Meat & potato pie

Those winter nights are drawing in and whatever you call your evening meal depending on whereabouts you're from in the UK, the one thing we all want when its cold & gloomy is something warm, comforting & taste bud tingling delicious 

Well my recipe for a meat and potato pie is just that. Delicious slow cooked beef, paired with potatoes & encased in a rich short crust pastry.

The perfect centre peice for a family winter evening dinner. To serve 4-6 people you will need :

800g boneless beef or lamb

2 medium onions chopped

3 tbsps plain flour

300ml veg stock

2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp onion salt

2 tsp marmite/veg extract

4/5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

1 tbsp tyme leaves ( fresh or dried ) 

2 tsp tomato puree

A good handful of steamed baby potatoes 

2 blocks of short crust pastry/2 sheets of ready rolled short crust

• Start by coating the meat peices in the flour in a bowl

• Seal the meat by cooking on a meduim to high heat until browned all over. You may find it easier to do it in batches. 

• Once the meat is browned all over, add in the chopped onion and cook until the onions are soft and beginning to colour. 

• Add in all the other ingredients except for the potatoes and leave to simmer on a low heat until the meat is nice and tender and the stock has reduced to a nice thick gravy. 

• Add in the steamed potatoes and stir through. Check the seasoning & adjust if required. Leave to completely cool 

• If you're using the pastry block, roll one block out to an inch thick and use this to line a 23cm round pie dish. For the sheet,  no need to roll - you can line your dish without rolling 

• Pour the cooled filling into the lined dish then roll out the 2nd block to the same thickness and place over the filling. Seal the edges by pressing them together with a fork or tip of a butter knife. 

• Brush the top of the pie with egg wash .. make a hole in the middle for the steam to escape. You can decorate the pie with the left over pastry trimmings - i used my leaf cookie cutter

• Bake for 25-35 mins at 210 fan or until golden brown all over & serve with whichever sides you like 

Toad in the hole

When it's been a cold, wet, windy typically British winter day and evening and all you want is some comfort food to warm your insides up, toad in the hole is definitely one of my all time favourites to  make.

It's  so simple, but so so delicious, and an added bonus is that it all cooks in one pan  which means less to wash up - win win

I served it with my red onion gravy and some buttery mash- and it definitely hot the spot.

To serve 4 people you will need :
8 sausages ( i used shezan halal lamb ones )
30g butter
50ml oil
125g plain flour
A good pinch of salt and pepper
2 large eggs
80ml milk
40 ml cold water

• Start by preheating your oven to 210c ( fan)

• Put  the flour, salt and pepper into a bowl, make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into the well

• Whisk the eggs with the flour to form a thick batter. Slowly add in the milk & continue to whisk and you should have a smooth pourable batter. Place in the fridge to rest

• Place the sausages along with the butter and oil into a roasting dish - mine was about 25x30cm , cook for about 15 minutes till just cooked.

• Take the batter out of the fridge, pour in the cold water, and whisk together.

• Remove the sausages from the oven & pour in all the batter quickly but carefully

• Place back in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the yorkshire pudding is crisp and golden, and serve

Vegetable Lasagne

In a bid to to up the amount of vegetables we eat as a family, a few weeks ago I thought I would try out something new for our dinners as a family - to have a vegetable based meal for our dinner at least 3 times a week. It hasn't been easy let me tell you but we are managing to stick to it.

One dish that I have made that even the kids devoured was vegetable lasagne. As a family we have always stuck to the classical meat lasagne and as of yet I haven't even attempted a moussaka due to both my kids not being so keen on aubergines but after them loving this, moussaka is on the to do list.


To make my vegetable lasagne for a family of 4 you will need:

1 red onion
2 aubergines
2 bell peppers (I used 1 red and 1 yellow)
4 cloves of garlic cloves crushed or 1 tbsp garlic paste
2 courgettes
500g chopped mushrooms
small bunch of basil
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
a generous handful of cheddar cheese
40g Italian hard cheese
2 tsp sugar
7-8 lasagne sheets (I used fresh sheets for speed and ease of cutting them to fit my dish)
1 batch of my cheese sauce 

• Start by preparing your vegetables. Wash as required and chop the courgette, aubergine into small chunks. Slice the bell peppers and the red onion.
• Heat a large heavy based pan with a drizzle of olive oil and add in the garlic cloves/paste. Cook the garlic till just coloured and softened, and add in all your vegetables with a large pinch of salt.
• Cook the vegetables on a medium heat, stirring intermittently until they start to brown and slightly caramelise
• Whilst the vegetables are cooking, make up a batch of my cheese sauce. You can find the recipe here
• Once the vegetables have cooked, add the tomato paste, sugar, chopped tomatoes and about 180ml-200ml of water. Simmer the vegetables on a medium heat until you have a slightly thickened but not dry mixture. Chop up half of the bunch of basil, add to the vegetables  and stir through.
• Now to layer up the lasagne. Start with a layer of the vegetables at the bottom of an oven proof dish. Pour a little of the cheese sauce to just cover the vegetables. Cover this layer with the lasagne sheets- each of my layers took 3 fresh sheets.
• Repeat this process until the last layer is lasagne sheets. Pour the cheese sauce over the top, ensuring the whole top layer is covered. Sprinkle the top with the cheddar cheese and Italian hard cheese and bake in a preheated oven 200c (fan) for 35-40 minutes or until the cheese layer has melted and is golden brown 
• Just before serving, chop up the remaining basil and scatter over the top of the lasagne and serve.

 

Here you go Saqi

My last post  ' Because the cousin's wife asked ' was done at the request of my cousin's wife. Tonight "Here you go Saqi" is brought to you at the request of my friend Saqiba. She asked for my recipe for Keema and potato and I'm actually surprised at myself for not blogging it already as it's not just one of mine but a firm favourite of my kids and husband, and any leftover mince makes a  great base for a chilli.

This is a dish where you literally put everything in at once, leave it cooking away slowly while you get on with other jobs and you end up with a delicious fragrant and comforting curry with minimal effort 


So to serve 4-6 people you will 

1 kilo lamb/beef mince 
6 medium onions
6-8 cloves garlic / 2 frozen cubes
1 thumb piece of grated ginger / 3 frozen cubes 
1 1/2  tsp salt
2 tsp curry powder
1 tin tomatoes / 3 large fresh tomatoes 
50ml olive/vegetable oil
3 -4 green chillies 
2 bay leaves 
3 cloves 
1- 1 1/2 cm piece of cinnamon
1 -2 tsp garam masala 
fresh chopped coriander 
2 small tins of baby potatoes 

• Finely slice the onions and add to a heavy based pan, then add all the ingredients except the coriander, potatoes and garam masala to the pan. 
• Add just enough water to cover the mince and leave to simmer on a medium heat. You should leave it cooking till the mince has cooked through and all the ingredients reduce down- quite similarly as you would with slow cooking a chilli.
• As the mince is cooking away you may need to top up the water to ensure the onions and tomatoes break up to make the curry masala- I found this takes 40-50 minutes on a medium heat.
• Once the mince has cooked through and you have a smooth masala, you need to bhun the mixture which basically means to ensure all the water reduces, the oil separates from the mince and the masala sticks to the mince 
• Add the potatoes and on a medium heat, cook the mince till it's slightly browned in colour. At this point you can leave it as it is quite dry which is typical of a bhuna or re add a little water to loosen it up a little 
• Stir in the garam masala and the coriander just before serving with either chapatis or boiled rice