MAC AND CHEESE PIE

Next Level Comfort Food…

What is more comforting than a hug from warm gooey cheesy gloriousness encased in a buttery flakey suet crust pastry, what a winner dinner.  A total carb overload that is worth every groaning moan from this over indulgence !

Ingredients 

(serves 6-8)

 FOR THE BEST EVER SUET CRUST PASTRY

330g supreme self raising flour

100g cold butter grated

130g atora suet

Water as needed (150ml+)

1 tsp salt and white pepper 

1 beaten egg (for pastry wash)

Six Cheese Mac n Cheese

500g small elbow macaroni pasta cooked and drained

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp all purpose flour

1 ltr full fat milk

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp white pepper

100g smoked gouda cheese block

200g sharp white cheddar block

100g fontina or Parmesan block

60g Provolone block

60g Emmental cheese block

60g Gruyère cheese block

3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Pastry

Make the pastry first so that it can rest in the fridge.  Place all the ingredients except the water in a large bowl and very gently mix, you do not want to over work the mix as this will make it rubbery, and this pastry is the best ever because it is light and crispy with a flakey texture finished off with a hint of almost dumpling texture underneath, that soaks up the gorgeous braise stake gravy.  Add the water a glug at a time probably 150ml ish and just crush the pastry mix together, wrap in paper and plonk in the fridge for 30 minutes or until needed.

Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil generously season with sea salt, cook the macaroni for approx 8 minutes until al dente, soft but still has a bite to it.  Drain, toss through a drizzle of olive oil to stop the pasta clumping together, reserve to one side.

Mac n Cheese

Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes, start to add the cold milk a cup at a time and whisk in each time until smooth, repeat until all the milk has been incorporated, and you have a medium thick sauce, add the nutmeg, white pepper and stir to combine. 

On a gentle low simmer cook the sauce for 15 minutes stirring all the time, do not let the sauce catch on the bottom of the pan,

Grate all the cheeses, this really makes a difference as pre grated cheese is generally coated in potato starch to stop the cheese from clumping, add the cheeses and stir in to combine, taste and season with salt if needed.  Stir in the cooked macaroni and combine.

Take one third of the pastry for the pie lid, roll out your pastry and line your pie tin,  pour in half the mac n cheese drizzle over the sweet chilli sauce and the add the remaining mac n cheese, egg wash the pie rim, place on the pastry lid and egg wash.

Pre heat your oven 180 C / 356 F.

Bake the pie for 35-40 minutes until golden brown, serve immediately.

HOMEMADE SPAM LOVE IT OR HATE IT ?

Spam Spam Spam!

The good, the bad and the ugly…

 Love it or hate it, it is and has been such a staple in our diets since 5th July 1937 when Homel launched Spam to increase sales of pork shoulder which at this time was not a popular cut of pork.

Tinned Spam Ingredients 

Pork shoulder

Ham

Salt

Water

Potato starch

Sugar

Sodium nitrate

As a child of the 1970’s this was a staple along with canned corn beef in my childhood home, I would wake up to a fried spam, cheap white bread, buttery sandwich, where the fat and heat of the spam melted the butter in the sandwich making a hot greasy gotta shove this sandwich in my mouth gorgeousness, a personal favourite even now but alas I don’t allow myself this luxurious spam treat anymore due to cleaner healthier eating, but I did find myself reminiscing of a fried spam sandwich, so I thought why don’t I make some fresh Spam!

No nitrites, no nitrates and lower salt.

Spam a unsung Hero!

Putting aside the processed high fat and salt, tinned cooked health points, Spam got all our troops through world war 11 as getting fresh meat to the servicemen on the front line was just not logistical, a “wartime delicacy” as quoted by our former British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher.  Even today spam is still a choice on military vessels and bases.  At the end of the war Spam was sent to help feed the the people struggling in Europe.

During rationing the Spam fritter was born, served to the armed forces and British children during the school years of rationing.

US service men referred to Spam as “Ham that didn’t pass its physical” “Meatloaf without it’s basic training”.

The British were supplied with canned corn beef and the Americans with canned spam, often there would be a trade off for a change in taste between the troops.

Spam commonly referred to as low income food, unjustly so, has supported people in countries that are war torn in conflict and facing strict rationing, moreover spam is affordable, easily accessible and has a long extended shelf life.

Monty Python and SPAM

The UK television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus was an funny television series in the 1970’s, one of their sketches featured a fabulous scene in a cafe selling spam with every dish and ends in the classic song, sing…spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam!

Processed Food

Spam is a salty processed canned pork and ham (luncheon meat), that is high in fat, sodium and preservatives that is cooked in its tin on the production line at the factory, all this does not sound healthy in todays cleaner more informed fresh is best eating, which leads spam to lean towards not terribly healthy if eaten on a regular basis.

How cool is this a SPAM history museum based in “Spam Town” Austin, Minnesota!

HAWAIIA

Spam is a super popular part of Hawaiian cuisine, a top favourite lunch dish is musubi a sort of sushi, two slices of spam sandwiched between rice and a center wrap of nori dried seaweed, it is belevied a can of spam is opened every 4 seconds, with 3.8 cans consumed every second in the US, making a approximate 122 million cans of spam consumed annually, this accounts for 30% of the US population.

In Hawaiia spam is often referred to as portagee steak or Hawaiian steak.

