As promised here
are the recipes and the bits and pieces mentioned during my chat with
Bernie Keith, on his Radio Show, The Bernie Keith Show, BBC Radio
Northampton on Monday 23rd
September, 2019 at 10.10am
Beautiful
beetroot. A much under-rated veggie.
I
get that cooking fresh beetroot is a bit of a faff. I roast mine,
it's cleaner and you don't have to stand around watching it boil on
your hob. All you need to remember is to set your timer. The other
benefit with roasting beetroot is that you can, once again, cook it
ahead so it's ready whenever you are.
Choose
beets of a similar size - preferably as small as possible and roast
in foil – 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for an hour and then test with a paring
knife, leave to cool and then peel. If your beets are larger then you
may need another 15 minutes, then test again. Peel,
box and fridge when cool. Note to self – wear gloves!
Here's
my favourite beetroot “side” recipe, adaptable for so many dishes
both hot and cold :
Bazzin'
beetroot relish
300g
of cooked beetroot
peeled
and cut into small cubes
1
sharp eating apple, peeled, cored and cut
into
small cubes
1
medium onion, finely chopped
75g
soft dark brown sugar
1
tbsp balsamic vinegar
1
tbsp olive oil
salt
and black pepper
Don't
forget to use gloves when prepping your beetroot!
Mix
well and place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan – 16cms in
diameter. Simmer on a low heat, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring
occasionally until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Take
the pan off the heat and allow to cool. Box and fridge until ready
to use.
Bazzin
means fantastic in Manchester/North West speak – much better than
awesome! Speed is the key here and if you've got 30 minutes to spare
you won't be disappointed!
I use this recipe all the time and all year round – anywhere you
want a relish or a side it fits the bill - from baked salmon or honey
glazed gammon to plain and simple with bread and cheese.
If you don't have the time, there's a plan b - use the 300g
organic vac packs of beetroot you can get in the supermarket – good
too when it's out of season - I try and choose beetroot that is
approximately the same size – drain and discard the liquid.
The
Shepherdess
Serves
4
This is my favourite vegetarian version of a Shepherds Pie –
known as The Shepherdess!
500g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
180g vac pac chestnuts, quartered
1 medium onion, finely chopped
celery salt and black pepper
a generous pinch of dried tarragon
3 cloves of garlic paste
a glug of dry sherry or red wine – 15ml approximately
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
30g butter
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
300ml double cream
Heat
the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion
and garlic paste, season with celery salt and black pepper and cook
until the onion has softened and begins to colour, 5 - 10 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, season again then add the tarragon and butter and
cook for 5 minutes, turning the mushrooms so that they are covered in
the oil and butter. Add the dry sherry (or red wine) and reduce so
that the mushrooms absorb the flavours. Add the chestnuts and
balsamic vinegar and mix well until reduced and syrupy. Add the
cream, bring to the boil and then reduce and simmer for 5 minutes so
that it reduces a little and thickens.
Now
for the choice of lid – I know that tradition dictates that it
should be mashed potato as a topping. I prefer sliced cooked baked
potatoes and I'd be tempted to add a sprinkle of grated Parmesan
cheese – 40g. You can also use our old favourite the puff pastry
lid. Individual pies are fab – cut out circles of pastry to fit
your dish.
Bake
in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 25 minutes.
Another
thought … chestnuts have a certain sweetness – you don't have to
use them – if you'd prefer not then add another 250g of chestnuts
mushrooms.
As
a guide I used a pie dish measuring 27x19x5 cms or 10½x7½x2” in
old money. The recipe gives you approximately 800g of pie filling
(1.764 lbs in old money).
If
you prefer a scaled down, individual version, here's another idea.
It uses the mushroom and chestnuts in the sauce as a base. I'd
suggest blitzing the mushrooms and chestnuts so you get a finer
texture for the base. In my house “parrots” are very popular –
that's parsnips and carrots mashed together, well seasoned with salt
and black pepper - I use celery salt, it has a fab flavour – don't
forget a generous knob of butter (or two) too! That completes the
next layer. For the topping, since I've always got baked jacket
potatoes in my fridge, ready to use I add a layer of cooked, sliced
baked potatoes and garnish with the Parmesan and parsley.
