Apple and Blackberry In and Out

What a completely miserable yukky day!! It's windy and rainy and not nice at all. Not fit for man nor beast as the Toddster would say . . . a bit depressing wot!

Just the perfect day for a fruity pudding . . . served up all warm and stodgy from the oven.



This is one I found in the Good Granny Cookbook, by Jane Fearnley Wittingstall. This is a favourite book of mine. It's chock full of traditional, family friendly and delicious recipes. Our kind of food.



No pretention. Just plain and simple ingredients presented in a plain and simple way. Tried and true's of a Granny. Wholesome and delicious.



Just the kind of food for a rainy day. Comforting and tasty. This pudding apparently is a Devonshire favourite! That's probably why they recommend Clotted Cream to be served with it.



Mmmm . . . you can't beat a buttery pudding, filled with tart apples and sweet blackberries (my addition) topped with a healthy dollop of rich clotted cream. This was like a little ray of sunshine on a very cloudy and miserable day. It can rain any day it wants to if this is waiting at the end of it all! (ok, maybe not every day.)



*Apple and Blackberry In and Out*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Apparently this is a real favourite in Devon when made with just apples. I added Blackberries because they taste good, and they always look so pretty when paired with apples.

8 ounces self raising flour (2 cups)
4 ounces shredded beef suet (1/2 cup. You can use grated ice cold butter instead)
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
a large handful of blackberries
1/2 pint of milk (about 1 1/4 cups)

3 TBS Caster Sugar



Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a 9 inch round baking dish. Set aside.

Mix the flour, suet and sugar together. Add the apples and enough milk to bring the mixture to a dropping consistency. Fold in the blackberries, gently. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and then bake until it is brown and crunchy on top (30 to 35 minutes.) Eat warm, spooned out into bowls and topped with dollops of clotted Cream.

Note: If your apples are very tart, you may add a bit more sugar if you wish. 

Another repeat I am afraid, but some things are just so good they bear repeating.  I promise to have something totally NEW for you tomorrow!

Mom's Peanut Butter Fudge

One thing my mother always made at least once during the holidays was peanut butter fudge. It was never chocolate or any other kind . . . always peanut butter, but we didn't mind because we loved it so very much. It was a real treat!



She always made it in the same pot, an old aluminum one that she had gotten in her original set of Wearever cookware back in 1955. I think it cost almost as much as a house, but here we are 2011 and she is still using it. Money well spent, I'd say!



She never measured anything. She didn't need to . . . it was all done by memory, and she knew exactly how much of each thing she needed to add by sight alone . . . and it always worked like a charm, every time. (Me . . . I made fudge sometimes for my children when they were growing up, and 9 times out of 10 they'd end up having to eat it with a spoon.



We'd watch her as it went together . . . as if by magic . . . and then sometimes she would let us beat it when it was ready, with her big old wooden spoon . . . if we'd been very good . . .we'd be given the pot and spoon to lick clean . . . we did a pretty good job of that, coz it would always be as clean as a whistle by the time we were done.



The beaten fudge would be poured into the same pan each time . . . it was an old aluminium tin, blackened through use . . . it's bottom engraved in a swirly pattern of raised tin. Some how those little traced swirls on the bottom of each piece only added to it's flavour . . . cakes used to come out with that swirly pattern as well. Nom! Nom!



After I grew up, I was determined to learn how to make it for myself and my family, and so I had her dump in the ingredients one at a time one evening . . . and I carefully measured them as she did so. It worked out pretty well, as I have had a great peanut butter fudge recipe for years that I can count on to turn out every single time.



It never quite tastes quite as good as the memory of the taste of hers . . . but then . . . I don't have that special touch of magic mother's love that she put into it . . . nor do I have a swirley bottomed pan.



*Mom's Peanut Butter Fudge*
Makes one 8 inch square pan
Printable Recipe

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a pan of this to munch on! Creamy and peanut buttery. If you don't like peanut butter, look away now!

21 ounces of white sugar (3 cups)
3 TBS smooth peanut butter
250ml of whole milk (1 cup)
2 ounces butter (1/4 cup)
1 tap vanilla

Butter an 8 inch square pan. Set aside.

