Sweet Lemon Iced Tea | fifigoesnom.com

For a nation that loves tea, and by love I mean use as a crutch for most any type of social or emotional situation, we really haven’t taken to it at all as a cold drink.  I’m guessing the weather has a lot to do with that…  But growing up in Hong Kong this stuff was hugely popular, usually made up from a Liptons’ powder mix which I’ve recently discovered on sale at one of Edinburgh’s Chinese supermarkets in the most addictive mango flavour *glee*  It wasn’t until Hubby moved in that I actually had it from scratch, being American he was near as dammit weaned on the stuff – they even sell it in McDonald’s stateside!

So now, as soon as there’s any hint of warmth in the air I can pretty much be guaranteed to find a “vat” of this taking up most of the top shelf in the fridge!  Not that I’m complaining when it’s delicious and thirst quenching

Stuff you’ll need…
5 Ceylon Orange Pekoe teabags (Twinings do a lovely one)
1 lemon, sliced and seeded
3/4 – 1 cup of sugar or sweetner (Splenda works really well)
1/8 tsp of bicarbonate soda

Brew!
Pop the teabags into 1 pint of freshly boiled water.  Cover and steep for an hour.

In the meantime, drop the lemon slices into 2 pints of cold water and pop in fridge to keep cool.  Ideally, use a large pitcher that will hold the additional pint of tea when it’s ready.

When the tea is ready, remove the teabags before adding the sugar and bicarb, and whisk well.

Mix the sugared tea into the cold lemon water.

And that’s it!   Keep it in the fridge and tuck in whenever the thirst takes your fancy, ideally over ice and with a slice

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Fish Creole | fifigoesnom.com

This is a properly comforting dish and is perfect for chasing this last lingering bite of winter away.  The warmth of the paprika and chilli just goes so well with the garlicky tomatoey stew, and its heartiness is a perfect contrast to the delicate flakey buttery cod.

Speaking of butter… This is a dish that loves butter, and lots of it.  I’ve tried subbing corn oil in an attempt to make it healthier but ended up with a pale shadow of the real thing, so much so that I’d rather not have it if I can’t go all out on the butter in a James Martin stylee (!)  My compromise, then is to just not make this too often

If you do want to make it with chicken instead then use thighs not breast (so much more flavour!), keep the pieces pretty big and sautee off to seal and brown before cooking in the stew for 30 minutes.

PS – how cute are my little fishy bowls!  They’re actually measuring cups but serving fish in them was too good an opportunity to miss!!

Serves 4
Cooking time 45 mins

Stuff you’ll need…
400g cod fillets (or other firm, white fish)
1 white onion, sliced (chunky rather than fine)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, cue into vaguely triangular shapes
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp paprika (not smokey!)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 chicken stock cube or pot
pinch of sugar
butter
juice of 1 lemon
white flour
salt and pepper

Cook!
Put a wok, or large saucepan, over a medium-high heat and melt a generous tablespoon of butter until it’s starting to bubble and saute off your onions for a couple of minutes until the edges are starting to brown.  Add the green peppers until the skin has blistered a wee bit and then add the garlic and saute for another minute or two, taking care not to let the garlic burn.

Add the tomatoes, spices, chicken stock cube and a generous pinch of sugar.  Fill the empty tomato can about a quarter full with water and give it a good swirl to pick up any last bits of tomato, and add.

Now, the measurements I’ve given for the spice is probably a little cautious.  That and I’ve long since stopped using actual measures of spice for this dish so don’t actually know what the measures are!  Taste and add more parpika and/or chilli to suit.

Leave the tomtoey stew to simmer away for 30 minutes.

When the time’s up, pat the cod fillets on kitchen roll until they’re as dry as you can get them – this stops them from tasting fishy (apparently!)  Cut the cod into generous sized chunks, about 2 inches by 2 inches which should hold them together while cooking.  Shake some flour onto a dinner plate and season with salt and pepper.  Roll your fish chunks in the flour to just coat them, and then lift out with a shake to get rid of any excess flour.

In a frying pan, melt another generous tablespoon of butter and as soon as it starts to bubble lay your fish chunks gently in the pan.  Give them 2-3 minutes and then gently turn over.  The flour should colour up nicely so that you’ve got some lovely brown bits on the fish.  Give the other side 2-3 minutes as well and then move the pieces of fish from the frying pan into the tomatoey stew.  Add the lemon juice and then give everything a gentle stir before leaving to simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.  Add a final tablespoon of butter to give the sauce a lovely glossy sheen, stirring until it melts.

Serve on a bed of fluffy white rice, and try not to think of all that butter…

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Needless to say we couldn’t go back to ‘bog standard’ french toast after that so now on celebratey type days, or ‘just because’ at the weekend, Hubby rustles us up a plate of these as a wee treat.  And as if they weren’t indulgent enough, he uses brioche instead of bread – nom!

Best Ever French Toast | fifigoesnom.com

Hubby’s also done these with a wee hint of orange, or made a french toast sandwich with a banana filling, but I think they are fantastic just as they are, with maple syrup and and a pat of butter melting away on top.  My absolute favourite though is to add a couple of rashers of streaky bacon on top of the syrup and butter which, if you like salty/sweet combos, elevates this to a whole new level of delicious

Healthy this most definitely is not, but when breakfast tastes this damn good you really don’t care And I promise, a plate of these will put a big ass smile on your face all day!

You’ll need…
1 loaf of brioche, sliced to 3/4 inch thick slices
1 pint good quality vanilla ice cream
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ground cinnamon, to taste
Optional: 1/2 tsp orange extra, or a bit of orange zest, for a lighter flavour

For serving…
Maple Syrup
Butter

Cook!
Start by melting the ice cream in the microwave until it’s a nice, soupy consistency – you may not need the whole pint depending on how much french toast you intend to make.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg and add the vanilla extract and cinnamon (and orange extract/zest if you’re using them) and whisk gently again to combine.  Next, add the melted ice cream and whisking gently again to combine everything – do not overmix as this will toughen the egg and you’ll end up with a more custardy bread.

Dip the brioche slices in the melted ice cream and egg mixture, letting the slices rest for a few seconds on each side.

Melt a bit of butter in a heated frying pan and place the eggy brioche slices in the pan.  Cook for about 30 seconds on each side over a medium-high heat, turning as needed to prevent burning. When the slices are lightly browned, they’re good to take off of the heat.

To serve, lather the slices with butter and warm maple syrup. Or top with sliced berries and sprinkle with icing sugar, or warm some jam to make a fruit syrup to pour over.

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Hubby’s Wicked Tasty Tomato & Mascarpone Pasta Sauce | fifigoesnom.com

Along with our somewhat enforced but surprisingly enjoyable dietary diversion into fish, we’re also trying to cut down on red meat and have started doing Meatless Monday, which this dish is perfect for

The secret ingredient in this is fish sauce, which I know seems like a strange thing to put in a pasta sauce but it adds a cheeky sneaky bit of umami that really works well.  But if fish sauce is just a step too far, or if you’re trying to make this properly vegetarian, porcini mushrooms would also tick the umami box and would go really well with this sauce – rehydrate from dried, chop, finely sieve the water the mushrooms rehydrated in to catch any grit and add a spoon or two to the sauce along with the porcini.

 Stuff you’ll need…
1 large onion, finely diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
3/4 cup/180 ml water
1 1/2 tsp fish sauce
2 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2-3 tbsp mascarpone
parmesan
basil (optional)
salt and pepper to season
250-300g pasta

Cook!
Heat 2-3 tsp olive oil in a saucepan over a low flame. Add the diced onions and sweat them for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, without letting them colour.

Once the onions have cooked down, add the minced garlic and stir to mix.

Then add the tomato puree, can of tomatoes, fish sauce, balsamic vinegar, sugar and water. Mix well before turning the heat up to medium and simmer partially covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally (if the sauce becomes claggy, turn the heat down and add a little bit of water to thin it).

