Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 175g Self Raising Flour
• 175g Butter
• 175g Caster Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/2 tspn Vanilla Extract
• 1 tspn Baking Powder

For the Filling:

• 250g Raspberries
• 250g Mascarpone
• 250g Fromage Frais
• 1 dessert spoon Caster Sugar
• 1 tspn Vanilla Extract
• 4 tbspn Raspberry Jam
• Icing Sugar

Method

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Add the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and mix until smooth
2. Split between two sandwich tins and bake for 30mins at 170°C.  I used baking paper to line the tins.
3. Mix mascarpone, fromage frais, caster sugar and vanilla extract.
4. Spread the half the jam and half the mascarpone mixture onto each sponge
5. Place Raspberries  (as artistically as you like)
6. Dust with icing sugar
   

This cake was really very quick indeed and I thought it was a good variation on a classic.  I used quantities for the sponge mix as recommended by my friend Kate with whom I’ve made many sponge cakes over the years at university and beyond.  The mascarpone/fromage frais mix was an idea from Delia – the quantities I used were actually those which the ingredients came in – just one tub of each.  We had some lovely little sparklers  instead of candles; thankfully the smoke alarm didn’t mind!  In total, it took less than an hour from start to finish.

In the end, tired of missing out on the aspargus love-in going on various food blogs I follow, I caved in and opted for an Asparagus, Broccoli, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Pie. Unfortunately, our veg box still hasn’t supplied any asparagus so we had to opt for the supermarket stuff which was passable – nowhere near as tasty as the farm shop stuff we tend to get this time of year.

As when making any form of pie, I tend to turn to Pie Minister for inspiration. This one was loosely based on their great Wildshroom and Asparagus. I read somewhere in an interview with one of the PM guys that his top tip would be to experiment with the pastry, in this I decided to try it with a twist of Nutmeg.

Ingredients

When I made this, I did it all by eye so I’m not entirely sure of the amounts I used. If I’m honest this probably could have fed 3-4 adults. I won’t tell you how many it did – ‘We only had salad with it’ was Jenny’s defence though.

• 8 oz Purple sprouting broccoli
• 6 Asparagus Spears, 1″ long chunks
• 8 Button mushrooms, sliced
• 4 Shallots, sliced
• 2 Garlic Cloves, sliced
• 2 oz Butter
• 2 tbsp Plain flour
• Soya Milk (Unsweetened)
• 2 oz Blue Cheese
• Ready made pastry
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 Egg, beaten

I tend to use soya milk because I prefer the slightly nutty taste in cooking, cow’s milk would be fine too. We ended up using Danish Blue cheese since we didn’t have a huge selection and it’s not quite as strong as some of the other choices.

Method

1. Heat just less than an oz of Butter in a pan, add the Shallots and Garlic for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the Broccoli, Asparagus and Mushrooms, cook for ~8 minutes or just before the Mushrooms get juicy.
3. Meanwhile, make a roux with the remaining Butter and Flour. If you’ve not made roux before, heat the Butter until fully melted then add the Flour gradually until fully blended (stir thoroughly!).
4. Make sure the mixture isn’t too hot before adding the Milk, mix in.
5. Crumble the Cheese slowly into it. You may need to play with the portions of milk/flour to get the right texture and amount.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.
7. Get Jenny to roll out the Pastry for you, telling her to mix in the Ground Nutmeg (you can see some in the photo above). Separate into two pieces – one for the base and one for the lid.
8. Lay the slightly bigger one on the bottom of your dish, add the filling, brush some beaten Egg around the edge to help it seal, cover with lid. Make pretty patterns around the edge with your fingers.
9. Get child/Jenny to make decorations out of remaining pastry for the lid. Glaze with Egg.
10. Cook for ~25 mins or until golden.

Although, the recipe wasn’t particularly revolutionary, Jenny’s unique mushroom and ‘asparagus’ pie decoration certainly was.

