Speedy Beef and Vegetable Pie - for Random Recipes #45

This month we are rifling through our magazine cuttings for Random Recipes, the challenge run by Dominic at Belleau Kitchen.  I have all but given up buying magazines as I can find recipes on the internet with so much more ease.  However, a couple of weeks ago I had a little time to kill in the supermarket and so was drawn to browse through the cooking magazines.  Eat in is a new magazine for me and I was drawn to the Comfort Food on a Budget.  This mag has been sitting around on the dining room table, so I picked it up and it opened at this Speedy Beef and Vegetable Pie.



Speedy Beef and Vegetable Pie
Serves 4-6
1 tbsp veg or olive oil
1 onion chopped
500g beef mince
500g frozen mixed vegetables (I didn't have any so used diced carrots)
25g onion gravy powder (didn't have any of that either,  substitute tbsp flour and beef stock cube)
320g sheet puff pastry
Milk for brushing (I used a beaten egg)

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/ Gas 7.  Grease a 20cm square ovenproof dish (more deviation from me!).  Heat the oil in a saucepan over a high heat. Saute the onion for 3 minutes or until softened.  Add the mince and cook for 3 minutes or until browned.
2. Add the vegetables, gravy powder and 125mil hot water. (If using flour add a tbsp of flour and cook, stirring for 3 minutes to cook out the starch, crumble in the stock cube then add the water.) Cook stirring for 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Transfer the mixture to the prepared dish and set aside to cool for at least 5 minutes but longer if you can.
3. Place the pastry sheet over the mince to cover. Tuck the overhanging pastry inwards to form a border around the inside edge of the dish. Score the top of the pastry with a sharp knife.  Brush with milk.  Bake for 15 minutes or until browned.  Serve the pie with herbed mash or vegetables.  I served my pie with slow cooked Braised Red Cabbage.

The pie was excellent, it always surprises me what seems to hit the mark on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but this pie was definitely a hit!

Labels: Beef, pastry, Pie, Random Recipes

posted by Janice @ 07:00 13 Comments

Slow Cooked Challenge Round Up for October

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the first 'Slow Cooked' Challenge.  Despite having opened up the challenge to any kind of slowly cooked food, it is the Electric Slow Cooker or Crock-pot which still dominates the entries for the challenge which is fine by me, but I'm glad to welcome anyone who wants to enter a slow cooked recipe to the challenge.

The first of two Apple Butter recipes.  Stuart at Mr Cakeyboi brings us Easy Apple Butter.  I've never made Apple Butter but I can see the attraction and I will add it to my recipe bucket list now I've seen how easy it is to make in the slow cooker.

Caroline of Caroline Makes enjoyed a simple baked potato in her Slow Cooker, deliciously topped with a blue cheese dressing and parsley combo.  A perfect lunch or light supper.

Deon at Food Jam made this Paprika Beef Stew before she went off on holiday, freezing some for when she returned.  What a lovely comforting dish to come home to.

Dominic at Belleau Kitchen was the trigger for the Slow Cooker Challenge becoming the Slow Cooked Challenge.  He kept telling me he wanted to enter but didn't have a slow cooker, so what happened when I changed the rules?  Dom got himself a Crock-pot just in time to enter this month's challenge!!  I am going to forgive him though because Dom has created this glorious Slow Cooked Lentil and Vegetable Stew with Polenta Dumplings.


Laura at "I'd much rather bake than..."  gives us a very unusual combination it's Slow Cooker Apple Pie Chilli I rather intrigued by this recipe and Laura certainly sells it well, describing the joys of this tomato free chilli dish. Check it out!

Now time to head from Mexico to North Africa for this 'fall apart' Slow Cooked Harissa Spiced Beef Stew  I just love the look of this warming dish created for us at De Tout Coeur Limousin

Now this is the perfect dish for Bonfire night: Bonfire Bangers and Barbeque Bean Casserole This warming dish comes to us from Karen at Lavender and Lovage, it looks so good.


Nessie was Shaheen of A2K's neighbour when she lived in Glasgow and this is Nessie's Apple Butter, it's so nice when good recipes are handed on and now Shaheen is passing it on to us.


Lucy of Baking Queen 74 is always surprising me with the recipes she manages to produce from her Slow Cooker, I'm learning a lot about Slow Cooker baking from Lucy.  This entry of Slow Cooker Plum and Almond Cake looks like another winner.

Just in case you missed it, this is my own Slow Cooked Challenge entry of Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons. 


The November Slow Cooked Challenge will be published on  Monday 3rd November,  I hope you will join us as we move into the true season of slowly cooked food.

