Pumpkin, miso and wild garlic muffins

I love the pumpkin season. Pumpkins are just so delicious and versatile. They are great for soups, roasts, pies, pastas…not to mention Halloween carvings (although I’m not good at those).

Now you probably wonder about the pumpkin/miso combination. I tell you what, miso is a very underrated ingredient, which can add an amazing additional flavour to your cooking, like curries, purees or in this case – muffins, which taste absolutely amazing.

This was a trial of the combination and I absolutely loved, so I’m keen to experiment with adding other things like seaweed or kale.

Give these a go and let me know what you think. What’s your experimental flavour combination that you tried?

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 300g flour (half wholemeal, half white)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 3/4 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin
• small bunch wild garlic leaves, finely chopped (can use chives as substitute)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100ml olive oil
• 100ml yoghurt
• 1 rounded tbsp miso

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180C

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Mix in oil, milk, yoghurt, and miso. Stir in the pumpkin until well combined.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into the mixture. Add garam masala and wild garlic leaves. Mix with a wooden spoon for a smooth batter.

Divide the mixture between 12 large muffin silicon moulds. Sprinkle with your choice of seeds (you can use sunflower, pumpkin or poppy)

Bake for about 40 minutes or until muffins are well risen and golden.

Serve immediately.

Sour cream pumpkin pie

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and although I couldn’t be further away from that friendly giant of a country, I enjoy celebrations and jump at any festive opportunity. So I decided to make a pumpkin pie (what else), but to step away from the tradition a bit and add a twist to the recipe by substituting cream with sour cream. The reason for that is I didn’t have cream, but had sour cream in the fridge and didn’t want to make a trip to the shops just for one bottle of cream (call it lazy, but I call it efficient ha). I was pleasantly surprised with the results as the pie turned out fluffy and delicious.

In this recipe I used store bought sweet shortcrust pastry for the pie. I tell you what, while there can be some pleasure (for some) in making your own shortcrust pastry, there is no shame in buying pre-made pastry from your local store (as long as it’s good quality). So I am thankful for my local store for selling this beautiful pastry to me (see what I did there?).

Also I made 4 small pies rather one big one, so everyone got a pretty little pie on the plate rather than a slice. How you make it is up to you of course.

Ok let’s get cooking. As always I’m interested to hear about your pumpkin pie recipes, your feedback or anything else you’d like to share 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of pre-made sweet shortcrust pastry
• 1 cups sour cream (not reduced-fat)
• 1 cups canned cooked and mashed pumpkin
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

If you are making 4 pies, divide the pastry block into 4 even pieces. Roll out pastry dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 1mm thick round and fit into your pie plate (do the same if you are making one pie, without cutting the pastry). Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under pastry and press against rim of pie plate to reinforce edge. Decoratively crimp edge and chill shell until firm, about 30 minutes.

While shell chills, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 180°F.

Lightly prick bottom and side of chilled pie shell all over with a fork. Line shell with foil and fill either pie weights or some uncooked rice (dried beans work well too). Bake the pastry for 20 minutes or until it’s pale golden. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake pastry for further 10 minutes. Cool completely in pie plate on a rack, about 20 minutes. Leave oven on.

Make filling:

Heat 1/2 cup sour cream in a sauce pan until hot but not boiling

Whisk together mashed pumpkin, yolks, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sour cream in another bowl until combined and then whisk into hot sour cream. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture is thickened (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and cool pumpkin mixture in bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Beat egg whites in another bowl with an electric mixer until they just hold stiff peaks. Fold whites into pumpkin mixture gently but thoroughly.

Pour filling into cooled shell, smoothing top, sprinkle with some pumpkin seeds if desired and bake until filling is set and puffed around edge, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature on a rack, about 2 hours.

Serve with some greek yoghurt sprinkled with cinnamon.

