My version - photo guide

Here they are :

shallots, finely diced sweated

with the garlic and sweet paprika

add the cheese, potato and parsley

ready to go!

with the lattice top and egg washed

baked and ready to inhale!

Coming up – here we go again folks!

The lattice pastry photo guide

If you're a novice then the best way of mastering the technique is to practice and use leftover puff pastry and follow the guide below – you're not under any pressure and it's not as difficult as you might think :

Flour your surface and roll out the pastry – you want at least 10 x 1cm strips for the practice run – you can continue and make it larger if you wish.

Place a strip of baking parchment on your surface. Glue the parchment in place with small pieces of pastry in each corner – it will stop the parchment sliding.

Lay six strips vertically then fold

back alternate strips – lay another strip horizontally

and replace the folded back strips

fold back the opposite three vertical strips

and repeat – lay another strip horizontally and

replace the folded back strips

keep folding back and alternating the strips

until you've created what looks to me like a portcullis!

It might sound complicated but I assure you it isn't and it's much easier to have a go when you don't need to produce an end result. All you're using is leftover pastry and it doesn't take a lot. I scaled it down in the photographs deliberately – it's easier to control.

When you decide to create it for real use a beaten egg to glue your strips as you are building your lattice – obviously it'll be on top of your filling anyway but it'll help keep the shape. Don't forget to measure the length of your strips – adding 10cms to whatever size pie dish you're using – for example, 23cms + 10cms – 33cms to give you overlap of 5cms each side of the dish to trim and tuck down into the pie. Finally egg wash and bake!

There are photos of my version up next …

Cheesy Lattice Pie – my version

I used shallots because I had them and they needed to be used. You can use whatever you fancy and what you might have to hand. Sweet paprika is a delicious spice originating from the Szeged region of Hungary. It's versatile – useful in curries, casseroles, soups and in any dish where you want colour and a little sweetness. Comté (aka Gruyere de Comté) is a wonderful cheese that melts easily and so perfect in any dish that requires “ooze”! It has a buttery, roasted nut and slightly sweet flavour. I had both ingredients in my cupboard and my fridge. Finally I've reduced the size of the pie to 23cm x 23cm and the pastry accordingly. A tip - Asda sell their own brand of puff pastry sheets, larger than the 320g norm – 375g.

You'll need a non stick wok – 28cms/11” - it makes life so much easier!

400g shallots, finely diced

a knob of unsalted butter and a glug of rapeseed oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed or roasted

1 tsp sweet paprika

200ml milk

1 heaped tsp of plain flour

celery salt and black pepper

600g Charlotte potatoes, cooked and finely diced

250g of grated cheese – I used Comté and Mature Cheddar

generous sprinkle of dried parsley

375g of puff pastry – a ready to use sheet

will be perfect

beaten egg for egg wash

Sweat the shallots gently for 5 minutes – technical term “sweat” i.e. the shallots shouldn't have colour, add the garlic and sweet paprika, celery salt and black pepper.

Sprinkle the flour over the shallots and combine. Gradually add a glug of milk and mix, creating a roux sauce. Repeat and cook out until all the milk is absorbed into the roux. Add the cheese, potatoes and parsley and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Grease a pie dish or a foil tray 23cms x 23cms and transfer the filling, set aside to cool.

Lightly flour a surface and roll the pastry – you're aiming for 33cms - or large enough to cover your pie dish – 23cms dish size plus 10cms overlap – 5cms either side. Cut your pastry into 12 2cm strips – you'll need six vertical and six horizontal. Thread the pastry onto your pie dish to make a lattice effect keeping the joins nice and tight. Seal the edges of the pie by pressing down on the pastry with a fork. Brush the top of the pie with your egg wash and bake for 25/30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6. Your ingredients are cooked – you're cooking the lattice pastry and re-heating the base – check after 25 minutes – may need another 5.

For those who'd like to know how to create the lattice pastry, there's a photo guide up next.

Each to their own as they say …

I think this is a confused recipe. It was going well until the 400g of chicken style Quorn pieces. I should explain myself. As a vegetarian I use certain Quorn products regularly and think their range is great. What I'm not so keen on, as in this case, is including them in a recipe where they aren't needed. An ingredient “chicken style”?

I don't think the addition of a product that's whilst vegetarian, is designed to have the texture of chicken, fits - I'd have used potato instead. If you want to make a pie using Quorn chicken pieces which is intended to replicate exactly that ingredient then make a Quorn “chicken” and mushroom pie – the two are meant to be together in a delicious sauce. Quorn is made from a natural fungus, fermented and into a mycoprotein so lends itself to mushroom. It takes on whatever flavours you use in your cooking which is why it's such a versatile product.

This is a large pie – nearly Desperate Dan level and a tendency I think to be a little dry, not a good look for a pie filling.

Moving on to the pastry - unless you're familiar with creating a lattice then the description in the method of how to achieve it is poor – I have this vision of you covered in flour with a tape measure or a ruler and finally screwing it all into a ball and lobbing it at the wall!