Labels: Apple Butter, Beef, Beef Stew, cake, chilli, Harissa, Lentil stew, Plum, Polenta, potatoes, sausages, Slow Cooked Challenge, tagine

posted by Janice @ 08:24 13 Comments

Cooking at the Farm with the Kilted Chef - Part 1

Alain and the 'pepperettes'

Let me take you back to Thursday, 29th May 2014 and the next part of my Nova Scotia adventure.  I was super excited about this part of the trip because, having done some research online, I knew that Alain Bosse, The Kilted Chef, was Canadian celebrity chef , president of Alain Bosse Consulting Ltd, food editor for Saltscapes Magazine, past president of Taste of Nova Scotia and ambassador of all things culinary in Atlantic Canada.

The Kilted Chef offers a culinary journey from the pasture, to the sea to your plate. Cooking on the Farm is a full-day, hands-on culinary experience you will never forget and this is what I was to experience.

I was delighted to be joined on my culinary journey by some of the staff from Nova Scotia Media, who were quite delightful and by the end of the day I felt like I had known them for years!

We started with a short tour of the farm with Alain telling us about how he came to buy it and what plans he has for the future.  The we headed out for our first stop at  The Pork Shop, The Pork Shop prides itself in using only the freshest products available on the market. All spices are 100% pure and contain no MSG, gluten or any other type of filler in them.  


We then headed to Harold Ferguson's Abattoir.  As a farmer with a grandfather who was an old fashioned butcher, the abattoir was not something which phased me, in fact it was a pleasure to visit a place which operated on a small scale with far less stress on the cattle than in a huge modern abattoir.  The abattoir is staffed by retired butchers and also rehabilitates ex offenders and they are all proud of their skill and the excellent meat they provide.  A quick trip into Pictou to Grohmann's Knives the knife supplier favoured by the Kilted Chef and as we all got a set of Grohmann's knives to keep as part of our day cooking on the farm, I can attest that they are extremely good knives.

It was early in the season for fresh produce at Lakenman's Farm, spring had come late to Nova Scotia the asparagus had just finished and there were only a few vegetables coming through in the polytunnel.  We did find plenty of beet tops and Sarah was presented with the 'bouquet' of beets!



Then we were off to check out the lobsters at North Nova Scotia Seafood. North Nova Seafoods Limited is a fish-processing plant locally owned and operated by Paul Logan. The Logan family has been involved in fishing and fish processing since the 1800s. Logan & Roberts were operating a factory and buying station on this same shore by 1903. Russell Logan, Paul’s father, bought and shipped fish until 1962.In 1987, Paul started North Nova Seafoods which buys and processes seafood including Lobster, Herring, Rock Crab, Mackerel and Snow Crab throughout the year.

Labels: bacon, Beef, beets, Grohmanns, Lakenman's Farm, lobster, North Nova Scotia Seafood, Nova Scotia, pepperettes, Pictou, Pork, The Kilted Chef, The Pork Shop

posted by Janice @ 21:40 2 Comments

Slow-Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket - Irish Beef for St Patricks Day

St Patrick's Day on the 17th March is about celebrating all things Irish.  Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest will be full of images of Leprechauns,  shamrocks and every type of food will be dyed with green food colouring.  Instead of celebrating the colour green for St Patrick's Day, I'm celebrating Irish quality produce and, in particular quality Irish Beef.

In Ireland the beef cattle are typically outside for eight months of the year, only between November and February do they bring them inside and feed them hay and silage (fermented grass), topped up with a ration of barley, beet pulp, maize and molasses.   The health benefits of the cattle of being grass-fed are passed on to us when we eat their meat, which is rich in omega 3, vitamin E antioxidants and the exceptional polyunsaturated marvels that are the omega-6 fats, CLAs (conjugated linoleic acid).  Eating grass also means that the cattle lay down an intramuscular marbling of at which is part of what helps to make the beef taste so good.  (extract from The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness)

Bord Bia, The Irish Food Board are keen to spread word about the quality of Irish Beef and sent me The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness to review,  along with a large joint of Irish Brisket to make one of the recipes.  If you want to find out more about Irish produce or access more recipes then pop over to the Bord Bia website. 

The Irish Beef Book starts with an introduction to Irish Beef: A world class natural product, covering What makes Irish Beef so good, The Whelan Family History , How to choose good quality meat.  A bit about Breeds and the food culture of Ireland and Irish Artisan Food Producers.

There is an excellent explanation of the different cuts of beef and how they are best cooked and also a treatise on 'The Thorny Question of Fat'.