Happy thanksgiving ya’ll

Delicious Italian Soup with Onion Focaccia

We are supposed to be heading towards spring here in New Zealand, but winter is refusing to leave and hit us with another cold wave (hopefully it’s one for the road). So I needed something warm and comforting and what can be warmer and more comforting than a nice bowl of soup with some freshly baked bread? I can’t think of anything else…

 

I decided to make this really easy Italian soup with some focaccia bread. Yum. It’s really healthy and good for you too. It’s filled with sausage (which you can leave out for a delish vegetarian/vegan version), beans and Tuscan kale, which looks like this in case you are wondering:

What’s your favourite soup? Send me your ideas, I love hearing from you guys 🙂

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the soup:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 chorizo sausage (or an Italian sausage of your preference, I like a little bit of a kick, so chorizo was perfect), chopped. Leave the sausage out for vegetarian option.
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chile, chopped (seeded if you want less heat)
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 can tomatoes
• 1 cup of beans (use the ones you prefer, or what you have in the pantry, I used black eyed beans; you can also use canned beans, just add them at the end if you do, rather than in the beginning)
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 small bunch Tuscan kale
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh or dry thyme
• 1 large bay leaf
• Salt, pepper to taste

For the focaccia:

• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small red onion, finely sliced
• 2 tsp coarse sea salt flakes
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

First begin with the bread, as it will take couple of hours to rise.

Sift the flour into a large bowl; stir in the yeast, parmesan cheese, salt and thyme. Gradually stir in the warm water and olive oil. Knead well on a floured surface 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put the dough into a large greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and then wrap the bowl with a towel. Place somewhere warm to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. Once it’s doubled, pinch the dough, and knead it lightly. Cover and place into warm place again for another 1-1 1/2 hours to let the dough rise again.

Grease a 24cm-round cake tin. Press the dough into the tin.

In another bowl combine the thinly sliced onion, sea salt flakes and olive oil; sprinkle over the bread dough. Cover and set aside for another 10-15 min. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C.

Bake the bread for 25 min or until cooked when tested with a wooden skewer. Cool on wire rack.

While the bread is baking you can make the soup.

In a frying pan heat up the olive oil. Add the onion and stir until fragrant. Add the grated carrot,garlic and chile. Cook for 2-3 min until soft and golden. Add the chorizo and cook for further 2-3 min until the sausage is browned. Set aside.

Meanwhile bring the stock to boil in a soup pot. Add the beans (if using dried beans, otherwise add canned beans right at the end when soup is almost ready) and cook until they are half cooked (the bean should still be hard, but you should be able to bite through it). Add the potatoes, celery, tomatoes and the chorizo/onion mixture, 1-2 cups of water (if the soup is too thick). Bring to boil. Add the Tuscan kale, thyme and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Reduce the heat and simmer for further 20-30 min or until potatoes and beans are tender.

Serve immediately with fresh focaccia.

Yum!

Za’atar chicken with pilaf, flat bread and green harissa

Well hello again my friends! After my last post, where I taught you something quick to make, I thought I’d share something which would be more of a usual for me (but more timely) recipe. As I mentioned before my time in the kitchen is my therapy! This dish, while a ‘little’ time consuming, will throw a party in your mouth and I promise you that!

I wondered whether I should write some food for thought but who needs it when you have this in front of you! So give this beautiful Middle Eastern flavoured chicken a go and as usual I look forward to your comments, messages etc. Much love xx

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For chicken:

• 2 heads of garlic, top cut off to expose the cloves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp fresh or dried rosemary leaves, chopped
• 1 fresh chile, seeded and finely chopped
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (or orange)
• 1 whole chicken
• Za’atar spice blend (recipe follows)

For Za’atar spice blend:

• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp ground sumac
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Combine all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

For flat breads:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt

For pilaf: 

• 1 tsp butter
• ¹⁄₂cup finely chopped onion
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3-4 whole cloves
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
• Salt/pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup raisins

For green harissa:

• 1 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 fresh chillies (seeded for milder flavour)
• 1 small bunch spinach, stemmed and chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Combine the ingredients in a food processor and refrigerate until serving.

Preparation:

I start this dish the night before because it has to marinate overnight.

For chicken: 

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Drizzle the garlic heads with oil. Wrap in foil, and bake for about 45 min, or until tender. Let those cool.

Butterfly the chicken by removing the backbone and opening the chicken. (You can get your butcher to do this, if you’ve never done this before, although its pretty easy). I usually remove the backbone with a pair of strong kitchen scissors by cutting along each side of the backbone. Place the chicken inside down on a board or a plate and press on it to flatten it.

Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and mash with the 4 tbsp of softened butter. Combine with 1/4 cup olive oil, rosemary, chile, and lemon zest. Loosen the skin all over the chicken by gently putting your fingers under the skin and moving it around. Rub the butter mixture onto the meat under the skin. Do this gently as you don’t want to break the skin. Pierce the chicken with 2 metal skewers, diagonally through the leg breast and wing to help keep it flattened. Cover and let the chicken stand for an hour or overnight in the fridge.

I cooked this chicken on a charcoal barbecue, so if you are confident to do so, go ahead, if not, cook it on a gas barbecue or the oven at 180C (250F).

Sprinkle the chicken with half of the Za’atar mix. Roast it until the skin is crispy and juices run clear. The timing of this will be different for your chosen method, but usually around 1.5 hours. Let the chicken rest once it’s cooked for about 15 minutes, then cut into quarters.

For pilaf: 

Preheat a deep pan on medium heat. Melt butter in the pan. Fold in onions and stir well. Add in the carrot. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the onions and carrots are softened but not browned.

Add cumin, turmeric, cloves, paprika and cayenne pepper. Stir in the rice so it’s all evenly coated.

Stir in hot stock (it should be at the boiling temperature) and raisins. Cover the pot with a lid and let pilaf cook until rice is just under al dente. Turn off the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes or so. Fluff with a fork before serving. Add salt/pepper if needed.

For flat breads:

Once the chicken is ready (whether you are using a barbecue or an oven) you can cook these breads.

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.

In a small saucepan heat milk together with butter until melted. You can also do this in a microwave. Let the milk cool down slightly.

In a big bowl add yoghurt and stir in warm (not hot!) milk until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon, until the ingredients come together.

Knead the dough until soft. Cover and let it rest for at least 1/2 hour at room temperature.

Split dough in 8 equal parts, form each of them into a ball, flatten with your fingers and then roll out into a disk, flipping it over occasionally. Sprinkle with flour now and then. Your bread should be about 10 cm in diameter more or less ( don’t worry about getting it perfect).

Pick up the bread, remove excess flour by slapping the dough between your hands and put it on the barbecue (or into the oven). Cook until bubbles have formed on top and the bottom side gets lightly coloured. Then flip, and cook until done, about 1 minute.

Serve the chicken with pilaf, flat breads, green harissa and a sprinkle of za’atar spice. Enjoy and be proud of all the effort you put in!

Speedy Soft Baked Orange Cookies

I had a few enquiries about where I have disappeared to so I decided it was time to resurface. The truth is I am currently working on a deadline and that preoccupied my time. But I am still here, still thinking about some great new recipes I could share with you guys. So while I was on that note, I began to think how time consuming cooking can actually be. No wonder people nowadays prefer takeout…or worse those frozen prepackaged dinners (shudder).

While I personally find cooking therapeutic and it’s my get away from the reality (I can spend hours in the kitchen), unfortunately, time doesn’t always allow that kind of luxury. So today I thought I needed a break from my work and make something quick and delicious. As I still have bags and bags of oranges (I will post a recipe for a yummy ginger and orange marmalade soon), I decided to do some quick baking.

These soft baked orange cookies took me 20 minutes to make (including baking time)! They are fluffy, soft delicious and were a perfect snack to keep my energy levels up and that brain working (and no I didn’t eat them all at once, although they are very addictive). So these are ideal if you have guests that suddenly pop over without an invitation or if you need to take something to work shared lunch or if you just want a quick treat for yourself and your family.

Note: You can add 1/2 tsp ground ginger or cinnamon for a flavour variety and also a dash of orange food colouring, if you want them more ‘orange looking’.  

Makes 16

Ingredients:

• 100g butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• zest of 1 big orange (about 1 tbsp orange zest)
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• Juice of 1 orange (about 2 tbsp)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Icing sugar for sprinkle

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 175C (350F).

Whisk together butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg and egg yolk, whisk again, gradually adding orange juice. Mix until combined.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the wet mixture. Mix until the ingredients turn into sticky cookie dough. The mixture should not be runny but not dry either.

Scoop 1 1/2 tbsp sized cookie dough balls and place on greased baking sheet about 2cm apart. Flatten lightly with a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

And that’s the way the cookie crumbles!

