Is there a teenager in the house?

Do any of the following words describe anyone in your household – feel free to tick as many as apply. Gloomy, sullen, sulky, glum, morose, touchy, grouchy, volatile and my personal favourite – cantankerous!

By accident I recently discovered that my “comfort food pasty” may have healing powers. I digress slightly to explain that when I visit my Sister, I take a pasty for her (minus the onion) ready sliced into portions so that they can go straight into her freezer.

Here's an extract from a text she sent :

“Apparently your cheese & onion pasties are incredible!

He (my Nephew) was in a foul mood when I got in from work

so I left him to it. I put a pasty in the oven and hey presto

he became human again!

All you have to do now is bottle it! xxx”

So, the method is as follows :

When your teenager arrives home, grunts and passes through to the black hole (aka bedroom) upstairs turn on the oven to pre-heat. Place the pasty in the oven – let the smell of the pasty warming drift to the black hole. The aroma should be enough to get his or her attention. A call of “food is ready” should be sufficient – serve the pasty – preferably on a plate and watch it disappear – may not be a metamorphosis but the demeanour definitely improves.

It's worth a shot!

The proof of the pasty …

… is in this step by step photo guide.

Step 1 – soften the onions :

Step 2 – grate the cheese :

If you don't grate ahead have a rummage through the fridge - it's a great way of using up whatever bits and pieces of cheese you've got lurking around – provided they are of the hard varieties and suitable for grating.

Step 3 – cube the potatoes :

Step 4 – combine the ingredients :

Step 5 – place mixture on half of the sheet

Step 6 – cooked pasty

Step 7 – slices of pasty

Whilst 200g of cheese may seem an awful lot 200g divided by eight portions is 25g per serving – as a treat it's not the end of the world.

If you've followed the principles mentioned in The pasty and a triple whammy you'll know that if you've already got the potatoes cooked, the cheese grated and the pastry in the freezer you can assemble this any time you like.

The Defence rests, as they say!

The pasty and a triple whammy!

Those out there who follow the blog will know that it began with a multitasking morning and a cooking and planning for the following week, giving you more time and making life easier. Here are two elements that are always included.

Wrap six large baking potatoes in foil and bake

for an hour and a half then test – remember they will

continue cooking when removed from the oven because

they are insulated by the foil. Cool, then bag and fridge.

Grate a lump of hard cheese of your choice -

Mature Cheddar, Red Leicester, Gruyére, whatever

takes your fancy. Bag or box and fridge.

That's two out of the three – the third is, yet again, a repeat of the perfect product, the puff pastry sheet.

The Pasty

Three large jackets potatoes – cooked and when cool, peel and

cut into a small dice

1 medium onion – finely diced and softened

in a drop of rapeseed oil and a knob of unsalted butter

200g of grated cheese – I'm using Mature Cheddar

Red Leicester and Gruyére

1 tsp of Dijon mustard - optional

Puff pastry sheet removed from fridge to come to

room temperature

1 egg, beaten

Place the potato in a large bowl, add the onion and then the cheese. Unroll the pastry, leaving it on the wrapping sheet of paper. Place the filling on one half of the pastry – it will look as if there's too much filling – there isn't! Pack it tightly – egg wash the edges of the pastry and then fold the remaining half over the filling and “glue” in place. Using a fork, press along the edges of the pasty, egg wash it and then bake in a pre-heated oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6. For 40 minutes – turn after 20 minutes. If you want to freeze the pasty then cook it for 30 minutes – turning after 15 minutes. Freeze and wrap after cooling.

If you choose to freeze think ahead. I would cut the pasty in half and then cut four equal portions from each, giving you eight servings. Freeze the portions to suit – more practical and potentially less wasteful.

Tempted?

Read on ...

Comfort food!

When anyone mentions comfort food I immediately think of chicken soup – this wonderful simple dish - apart from being the ultimate in comfort food - is thought to be a cure-all remedy for many ills.

Everyone has their favourite comfort food - designed to cheer and sustain when you've had a bad time – sometimes you need to cosset yourself. In my book, said food has to be portable i.e. it can sit on a plate without fear of spilling all over the place, and can perch conveniently on top of a cushion placed on your lap - whilst you're catching up on your most recently acquired box set, soap opera or whatever is your viewing passion.

Chicken soup isn't the easiest of dishes to “perch” on a cushion – when I've had a bad time and decide to treat myself I have to be extremely careful – I become clumsy when I'm tired, drop things, bump into furniture - the ultimate is to trip over the rug and pebble dash your living room, so may be soup isn't the best choice – certainly in my case.

My comfort food is a cheese, potato and onion pasty.

I know that there are loads of fantastic bakers out there and these days you can buy a pasty baked in store on the high street - and frozen products too that you can bake in your own oven. This can be risky and can lead to disappointment – the most common fault being a lack of filling - not good when you're in need of comfort. It's important that you can rely on your “food fix”.

What follows may seem odd in that it sounds like I'm anticipating having a bad time and in need of food solace – plan ahead, that's my motto!

