Recipe CXXXIII - Latticed Apple, Sultana and Cinnamon Pie

As the days of confinement go by, I find myself more and more returning to the food of my mother and grandmother; perhaps this is a kind of subliminal act of reassurance to my family. Or maybe it is because I have a newly-found sense of nostalgia. Either way, this one is a lot more elaborate than my mother's apple pie, mainly because she was a fifties housewife: only the staple ingredients and no embellishments. She would never have found things like cinnamon or dark brown sugar back then, due to rationing. 

Although this ended by the sixties, the general trend remained firmly in the camp of vegetables and potatoes boiled to within an inch of their lives, and meat cooked in the oven with no decadent additions like herbs or garlic. So my mother's apple pie was generally a treat for us all. She peeled the apples and sometimes boiled them too, but I tend to err on the side of adventure when it comes to pie baking.

Ingredients: 

For the pâte brisée (shortcrust) pastry:
300g flour
150g cold butter, diced into cubes
Half a teaspoon of salt
2 large dessertspoonfuls of sugar
A tiny drop of milk (or water, depending on taste)
1 egg
Some extra brown sugar for the topping

For the filling:
3 apples, cored and sliced into C-shaped pieces (leave on the peel for extra flavour)
A handful of sultanas
A good two dessertspoonfuls of dark brown sugar (otherwise just ordinary brown sugar)
A teaspoonful of cinnamon
Some five spice
Some lemon juice
Some white sugar if necessary
Clear honey (optional)

Instructions for the pastry:
Put the flour, salt, and sugar into a bowl. Add the butter and begin to massage it into the flour until it looks like rough breadcrumbs. Add a few drops of milk or water - you don't need much to get a good ball of dough. Put it in the fridge for a minimum of half an hour, then break it into two pieces (size ratio - 70% to 30%). Roll out the larger ball until it fits the entirety of your round baking tray.
Keep the last part for later.

Instructions for the filling:
Put the oven on to 180°C. While your pastry is in the fridge, put the apples into a bowl, squirt your lemon juice over them to keep their freshness. Throw in the cinnamon, brown sugar, five spice and sultanas. Give the whole thing a very good mixing-in so that it becomes consistent throughout.

Then put it into the baking tray and flatten it out. Put some honey on top if you want.

Take the smaller ball of pastry, roll it out, and cut into strips. Put them on top in a criss-cross pattern. It is not important if they are uneven or unequal in size or width, as after some time in the oven, they will find their own shape.

Glaze the top with egg, and put on a final dashing of sugar, then put it in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, and serve immediately with cream, ice cream or custard.

Recipe CXXXII - Traditional Baked Rice Pudding

One of the abiding memories of my youth was the Sunday roast dinner and my father's party piece was his rice pudding, which he would nail week after week, and there would still be some to nibble on as late as Thursday. His recipe used evaporated milk, which gave it a creamy tang, but I make it with a few other ingredients. Every traditionally made rice pudding has that dark brown layer on top, which is ground nutmeg, and is essential to the authenticity of this most British of desserts.

Ingredients (* = optional) to make enough to fill a baking tray: 

250 g dessert (short grain) rice

1 l whole milk (3.4% fat)

250 ml full cream

1 vanilla pod

25 g to 75 g brown sugar

25 g to 75 g white sugar

1 nutmeg plus grater

* Cinnamon

* Five spice

* Some sultanas, diced apples or pears

* Some saffron

Some butter to grease the baking tray

Instructions:

Put the oven on to 150°C max, and butter a baking tray with minimum 7cm-high sides. Put the milk and cream into a saucepan and gently heat it up, making sure it doesn't boil.

Cut open the vanilla pod and scrape the contents into the pan, then throw in the pod. Once it is about to boil, remove it from the heat and let it settle for a few minutes.

While you are waiting for the mink and cream to heat up, put the rice and both sugars into the baking tray. At this point, you can also add any other of the optional ingredients. Then pour the milk and cream over the top, and give it a good stir so that it doesn't end in overcooked clumps of rice.

Grate or sprinkle as much nutmeg on the top as you want. Really, it's the most essential thing - the rice pudding without the nutmeg layer is like pasta without sauce.

Finally, put the baking tray in the oven for two hours or so (possibly half an hour longer), when the rice pudding should be soft and creamy with a splendid nutmeg roof. 