The filling was just right – the veg still had some sort of texture to them rather than turning into mushy pulp, there was plenty of the cheese sauce to keep it moist without being overly blue-cheesey. The pastry was pretty good, the nutmeg worked well but was still some way off from a PM pie.

Sundried Tomato, Spinach & Feta Filo Pastry Pie

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Vegetable Mousakka with Greek Salad, accompanied with Black Olive & Rosemary Flatbread.

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Orange Passover Cake with Orange Cheesecake Topping

The night went really well and when the guests arrived, we were able to sit and drink the vino while the oven did all the work!

Sundried Tomato, Spinach & Feta Filo Pastry Pie

I picked up this recipe from BBC Good Food online.  It was very easy – just mixing feta, sundried tomatoes and spinach with whisked egg.  You then line a tin with pastry, add the filling and fold over the top.  Those of you who have read my previous blogs about pies will realise that my version (see photo) does not qualify as a pie as it does not have a complete lid.  I made the mistake of overlapping the filo pastry too much so it would not close completely.  However the guests commented about how pretty it looked, so all was not lost.  This pie is served cold, so can be baked in advance and chilled.

Vegetable Mousakka with Greek Salad, accompanied with Black Olive & Rosemary Flatbread.

The vegetable Moussaka recipe came from a Greek cook book – the Olive and the Caper which to be honest, is not a very good book.  I find the recipes a little bland and the text a little wordy.  The book is by an American not a Greek and all the ingredients are listed in cups and farenheit.  A translation is below.

• 2 medium aubergines
• Olive Oil
• 1kg white potato, peeled and cut into 1/2cm thick slices
• 150g fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 large tomatoes
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 600g grated kefalotyri cheese (we used Pecorino as we couldn’t get this cheese)
• 100g butter
• 100g plain flour
• Generous pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

If you’re cooking this straight away, preheat the oven to 180°C.  Cut the aubergine lengthways into 1/2cm slices.  Fry the aubergine in a pan until golden – take care not to overload the pan; do this in several batches.  Continue adding oil with each batch, as the aubergine soaks up so much of it!  Repeat the frying process with potato slices.   To free up that all important vino time, you could prepare the white sauce (see below) whilst frying the aubergine and potato.

Prepare the “besamel sauce” by melting the butter until foaming.  Add the flour, whisking briskly as you do so, until you get a smooth paste, or as the French would say, a rue.  Continue whisking for 2 mins until the mix turns golden.  Whisk in the milk and season with salt (if you add pepper, the black flecks can spoil the look of the sauce).  Cook over a medium heat for 12-15 mins.  Whisk in the nutmeg.

Grease an oven dish and sprinkle the breadcrumbs into the bottom.  Arrange half the potato in a layer and place a few tomato slices ontop.  Add a layer of aubergines.  Repeat the sequence. Nearly there.  Whisk the egg yolks and cumin into the sauce and pour over the vegetables.  Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.  Bake in the oven for 1 hour.  Allow 15 to 20mins to rest before serving.

We prepared this early on, to allow us to bake just before we needed it.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed.  I felt that although it looked quite authentic, it was a little plain and could have benefitted from some other flavours.  It would perhaps been  better with one really thick layer of aubergine s and tomato, and one of potato.  I might try mashing the potatoes next time.

We served this up with a greek salad (Kos lettuce, white salad onion, feta, olives, cucumber, red pepper, dressed with olive oil and oregano).  Yum.

 Black Olive & Rosemary Flatbread

This was a flatbread by nature, but with no yeast was a little dense.  The idea was that the bicarbonate of soda and “acidic” olives would react to lighten the bread.  I don’t really feel this worked.  However, it was golden, fragrant and delicious -everyone enjoyed it.  The smell of fresh baked bread was great.

I wanted something a good deal lighter than this bread turned out.  I would welcome any suggestions/alternative recipes to achieve this. 

