Party Pies

My memory of childhood was a that a party was never a party without Party Pies.  Sausage rolls and party pies went side by side, and were a staple at all under age events in Australia!  I love their cute, dainty little size and the perfect balance of crunchy top pastry and slightly under-done base.  I remember always, ALWAYS biting into them too quickly and burning my tongue on the hot beef inside despite the number of times the cook would say ' now kids, they are just out of the oven, let them cool down a bit first'.  I loved them dipped in tomato sauce and eaten as quickly as possible, trying to get my share before the adults noticed they were available and the Dads ate their unannounced portion.

My girls are now nearly 7 and 8 and I fear that since living in the US since they were 3 and 4, perhaps their understanding of Party Pies and their place in the world of childhood parties is not so entrenched.  I decided to make them this week.  Not for any birthday party or event, just because.

I declared it a 'no-veggie night' and off I went....

Ingredients:
500g / 1 lbs chuck beef, ground
1 sml onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tblspn worchestershire sauce
2 cups beef stock
2 tblspn cornflour
fresh thyme, finely diced
3 tblpsn tomato paste
1/2 cup carrot puree
salt and pepper

Shortcrust pastry

Puff pastry

1 egg, beaten.

Method:

• In a medium hot skillet, sauté onions until clear, then add carrot, garlic and herbs
• Add your meat, season with salt and pepper and cook well, until browned
• Add the worchestershire sauce and cook until absorbed
• Now add the tomato paste and mix through. 
• In a bowl, whisk together your cornflour and beef stock before pouring over the meat.
• Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer.  Allow it to simmer for about 30minutes (or more).
• Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
• Allow the meat mixture to cool well before trying to compile the pies.
• While waiting for the mixture to cool, prepare your shortcrust pastry and then leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 45mins before rolling out.
• The recipe I love the most for Shortcrust Pastry and which works every time is Gordon Ramsey's. It is SO easy, seriously there is no excuse for store bought shortcrust if you have a food processor - it literally takes less than 3 mins. Find it here at http://whatsfordinner-mum.blogspot.com/2013/04/chunky-beef-mushroom-pie.html but essentially it is 2 parts AP flour :1 part butter :1 part iced cold water.

To put together the party pies:

1. Bring out your puff pastry from the freezer to thaw. (I don't know how to make puff pastry and store bought is SUPER easy to buy!!)
2. Preheat your oven to 375'f or about 190'C
3. Prepare your muffin trays by lightly spraying with cooking spray.  I like to use a regular size muffin tray for party pies, you could use the larger Mexican size if you were making these for adults or some other large ramekin.
4. Roll out your shortcrust pastry, to about 3mm thick.
5. Using a cookie cutter or other round shape, cut out your shortcrust pastry bases to fit the bottom and sides of your muffin tray.
6. Spoon in the cooled meat mixture until almost level with the top.

7. Cut out your top pastry using the puff pastry sheets.  I used a scalloped edge cookie cutter which   

    looks nicer when cooked.  Lay it top of your meat and press lightly against the base.  I didn't use 

   egg wash or anything to helps seal, just a little pressure and it stayed pretty well stuck.
8. Continue until all the mixture is used.  If you wanted to keep them for another time.  Flash freeze 

   them in the muffin tray at this point and then when frozen enough to remove from the tray, bag and 

   label them in freezer bags.  
9. If cooking straight away, then brush the tops of the puff pastry with egg before baking for about 

   22-25mins.

Orzo pasta salad

During the summer I like to have some vegetables roasted at the beginning of the week to make my salads more chunky as well as healthy.  I don't always have protein for lunch so some roasted squash or red pepper or eggplant goes a long way for me.  Here is a summer dish I just love.  You could use pearl cous cous or orzo or quinoa, whatever you fancy.  The girls love that the orzo is small and cooking it in chicken stock gives it, it's own flavor.  You can substitute any vegetable or salad ingredient you like but here is a good balance of colors and textures to make a yummy lunch or light dinner.   Obviously if you don't have vegetables roasted already, then you would need to get the oven on and get those done first.  I have them in containers in the fridge so I just warm them through under the broiler or just mix them in with the hot pasta and thats enough for me.   I love to add chili flakes on mine as well for an extra kick.  