Place the sugar, peanut butter and milk into a LARGE saucepan. (You will need a really big one as it really increases in volume when it is boiling. Trust me on this.) Heat, whisking, until the peanut butter is completely melted into the mixture. Increase the heat slightly and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to a medium boil and continue to boil, stirring occasionally to help prevent it from catching. You will want to boil it to the soft ball stage, (115*C/235*F) This should take between 18 to 25 minutes or so. Once this happens, remove from the heat immediately.

Stir in the butter and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until it begins to look creamy and begins to lose it's gloss. Pour into the prepared pan immediately. (Don't wait too long or it will harden in the pot and you won't be able to pour it into the prepared pan. You just want it to begin losing it's gloss.) Allow to set for about an hour at room temperature, before cutting into squares to serve.

Store in an airtight container. This also freezes well.

Christmas Tourtiere's 2013

  

 

When I was growing up it was a Christmas Tradition each year for my mother to make Tourtiere.    My father is French Canadian and the Tourtiere was a tradition in his family.  Tourtiere is a type of a meat pie which is served in French Canada during the Christmas Holidays, normally on Christmas Eve during their Reveillon celebrations, which last pretty much all night.  My father is from the Saugenay Lac St Jean region of Quebec.

My mother was English however and staying up all night was not an option in our home.   Neither was meat pie on Christmas Day, and so we always had it on Boxing Day.  Truth be known  it was a very important part of our Christmas holiday celebrations no matter when we ate it and it was something all of us looked forward to each year.



I do believe that there are as many recipes for Tourtiere as there are families that eat it.  Some opt to use finely chopped meat . . . pork, or veal . . . and others use ground meat, sometimes just pork, and often a combination of pork and beef.  My mother always used just beef.  I like to use pork and beef.  My ex sister in law always used chopped pork shoulder.  (She was Acadian French.)

 

Some use dried bread crumbs to absorbe some of the moisture from their filling.  Some use grated raw potato cooked in with the meat.  Some grate cooked potato into the filling . . . I like to use dried potato flakes because you don't get any lumps of potato, but it thickens the filling nicely.



All will have finely chopped onions and ground cloves.   Garlic, savory, thyme, etc. . . . these are optional.  I do use them, but my mother only used the savory along with the onion and cloves.  I also add a few chopped celery leaves and some parsley.  It changes each year.  I keep fiddling with it a bit here and a bit there in my quest for the perfect Tourtiere.  I think my sister always makes the best ones, but alas . . . she is 2,000 miles away, so mine will just have to do.  The Toddster isn't complaining!

*Tourtiere 2013*

makes two nine inch pies
Printable Recipe

I have been working at finding the perfect tourtiere my whole life.  Tourtiere is a French Canadian meat pie which is generally served at Christmas.  I grew up with them.  My sister makes the best ones ever.  This one comes close.

For the pastry: (make this recipe twice, don't double)

200g plain flour (2 cups)

3/4 tsp table salt

75g of butter (1/3 cup)

73g of lard (1/3 cup)

5 to 6 TBS of ice water

one egg yolk beaten with a bit of water to glaze

For the filling:

1 pound extra lean ground pork

1 pound extra lean ground steak

2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped

2 small cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

salt and black pepper to taste

finely chopped parsley and celery leaves to taste

1 tsp savory

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup boiling water or chicken stock

3 TBS instant potato flakes

First make the filling.   Place the meats in a large pot along with the onions, garlic, parsley, celery, savory, cloves and some seasoning.   Mix with your hands.  Add the boiling water/stock.  (It should be just barely covered)  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through and is no longer pink.  Simmer for about half an hour.  Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.  Stir in the potato flakes.  Set aside to cool.

Make the pastry. (You will need to do the pastry recipe twice for the best results.)  Sift the flour into a bowl and whisk in the salt.  Cut the fats into bits and drop in.   Cut them in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs with a pastry blender.   Add the ice water a bit at a time, using a fork to blend until you have a pastry that comes together.  Just use as much water as you need to do this.  You may need more or less, depending on the weather.    Shape the pastry into two round flat discs, wrap  in cling film and chill for half an hour.  Repeat.