When the sauce is almost done cooking, fill another saucepan with water for the pasta and put it over a high heat until it’s boiling.  Pop in your pasta, and then take the lid off the sauce and let it cook uncovered until the pasta is ready which should be about another 10 minutes.

When the pasta is cooked, take 1/4 cup of the cooking water before draining it, and add that to the tomato sauce, mixing well. Add the marscapone to the tomato sauce, stirring until completely blended.

Return your pasta to the cooking pan, top with the tomato marscapone sauce and stir until the pasta is coated. Top with remaining sauce, if desired, and generously grate parmesean cheese all over it. Devour!

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Shepherd’s Pie, Traditional style | fifigoesnom.com

Hubby is the King of the world slow cooking, his pulled pork is legend——ary so I left it to him to figure out how to render down the lovely piece of leftover roast lamb into the perfect filling for a Shepherd’s Pie.  He did not disappoint The lamb just fell apart in the pot, and after all that time slow cooking in gravy and stock had soaked up their lovely flavours while maintaining that slightly sweet note that lamb has.  As lovely as Delia’s version using lamb mince is it wasn’t a patch on using leftover roast, and I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to go back to Delia after this, the trad style was just that good.  What a fab last Shepherd’s Pie to end this winter on

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a distinct lack of carrots in amongst the lamb… It was the only thing we didn’t have to hand Since they wouldn’t survive the slow cooking process I’d probably dice them up and then cook them off vichy style, and then stir them into the pot of lamb  just before you make the pie up.

Stuff you’ll need…
500-600g leftover lamb roast (ours was leg but shoulder would be just as good)
2 red onions
2-3 cloves garlic, mashed but whole
Enough lamb gravy and/or lamb stock to cover
Any leftover drippings from roasting (optional)
Splash of red wine (optional)
2-3 tsp Balsalmic vinegar
1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2-3 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sugar
small can of petit pois

And for the mash…
2lb (900 g) potatoes (Desirée or King Edward, or anything that is good for mashing)
2oz (50 g) butter
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Other stuff you’ll need…
Stewpot or deep round casserole pan
Ovenproof baking dish

(Slow) Cook!
Cut the lamb into bite size pieces and put in a large saucepan or stew pot.

Roughly cut the ends off the onions, quarter and add to the pot with the lamb.  Peel and mash the garlic and pop those in too.

Add the remaining ingredients, making sure that the lamb is covered by about 1 inch / 2.5 cm of liquid.  Cover and simmer for two hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so.

After two hours remove the lid, and continue to reduce the liquid on a low simmer, stirring occassionally, until it’s a rich sauce. This may take another few hours.

Make the mashed potato topping when you’re in that last phase of reduction – Cut the potatoes into even sized pieces before placing in a pan of boiling salted water.  Cook until they’re tender and then drain.  Return the cooked potatoes to the hot pan, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to steam for about five minutes.  Add the butter and mash, season to taste.  Don’t be tempted to add milk like you would a normal mash because you want this mash to be firm on top of the pie.  Set aside until you’re ready to put the pie together.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F, gas mark 6.

When the lamb is ready, drain the can of petit pois before tipping into the pan.  Give it all a good stir before spooning the lamb and petit pois into your baking dish.  Level the mixture out with the back of the spoon without packing it down.

Lastly, spread the mashed potato on top of the lamb.  The best way I’ve found to do this is to use a spatula and spread large blobs of mash around the inside of the dish until you’ve got a ring of mash, leaving a gap in the middle for you to dollop the last bit on to cover – this method gives you an even spread of mash without dragging mash and lamb all over the place.  I like to roughly fork the mash topping, it encourages the forked up bits to go all lovely golden and crispy.

Pop in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the mash is crusty and golden.  Share and scoff!

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Loaded Banana Bread | fifigoesnom.com

Hubby assures me it’s very easy to make which means I never say no when he suggests it!   And if I ‘forget’ to eat the bananas in the kitchen then he suggests it more often than not…  I suspect that he’s also after any excuse to use the HydroBake setting on our new oven, which keeps the humidity from whatever’s baking in the oven as steam and just makes his baked noms that much better (which I didn’t think was even possible!).

