MAC AND CHEESE PIE

What’s better than sumptuous creamy cheese Mac n cheese, stuff it in a rough puff pastry pie that’s what !

This heart warming pie delivers on all fronts, comforting, sumptuous, nostalgia and flavour.  Three cheese bechamel sauce, perfect macaroni elbows, a layer of sweet chilli sauce all encased in a all butter rough puff golden flakey pastry.

Ingredients 

(serves 6)

The Rough Puff Pastry

330g self raising flour

130g suet

150g water

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt 

200g butter

Mac n Cheese

6 potions elbow macaroni

50g butter

50g plain flour

1 ltr gold top creamy Jersey milk

1 onion halved 

1 clove

1 bay leaf

400g -500g medium cheddar cheese grated 

100g Emmental grated 

100g Gruyère grated

200g Parmesan grated

Sea salt and white pepper

First make the rough puff pastry, place all the ingredients except the butter in a bowl and bring together to a rough ball, roll out to a 1/2 " thick rectangle, you are going to repeat the next stage four times, slice the butter into 12 slices, place 3 butter slices on the top first half of the rolled out pastry and fold up the bottom half covering the butter, turn the folded pastry 90 degrees and roll out to rectangle again, repeat 3 more times, wrap in parchment paper or cloth and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.  This technique layers the butter through the pastry.

This is roughly how your rough puff pastry will look inside, all the layers of butter are what will melt and make your rough puff, puff up and become light and melt in the mouth pastry.

Mac n Cheese

First bring the milk up to almost a simmer and take off the heat, take the onion and using the clove as a stud pin the bay leaf to the onion and pop into the milk, leave to infuse for half an hour.  Meanwhile make the roux by melting the butter and adding the flour, cook on a really low heat for five minutes, this is to cook out some of the flour flavour.  Increase the heat to a mild-medium and add a ladle of infused milk, stir in well, repeat this until all the milk has been incorporated leaving the onion behind.

On a gentle just simmer keep the milk sauce cooking for twenty minutes stirring most of the time, next add almost all of the cheddar, half of the Parmesan cheese, the Emmental and Gruyère and stir in until melted, season with salt and pepper to taste, you can add more seasoning or cheese to your taste, leave to one side while you cook the macaroni.

Bring a large pan of water to a boil season with sea salt, drop in the macaroni and cook for 6-8 minutes until al dente, soft but with a hint of bite to the elbows, drain well and toss through a ting dash of olive oil to stop clumping, leave to cool then add to the reserved bechamel cheese sauce and combine well, leave to one side while you roll out you’re pastry.

Pre heat your oven 180 C / 356 F.  Grease your pie tin, divide the pastry as two thirds and one third, reserve the one third for the pie top and decoration, roll out to the thickness of a pound coin and line the pie tin, fill the pie with the macaroni cheese, optional add a generous spoon full of sweet chilli sauce over the top, roll out a pie lid, egg wash the rim of the pie, place on your pie lid on top and crimp the edges together, decorate and egg wash the top.

Bake in the oven for approx 40 minutes until golden and flakey, serve immediately and keep leftovers if there is any! in the fridge for indulgent snacking.

AUBERGINE HARISSA STEAKS

I totally underestimated how gorgeous these aubergine steaks would be, this is a game changer winner dinner in our home now.  Juicy, succulent, fragrant and slightly spicy and full of flavour, even better when cooked over Japanese binchotan charcoal, but almost as good cooked on a griddle or flat top.

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

1 large aubergine 

1 glug olive oil

2 tbsp harissa

1 pinch sea salt

Heat your grilled or BBQ, cut the aubergine in half then take a sliver off the outsides so the aubergine will lay flat on the grill and cook evenly.  Season with salt and rub over the olive oil, grill for approx 3 minutes each side then sprinkle over the harissa on both sides and cook for a further one minute.  That’s it serve and enjoy.

