Yorkshire Puddings



The resulting Yorkshire puddings

As a welcome home tea for my wife we are having a roast chicken dinner tonight, whilst I don't intend to show how to make the full roast, I thought I would demonstrate how to make wonderful Yorkshire Puddings, something that is so easy but people seem to struggle to get consistent results.

You can buy ready made Yorkshire puddings in the shops, but compare mine to shop bought ones.

What are the secrets to Yorkshire puddings

• getting plenty of air into the mix (I find the easiest way to do this is with an electric blender, although a good old fashioned whisk will still work)
• ensuring that the oven and the oil are hot when you place the batter into the tin,
• The golden number one rule is do not open the door during cooking

You can make more - simply double the recipe, they store well in the freezer and only take a few minutes to heat back through in the oven. I tend to make a few batches ahead of a meal as I have a single oven and they hog an entire shelf for a good amount of time, then all I have to do is put them in to warm through as I am dishing up the meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg
• 3 FL Oz of milk
• 2 FL Oz of water
• 87g of plain flour
• Salt and pepper
• oil

Method:

• Pre heat oven to 220 Degree's C
• Take a muffin tin/pudding tin place oil in compartments until it covers the bottom
• Sieve flour in a mixing bowl
• Make a well in the centre of the flour
• Break the egg into the bowl and add salt and pepper
• With a spoon mix until the mixture becomes stiff
• Gradually add the milk and water and continue stirring until you have used all the liquid
• Now take your blender (preferably electric) and switch on, and blend to get air into the mixture, alternatively whisk like mad
• Add the mixture to the tin and cook for 40 Minutes

The fat in the well used tin

The flour, eggs, salt and pepper ready for mixing

The flour, Egg, Salt and pepper mixed to a stiff paste

The milk and water gradually being mixed in

All the milk and water mixed in

lending to get lots of air in

The resulting Yorkshire puddings

Meatballs in Rich Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

If my wife see's me take minced beef come out of the freezer, the first thing she asks is are we having meatballs, and once cooked, she counts how many go on each plate to make sure we have an equal amount.

The finished meal

Cost - Approx £1.30p per person

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 425g of beef mince meat
• 1 egg
• 1 TSP of Dried Basil
• 1 TSP of ground black pepper
• 1 TSP  of Marjoram
• 1 TSP of Onion Granules
• 1 TSP of Garlic Powder
• 4 TBLSP of breadcrumbs
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 4 Cloves of garlic - minced
• 150g of spaghetti
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper
• 2 tsp of Parsley

Method for the meatball:

• Combine the first 8 ingredients ingredients in a large bowl and with your hand mix well
• Take a piece of the mix and roll it in the palm of your hands to form small balls
• Place balls on a plate and set aside
• When ready to cook, add some oil to a frying pan, and place the meatballs into the pan, and cook, turning regularly

Method for the sauce:

• In a pan add the tomatoes, pepper, garlic and Parsley
• Bring to the boil and on a low to medium heat reduce, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes
• Place in a blend and blend smooth
• Set aside

Method for Spaghetti:

• Cook spaghetti as per pack instructions

To assemble the meal:

• Heat the tomato sauce
• Drain the pasta and add the tomato sauce to the pan of Spaghetti
• Mix well
• Turn onto plates
• Add meatballs
• Serve with pecorino/Parmesan cheese

The prepared meatballs

Th blended tomato sauce

The meatballs cooking

The finished meal

Leek and Spring Onion Cheese Flan

I have a few items in the fridge I need to use up before they turn, so what better way than to create a lovely flan, that can be used as part of a main meal or as lunch.

