Beef & Mushroom Pie with Parsnip Mash

I made this beef and mushroom pie for our pre-Christmas day, it's one of my favourite recipes as it's easy and doesn't have too many ingredients. The recipe is originally from Good Food, but I made a few changes (mainly more wine, garlic & herbs). It's easily the best pie I've ever made, largely due to the excellent meat I bought from Meat N16. I normally just pick up beef from the supermarket, but it is often a little tough, even when cooked for hours. If you live anywhere near Church Street, I'd definitely recommend heading to Meat N16. Their braising steak is beautifully marbled, when cooked it is perfectly tender and adds an incredibly rich flavour to stews or pies.

I served the pie with parsnip mash; simply boil parsnips in salted water until tender, mash with a little milk, butter and a dollop of horseradish to perk it up. Parsnips can be a little stringy, so I like to add a little potato to improve the consistency. I also served braised leeks, but any greens would be lovely.

Serves 4

500g beef braising steak

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

250g mixed oyster & chestnut mushrooms

A few sprigs of rosemary & thyme

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp flour

250ml red wine

300ml hot beef stock, use one of the Knorr stock pots

350g potatoes, peeled

25g butter, chopped into small pieces

1. Pre-heat the oven to 130 degrees. Cut the beef into cubes a couple of centimetres across. Using a heavy based pan, brown the meat in batches using a little oil. Once all the meat has been browned, remove from the pan
2. Add a little extra oil, turn down the heat and fry the onion until softened. Now add the mushrooms and garlic and soften for a further 5-10 minutes. Mix in the flour and tomato paste, and gently fry for a few minutes
3. Turn the heat up and add the red wine, simmer until most of the liquid has cooked off. Now add the stock, beef, herbs and seasoning, bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook in the oven for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender
4. For the topping, boil the potatoes whole, leave to cool, then grate. Transfer the beef to a pie dish, top with the grated potato, dot with butter and sprinkle over a little paprika if you fancy. Pop in the oven at 170 degrees for 30 minutes. Finish off under the grill to make the topping super crispy

Vanilla Sponge with Raspberries & Cream

On Sunday Chris completed the Great South Run and helped to raise over £2,000 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. If anyone would like to donate, you can do so here. I thought the best way to celebrate was with a cake, so I made this indulgent sponge.

Jam, cream & raspberries!

I'm not much of a baker, but this recipe is really quick and easy. You could use strawberries instead, but I prefer the sharpness of the raspberries with the creamy filling. I used St. Dalfour all natural jam which is super fruity and not too sweet.

Oozing with filling

For the cake:
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
200g caster sugar
200g softened butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:
4 tbsp good quality raspberry jam
Punnet fresh raspberries
150g mascarpone
150ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp caster sugar
50g flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Grease and line two sandwich tins. Mix together all the cake ingredients in a large bowl, until the mixture is smooth and creamy
2. Spoon the mixture evenly into the cake tins and smooth the top with a spatula. Pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden
3. Remove the cakes from their tins and leave to cool on a rack. Put the almonds in a small tin and bake in the oven, checking every few minutes until they are lightly toasted. It only takes a few minutes for them to burn, so make sure you check them regularily
4. Meanwhile whisk the cream until it has thickened, this should only take a few minutes. Add the mascarpone, vanilla extract and sugar and whisk into the cream
5. Now it's time to assemble the cake! Spread the jam on the bottom layer, then add half of the cream mixture and the raspberries. Put the second cake on top, then finish with the rest of the cream and the almonds

Topped with toasted almonds