A fishing expedition – the pastry and the photos

As always you have “lid” options – for me it has to be puff or flaky pastry – here's my usual recipe if you want to make your own.

You will need a batch for each pie!

Fast flaky pastry

150g of unsalted butter – chilled in the freezer

220g plain flour

pinch of salt

8 tablespoons of ice cold water

Plan ahead - before you begin weigh out your butter, wrap it in foil and put it in the freezer – 30-40 minutes. Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. You'll need a cheese grater on stand-by. Remove the butter from the freezer and fold back the foil – it's easier to control when you grate the butter into a heap in the middle of the flour and salt. You can dip the butter into the flour to stop any sticking.

Using a round bladed knife mix the butter into the flour and salt. Sprinkle four tablespoons of water into the pastry and mix well. Add another four tablespoons and continue to mix. Finally use your hand to bring together – you're aiming for a clean bowl so no bits of pastry left in the bowl. Have a sheet of cling film ready – you can now use both hands to mould the pastry into whatever shape you require. Place on the cling film and wrap.

Rest the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes before use or place the cling filmed pastry in a bag and freeze.

On a lightly floured surface roll out your pastry – dust your rolling pin too. Roll out as evenly as you can turning the pastry as it takes shape – always roll backwards and forwards and quarter turns so that it keeps to a circle. If you roll side to side you'll stretch the pastry and it will shrink when cooking!

Tip the filling into the pie dish. Egg wash the rim of the dish and then gently lift the pastry lid on top of the filling. The egg wash will glue the pastry in place and you can press the lid onto the filling gently. You can use a sharp knife to remove any excess pastry then, using a pastry fork edge the pie. Egg wash the pastry and add two cuts in the centre of the pastry to vent the pie.

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 40 minutes. I'd check after 20 minutes and turn the pie so as to give an even colour. It depends on your oven but I've found that even with new fan ovens the baking isn't always evenly browned.

There's always a plan B – cheat – buy puff pastry sheets – 320g x 2.

Here they are :

Yum!

Double yum!

Last but by no means least, here comes the pud!

The pie plan - Cheese, potato and onion filling

It's no surprise that both these pies already figure on the blog – what I suppose it shows is their popularity – it's the simple things in life.

This filling is easy peasy, just three elements all of which can be made ahead, bagged, boxed and then fridged!

Serves 4

4 medium sized baked jacket potatoes, peeled

and cut into cubes measuring 1.5cms/½”

approximately

2 medium onions, finely diced and

sautéed with a knob of unsalted butter and

a drop of rapeseed oil until softened – 5 minutes

add 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the onion

300g of grated cheeses – 100g each of Mature

Cheddar, Red Leicester and Gruyere

Black pepper

you'll need a pie dish – measuring 23x23x5cms/9x9x2”

foil or ceramic – ceramic if you're serving at the table

Using a large mixing bowl add the potatoes, onions and mustard – season generously with black pepper. Fold in the cheeses.

Both the pie fillings benefit from being made a couple of days ahead and then fridged until you're ready to complete.

All that remains is the pastry!

The pie plan!

As you'd expect I'm cooking ahead – the steak and kidney was slow cooked on Thursday, cooled, bagged and fridged, ready to pull together.

To make life easier, here are the recipes for both pie fillings – first up :

Steak and Kidney Pie filling

1kg/2.2lbs braising steak or stewing steak, cubed

275g/10oz lambs kidneys, diced

glug of rapeseed or Canola oil

2 x Knorr beef stock pots

2 heaped tbsp tomato paste

2 cloves of roasted garlic or fresh crushed garlic

salt and black pepper

You'll need a pie dish measuring 23x23x5cms/9x9x2”

Brown and season the steak in a large frying pan, using a drop of rapeseed oil – do this in small batches – if you don't you'll get grey looking meat, it will take ages and it will stew. Using a slotted spoon pop the browned meat into the slow cooker. Toss the kidneys in a little plain flour then brown in the frying pan and add to the steak in the slow cooker.

Dissolve the stock pots, gently, in the residual pan juices, then add the tomato paste – make sure the paste is properly melted and “cooked out” - if you don't do this you'll have a bitter taste. Add a glug of water to the melted stock pots and the tomato paste, stir well to combine, repeat until your pan is two thirds full. Bring to the boil and then tip – carefully – into the slow cooker. The “gravy” should cover the steak and kidney – if it doesn't top it up with boiling water. Slow cook for on low for 4 hours. If your gravy is too thin – it's personal choice - add a little slaked cornflour and thicken to taste. If you decide to thicken the gravy then I'd take the steak and kidney out of the gravy before thickening. It might seem a bit of a faff but it's worth it – the meat won't break up.

Set the slow cooked steak and kidney aside and fridge until you're ready to roll.

Now for the Cheese, Potato and Onion filling ...

A fishing expedition and a dinner party

We have new neighbours who are lovely. It's their birthdays close together in August and during an impromptu early evening glass of wine we invited them for dinner as a birthday gift.

It was vital that I found out what foods they enjoyed – hence the title “fishing expedition”. During our glass of wine I fished for their favourites and, as importantly, the opposite!

Here's the menu :

Garlic Mushrooms with Ciabatta

for the boys

Steak and Kidney Pie

Roast potatoes

Steamed mixed veggies

for the girls

Cheese, Potato and Onion Pie

Coleslaw

Beetroot

Lemon Tiramisu with Limoncello Shots

I picked up all the ideas during the evening – I have to confess it was a very large glass of wine – as a consequence they had no idea I was on a mission.