And it’s ‘loaded’ because of all the fruit and/or nuts Hubby throws into the mix which, given his inability to leave well enough alone, changes every time – today’s one was full of stewed apples and cinammon!  But the flavour of the banana always wins through, and the older the banana the stronger their flavour – we’ve even frozen bananas that looked beyond saving because we knew how awesome they would be in this, that and we are trying to be better about food waste (if you are using frozen bananas, defrost thoroughly first otherwise you won’t be able to mash them).

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to banana bread and prefer it loaf shaped, hands down, over muffins.  They’re more portable muffin sized but I think a little drier, and you really just can’t beat the perfection of all that melty butter on a warm slice of loaf.  Look at my picture again and tell me I’m wrong

Stuff you’ll need…
3 ripe bananas (brown mottling on skin is best)
2 large eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
(or for a healthier option, use 3/4 cup of apple sauce instead plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Butter or Vegetable Oil to grease tin.

Stuff you can take or leave…
- 3/4 cup chopped pecan or walnut pieces, don’t process these as it becomes too grainy (Hubby says he prefers pecans for taste)
- a few handfuls of sultanas or raisins. Asda has a dried fruit mix that has raisins and golden sultanas plus lemon peel.
- Fresh blueberries also go in really well. If you’re using these, add them gently by hand just before baking to keep them whole.

Other stuff you’ll need…
6 by 9-inch loaf pan of muffin tray
Large mixing bowl

Prep…
Preheat the oven to 175C for bread or 200C for muffins and put the oven rack in the centre position.  Lightly grease your loaf pan with vegetable oil or butter (if you’re using muffin cups or silicon trays, skip this).

Bake!
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and sour cream, and whisk until smooth.

Peel the bananas and place in a small bowl. Mash with the back of a fork until there are no big lumps remaining.  Add these to the wet mixture together with the cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and whisk to combine.

Add the nuts and dried fruits / berries at this point. Do this before you add the flour so as not to overmix.

Add the flour and stir until just combined. Be careful, again, to not overmix.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and give it a good shoogle and bang it a few times on your counter to get rid of any air bubbles in the mix.  Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the top, and then pop into the overn and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes for bread (or 25 minutes for muffins) until golden brown and risen.  Check if the bread is done by pushing a toothpick into the middle, if it comes out clean the bread is ready.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning the bread out of its pan. More fruit-heavy loaves will need longer to cool to avoid falling apart. Muffins not in cases should be allowed to cool in their trays.

Original recipe from Emeril Lagasse                                                                                                       

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Fish Tacos | fifigoesnom.com

Seriously, what is not to love about this recipe!  Lovely fresh homemade salsa that is a total doddle, and despite frying the fish it was properly light and flakey with just that wee bit of spicey crunch from the seasoned flour coating.  And eating it all felt all kinds of  virtuously healthy!

This is yet another crazily imbalanced taste to effort ratio recipe – the salsa takes longest (ha!) and if you can do that in the afternoon then all you’re left to do in the evening is the fish, and that really does take next to no time.  Honest. Given how terrified I was at the thought of cooking fish this was a good recipe to start with.  And when the weather gets warmer this will be the perfect light supper to rustle up quickly, more so if you cheat and buy ready made salsa

Feeds two

Stuff you’ll need for the fish…
4 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp cornflour
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
big pinch turmeric
1 egg
300g sustainable firm white fish, cut into bite-sized pieces
Corn oil

Stuff you’ll need for the salsa…
3 ripe tomatoes
1/2 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 small avocado, diced
1/2 lime, zest and juice
handful coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp pickled jalapenos, chopped (optional)

Stuff you’ll need to finish it…
Tortilla wraps (4-6 depending on how stuffed you like your wraps)
1 lime, quartered

Other stuff you’ll need…
Large saucepan
Slotted spoon
Kitchen paper

Salsa first!
If you can, make this a couple of hours ahead of time as it will give the salsa time to develop.