Ingredients:
orzo pasta
chicken stock

2/3 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup broccoli florets, small 

2 tblspn basil, freshly chopped

1 clove garlic
knob butter
sea salt

cracked pepper
2/3 cup diced mushrooms
1/3 cup shaved parmesan cheese

grilled eggplant, diced

or butternut squash, roasted
optional: Grilled chicken breast slices

Method:

• Cook pasta in boiling water with chicken stock
• Soak florets of boccoli in boiling water for 5-8mins (while the pasta is cooking)
• Dice mushrooms, heat a shallow skillet pan and cook mushrooms in a knob of butter. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms release water and brown up.
• Dice other ingredients, and place in a large bowl. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper, a drop of olive oil, chili flakes (optional) and add cooked garlic mushrooms.  Toss well.
• When the pasta is cooked, drain well - retaining 1/3 cup of pasta water in a separate bowl.
• Mix through a 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese while hot and then add to mixed vegetables.

Drunken Short Spare Ribs

These short ribs are really easy to pull together and using the slow cooker makes for a simple cooking method allowing loads of time to infuse the deep flavors.  It is not too strong and definitely not spicy so the whole family devoured these.  My girls loved them so much I started to think they may have noticed the wine!

I have done this with both short ribs with bone in and also boneless spare ribs... they were both amazing however if you tie the bones up before you start you will have a nice presentation when serving.

I made a roasted garlic mash potato to have with it, which in my opinion is the only way to go. It would be something I'd be happy to serve at a dinner party and using the slow cooker means it would be ready whenever you were.

I found this recipe at www.eatliverun.com/recipes and I didn't change a thing.  I used whatever nice red wine I had in the house, but don't go cheap.  Use a quality red that you would enjoy now.

Serves 3-4

Active time: 25mins

Totally time: 6-7hrs

Ingredients:

3 1/2 lbs beef chuck short ribs

2 whole shallots, minced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 tbspn vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon

1 cup beef broth

3 tbspn brown sugar

2 tbspn tomato paste

1 1/2 tbspn all purpose flour

1 1/2 tspn salt

1 tspn pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat.  When hot, add the short ribs.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over the ribs in the pan and brown.  This takes about 3-4 mins each side, as you want them nice and caramelized.

• After the ribs have browned, remove carefully and set them in the bottom of your slow cooker
• Take the pan off the heat briefly to cool down and drain or wipe out any remaining fat.
• Return to medium heat and add the minced shallots and diced celery.  Saute for about 5 mins until tender, then add the tomato paste.  Mix the paste into the vegetables and continue to sauté for another few minutes
• Pour the wine and beef broth into the skillet and stir. Add the brown sugar, a teaspoon of salt and pepper and flour.  Stir well to get rid of any flour lumps.
• Bring sauce to a bil and reduce to simmer for a few minutes.  Pour sauce right over the ribs in the slow cooker.  Sprinkle remaining salt and pepper on top and place the lid on.  

• Cook on HIGH for 5-6hrs or on LOW for up to 12hours.
• When done, the meat should literally be falling off the bone.

Beef & barley soup

Living in the mid-west this winter has been pretty tough.  The cold is really starting to get old for us now and we can't believe it's only just February.  I was speaking to a parent from school this morning and he put it well, he said when your kids aren't finding the snow fun anymore, then you really know we've had enough.  It's true.  No one can get outside, and more than that - we don't even want to be outdoors.  Our skin has dried up, our lips are chapped... we look like a hot mess to be frank!  So, here I am cooking away in my kitchen day after day with my heater up to about 70'F and this week I made soup.

This was a super easy and hearty beef and barley soup.  I used a bit of vegemite so those of you here in the US, unless you want to spend about $10 on a small jar of our National pride, then you should just leave it out.  The worcestershire sauce does a good job of boosting the flavor at the beginning and that's all the vegemite does.  It's a strong yeast extract which mirrors a dense beef stock.

We all enjoyed this soup, the girls loved the beef and my husband and I ate this for lunch for a few days. I could have probably used a stick blender and pureed some of the vegetables for the kids servings (leaving the meat whole) and they would have eaten more but it was a thick soup as is and I liked the chunkiness of the veg.  This was a good dish to transfer to the slow cooker as we all needed to eat at various times on this particular night so it stayed warm for every sitting.

Ingredients:
1 large knob of buttter
olive oil
1lb quality stewing beef/chuck steak, 1inch cubes
1 tablespoon vegemite
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 medium brown onion
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery sticks, trimmed and chopped
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of rosemary
1 tablespoon flour
sea salt
black pepper
2 litres of organic beef stock
150g pearl barley (not quick barley, the regular stuff)

Method:

• In a large soup pot or saucepan, melt the butter and add a splash of olive oil
• Season the beef with salt and pepper
• Brown the meat on all sides
• Stir in the vegemite and worcestershire sauce. Turn up heat and cook until all the juices, and it does release a lot of juice, has evaporated and the meat is dark and rich in color.
• Add the onions, diced vegetables and herbs and place the lid on top and sweat over low heat until the veggies have softened, about 5 mins.
• Stir in the flour and mix through well for another minute or so, now add the stock.
• Bring to a boil and then turn it down to simmer.  
• Add your barley and cook gently for approx 1-1.5hours or until the meat is tender.
• Taste and season if necessary.  Remove the bay leaf and rosemary.
• If you wish, serve with big chunks of oven warmed ciabatta or french bread.

Back to school Lunch-boxes

It's back to school time in Australia so it got me thinking I should post what I make for my husband to take to work every day. Maybe once a week I'll buy a fresh bread roll and put some ham or cold meat in it but usually it's this... his 'snack box' he calls it.  My girls have hot lunch provided at school so I don't need to prepare their lunch, which I am pretty disappointed about to be honest.  Not that they would jump at the chance to eat this sort of combination - WAAAY to many vegetables for them!

This is often what I do for myself too if I am busy running errands all day and know I'll be out of the house.  I also sit watching my girls do gymnastics for 2 hours twice a week so this is the perfect time to eat a late lunch snack box!

sugar snap peas, baby carrots, homemade turkey meatballs with
chipotle sauce, hard boiled eggs

Other common options and combinations are:
hummus
meatballs and sauce
poached chicken pieces
falafels and tzatziki
hard boiled egg
sugar snap peas
olives
blocks of feta or favorite cheese
baby carrots
6 slices of aged cheddar cheese and rice crackers
dried fruit - sultanas, apricots, yoghurt covered raisins
guacamole
celery sticks (with or without peanut butter)
cucumber sticks
cous cous salad with mixed veg
sliced deli meats: salami, ham, turkey breast, roast beef

Breakfast frittata

Eat breakfast like a King they say... well this would do it.  I have started 2014 off with a high protein, low(er) carb diet as I am trying to build some muscle and strength.  A big healthy egg breakfast is the perfect way to refuel after an exhausting workout so here's one of my favorite ways to kick off my day. 

I have used a little cheese here, so even though I know it's not ideal I figure a little hard cheese in the morning is good with me if it's going to add something to a dish.  You could easily do without it but I don't want to :)

Ingredients:
1 egg (whole) + 1/4 -1/3 cup egg white, beaten
2 inches zucchini, diced in quarters
2 inches red pepper, diced
3 mushrooms, sliced
2 spring onions,finely diced
1 cup baby spinach leaves, wilted
cooking spray or a small tspn of butter
red chili flakes, fresh herbs like basil or oregano or a splash of tabasco (optional)
1 inch cube of non-fat feta crumbled (optional)
sea salt and cracked pepper

• In a hot oven proof skillet, add your spinach and a drop of water and cook until wilted, push to the side of your pan. 
• Add butter (or spray) and saute mushrooms with salt and pepper until browned and cooked through. Remove from pan while you cook your zucchini.
• Turn on your broiler/grill to heat up
• Add your zucchini and spring onions and cook until browned, then add peppers and any other veg of choice (cauliflower goes really well too!) and sauté for 1 minute.
• Turn the heat down a little on your burner, return your spinach and mushrooms to the pan, distribute your ingredients evenly over the pan and sprinkle with fresh herbs or a dash of red chili flakes then add your beaten eggs.
• If using, add your feta now and crumble sparingly over your egg.
• Cook, undisturbed, on this side for approx 4minutes until the base has firmed up
• Place the skillet under the broiler to cook the top of the frittata until the egg has set thoroughly, usually another 2-3minutes.

This is a big breakfast so if you wish to divide it in half,  you have breakfast ready for tomorrow!  

It re-heats and freezes well.  

Beef hamburgers

Hamburgers I think are something we should all be making fresh, from scratch with simple and tasty ingredients.  Once you have the essentials covered you can add whatever you like to a hamburger to suit your taste.  I have been grinding my own meat lately using my kitchenaid and I really love it.  I don't find it too time consuming or difficult and I much rather know what is going into making my patties.  I often find it so much cheaper and the extra 10-15min it takes to produce the most gorgeous looking ground beef is worth it to me.  The combination of using both chuck and sirlion makes for a delicious meat patty.  The chuck adds some much needed fat for big flavor and the sirlion keeps it lean.  I used it to make it with only chuck but these are better!

To cover off on the essential ingredients; you need to add salt, pepper, onion, egg and breadcrumbs to your ground meat.  That's a basic patty right... try this version which I've been making for a long time now. I use capers and a good dash of worcestershire sauce for a hint of flavor but otherwise it is the basic patty with some added dried oregano and shake of cayenne pepper.  I always sauté my onions first - there is nothing worse than biting into a piece uncooked onion in your burger.  I also use garlic.  To be honest there is not much I don't cook without garlic!  I have been topping it off with a homemade chipotle mayonnaise lately which just seals the deal for me in the hamburger steaks but I'll give you the cheats version if you don't want to make my original chipotle mayonnaise seen here http://whatsfordinner-mum.blogspot.com/2013/05/chipotle-mayonnaise.html.

Now, I have been holding off posting because I forgot to photograph the finished burger but we ate them again last night and STILL forgot to photograph! They are just too good not to share so I will update in due course but I figure everyone has seen a burger before!  Use your imagination!

makes 8 x 160g patties

Ingredients:
600g / 1.3lbs ground chuck
600g / 1.3 lbs ground sirloin
1 brown onion, finely diced, sautéed
1 tspn minced garlic
1 tblspn oregano
1/2 tspn cayenne pepper
3 tblspn capers, diced
2 tblpsn worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper
2 eggs
1/3 - 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Method:

• Dice your onion and saute in a hot pan with a drop of olive oil until golden and translucent.
• Add the garlic and oregano and stir until fragrant
• Remove and allow to cool completely (in the fridge if necessary)
• In a large mixing bowl, to your ground meat add the rest of your ingredients and the now cooled onions and mix with a fork or hands until well combined
• Divide mixture in half, then half again and again until you have 8 evenly portioned patties
• Roll into solid balls, cover with glad wrap and refridgerate until ready to cook
• Pre-heat your grill plate
• Press in a burger press or with your hands to a flat'ish pattie and press a dimple in the inside so it doesn't swell
• Brush patties with a little oil and grill for 3 minutes, then turn 90degrees, continue to grill for another 3 mins then flip.  Cook for 6 minutes on this side as well, turning 90'degrees to ensure the criss-cross pattern.
• I usually add a slice of sharp cheddar cheese to the patty during the last few minutes of grilling to achieve a melted cheese top
• When cooked, remove and leave to rest for 5-8mins before serving on a toasted bun with your favorite toppings and a good spread of chipotle mayo or ketchup.
• Serving suggestions: sliced pickle, avocado, romaine lettuce and sharp cheddar cheese

Big burger balls ready for the fridge.  Press before grilling obviously!

cheats version of chipotle mayonnaise:
mayonnaise (store bought)
cholula sauce - to your liking