Farmersgirl Kitchen

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Chocolate Mincemeat Tart

I like lots of mincemeat in my tarts and sometimes find that the small tarts tend towards an overload of pastry and not much mincemeat whereas a nice big tart means that it's mostly filling. The mincemeat I used for the tart is Instant Chocolate Mincemeat, this is mincemeat that you can mix up quickly using any mixture of dried fruits you have in your cupboard you can also add nuts, the chopped chocolate adds a lovely richness to the fruit mixture. Makes approximately 2 medium jars.

Chocolate Mincemeat Tart

for the mincemeat
Zest of a lemon
Juice of half a lemon

Juice of half an orange
2 Cox's Orange Pippin apples or 1 Bramley apple
2 cups mixed dried fruit
1 tbsp Tia Maria or brandy
1cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable suet
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped

1. Put the zest and lemon juice in a bowl, grate the apple including the skin, into the juice.
2. Add all the other ingredients and stir.
3. Store in a lidded jar in the fridge until ready to use.

I used the Oxo Good Grips Box Grater to grate the apple. It was really quick to use and has a very comfortable handle and I love the little collection box which fits on the bottom of the grater, it even has a lid you can store whatever you've grated.

For the pastry

200g plain flour, plus extra for rolling

1/2 tsp salt

50g vegetable shortening or lard

70g butter

2tbsp sugar

1 egg

2tbsp water

1 tbsp flaked almonds to sprinkle on the top

1.Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt. Cut the shortening and butter into cubes and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine crumbs, then stir in the sugar (you can do this in a food processor)
2. Separate the egg and mix the yolk with the cold water set aside the white. Work the mixture together with a knife until it comes together, knead briefly. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5
4. Cut off 1/3 of the pastry and put to one side. Roll out the larger piece of pastry and use to line an 18cm flan/quiche tin.
5. Fill with mincemeat, then roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid.
6. Brush the edges of the pastry base with egg white and place the lid on, trim off excess pastry, press the edges of the pastry together. Brush the top of the pastry with egg white and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

I used a Masterclass Crusty Bake 18cm Quiche Tin from Kitchencraft, the holes in the tins mean that the steam escapes and there is less chance of a soggy bottom, which given that this mincemeat is quite wet, it performed extremely well.

7. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Leave for about 10 minutes to cool, then dust with icing sugar.

You can do this with a sieve or tea strainer, or you can use the Oxo Good Grips Baker's Dusting Wand which is a genius little gadget which I featured in my Christmas Gift Guide.

The Chocolate Mincemeat Tart did not disappoint. The pastry was crisp on the top and melted in the mouth and the fruit filling was lusciously sweet and moist with just enough tartness to prevent it being cloying. Much, much better than a mini mince pie!

I'm entering my Chocolate Mincemeat Tart for Family Foodies, the blog challenge run by Bangers and Mash and Eat your Veg. The theme is Festive Food and Mincemeat Tart is certainly a festive dessert.

Labels: almonds, chocolate, dried fruit, Kitchencraft, mincemeat, OXO Good Grips, pastry, suet, tart

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

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

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Mince and Cheese Pies and a PIE review

The pie is ubiquitous in every culture, whether it's sweet or savoury, large or small, open or closed, enclosing a filling with some kind of pastry or dough is a classic form of cooking and baking.

Dean Brettschneider has captured the joy of pies in this book dedicated to this ultimate convenience and comfort food.

About the Author
Dean Brettschneider is a professional baker, patissier and entrepreneur. Arguably one of the world's best bakers, Dean is a truly a global baker. He was based in Shanghai for several years and now resides in Denmark and New Zealand, where he heads up his global baking empire.

About the Book
The book starts with a History of the Humble Pie starting with pie pastry made with flour and water by the Greeks and ending up with the gourmet pies made by patisserie chefs.

The Ingredients section is a useful reference for later recipes and the section on equipment, usefully includes Your Hands beside mixing bowls and sieves!

The first recipe chapter is all about Meat Pies and it was the very first recipe (and the cover recipe) which I couldn't resist: Mince and Cheese Pies. I have also bookmarked Spanish Chicken Pie, Steak Caramelised Onion and Red Pepper Mustard Pies and Coriander Chicken and Yoghurt Curry Pie.

Seafood Pies includes a delicious sounding Fish Pie with Leek and Chorizo and Salmon, Wild Rocket and Orzo Pie.

There is a chapter on Vegetarian Pies standouts include Tomato and Thyme Tarte Tatin and Gooey Leek, Potato and Vintage Cheddar Pie.

What is a pie? The chapter Not-quite-a-pie stretches the boundaries of pie-dom to sausage rolls, empanadas and whoopie pies! This includes Cornish Pasties, Chunky Chicken and Apricot Spinach Pastry Plaits, Spicy Gingerbread, Cointreau and Choclate Eccles Cakes and the superb sounding Date, Apricot, Orange and Cardamom Flapjack Shortcake Tart.

Sweet Pies are a favourite with most of us, stretch your repertoire to include Pear and Fennel Tart Tatin , Dark Chocolate Banoffee Slab, Lemon Olive oil and Blueberry Tart and possibly my favourite sweet recipe in this book: Caramel Macadamia Oaty Tart.

The book ends with a chapter of Basic Recipes, so many different sweet and savoury pastry recipes to add pizazz to your pies. There are also a range of filling recipes and a section on Techniques such as lining a pie dish, tart tin or flan ring with pastry, baking blind and decorating.

Pros
There are some really interesting pie fillings and inspirational pastry recipes in this book. Every pie recipe has a full colour photograph and a few have step by step instructions e.g raised pork pies. The recipes are well laid out and I found them simple to follow. The pastry recipes in the basic recipes chapter are really original. I didn't have time to make my own puff pastry but I love the sound of Gingerbread Crust Sweet Pastry and Chilli Polenta Pie Crust.

