girl. What follows is, without doubt, the best potato dish I've ever used – Homity Pie.

The pie is thought to have appeared during WWII probably invented by the Land Girls using what little ingredients they had around. I first came across it years ago in Denby, Derbyshire where the pottery of the same name is still going - it has a great café where they still serve it. Check out www.denbyvisitorcentre.co.uk. (To avoid disappointment, if you intend to visit call ahead if you want to sample Homity Pie – they don't serve it every day). Eventually I plucked up the courage and phoned the café and asked how they made it – here's my take.

Homity Pie

Pastry case

200g/8oz plain wholemeal flour

100g/4oz unsalted butter

pinch of baking powder

cold water to bind

Filling

6 large jacket potatoes, cooked, peeled and diced

1lb onions

3 tbsp rapeseed oil

5 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley

(3 for the filling, 2 for the topping)

300g/12oz grated cheese – 200g/8oz mature cheddar, 100g4oz Gruyere mixed

(200g/8oz cheese for filling, 100g/4oz for the topping)

3 cloves of garlic, crushed (or garlic paste)

Salt and black pepper

For the pastry case, use a food processor if you have one, pop the flour, baking powder and butter and blitz until breadcrumbs. Add a drop of ice cold water and pulse, gently, until the pastry comes together (do not over overdo it). Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of clingfilm, using the film gather the pastry together into a ball and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Grease your pie dish.

Roll out your pastry, line your dish and refrigerate again until you are ready to bake.

Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil and cool, then add to the potatoes. Season well. Add the cheese and parsley.

Tip the filling into the pastry case and pack tightly – it will look as if you've too much filling – the tighter you pack, the better it will be. Mix the remaining cheese and parsley together and sprinkle over the top.

Place in a pre-heated hot oven (190fan/210c /gas mark 7) for 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes. It should be golden brown.

This recipe will give you 12-16 portions – depending on how big you like them – it is filling.

You can of course scale down the recipe and halve the quantities – my two pennyworth is that it freezes well, so, in the unlikely event there are leftovers, you can save any left over for another day. I can only speak as I find – it will vanish!

My final tip – in the past I've made and lined my pastry base and frozen it, as is. When required, pull out of the freezer, pack tightly with the filling and bake.

You'll love it.

Here it is!

The Mazurian Potato Marjoram Pie smelt absolutely delicious as it was cooking.

I should say that I made a vegetarian version so no lardons or bacon.

Here's a couple of photos, one before the oven, one after.

The quantities given in the recipe serve 8. As you can see I made two pies i.e. 2 x 1lb loaf tins which turned out really well – she says – we'll see.

Now for the nitty-gritty stuff.

The recipe didn't actually say peel the potatoes before grating so I didn't. You'll notice that the recipe mentions “if the potatoes are watery, then you'll need to squeeze out some of the excess water”. How messy will it be to have a large bowl of grated potato that may or may not need wringing out!

ere's my tip. Use a clean tea towel to line a large mixing bowl so that it drapes over the sides of the bowl. As you grate your potato tip it into the tea towel until you've finished grating. Gather up the tea towel and lift gently from the bowl – you'll see that water has already drained through the tea towel. Twist the towel to release more water, then tip it away and wipe the bowl dry. Tip the grated potato from the towel into the bowl and continue.

When the pie came out of the oven it struck me immediately of a cross between Rosti and a Hash Brown. I'm a potato girl in whatever form so something new to try is fine by me – can't wait for supper time.

Here it is, the pie ready to serve.

Can't say I'm thrilled with the result. The potato filling is grey and unappetising and whilst the taste isn't bad it's not as good as I'd hoped. For me a recipe should be as complete as it can – if you want someone to invest their hard earned dosh then there should be as much information as possible to make life easy for the cook.

Back to the drawing board ...

P.s. On the plus side, as someone who has both English and American recipes, this book is good - it “speaks” both languages i.e. it gives you varieties of potatoes available i.e. Maris Piper and Yukon Gold and talks about double cream and heavy.

Another new addition …

… to the Library

I've always got a list of cookery books I'd like to add to my collection. There have been two recently, one I've already mentioned. Here's the other - “Polska New Polish Cooking” by Zuza Zak. Everywhere I looked and listened it came highly recommended.

As is always my routine – and delight – I go through the book, page by page, marking anything I like the look of ready for further investigation.

At first glance this looks like a lovely book and here's the first recipe that took my eye.