Roll two of the pastry discs into a round large enough to fit into each of two nine-inch pie tins with an overhang.  Divide the cooled filling between each crust.  Roll out the two remaining discs to cover the tops with an overhang.  Wet the edges of the bottom crust and place the top crusts over each.   Seal and trim.  Cut out a steam vent in the centre of each pie.  Roll out the scraps if desired and use to decorate the tops.  Brush with the beaten egg yolk to glaze.

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Place the two pies on a large baking try and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and crisp on the bottom.



I did a little one for Todd so you could see how flakey that pastry is and what the filling looks like.  He really enjoys this each year, and of course he doesn't have to watch his waistline!



(My sister's pies this year!  Yes we both like to take photos of what we cook and eat!  It must run in the family!)

Note:  If you only want to make one pie, just cut all the ingredients for the filling in half.  Or make the full batch and freeze half of it for another time.   You can also bake this in individual pies.  My sister does and uses canning jar lids for the pans.  Works perfectly!

Speculaas for Christmas

 

These are my favourite of all the Christmas Cookies.  Dutch Speculaas cookies, or what I grew up calling windmill cookies.   They are a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on or just before St Nicholas' feast in the Netherlands.  In recent years they have become available pretty much all year round.



Speculoos are thin, very crunchy, slightly browned and crisp and spicy.  Traditionally they are stamped with pictures . . . which is why I called them windmill cookies growning up as the ones we bought were always shaped like windmills.



Most Christmas's I have been able to buy them at Lidl, but we don't have a Lidl in Chester, only Aldi, so the last couple of years I have been missing them.  They are actually quite dangerous to have around the house because I can eat them like potato chips . . . they are so crisp and delicious and moreish.



I found a recipe to make my own on Pinterest the other day.  It comes from www.saltmag.com.  They looked really good and easy to make.   I have tried other recipes through the years and always been disappointed in the results.   They have never tasted as good as my memory of the windmill cookies of my childhood.



These did not disappoint.  They taste even better than the ones you can buy, and best of all . . . they are homemade and there is not a preservative or artificial ingredient included.   Everything is pure and natural . . . and delicious.   Crisp.   Buttery.   Perfectly spiced!

*Speculaas*

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen

Printable Recipe  

This is a recipe I adapted from saltedmag.   Believe it or not these taste even better than the ones you can buy in the shops at Christmas!  They smell heavenly when they are baking.  Your house will smell like Christmas!

48g ground almonds (1/2 cup)

188g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

113g unsalted butter at room temperature (1/2 cup)

110g light muscovado sugar (1/2 cup)

100g golden caster sugar (1/2 cup)

1 large free range egg

Whisk the almonds, flour, soda, salt and spices together in a bowl.   Set aside.  Cream together the butter and both sugars using an electric mixer on medium/high speed until light and fluffy.   Beat in the egg, until combines.   Beat the flour in slowly just to combine.   Shape into a round flat disc and wrap in plastic cling film.   Refrrigerate for at least one hour, but preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.   Line several baking sheets with baking parchment.  Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out the cookies to your desired preference and place onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each.   Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.  They should be firm and lightly golden brown around the edges. Allow to stand on the baking sheets for several minutes before scooping off to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.  Reroll scraps and repeat until all the dough is used. Store in an airtight container.



The cookie cutters I used to make these are the set of Tala  5 star cookie cutters.   There are five to the set in graduating sizes from only 1 1/2 inches to four inches in diameter.   They were easy to use and are dishwasher proof.   They also store easily, fitting snuggly together.



Available at all good cook shops for approximately £4.99.  I highly recommend.

Gardener's Pie

 

 Back during the war years there wasn't a lot of meat to go around and so families often dined on such favourites as Woolton Pie, which  was an adaptable dish of vegetables, created at the Savoy Hotel in London by its then Maitre Chef de Cuisine, Francis Latry.