Cons
About half the book is devoted to sweet pies, now I know they are pies, but I would have preferred more savoury pies and some of the 'pie' interpretations were rather wide e.g. Orange Blossom and White Chocolate Cheesecake 'Pie' and Gingernut Lemon Meringue Pie in a Glass!

The Verdict
Well if you love pies, then this is the book for you! If you even just like pies then it would be well worth owning a copy of this book, many of the recipes could be adapted to create new pies once you have mastered the basic techniques. This book has earned a place on my bookshelf anyway.

Mince and Cheese Pies
Makes 4 individual lunch sized pies
Pastry
1 quantity of Butter Puff Pastry (I used ready made butter puff pastry)
Filling
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
500g lean beef mince
30g standard plain flour
175ml beef stock, ready-made is fine
125ml lager
2tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp Marmite (optional)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 ts dried mixed herbs
salt and peeper, to taste
200g tasty cheese or Cheddar, grated
1 egg beaten with 2 tbsp water for egg wash
2 tbsp black or white sesame seeds for the topping

1. Make the Butter Puff Pastry the day before and store wrapped in the refrigerator. Cut off a quarter of the pastry block and set it aside for the pie lids. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece of pastry to a square, approximately 4 mm think. Cut the square into quarters. Line each individual pie dish, ensuring the pastry is firmly presssed against he sides and leaving some hanging over the edge of the dishes. Roll out the smaller piece of pastry to a square into quarters, cover with clingfilm and set aside.

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan, then add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is golden. Add the beef mince and cook until well browned, stirring occasionally to prevent large lumps of meat forming. Stir in the flour and cook for approximately 30 seconds. Gradually add the beef stock and beer, then bring to the boil. Add the tomato puree or paste and Marmite (if using), balsamic vinegar, mixed herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

I didn't have any Marmite and felt that the mince was rather anaemic looking without it, so added a tbsp of soy sauce, it was a triumph and the mince was delicious.

Fill each pastry lined dish almost up to the top with the mince filling then add a small handful of grated tasty cheese or Cheddar (I used Scottish Mature Cheddar).

Brush the edge of the pastry bases with water and place the lids on top. Seal edges and trim off any excess pastry with a sharp knife. Brush the tops o the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Rest for 1-2 hours (or longer) before baking.

I didn't have any sesame seeds, the pies were fine without them.

Bake in a preheated 220C (gas 7) oven for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is crisp and golden-brown in colour. Allow to cool in the dishes for 10 minutes then remove from dishes and place on a cooling rack. Serve with your favourite tomato sauce and a crisp green salad or a bowl of French Fries.

I served my pies with grilled tomatoes and broccoli, they were super delicious, the tasty mince, crispy pastry and gooey cheese, what a flavour sensation!

Pie by Dean Brettschneider
Photographs by Aaron McLean
Published by Jacqui Small LLP
RRP £25

Many thanks to Aurum Publishing Group for supplying me with a copy of Pies by Dean Brettschneider, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: book review, cheese, cookbook review, Dean Brettschneider, Mince, Mince and Cheese Pies, pastry, Pie

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Delicious Flamiche (Flemish Leek Tart)

My friend has recently been in hospital for major surgery, she is back home now and I went to visit her yesterday taking with me a lunch of this Leek Tart. The recipe is in the February edition of Delicious Magazine and not available on the website yet, but hopefully it will be once the March edition is published.

I have to say we were both mightily impressed by this tasty tart, the cheesy pastry and leek, creme fraiche and egg filling (I also added an 50g of cheese to the filling mix) was moist and the pastry was still crisp underneath - hurrah, no soggy bottom!

I accompanied the tart with a roasted tomato salsa. The cherry tomatoes were roasted because they were just not quite as ripe as I would have liked, so I drizzled them with olive oil and a little salt and stuck them in a hot oven for 10 minutes. Once they had cooled, I mixed them with diced celery, cucumber and coriander, poured in the remaining roasting oil and a little white wine vinegar. No photos of that I'm afraid as I was hurrying out the door to get to my friend's house for lunchtime!

Labels: cheese, creme fraiche, Delcicious Magazine, eggs, Leek Tart, Leeks, pastry

Saturday, 22 May 2010

Rhubarb Tart

I made a Rhubarb tart tonight. I haven't done anything with the rhubarb since I made the Muffins, things have been a bit hectic, what with my son's wedding and I have not felt much like cooking, let alone blogging.

There isn't really a recipe, I cheated and used Jus-Rol All Butter Shortcrust pastry, mixed the chopped rhubarb with a tablespoon of cornflour & 2 tbsp caster sugar and baked it till the pastry was golden. The cornflour helps to soak up with juices from the rhubarb, so the bottom of the pie doesn't get too soggy.

I served the tart 'a la mode' with a scoop of vanilla icecream.

Labels: icecream, pastry, rhubarb

Saturday, 2 January 2010

All cooked out!

After all the cooking and eating of the holiday season, I'm feeling a bit cooked out. I am definitely ready for some light and simple food, but the snow and cold weather continues and there is still a need for some comfort food.

I can't remember the last time I made sausage rolls, I had flashbacks to making them with my mum with very pink sausagemeat. I was inspired by the sausage rolls that Delia featured in her Happy Christmas book. I didn't make my own pastry and the sausage meat came courtesy of my SIL who got it from an excellent butcher. It is pork and apple sausagemeat and I added some fresh sage I had left over from the turkey stuffing. Anyway they were delicious and I shouldn't leave it so long the next time.

Labels: pastry

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