Spam is very much in favour in South East Asia with the Phillippines consuming 1.2 million kilos annually again due to the service men during world war 11.

Fun Facts

Spamarama

A annual competition in Austin, the founders felt there was so many BBQ cook out competitions they could promote a competition to create brilliant spam recipes.

August 8th National Spam Day in Hawaiia.

Hawaiia island Oaho every spring hosts a Waikki Spam Jam.

Burger King has a spam and cheese breakfast burger.

Mac Donald’s has a spam burger.

Johnny’s restaurant has a Spamarama menu.

Question?

Would you consider a British Melton Mowbray Pork Pie the same as Spam?  What’s the difference, pastry case instead of tin?  As a pork pie purveyor I will advocate that a traditional hand raised lard pastry pork pie is miles ahead of a tin of spam, but why when the ingredients are virtually the same bar some extra seasoning and added natural jelly gelatine and pastry case not tin?

10 minutes prep / 3 hrs cooking / Overnight fridge pressing

Ingredients

1 kg pork shoulder

100g ham

100g pork back fat finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp sugar

5g pink curing salt (optional)

Pre heat your oven 110 C / 230 F

Place the pork, ham and garlic through a meat grinder / mincer twice until finely ground, mix well with the rest of the ingredients, (I do not use the curing salt as I don’t want nitrates and nitrate preservatives, opting out of this means your spam will not be as pink).  

Place the mix in a small loaf tin and pack down well, place the loaf tin in a deep saucepan 3/4 filled with hot water (known as a bain marie) and place in the oven for up to 3 hours.

Using a temperature probe once your spam loaf has reached 85 C / 185 F remove from the oven and the bain marie saucepan, cover the loaf pan with foil, take a brick, Yes I Said Brick! Cover with foil and place on top of the loaf tin to use as a weight press to compress the spam.

Place in the fridge overnight to set, that’s it, glorious fresh spam, no preservatives and lower in salt, ready for you to use, this will keep for 5 days in the fridge.

Spam Spread may just be over my boundary’s line !!!

PERFECT ROAST BEEF

 Traditional Sunday Roast Beef

There is something very special about cooking a family Sunday roast, a relaxed afternoon with the family all helping out and a glow of love around the table where all the trimmings are being passed around the table and over each other in some form of dance, this is my favourite day of the week.

I like to roast off the bone ribeye I find the flavour is outstanding and it makes a no fuss carving for serving.  What’s more it only takes 45-54 minutes to roast to medium rare.

I always cook to the core temperature and use the minutes per pound as the guide time to reach that core temperature, generally they are always spot on.

Roasting Times

2 kg / 4.4 lb

Blue very rare 9 minutes per lb = 40 minutes cooking and core temperature 45 C

Rare 10 minutes per lb = 45 minutes cooking time and core temperature 50 C

Medium Rare 12 minutes per lb = 54 minutes cooking and core temperature 60 C

Well done 16 - 18 minutes per lb = 72 minutes cooking and a core temperature 70 C

The Beef

Approx 2 kg / 4.4 lb ribeye of beef off the bone

1 glug olive oil

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

The Mirepoix 

1 bottle good red wine

500ml beef stock

2 carrots roughly chopped

2 ribs celery roughly chopped

1 leek roughly chopped

1 onion roughly chopped

1/2 bulb garlic bashed

1 small bunch parsley with stalks

2 bay leaves

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

The Best Ever Roast Beef Gravy

750ml red wine roasting stock

200ml Madeira

All the resting juices from the beef

2 tbsp butter

Sea salt and black pepper

Roast Beef

Pre-heat your oven 220 C / 428 F

Rub the olive oil all over the beef and in a hot pan sear all sides of the beef nicely brown, remove and reserve to one side.

Place all the mirepoix ingredients, except the wine and water, in a large roasting tin and toss to combine.

Season the beef with salt and black pepper all over and place in the center of the roasting tin on top of the mirepoix, add the bottle of red wine and 500ml of beef stock.

Turn the oven down to 180 C / 358 F place the beef in the oven for your required cooking time (calculations above).  Once your preferred cooking time or core temperature is reached take the roast beef out of the oven and cover with baking paper and a tea towel to keep warm while resting.

Rest for at least 20 minutes but as a rule I rest fora minimum of half the cooking time and more.

To Make the Gravy

Strain the red wine roasting stock all the juices in to a fat separator jug that also has a sieve top to catch the Mirapoix pour off the stock  into a saucepan leaving the beef fat drippings behind, this fat can be stored in the fridge and used next time for beef dripping roast potatoes, reduce the stock gravy by half, add the Madeira and reduce by a third, add all the resting juices from the beef and using a whisk stir in the butter for this gorgeous old fashioned honest gravy.  

If you want a thicker gravy…

Add 1 tbsp of plain flour to the butter and mix well, (this is called a beurre manie) this will thicken the gravy to your choice, start with half the mix and add to the simmering gravy, whisk in well until smooth, taste and season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper if needed, if you want a thicker gravy add more of the (beurre manie) butter flour roux.

Alternatively for gluten free gravy reduce the gravy slightly thicker and whisk in the butter which will slightly thicken the gravy and add a lovely gloss sheen, you can also blitz a little of the mirepoix and add to thicken the gravy further.