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

Baked Eggs with Sauteed Mushrooms & Spinach

Baked eggs have become my new breakfast obsession. With butter, creme fraiche and cheese, these aren't the ideal healthy breakfast everyone seems obsessed with in January, but for a weekend treat they are delicious. I love garlic, so I was quite heavy handed with it, but just use the one clove if you're not as keen as I am.

Serves 2

3 chesnut mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

A big handful of spinach

2 free range eggs

2 teaspoons of half fat creme fraiche

20g Gruyere, grated

Toast to serve

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and pop a baking sheet in to warm up
2. Gently cook the mushrooms and garlic in a little butter until softened, then add the spinach and gently cook until it has wilted
3. Divide the mixture between two ramekin dishes, crack an egg over the top and season. Add a teaspoon of the half fat creme fraiche to each ramekin and top with the Gruyere. Place the ramekins onto the pre-heated baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes for soft egg yolks and 15 minutes for hard

Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Stilton

Inspired by a veggie burger I once had at the White Hart in Stoke Newington, I decided to make these tasty mushrooms for a quick and easy dinner last week. The mushrooms were really delicious, but the meal could have done with some bulking out with some wedges or chips.

Serves 2
4 portobello mushrooms
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 pack of Stilton
2 burger buns or rolls

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the mushrooms in a roasting tin and top with the garlic and cheese, drizzle with olive oil. Cook for 20 minutes until the mushrooms are soft
2. Serve in a toasted bun, with mayonnaise and plenty of salad

Tasty mushrooms:

Assembled burgers:

Three Bean Chili

After a long weekend of meat eating in Shropshire, I decided to make us something vegetarian for dinner on Monday night. I really enjoyed this bean chili, but I'm not sure Chris is convinced by vegetarian food, as his first comment was how nice it would be with some chicken or beef in it. But considering this is a man who said 'I like vegetarian food, as long as it's got loads of meat in it', there probably isn't much hope of him becoming a fan of meat-free meals. Frezule and I will be eating the leftovers tonight, so lets hope she's a fan!

You can use any beans you happen to have in your cupboard, but I like to have a mix including baked beans; the sauce helps to prevent the tomatoes being too acidic and half a tin counts as one of your 5 a day. It's reasonably spicy, so a dollop of yogurt and some cooling avocado piled on top tasted great. It's also nice served with brown rice or with a roasted sweet potato, topped with cheese.

For the bean chili:
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
250g pack mushrooms, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp hot chili powder
1 tin baked beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin black eyed beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 squares of dark chocolate

1. Add the onion and garlic to a pre-heated pan with a little oil and allow to soften for 5 minutes. Then add the red pepper, courgettes and mushrooms and leave to cook on a medium heat for a further 10 minutes
2. Add the cumin, chili powder and paprika and cook for 1 minute, until the spices are fragrant
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and all the beans, bring to a light simmer, adding a little vegetable stock if necessary. Turn the heat down and leave to cook with the lid on for 1 hour
4. Once the sauce has thickened, add a few squares of dark chocolate and allow to melt into the sauce. Season and serve with roasted butternut squash, topped with yogurt and avocado

Vegetables with lots of spices:

Ready to eat:

With roasted squash, yogurt & avocado:

Home Made Pizza

A few weeks ago we decided to make our own pizza using a Jamie Oliver recipe. It was a bit of a disaster, as the dough was so sticky that it was impossible to handle. I'm not sure if this is how it was meant to be or if we measured out the ingredients incorrectly, but I think it probably could have done with some extra flour. When it came to rolling the mixture out, I couldn't stop it from sticking to the surface and rolling pin which made it difficult to get the base thin enough. Transferring the pizza base to the baking sheet without it falling apart was also a bit of a mission. When we got the first pizza out the oven we realised we'd forgotten to flour the baking tray, so we had to saw it off with a knife. Despite all this, the toppings were really delicious; it's just a shame the base was too thick as it meant it was stodgy in the middle and hard rather than crispy on the edges. I'm not sure if there's anywhere you can buy good quality pizza bases, as choosing your own topping makes for a much better pizza, but the hours we spent trying to make the bases meant it probably wasn't worth the hassle. If you're better at making pizza dough than I am, the toppings below are delish:

Tomato sauce:
250ml passata
4 garlic cloves
A good handful of basil, chopped
Plenty of seasoning

1. Simply mix the ingredients together and spread over the rolled out base

Chili beef topping:
250g beef mince
2 green chilies, diced
1 ball mozzarella
Half a red onion, sliced
Half a red pepper, sliced
4 mushrooms, sliced

1. Fry the beef until browned, add the chilies and cook for a further minute
2. Top the passata with chili beef, add the sliced vegetables and dot with the mozzarella. Drizzle with Tabasco to taste

Goats cheese topping:
Half a butternut squash, deseeded, cut into small chunks
A few sprigs of thyme, chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp redcurrant jelly
Goats cheese, sliced

1. Roast the butternut squash with the thyme and some oil, for 45 minutes or until soft.
2. Meanwhile lightly fry the red onion in a little oil until soft. Add the balsamic vinegar and let it reduce, add the redcurrant jelly and allow to melt into the onion. Take off the heat and allow to cool.
3. Top the pizza with the roasted squash, balsamic onions and slices of goats cheese - tasty!

Chili Beef Pizza:

Plenty of Tabasco:

Goats Cheese & Butternut Squash Pizza:

Coq Au Vin

Whilst cooking is one of my favourite pastimes, lying on the sofa reading my book while someone else cooks for me is just as enjoyable. For Sunday dinner last weekend, Chris cooked an amazing chicken casserole. Coq au vin is great as you use chicken thighs and drumsticks which are not only much cheaper than breast meat, but also don't tend to dry out as much. I like to roast the shallots for half an hour before adding them to the sauce, as they soften and caramelise, making them even more sweet and delicious. Chris used a recipe from Delia Online; Nigel Slater also has some good recommendations for making the 'perfect' coq au vin. Served with plenty of mustard mash to soak up the delicious red wine sauce, it was an extremely tasty, if not particularly healthy meal.

Before adding the vin:

Served with mustard mash & broccoli:

British Pie Week

Well hello to you, and welcome to my food blog. In honour of British Pie Week, I decided to make dinner for my lovely friend Fran (who is turning 24 this week – happy birthday!). 

I’ve always loved traditional English cooking. My mother is a fantastic cook and every Sunday I would help her make our evening meal. Sunday was the one day where the whole family got together and ate dinner, even when my sister and I got older. I learnt to cook during these Sunday afternoon cooking sessions, to start with my madre allowed me to do the easy jobs – chopping onions, frying the meat in batches, etc. As I got older and more proficient I was allowed the honour of making the gravy, which to me is the highlight of any good roast.

I’ve tried to continue this tradition in 2011, so every Sunday this year my boyfriend and I have cooked a ‘proper’ Sunday meal. His fish pie and my Chinese braised lamb being a highlight. 

This Sunday I made steak & roasted shallot pie. It’s a recipe from Good Food, which is my favourite website for cooking inspiration. You can find the recipe here. I served the pie with buttered leeks & peas, braised red cabbage and parsnip & horseradish puree. Overall it was a success, although the meat was a little tough. I often find when the recipe instructs you to cook the filling on the hob, you can’t get the temperature low enough and the meat doesn’t soften. If I make this again, I’ll put it in the oven instead, on a very low heat.

Pie, yum yum!

Zero points for presentation, but it tasted gooood: