Sunday Roast Dinner

A Sunday dinner with all of the trimmings.  A simple roast chicken with creamy potato gratin, classic stuffing and honey roast beetroot and parsnips. This ones for you bro.......

A Classic Roast Dinner

Ingredients:

1 Organic Free Range Chicken

Stuffing:

1/2 Loaf Stale Bread

1 Handful of Sage and Parsley

1 Onion, chopped finely

4 Tbs Butter, melted

Roast Vegetables:

3-4 Fresh Beetroot

4 Parsnips

Runny Honey

Potato Gratin:

8-10 Potatoes, not too waxy but not too floury either!

2 Large Onions, very finely sliced

500ml Fresh Cream

4 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and slightly crushed

100g Gruyere Cheese, finely grated

Freshly Ground Pepper

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• While waiting for the oven to heat begin to prepare the gratin. 
• Warm the cream with the garlic to just below boiling point, then take off the heat and let it infuse.
• Peel and finely slice the onions and potatoes.
• Butter an oven dish and place a layer of potatoes on the bottom, followed by a layer of onion and a good grating of Gruyere cheese. Repeat these layers until the dish is full, ending with a layer of potatoes.
• Pour the infused cream over the potatoes and cover with a layer of grated cheese.
• Place it in the oven 30 mins after the chicken first goes in.
• Roast for 1- 1&1/2 hours until the potatoes are tender and break up under a fork. If the top looks like it will burn before it is cooked then cover it with some tin foil.

• Salt the chicken well and place in the oven uncovered. The Chicken will probably take 1 1/2 hours to cook.  Best test to know when it is done is to take two forks and place them between the breast and the leg, if it pulls away easily and the juices are clear then it is cooked.
• Take the chicken out of the oven and allow to sit for at least half an hour before serving.

• Clean and chop the beetroot into large chunks and place on a roasting tray and put into the oven when the chicken comes out.
• Peel and cut the parsnips lengthwise. If possible cut away some of the inner core that runs inside the parsnips as this sometimes can be bitter when roasted.
• Melt 2 tbs of butter in a frying pan and fry the parsnips until they are nicely browned.
• Remove the tray of beetroot from the oven and add the parsnips.  Cover in a good layer of runny honey and mix to ensure that everything has a good coating.
• This will take 30 mins in the oven.  They may take a little longer if the parsnips are quite chunky.

• Now last but not least, on to the stuffing.  Place the bread into a blender and make into fine breadcrumbs.
• Very finely chop the onion and sage and add this to the crumbs.
• Melt the butter and stir well into the breadcrumb mixture.  The mix should be quite sticky, enough to be able to make a ball in the palm of your hand. 
• Place in a roasting tin and press down with the back of a wooden spoon.
• Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until crispy on top.

Now sit down and enjoy a nice Sunday roast dinner together

Oat Flour Pancakes

A few months ago I found myself drawn to the artisan section of a local supermarket.  It was but mere moments that this beautiful buttery yellow package caught my eye.  I must make a confession and say that I absolutely and utterly hate porridge.  I have done so since I was a child when I was faced with a bowl of frog spawn like gloop each morning before school.  My father always told me that it would taste so much better with a spoon of sugar in it and each morning I would create an island in my bowl and watch it sink slowly into the milky mess.  Sadly though, no matter what additions I made to my porridge, there was never any improvement that I could make to the texture.  Sitting across from me at the table was my brother who scraped his teeth against the spoon with every mouthful as though it would somehow burn or wound his lips if he touched them against it.  Time and time again he did it and more and more tenser my mother became.  I would look over then to see him lift his bowl routinely because he was convinced that my mother had somehow rigged the table so that a tube coming from below and into his bowl, would replace every painful morsel that he swallowed.  When he could take no more, he then resorted to flattening and shifting the porridge around the bowl to make it look like he'd eaten more than he actually had.  This never fooled my mother though.  We sat there glumly staring at our bowls and wishing it would disappear until the moment came when my mother could take no more and sent us off to school.

This memory of horrible textures, flavours and atmosphere at the breakfast table has probably turned me off porridge for life.  Strangely though my kids love the stuff and ask me to make it the next day for them as they head off to their beds.  I really struggle with the smell of it even now when I cook it despite trying many different varieties for my kids.  I'm delighted though that they love to eat it so much because I can feel like a real Supermum sending my kids off to school with a really healthy, hot breakfast every day.

This all leaves me looking always for new and different ways to eat my oats.  No I do really love granola and my Oatie biscuits but these are too high in sugar for me to eat for breakfast every day.  God know that I need to loose enough weight as it is.  So when I saw this cute little package in the shop it just called out to me to bring it home and try it out.  When I make pancakes I always try to make my blueberry syrup to drizzle over the top.  This is not just totally scrumscious but it is also a great way to get my kids to eat blueberries.  I simply just don't understand why or even how kids of mine don't have the passion of fruit as I do.  They are natures sweets and perfect in every way.  Mysterious!!

There is a recipe for the pancakes on the packet but it only makes 5 and involves weighing out ingredients, which is something that I'm not going to be doing first thing in the morning plus I wanted mine to be a little lighter and fluffier so I added in some self raising flour.  If you can't get self raising flour then just use plain flour and use 3 slightly heaped teaspoons of baking powder.  So here is my version.....

PS If you cant get this flour don't worry because I saw somewhere before (sorry can't remember where) that you can just give some porridge oats a blitz in the blender until fine.

Oat Flour Pancakes

125g punnet Blueberries

3 tablespoons Maple syrup

1 cup Oat Flour

1 cup Self Raising Flour

2 level teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Cornflour / Cornstarch

3 tablespoons Soft Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Egg

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 cups Full Fat Milk (or more if required)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Paste

1. Before starting out with the batter, put the syrup on to bubble away and thicken.  Just rinse the blueberries and pop them into the pot with the maple syrup.  Cook it slowly over quite a small flame.  It will become beautiful and glossy with little balls of berries ready to pop in your mouth. Yum!!
2. Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, stir and leave a well in the centre.
3. Measure out all of the wet ingredients, including the vanilla paste, in a jug and whisk together quickly.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until it it forms a silky smooth batter.  It should not be so thick as to stay in form when it's put into the pan but it also should not be so runny as to be perfect for crepes.  
5. Rub a little oil over the pan with a piece of kitchen paper and heat the pan until quite hot. On the packet it says that no more oil is required after the first application but I do find that wiping it with the oiled paper every few batches of pancakes does help if you haven't got the best pan like me.
6. Using an ice-cream scoop dollop the batter onto the pan in batches of three or four.
7. When bubbles form on the top of the pancakes, flip them over and fry for another minute until golden brown.
8. As oats always do, the flour will soak up more liquid the longer it sits stoveside so just add in extra milk in small amounts.  Don't add too much at once or the batter will be too runny.
9. Serve with the syrup spilling all over it and down the sides.  
10. Enjoy greedily and you're set up for the day!!

Irish Porter Cake

Oh ladies, what am I like!?!  I promised you this post weeks ago and I'm only getting around to it now.   All the Christmas crafting is keeping me very busy and is taking up every spare minute that I have.

Fortunately the best thing about baking a Porter Cake instead of a full Christmas cake is that it can be made at the very last minute and doesn't need to be plied with booze every week for three months.  It is also much lighter than a Christmas cake.  It can be iced and decorated just like a regular Christmas cake but we don't have many fans of heavy icing in our house so we just leave it plain and sometimes serve it with a scraping of butter.  Yumm

Ingredients:

• 283ml / 1/2pt Guinness
• 226g / 8oz Butter
• 226g / 8oz Sugar
• 226g / 8oz Raisins
• 226g / 8oz Sultanas
• 113g / 4oz Mixed Peel
• Grated Rind of 1 Lemon
• 453g / 1lb Flour
• 2tsp Mixed Spice
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2tsp Bread Soda

Method:

• Preheat oven to 150°C and line and grease a 20" round tin. (Above we just used a square one  because we couldn't find the right one on the day...typical!!)
• Heat the Guinness gently with the butter and sugar.
• Stir in the cleaned fruit and lemon rind.
• Stir until the butter and sugar are melted and then leave aside to cool.
• mix all the dry ingredients together, except the bread soda.
• Beat the eggs and add the bread soda and then stir into the cooled fruit mixture.
• Make a hollow in the middle of the dry ingredients and stir in the fruit mixture.
• Mix well before transferring to the prepared baking tin.
• Cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours covering with a piece of cardboard if you think it is browning too much on the top.
• When a skewer comes out clean from the cake, remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10mins before removing from the tin.