This
is a fly by the seat of your pants recipe – add a layer of any
cooked veggies of your choice that you happen to have in your fridge.
I always cook more veggies than I need – here's where it pays off!
You'll
get 6 individual pies, based on the 800g of filling mentioned above
and a pie dish
measuring
10cms diameter x 5cms deep (4”x 2” in old money).
Freeze
and use whenever. If you're a lone veggie as I am these scaled down
Shepherdess
pies are perfect for the freezer not to mention convenient – it
works for me.
A
mushroom tip - you can enhance the flavour, even with those past
their best, by adding a splash of red wine or very dry sherry when
cooking.
The
Cornish Pasty!
The
pasty has been around “recently” for about 200 years but history
says that they were with us well before in some form. A Cornish
pasty has to be the ultimate in “portable” food. Cornish tin
miners took a pasty to work every day – it's hard to comprehend
that they walked long distances to the mine, then down the shaft for
a long shift. It was hard, gruelling work and the pasty provided
sustenance.
There
are loads of stories and superstitions and golden rules too for the
contents of a pasty and the making of the pastry itself.
It's
difficult to know where to begin – some of the stories are based on
fact, some fiction and others somewhere in between – I'll give it
my best shot and hope you enjoy the read – who knows you might have
a go at making a pasty!
Cornish
tin miners eventually had to search elsewhere for work when the mines
closed. They moved around the UK and all over the world too – for
example, between 1861 and 1901 it's estimated that 250,000 Cornish
migrated to Australia. It's not surprising therefore, that you'll
find pasties, or versions of them, all over the world. There's a
very successful company in Australia “Cousin Jacks
Pasty Co.”. In case
you were wondering where “ Cousin Jacks”
comes from – it's an affectionate nickname for Cornish people –
“Cousin Jennies”
too.
Legend
has it that there are “Knockers” or “Knackers” - mischief
making leprechaun like creatures who lived deep in the tin mines,
knocking on the walls and supports. They could be good or bad
depending on your point of view. To some, the knocking served as a
warning of impending disaster and so protected the miners, to others
these mischief makers caused cave-ins. Which brings me to the “end”
of the pasty. The miners would save, literally, the last bite - the
end of their pasty and throw them deep into the mine to either
appease the bad knockers or thank the good. A help or a hindrance?
Not
to be confused with the “end” of a pasty - there's also a
“corner”. A “corner”, is said to be a portion of a pasty
saved to eat later on in the long shift – larger than we'd call a
corner, probably about a third of a pasty.
The
iconic crimped crust of a pasty isn't there for decoration. Mining
was a dangerous occupation and arsenic poisoning was not unusual.
There were no bathrooms – you couldn't just pop off and wash your
hands before lunch, the miners' hands were ingrained with dirt and
chemicals, arsenic being one of them. The miners held their pasty by
the thick crimped crust to prevent being poisoned. How smart is
that.
Iconic
is the word – a delicious, complete meal in a pastry blanket.
The
Cornish Pasty – the golden rules
This
series may seem a tad long winded but these culinary masterpieces
should not be rushed!
The
filling is always raw and is baked at the same time as the pastry.
The pasty is a meal in itself and in Cornwall it's actually
considered an insult to serve them with anything else.
The
meat content should be diced, never minced. The beef should be
either chuck steak or skirt – also known as blade. A pasty should
contain 12.5% beef. The vegetables should be finely sliced of a
similar size so they cook evenly and the potatoes should be an “old
variety” which will “fall”. Use strong plain flour – the
sort used in bread making. As you can see, this is not an expensive
meal – at it's roots the pasty evolved from humble ingredients that
were plentiful and nutritious. The meat element was the most costly
which is probably why the percentage of meat is as small as it is.