The best salsa, according to Hubby, is made by skinning and gutting your tomatoes first, so… fill a deep bowl with boiling water, and the sink with enough cold water to cover your tomatoes.  Cut a wee cross at the top and bottom of each tomato and then one by one plunge into the boiling water first for about 30 seconds, fish out with a slotted spoon and drop into the cold water in the sink.  The skins should now peel off really easily.  Once you’ve peeled them, quarter, and then pull/scoop out the seeds and liquid and discard.  Dice up what’s left and pop into a bowl, and then mix in all the rest of the ingredients and give it a good stir about.  Place in the fridge until you’re ready to eat – the lime juice will keep the avocado from turning colour so make this as ahead of time as you like.

Cook!
Mix the flour and cornflour with the spices and season really well (seriously, do not be shy with the salt here!) and put on a flat plate.

Crack your egg into a shallow bowl and beat.

Heat a large saucepan with 2cm of oil.  When you can brown a cube of bread in 30 seconds then its ready.

Toss all the fish in the beaten egg until it’s well coated, and then toss it in the seasoned flour until, again, it’s well coated (I slapped on the CSI vinyl gloves and got stuck right in!).  Fry for 2-3 minutes until the pieces have turned crisp and golden – depending on the size of your saucepan you may need to do this in two batches -  and then “fish” out (sorry!!) and drain on kitchen paper.

Try a bit when it’s cooled down enough and salt if required.

Warm some tortillas up, pop three or four bits of fish down the middle, spoon over the salsa, squeeze a bit of lime all over, wrap it up and eat it up!

Adapted from Olive magazine

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Salted Caramel Sauce | fifigoesnom.com

I’m sure there are a million things you could pour this over but sometimes simplest is best, and over vanilla ice cream (Mackie’s in this case) and sliced bananas that epic salty sweet combo was impossible not to appreciate.

Hubby says – Having tried, and failed, to make a good caramel sauce before – the others of which are bitter, burnt memories – I can attest to the fact that this is the easiest, loveliest caramel sauce you can make at home.  Thank you Kelsey’s Essentials for the recipe!

As the grateful recipient slash guinea pig of this caramel sauce I can attest at least to the loveliness of it if not the ease, but judging by the lack of potty mouthage going on in the kitchen during the cooking process then it’s probably safe to assume that he’s not lying about the easy either

Stuff you’ll need…
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup double cream (heavy cream)
3 1/2 tbsp/70g unsalted butter
Sea salt – to taste, up to 1 tsp

Other stuff you’ll need…
Small/Medium heavy saucepan
Whisk

Cook!
1. Combine the sugar and water in your saucepan and set over a low heat.  Gently whisk until the sugar has completely dissolved. Do not be tempted to turn up the heat because you absolutely do not want this to boil!  And it’s important to make sure the sugar is dissolved first otherwise there’s a high chance that it will crystalise when you add the cream later.  Also, if you do this right then the cream and the butter don’t need to be at room temperature and you can use them straight out of the fridge.

2. When the sugar has completely dissolved, then turn the heat up to high until the liquid is gently boiling – without stirring.  Keep a close eye on it as you need to watch for the liquid changing colour, usually about 5-6 minutes from when it starts to boil.  You’re watching for it to turn a deep amber, like a good ale.  Once it starts to change colour it becomes really time sensitive and it’s literally a matter of seconds between perfect and burnt.  So as soon soon as it turn that amber colour, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.

3. Carefully whisk the cream in first, pouring slowly as you whisk as the mixture will bubble up.  Once the cream has been whisked in, add the butter and whisk until smooth.

4. Finally add salt, stir, and set aside to cool – you might want to transfer it out of the pan for this bit.

Hubby says it will keeps for up to 2 weeks in the fridge… HAH!  Good luck with that!  Ours didn’t last 2 days

Borrowed with thanks from Kelsey’s Essentials.

