Day: January 27, 2015
Potato-topped Meat Pies
I tried a fair few meat pies in Australia. As you would expect the pie fillings are very diverse, but the classic seems to be cubes of beef in a rich glistening gravy, accented with herbs or generous amounts of black pepper. The traditional pie has a shortcrust base and is topped with glistening, flaky, puff pastry. While I am going to stick to tradition for the filling, I did sample one delicious pie that was topped with fluffy buttery mash. I thought this was an excellent idea and have attemtped to recreate it here.
To make this recipe it is best to do all the prep at the beginning, including making the pastry and mash. This means you can relax for an hour or so before getting on with the task of assembling them. Ideally the pies should be portioned individually. This recipe makes around 6 pies, using individual 10cm (4-inch) pie dishes.
Level: medium
Methods: rubbing-in
Skills: sauteeing, stewing
Time: 3 hours
Makes: 6 individual pies
Ingredients
600-700g white potatoes, peeled and chopped
25g butter
4-5tbsp milk
200g plain flour
100g butter
2-3tbsp water
100 g smoked bacon, cut into 1cm strips
1 medium onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1-2tbsp plain flour
400g well-marbled braising steak, trimmed of hard fat or gristle
250ml real ale
250ml quality beef stock
2tdp tomato purée
4 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped from stalks
2 bay leaves
2tbsp cornflour, blended with 2tbsp cold water
100g chestnut mushrooms, wiped and halved or quartered if large
salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Bring the peeled and chopped potatoes to the boil in lightly salted water. When boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for around 20 minutes.
2. Drain and return to the pan over a low heat, to remove excess moisture. Add the milk and butter, then mash.
3. Place in a bowl and set aside until needed.
4. To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Keep rubbing until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
5. Gradually add the water a spoonful at a time, mixing with a table knife, until you have a cohesive dough that leaves the side of the bowl clean. It should not be wet or sticky.
6. Wrap in clingfilm and allow to rest in the refridgerator.
7. Now, to make the filling, heat a tablespoon of oil in a deep frying pan or large saucepan. Fry the bacon strips with the onions until pale golden brown, stirring regularly.
8. Add the garlic and fry for a minute or two until softened. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the onions, garlic and bacon to a plate.
9. Coat the beef with the flour.
10. Fry the meat in the same oil, in 2 or 3 batches until well browned all over. Add extra oil if the pan seems dry. Transfer the beef to the plate as it is browned.
11. Deglaze the frying pan with half the ale. Bring it to the boil while stirring hard to lift all the sediment from the bottom of the pan.
12. Add the remaining ale, then the stock, tomato purée and herbs. Add the meat and onion mix back to the pan along with any remaining juices.
13. Bring everything to the boil, then cover and reduce to a gentle simmer for 1½-2 hours or until the meat is very tender.
14. When tender, stir in the cornflour paste and cook for a further five minutes or until the juices have thickened. Adjust the seasoning to taste and leave to cool slightly.
15. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
16. Heat some oil in a small frying pan and fry the mushrooms over a high heat for about 5 minutes until golden, then add them to the meat.
17. Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a lightly-floured surface until about 4mm thick. Cut out circles using a saucer or small side plate and line each tin. You may need to re-roll the dough, so do not overwork it.
18. Fill each pie about three quarters full with the filling, then top with a generous mound of mashed potato.
19. Place the pie dishes on a baking sheet and bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
Aussie Pea & Ham Soup
After a rejuvenating christmas at home, catching up with loved ones, I again ventured out into the world, to restart my travels. At the start of the new year I headed to Australia. It was a long first flight and it took approximately 24 hours to reach my hotel in the city of Perth. Perth is the largest city on the west coast and is home to some 2.5 million residents. The city itself is lacking in traditional tourist destinations, but is a delightful place none the less. During my short stay I enjoyed a relaxing day in the stunning botanical gardens that are perched atop a high ridge along the edge of the city, allowing for some simply stunning views. I also visited a street food market, where I stuffed my face with assorted global treats. It is this that best illustrates the nature of Australian cuisine. Like at home in the UK, the Australian nation is made up of such diverse peoples and has historically had such high degress of immigration that much of their cuisine is not authentically “native.” Modern (post-colonial) Australia is also a very young country so the depth of their foodie history is somewhat shallow.
I did make it my mission to taste some Australian food however and was able to do so when visiting the quaint nearby port town of Freemantle. Freemantle is a glorious seaside town, that despite its proximity to the city and dependance on tourism, remains relatively quiet and untouched. Here I tried a unique dish, that even some of my Australian friends have not heard of – a pie floater. This is a traditional beef pie, atop a thick and nutritious bowl of pea and ham soup. Most people I have spoken too balk at this idea, but the soup is sufficiently flavoursome and thick to support the pie, acting as both gravy and a starchy base akin to mashed potatoes. My research suggests that these two dishes are only paired together on the south western corridor of Australia, between Perth and Adelaide. Whilst seperately, they are available nationwide. For this reason I will post the two recipes individually, so they might be enjoyed however you wish.
First the soup. This Pea and Ham soup seems to have its roots in northern Europe and the Netherlands where a similar dish named Snert is popular. It is possible emmigration from this area saw this dish imported and appropriated by the Aussies. It is made with dried split peas, instead of petit pois like is traditional at home. The ham in question is usually pork loin or ham hock (I prefer loin as it is cheaper.) The meat is used to flavour the soup during cooking, before being chopped up and readded prior to serving, to provide both protein and an interesting flavour contrast. The taste is deep, wholesome and very savoury. This is a brilliant dish for autumn/winter nights. The soup itself is an unattractive colour and so it is good to garnish it – a drizzle of sour cream, some crispy bacon and fresh flatleaf pasley, or any combination thereof are all suitable. The soup will keep for a couple of days in the fridge and freezes very well.