It was one of a number of recipes commended to the British public by the Ministry of Food during the Second World War to enable a nutritional diet to be maintained despite shortages and rationing of many types of food, especially meat.  



It wasn't named after the chef, but after the 1st Lord Woolton, Frederick Marquis, who became the Minster of Food here in the UK in 1940.  It was a simple  recipe which involved dicing and cooking potatoes (or parsnips), cauliflower, swede, carrots and, possibly, turnip.



Rolled oats and chopped spring onions were added to the thickened vegetable water which was poured over the vegetables themselves. The dish was topped with potato pastry and grated cheese and served with vegetable gravy. The recipe could be adapted to reflect the availability and seasonality of ingredients.  And most people had Victory Gardens in the back yard and grew a lot of their own veg, so it was quite practical and filling as well.

 

This isn't a Woolton Pie per se which I am showing you here today, however loosely based upon it, but a sort of Veggie Shepherd's pie.  There is no oats involved.  There is no pastry.  Just lots of tasty vegetables and a nice hot topping of cheesey mash.  



It's so tasty, I guarantee you won't miss the meat, but if you have any die hard carnivores in the family, you could always offer this in smaller portions and serve a few chops on the side.  Myself, I could quite happily sit down to a plate of this and nothing else.

*Gardener's Pie*

Serves 6

Printable Recipe  


This all vegetable pie might be filled with humble ingredients, but there’s nothing humble about the taste. This makes a delicious lunch or supper dish. It’s also a great accompaniment to roast beef or lamb if you really must have some meat, but trust me when I say that it is truly satisfying on it’s own.  

For the filling:

1kg of assorted mixed vegetables (2.2 pounds)

(I used a peeled onion, a celery stick, a large carrot, a large piece of Swede,

1/2 a cauliflower, a couple jerusalem artichokes, a leek,a small celeriac, a sweet potato)

2 TBS olive oil

vegetable stock

1/2 tsp summer savory

salt and pepper to taste

For the Topping:
2 pounds of floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
(use a King Edward, Maris Piper, or good Idaho potato)
2 ounces butter
¼ cup of sour cream
1 TBS finely grated onion
Salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces grated strong cheddar cheese
A little warmed milk if necessary

Pre-heat the oven to 220*C/450*F/gas mark 7.

Peel and chop the onion. Peel and dice all the other vegetables into a uniform dice. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and vegetables and cook them over medium high heat, stirring from time to time until they just start to colour. Add enough stock to just barely keep them from sticking to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are still crispy tender. Season them to taste with some salt and a good grinding of pepper. Stir in the herbs, and then pop the whole mixture into a pie dish. It may seem a bit dry, but not to worry, the final baking in the oven will release all those delicious vegetable juices.

For the topping put the potatoes into a pan of salted boiling water and cook them until they are fork tender. Drain well and return the potatoes to the pan. Give them a good shake over the still warm burner to dry them out a bit and then mash them well along with the butter and sour cream. Stir in the cheese and grated onion. Add only enough milk to make them nice and fluffy. You don’t want the mixture to be too loose. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Pile the fluffy mash on top of the cooked vegetables and bang the pie dish into the heated oven. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until the topping is nicely browned. Serve hot.

Beef, Ale & Parsnip Pudding

 


The Toddster grew up during the War years.  He was born just before the beginning of WW2, and was only 7 years old when it finished.  His mom was a very traditional cook, and of course there was rationing for all of his growing up years.  He has very fond memories however of the dishes his mother made.  He especially loved her meat puddings.



When I talk about a meat pudding here I am not talking about a sweet pudding, but a very delicious steamed savoury pudding, stogged full of meat and gravy.  Some might think it a bit stodgy . . . but then again dishes which were popular during those years were designed to fill em up with less meat and more stodge.



Todd was longing for a meat pudding and so I did a search online to see if I could find a good one.  I found a fabulous one on BBC GoodFood.  It was called Beef, Ale and Parsnip Pudding and it looked fabulous!



Since it was my first time making a meat pudding, I followed the recipe exactly this first time.  It was very easy to do.  I think just about anyone could do it.  The only change I made was to substitute half of the beef suet for grated cold butter.