This is yet another old family recipe that myself and my mother have made every single Christmas.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.

Rosie xx

Irish (Suet Free) Christmas Pudding

Well just as I promised this is my Mum's Christmas Pudding Recipe which she has used for donkey's years and has always proved a massive success in your house on Christmas morning and as presents for friends and family.

Ingredients:

6oz/175g self raising flour

1 level tsp mixed spice

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2tsp ground nutmeg

8oz/225g fresh white breadcrumbs

12oz/350g dark brown sugar

375g currants

375g sultanas

4oz/125g mixed cut peel

4oz/125g cherries, washed, dried and halved

2oz/50g chopped almonds

finely grated rind of 1 orange

finely grated rind of 1 lemon

8oz/225g margarine, melted and cooled a little

3 large eggs

2tbsp brandy

1/2pt/275ml Guinness or stout

• Sieve the flour and spices into a large bowl
• Add the breadcrumbs, sugar, fruit, nuts, orange and lemon rind and mix thoroughly.
• Beat together the eggs, brandy and guinness.
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the melted margarine and the egg mixture. mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
• Cover and leave overnight in a cool room.
• Next morning prepare 2 x 2 1/2 pt pudding bowls by greasing well with butter.
• Grease two large pieces of greaseproof paper and make a large pleat crossways in it.
• Give the pudding mixture a good stir once more.
• Divide the mixture between the two pudding bowls, weighing each to make sure that they are the exact same size and weight so that they both have the same cooking time.
• Push down the mixture well down in the bowls and bang them on the table so that there are no air gaps. 
• Make a little dip in the centre of the mixture in the bowl before covering so that the puddings don't push the lid off the pot when they start rising.

• Cover the bowl with the well buttered greaseproof paper, making sure that the crease runs down the middle of the bowl.
• Tie a long piece of strong around the bowl very tightly as close to the rim as possible.

• Place the plastic lid over the bowl and wrap the paper up and over the lid.
• Fill two large pots to about a half way up the pudding bowls and bring to a strong simmer. 
• Place an old saucer at the bottom of the pot to lift the pudding from the base of the pot and allow it to cook all the way around.  Make sure that there is no air bubbles caught under the saucer.
• Cook the puddings for 7 hours with the water simmering all the time.  You will need to top up the water on a regular basis.
• On Christmas Day cook the puddings for one hour more.

Because there is so much alcohol in these puddings if one is left uneaten it can be kept for the following year so long as it is kept in a clean airtight bowl.  We have done this many times and it has been perfect always and even improves over the year!!

Linking for the first time (hoping this will work) to Cosmos and Cottton.

Hope you enjoy.  There is still plenty of time left to cook yours.

Rosie xx

Smoked Salmon Tagliatelle

INGREDIENTS:
300g smoked salmon
5 spring onions, chopped
1 glass of white wine
250ml fresh cream
Grated nutmeg
Pinch of dry dill


METHOD:

In a big pot of salted boiling water, add 8 big bundles of tagliatelle. This should be enough for two adults.

In a separate pan melt a tablespoon of butter over a medium heat.

Add the chopped spring onions to the butter. Allow to soften for a few minutes but be very careful not to burn them.

Add in the glass of wine and allow the alcohol to bubble off. The best way to test this is to smell the vapours and if you get a slight acidic smell at the back if your nose and throat, then it needs a little more time. But be careful not to suck in those vapours for too long or you'll be drunk before your first glass of wine with your dinner!

Pour in the cream to the sauce pot and reduce the heat slightly. If you allow the cream to boil, the sauce will be completely ruined.

Add a good pinch of dried dill and grate in some nutmeg. Only a little nutmeg at first because it is very strong and more can always be added later.

Reduce the cream sauce until it just covers the back of a wooden spoon.

Just at the very end add the smoked salmon and season to taste. The salmon only needs heating through but don't worry if it slightly changes colour.

Drain the tagliatelle and add to the sauce. Mix well to coat all the pasta in the sauce.
Serve with a lovely cold glass of sparkling prosecco. Soo yummy

With Just Three Simple Ingredients.....