Level: low
Skills: poaching, simmering
Time: 3 hours approx.
Makes: 4 generous mains or 8 small bowls
Ingredients
500g green split peas
2tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks celery, trimmed and chopped
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
290g pork loin steaks
2 litres water (+ 1 chicken stock cube)
1/2tsp mixed herbs
1 bay leaf
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Rinse split peas under cold running water until water runs clear. Drain.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the onion softens.
3. Add the split peas, pork and water. Bring to the boil over high heat. At this point, add the herbs and stock cube (one cube is sufficient as the soup reduces and the pork provides plenty of seasoning.)
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 2 – 2 1/2 hours or until the pork is tender and the peas have started to disintegrate and thicken the soup.
5. Remove the meat from the pan. Coarsely chop meat and set aside.
6. Taste the soup and season to taste. If the peas are still hard, or the soup too liquidy, then continue to cook until the desired consistency is reached.
7. When ready, add the rested pork and serve in large bowls.
Destination #29 / Perth & Freemantle, Australia
Pastel de Nata
My final destination in South America, before departing for a cristmas at home, was Rio de Janeiro. Rio was every bit as ecelectic and interesting as I had hoped, though the oft-lauded beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, were admittedly a tad dull after the beauty and isolation of Ilha Grande. Keen to reintegrate into urban life, our group departed on a city tour shortly after our arrival. Undoubtably the highlight of which was visiting Christ the Redeemer, a truly imposing and magnificent statue that sits perched above the city, arms spread wide. No doubt the most eponymous of Rio’s tourist attractions, the statue was visible from practically every part of the city – even lit up at night, he seemed to levitate above us. JC as my group renamed him, became somewhat emblematic of the trip and Facebook even requested I tag him as a friend on the collage I recently posted.
Another thing for which Rio is famous, is the slums which are situated at the edge of the city, sprawling right up to the edge of the modern developments, hotels and beaches. This stark visual juxtaposition, really drew into focus the rich/poor divide in this city and was truly thought-provoking. For this reason, some of us went on a tour of the Favelas, an interesting if overly orchestrated climb through the streets of one of the poorest neighbourhoods. There we experienced firsthand the poor sanitation and dangeously erected homes, but also the spirit of the people and some of the projects being used to help educate and enrich the life of its impoverished inhabitants. To be honest, I was expecting worse. The overwrought hand-wringing of our too-sincere tour guide, made the place seem unreal at times, like the favella was a tourist attraction of its own. The lines of reality and fiction became blurred and I left the tour unsure of what to believe. I do however think tours like this are to be encouraged, as we were able to invest in the local people, purchasing artworks and homemade pastries. Despite this odd experience, as a group we cant have been sufficiently put off, as we attended a Favela party for our last full night together as a group. The “party” was essentially a trip back into the slums at around midnight to visit a local nightclub there. At first the place seemed strange; we gringos were deposited on a balcony where we could observe the locals in a way that felt hugely voyeuristic. Below us, a small pocket of local boys (presumably employed by the club) danced an oddly choregraphed hybrid dance, somewhere between street-dancing and line-dancing. But once the number of partygoers rose, and we moved downstairs the atmosphere changed and it felt more like a traditional night out. For the girls in the group the experience may have been slightly different. While it was apparent that a small group of thrity-something white men, posed little threat to the local boys with their rippling beach bods, the latinas didn’t feel the same way about having white girls in their local haunt. In the most bizarre and brazen display of posturing, many of the Rio girls interjected themselves between our female friends and the local men, where they popped their chests and twerked their butts in a way that seemed to say “this is how its done!” All very strange.
Just like my visit to in Mexico, in working hard to illustrate the cultural differences I experienced, I have inadvertently painted a bleak picture that may only serve to reinforce said boundaries and differences. But what I need to stress, is that through these challenging experiences I learnt a great deal and they remain some of the most vivid, exciting and enriching of my travels so far. Embrace the differences I say.
For my final dish, I am going to post a recipe for a classic Portuguese dessert, that I have enjoyed many times over the years, Pastel de Nata. The Portuguese heritage in Brazil makes this an appropriate choice and in fact I even sampled a similar product in the favelas and an identical tart on my last day in the city. As it was the last Brazilian/Portuguese dish I ate in South America, I think it has earned its place as my last recipe from that part of the world. If you have never experienced the joy of these custard tarts, it is worth noting that they are really nothing like their british counterparts. Rather than a set, almost savoury custard in shortcrust pastry, Pastel de Nata are made of a lusciously thick vanilla custard that is rebaked in a a sweet, buttery flaky puff pastry crust. To my mind the Portuguese have the right idea and I infinitely prefer these to our own version. See what you think…
Ingredients
Butter, for greasing
3 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
30g cornflour
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out
175ml whole milk
225ml double cream
300g ready-rolled puff pastry
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Grease the wells of a 12-hole muffin tray with butter.
3. In a pan, heat the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour over a low to medium heat, whisking continuously until thickened and well combined.
4. Add the vanilla seeds, then add the milk and cream in a thin stream, whisking continuously, until the mixture is thick, smooth and well combined.
5. Continue to stir the custard mixture until it comes to the boil, then remove from the heat.
6. Roll out the puff pastry onto a clean work surface.
7. Cut the pastry into rounds using a cookie cutter.
8. Press a pastry disc into each of the wells in the muffin tray.
9. Prick the base of each pastry case with a fork. This will prevent the pastry from rising too much.
10. Divide the cooled custard equally among the pastry cases.
11. Transfer the muffin tray to the oven and bake the tarts for 18-20 minutes.
12. Allow to cool in the tin.
Mastication / Destination 