Steak pie/Quiche/Beef Stew with Chilli and Chocolate
Woke up to rain and gales - there goes the shopping trip we'd planned! Tomorrow is supposed to be better...
Today, I will have to just get on with the food shop and any advance cooking I can do for the busy week ahead. However, first stop has to be Mum's for coffee and her banana and raisin muffins. She's watching Nigel Slater when H and I arrive. 'Crab Cakes and Mushy Peas' catch my eye - food for thought...
Meanwhile, H is taken with a Butternut Squash Pie. We decide to try this one evening this week, when it's just us.
I have planned a menu this week, to stop me slipping back to the same old recipes, or even trying out any new ones over and over! In the freezer I found a pack of casserole steak, and having 'stewed' in previous weeks (diary entry to follow...) I thought I would attempt a steak pie instead. Similar process, different end result. Guinness would be a good accompaniment and one that I enjoy (it also brings up my iron levels - or that's my excuse! ;-)) I also have some mushrooms to use up and a portion of puff pastry in the freezer - perfect - 'Stout Steak and Mushroom Pie'.
450g Casserole steak
1 medium onion
Good handful of mushrooms, chopped.
1/2 can Guinness
1/4 pint Beef stock, or as I did, water and a beef stock cube (I use Kallo Organic which give a good flavour)
1 tbsp tomato puree
Splash Worcester Sauce.
Seasoning
Fry steak until browned and then add the onions and mushrooms. Fry this for a further 2-3 mins before adding Guinness and stock. Stir in the tomato puree and the Worcester sauce, and then season.
Leave this to gently bubble away for an hour, and although it should be ok, check the liquid levels every now and again.
I'm going to cool this in a dish and refrigerate it before topping with a pastry lid on Monday and cooking at 200 degrees C for 25-30 mins, or until my crust is golden and crispy. Can't wait!
The freezer's been really helpful today. I have frozen off-cuts of pastry from quiches I have made. Today I have been able to use two of them to make two small, individual quiches. R can take one to work tomorrow, the other will be popped back in the freezer for another work lunch. Glad I invested in the little loose based tart tins a few weeks ago.
For the pastry:
8oz plain flour
2oz hard butter
2oz lard
2-3tbsp water.
I have had better success with my pastry since using my food processor. Now, I pop all the ingredients except the water in to the bowl and blend to breadcrumbs in a matter of minutes. When I am happy with the texture, I gradually feed water into the mix and gently watch it combine to a perfect ball of pastry. This is wrapped in food film and put in the fridge for 20-30 mins. I don't leave it too long, otherwise the butter content goes very hard in my fridge and then I can't roll without it breaking apart!
After this time, roll you pastry to fit your buttered tin and gently fit it in. Use baking paper to cover the pastry and pop in some baking beans (or in my case, lentils!) before baking blind for 15 mins at 180 C. Once the case comes out, I always take my lentils out so that the pastry has chance to dry out and doesn't go soggy.
Once the cases have cooled slightly (or a lot if you are making them in advance), fill them to your own taste.
R likes cheese and ham, and this can vary with different cheeses (a good way to use up end pieces of a variety of them) and different hams (Parma ham worked well once). The egg base consists of 3 eggs for a 24cm tin, or 1 egg for my individual 12 cm ones. This I whip up with a good splash of milk and 2-3 heaped tsp cream. I have used sour cream today, but have also used up double cream previously. It sounds a bit hit and miss with the egg mix, but it is! Once I have my eggs in, I just judge that I have enough mixture to give a good filling. It's always better to over do it, than under.
The quiches bake at 180 C for 25-30 mins, sometimes a little longer. They should be golden on top and the egg is starting to crack a little. They will be puffed up with pride, but will lower on cooling.
It's Quick Thai Curry for dinner. It's a favourite recipe from Lorraine Pascale, which I adapt now and again, depending on what I need to use, or if I see something I want to add. I'm adding a previous diary entry, but tonight is a simple chicken and king prawn version.
Finally, here's my diary entry for a great stew I made back in February:
Today, I will have to just get on with the food shop and any advance cooking I can do for the busy week ahead. However, first stop has to be Mum's for coffee and her banana and raisin muffins. She's watching Nigel Slater when H and I arrive. 'Crab Cakes and Mushy Peas' catch my eye - food for thought...
Meanwhile, H is taken with a Butternut Squash Pie. We decide to try this one evening this week, when it's just us.
I have planned a menu this week, to stop me slipping back to the same old recipes, or even trying out any new ones over and over! In the freezer I found a pack of casserole steak, and having 'stewed' in previous weeks (diary entry to follow...) I thought I would attempt a steak pie instead. Similar process, different end result. Guinness would be a good accompaniment and one that I enjoy (it also brings up my iron levels - or that's my excuse! ;-)) I also have some mushrooms to use up and a portion of puff pastry in the freezer - perfect - 'Stout Steak and Mushroom Pie'.
450g Casserole steak
1 medium onion
Good handful of mushrooms, chopped.