Breakfast winner: Navajo flatbreads with mushrooms and chorizo

This brilliant breakfast idea came to me in my sleep, and I woke up feeling so excited that I jumped out of bed early in the morning (which rarely happens that easily) to make this delicious and hearty meal. I tell you what, they are not kidding when they say that you should eat breakfast like a king! I felt like an Energizer bunny all day…

Of course, this is also a fantastic brunch, picnic or barbecue option.

What I love about these flatbreads is that they are kind of like a fusion between a tortilla, pita and naan bread. You can play around with the spices and herbs added to the flour to see what flavours you like. I went for a bit of a Moroccan/Mediterranean flavour this time, but let me know what you came up with.

You can leave out the chorizo for a vegetarian/vegan option – just add more mushrooms in.

Ingredients: 

• 600 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 heaped teaspoon sea salt
• 2 heaped tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs or spices, such as thyme, parsley, sumac or crushed fennel seeds , optional
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 150ml warm water
• 5-6 button mushrooms, chopped
• 1 chorizo sausage, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preparation:

Mix your flour, salt, baking powder and herbs or spices in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the olive oil and water. Use a wooden spoon to mix the flour from the edge of the bowl. Once it starts to combine, use your hands to bring the dough together.

Dust your hands and a clean work surface with flour and knead the dough with your hands until it is smooth and elastic (about 5-10 minutes). Put the dough back into the bowl and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Divide your dough into 10 equal balls, then lightly oil your hands and squeeze each ball between your palms to flatten them slightly. Roll them out with a rolling pin until they are about 10cm in diameter.

Normally the flatbreads are cooked as you’re making them. You can do this on a barbecue but I cooked them on a non-stick frying pan on medium heat (do not add any oil to the frying pan). Cook them for a few minutes on each side until puffy and golden. Keep them warm in a basket covered with a tea towel until you’re ready to serve them.

Meanwhile heat some oil in another frying pan on high heat. Add the chorizo and quick fry it for about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and thyme. Fry for another minute (add more oil if needed as mushrooms can suck it up and turn out dry). Add the seasoning after the mushrooms are cooked (not before, or you will lose the mushroom flavour!).

Serve the bread, mushrooms and chorizo with a side of chutney or harissa and some good quality olive oil with a drop of balsamic vinegar.

 

Gin and tonic cake

Yes…you heard it right…Your favourite cocktail in a cake. Do I need to say more?

We are having miserable weather here in New Zealand…rain, cold, wind.. However I cannot complain, because my orange trees are going crazy with fruit! Here is my harvest from this morning:

It’s about 13kgs…so my workout for the day included carrying this basket back into the house from the garden (I managed to break the handle as you can see)

But whoah! That is a lot of oranges! So expect a lot of orange recipes from me in the near future 😀

But let’s get back to this boozy deliciousness…

This cake is super moist, fluffy and packed with citrus flavours. I know that the usual Gin and Tonic cocktail has lemon in it, so feel free to use the lemon in this cake instead of the orange, however, as I mentioned above, I just picked enough oranges to last me through an apocalypse, so I decided that citrus is citrus…and oranges taste better than lemons anyway 😀

Don’t worry, you won’t be dancing on the table after having this cake. The alcohol from the gin will evaporate with cooking, but it will make your cake super fluffy.

Serve this cake with some low-fat Greek yoghurt and orange syrup. Yum.

Ingredients:

• 200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 300g plain flour
• 75g plain Greek yoghurt
• 3 tbsp gin
• 3 oranges (or lemons), zested (you’ll use the juice in the syrup)

Syrup

• 5 oranges, juiced (this includes the zested oranges from above) plus 2 small oranges, sliced, end slices discarded
• 125g caster sugar
• 6 tbsp tonic water
• 2 tbsp gin

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 160C. Line and grease a cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the yogurt, then tip in the flour but fold in with a metal spoon. Finally fold in the gin and lemon zest.

Spoon the mix into the tin and bake for 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes until risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Check it out:

This is what it should look like when you peel off the baking paper. Happy days!

Meanwhile, make the syrup by combining the orange juice, sugar and tonic water in a wide pan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then drop in the orange slices and bubble for a few minutes, until the syrup thickens slightly. Don’t go overboard, or you will end up with a jelly marmalade.