SEARED SCALLOPS WITH SOY GINGER CHILLI GARLIC OIL

How To Clean Fresh Scallops On The Shell

These are so good, fresh scallops on the shell pan seared then topped with a hot garlic chilli ginger oil and soy sauce.  I’m luckily enough to live on the south coast of England and all my life I have been going to a wonderful family run fishing shack on the beach who run their own fishing boats stocking most of the shack.  It is always pot luck when I go there as they sell what they catch so I have certain days that I know will give me a better chance of what I’m after being there, but in honesty it’s really a 50/50 chance but I enjoy this because I often come home with something new, like a whole turbot or I’m still on the look out for a Megrim a large flat fish I saw one there once but did not know what to do with it and now I know it’s also known as Cornish sole I’m waiting for that opportunity to cook one.  Cornwall is 300 miles along the coast to the West, swim on up Mr fish.

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

10 fresh scallops cleaned or in their shells

30ml nut or vegetable oil

1 thumb size piece ginger finely chopped

1 Serrano chilli finely sliced

1 spring onion finely sliced

1 cloves garlic finely chopped

10 tsp soy sauce one for each scallop

You will need 3 bowls, one filled with cold water.  This is a super fast cook overall 3 minutes start to finish so prepare all ingredients first.

If you have fresh scallops only use ones that close when tapped, any that are open and stay open do not eat.  The scallop shell has a flat side and a bowed side, a lovely curve that goes into a blunt point, slide a dinner knife in between the two shells just past the blunt point on the right side and twist the knife to open the shell, run the knife down to the bottom, turn the scallop 180 degrees and repeat on the other side.  

Place the bowed shell in the palm of you hand and scrap the knife across the inside of the flat shell, taking care to keep the knife right against the top of the shell as this is where the scallop is attached and you don’t want to leave any of the scallop behind.

Using a spoon scoop out all the scallop in to one of the bowls, take hold of the white scallop and peel / clean  the scallop of the skirt this is easy to do, place the scallop in the bowl of water to rinse of any grit then pat dry and place in the last bowl, either keep the orange roe or discard, you can use the discard skirt for making stocks.  Clean the shells throughly and then pop in a hot oven for 10 minutes to sterilise.

Take the shells out of the oven and place on your serving plates.  Heat a cast iron or non stick skillet medium hot, add half the oil and wait one minute, add the scallops to the pan and do not touch for at least one minute, turn over and cook the other side for one minute, take off the heat, at the same time heat the remaining oil in a small saucepan add the garlic, ginger, spring onions and chilli cook for 45 seconds.

Pour one teaspoon of soy sauce over each scallop then spoon over the hot ginger, chilli garlic oil and enjoy.

PRESERVED GARLIC IN OIL

I grow our own garlic all year round winter grown garlic is harvested around June and spring planted garlic around October but there comes a point where my stored garlic starts to dry out and sprout, before this happens I peel the cloves and preserve them in fragrant olive oil, this is worth the effort not only for keeping the garlic but it saves a job when cooking and believe me when I say my family loves garlic some days I will be peeling three or four whole bulbs for one meal.  Check out below my nutty garlic oil dip/dressing and roasted garlic purée.

Growing Garlic

Garlic is a very forgiving plant, it grows without the need of much attention and very little watering and will happily grow on its own.  I always get rust (fungus) on my garlic but I just hang on in and peel off any heavily infected leaves, it just means the bulb may be smaller than a uninfected plant.

For over winter I plant in September and harvest around June and for summer I plant in April and harvest September/October and to store I trim all the foliage off the bulb and leave to dry out in the sun for a day, then I either tie plait them on string and hang in the kitchen or store in a slated wooden crate.

Ingredients 

500g peeled garlic cloves

1 ltr apple cider vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 sprig tarragon (optional)

1500ml  olive oil

This is a important step, for food safety.  Place the garlic, salt and sugar in a deep saucepan, fill the pan with the apple cider vinegar to cover the garlic and bring to a boil, boil for three minutes, then drain off the vinegar (keep this in the fridge for making salad dressings or using on fries) and pat dry the garlic.  Meanwhile sterilise your jar (see below) at the same time this is also for food safety, 

How to Sterilise a Jar

Take your kilner, ball mason or jam jar and wash thoroughly, this you can do ahead of time, pre heat your oven to 150C / 320 F and pop the jars in for 10 minutes, place the lids in boiling water for 5 minutes, this will sterilise the jars and lids for food safety.

Why Food Safety ?

This is because the bacteria Clostridium Botulinum which causes Botulism can grow in preserved goods if not killed off in the process and as we’re not cooking the garlic or preserving in a pickling vinegar garlic and chilli oils are a higher risk, but don’t panic by storing your preserved garlic in the fridge is a belt and braces approach for food safety.  If your really concerned then portion and vac pack the garlic and freeze.

To Jar
Place the garlic in your hot jar, pour in the olive oil and cover the top of the garlic by a few inches, place in your herbs and seal the lid, I leave the jar to cool on the side then store in the fridge, use within 6 weeks.  Keep the left over garlic oil once all the garlic is used for adding flavour to your cooking, having said that I often take a good spoonful of the oil with the garlic for just that when cooking.



Awesome Nutty Garlic Oil Dip

3 bulbs of garlic finely sliced

200ml olive oil

In a frying pan add 100ml of the olive oil and the garlic, over a medium heat fry until nutty brown, take off the heat and add the rest of the olive oil and leave to infuse, serve cold or warm, this is great for dipping prawns in, poured over roast chicken, dipping crusty bread in along with a dip of aged balsamic vinegar amount many ideas.

Garlic Croutons 

Slice your sour dough bread thin, drizzle with a hint of olive oil and bake in the oven for 10 minutes turning over half way through, squeeze out the roasted garlic purée and load up.

Roasted Garlic Purée 

This beautiful little parcel packs great nutty sweet mild garlicky flavour to any dish, sauce and gravy it's great to spread on toast, add to stuffings and great with cheese and crackers.  One of my favourite ways to eat this is pasted over a roasted herby sausage meat stuffed chicken breast wrapped in Parma ham with creamy rich garlicky country gravy!  When I'm going to roast garlic I do several whole bulbs at a time so that I have extra squidgy garlic purée in the fridge ready to go adding that extra layer of flavour to a dish at a moments notice.

Ingredients 

4 whole bulbs of garlic

50ml olive oil

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt (optional)

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees and quite simply place the bulbs in a dish toss through the olive oil and season with the salt, cover the dish with baking paper or foil, bake in the oven for 30 minutes for soft whole squidgy spreadable cloves great for spreading or 40 minutes for a purée spread that melts into sauces

AROMATIC WONTON PRAWN BALLS

Gluten Free Paleo

What a game changer, full of flavour and so yummy!  Make extra as these went to fast!  Super easy to make and they deliver massive flavour to your table, you can use these balls for the filling for pot stickers with gluten free cassava flour for the dough, recipe below.  Pair these up with a lovey soy, sesame and wasabi dip.

These balls are quite delicate before being cooked as there is no filler to bind, you can blitz some sesame seeds and or flaxseed which will bind these firmer, but I prefer the texture without.

Ingredients 

20 large raw cold water prawns minced

5g dried mushrooms like shitake/porcini soaked and chopped

1 spring onion finely chopped

2 tbsp chopped coriander 

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp sriracha sauce

Salt and white pepper

Soy Sesame Dip

30ml soy sauce 

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 pea size squirt of wasabi paste

5 dashes of mirin 

1 tsp brown rice vinegar

Few slices fresh red chillies

Few slices spring onion

Combine all ingredients

Mix all the ingredients together, using a small ice cream scoop, scoop up a ball and release into your hands, form into a firmer ball and place in a oiled steamer, pop a lid on steam for around 5 minutes until firm with a slight spring when touched.  That’s it enjoy with the dip.

For Pot Stickers

Cassava dough

1 cup cassava flour

33g arrowroot 

350ml hot water

1/2 tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients together then pour over the hot water and mix to form a dough ball, knead for five minutes until smooth and the dough has a slight spring back when pressed.  If your dough is sticky add a little more flour, you want a wetter dough as if to dry the dough becomes tough and impossible to roll out.  Keep the dough covered in a wet tea towel until cooked.

Take golf ball pieces of the dough and roll out into a thin circle, place a raw prawn ball in the center, paint water around the edge of the dough, fold up the two sides over the filling and crimp together in a wave pattern.

To cook, heat a non stick frying pan, add a dash of olive oil and place the pot stickers one side down and cook on a medium heat until crispy and browned, add a 150ml of water and place a lid on and steam the pot stickers on a simmer until all the water has evaporated, then leave the pot stickers in the pan on the heat for a minute to crisp up the bottoms again, serve with the soy sesame dip and enjoy.

VEGETARIAN COLLARD GREENS AND AWESOME CHILLI CHEESE CORN BREAD WITH AU JUS DIP

BEST EVER GREENS AND CORN BREAD

Kapow these greens are out of bounds, so good, so flavoursome and so good for you to!  Where have these been all my life, I have tried collard greens before following a ham hock recipe and I just did not get them, they were a little bitter and not loaded with the flavour you expect, but my husband asked me to research and try again but from a vegan angle, well these did not disappoint, I’m genuinely chuffed with these, one additional point might be that I used our home grown rainbow chard, just a little extra pat on the back 🤣

The double bonus of this is the collard greens stock as a French Dip au jus for your warm corn bread, divine does not do this justice.

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 40 minutes

Best Ever Greens

1 small onion finely diced

3 cloves garlic finely diced

1 glug olive oil

1 knob butter (optional)

1lb chard or greens stalks removed

500ml Knorr vegetable jelly stock

White pepper to taste

Method

In a saucepan add the olive oil, onion and garlic and gently bring up to a medium heat to soften the onion and garlic translucent for around ten minutes.  Add the greens or chard and soften for around 5-7 minutes then add the stock to cover the greens.  Simmer very gently for around 30 minutes, add the pepper and taste to check the greens are tender, that’s it.  At this point you can turn the heat down to very low and leave the greens to stay hot in the stock while you finish off serving the rest of your dinner.

Serve the greens with tongs direct from the stock and then pour the gorgeous stock into a dipping bowl for dipping your corn bread to soak up that glorious flavour, double bonus!

Most Awesome Corn Bread

150g  butter

1 glug olive oil

2 onions finely sliced

1 tsp sugar

4 cooked corn on the cob

4 large eggs

350g polenta

90g plain flour

500ml top gold milk

200g grated Parmesan cheese

5 red chillies de-seeded and finely sliced

1 tbsp sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp baking powder

 

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  In a frying pan melt the butter and a dash of ooil, add the onions, garlic and gently fry for approx. 20-30minutes, after 20mins add the sugar and cook on until they are wonderfully caramelised, golden brown and sticky, leave to one side to cool slightly.

 

I love to take my corn off the cob, it really does make a huge difference to the flavour, so holding the cob upright on the board I run my knife from top to bottom cutting off all the kernels.  Add these to your onions and cook for a further 5 or so minutes.

 

In a large bowl place your eggs, milk, baking powder, flour and polenta, season with salt and pepper, add most of the grated cheese reserving 50g for topping the muffins later and the same with the chillies reserve a little for topping later,  mix gently but well then add the slightly cooled onion mix.

 

I either like to use a 8” cake tin or my son’s favourite Pioneer Woman’s flower muffin tin, grease well.  Fill your mixture into the tin and bake for approx 35 minutes in your oven, 15 minutes before their ready sprinkle the left over cheese and chillies and return to the oven.  

 

Leave to cool for 10 minutes or so if you can, I am often impatient at this point because I want a warm moist chunk of this delicious cornbread straight form the oven, let alone stop my husband from diving in.  The corn bread is best serve immediately from the oven but you can cook in advance and serve on the same day, and it will still be a show stopper.

Geeky Good For You Science Bit…

Beetroot and Beetroot Chard

Organ and blood cleansing, lowers risk of heart disease, helps stimulate and improve overall liver function, full of iron, calcium, magnesium, folate, carotenoids, lutein, high in plant flavonoids and beta carotene supports eye health, vitamins A, C, E, B1, B6, B3, copper, potassium maganese and fiber.