The Recipes in this book are intended for the domestic cook, there are no cheffy tricks and cooks are encouraged to use local ingredients where possible.  Each chapter begins with photographs of the different cuts and cooking tips.

The first chapter is all about Steaks and also includes some 'Good Things to Eat with Steak' including Triple Cooked Chips, Roast Onions in Balsamic Vinegar and a variety of traditional sauces such as Bearnaise and the less traditional like Chimichurri.

Roasts are always popular and this chapter contains everything you need to know to roast beef just the way you like it. No Roast dinner is complete without the Trimmings, so recipes for Individual Yorkshire Puddings, Creamed Horseradish and Beef Dripping Roast Potatoes are all included, as well as alternatives such as Horseradish and Dijon Mustard Yoghurt Creme Fraiche.  Other options for your roast include Roast Fillet with Prosciutto or Brisket and Butternut Squash Pot Roast with a Rosemary Gremolata.

Chapter 3 provides us with 'The Classics' including Steak Tartare, Beef Wellington, Boeuf Bourguignon, Steak Diane, Beef Stroganoff and Beef Goulash.

If you are in a hurry then Chapter 4 provides some Quick Beef recipes including Skirt Steak Fajitas, Steak Sandwich, Beef Teriyaki with Spring Onions, Pomegranate-Marinated Hanger Steak with a Warm Farro Salad, Beef and Green Vegetable Stir Fry with Oyster Sauce.

Regular readers of Farmersgirl Kitchen will know how much I like slow cooked recipes, so Chapter 5: Long and Slow is full of just my kind of recipe some of the recipes which appealed to me particularly were Beef with Anchovies and Olives, Braised Beef with Five Spice, Ginger and Highbank Apple Syrup, Beef Rendang, Braised Short Ribs with Maple Syrup and Star Anise and Moroccan Tagine with Preserved Lemons.

Chapter 6 brings us Burgers, Brisket, Meatballs and Dude Food!  The burger recipe uses Knockmealdown porter a craft beer produced by Eight Degrees in the beautiful Ballyhoura region of County Cork.  As well as the burger recipe there are recipes for 'Good Things to Eat with Burgers' and so to the brisket:   I'm a huge fan of brisket as a cut of beef, for me, it has more flavour than the faster roasts and shrinks less too.  The recipe which ticked all the boxes for me was Slow Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket.  (recipe below).

Chapter 7 is a shorter chapter with recipes for Pasta and Pizza including Irish Beef Cheek Lasagne, Bone Marrow Pizza and Oxtail and Truffle Pizza. 

Pies are always popular and I am tempted by Braised Beef Shin and Eight Degree Ale Pie and Individual Potato-Topped Steak and Chorizo Pies.

Bringing in 'the coo's tail' (cow's tail) is a chapter on 'The Other Bits'.   Liver and Onions with a Mushroom Sauce is a dish Pat cooks for his family as a quick supper.  I'm not sure I could face cooking a beef tongue, although my granny regularly cooked and pressed tongue, maybe that's what put me off! However, a Salad of Tongue and Roast Beetroot with a Balsamic Dressing sounds amazing. I've never tried Bone Marrow, but there are a number of recipes here which tempt me to do so.

The book concludes with two pages of  comprehensive Conversion Charts and an Appendix of Tipperary Food Producers.

The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness
Published by Gill and Macmillan Books
€11.50


Slow-Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket
Serves 6 (however I would say it serves 8-10 depends on your portions!)
 
2kg piece of brisket, on the bone (as you see mine isn't on the bone!)

For the Marinade:
6 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp chipotle paste
330ml beer
2 tbsp wine vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Highbank apple syrup ( or honey, or maple syrup)
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
small bunch of thyme
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade.  Slater the marinade all over the meat and place in the fridge, covered with clingfilm, overnight.

St Patrick's Day Curry with GREEN peas!

I'm entering the curry for the No Waste Food Challenge,  run by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary and hosted this month by Chris at Cooking Around the World.

I was provided with The Irish Beef Book and a joint of beef by Bord Bia, The Irish Food Board.  I was not paid and all opinions are my own. 

Labels: Beef, Blue Kitchen Bakes, Brisket, Chiptole, Cooking Around the World, curry, Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary, Irish Beef, No Waste Food Challenge, slow cooked, St Patrick's Day

posted by Janice @ 14:42 29 Comments

Risotto and Risotto Cakes for Credit Crunch Munch

I have to remind myself to include some of my recipes in blog challenges like Credit Crunch Munch.  Using up left overs and creating new dishes from those bits left in the fridge is second nature to me and I find it pushes my creativity to create something from almost nothing.

