Potato and Meat Pie

This is a derivation of my Grandmother's pie  (Maud Clarke) and was probably made during wartime as it contained little meat. It is, however, delicious and easy to make....

Ingredients:

• Short Crust Pastry (enough to line the top and bottom of a round 20cm baking tin)
• 4 medium sized potatoes par boiled then chopped
• 1 Tbsp of oil or lard
• half a small onion
• handful of mince - it can contain fat!
• 1 egg - beaten for eggwash
• Salt & Pepper to taste.

Fry the mince and onion in the fat until it is all browned off and transfer to a mixing bowl including any juices/oil. Peel the potatoes and then dice into cubes- they must be no bigger than 1cm cubed or even smallr if you can manage it.
Mix the potatoes with the mince mixture and then season with plenty of salt and pepper.
Line the pie tin with pastry and then spoon in the mixture trying to leave as few air pockets as possible. (now you know why you have to chop the potatoes quite small) Top off with pastry and then crimp the edge. Finally, eggwash the top liberally and pierce with a fork to allow any steam to escape.
Bake in a fan over at 180degC (200 conventional) for about 30 mins until golden brown.

Personally I can never wait to tuck in - just add tomato ketchup on the side!!

Ox Cheeks (slow cooked)

By slow cooking the beef or ox cheek, you end up with super tender meat that almost melts in the mouth. The recipe below will feed 2/3 people. I use a pressure cooker for this recipe but there is no reson you can't use a slow cooker or the oven. The difference is that the pressure cooker takes about 1 hour, the oven takes about 4 hours and a slow cooker on low about 12 hours.....

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp light olive oil
• 750gms of ox cheek - cut up into large sized peices
• 1 onion - diced
• 1 celery stick - diced
• 1 carrot - diced
• 2 large cloves of garlic - crushed
• 1 stems of fresh thyme
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• 250ml beef stock
• 350ml of full bodies red wine
• 1 tbsp of black treacle
• Salt & Pepper

Firstly you need to season the meat pieces with salt and pepper and then brown the meat pieces all over in a hot frying pan with 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Ensure you have removed any fat peices from the outside of the meat. Put the seared meat to one side, add the remaining oil to the pan, lower the heat and add the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Then add the celery and carrot and cook for 5 mins.

Add all of the ingredients to the pressue cooker and cook for 1 hour. (ensure all of the meat is covered by liquid)

Once cooled down, you can remove all of the meat from the cooking liquor and then strain this off, discarding the solids. (it is possible to liquidise this complete liquor but I prefer a richer sauce).
Return the liquid to the pressure cooker and reduce until you have a thick and sticky sauce. Season to taste. Add the meat back and coat in the sauce. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Point to note: if you use a stock cube as your source of beef stock, please be careful in the amount of salt you add as the reduction of the sauce could make it become a little salty. I tend to use Knorr Touch of Taste Concentrated liquis stock.

Serve with vegetables of your choice but horseradish mash is a good place to start!!!

Beef Stroganoff

There is a restaurant in Lanzarote that is a bit like going back in time! The building is an old Castillio near the town of Arricefe. Its design is very similar to what was considered ultra modern in the 70’s and now it still looks good – black iconic chairs and black tablecloths! There are 2 amazing things about this place – one the view from the panoramic glass windows and two, the beef stroganoff that is cooked at your table (very 70’s). This dish, like the crepe suzette they serve, is cooked at the table by waiters who look like they have worked there since the 70’s.

The point of this intro is to why I keep getting asked to make beef stroganoff at home! This is close but still not quite as good as the one from Castillo de San Juan (They have prepared sauces that are in jugs and its difficult to tell what is in each one!)

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 small onion - sliced
• 200g of mushrooms - sliced
• 700gm of fillet steak – cut into thin strips
• 1 tsp English Mustard
• 3 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 100ml brandy
• 100ml pasatta
• 100ml beef stock
• Single cream 75ml
• Butter

Fry the onion in a small amount of butter until soft and then add the mushrooms until all are soft. Remove from the pan. Cut the fillet steak into thin strips and fry in some more butter until brown all over. Add the brandy and ‘flame’ off the alcohol. When the alcohol has burnt off, remove the steak from the frying pan and keep to one side. The remaining sauce can now have the mustard stirred in and the remaining ingredients (excluding the cream) added. Reduce slightly then add the onion mixture and the steak at the end to warm up again. Stir in the cream and then serve with soft rice. I’ll add a few phots when I find them!!!