Take off the heat, stir in the gin, and leave to cool.

Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out upside down onto a serving plate and poke a few holes over the base.Spoon over about half of the syrup to soak in.

To serve, spoon the rest of the syrup and lemon slices over the cake, letting some soak in before adding more. Then serve the cake cut into thin slices with spoonfuls yoghurt on the side.

Chelsea buns

After I posted a recipe of a pulled beef, ale and mushroom pie for Queen’s birthday, I had requests to post something else that was traditionally British. I thought what could be more British than Chelsea buns? They were first created in the 18th century at the old Chelsea Bun House, which was sadly destroyed in 1839. However, the Chelsea bun making tradition continued and spread through the world.

These cuties are small, soft, plump and sweet. I absolutely love the hidden caramel fruitiness in them. Unfortunately, rumour has it, Chelsea buns are losing their popularity with all the amazing and fancy pastry out there – so I wanted to remind people that traditional and simple baking can be trendy and impressive too. This is coming from a non-impressive baker like me, who manages to stuff up the baking nearly every time. So if I can make these, you can too.

Send me some traditional recipes that you enjoy, perhaps that have been passed on to you through generations. I love hearing the stories behind family recipes too!

Makes 16

Ingredients:

• 3 cups plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 125g butter, chopped
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 60g butter extra
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup mixed dried fruit, such as sultanas, cranberry, cherries etc
• rind of one orange

Glaze

• 1 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp sugar

Glacé icing

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 200C and grease a baking tray.

Sift flour, baking powder and half of mixed spice into a bowl. Using finger tips or a pastry blender, rub in half the butter to make crumbs.

Using a round- bladed knife, stir in milk to make a soft sticky dough. Knead for a few minutes until smooth.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; roll out to a 40x25cm rectangle. I used a tray to guide my rolling. It made it easier to keep the shape and to work with.

Using an electric mixer, beat remaining butter and brown sugar in a small bowl until light and creamy. Spread butter mixture over dough, leaving a 1 cm border.

Scatter dried fruit, orange rind and remaining mixed spice over butter on dough.

Roll the dough lengthways, firmly and evenly into a log, swiss-roll style. Cut the roll into 16 slices. Arrange the slices, close together, on the baking tray. Place the seams inwards and flatten the pieces slightly.

Bake the buns for 20 minutes, or until browned and cooked through. To make the glaze, put the milk and sugar in a small pan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is almost boiling. Remove from the heat, brush liberally over the buns and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

To make the glacé icing, mix together the icing sugar and milk, and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the glazed and cooled buns. Serve with a nice cup of Earl Grey or English Breakfast tea.

Pumpkin and orange scones

Don’t you just get sick of waiting for holidays to come around? I mean why do we have to wait an entire year for a Christmas tree? Or for Thanksgiving and the pumpkin pie? It’s just not fair!

Well I’m gonna let you in on my little secret how I keep the holiday spirit going throughout the year (and no I do not keep my Christmas tree up the whole year around, although the thought had crossed my mind). I practice festive dishes! So not only I get to have that pumpkin pie whenever I wish (not when the calendar tells me to), but also when it comes to the actual holidays, I know that I have mastered the dish and it will impress the guests. I mean, how many of you have seen a recipe for a perfect birthday cake and thought yea that looks easy enough! Only to make it on the occasion and it turns out to be a total mess! I can’t be the only one. Well my friends, practice makes perfect 🙂

So today I decided to make these pumpkin and orange scones. It’s not quite the pumpkin pie, but these are great on the Thanksgiving or Christmas table. Best part is they have zero sugar in them, so they are on a healthy side. I found that the sweetness from the pumpkin and the raisins was enough. Also you can have these with some marmalade if you have a sweet tooth 🙂

So do use this recipe as an excuse to bring the holidays closer since it’s only June…Do you have a festive recipe that you cook all year around? Let me know, I’d love to hear!

Makes 9

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 60 g butter, chopped
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
• Zest of one orange
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 tbsp milk, extra, for glazing
• Mixture of pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 210C. Grease a 28 x 18cm shallow tin.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the spices and salt. Add the chopped butter. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture is fine and crumbly.