Mazurian Potato Marjoram Pie

1.5kg potatoes – Maris Piper or King Edward

150g bacon lardons or finely chopped bacon

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 onions, very finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 eggs, separated

1 tbsp plain flour

3 tbsp double cream

1 tbsp dried Marjoram

salt, white and black pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 180c/160fan/Gas 4.

Grease a 2lb loaf tin.

Grate the potatoes as finely as you can. If the potatoes are watery, then you'll need to squeeze out some of the excess water. Place the grated potato in a large bowl.

Fry the lardons or bacon in a frying pan over a medium heat until they release their fat and turn crispy then set aside. Add the oil to the frying pan and fry the onions for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and continue to fry for 2-3 minutes. Allow both to cool for 5-10 minutes before adding to the grated potato.

Beat the egg whites until soft and fluffy and then add the egg yolks and beat together until combined. Stir the eggs into the grated potato mixture then add the flour and cream.

Add the marjoram and season the mixture with a large pinch of salt and both the peppers. As the bacon is salty you need only add 2 pinches of salt. However if you're going to make a veggie version and substitute the bacon for mushrooms then you may want to add more.

Tip the mixture into your prepared dish. The depth of the babka needs to be at least 8cm (3cm) and bake in the oven for 50 mins to 1 hour. It's ready when the top is golden and crisp on the top.

Hold that thought!

A Birthday Treat …

… out for lunch with our great friends Shirley and John to VesuviO – part of The Sharnbrook Hotel, Park Lane, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire MK44 1LX. Yippee – no cooking tonight!

It went something like, Special Garlic Mushrooms for two, Antipasto Misto and a garlic pizza bread with cheese. The guys scrutinised the wine list and after much deliberation decided to indulge and ordered a carafe of the red house wine and a glass of prosecco for Shirley.

Our mains were Branzino Al Forno – oven baked seabass fillets over lyonnaise potatoes with roasted Mediterranean vegetables and sugo pomodoro x 2, Salmone Al Forno – oven baked fillet of salmon over a bed of asparagus tips in a garlic butter and white wine served with sauté potatoes and finally an 8oz fillet steak served with seasonable vegetables.

It looked good when served. Sadly what followed wasn't.

Round one - when I lifted my salmon fillet to get to the asparagus tips it was not good news. The tips were inedible, to use the word “soft” would be kind. I'm not generally a complainer but I couldn't hide them so I asked the waitress to bring me a side plate and asked her to wait whilst I removed the tips and asked her to return them and bring me carrots instead. I can't help but be embarrassed although I'm not really sure why!

Round two - by this time my husband had tucked into his fillet steak – it looked charred on arrival but I'm sat across the table so really couldn't see too closely. My only observation would be that it looked too big for a fillet. The first half of the steak was well done and only in the middle was it vaguely pink so definitely not medium. This is not going well.

Round three – after much persuasion he sent the steak back – I should mention here that John used to be a butcher and “knows his onions”.

Round four – out came the chef carrying a tea plate with another raw “fillet” steak. No thank you that does not look like fillet. The chef was not pleased and returned to the kitchen.

Round five – back came the chef carrying what was left of the whole “fillet”. I've never seen a fillet of beef so large – it looked like it came from a woolly mammoth. The fillet still had its outer plastic wrapping which had been peeled back in order to cut the steaks. I can't say for certain that it had been frozen but that would be my guess. By now we were definitely losing the will and the chef was clearly unhappy that we'd had the affront to criticise the fillet. At £23.95 you bet!

Needless to say the only person who ordered dessert was my husband who was hungry.

In fairness the seabass was excellent and the wine too.

I'm not sure that a birthday lunch costing £103.25 was a good deal or not – it would have been £127.20 had we paid for the steak.

I don't think we'll be rushing back!

P.s. I should never have said “yippee – no cooking tonight”.

Sweet week - The lemon curd dilemma …

… by which I mean do you make your own or do you buy it? Me – both.

Over the years I've stood diligently stirring until the mixture thickens. Then came the microwave oven – hurray!

I like to think of the following recipe as a sort of “half way house”. Like most of us these days it's really a time management issue.

Making Microwave Lemon Curd

115g/4oz butter, cubed

Finely grated rind and juice

of three large lemons**

225g/8oz caster sugar

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

Put the butter, lemon rind and juice in a large microwave-proof bowl. Cook on high for 3 minutes.

Add the sugar to the bowl and stir for 1 minute until it has almost dissolved. Return to the microwave and cook on 100% power for 2 minutes, stirring every 1 minute.

Beat the eggs and the yolk together, then whisk into the lemon mixture, a little at a time.