Orange Passover Cake with Orange Cheesecake Topping

The astute amongst you will have spotted that my Greek Feast includes a rather Jewish sounding dessert.  Apparently Orthodox Greeks always celebrate Easter after passover has occurred, because Jesus is supposed to have celebrated Passover before the events of Easter.  Given that we cooked and ate this cake before Easter, I suppose we can get away with it!

We opted to bake this cake, which we had made before, as it is straight forward and it would seem, reliable.   It is one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes Recipes and uses ground almonds not flour.

• 2 oranges
• 6 eggs (medium)
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Icing Sugar for dusting

For the Citrus Cheesecake Cream topping

• 200g cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
• 50g caster sugar
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 small orange
• juice of 1 lemon
• 300ml double cream

To make the cake is quite straight forward.  Boil the oranges for 3 hours. Make sure they are covered with water and use a lid.  After 3 hours drain the oranges and allow to cool.  Remove the flesh and blitz in a food processor to make a smooth puree.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and moussey beore folding in the ground almonds, the orange puree and baking powder.  Pour into a lined and greased tin and bake at 180°C for 55 to 60 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool.

To make the topping, beat the cream cheese with the sugar, lemon zest, orange zest and lemon juice.  Whisk the cream into soft peaks and gently fold in.

This recipe makes a lovely light and moist cake.  It’s straightforward and quick.  although I didn’t get a pic of the finished cake, you can see one here.

The meal was a great success – the plan of preparing in advance so we could have time with the guests worked brilliantly.  A good time was had by all.

Easter isn’t Easter without Hot Cross Buns.  The smell of the fragrant spices and fruit as you bake/toast them is brilliant.  I wasn’t quite sure how Hot Cross Buns fitted in with the fasting during Lent, but Wikipedia came to my aid. 

Apparently Hot Cross Buns originated with the Saxons, with the cross dividing the bun into four, with each quarter representing one of the four phases of the moon.  Christians, who traditionally eat them on Good Friday, believe the cross is representative of the Crucifixion.  Due to their religious connotations, protestant England attempted to ban bakers from selling the buns.  However, due to their popularity, the ban was not successful and Queen Elizabeth  I passed a law which only permitted the sale of Hot Cross Buns at Easter and Christmas.

Hot cross buns belong on the list of things that you can easily buy, but taste so much better home made, along with mince pies, fresh bread and marmalade.  We used Nigella’s recipe, although with some minor tweaks (lots more spices for one thing, and half as many, but twice buns for another).  It would have been useful to have a piping bag for the crosses, but all things considered they were a triumph.   They had more fruit than the average shop bought bun and a delicious glaze on the top. Next time we will increase the fruit and spice content even more!

Shin of beef makes an ideal cut for pies, stewing and slow cooking, as the connective tissue breaks down during cooking to enrich the gravy.  It is also a far cheaper way to buy steak – a 500g shin (about the size of my forearm) cost just £4 from my local butcher.  The cut is evidently less popular than it once was; my mother recounts that my gran always used shin of beef in pies and and stews.   Jon Torode points out that supermarkets only sell ‘braising beef’ which can be an mixture of different cuts, and in my experience, can lack the marbled fat which is the whole point of buying it. 

I have recently seen two steak pie recipes and a steak pudding recipe in BBC Olive Magazine

• Individual steak, red wine and mushroom pies (no pastry base and a lattice pastry top);
• Steak pie (with pastry top and bottom);
• Pickled onion, steak and ale pudding.

I felt my ideal pie needed to have steak, onion and ale.  Not deterred, I studied all three recipes and came up with my own pie recipe. 