Combine the egg, mashed pumpkin, zest of orange, raisins and milk. Add to the flour mixture and stir with a knife until just combined.

Put the dough into the tin, spreading evenly. Brush the top with extra milk. Sprinkle with seeds. Bake for about 30 min, or until the tops of the scones are lightly golden (this process will depend on your oven, and the dish you are using, so if you see the tops browning up, the scones are done). Cut the scones into 9 even pieces. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Serve warm or cold, with butter or some marmalade.

Knockout pulled beef, ale, cheese and mushroom pie

Today in New Zealand we are celebrating Queen’s birthday, so I thought I’d honour the Brits with a good old pie. I mean who doesn’t like a pie? It’s warm, flaky, filling, delicious and cheap to make.

The pies however are the best when made with a slow cooked filling, which is what I did here…so it took me 2 days to make these beauties, but they were totally worth it. I had some filling left over (I get greedy and make too much), so I’m planning to turn it into a pasta dish tomorrow by mixing it through some cooked penne or spaghetti. Yum.

I also decided to make small pies rather than a big one, as it’s a great lunch idea for the next day, and last thing you want to put into your lunch box is a slice of sloppy mess. However, these little darlings are nothing like that. They are cute and fit perfectly into the lunch box. Ah stop it!

On the final note: there is no shame in using store bought puff pastry. It’s ridiculously difficult and time consuming to make and if you get it wrong, you’ll end up with no puffs, so unless you are applying for a cooking competition, the supermarket will provide perfect pastry (even Jamie Oliver uses ready made pastry, but don’t tell him I told you).

Let’s make the pie shall we?

Makes 4

Ingredients:

• 400g ready rolled puff pastry
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 500g braising steak (buy this as a whole piece and cut it yourself into large chunks)
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped into large chunks
• 1 tsp golden caster sugar
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 200ml dark ale
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 200g smoked bacon chopped rashers
• 200g portobello mushroom, chopped
• 50 g cheddar cheese cut into small cubes
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preparation: 

Start by braising the beef.Heat the oil in a deep saucepan, brown the meat really well in batches, then set aside.

Add the onions and carrots to the pan, adding a drizzle more oil, then cook on a low heat for 5 mins until coloured, scatter over the sugar and flour, stirring until the flour turns brown. Tip the meat and any juices back into the pan and give it all a good stir. Pour over the ale and stock. Season stew, tuck in the herbs and bring everything to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook over very low heat for about 2 hrs, until the meat is really tender.

While the stew is cooking, heat a drop more oil in a frying pan and sizzle the bacon for 3 mins until crisp. Turn up the heat, add the mushrooms and cook for 4 mins until golden. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Once the stew is cooked, take the meat out and set aside to cool a little. Use a fork to shred the beef. Add the shredded beef back into the stew, throw in the bacon and mushroom mixture and stir it through.

Leave everything to cool completely – better still, make this up to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge as the pie will be better if the filling is fridge-cold when added. Can also be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted when needed.

When you want to make the pie, heat oven to 200C fan and place a flat baking tray in the oven. Heavily grease 4 soufflé size ramekins, or small pie dishes and dust well with flour. Line the ramekins with pastry, pressing the pastry lightly into the walls and cutting the excess pastry at the top of the ramekins. Place baking paper on top of the pastry and fill the ramekins with beans or rice. Blind bake the pastry for about 15 minutes. Take the beans and baking paper out. This step is necessary to avoid the soggy bottom of the pie. You want it crispy all around, so blind baking it first will help to achieve that.

Fill the ramekins about 3/4 way with the beef filling using a slotted spoon so the gravy is left in the sauce pan, as you don’t want too much sauce in the pie itself. Push 3-4 cheese cubes into the meat mixture.

Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg. Cut out tops from the pastry, which are slightly bigger in the diameter than the ramekin. Place the pastry on top of the pie and press the edges lightly into the walls of the blind baked pastry, avoiding crushing. Use pastry trimmings to make decorations like leaves or flowers if you like. Brush the top heavily with egg. Make a slit in the centre of the pie to allow steam to escape. Place on the hot baking tray, then bake for about 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown. Leave the pie to rest for 10 minutes, while you heat up the left over gravy.

Serve the pie at the table with a jug of gravy and a big pile of something green.

Yum!