baking

Corned Beef, Potato and Onion Pie

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Simple and delicious dinner.

I first had this as a teenager when a school friend’s Mum made this one night when I was at their house. It was a taste revelation to me. Up until then I had only had corned beef (chipped beef in the US) in sandwiches.

I had the idea to make this when looking in a cupboard I found the strange shaped tin with the stupid little key and strange opening mechanism. Honestly, after all these years, why does corned beef have to be stored in these weird shaped tins. And don’t even start me about the stupid key thing you need to open it, that you cut yourself on every single time. I mean it, if anyone knows why this still happens please tell me.

Cheap and simple ingredients make a really delicious filling

Anyway, rant over. You can make this with ready made pasty if you want this to be super quick. I have included details for anyone who prefers to make their own pastry. It’s a good way to use up left over potatoes, and makes an easy inexpensive meal.

Use a loose bottom pie tin to make it easier to remove the pie.

Ingredients

For the pastry

225 Grams Plain flour

100 Grams Butter (cut into cubes)

Cold water

For the filling

300 Grams Potatoes (cooked)

1 Onion (finely sliced)

340 Gram Tin of corned beef

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. My hand are always really warm, so I’m not best suited to make pastry, this is part of the reason I add the flour and butter to a food processor and pulse until I get a mix that looks like bread crumbs (you can also use the traditional rubbing in method, but generally I’m too lazy for this).
  2. When your mix looks like breadcrumbs, start by adding a little cold water at a time until the mix comes together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins. If you’re stuck for time or just can’t be bothered, it’s totally fine to use shop bought pastry
  3. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees and put a baking sheet in the oven to heat. Grease a 9 inch loose base cake/pie tin and set to one side, ready for your pastry
  4. Remove your pastry from the fridge and let it sit for 5-10 minutes so it isn’t too stiff to roll out. While you wait on this, chop your onion finely, and cube your cooked potatoes (which should be cold), after you have wrestled your corned beef out of the tin and tried really hard not to scream f*ck at it, you should cube this as well
  5. Mix the potatoes, corned beef, and onion together and season with salt and pepper
  6. Put the pastry on a floured surface and cut approx 1/3 off and set to one side (this will be the lid for your pie)
  7. Roll the remaining pastry out as thinly as possible, and make sure it’s big enough to fit your pie tin. Line the tin with the pastry, making sure that you have pushed into the edges
  8. Put your corned beef mix into the lined pie dish, and then roll out the remaining pastry to form a lid. brush the edges of the pastry lining the tin with beaten egg and then place the lid on top. I press down the edged with a fork to make sure it’s sealed
  9. Brush the pie with some more beaten egg (it will help it look pretty when it’s cooked) and add a couple holes to allow steam to escape. Place the completed pie on top of the baking sheet that has been heating in the oven (this help ensure the base if cooked).
  10. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is a deep golden brown

Peanut Butter & Jelly Blondies

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So good and so simple

I know, I’m becoming obsessed with blondies during the lock down, but they are so easy and so versatile.

The perfect tea time treat

I wanted something delicious and had run out of chocolate. After a quick scan though my cupboards and my favourite recipes, I settled on this recipe based on one from Cafe Sucre Farine. I like these with a cup of coffee, but they’re also great with a big glass of ice cold milk, or for dessert served with ice cream.

Simple blonde mix, just waiting on its topping.

I actually used lingonberry jam (usually served with meatballs at a large Swedish furniture store), because it was all I had, and it worked fine. You can use whatever flavour of jam/jelly you want or have at home. This is a pretty simple recipe so is probably ideal if you have little hands to keep busy, kids love dolloping on and swirling the pb & j.

Dollop spoonfuls of peanut butter and jam/jelly across the top of the blonde mix

For the blondies

120 Grams Butter

60 Grams Peanut butter

125 Grams Light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 Tsp Baking powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

200 Grams Plain flour

For the topping

80 Grams Peanut butter

80 Grams Jelly/Jam

Swirl the PB & J with the back of a spoon to give a marbled effect.

Method

  1. Pre-heat your oven 180 degrees, and line a 8in x 8in baking tin with baking parchment
  2. Melt 60 Grams peanut butter and butter together in the microwave. I usually give it 30 seconds blasts so as not to burn it, and obviously use a microwave safe bowl
  3. When the peanut butter and butter have melted allow to cool a little add the sugar, salt and baking powder, stir in a beaten egg and then the flour.
  4. Mix until thoroughly combined, and transfer the mix to your lined baking tin
  5. For the topping in two separate bowls add the jam and peanut butter, and microwave each for 30 seconds to soften. Dollop spoonfuls of each across the top of the blonde mix. Then smear with the back of a spoon to give a marbled affect.
  6. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes, and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes
Straight from the oven, allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Soda Bread with Dulse

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Most people from Northern Ireland will remember grandparents trying to force dulse on them as a child. If you were lucky enough to escape this and don’t know what dulse is, it’s deep purple seaweed gathered around the coast of Northern Ireland (and other places too). As a child I found it too salty, and the long strands too chewy (I wasn’t a fan).