I have found that the best way to get a wide variety of vegetables into the kids is by making some soups.  I can hide all their least favourite veggies in the guise of something warm and comforting.  This leek and potato soup is very easy to make and it is really tasty considering that there is only three vegetables required.  I find it great as an after school snack or even substantial enough for an evening meal when served with some fresh bread. Sometimes when I have some leftover baked ham from a previous dinner, I like to cut it into small cubes and sprinkle them on top of the soup.  A complete meal in a bowl.

Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 Large Leeks
• 5 Medium Floury Potatoes
• 1 Large Onion
• 1 Litre of Stock
• A Knob of Butter

Method:

• Cut away the dark green tops of the leeks as they are too tough, slice and wash the rest of the leeks leaving a little water on them.
• Peel and roughly dice the potatoes and onion.
• On a medium heat the knob of butter in the pot until it bubbles slightly, add in the vegetables and reduce the heat a little.
• Stir well and ensure that all the vegetables are covered in the butter.
• Cover the vegetables with a sheet of greaseproof paper and put the lid on the pot.  
• On a low heat allow the veg to steam for 10-15 minutes or until the leeks have softened.  This is very important, otherwise the leeks will stay stringy and won't release their full flavour.
• Remove the paper and add in the stock.  I like to use a mixture of vegetable and chicken stock, just to give it a little depth of flavour.
• Replace the lid and allow to simmer on a medium heat for a further 10 mins.
• Whizz it up with a hand blender until smooth.
• Season to taste.
• Eat.  Yum yum diddlyumsciuos.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.  I'd love to know what you think about my recipes.  Do I write them ok?  Are they easy to follow?  Or will I just give up on this side of my blog?  A little advice would be seriously welcome.

Rosie xx

Chorizo Pasta Bake

This has to be the most requested dinner in our house.  It is an easy dinner that is great when there's any peppers or tomatoes that are lurking in the bottom of the fridge, crying out to be used up.
I hope that the picture does it justice.  I make it so that one side is crispier than the other to accommodate different preferences in the family.  And my oven always kindly helps me on this issue because for some reason on side is more enthusiastic about cooking than the other!

Ingredients:
200g Penne Pasta
1 Chorizo Ring
2 Peppers, I used yellow and green here
1 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tins of Tomatoes
2 Tbs Tomato Puree
1 Tsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp Hot Chilli Powder
2 Mozarella Balls, cubed

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Put the pasta on to cook in slightly salted water and drain when it is al dente (not sure about the spelling here but you know what I mean).
• Roughly chop the peppers and onion and add to a pan on at medium heat.  Add to this the sliced chorizo and the two cloves of garlic that have been only slightly crushed with the blade of your knife.
• Cook until the chorizo turns to oil red.  It's nicer to have a slight crunch to the peppers so be careful not to over cook them.
• Sprinkle in the chilli powder.  I only use 1/2tsp because the kids don't like it hot.  You can add more to suit your liking but just remember that the chorizo can be quite hot too!
• Add in the tins of tomatoes and stir in the puree and sugar.  Let is simmer for about 10 mins until the tomato puree has slightly thickened the sauce.
• Add the cooked pasta to this and top with the mozarella.  
• Bake in the oven for 15 mins until to top is nicely melted and crisping at the edges.
• Serve with garlic bread and a lovely glass of vino.

How Easy is that??  I hope that I wrote it clearly enough.  I haven't put up a recipe in a while and I'm a little out of practice.

Enjoy,
Rosie xx

Coconut And Apple Oaties

We all love oaties here in this house and I think that they are a great source of fibre for the kids.  With this recipe I thought that I'd combine a couple of my favourite ingredients; coconut, cinnamon and apples. The apples are a little soft after baking. This may not be to everyone's taste and if you prefer you can always leave them out.  They will taste just a good. I hope that you like them as much as we do.  So here goes...

Ingredients:
110g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
2btsp water
1/2tsp cinnamon
110g self raising flour
125g porridge oats
125g coconut
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Soften the butter in a food mixer or a large bowl. 
• Add the soft brown sugar and cater sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
• Next add in the water, egg and combine well.
• Using a wooden spoon mix in the flour, porridge oats, apples and coconut.  This will form a mixture like dough.
• Take pieces of dough the size of walnuts and roll in your hands to make balls.
• Spread these apart on two papered baking sheets.
• Bake for 20mins.  They should be light golden brown but still slightly soft to touch in the middle.
• Let them cool on the trays for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack.
• Sit with a lovely cuppa, put your feet up and delight in what a wonderful domestic goddess you are.