• Carefully peel 8-10 shallots (taking care to keep them whole) and place into a pan with 25g melted butter and slowly caramelise for 10-15mins on medium heat before setting aside.
• Brown 500g diced shin of beef in a hot pan, in batches if necessary.
• Add back shallots and sprinkle in 35g plain flour(which will act to thicken the gravy) and cook for 2 mins.
• Slowly add 300ml of ale (I chose ‘Old Slug Porter’ a beautifully dark rich ale) and 300ml of beef stock, stirring to stop flour sticking to pan.
• Add 1tbsp of Worcestershire sauce,  a sprig of thyme, a hand full of chopped flat leaf parsley, a grating of nutmeg  and some freshly ground black pepper.  Keep the stirring  until the gravy boils and thickens.
• Taste the mixture – depending on the ale you chose to use, you may wish to add some sugar.  The dark porter I used (similar to Guinness) had given a strong rich flavour, but gave a slightly bitter aftertaste.  I added 2 tspn of dark brown sugar, but the amount required will be to taste.  A light ale probably won’t require any sugar at all.
• Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally, whilst sitting back enjoying the rest of the ale.
• Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan or gas mark 6).
• Roll out a block of puff pastry  (hey, if Jon can buy ready puff pastry, so can I!), butter a 20cm pie tin, line with pastry, spoon in steak filling.
• Brush a beaten egg around the rim of the pie before adding the pastry top.  Cut the top to size, crimp the lid and base together (with fingers or fork), brush with top with egg.
• Prick holes to let out the steam and stop the pie going stodgy.
• Bake for 45 to 50 mins oven. 

The ensuing pie was easily the best I’ve ever tasted.  The meat melted in you mouth and the gravy was rich and thick and meaty.  Shop bought puff pastry is ever reliable and was light and fluffy and golden.  The length of cooking meant that the shallots had completely broken down.  Next time, I will hold some back to add in before it goes into oven.

Possible Variations: 

• I intend to try this with some shallots held back to the last minute, so that they stay more intact.
• Button mushrooms would enhance this pie, perhaps add them whole just before the pie is made up and goes into the oven.
• I will try the pie with red wine (perhaps using say a full bodied red and adding some bacon to make the pie reminiscentof a boeuf bourguignon)

Also, I’m really excited about the prospects for my new favourite cut of beef – the shin.  I think it will make fantastic curries and stews.  I’m now going to try to track down some equivalent cuts from Lamb or Pork – something which will be glorious slow cooked.

Pie Debate

To me a pie has to have a top, a middle and a bottom.  I realise that this leaves Shepherd and Cottage “pies” out in the cold, but unless there’s a pastry case, I don’t feel it’s really a true pie.  I’d be interested to know what others think.  A pie without a lid is a flan or a tart.  I don’t know that that makes a pie without base – a bake perhaps?

You need:
* 160g of basic savoury bread sponge – there’s plenty of recipes for this on the web.
* 120g plain white flour
* 40g stoneground flour
* 75g water
* pinch of salt
* about 10 ml olive oil

Mix all the above together, knead until smooth and leave to rise for an hour.

For the filling I used (apologies for the lack of quantities, I can’t remember exactly how much)
* castello blue cheese (Andrew uses gorgonzola which Sainsbury’s didn’t have, but I think would work better)
* green peppers
* mild sweet peppadew piquante peppers, which we’re really addicted to at the moment
* red onions

I fried the onions, then added the green peppers, and finally mixed in the piquante peppers and the cheese.

To construct the calzoni you need to divide the dough into four and roll gently into rounds. Leave to relax for 2 minutes and then roll out into a circle about 15cm diameter. This bit was the really fun bit. The dough is so nice and soft and stretchy and quite forgiving. You can throw it around and pretend you work at dominos.

Brush the edges with egg, put a dollop of filling in the middle and fold over. Finally brush the tops with beaten egg and leave to prove for an hour. Bake at 200C for 15-20 minutes.

To be honest the filling wasn’t a huge success. The creamy blue cheese, bitter green pepper and sweet and spicy red peppers clashed a bit. However the dough was so nice and soft and light that they were gone within 5 minutes flat. Even the two I’d made for lunch the next day.