Cost - Approx £1.50
Serves - 4



The cooked flan

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry as per previous blog http://thetescochallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/basic-short-crust-pastry.html
2 leeks - trimmed, washed and sliced
2 bunches of spring onions - trimmed, washed and sliced
1 TBLSP of butter
80g of Cheddar cheese - grated
2 eggs
150ML of milk
Salt and pepper

Method:

• First make the shortcrust pastry as per previous blog, for this recipe I used full fat - Trex, rather than butter
• Roll out the pastry on a sheet of baking paper and line the flan tin
• Put the flan tin in the fridge for 30 minutes, then remove and trim the excess pastry
• Heat the oven to 200 Degree C
• Line the bottom of the flan with baking paper and add some baking stones or I use chick peas on the bottom of the flan and bake the pastry for 15 minutes
• Remove from oven and remove the chick peas and the baking paper, and set aside
• Take a large pan and add the butter, and melt, then add the leeks and put the lid on the pan and over a low heat sweat the leeks until very soft, stirring occasionally
• Once the leeks are soft add the spring onions and sweat for a further 5 minutes with the lid of the pan removed
• Add salt and pepper to the leeks and spring onions to taste
• To the flan tin, add half the cheese on the bottom and add the leek and spring onion mix
• whisk together the eggs and milk and pour into the flan tin
• Add the remaining cheese to the top
• Bake in the oven at 220 Degree C for 40 minutes
• Allow to cool on a wire rack

Enjoy !

Leeks and Spring Onions

The chopped leeks

The chopped spring onions

The sweated leeks and spring onions

The flan tine lined and trimmed ready for blind baking

The flan tin ready for blind baking - to remove the chick peas just gather up the four corners of the paper and lift out

The flan vase filled and ready for baking

The cooked flan

Chicken Mushroom and Leek Pie

Whilst it is supposed to be summer in Britain, the weather is not very summery, and today it is like winter. Thinking about what to do for tea tonight on this very wet and wintry day, what nicer than a chicken mushroom and leek pie.

Cost - approx £1.60 per person
Serves 2

Ingredients for the pie filling:

2 Chicken breasts
200g Leeks - washed and finely sliced
160g of Mushrooms - cleaned and quartered
1 TBLSP of butter
1TBSPS of plain flour
1 Pint of chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry :

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g butter - diced
Cold water
3 TBLSP of milk to glaze

Method for the pie filling:

• Trim the chicken breasts and cut into bite size chunks
• Take the leeks, cut them down the middle and wash, then slice
• In a large pan, add the the butter and melt on a low heat, add the leeks and mushrooms stir well and cover and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes to sweat down the leeks and mushrooms, stirring once in a while to stop the from burning.
• Add the flour to the pan and stir in well
• In a frying pan, add a little oil and add the chicken, and on a low to medium heat cook for 5 minutes, you are not looking to brown the meat
• Add the chicken to the pan and mix well
• Add the chicken stock to the pan and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer on a low heat with the lid on for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Taste the gravy in the pan, and add salt and pepper if required
• Get a bowl and a strainer and put the contents of the pan in the strainer and let the gravy strain into the bowl
• Place the chicken, leek and mushroom mix into a pie dish
• Take some of the gravy and add to the pie dish, until it comes about 3 quarters up the mix and set aside
• Put the rest of the gravy in a pan and set aside

The cubed chicken breast

The washed and sliced leeks

The sweated leeks and mushrooms

The cooked chicken - note you are not looking to brown the meat

The filled pie dishes ready for the shortcrust pastry

Method for the shortcrust pastry:

• Place flour and salt in a bowl
• add the butter
• Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs

The flour and butter rubbed in

• Take a tablespoon and start adding the water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing the water into the flour and butter. Repeat adding the water until the dough comes together

The resulting dough after adding the water

• Put the dough in a plastic food bag/cling film and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour

Method of assembling the pie:

• Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out
• Cut a thin strip and brush milk round the edge of the pie dish
• Put the all-round the edge of the pie dish and then brush with the milk
• Place the rolled out lid onto the pie
• Then with a tines of a fork, press gently down to seal
• with the remaining milk brush the top of the pie to glaze
• With a knife, make a few holes in the top of the pie
• Cook for 50 minutes at 220 degrees C and serve

The pie dish prepared ready for sealing with the lid

The pies ready for glazing and baking

The cooked pie

Serve with mashed potato and vegetables, using the reserved gravy.