Cranberry and Raisin Oaties

Ingredients:
100g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g light brown caster sugar
1 egg
2tsp water
1tsp vanilla
250g porridge oats
110g self raising flour
1/2tsp salt
100g cranberries
75g raisins

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Cream the butter in an electric food mixer until soft.  Add the sugars and beat until the mixture looks light and fluffy.
• While still beating, add in the egg, water and vanilla.
• Using a wooden spoon gently mix in the oats, flour, salt, cranberries ad raisins to form a stiff dough.
• Line two baking trays with baking parchment.
• Take pieces of dough about the size of walnuts, roll them in your hands to form balls and place them on the baking trays, leaving a space between each to let them spread.
• Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until golden brown but still slightly soft in the centre.  If you like yours crunchy like my kids do, leave them in for the 25 mins or a little longer.
• Allow to cool on wire racks.  

Raisin And Walnut Muffins

This recipe is for all walnut lovers and forgive me for not trying this out first but I am not included in this category.  My mother makes these all the time and loves them.  It's an old recipe that she found on a Prestige baking tin.  It's a slightly unusual and very easy recipe.  Hope that you enjoy.

Ingredients:
325g Plain Flour
100g Caster Sugar
1tbsp Baking Powder
1/2tsp Salt
1 Egg
325ml Milk
75ml Vegetable Oil
50ml Sweet Sherry
75g Walnut Pieces
75g Raisins

Method:

• Sieve together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
• Beat the egg lightly and stir in the milk, vegetable oil and sherry.
• Mix liquid into the dry ingredients.
• Do not over mix
• The mixture will appear slightly lumpy.
• Stir in the walnuts and raisins.
• Divide between the 12 muffin cups.
• Bake at 200°C for 20/25mins.
• Lift the muffins from tins and cool on a wire rack

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yipppee, finally I've managed to make up a recipe for Chocolate Chip Muffins that are light and fluffy.  Any recipe that I've tried before I found to be either too dense and heavy, too sweet or too moist.   By mixing up lots of different recipes and tweeking here and there I came up with this one.  Which proved to be so popular with the family that I had to be quick at getting my photo before they disappeared.

Ingredients:
350g Plain Flour
40g Good Quality Cocoa Powder
175g Caster Sugar
1tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
300ml Buttermilk
2 Eggs, Beaten
85g Butter, Melted
1tsp Vanilla Extract
100g Milk Chocolate, Roughly Chopped (You can use dark chocolate here but I use milk because my kids prefer it)


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cases.  I use cases because I find them much cleaner in the tin and when the kids are eating them.
2. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, salt caster sugar and then sieve in the cocoa powder.  
3. In a jug measure out 300ml of buttermilk and add in the eggs , vanilla and melted butter. Whisk together with a fork until well combined.  One thing that I learned the hard way was to take the buttermilk out of the fridge for about 15mins before baking because even if the melted butter has cooled, if it hit cold buttermilk it solidifies again. 
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the the liquid.  The key here is not to overmix. Gently mix until just combined.
5. Add in the chopped chocolate and give it only a light stir.
6. With a ice-cream scoop divide the mixture between the muffin cases
7. Bake for 25mins until risen.
8. Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 5mins before taking out of the tray and onto a wire rack.

Apple Tart

My brother was home from Germany lately and the one thing that he wanted me to show him how to bake was a good old fashioned Apple Tart.  He came out to my kitchen and we had a great afternoon baking together.  I was going to take pictures of the end result but my student ate it all before I got a chance to.  So here is the recipe that I promised him that I would put up.

Ingredients:
4 Large Bramley Apples
4-5tbs Sugar
1tsp Mixed Spice or Cinnamon or 3 Whole Cloves whichever you prefer
300g Plain Flour
75g Butter
75g Baking Fat such as Cookeen
1 Egg, lightly beaten

NOTE:  for the pastry there should always be half the amount of butter or fat to flour.  For this apple tart I always use a mixture of both fat and flour because I find that it makes the pastry lighter and crispier.  But if I was to make a quiche I would use all butter and a egg and egg yolk to bind instead of water.