It is great both just out of the oven or cooled in the fridge. If it is done right, when it is cold, you should be able to cut slices with it, which you can serve to children in portions like sweetie bars. They love it with some jam.

Put a layer of tin foil over it, if you want to keep it in the fridge.

Apart from that, enjoy changing the ingredients slightly each time. I love the pure creaminess of a plain rice pudding, but I find cinnamon and five spice really do it for me. I also love to cover mine in brown sugar to eat.

Raymond's Recipes CXVI - Pork, Herb and Dried Fruit Burgers

I spent this afternoon dreaming up a recipe for the visit of a friend who is gastronomically pretty adventurous for a German. I wanted to make something quick yet tasty, and so I came up with this, and it was pretty nice.

Ingredients:

750g minced pork

2 onions, finely diced

A handful of dried fruit (e.g. prunes, apricots, sultanas), sliced

20 roughly ground black peppercorns

A small handful of fresh or dried herbs (coriander or thyme, depending on your taste)

4 tablespoons of of powdered or crushed walnuts

Salt to season

Butter for the frying pan

Instructions:

Put the minced meat in a bowl, mix in the finely diced onions and use a fork or a potato masher to mix in. Then add the dried fruit (I used just prunes, but you can put in dried apricots or sultanas instead if you prefer), herbs, salt and peppercorns and do the same until there is a consistency. Add the powdered walnuts to it - this gives it a little solidity. You can use plain flour, but it does not add to the flavour.

Put it in the fridge for an hour or so, just to allow the mixture to settle. 

Roll the mixture into balls and then flatten them while being careful not to split the sides.

Put them in a hot pan with melted butter; once the surfaces have been seared, turn down the heat and fry for about 20 minutes.

I served it with sautéed potatoes and onions, and an apple sauce.

Recipe XC - Spicy Turkey Fillet Hotpot

It's still really cold here, which means more winter recipes. However this was a tremendously rewarding one, because the smell in the house is utterly divine. It is a little bit of an effort in the beginning but the main part is in a casserole dish, and for that you need absolutely nothing except a hot oven.



Equipment:
1 large sealable casserole

Ingredients:
750g-1200g turkey breast/fillet (chicken does just as well, but the pieces will remain whole or simply be halved.

Vegetables, your choice:
3 carrots, chopped
6 small or medium potatoes, cut into slices
1 red pepper, cut into strips
4-6 small onions, roughly chopped
5 cloves of garlic, sliced in two
Savoy cabbage, finely chopped into strips
1 courgette, sliced
Anything else that takes your fancy.

Spices, your choice:
1 small bowl, mix up some of the following to your own specifications:
cardamom, coriander, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, plus some garam massala, or mild Madras.

Maximum 1.5 litres of hot, salted water

Optional:
Some coconut milk, almonds, sultanas, apples and grapes

Instructions:
Turn the oven on to 170°C. Take your turkey breast and slice it into differently-sized pieces and rub a little salt into them. Take your bowl of mixed spices and spread liberally over the pieces, saving about a third for later.



Fry them in butter or oil for five to ten minutes until sealed and place them in the casserole.
Take your onions, garlic, peppers and carrots, and give them a short period in the pan to sweat. Pour over half of the remainder of the spices and add more oil to stop the ingredients scorching. Then put this into the casserole. Add the cabbage and do the same. Mix up the vegetables making sure your meat remains at the bottom and the top is flat enough for the potato level. At this point you can place any fruit (dried or fresh) and nuts.



Finally, place your potatoes on the top to cover it all. Pour over the remainder of your spices, or add a little more to the top, to give it a brownish hue. Fill the casserole with the salted water up to the level of the potatoes but no higher, and cover it. You can add the coconut milk at this point, but it really isn't necessary as the whole thing will remain quite moist with the lid on.



Place it in the oven for between 90 minutes and 2 hours. This will give everything enough time for the flavours to run. When you remove it from the oven, leave it for a few minutes before serving.



It would go well with a nice sweet white wine.

Recipe LXXXIX - Puff Pastry Pies

I took a little break last week to go away for some well-needed recuperation and socialisation, so I have prepared a double-header for you this week. When talking about puff pastry, there are two ways to do it - you can either spend ages and ages rolling the stuff out until it's perfect, or you can just buy a couple of rolls from the supermarket and spend more time on the contents. Guess what I chose...

STEAK PIE
 
Ingredients
min. 450g puff pastry
450g-550g chopped beef or lamb
250ml-350ml beef stock
Carrots, roughly chopped
Mushrooms, whole, halved or quartered
Shallots, whole or halved
Cloves of garlic, sliced
Apples, in chunks
Plain flour
Thyme
Pepper & salt
Butter for frying and for greasing the pie dish
A little water for closing the pastry
1 egg for glazing the top



Instructions
Roll your meat in a bowl containing flour, salt and pepper, then put it in a high-sided pan to fry gently in the butter.



After some time, add the vegetables and continue frying for a while until it is all nice and coated in the oil of the pan. Add the thyme and garlic for a couple of minutes before you pour in the beef stock. Allow it to simmer for a good hour on a medium-low heat.



Take the meat off the cooker and allow it to cool. Grease the inside of a decent-sized pie dish. With a roll of your puff pastry, line the inside of the pie dish. Pour the meat into the middle of the pastry-lined pie dish and splash the outside with some water to help the top close properly. Take another roll and place it over the top to make a "roof". With some of the remaining pastry, make some vague decorative shapes and don't forget to pierce the pastry top a few times to let the heat escape. Glaze it with an egg and a brush.



Put it in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the pastry rises and goes nice and brown.




MINI APPLE PIES

Ingredients:
2 apples
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
Sultanas
1-2 cloves
A small glass of water
The rest of the egg for glazing the pastry
(a spoonful of honey - optional)
(brandy, schnapps or port wine - optional)

Instructions:
Cut up the apples and roll them in cinnamon, then put them in some water. Add some more cinnamon, followed by a clove and some sugar. Heat it up gently until it is near boiling point, then simmer it for a good half an hour, or even more. Taste it to see if it needs anything added - more sugar, or maybe a little alcohol. Let it cool down for a while.



Line some tart moulds with the remaining pastry and blind bake them for a few minutes. I didn't, as I like stodgy pastry. Put the filling into the moulds and arrange the remaining pieces of pastry on top. Glaze it with the remaining egg and sprinkle some white sugar on the top to give it some sweetness.



Bake it in the oven for 13 to 18 minutes, or until the pastry turns golden brown.

Recipe LXXIV - Traditional Flapjacks

Autumn has arrived quickly this year. In fact, I barely remember any summer at all, let alone doing much summer activity. There were hardly any apples on the tree in the garden and nearly nothing in the way of nuts either. I got a measly handful of strawberries and a plate's worth of peas. Better luck next year. However, the forsythias loved it, as did the wild flowers, who just want to grow anywhere. This is when traditionally people would put all their gathered fruit and nuts into conserves and make recipes from them that would last the winter, hence the mighty Plum Pudding, which was eaten as a Midwinter feast, and centrepiece of a winter solstice celebration that the longer days were on their way.

Flapjack has similar origins. The name is most certainly not, but the recipe would have been pretty much the same since its inception. The idea would have been to make a filling oaty cake to chew on for energy. Now, of course, it's more like an accompaniment for an autumn party. I remember being regaled with flapjacks at the annual Bonfire Night celebrations at the beginning of November. I used to get told off by my mother for eating too many... But now I'm old enough, I can make as many as I like and eat them all. So there!

Ingredients:
500g oats - usually jumbo oats, but for mine I used the smaller variety
250g demerara sugar
200g raisins, sultanas, etc
4 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 table spoon of cinnamon
250g butter
The peel of one orange
A large, square or rectangular baking tray



Instructions:
Heat the oven to about 175°C.
Put the raisins and sultanas into the oats and give it a good mix. Take the baking tray and grease the inside with the butter. With the rest of the butter, put it into a large pan and on a low heat melt it. Add the sugar, orange peel, cinnamon and syrup to the mixture and heat it gently until the sugar has melted.



Pour the oats, raisins and sultanas into the melted butter and allow the oats to soak up the liquid until there is a good consistency.



Put them into the baking tray and spread them out evenly until they reach all four corners.



Bake in the oven for 17 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Cut it into pieces immediately, because it's still quite soft.



Serve with a nice cup of tea.

Put the rest in a biscuit tin and eat at your leisure!