Showing posts with label Recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipe. Show all posts

Friday, 30 August 2013

Home Made Apple Pie...




Well this is a post I didn't think I'd be writing this week!

But what do you do when a juice detox goes pear shaped? (Sorry I couldn't resist)

You make Apple Pie of course!

I didn't have high expectations as last time I tried apple crumble it didn't go too well, it was ok but not great.

And I was even making the the pastry from scratch.

Also as I had two little helpers this could probably go into the records books as the longest time to make apple pie ever recorded :)






But I have to say it was delicious and I was very pleasantly surprised.

Here's the recipe I followed:

serves 6

Ingredients


  • for the pastry

  • • 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • • 50g icing sugar
  • • sea salt
  • • 1 lemon
  • • 125g cold butter, plus extra for greasing
  • • 2 large eggs
  • • a splash of milk

  • for the filling

  • • 5 eating apples (I used my left over Golden Delicious)
  • • 3 tablespoons Demerara sugar
  • • ½ a lemon

To make your pastry


 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4
 From a height, sieve your flour into a large mixing bowl
 Add the sugar, a pinch of salt, and finely grate over the zest of the lemon
 Cut the butter into cubes, then add to the bowl
 Use your fingertips to gently work the butter into the flour and sugar until the  mixture resembles breadcrumbs
 Crack the egg into the bowl with a tiny drop of milk and gently mix with your    hands until the dough   comes together
 Wrap it in clingfilm and pop in the fridge to rest while you make the filling






To make your filling



  Peel all of your apples (do not nearly slice off your little finger like I did)
  Cut the eating apples into eighths, get rid of the cores
  Add all the apple pieces to a small pan with the sugar
  Finely grate over the zest of half a lemon, then squeeze in a little juice 
  Toss to mix then put the pan on a medium low heat 
  Simmer gently until the apples are just tender
  Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely






To make and cook your pie


Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with flour 
Divide your pastry dough into two and roll out one half until ½cm thick 
Carefully roll your pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it carefully over a 20cm pie dish




Finely grate over the zest of half a lemon, then squeeze in a little juice 

Ease the pastry into the dish, making sure you push it into all the sides
Don’t worry if it tears or breaks – just patch it up – it will look nice and rustic 
Pack the apple mix tightly into the pie dish




Separate your remaining egg and beat the yolk with a splash of milk and brush over the pastry rim 

Roll out the other piece of dough until ½cm thick 
Carefully roll the pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it over the top of the pie


Fold the excess pastry back in then pinch and crimp the edges together using your finger and thumb 

small incisions in the centre of the pie to let steam escape as it cooks




Bake in the hot oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden and firm to the touch 


Serve with custard, fresh cream or ice cream


Serve and enjoy








Monday, 29 April 2013

Home Made Yorkshire Puddings - Revised

Another food blog!!! 

As you know I am determined to start cooking things from scratch and next on my hit list was Yorkshire Puddings.

No more Aunt Bessie's for us (well that is the plan)

I trawled the Internet for recipes and they all looked pretty similar and easy enough and this is the one I went for.

125g of plain flour
300 ML of milk
2 eggs
Pinch of salt & pepper

Sieve the flour into a bowl
Make a well and put in the eggs
Then mix until firm
Add the milk and mix thoroughly

Leave to stand for 30 minutes

Oil and pre heat muffin tray

Add Yorkshire pudding mixture and cook for 25-30 minutes

Do not open oven door until they are cooked (as I learnt to my horror last week as I ended up with very flat stodgy yorkshires and I only opened the door for a second)

Makes at least 12 Yorkshire Puddings and I always have some mixture left.

And that's it! Simple and very tasty Yorkshire puddings. Amelia currently will only eat yorkshires so I am judging her as a bit of a expert and she says they are much nicer than Aunt Bessie's so that's good enough for me :)

Update

Ok after my early smugness my yorkshire puddings stopped rising (damn you yorkshire puddings!!)

So after much sulking and head scratching (and the power of Google) I know add 3 eggs rather than 2, make sure my oven is on full wack, get my oil sizzling before I add the mix and then turn the oven down once the mix has been in for 10 minutes and (touch wood) they have been great since.







Making real gravy.... Revised!

I was a bit nervous of this one for some reason, but in reality it was very simple and absolutely delicious.

I will not go back to instant gravy for roasts ever again, it made such a difference to the meal.

So here is what I did

Put pan with meat juices onto the hob and heated until fat started spitting

Then I added two table spoons of plain flour and mixed to a paste

I then added hot water from my potatoes and whisked

You can add a stock/oxo cube at this point if you desire (I did)

Then I whisked some more


I left to simmer on the hob whilst I dished out and it thickened up nicely

I will say that I struggled to get the flour to mix completely so I had to siv the gravy but for my first attempt I was delighted with the result.

Update!

I have figured out how to not make lumpy gravy (woo hoo) and its down what I stir with. If I use a spoon with holes in then viola I don't get lumps, which makes me a happy girl :)







Friday, 8 March 2013

Left Over Chicken Pie

This is a blog I never thought I'd write.... A food post... Me?? Thats laughable, as I am terrible in the kitchen!

I either burn things as I get distracted or I under cook it in the fear of burning it (you get the picture)

But I am determined to start cooking more things from scratch and this brilliant (and very easy) recipe was given to me by my sister (thanks Jo)

I was a bit dubious as I'm not keen on left overs but I gave it a go and it is delicious. If you are anything like us we always have a ridiculous amount of chicken left over after our Sunday roast, which makes it economical in these hard times as well, bonus.

Ingredients

Left over chicken
mushrooms
a tin of sweetcorn
carrots (cooked or tinned)
2 tins of condensed mushroom soup
Short crust pastry

Directions

Heat the soup, chicken, carrots and mushrooms in a pan
when hot add the sweetcorn
Put contents into your pie dish and leave to cool for 30 minutes

Roll pastry and add to pie dish
Brush with egg

Cook for approx 30 - 40 minutes until pastry is thoroughly cooked

and viola a hearty delicious chicken pie