#blogjune 28 Sweet chilli prawn pies

I am still on a bit of a roll about cooking pies. This started this time last year when I was in England and had fabulous pies in a few pubs. The latest one I tried was a pie cooked with prawns, sweet chilli sauce and broccoli. It was very yummy and I ate it with potato and sweet potato chips cooked with garam masala.



Ingredients

4-5 tbs ready prepared tomato sauce
12 prawns (peeled)
8-10 broccoli flowerets
2 tbs chopped parsley
1/2 tsp chopped red chilli (dry or fresh)
2-3 tbs Thai sweet chilli sauce
Puff pastry



Mode

Heat oven to 200c
Remove pastry to thaw (if frozen)
Chop broccoli, parsley and chilli
Add tomato sauce to pan and heat
When heated add prawns, broccoli, parsley, chilli and sweet chilli sauce
Stir to combine
Simmer until cooked
Add to mixture to pie dish or individual dishes
Cover with pastry
Cook for 20-25 minutes
Serves two

#blogjune 15 The Flavour Thesaurus

For my last birthday, I said "No presents" but some people did sneak some in. One of them was this fascinating little toolbox entitled The Flavour Thesaurus: pairings, recipes and ideas for the creative cook, published by Bloombury in 2010 and written by Niki Segnit.

Segnit divides 99 foods into twelve categories ranging from "Roasted" through "Mustardy" and "Woodland" to "Floral Fruity" to name just a few. Within each food section there is information about the food, a few recipes, and pairings with other foods on the list. I often use Stephanie's bible for its suggestions of what goes with the food element I happen to have on hand so it will be interesting to see if I use this reference tool as well or stick with my tried and true Stephanie. It will also be interesting to see how much similarity there is between the two lists of "pairings".

#blogjune 13 Turkey and coriander balls in tomato sauce

I made two different meals with my turkey and coriander meat balls. Apart from eating them directly from the pan with stir-fry vegetables, I made a dish of them in tomato sauce.




Ingredients
500 gr minced turkey
1 slice multigrain bread
1 bunch of coriander
1 egg
Flour
Olive oil
1 cup ready made tomato sauce



Mode
Place the bread in water to absorb liquid
Roughly chop coriander
Place turkey in bowl
Add coriander and egg and mix
Squeeze excess liquid from the bread and add to mixture
Combine mixture thoroughly using hands
Using a dessertspoon and hands form meatballs
Place tomato sauce in large pan or casserole and heat
Add oil to pan and heat
Roll balls in flour
Add to oil and seal quickly
Place into tomato sauce
Place a simmer pad under pan and simmer for half an hour

#blogjune 12 Turkey and coriander balls

One of the recurrent themes to this blog is definitely meatballs - of all shapes and sizes and used in many different ways. Wandering around the supermarket at lunchtime the other day I saw minced turkey. Hmm, turkey meatballs! There was some lovely fresh coriander as well, so my dinner plans were made. Turkey and coriander meatballs with plum sauce served with sweet chilli sauce stir-fried vegetables!



Ingredients
500 gr minced turkey
1 slice multigrain bread
1 bunch of coriander
1 egg
Flour
Olive oil


Mode
Place the bread in water to absorb liquid
Roughly chop coriander
Place turkey in bowl
Add coriander and egg and mix
Squeeze excess liquid from the bread and add to mixture
Combine mixture thoroughly using hands
Using a dessertspoon and hands form meatballs
Add oil to pan and heat
Roll balls in flour
Add to oil and seal quickly
Then cook until done turning regularly

#blogjune 7 Mackerel and vegetable pie

This pie is a bit in the category of what to cook you haven't been shopping and are scrounging to cook something with what's lurking around the kitchen. But it is very tasty nonetheless and I reckon I will cook it again!


Ingredients

1 can mackerel (425 gr)
3 tomatoes
Head of broccoli
1/2 cup ready made tomato pasta sauce
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (or whatever is required for pie dish)

Mode

Heat tomato sauce in pan
Remove pastry from freezer and set aside to thaw
Preheat oven to 200c
Chop tomatoes roughly and add to tomato sauce and combine
Cut broccoli into flowerets and add to mixture
Add mackerel and break down into small pieces
Reduce heat and simmer on a simmer pad until vegetables are tender
Spoon mixture into one large pie dish or four individual ones
Cover with pastry after brushing edges with water to seal
Cook for 20-25 minutes at 200c.

#blogjune 6 Chicken, coriander and mushroom pie

I think I must be becoming obsessed with pies. This one is really just a variant on the previous pie. I used fresh coriander instead of parsley as well as spring onions and it so changed the flavour! I also cooked the ingredients in a slightly different order.



Ingredients

6 chicken thighs (about 600 gr)
Bunch coriander
4 spring onions/shallots
2 cups mushrooms
250 gr low fat Greek yoghurt
Olive oil
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (or whatever is required for pie dish)


Mode

Heat olive oil in pan
Remove pastry from freezer and set aside to thaw
Preheat oven to 200c
Remove fat from chicken thighs and chop roughly into cubes
Add chicken to olive oil
Turn up heat and quickly seal the chicken
Slice mushrooms and chop coriander and spring onions
Add coriander and spring onions to chicken and stirring to combine
Add mushrooms to mixture and do the same
Turn down heat and simmer mixture
Add yoghurt and mix thoroughly
Reduce heat and simmer on a simmer pad until the chicken is tender
Spoon mixture into one large pie dish or four individual ones
Cover with pastry after brushing edges with water to seal
Cook for 20-25 minutes at 200c.

