Editor's March Pick #2: The Shepherdess Photos

Editor's note: I don't know about you but I'm a very visual person, if someone describes something for an hour I can draw a blank but if you show me a photo I know what you're talking about in a moment. The same goes for cooking, I need a visual hint most of the time and what follows is just that for the Shepherdess AKA Mushroom and chestnut pie - think stroganoff without the meat, then do yourself a favour and add the pastry!

The Shepherdess photos

the mushrooms and chestnuts, blitzed

ditto, pan fried

with the cream and other ingredients

served in an individual pie dish with

a pastry lid

Coming up … The Shepherdess bits and pieces, followed by a scaled down Shepherdess. As is usually the case with my food, there's always a variation or two!

Editor's March Pick #1: The Shepherdess AKA Mushroom & Chestnut Pie

Editor's note: A massive oversight on my part when I was waxing lyrical about the virtues of mince based recipes and their ease and payoff (especially vs effort!). I overlooked the logical next step - the Shepherdess! This was originally posted around Autumn and indeed references it but I can't remember the last week that I didn't eat at least one pack of chestnut mushrooms - fully endorse this one all year round! Rich and mushroomy, nothing better after an evening walk.

Lets begin …

… with what my idea of a fab veggie dish is and for those, like me, who don't want their food to resemble and have the texture of meat.

Autumn is on its way – my favourite season. Autumn makes me think of chestnut mushrooms with their wonderful depth of flavour - a perfect combination of earthiness complimenting the sweetness of the chestnuts in this recipe.

I want to serve dishes similar in appearance for both meat eaters and veggies too – everyone is the same, but different if you get my drift. The best example I can give you is a Shepherd's Pie – on the same table would be The Shepherdess – a veggie version of the same. Here's my take, two different ways.

The Shepherdess

or Mushroom and Chestnut pie

Serves 4

500g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

180g vac pac chestnuts, quartered

1 medium onion, finely chopped

celery salt and black pepper

a generous pinch of dried tarragon

3 cloves of garlic paste

a glug of dry sherry or red wine – 15ml approximately

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

30g butter

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

300ml double cream

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic paste, season with celery salt and black pepper and cook until the onion has softened and begins to colour, 5 - 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season again then add the tarragon and butter and cook for 5 minutes, turning the mushrooms so that they are covered in the oil and butter. Add the dry sherry (or red wine) and reduce so that the mushrooms absorb the flavours. Add the chestnuts and balsamic vinegar and mix well until reduced and syrupy. Add the cream, bring to the boil and then reduce and simmer for 5 minutes so that it reduces a little and thickens.

Next up …The Shepherdess photos.

Editor's February Pick #16: Shepherd's Pie Upside Down

Editor's note: For the last selection of the week I've continued on the 'winter warmer' theme, which after the weather of late seems very fitting! This post is for SPUD - Shepherd's Pie Upside Down. As I've always said, reinventing a meal is easy when you know how! I need someone to say "Psst... how about doing this?".

Here's SPUD

… aka Shepherd's Pie Upside Down.

SPUD

Shepherd's Pie Upside Down

940g braising steak – 1kg will do it doesn't

have to be precise

980g beef stock - ditto

Glug of rapeseed oil

salt and pepper

2 x beef stock pots

salt and black pepper

I zoomed to the butchers and bought 3 x trays of cubed braising steak for £10. A good start! A little patience is required here – using a large frying pan heat the rapeseed oil, place braising steak in the pan – it should sizzle – season with salt and pepper. Don't overload the pan, brown the meat and then set aside in your slow cooker making way for the next batch and repeat until you've browned all the meat. If you insist in ramming it all into the pan it will turn grey and stew – it's not a good look.

Add a litre of water to the juices left in the frying pan, bring to the boil then add the stock pots – stir until melted – pour carefully into the slow cooker with the meat. Pop the lid on and slow cook for four hours.

Switch off, cool and then divide the stock between two “pour and store” freezer bags and divide the meat between two in strong freezer bags.

Editor's February Pick #15: Saturday Night Supper - Shepherd or Cottage?

Editor's note:  Lately I've been using a lot of Quorn mince in the kitchen as it's perfect for CBA cooking - freezer to the pan and you're halfway there - one of the best bits is that the majority of recipes meant for real deal mince translate perfectly. So for this selection I (re!)present one of the Grumpy Old Men recipes - a Snug Shepherd or a Cosy Cottage. Take your pick, or go for a meat-free option, the real gold for me personally is the 'extras' that accompany the base. By the way, don't forget to check out the 'GOM' label for more travel writings and recipes!

Saturday night supper

For the GOM, in front of the football (soccer USA)

Depending on what you fancy, the following is 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 or beef 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 - to mash or not to mash, this is the question!

Editor's February Pick #14: Mini Cheesecake Photos & Tips

Editor's note: As with all photos on the blog, I must defer to the MiamMiam photos of the mini cheesecakes. I cannot say good things about my own experiments, only that I am amazed at how I managed to get cake mixture on a ceiling fan whilst not being in the same room. As with all good photo posts they're a bonus - gives you a sneak preview as to what's possible, a pointer on presentation, or in my case a hilarious "This is what you could have achieved"! 