They adore mushrooms and in particular the retro “garlic mushrooms”. You've got to have good bread to dunk and soak up all that garlicky, buttery deliciousness. One plain, one black olive ciabatta will be perfect. I didn't know but, as it turned out, one didn't like olives, one did – big fat tick!

I didn't want to serve a giant starter – with pies for the main course I wanted to make sure there'd be room. I pondered about serving dishes for the mushrooms, here's what I chose :

 

Le Creuset Stoneware Petite Round Casseroles

Perfect for single portion servings of the mushrooms,

measuring 9.5cms as a guide. Ideal for oven to table

and quite stylish!

I've had a set of 4 for years and gulped when I saw the current price - £21 each – although you can buy sets of 4 Le Creuset Mini Cocottes at £75.53.

I'm not suggesting you rush out and spend big money – if you like the look of the casseroles you might want to keep an eye out for sales or outlets or, there are similar casseroles but not of the same quality, check out your favourite search engine.

Up next – the pie plan!

More entertaining - The method in the madness and after the weekend!

I try very hard not to waste anything - remember the reserved stock – here's where you'll use it and an added bonus – you're using a stock packed with flavour – perfect for a sauce supreme. I made it ahead and fridged!

Sauce Supreme

500ml stock – vegetable or chicken

ideally cold

30g unsalted butter

30g plain flour

1 tsp Dijon mustard

400ml double cream

salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk. Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously making a roux sauce – do not walk away.

Tip your cold stock straight into the roux and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low heat for 30 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the mustard and the cream and simmer for 5 minutes then cool, cover and fridge.

You can make ahead and freeze the sauce if it's more convenient – it's every bit as good from the freezer.

When I was ready to assemble I flaked and mixed the chicken and the ham hock, folded into the sauce supreme and finally added a puff pastry lid, egg washed and baked for 40 minutes. (180fan/200c/Gas 6).

The leftover food – pie, roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese was all duly wrapped and fridged, ready for my Sister to transport home the following day. It's another meal that they don't have to cook!

Later that day … a text from my Sister :

“Just eaten a takeaway from an impressive place,

you should try it, oh sorry it's you!”

Phew – mission accomplished!

Next weekend it's a dinner party and then I'm hanging up my apron for a while.

More entertaining - Sunday's menu

We decided that a walk would be a great idea on Sunday morning and so it seemed like a good idea to start the morning with a bacon roll. An army marches on its stomach, as they say!

Before I give you the menu … remember the “late lunch or a snack” I'd planned for Saturday afternoon? Like I said at the time, you can never predict how circumstances can change – work went on longer than expected and they weren't able to set off until 3pm which meant that the late lunch or a snack wouldn't be needed.

Everything happens for a reason, so they say. The “late lunch or a snack” became lunch on Sunday! We had a great two hour walk and then back home – preparing lunch took as long as it took the oven to pre-heat for the ciabatta – pulling out the remaining bits and pieces and an ice cold beer whilst waiting. I just love it when a plan re-arranges itself!

Sunday evening meal

Chicken and ham hock pie in a

sauce supreme and puff pastry

Roast potatoes

Cauliflower cheese

Steamed runner beans

Veggie stuffing for the veggie

Apple Crumble with ice cream

and/or clotted cream

My recipe choice from Sunday evening's meal is the Chicken and Ham Hock Pie. Again I've chosen it because it fits in with the principles I've used from the beginning – plan your menu, serve what you know your guests love and cook ahead as much as you can.

I slow cooked chicken breast in chicken stock. The pie was to serve 3 adults – I slow cooked 5 medium sized chicken breasts, cooled then bagged and fridged. I set aside and fridged the stock too.

I cheated and decided to use ready-cooked ham hock. There's a great deal in M&S at the moment – 3x100g packets of Pulled Wiltshire Ham Hock for £7. I used all three for the pie.

Coming up – the method in the madness and after the weekend!

More entertaining - A bowl of strawberries

Recently I gave you the dessert “Lemon Pots” with strawberries, a compote and Amaretti crumb to serve after the currys et al.

If it ain't broke … don't fix it.

I served a variation on that theme :

A bowl of strawberries

A bowl of strawberries, hulled

Sweet White Miso ice cream

Miso caramel sauce, warmed to drizzle

Strawberry compote

Crushed Amaretti biscuits

Toasted, salted pecans

I served each element of the dessert in a separate bowl, placed on a large tray, with the miso caramel sauce warmed in individual jugs. Each guest had an empty glass dessert bowl and a spoon.

As a special treat I served Limoncello shots on the side. The Limoncello had been placed in the freezer along with the shot glasses too.

The strawberries this year have been exceptional and it seemed a shame not to take full advantage.

Do you remember the “Ice Cream Factory” dessert that Pizza Hut used to have – for all I know they may still serve it – it was very popular with kids because they could create their own dessert, admittedly there wasn't too much fresh fruit, it was ice cream, sweets and sauces. I like to think of this idea as the grown-up version.

It's difficult to hit the right spot with a menu for someone you don't know. I can only tell the truth – my Sister's partner, my nickname for whom is Stanley, went home with a pack of recipes for the ice cream, the caramel sauce and the compote. Oh and a packet of sweet white miso too. As a cook I can't think of a greater compliment.

I think everyone slept quite well … now for Sunday!