This wasn't really 'nothing', I had bought a large roast to have at the weekend when I had visitors.  I had marinated it and slow cooked it in a roasting bag, everyone enjoyed the tender slices of beef.  However, it really was a big joint of beef, so even after another dinner of roast beef slices with gravy and slices with salad, there was still some left.

I decided to dice the cooked beef and cook it in a risotto.

Beef Risotto

150g - 300g left over roast beef cubed
2 tsp butter
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
400g risotto rice
1 litre beef stock
100g frozen peas

1. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add the onions and cook over a low heat for a bout 10 minutes until soft but not coloured.  Add a little water to the pan if the onions stick.
2. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the rice and cook until it turns opaque.  Add a quarter of the stock and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed.
4. Continue to add the stock, stirring constantly until the rice is soft but still has a little bite.
5. Add the cubed beef and frozen peas, stir, turn the heat off and leave with the lid on the pan for 5-10 minutes until it is heated through.
6.  If you have some flat leaved parsley you can add this before serving,  I didn't have any when I made this and it was fine without.

So now I have a large pan of risotto, too much for three of us to eat and more left overs.  So I thought I'd have a go at making risotto cakes.  The technique was very simple, add an egg to the left over risotto mixture.  Flour a large plate, form patties of risotto and egg mixture on the plate, dust with more flour.  Heat a couple of tbsp of oil in a frying pan and, using a fish slice, gently transfer the risotto cakes to the pan.  Fry until brown and crisp, turn and cook to the same colour on the other side.  Serve with creamed horseradish and salad.

Labels: Beef, Credit Crunch Munch, fried, horseradish, peas, risotto, risotto cakes, roast beef

posted by Janice @ 20:15 5 Comments

A Pie and a Pint

First the pies!  Finding these Higgidy pies was a bit of a challenge for me in the first place, mainly because of my rural location and lack of access to a wide range of supermarkets, however I am glad that I persevered and finally tracked them down in the little Co-op store opposite Glasgow Central Station on one of my frequent trips up and down on the train. 


Pie #2 is British Beef, Stilton and Ale and has to be my favourite.  I don't often buy beef pies because I am usually disappointed with the sloppy, gloopy gravy and a game of hunt the beef. 

This pie is different, just look at those chunks of real beef and thick gravy and the mashed topping with a little tang of Tuxford and Tebbit Stilton cheese really did taste homemade.  I would definitely buy this pie again. 

And the pint?  Well,  sorry to disappoint if you were expecting something alcoholic, I just wanted to entitle the post 'a pie and a pint' and I wanted to tell you about these Juice Burst fruit drinks.

Juice Burst is the first digitally interactive soft drink - WHAAT?  I hear you say, well if you 'blipp' the bottle you'll be taken into an interacive world, where the fruit literally bursts off the label and out of your phone/ipad.  You'll be invited to play the fruit machine game where you could be in with a chance of winning your own stash of JuiceBurst. 

There are 14 flavours to choose from but I was provided with a bottle of Apple and Rhubarb and a bottle of Still Lemonade, each bottle contains 500ml (not a pint!) RRP £1.29. These are two of the new flavours, the other being Orange and Passionfruit.

I'm not a huge fan of fizzy drinks and usually drink water or if I want a flavoured water, I use cordials, but if I was out and about and looking for a soft drink, I would buy one of these Juice Burst drinks as they have a fresh fruit flavour and are not too sweet. The digital interactive thing really isn't my thing either, I'm more interested in what is in the bottle than playing games with it, but I'm sure it will appeal to many people for a bit of fun.

Juice Burst is stocked at WH Smiths, Superdrug, Onestop, Greggs and selected Tescos stores.
You can find out more about Juice Burst, the first digitally interactive soft drink on their Facebook page    and You Tube channel.

Thanks to Hannah for the vouchers to purchase the Higgidy pies and thanks to Emily for supplying the Juice Burst drinks.  I was not paid to write these reviews and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Apple and Rhubarb, Beef, British Beef, Feta and Toasted Pine Nut pie, Higgidy pies, Juice Burst, review, spinach, Still Lemonade., Stilton and Ale

posted by Janice @ 21:17 1 Comments

Yorkshire Pudding Day with Mermaid Bakeware Review

As a Scot, Yorkshire Puddings are not part of my heritage, but I do rather like them.  My mum never made Yorkshires with our roast beef, although we did have Toad in the Hole which is the same batter with sausages cooked into it.  There seems to be a bit of mystique around the making of them (a bit like scones) but I've never really had any trouble getting them to rise using the simple recipe below.