Mini Steak & Mushroom Puddings

Blooming gorgeous! Mrs.H. always likes a bit of flattery but this time she has to step to one side as the noble suet pudding takes centre stage!

This recipe just worked 1^st time and it is fabulous. I’m sure that if I had used a rich veal stock, then it would have been even better!

Ingredients – makes 6 mini puddings

• 450gms of lean steak
• Flour to coat beef
• 150gms Mushrooms - sliced
• Butter / rapeseed oil
• Flour
• Thyme
• 1 medium onion - chopped
• 250ml red wine
• 2 tsp redcurrant jelly
• 350mml beef stock / veal
• Salt & pepper
• ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

For the suet pastry:

• 250gms of self raising flour
• 125gms of Suet (I use Atora!)
• Pinch of salt
• 8 tbsps of cold water

Chop the beef into small chunks and then coat in flour. Heat a good knob of butter in a pan and add a little oil to allow the browing of the meat. When it is brown, add the onions and mushrooms and cook until soft. At this point add the wine and reduce a little. Then add the stock, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and cook for around 30 minutes. The stock will reduce creating a thicker gravy - at this point, stir in the redcurrant jelly and cook for a little while longer. Taste and season accordingly.

Once done, remove all the meat, mushrooms and onions with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. You now can make the pastry. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and then add the suet and mix in. Slowly add the water, mixing well as you go until you get a light pastry. Leave for 20 mins.

After about 20 mins the beef will be cool and so the final stange of prep can be done. Roll out pastry to about 3/4mm thick and line a 75mm baking basin with the pastry. Fill well with the beef mixture right to the top edge of the pastry. Spoon some of the gravy left over around the meat to fill any voids but do not put too much in each pudding. Cut a circle of pastry to completely cover the top of the pudding, wet the edges with water and tightly seal down the pastry on the top with the sides of the pastry. Cover the top then with silver foil (I put a pleat in it to help if it expands) and tie up with string.

You can now put the basins into boiling water (2/3^rds the way up) and then cover the pan. Cooking times will vary but I would allow 1 to 1.5 hours if they are small puddings. Check the water level regularly.

Turn out the puddings upside down and spoon over more gravy onto the top of the pudding. Serve with a few carrots or crushed peas and mint. I do not think potatoes are needed as the suet pudding makes up for it. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it – in fact I’m going to make another batch shortly!

The description is a little short but I think you get the principle. The better the stock then the better the flavour!

Rissoles to you!

These little (well not so little) beauties are just the job for a cold evening. A liberal dollop of homemade relish or ‘tatty’ sauce and parmentier potatoes and voila, a meal fit for a king!

Ingredients - for 2 hungry souls!:

• 1 lb minced beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp of dry mixed herbs
• 1 tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 or 2 tbsp of dry breadcumbs (optional)
• Plain flour
• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl (except flour) and work together so they bind well. Portion up so that you get 4 or 6 balls, then flatten slightly so that they will cook more evenly. Dust with flour to help the frying process. Fry in the oil until lovely and brown, serve hot and enjoy. These will keep and can be re-heated if you want them all to yourself – sometimes crosses my mind!

Cry Tiger Thai Beef (Weeping Tiger)

I’m gradually getting there, trying to perfect this dish – close but not quite there!

Ingredients (serves 2):

For the steak:

• 2 Clove Garlic
• 2 tsp of thai fish sauce
• 2 tsp of light soy sauce
• 2 tsp palm sugar
• ½ lb sirloin steak (2)

For the sauce:

• 1 tsp Thai rice
• 3 tsp of Thai fish sauce
• 2 tsp of Lime juice
• ½ tsp sweet chilli paste
• ½ tsp chilli powder – depending on how hot you like it!
• 1 tsp palm sugar

In a mortar, grind the garlic and coriander then add the remaining fish sauce, soy and sugar and mix well. Put the steaks into a bowl and rub the mixture into the steaks well. Leave to marinate for at least half an hour.

For the sauce, ‘toast' the rice in a pan and then grind to a fine powder. Put his powder into a bowl and add the lime juice, fish sauce, chilli powder and paste. Stir well and ensure the sugar is dissolved.

Fry the steaks on a pre oiled, hot griddle to your taste – I prefer them medium to well done in this dish but you can just as easily do them rare. Rest the meat when cooked and then slice into strips. Serve the meat with the sauce together with some fragrant sticky rice – delicious!