Chicken and mushroom pie

I had been meaning to make a chicken and mushroom pie with pastry for ages. When I say pastry, I mean not phyllo as I often make a delicious chicken and mushroom pie with phyllo. I finally did it and now I am finally writing it up!


I shopped for all the ingredients to make the same filling I usually do for the phyllo pie but at the last minute was in a hurry and used yoghurt instead of bechamel sauce. And I loved the end result. When I make my other chicken pie I usually cook a whole chicken and use the flesh. This time I used chicken thighs which give more flavorsome meat but don't require all the boning.


Ingredients

6 chicken thighs (about 600 gr)
Half bunch flat leafed parsley
2 cups mushrooms
250 gr low fat Greek yoghurt
Olive oil
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (or whatever is required for pie dish)



Mode

Heat olive oil in pan
Remove pastry from freezer and set aside to thaw
Preheat oven to 200c
Slice mushrooms and chop parsley
Add mushroom to oil and cook lightly and quickly
Add parsley to mixture and do the same
Turn down heat and simmer mixture
Remove fat from chicken thighs and chop roughly into cubes
Add chicken to parsley and mushroom mixture
Turn up heat and quickly seal the chicken
Add yoghurt and mix thoroughly
Reduce heat and simmer on a simmer pad until the chicken is tender
Spoon mixture into one large pie dish or four individual ones
Cover with pastry after brushing edges with water to seal
Cook for 20-25 minutes at 200c.

Lamb and sherry pie

When I was in the UK last year I had a lot of wonderful pies. I particularly remember a great one at the Hand in Llangollen: it was beef in beer served with mushy peas. I have made a few since I came back and had planned that the next one I experimented with would be a chicken and mushroom pie or a kangaroo in shiraz.


But during the week I grabbed some lamb at the supermarket one night after work and once I opened it I thought it looked a bit tough and needed simmering for a while. So I left it to cook until the weekend and this pie was the result. I used ready prepared puff pastry from the freezer and ready prepared tomato sauce. You can, of course, start from scratch for both of those items. I used an Amontillado sherry but you can use whatever you have on hand. And the sherry measurement is a sherry glass not a tumbler! I cut the lamb into strips but you can cube it if you prefer. I made one pie but you can use the same ingredients to make individual pies in souffle dishes: you won't need to use the egg cup in those.


Ingredients

660 gr lamb
1 onion
olive oil
1.5 glasses sherry
Couple teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Couple tablespoons ready prepared tomato pasta sauce
2 carrots
1 sheet puff pastry


Mode

Chop onion roughly
Cut lamb into strips roughly half an inch by three inches
Heat olive oil in frying pan
Quickly fry onions and add to large saucepan
Seal the lamb in oil in batches and add to saucepan as done
Add sherry, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauce to lamb and onion mixture
Bring to the boil
Cook vigorously for 15 minutes then reduce to a simmer
Place a simmer mat under the pot and simmer for about an hour
Meanwhile peel and slice carrots
Add carrots to the mixture and simmer for another half hour (or longer) until everything is tender and yummy
Preheat oven to 200c
Take pan from heat and spoon into pie dish after placing upturned egg cup in centre
Using a pastry brush paint water around the rim of the pie dish
Place the pastry sheet over and trim
Seal the edges to the dish with the water
Gather the remains of pastry sheet and roll
Use to decorate top as desired
Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes

I served it with sweet potato and peas cooked in cumin but mushy peas would be good too :)

Chicken and basil balls in broth

We have had a very unusual summer and it certainly hasn't been very hot. That has been good for bush fires but also for soup. I made this yummy soup in early February but haven't got around to posting about it until now.



Ingredients

4 cups chicken stock
3 spring onions
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
500gr minced chicken
1 slice bread
water
olive oil
1 onion
Basil
1 egg
Flour
Shaved Parmesan



Mode
Add stock to large pan on stove
Chop spring onions and add
Peel and crush ginger
Bring to boil and leave simmering
Place bread in bowl of water
Chop onion roughly
Chop basil leaves
Add chicken, basil, onion, bread and egg to mixing bowl
Mix to combine preferably using hands to finish
Form small balls with the mixture and roll in flour
Heat olive oil in frying pan
Quickly seal the chicken balls in the oil in batches and add to broth
Simmer for 3/4 hour on chicken balls have been added
Serve with shaved Parmesan on top.

Beef & couscous meatballs

Another day another recipe for meatballs! Yum! I love meatballs. This latest version happened quite serendipitously. I had some beef minced and was thinking about making meatballs. I thought about soutzoukakia with rice but didn't want to take the time to cook rice. My container of couscous was on the bench because I had just filled it up with a new stock. So I thought of using couscous with the beef. The mixture ended up a bit dry so I added some ricotta. They were absolutely yummy with a reminder of middle eastern food.



Ingredients
600 gr minced beef
1/2 cup couscous
1/2 cup water
Cummin seeds
4 spring onions
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 heaped tablespoon ricotta
1 egg
Pepper
Olive oil
Separately prepared tomato sauce
Shaved parmesan

Mode

Prepare the tomato sauce and simmer on stovetop
Bring water to boil and take from heat
Add couscous to water and set aside
Crush garlic and chop spring onions
Place meat, spring onions, garlic, cummin, egg, ricotta and pepper in bowl and mix
Fluff up couscous with fork and add to meat mixture
Mix meat and couscous mixture thoroughly preferably with hands
Using a tablespoon for mixture form in into soutzoukakia shaped meatballs (ie long)
Heat olive oil in a pan
Quickly seal the meatballs in batches and add to pan of tomato sauce
Simmer in tomato sauce for about 30 minutes on stove top or bake in oven for about 45 minutes
Serve topped with shaved parmesan.