FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BEEF BEER POTATO CAKE

14 Feb 2014

BEEF BEER POTATO CAKE

Left over mince and onion pie filling turned into a quick light supper with the help of some beaten egg, breadcrumbs and seasoned mashed potatoes. A glorious crispy potato cake filled with hot rich beer braised mince, drizzled with a hint of hot home made sweet chilli sauce and served on a bed of watercress with asparagus tossed in a hint of butter.

INGREDIENTS

Left over mince and onion pie filling or

glug of ooil

knob of butter and glug of oil

500g beef mince

300g onion chopped

300ml rich beef stock

1 can guinness

salt and pepper

600g mashed potatoes seasoned

ooil

2 eggs beaten

300g breadcrumbs

100g plain flour seasoned

water cress salad

sweet chilli sauce

green vegetables, asparagus, broccoli etc

If you are making these from scratch and not using left over mince pie filling, or why not double the quantities for the mince filling and make the plate pie as your left overs? Heat the ooil in a non stick pan and brown off the mince, place in a colander to drain, add the butter and ooil to the pan and gently soften the onions, add back the mince with the stock and guinness and cook for approx one hour until reduced down with very little liquid, taste and season if needed. Leave to cool before using.

Divide the mashed potato's into four, using a small tea cup line with clingfilm place the mashed potato into the cup and using the back of a spoon push the mash to the sides and up the cup making a well in the centre as you do this, place some of the mince in the centre and then cover the top with the mashed potato, twist the cling film to seal on top of the cup and then pull up removing the mash from the cup, you now have a mash stuffed cake, pop in the fridge to chill. Once chilled un-wrap and very gently press down a lillte to make a more even shape.

Pre-heat your oven 180 degrees. Line up three bowls and place the beaten eggs, breadcrumbs and flour each in their own bowl. Gently dust the potato cake in the flour then dredge in the beaten egg and finally roll in the breadcrumbs and cover all over. In a non stick pan gently pan fry until golden brown, turning over only once. Then pop in the oven for a further 10minutes at 180 degrees. Serve with watercress salad and a drizzle of hot sweet chilli sauce and green vegetables.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.