Mini lemon cheesecakes – photos and tips

It's all very well needing muffin cases – can I find any?! I thought I had loads, clearly not. The nearest I could find were foil baking cases – not ideal – the cases taper at the base but the upside is that they look good and are actually quite robust – it could have been worse.

Here's the result :

Not too shabby – better than expected

Ideal if you want to serve with ice cream

or raspberries on the side

These will be better still made in muffin or cupcake cases – accidentally though there's a serving choice!

The other plus with this recipe is that the cheesecakes don't require baking. I've frozen them wrapped in cling film and then bagged – as usual I'll let you know how it goes.

I did serve one with vanilla ice cream – it disappeared in the blink of an eye – comment - “the perfect size, just enough”.

Note to self – muffin cases on the shopping list for next week!

Bye for now …

Editor's February Pick #13: Mini Cheesecakes

Editor's note: I'm not saying I'm completely behind the door in the kitchen - but when it comes to some topics I'm so far behind the door I'm down the street in the wrong house. I have only recently discovered there are two types of cheesecake - baked and not baked. From examining previous postings, (see the Cheesecake label) I believe I am firmly a fan of the baked variety but can't recall ever having tried the un-baked kind. So in the name of culinary science - to the kitchen! Read on for a delicious unbaked cheesecake recipe -  lemons in cake is a vital combo for me.

Musing mini cheesecakes

Like I said sweet stuff isn't normally on my radar but these mini cheesecakes appealed because they are lemon and use mascarpone cheese which is the perfect product for this dessert, silky and glossy - easy to use and they are quick and easy to make.

Here's the recipe :

Mini lemon cheesecakes

6 digestive biscuits

50g/2oz unsalted butter

250g mascarpone cheese

6 tbsp lemon curd

1 tbsp lemon juice

120ml/4 fl oz double cream

3 tsps lemon curd for decoration - optional

You'll need muffin cases

plus a bag you can seal for the biscuits

and your trusted rolling pin for bashing purposes

Place the muffin cases on a tray, ready for transferring to the fridge. Put the biscuits in the bag and bash to a fine crumb, using the rolling pin.

Melt the butter and stir into the crumb then divide between the six muffin cases. Press the crumb firmly to form a base – you can use your fingers, I used my trusted piece of kitchen kit the pastry tamper. Chill in the fridge.

Beat together the cheese, lemon curd and lemon juice – I used a wooden spoon and elbow grease. Whip the cream to soft peaks, fold into the cheese mixture. Spoon the filling into the muffin cases. Decorate each with half a teaspoon of lemon curd and swizzle with a small cocktail stick.

Chill in the fridge until ready for serving.

There's more ...

Editor's February Pick #12: Malteser Cake

Editor's note: It feels like an incomplete week if I don't bring up a dessert recipe posting, so to round us out nicely here is a great idea for what to do with leftover Maltesers.. if such a thing exists! The serving suggestions are just that - suggestions - nothing to stop you halving it, adding a filling and calling it a 'One Serving Cake'...

Last call for Easter :

… bag, tag, bow and away you go!

If you've received feedback from circulating your list with any luck you'll get more than one person choosing the same ingredients!

I'd use a tray bake, measuring 30 x 19 cms approx. One tray bake divided into four portions and then each portion cut into small 1cm squares will give a generous treat.

Take a glance at the photo of the Rocky Road in Last call … to get an idea of the size. To give perspective, Nigella's recipe mentions 24 squares of treat in the final paragraph – these are large, so scaled down you'll get a much larger quantity, it depends on how small a square you cut. It doesn't matter – I don't think anyone will be taking out their tape measure!

One final thought, you could mix it up completely and create a mixed bag of Rocky Road, Malteser Cake and Chocolate Hokey Pokey.

Malteser Cake

125g unsalted butter

400g milk chocolate, broken into small pieces

2 tbsp golden syrup

250g digestives - crushed

135g Maltesers

Line a 20cm tin with parchment.

Melt the butter in a large pan, then add the chocolate and syrup until melted.

Remove the pan from the heat, allow to cool slightly then stir in the biscuits and Maltesers. Pour into the tin and refrigerate for two hours.

Cut into squares.

Chocolate Hokey-Pokey

75g unsalted butter

100g pecan halves, roughly chopped

sea salt flakes

300g dark chocolate

2 tbsp golden syrup

3 x 40g Crunchie bars

Heat a small knob of butter in a pan and when foaming, tip in the pecans with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Stir over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes or till toasted – you will smell them when they are ready. Tip the nuts into a bowl and leave to cool.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt, in a medium pan, with the rest of the butter and the syrup, stirring. Once the chocolate mixture is smooth, take the pan off the heat. Bash the Crunchie bars (in the wrappers – less messy!). Add the Crunchie pieces, along with the toasted pecans, to the chocolate mixture. Gently mix together before transferring to an 18cm round or square foil tray (or cake tin if you prefer to wash-up!)

Leave to set in the fridge. Once set, remove from the tray and cut into 1cm squares.

Whatever combination you choose bag, tag and bow – check out The kit and the cost – and away you go!