1/2 can Guinness
1/4 pint Beef stock, or as I did, water and a beef stock cube (I use Kallo Organic which give a good flavour)
1 tbsp tomato puree
Splash Worcester Sauce.
Seasoning
Fry steak until browned and then add the onions and mushrooms. Fry this for a further 2-3 mins before adding Guinness and stock. Stir in the tomato puree and the Worcester sauce, and then season.
Leave this to gently bubble away for an hour, and although it should be ok, check the liquid levels every now and again.
I'm going to cool this in a dish and refrigerate it before topping with a pastry lid on Monday and cooking at 200 degrees C for 25-30 mins, or until my crust is golden and crispy. Can't wait!
The freezer's been really helpful today. I have frozen off-cuts of pastry from quiches I have made. Today I have been able to use two of them to make two small, individual quiches. R can take one to work tomorrow, the other will be popped back in the freezer for another work lunch. Glad I invested in the little loose based tart tins a few weeks ago.
For the pastry:
8oz plain flour
2oz hard butter
2oz lard
2-3tbsp water.
I have had better success with my pastry since using my food processor. Now, I pop all the ingredients except the water in to the bowl and blend to breadcrumbs in a matter of minutes. When I am happy with the texture, I gradually feed water into the mix and gently watch it combine to a perfect ball of pastry. This is wrapped in food film and put in the fridge for 20-30 mins. I don't leave it too long, otherwise the butter content goes very hard in my fridge and then I can't roll without it breaking apart!
After this time, roll you pastry to fit your buttered tin and gently fit it in. Use baking paper to cover the pastry and pop in some baking beans (or in my case, lentils!) before baking blind for 15 mins at 180 C. Once the case comes out, I always take my lentils out so that the pastry has chance to dry out and doesn't go soggy.
Once the cases have cooled slightly (or a lot if you are making them in advance), fill them to your own taste.
R likes cheese and ham, and this can vary with different cheeses (a good way to use up end pieces of a variety of them) and different hams (Parma ham worked well once). The egg base consists of 3 eggs for a 24cm tin, or 1 egg for my individual 12 cm ones. This I whip up with a good splash of milk and 2-3 heaped tsp cream. I have used sour cream today, but have also used up double cream previously. It sounds a bit hit and miss with the egg mix, but it is! Once I have my eggs in, I just judge that I have enough mixture to give a good filling. It's always better to over do it, than under.
The quiches bake at 180 C for 25-30 mins, sometimes a little longer. They should be golden on top and the egg is starting to crack a little. They will be puffed up with pride, but will lower on cooling.
It's Quick Thai Curry for dinner. It's a favourite recipe from Lorraine Pascale, which I adapt now and again, depending on what I need to use, or if I see something I want to add. I'm adding a previous diary entry, but tonight is a simple chicken and king prawn version.
Monday 14th January 2013
Thai curry for
dinner á la Lorraine
Sliced
3 spring onions and ½ tin of baby corn and then chopped some mushrooms.
Heat
1 tblsp oil.
Fry
thai paste for 2 mins (I used Blue Dragon paste which is hot if I use 2 tblsp,
so this time used 1).
Add
400g diced chicken and cook for 5 mins.
Add
the veg and stir fry for further 2 mins. Add a tin of coconut milk and another
¼ tin of water. Bring this to the boil. Stir and let it bubble away for 5 mins.
Add
prawns and cook for a further 3-4 mins.
Finish
with 2 tsp sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 tblsp fish sauce.
Serve
with hot, fluffy rice in a large bowl*.
Finally, here's my diary entry for a great stew I made back in February:
Sunday 10th February 2013
Used Joanna
Weinberg’s recipe for ‘Beef stew with Chilli and Chocolate’ today, in prep for
Monday’s evening meal. I reduced some quantities to fit my pack of diced beef,
and had a little fiddle with the ingredient list, so I will wait to see what it
will be like when completely finished…
450g
pack stewing beef, diced.
1
carrot, chopped
1
stick celery, sliced
1
medium onion, chopped
2
garlic cloves
½
pack button mushrooms, halved
400ml
beef stock or red wine (or both!)
½
tsp Dijon
pinch
dried chillies
seasoning
and dried herbs
10-20g
dark chocolate with chilli
Brown
the meat in 1 tbsp olive oil, then remove from the pan to a warm plate. Add the
carrot, celery and onion to the pan and cook gently with the lid on for 10
mins, until softened. Add the garlic and the halved mushrooms, and cook for a
further 5 mins.
Return
the beef to the pan with the stock/wine, chillies, mustard and a shake of dried
herbs. Season well with black pepper and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a
simmer, then pop into the oven at 150˚C for 2 hours. I stopped here toady and
after cooking, popped the stew into a dish and into the fridge. Tomorrow, I
plan to reheat and add the chocolate, letting it melt gently into the stew. I
will top the stew with round slices of baguette spread with garlic butter and
return it to the oven for 5-10 mins to get golden and toasty – sounds great –
roll on Monday!
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