Cook on medium (40% power), for 10-12 minutes, whisking every 2 minutes, until the curd thickens.

Ladle into hot sterilized jars, cover and seal. When cool, store in the refrigerator. Use within 2 months.

N.B. Microwaves vary.

This recipe is based on an 800 watt version. For microwaves with a different wattage, adjust cooking times as follows, 900 watt – subtract 10 seconds per minute. 850 watt, subtract 5 seconds per minute. 750 watt, add 5 seconds per minute. 700 watt, add 10 seconds per minute.

**If you don't have fresh lemons you can use lemon juice and omit the rind. As a guide for juice 4 tbsp of juice is equivalent to 1 and a half lemons.

However, if you are going to buy lemon curd – try Marks & Spencer Sicilian - £2 for 325g. Hand on heart it's the best I've ever used and a jar is a permanent fixture in my pantry. It's expensive but worth every cent. Those of you who have been following the blog will know I don't recommend you spend your hard earned dosh on a product unless it delivers.

P.s. It's also great spread on toast!

Sweet week - Pudding or cake?

Here's the solution – one recipe and you can choose whether you make individual sponge puddings or muffin size cakes. Here's Sutherland or Castle Puddings.

Most of us have heard of pound cake – in other words recipes using equal weights of ingredients. The first mention I can find is in “Eliza Acton – Modern Cookery for Private Families” - first published in 1845 and includes this recipe.

More recently it's mentioned in “Pride and Pudding – The History of British Puddings ...” by Regula Ysewijn.

Castle Puddings

butter for greasing

200g softened unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

4 large eggs

200g self raising flour

1.5 tsps baking powder

zest of 1 small lemon

jar of lemon curd

Pre-heat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

I used dariole moulds measuring 6cms x 6cms and made 12 individual puddings. You could use muffin tins for a smaller cake.

Grease your moulds – I find that using a disposable glove works well – you don't finish up with butter everywhere. You'll need a disc of baking paper for each of the bases. This is a bit fiddly but worth the effort – can be done in advance. Alternatively if you are a jam maker and have a supply of the greaseproof discs you could adapt to suit your moulds.

Using your electric mixer whisk together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy – whisk thoroughly. Add the zest of lemon and then the eggs, one at a time, mix well. Fold in the flour.

Place one teaspoon of lemon curd into each dariole mould before adding your mixture to 2/3^rd full.

Place the puddings in a deep baking dish. TAKE CARE – pour hot water into the dish halfway up the sides of the puddings. Cover with foil and bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes – check after 40 with your tester – it should come out clean.

Allow the puddings to cool. You can freeze them. If you want to microwave them then after defrosting you'll need to remove from the dariole moulds.

Serve with whatever ticks your box – custard or ice cream will do very nicely. Regula Ysewijn's suggestion is clotted cream!

P.s. My personal tip – if you decide to make muffin size cakes then use muffin cases – you don't have to butter them, just place the lemon curd into the case and add the mixture. When cooked and cooled just peel back the case and tip upside down onto your serving plate – no lemon curd will be wasted, left in the bottom of the muffin tin – a lemon upside down cake.

A little something to lighten the gloomy, depressing days of winter!

Sweet week - Hats off …

… to “delicious.” magazine January 2017.

I mentioned Waitrose Food January 2017 previously - now it's the turn of “delicious”.

On catching up with my reading I came across their suggestion for an easy treat, which I also made for class.

Malteser Brownies

200g unsalted butter

200g dark chocolate – 70% cocoa solids or as

near to as possible

3 large eggs

200g golden caster sugar

50g plain flour

100g Maltesers

Extra Maltesers, crushed to decorate

Heat the oven 170c/150fan/Gas 3.5. Line a 20x20cm brownie tin with non stick paper. Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water – make sure the bowl isn't touching the water!

Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl combine eggs and caster sugar. When the chocolate mixture has melted stir it into the egg mixture and add the flour and Maltesers. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 40 minutes until the top has developed a crust but the mixture still wobbles slightly. Leave to cool in the tin, then chill for 4 hours. Slice into squares and serve topped with the crushed Maltesers.

Makes 16. Can be made 24hrs in advance and kept in the fridge, unsliced.

Alternatively cool and wrap in cling film and freeze for up to 2 months.

Here are the photos :

By the way – a few seconds on medium in a microwave will give you a warm gooey squidgy brownie – serve with ice cream – bang goes the diet – cut the brownies into small, almost bite size pieces – it might help!

Congrats delicious magazine!