Belly Pork with braised cabbage and creamy mashed potato

Once a week my wife and I love a treat, and it usually takes the form of belly pork, slow roasted, it also gives me a break as the meal really just cooks itself - I just need to keep a check on it once in a while, and make sure my oven does not cut out - as it has an automatic safety cut out when it has been on for a long time . There is no small portions in our house when this favourite is served, 1KG of belly pork between two people, although it could easily be divided to serve 4 people. My wife likes it just served on it's own, but on this occasion I am serving it with braised cabbage and creamy mashed potato.

Belly Pork with creamy mashed potatoes and braised cabbage

The cooked belly pork

Costs - Approx £2.70p per person
Serves - 2 people

Ingredients:

For the belly pork:

• 1 KG of Belly Pork
• 2 TSP of salt
• 4 TBLSP of oil
• 2 TSP of course ground black pepper

For the potatoes

• 400g Potatoes
• 2 TBLSP Butter
• 50ml of Milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the braised cabbage:

• 150g Cabbage
• 1 TBLSP butter
• 1 TBLSP of water
• Salt and pepper

Method for the belly pork:

• Turn your oven onto full heat for 30 minutes before putting the meat in the oven
• If the butcher has not scored the pork rind, take a sharp knife and score the top of the rind.
• Remove moisture from pork rind by dabbing with kitchen paper towel. 
• Mix salt and oil and rub all over pork belly, including the rind. 
• Place pork, rind side up, on the grill rack
• Sprinkle the ground black pepper onto the rind, and rub into the rind
• Take some kitchen foil and pack it around the meat, but leave the rind exposed
• Place the pork belly in the oven and turn down the oven to 145 Degree C and roast for 5 hours - Do not baste the rind during cook

Method for the braised cabbage:

• Cut cabbage in quarters, cut out and discard the hard stems, and chop cabbage into bite-size pieces.
• Melt butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add cabbage, sprinkle with salt, and add the water. Stir to combine, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until cabbage is very tender and liquid is absorbed, about 10 mins
• Season to taste with salt and pepper to taste

Method for the potato:

• Boil potatoes until soft
• heat gently the butter and milk
• Add the melted butter and milk to the potatoes
• Mash well and add salt and pepper to taste

Assemble the meal and enjoy!

The cut of belly pork with the rind scored

The belly pork prepared with the oil, salt and course ground black pepper

The cooked belly pork

2nd Tesco's order and Gammon cheese and onion flan

Well it is Tuesday, and the Tesco's order was put in last night for delivery today.

So what have I got left from the previous week shopping:

• 4 Chicken breasts
• 4 pork shoulder steaks
• 1 Gammon Streak
• 500g of pork sausage meat
• Chillies - which I have chopped up and frozen, they are easy to pull apart and use
• 9 eggs
• 1 very very large piece of ginger (I got the order wrong on the weight), so I am going to store it in the freezer cut into usable chunks for when I need it - http://www.wikihow.com/Store-Ginger
• 500g of cheddar cheese
• 110g of pecorino cheese
• 6 Onions
• 750g butter
• 2 bulbs of garlic
• 825g of Trex
• 250g of Halloumi
• 765g of mature Cheddar cheese
• 300g Un-smoked thick cut back bacon
• 1.065 KG pork belly
• 1.3 KG white potatoes
• 1 KG long grain rice
• 3.7KG Strong white bread flour

Food wastage this week - 169g of Cabbage

Total cost of this weeks food order- £23.41p

Items on this weeks food order:

2 X Tesco Salad Onions Bunch - £1.34
800g Tesco Beef Steak Mince - £2.74
1 X Tesco Green Cabbage - £0.76p
400g Tesco Everyday Value Closed Cup Mushrooms - £0.95p
400g Tesco Fresh Beef Casserole Steak - £3.30p
500g Pre-Packed Leeks - £1.70p
600g Tesco Unsmoked Thick Cut Back Bacon £4.00p
2.5KG White Potatoes - £1.35p
Tesco Mixed peppers 3 pack - £1.65p
6 Tesco Free Range Medium Eggs - £1.48p
500g of Tesco Everyday Value Penne Pasta - £0.30p
250g Tesco everyday Value Lasagne Sheets - £0.39p
3 Pack Tesco Organic Garlic - £0.90p
4 Loose Brown Onions - £0.46p
2 Loose baking potatoes - £0.64p
5 Loose Carrots - £0.44p
1.1KG of Green beans - £1.00p - Yes you have read this right !!

I now have a problem - I asked for 50 loose green beans, Tesco substituted this and I now have 5 bags of 220g green beans, which would have cost £5 but they charged me £1 in a price match. The problem is what the hell am I going to do with them all.......

So last night my mind turned to tonight's tea, and whilst I was digging through the freezer , I came across a lone 250g un-smoked gammon steak hiding at the back of the freezer, which I got for my wife when I went on a two week walk, so out it came, to defrost overnight. The good thing about this recipe is you can use whatever you have as the filling.

Gammon Cheese and Onion flan

Serves 4 people
Cost - approx £2.00
Ingredients:

250g of Gammon
1 onion - thinly sliced
2 TSP of oil
250g of plain flour
125g of butter
Pinch of salt
approx 100 ML of Cold water
2 medium eggs
150 ml of milk
1 TSP of mustard powder
Salt and pepper
65g of grated Cheddar cheese

Method:

• Trim and cut the meat into small cubes
• In a frying pan add a little oil and heat gently, add the onions and allow to cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes or until very soft and translucent, stirring occasionally so they do not burn. Once cooked remove with a slotted spoon and set aside
• Turn up the heat a little and add the meat to the frying pan, and cook the meat through until slightly browned. Once cooked remove with a slotted spoon and add the meat to the onions and mix
• For the pastry, add the flour to a large bowl and add the butter and salt, and gently rub in until the butter and the flour look like fine breadcrumbs
• Take a TBLSP and add one TBLSP of water one at a time, mix with a knife until the mixture comes together and you can form a ball of dough with your hand
• Wrap the dough in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
• Grease a flan dish
• To roll out the pastry, take a sheet of grease proof paper and lightly sprinkle with flour. Place the dough in the centre and flatten , sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour and roll out, until it is large enough to line the base and sides of the flan dish. The benefit of the grease proof paper is that you should be able to pick up the paper with the pastry on it and turn it over, rather than trying to get it of the bench
• After the flan dish is lined with the pastry pop it back in the fridge for 30 minutes, then trim the edges. Note - you could blind bake the pastry for a crispy base, but I like it unbaked
• In a bowl whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and mustard well
• Take half the cheese, and sprinkle onto the base, then add the gammon and onions, pour in the whisked eggs and milk, and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese onto
• Place in a pre-heated oven 220 Degree C, and bake for 40 minutes
• Cool on a wire rack and enjoy !

The Gammon to be used in the flan

The diced gammon

The Flour and butter mixed to resemble bread crumbs

The formed short crust pastry dough

The rolled out dough ready for lining the flan tin

The lined and trimmed flan tin

The finished Flan

Grilled Chicken Breast with pecorino cheese with spicy pasta

This is the simplest of all meals , that is made from store cupboard ingredients
Cost: Approx - £1.40p
Serves two

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts - flattened
25g of pecorino or parmesan cheese finely grated
390g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp of pepper
1 tsp of dried basil
2 cloves of Garlic finely chopped
150g of dried pasta

Method:

• Flatten the chicken between 2 sheets of cling film with a rolling pin and season with salt and pepper