Think
of the pasty as a pressure cooker – you need to release steam –
place a small hole in the top of the pasty. Don't be tempted to tuck
into your pasty straight from the oven – trust me – the inside
stays hot for a long time.
Pasties
are usually personalised with initials – top left, others say top
right – who knows! It does however date back I think to the miners
when some owners provided large ovens at the surface to keep the
pasties hot for the men. A useful tip for today if you're tweaking
the filling to suit your family and friends' preferences!
You'll read all sorts of “do's and don'ts” about pasty pastry
and to be fair, there's no right or wrong way, all I can tell you is
what follows works.
Here's the basic pastry recipe :
Pasty
pastry
This
recipe will give you four eight inch (21cms) pasties
450g/1lb strong white bread flour
large pinch of salt
100g/4oz of margarine
100g/4oz lard
175ml/3rd
pint water
cling film
Place the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add 25g/1oz
of lard and rub into the flour. Grate or slice the rest of the fats
into the bowl and stir, using a round bladed knife. Pour all the
water into the bowl and mix together with the knife. Keep the dough
in the bowl and using your hand bring the dough together and knead
using the heel of your hand. Tip the dough onto a sheet of cling
film and use the film to bring the dough together in a fat circle.
Wrap the dough twice in cling film, bag and fridge. Chill it for at
least 30 minutes.
Before
we go any further I can hear you exclaiming – LARD! - what is she
thinking. You don't have to use lard, for me and other vegetarians
out there, use either Trex
or Cookeen
– panic over! The lard is part of the original recipe. I used
unsalted butter instead of the margarine.
For those who are used to making pastry, no matter how basic, this
will seem an odd method. I promise you it works. Not only does it
work I'd say it's the best result I've ever had.
For example, it doesn't matter if you fridge it to chill for 30
minutes and, surprise surprise, you get distracted and remember two
hours later. It does not affect the end result.
A tip – as you can see the recipe gives you four pasties from
the batch of pastry. When you're ready to roll (sorry!) cut the
pastry into four equal portions. At this stage you can please
yourself – make two pasties and then wrap the remaining two
separately in cling film, bag and freeze for another day.
Take the frozen pastry out of the freezer the night before you
want it and fridge it.
It behaves impeccably – just as if freshly made.
My favourite snippet is that pasties keep hot for a long time –
not rocket science I know – but apparently if you want them to keep
hot even longer wrap them straight from the oven in either
greaseproof or baking paper and then a clean tea towel. The story
went on saying that a pasty made in Helston would still be “hot”
when arriving in Exeter. Sounds a bit like a fairy story. It takes
2 hours to drive from Helston to Exeter and approximately 100 miles.
Whilst
I didn't drive the distance I did wrap a pasty as it said and left it
for two hours. Guess what … it does work and the pasty, whilst not
piping hot was more than warm – sounds ridiculous, is there such a
temperature between warm and hot?
Rocky
Road – again
I
can't resist experimenting with different ingredients and I know that
the consensus is “if it ain't broke don't fix it” but they also
say “the exception proves the rule”.
Rocky
Road – Take 33! - I know I exaggerate
225g each of dark and milk chocolate
300g shortbread
100g mini marshmallows
7g freeze-dried raspberry pieces
4g freeze-dried strawberry pieces
175g soft butter, unsalted - cubed
4x15ml tbsp golden syrup
150g brazil nuts, chopped
I used a foil tray bake – measuring 32 x 20cms.
Place the shortbread in a bag and bash away – a mixture of
size of crumb is what you want.
Tip the crumb into a large bowl and add the marshmallows
together with the raspberry and strawberry pieces. Add the chopped
brazils.
Meanwhile, place the plain and milk chocolate, butter and
golden syrup into a large saucepan and melt on a low heat.
Remove from the heat and leave on a cool surface for a minute
or two and then tip the crumb et al into the melted chocolate and mix
gently to ensure that the crumb mixture is covered. Tip it into the
foil tray ensuring that it reaches all the corners. You will have a
lumpy surface.
Fridge it for at least 2 hours – longer will not be a problem
– cut into squares, large or small!
Enjoy!
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