The lovely people at Mermaid Bakeware asked me to try out their Yorkshire Pudding tin and, never a girl to shirk a challenge, I accepted with enthusiasm.  Apparently the first Sunday in February is Yorkshire Pudding Day so it would be rude not to celebrate with some golden brown, puffy puddings, whether you eat them with beef, add sausages or eat them for dessert with golden syrup.


I've never had a proper individual pudding tin, I usually just make one big one in a roasting tin so this is a useful addition to my collection. Mermaid have been making quality bakeware in the West Midlands since 1953. The 4 Cup Yorkshire Pudding Tray is made from Hard Anodised Aluminium and is approximately 245mm x 245mm x 16mm.  It's oven safe up to 240C/475F/Gas Mark 9, is perfect to use with metal utensils as it is scratch resistant and will never peel or blister. 

Yorkshire Pudding (serves 4)

75g (3oz) plain flour
1 egg
75ml (3fl oz) milk
50ml (2fl oz) water
salt & freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Pre-heat the oven  to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7
2. Sift the flour into a bowl
3. Make a well in the centre, add the egg and mix into the flour.
4. Gradually add the mixture of water and milk beating either by hand of with an electric whisk
5. Season with salt & pepper
6. I like to let my batter stand for a couple of hours, but it's not strictly necessary
7. Put half a tablespoon of oil in each of the metal cups
8. Put the tray into the oven and heat for 10 minutes.
9. Remove the tin and pour the batter into the cups
10. Return to the oven and cook for 15 - 20 minutes until the puddings are risen and golden.


Here is the exciting part, when you see the puds starting to rise inside the oven.

I served the Yorkshire Puddings with a pot roast brisket of beef served with carrots and roast parsnips.

See more reviews and recipes from me and my fellow Mermaid bloggers in the Mermaid Bloggers Kitchen and visit the Mermaid on Facebook for offers and competitions.

I received a 4 cup Yorkshire Pudding tin from Mermaid Bakeware, I was not paid for this post and all views expressed are my own.

Labels: batter, Beef, Mermaid Bakeware, Parsnips, Yorkshire Pudding

posted by Janice @ 18:54 5 Comments

Summer Beef Pot Roast

I got a nice piece of brisket on special offer, it's not something I would normally cook in the summer, but we are not having much of a summer and it was pouring with rain yesterday and just the day for a nice slow cooked meal.

I looked around to see if I could find some inspiration for a summer version of a pot roast and found this Summer Garden Beef Pot Roast at the 'Only Sometimes Clever' blog.  I followed the recipe pretty much as is, although I used sweet smoked pimenton paprika and my basil isn't ready yet so I used some fresh thyme and rosemary. Oh, yes and rather than add water, I added 500ml of still cider which worked brilliantly giving the sauce a little sweetness.  Of course, I don't have a 'crockpot' so I cooked my beef for about 4 hours, first hour at 160C and then turn it down to 140C for the next three.  Keep taking it out every hour to hour and a half,  poking at it to see how it's getting on because it will depend on the size of your beef and the amount of vegetables you have in there.


I used the first courgette (zucchini) of summer from my garden.  I have two plants in a big planter and they have been loving the mild, wet weather we have been having.


This is the roast after a couple of hours, the pot was full to the top with veggies when it went in but they had melted away, so there was then room to add the new potatoes cut into big chunks, skins still on.

I used some gravy powder to thicken the juices, but you could serve them as they are or use a little cornflour mixed with water.  It's a great meal, the garlic permeates the gravy and the beef, the tomatoes and peppers add sweetness and the potatoes are there to mash into the gravy and get all the the juices mopped up.  Everything in one pot also means less washing up!

Labels: Beef, Brisket, carrots, cider, courgette, garlic, one pot, pot roast, potatoes, red pepper, summer

posted by Janice @ 18:56 4 Comments

Mince Beef Pie - A Family Heritage

My Mum in the 1960's

Gran in the 1930's

Great Grandfather

Granny and Grandpa

and his dad, my grandfather, was a butcher with his own business.

It is so simple and so delicious and every now and again I trot out this recipe again, it never fails.



Bake at 200C for 40 minutes until golden brown.

I served my pie with mashed potatoes and red cabbage baked with apple and red wine vinegar.

Labels: Beef, family, mashed potato, Mince, Pie, puff pastry, red cabbage

posted by Janice @ 20:40 8 Comments