The flattened Chicken Breasts

• In a pan combine the tomatoes, pepper, basil and garlic and put on a high heat to bring to the boil with the lid of, once boiling reduce heat and cook until reduced - you are looking to get rid of most of the water - so you are left with a rich like paste
• Put the tomatoes into a blender and blend until smooth - you could miss this step, you jest end up with a chunkier sauce

The Finished Sauce

• Pre-heat the grill, and put the seasoned chicken onto the grill rack, turn occasionally until cooked
• Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the packet instructions
• When the chicken is cooked, put the cheese on top and return to the oven, until melted and bubbling
• Just before serving add the sauce to the pasta and stir in

Serve and enjoy...


The finished meal

Steak and Ale Pie

It is a special evening tonight; we are entertaining my wife's parents. It is my mother-in-laws 60th birthday. I always get nervous about cooking for them, as they have very specific likes and dislikes. However the good thing is that they like what I call "proper traditional grub".

So after much thinking and much consultation with my wife, I have decided to make a mouth-watering Steak and Ale pie with short crust pastry, served with mashed potato, green cabbage and carrots.

Ideally I would have made the pie filling yesterday, but I forgot one very important ingredient for Steak and Ale pie - the Ale, so I picked this up today a nice bottle of Black Sheep Ale.

The approximate cost of the meal per person is £2.50p

I looked around for a recipe, but didn't really find one that ticked all my boxes, so this is my version.


Ingredients for the pie filling

800g diced beef
3 TBLSP of plain flour
Pepper
Oil for frying
200g of closed cap mushrooms, wiped clean and halved
2 onions, peels and sliced
1 TBLSP sugar
4 garlic cloves, crushed
300ml good-quality beef stock
300ml brown ale
1 TSP tomato purée
2 TSP of dried thyme
3 TBLSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBLSP of flour

Ingredients for the pastry

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g butter - diced
Cold water
1 egg beaten for glazing the pie

Method for the filling:

• In a bowl add the flour and pepper and mix
• Add the beef into the bowl and mix until the beef is covered with flour
• Add some oil to a frying pan, and cook the beef on a high heat in batches until browned all over
• Once browned remove the beef with a slotted spoon and set aside the beef in a large pan
• Add a bit more oil to the pan, and fry the mushrooms for 2 minutes, and set aside with the beef
• Add more oil, and add the onions and sugar and cook over a medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring often until brown and caramelised
• Add the garlic to the onions and cook for 1min
• Add the TBLSP of flour to the onions and mix well
• Put the onions, beef and mushrooms in a large pan and mix well
• Add the thyme, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, stock and ale to the pan and bring to the boil
• Reduce heat and simmer gently with lid on for two hours
• After two hours taste and adjust seasoning if required, also try some of the meat to ensure it is very tender, if not allow to cook a while longer
• Remove from heat and allow to cool
• After the meat is cooked, take a colander and strain the gravy - you should if everything has gone to plan have a lot of gravy (it will become clear as to why)
• Place the meat into your pie dish, and pour some of the gravy over the meat, you do not want the gravy to be above the meat. See below picture.

• Set aside the remaining gravy to serve with the meal

Method for the short crust pastry:

• Place flour and salt in a bowl
• add the butter
• Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs

The flour and butter rubbed in

• Take a tablespoon and start adding the water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing the water into the flour and butter. Repeat adding the water until the dough comes together

The resulting dough after adding the water

• Put the dough in a plastic food bag/cling film and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour

Method of assembling the pie:

• Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out
• Cut a thin strip and brush egg round the edge of the pie dish
• Put the all-round the edge of the pie dish and then brush with the egg

The pie rim lined for the lid

• place the rolled out lid onto the pie
• Then with a tines of a fork, press gently down to seal
• with the remaining egg brush the top of the pie to glaze
• Cook for 50 minutes at 220 degrees C and serve

The pie ready for baking