It doesn't give you servings – it's either four large or six standard. It does freeze well.

I feel guilty for criticising but I owe it to you to point out the downside to any recipe.

Now it's time for me to step up and back up my mouth! As always my aim is to make life easier – what follows is my version of a cheesy lattice pie and hopefully the recipe is comprehensive.

Cheesy Lattice Pie

If you follow the blog you'll know that I have this addiction to pies and cheese, potato and onion versions in particular, which is probably why this caught my eye.

Here's the recipe, verbatim, from The Vegetarian Society :

For the lattice top

500g vegetarian ready rolled or block

puff pastry

For the filling

500g leeks, finely sliced and washed

1 tbsp olive oil

25g vegetarian margarine

1 tsp paprika

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp plain flour

200ml milk

100g vegetarian cheese, grated

400g vegetarian cream cheese

400g chicken style Quorn pieces

50g sun-dried tomato, diced

1 tsp fresh thyme or parsley, finely chopped

50g frozen peas

For the glaze

1 egg beaten

Method

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

To make the filling, gently melt the margarine with the oil in a frying pan and fry the leeks for 5 minutes then add the paprika and garlic. Sprinkle on the flour whilst stirring to create your sauce.

Add the milk a little at a time whilst stirring. Add the grated cheese, cream cheese, Quorn, sun dried tomatoes, herbs and peas. Cook for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning as required. Place your filling into a pie dish, 25cm x 25cm. Allow to cool.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry until it is 40cm x 40cm or large enough to cover your pie dish with at least 10cm spare around the edge. Cut your pastry into strips 3cm across. Thread the pastry on your pie dish to make a lattice effect keeping the joins nice and tight. Seal the edges of the pie by pressing down on the pastry with a fork. Brush the top of the pie with your glaze and bake for 45 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Each to their own as they say – anything with cheese and I loved the idea of a lattice pastry top … hmm

Christmas 2021

If I'm grateful for anything during this desperate year we've all been having it's for the packages - or boxes if you prefer - idea – I know it's not new, neither is it rocket science but out of it has come lots of joy and smiles so a huge result. It has changed the way I think about Christmas gifts and I'll definitely be repeating it next year.

I know you'll think I'm bonkers but bear with me.

If you've made your own gifts too and have had similar thoughts then let me pass on a tip – create a Christmas folder for yourself. Keep all your ideas, the lists you make, basically every scrap of paper – from beginning to end. It matters not whether you use them when the time comes – what does matter is that you are reminded of what you did create and how well received your gifts were, you'll be sorry if you don't. You might also want to take advantage of Christmas boxes and kit in the sales?

I did not expect such great feedback which was wonderful and it made me smile too!

Back to normal guys – remember The Vegetarian Society and the “Online Cookery Classes”? In addition to the cheesecake I mentioned I'd seen a Cheesy Lattice Pie which took my fancy … it's up next or at least my version of it.

I wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe 2021 and I never ever thought I'd be looking forward to a shot in the arm!

A Christmas gift!

In a brief moment during the summer when we were able to socialise outside I saw my friends from the USA albeit briefly.

My friend brought with her a recent gift and what a vast tome! Here it is :

 

I was warned at the time not to buy it – now I know why – a wonderful Christmas gift and I've promised myself time out to really savour (sorry about the pun) this beautiful book. I should say that there are 958 pages and the anticipation of making my way through is exciting to say the least.

During our regular email exchanges leading up to the holidays, my friend in the USA said she was using recipes from the book for a pre-Christmas Dinner – here are her comments :

from her partner … “it was the best tenderloin he has had in his life”. To clarify - what the USA call tenderloin we in the UK call fillet.

My only complaint with the book is that I sometimes have difficulty finding what I remember reading on my first attempt.

My friend's complaint about the difficulty in finding stuff reminded me of my golden rule. If I'm trawling through a new cookery book I always follow the same pattern – I have small coloured (post-it style) markers and use them to flag recipes that I'm interested in – I know I'll never find what I'm looking for later – it's quicker and you don't get frustrated! It doesn't matter if you flag a recipe you then change your mind – with 958 pages it's the easiest way to remember what caught your attention. I passed on my tip!

She replied … Oh and by the way, thanks for the coloured marker tip … I have some and just never thought of using them. I have stupid torn pieces of paper marking pages. Colour coding will be great.

Another idea – has just occurred. This is a huge book and it won't be easy to prop the book to use a particular recipe – it's far too heavy and will eventually, with use, damage the spine. Here's a thought - photograph a recipe :

 

I used my tablet for the photograph – you can

either use your tablet for easy access or print out the

recipe if preferred

In addition to protecting the book I ask the obvious question - are you a messy cook? Sticky fingers when you're flustered and it's too late, your beautiful book is spoilt!

Coming up – hints and tips for next year