The reason most grandparents tried to make kids eat it is because it’s amazingly good for you. It’s jam packed full of iodine, calcium, potassium, and all sorts of vitamins and anti oxidants.

I know apart from the health benefits, I’m not really selling dulse as something you can cook with. However, like the big food nerd that I am, I went on a coastal foraging day last year which was amazing, and ended with a fantastic meal cooked by Celia Sponcer (brilliant local chef). She used different seaweeds as seasoning for breads like focaccia and they were delicious, so she inspired me to try this. Dulse provides a saltiness to dishes, but also a deeper flavour that reminds you of the ozone smell you get when you’re at the coast.

Dulse before it has been finely chopped

In Northern Ireland dulse is sold in most greengrocers, but if you aren’t able to get hold of it you can buy it online from a lot of health food retailers or online (because it’s so good for you).

This recipe calls for buttermilk, which i never have, so if you don’t have it use ordinary milk and the juice of half a lemon (the acidity from the buttermilk/lemon juice is needed to cause the chemical reaction that makes the bread rise).

If you can’t find dulse, or aren’t brave enough to try it, this still makes really delicious and healthy bread. If you’re not using dulse replace it with 1 teaspoon of salt. It’s great served with soups, but my favourite way to enjoy this is sliced with cheese.

Enjoy with butter, or cheese and chutney

Ingredients

375 Grams Wholemeal flour

75 Grams Plain flour

1 Level Tsp Bicarbonate Soda

2 Tbsp Dulse (finely chopped)

325-350 ml Buttermilk (or use ordinary milk with the juice of half a lemon added to it)

Method

  1. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, dulse and baking powder to bowl
  2. Stir in the butter milk/milk and lemon juice mixture until it’s s soft dough
  3. Handle as little as possible, but make the dough into a ball
  4. Turn onto a sheet of baking parchment
  5. With a sharp knife, cut a cross (about one third of the depth of the dough) across the centre of the bread
  6. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees for 45 minutes or until the base sounds hollow when you tap it

Blondies with Chocolate Chips

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I think we can all agree that no one is counting calories at the minute. I’m trying to fill my time and decided to try blondies (the chewy caramely cousin of the brownie).

This is based on a Simply Recipes version, they used white chocolate chips. I didn’t have these, so I improvised my chopping up orange flavoured chocolate (if the manufacturer would like to send me some samples that would be great, just saying)

You can also use chopped nuts or even cubes of apple. These freeze well, but realistically won’t last long enough.

FYI, your kitchen will smell amazing.

Recipe

115 Grams Butter

220 Grams Dark brown sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla extract (option)

1/2 Tsp Baking powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

125 Grams Plain flour

60 Grams Chocolate (chopped)

1 Egg

Fold in the chopped Chocolate

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees, and grease and line a 21cm x 21cm brownie tin with baking parchment
  2. Melt the butter and add to the sugar and vanilla extract and whisk, when the mixture has cooled a little whisk in the egg
  3. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder and mixture thoroughly. Fold in the chocolate, before transferring to a lined baking tin
  4. Bake for 25 minutes, and allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes

Corn Bread

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Like everyone else I’m trying to limit how much I go out at the minute. Also because some people are being eejits and stripping supermarket shelves, I’m trying to work with ingredients I already have at home.

While having a look around the cupboard I found some polenta. I bought it to try a recipe for the Italian supper club and was not really a fan of how the Italian’s use it. However, it works well in the Soul Food staple of corn bread. The American version is too sweet for my taste, so I reduced the amount of sugar.

The recipe also calls for butter milk, which I didn’t have. No problem, just add a good squeeze of lemon juice to ordinary milk for the same effect (the acid in the butter milk/lemon juice helps the chemical reaction that makes the bread rise)

I serve this with chilli, but it’s also good served alongside soups. An American friend of mine also uses left over corn bread, crumbled up over casseroles to make a crunchy topping when baked in the oven. This also freezes really well.

115 Grams Cornmeal/fine polenta

150 Grams Plain flour

1 Tsp Sugar

1 Tsp Salt

1.5 Tsp Baking powder

0.5 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

2 Eggs

350 ml Butter milk (or semi skimmed milk, with a good squeeze of lemon)

50 Grams Butter

1 Onion (finely sliced)

Extra butter to grease the baking tin

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees, grease a round 23cm cake tin
  2. Melt the butter in a frying pan, and fry the onion until translucent, and allow to cool
  3. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl
  4. In a separate bowl combine the the eggs, butter milk, and fried onions (including the butter the cooked in)
  5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well until any large lumps are gone. It’s quite a wet mixture so don’t panic
  6. Pour the mix into your greased baking tin, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Check with a skewer or toothpick and when it comes out clean, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes

Goat’s Cheese and Roast Vegetable Galette

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Colourful and delicious

The last couple of months have been cold, wet and sh*tty. I needed something that reminded me of sunshine, so I made this. It’s relatively easy to make, and looks impressive when you bring it to the table if you’re cooking for people.