I’ll definitely try this again but experiment with some different fillings. They taste fantastic fresh, but they could also be good things to make a batch of at the weekend for lunch during the week.

Any suggestions for fillings? Andrew says it’s better to go for things that don’t change in size dramatically when cooked otherwise you end up with an empty calzoni.

Roll out the dough into mini pizza bases, place on a baking sheet. Lightly fry some chopped shallots and mushrooms. We used some tinned artichoke – make sure you rinse these thoroughly or they’ll taste quite salty. Since we’re in Wiltshire we used some Wiltshire ham. Add it all and stick it in a 200C oven for 25 mins. We had ours cold but it’s probably a lot nicer slightly warmed.

A while ago now, whilst visiting some of the local asian shops I found a jar of Date Syrup. Being quite into Dates I decided to buy some without anything particular in mind to use it for. It’s sat at the back of our cupboards for a few months now, partly because I keep forgetting its there but also because I can’t find many recipes that use it.

I’d been promising Jenny for a while now that I’d make some peanut butter biscuits, again that’s not happened either. Today I decided to experiment and mix the two together – rather than biscuits I made flapjacks, making use of the many packets of seeds and oats we had.

Ingredients (10 bars)

• 4 oz Butter
• 1.5 oz Muscovado Sugar
• 2 tbsp Date Syrup
• 2 tbsp Peanut Butter (unsweetened is good, flapjacks are sweet enough)
• 2 tbsp Sultanas
• 5 oz Porridge Oats
• 1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
• 1 tbsp Sunflower Seeds

Method

There really was nothing to this:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Cover baking tray with grease-proof paper.
• Melt the butter in a big pan.Once melted, add the sugar, syrup and peanut butter. Let it all dissolve into a smooth paste.
• Add the sultanas, oats and seeds, mix it all together.
• Layer the mixture onto the baking tray, 1/2 inch thick. Cook for 18mins.
• Let the flapjack cool for 15mins, cut into bars.

Rather than the overly rich and sticky flapjacks you’d get these turned out to have quite a wholesome, almost malty taste. They’re also slightly crumbly – perfect for having with some (ice) cream.

Some notes on Date Syrup

The Date Syrup was pretty much as you’d expect – dark, rich, sweet, syrupy. Although it’s sweet, it’s not sickly – something I could tolerate – less sweet than golden syrup. I definitely intend to use some more of the stuff, I think it works really well with nuts, I might try some sort of cake with Walnuts. It might even work with some sort of Moroccan Lamb dish.

I loosely followed the recipe from the programme which can be found here.  I par-boiled  the potatoes and swede (which were in small cubes) and choped up the steak.  While the veg was boiling, I made the pastry (short crust) in the food processor.   Once rolled, draw around a plate to get a pastry circle.  You then just pile up the ingredients, crimp up, glaze with egg and bake.  Yum.  Sadly the only circular plate I own was huge, so the ensuing pasty was big enough to feed the beast of Bodmin Moor.

This recipe is a king of thrift and simplicity. Quite often if we’re making a quick meal utilising some time saving pie technology (shop bought pastry) we end up with a surplus of puff or shortcrust. We’ve started trying to use it up by making lunch time snacks.

There really wasn’t much to it – roll out the pastry into rectangles roughly 6″ X 8″, fairly thin. Fry up some onion. I used some off-cuts of Salmon which are signifcantly cheaper than the nice slices – you don’t need pretty pieces for a pie. Just shred them up a bit if needed. We added some crumbled Feta, we always seem to have some feta in the fridge (cos it lasts ages). Stuff it all in one half of the rectangle, fold and seal using your fingers. Poke a couple of slits in the top, stick it in the oven for ~ 15mins. Done.

They tasted fairly nice. If we’d planned it beforehand I’d probably substitute the Feta, it was slightly too salty. Goats cheese and add some spinach could work.