An homage to A A Gill

In December 2016 we lost the food and travel writer, A.A. Gill to cancer. I will always be grateful to him for his outstanding book “The Ivy The Restaurant and its Recipes by AA Gill”.

By way of a tribute to the late Mr. Gill and The Ivy in a class recently I made “The Ivy Fishcakes” – the best recipe for fishcakes I've ever used and put the fishcakes together with the Coronation Coleslaw.

I'm not going to repeat the coleslaw recipe – here are the fishcakes :

The Ivy Fishcakes

(makes 8 – freeze what you don't use)

800g dry mashed potato – no cream or butter added

650g salmon fillet poached in fish stock and flaked

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tsp anchovy essence

3 tsp English mustard

salt and black pepper

plain flour for coating

Mix together the potato, half the salmon, ketchup, anchovy essence, mustard and seasoning until smoother. Fold in the rest of the salmon. Mould the mixture into 8 round cakes and fridge.

When you're ready to serve pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6y. Lightly flour the fishcakes and fry them until they are coloured on both sides. Bake for 10/15 minutes.

I'd like to think that I only recommend kit that I know is worth the dosh and, more to the point, has a useful purpose – in other words it will not find its way to that happy hunting ground for cast aside useless and expensive dusty kitchen stuff in the sky. Say hello to the ricer – you don't have to spend a fortune – price range from £4 to £40 and all points in between.

Here's a photo of mine and one of the fishcake with the slaw too.

                                      

P.s. In the book the fishcakes are served with a sorrel sauce but you could serve them with Alfredo sauce or tartare sauce and scale up or down – smaller for a starter and as per the recipe as part of a main course. I should mention that this book is now difficult to get hold of unless you're prepared to pay a King's ransom!

Whilst I'm on the subject …

of tartelettes and croques we might as well carry on with tartines. A tartine is a French open sandwich – especially one with a rich or elaborate topping. My tartine isn't elaborate but it could probably be described as rich.

The following recipe is French and Italian fusion, a tartine drizzled with an Italian sauce – here we have :

Champignon au tartines

Serves 6 as a starter

For the mushrooms

4 tbsp rapeseed oil or similar

500g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves of garlic or tsps of paste

salt and black pepper

glug of dry sherry

Heat a large frying pan and add the rapeseed oil. Fry the mushrooms, garlic and salt and pepper on a medium heat and stir. Add a glug of dry sherry and continue frying the mushrooms until they begin to brown. At this point you can set aside until you're ready to serve.

For the sauce

Alfredo

1 tbsp unsalted butter

200ml double cream

50g freshly grated Parmesan

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Gently heat the butter and cream together, stirring, until the butter has melted then add the Parmesan. Slowly bring to a gentle boil, turn down the heat and simmer, stirring for a minute or so until you have a smooth, creamy sauce.

This element of the dish can be made ahead, cooled, covered and then fridged until you're ready to serve.

For the garnish

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

When you're ready to serve, warm the mushrooms through, add 2 tablespoons of Alfredo to the mushrooms, mix well.

Toast bread of your choice – I used my faithful friend, soda bread. Add a generous spoonful and garnish with the parsley.

Of course if you want to be really lazy you could decant the mushrooms and sauce into a small bowl – make yourself toasted soldiers and dip!

P.s. Why the sherry? A glug of dry sherry (or red wine if you prefer) enhances the flavour of the mushrooms - either is good.

Here's the sandwich - the “Croque” …

… to go with the fried potatoes.

I'm sure you've heard of a Croque Monsieur – it's a baked, or more popularly, fried sandwich which forms a crispy crust but an oozing filling in the middle. Croque literally means “crunch” from the verb “croquer” - “to bite”.

Croque, sandwich, tartine, brushetta, crostini, whatever is your favourite they should all be treated with respect. My personal favourite is a toasted version so, for a decadent treat, here's my latest :

Croque Marianne

for 4 sandwiches

8 slices of medium wholemeal bread

4 tsps Dijon mustard

75g each of Gruyere and mature cheddar cheese, grated

1 medium onion, preferably sweet or mild flavour,

finely sliced and left raw

60g unsalted butter

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread. Spread the cheese onto 4 slices of bread followed by the onions. Sandwich together with the other 4 slices of bread.

Heat half the butter in a frying pan until foaming – you'll get two sandwiches in your frying pan – fry for 1-2 minutes on each side and then pop the croques onto a baking sheet and into the oven whilst you repeat using the remaining butter and two sandwiches.

You may think the onion would be harsh to the palate but I assure you it isn't, provided you use either a sweet or mild variety. The sharpness of the onion cuts through the richness of the cheese.

Serve with your fried potatoes and a salsa or beetroot chutney or even small chunk Branston.

Any leftovers wrap in foil and fridge. Pop into a pre-heated oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6 with your leftover potatoes for 10 minutes. As with the potatoes, some may say even better the next day – I can absolutely confirm you'll still get oozy delicious Croque Marianne!