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Boozy Baked Mac & Cheese | fifigoesnom.com

He also can’t leave well enough alone so it’s gone through several iterations, from a roux based sauce to a now wine based one (Hubby says – Thanks Heston!).  Not that it tastes remotely boozy, the alcohol is well cooked off to leave just the delicious flavour of the wine behind which sets the mixture of cheeses up perfectly.  Try it this way and I promise you’ll never do this with a roux again

Stuff you’ll need…
160g block of strong/sharp cheddar (Mull of Kintyre extra mature is our current fave)
60-100g block of Taleggio (or any full fat semi hard non-cheddar cheese, emmental or brie would also work)
100g Philadelphia cream cheese, full fat
250-350g fusilli or penne
500ml white wine (Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay)
500ml hot chicken stock
1 tbsp corn flour (1.5 tbsp at a push)

Other stuff you’ll need…
Large saucepan for cooking pasta
Medium saucepan
Shallow ovenproof dish, about 1.5 litre/2.5 pints capacity
Whisk

Cook!
1. Start by preheating the oven to 180C (200C if not fan assisted).

2. Pour the white wine into the medium saucepan and place over a medium to high heat for about 10-15 minutes, until the wine has reduced right down to approx 50ml/quarter cup.

3. While the wine is reducing, roughly grate your blocks of cheese into a mixing bowl – if the non-cheddar is a softish cheese it might be easier to just tear it into small pieces.  (Hubby says – This really can’t be too cheesey so don’t be stingy with the cheese, and if you have leftover bits of different cheddars taking up space in the fridge then mix them all in too).  Sprinkle the corn flour over the grated cheeses and mix with your fingers until it’s thoroughly coated the cheese

4. Fill the large saucepan with water and place over a high heat until its boiling.  Salt liberally before adding the pasta – you want to time this with When the wine looks to have reduced right down.  Cook the pasta for 10 mins, or according to the packet instructions.

5. While the pasta is cooking, add the chicken stock to the wine reduction.  Whisk gently and return to the boil.  Once it’s bubbling away, add the grated cheese and cornflour to the wine/stock mix and stir slowly with the whisk until the cheese has melted right in.  Leave on a low heat while the pasta cooks.

6. Just before the pasta is ready, add the cream cheese to the wine/stock/cheese mixture and gently mix with the whisk until it’s all incorporated and looking like a happy cheese sauce.  Remove from heat.

7. When the pasta is ready (you’re aiming for al dente), drain, and then return the pasta to the saucepan it was cooked in.  Pour the cheese sauce over the cooked pasta and mix well (if a film has appeared on the cheese mix while it was off the heat just whisk it back into the sauce first).  Season with black pepper and mix again, and then transfer it all to your baking dish.  Don’t worry if after you’ve mixed in the the sauce it all looks a little too wet, any excess liquid will cook off while it’s being baked.

8. Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Devour!

We sprinkled just the lightest bit of paprika and parsley over the top for the picture, it adds a bit of colour as well as taste   Also nice with a bit of shredded ham hock stirred through it if you don’t want something meatless.

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Cheese & Onion Pie | fifigoesnom.com

The slow cooking onions were soft and so sweet, which went perfectly with the sharp oozy cheese they were layered between, and the pastry literally crumble-melts in your mouth.  We ate it still warm with a big bowl of homemade soup, feeling particularly productive as a result, but I suspect it will taste even better still when Hubby has it at work tomorrow for lunch

Simon Hopkinson’s recipe uses Lancashire cheese only, but Hubby and I found it a little crumbly and quite salty so we swapped out half the amount required for a lovely Mull of Kintyre cheddar instead and it worked a charm, which is what we’ve listed in the ingredients bit.  If you’re a big fan of Lancs cheese though I’d go with Simon Hopkinson and just use 100% of that.

Stuff you’ll need for the pastry…
60g butter
60g lard
200g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp ice-cold water
butter for greasing

Stuff you’ll need for the filling…
25g butter
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 teacupful of water
salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper (white is recommended over black)
125-150g Lancashire cheese, coarsely grated
125-150g Scottish cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
a little milk to seal and glaze the pastry

Other stuff you’ll need…
large mixing bowl
flat baking sheet
loose-bottomed tart tin (approx 20cm wide x 4cm deep)
large saucepan or casserole pot
grater
plastic bag (ziploc freezer type is perfect)

Make!