If you’re super organised you can use this recipe to use up leftover roast vegetables. I made my own pasty, but as always you can use shop bought if you’re short on time.

Alot of people aren’t fans of goat’s cheese. If you’re one of them, you can swap it for another soft cheese like brie or camembert.

Serve with salad for a fantastic lunch.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the pastry

200 Grams Plain flour

1/4 Tsp Salt

100 Grams Butter

1 Egg yolk

Cold water

(Plus 1 Egg to brush the pastry with)

Sesame or onion seeds (optional)

Filling

1 Onion (cut into 8)

1 Red pepper (cut into 8)

1 Aubergine (cut into 2-3 cm cubes)

125 Grams Soft goat’s cheese

200 Grams Cherry tomatoes still on the vine

2 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Tsp Dried oregano or thyme

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Prepare the vegetables, and place them in a flat oven proof dish. Drizzle with oil and bake in an oven for 30-40 minutes until starting to chat at the edges a little. Allow to cool before using.
  2. In a food processor, add the flour and butter and pulse until this looks like breadcrumbs (the rubbing in method if you prefer).
  3. Add the yolk, and gradually add the cold water, mixing until the dough comes together in a ball. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes
  4. After chilling, allow the pastry to come to room temperature. Roll the pastry out in as neat a circle as possible, place on a sheet of baking parchment, and then lay on a baking sheet
  5. Break up the goat’s cheese and sprinkle across the centre of the pastry, leaving an edge of 3-4cm around the pastry
  6. Top the goat’s cheese with roast vegetables (having squeezed out any liquid). Top with the vine tomatoes
  7. Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg. Gently fold in the edges of the pastry and pleat the pastry to create a crust for the galette
  8. Brush the exposed pastry with beaten egg, and sprinkle the pastry with sesame or onion seeds for some extra colour and flavour.
  9. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Serve with salad

Gypsy Pie

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Gooey and delicious.

I made this sort of by accident. I meant to buy condensed milk for another dessert I was planning to make. The short story is that I was distracted in the supermarket and bought evaporated milk instead.

Don’t panic if this looks very puffy when it comes out of the oven.

Rather then waste it, I remembered a recipe using evaporated milk I had seen in an old recipe book I bought in a charity shop. I still have no idea how it got its name. But I do know its delicious, incredibly tasty and very sweet. This is a pretty straight forward recipe, you could even buy a premade pastry case if you’re short on time. The filling has only two ingredients, but once baked this turns into fudgy, caramely deliciousness. We had custard with this, but ice cream would also work.

Just two ingredients for the filling.

Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients

For the pastry

200 Grams Plain flour

100 Grams Butter

1 Tbsp Caster sugar

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Egg yolk

3 Tbsp cold water

For the filling

280 Grams Muscavado Sugar

410 ml Tin of Evaporated milk

Whisk until light and fluffy.

Method

  • In a food processor add the flour, butter, salt, sugar and egg yolk and whizz until it looks like breadcrumbs. (You can use the “rubbing in” method of you prefer, but I think it’s easier and quicker to use a food processor)
  • Add cold water to the crumb mix until it starts to come together, and you can form a ball.
  • Wrap in cling film and refridgerate for 30 minutes.
  • After 30 minutes take the pastry out of the fridge and preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Brush a a loose base 9 inch pie tin with melted butter
  • Roll the pastry out as thinly as possible on a floured surface and line your pie tin with it.
  • Place a large square of baking parchment (larger than the inside of the pie tin) on top of the pastry and cover the base with baking beans (I keep old dried rice in a jar to use when I need to blind bake pastry) bake for 15 minutes
  • After 15 minutes remove from the oven, and carefully lift the baking parchment by the corners taking care not to spill the rice/baking beans on the pastry. Pierce the bottom of the pie base all over with a fork and return to the oven for another 10 minutes
  • Put the muscavado sugar and evaporated milk in a bowl. Mix with an electric whisk for 5-10 until with sugar and milk are no longer grainy, and becomes lighter in colour and looks frothy.
  • Remove the pie base from the oven. Fill the pie base with the sugar and milk mixture and return to the oven
  • Bake for a further 25 minutes. The filling may puff up in the oven, but don’t panic, it deflate as it cools.
  • Allow to cool completely before cutting