It was fabulously delicious!  I quite liked it myself, and Todd was in Meat Pudding heaven!  The gravy was rich and wonderful.  The pastry was nice and crisp, and the meat so tender.   Unlike the BBC recipe, I also cooked the filling the day before and chilled it overnight.  I didn't feel right about adding a hot filling to the pastry.   It worked beautifully.



I served it simply with some boiled potatoes and a mix of savoy cabbage, leeks and cavolo nero.  It went down a real treat!  Todd can't wait until he gets the leftovers tomorrow!

*Beef, Ale & Parsnip Pudding*
Serves 4

Printable Recipe  

Adapted to fit both British and North American measurements from a recipe on BBC GoodFood.  Plan ahead as it works best when you make the filling one day in advance.

For the filling:

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

100g smoked bacon lardons (1/2 cup chopped smoked thick cut streaky bacon)

2 TBS olive oil

500g lean stewing beef, cubes (generous pound)

2 TBS plain flour

3 parsnips, peeled and cubes

500ml of brown ale ( scant 2 1/4 cup)

300ml of beef stock (1 1/4 cup)

2 TBS cranberry or red currant jelly

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

For the pastry:

butter for greasing

300g of self raising flour (2 cups plus 3 TBS)

2 tsp English Mustard Powder

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

140g of shredded suet (2/3 cup, loosely measured, not packed)

(I used half vegetable suet and half grated cold butter)

150ml cold water (10 TBS)

Make the filling the day before.   Add the bacon lardons and chopped onion to a large pan.   Cook, stirring, occasionally, for about five minutes, until golden.  Scoop out with a slotted spoon and set aside.   Dust the beef with flour.  (I shake it in a plastic bag.  It's easy.)  Add the olive oil to the pan.  When it is hot add the floured meat and brown evenly, over high heat.  Add the prepared parsnips, ale, stock, jelly, thyme and lardon mixture.  Bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover and allow to simmer for about 1 1/2 hours until the meat is fork tender. Season to taste.  Remove from the stove.  Remove and discard the thyme stalks. Carefully pour off any cooking liquid into a container with a lid.   Cover and allow to cool, then place in the refrigerator.   Place the meat/vegetable micture into another container, cover and chill overnight.

The next day, about 2 1/2 hours before you wish to eat, remove your filling from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.   Make the pastry as follows.   Sift the flour into a bowl.  Add the mustard powder and salt,  Give it a good stir.  Drop in the fat.  Stir to coat with the flour mixture.  Using a fork, stir in the water, tossing and mixing to make a soft dough.  Butter a 1 1/2 litre pudding basin.    

  

 Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to make a large circle which is large enough to line the basin with a bit of an overhang.   Cut one quarter of it away and set aside.      

  

 Carefully lay the pastry in the basin, overlapping and joining the cut edges, wetting them if need be and pinching a bit to join.     

  

Fill with the filling and a small portion of the reserved liquid.  (about 7 TBS)  Fold the overhang over the filling and brush with water.     

   

Roll the quarter of the pastry you cut away into a circle large enough to cover the top,  Place this "lid" on top, pressing firmly around the edges to seal tightly.  

  

Butter a sheet of baking parchment generously.  Fold a large pleat in the centre.  Lay, butterside down, on top of the pudding.  Cover with a pleated layer of foil.  Tie with a string, making a loop that you can use to life the pudding out with at the end. 

Sit a small trivet or a large cookie cutter in the bottom of a deep saucepan which is large enough to easily hold the pudding basin.  Half fill the pan with water and bring to the boil.  Lower in the pudding.  Cover the pan tightly and simmer for 2 hours, topping up the pan with boiling water as necessary.



At the end of that time, reheat the cooking liquid, bubbling it down until you have reduced it to a delicious gravy.  Carefully lift the pudding out of the basin.  Run a knife around the rim and then turn it out onto a plate. 

 


Serve cut into wedges along with some of the gravy and some cooked greens if you wish.



I think I did pretty good for my first meat pudding.  What do you think???  The Toddster was ecstatic!