Hubby says: Not being much of a homemade-pastry maker (I’ve eaten many a lovely pie, albeit made by my grandmothers and aunts), so had a wee bit of difficulty with the recipe as Simon lists it in the book. To that end, I turned to the inestimable Delia (thanks, D!) for some tips. So, a few adaptations follow. Trust in this, it will work. I’ve doubted and made the mistakes for you.

Pastry first – Important: Make sure that your fats, the lard and butter, are at room temperature. This will ensure that they’re much easier to work through the flour without a lot of kneading involved. Over-mixing at this stage will toughen the dough and just result in problems later. Cut the butter and lard into small chunks and place in a large bowl with the flour and the salt.  Gently rub the fat into the flour using your fingertips until it all looks and feels like very coarse breadcrumbs.  If you’ve reached this point and it doesn’t look like breadcrumbs, but like dough, the best thing you can do is start again and make sure the fats are a room temp, as above, as you won’t be able to incorporate the water very well otherwise. That said, if you do have a breadcrumb-like texture, then mix in the  water to bind the mixture together before kneading the dough until the water is well amalgamated.  Don’t be afraid to go with the full 3 tablespoons if you think it needs it.Dust it with flour and pop it into a plastic bag, and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You’ll want to take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before you’re ready to roll it, to give it time to come back up closer to room temperature.

.. and back to Fifi! – H

While your dough is chilling, put the oven on to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and pop the baking sheet in to preheat as well – this will help cook the base of the pie more evenly.

Now the filling – Melt the butter in a large roomy pan before adding the onions.  Turn the heat down low and allow the onions to gently wilt and stew for about 10 minutes, you don’t want them to colour.  Once the 10 minutes is up season and add the water, then leave it to keep cooking still over that gentle heat with an occasional stir until almost all the liquid has cooked off.  Tip the cooked onions onto a plate, spreading them out to help them cool, and set aside.

Hubby says: A few comments on the onions; I, being a fussy sceptic who loves his seasonings, added two of my ‘secret ingredients’, in a few dashes of Maggi Liquid Seasoning and a spoonfull of Chicken Powder (think fluffed chicken stock cube), and the flavour most certainly did not suffer as a result. Also, the recipe says ‘teacupful of water’ – I took a normal tea/coffee mug and had it about half-full, and this worked a treat.

Lightly butter your tart tin, and set aside.

Retrieve your pastry from the fridge and tear about 2/3rds of it off.  Roll this out until it’s moderately thin, and then line the base and sides of the tin with it.  Use a fork to gently prick the base of the pastry all over in a random and moderate spread, then cover the base with half the onions and then half the grated cheese, and then repeat with the remaining halves.

Roll out the remaining 1/3rd of the pastry to a similar thickness (or thinness!) as before, making sure it’s wide enough to cover the tin, and then gently lay it on top of the filling. Brush the edges of the pastry where the edges of the pie case and lid meet with milk to seal the lid before pressing the edges together gently to seal.  Trim off any excess overhang, and then brush the surface of the pie with milk.

Before you pop it in the oven, use the point of a sharp knife to make 3 small incisions into the centre of the pie.  Lightly drag the point of the knife across the surface of the pie, not enough to cut through it just enough to mark it, to creat a lattice pattern.  Lastly gently press the tines of a fork around the edge of the crust to help seal the pie.

Put the pie on your preheated baking sheet and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40-50 minutes, until the pie is golden and you can see a wee bubble of cheese and onion juices coming up through those holes you made in the middle.

Once your pie is out of the oven, leave it for at least 20-30 minutes before trying to remove it from the tin.  It also helps to run a butter knife gently all the way around the edge of the tin, and then place the pie on top of something like a can before slowly easing the side of the tin down and off.

Cut into wedges, and enjoy while its still warm or at room temperature.

Adapted from The Good Cook by Simon Hopkinson.

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