Apple Filling:

1. Peel and slice the apples.  Keep back one apple to add later if you like a bit of a bite and not have them all stewed. Rinse them under the tap and drain thoroughly.  I do not add water to the apples when they are stewing as the apples themselves already contain enough juice and that along with the remaining water after rinsing is enough to stew them.
2. Add in the sugar, cover with a lid immediately and put on a medium heat.  Some say that you should add a little lemon juice to the apples to stop them from browning but I've found that as long as you put the lid on the pot as quickly as possible, this is not a problem.
3. After about 10mins take the apples from the heat.  Mix in your choice of spice and then taste a little to make sure it is sweet enough for you.  In this house we like it a little tart still.  
4. If you like a bit of a bite in your apple tart, then now is the time to cut up your last apple and add it in.
5. Leave to cool completely while you get on with the pastry.

Pastry:

There are two different ways to do the pastry.  By hand or in a blender.  It took me a long time to be converted to the way of the blender but now I would never look back because it takes a matter of only seconds in the blender.

Pastry By Hand:

1. Before you begin put a dinner knife, water and butter in the fridge for a couple of hours to become very cold.  The key to very light crispy pastry is that everything must be cold.  Even your hands!!!.
2. Weigh out the flour, butter and fat and place into a large bowl.
3. Rub the butter and flour together between your fingers and your thumbs until they resemble breadcrumbs.
4. Take the knife out of the fridge and adding a couple of tablespoons of water at a time, bind together using chopping movements.  It should not take very much water for it to come together.
5. Feel the pastry, if it is crumbly then it needs more water but if it is a little wet then add a little extra flour.  But never ever knead because this will only make the pastry hard when cooked.
6. Tip out of the bowl and roll into a ball.  Cover with cling film and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 1/2 hour.    

Pastry By Blender: 

1. Before you begin put a jug of water and butter in the fridge for a couple of hours to become very cold.  The key to very light crispy pastry is that everything must be cold.
2. Put flour and butter into the blender and whizz for 30sec until they resemble very fine breadcrumbs.
3. Drizzle water a tablespoon at a time through the nozzle with the blender still on.
4. Again this should take only take a few tablespoons in total but the only way to really know is to feel it.  If it is crumbly then it needs more water but if it is a little wet then add a little extra flour.
5. Tip out the pastry and dust with flour before forming it into a ball, covering it in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour.

Forming The Apple Tart:

1. 15mins before you want to make up your apple tart preheat the oven to 190° and put a heavy gauge baking tray into the oven.
2. Flour and butter your flan dish.
3. Cut away just a little over half of the pastry and roll out large enough to cover the base and sides of the dish.  Before filling it with apple, roll out the pastry for the top.
4. Put the pastry into the bottom of the dish and ensure that it is pushed right into the side, being very careful not to tear.
5. Brush the base of the pastry all over with the beaten egg.  This ensures the apple does not make the base soggy and soft.
6. Fill up the case with the apple and even out.
7. Carefully lift the top of the pastry by folding it over the top of your rolling pin and put it on top of the tart.
8. Cut the excess and seal the tart at the same time by pressing the rolling pin along the edge of the dish.
9. Make a hole in the centre of the tart to ensure air can get out and that the pastry doesn't puff up when cooking.  You can also make several fork holes around the top.
10. To ensure that the case is completely sealed, make little indents by pressing a fork along the edges of the dish.
11. Brush the top of the tart with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.  Decorate with any left over pastry.
12. Bake for 30mins on top of the hot baking try.  The baking tray makes sure that the base of the tart is cooked at the same time as the top.

Beef Stew

Ingredients:

700g Stewing Steak
2 Large Onions
5 Carrots
3 Parsnips
2tbs Balsamic Vinegar
1 Bouquet Garni
2pt Beef Stock
2tbs Flour or Cornflour to thicken
Salt and Pepper to taste

• Preheat the oven to 160/170C.
• Brown the stewing steak on a high heat in a large casserole pot.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add onions and carrots and fry for 5mins until softened and browned slightly.
• Add in the balsamic vinegar and continue to cook until the sharp smell has gone from the vinegar.
• Increase the heat slightly and pour the stock into the pot and bring to a rolling simmer.
• Mix the flour with a little water to a paste and add to the pot.  Do not add to much flour because the stew will reduce down in the oven.
• Take a piece of greaseproof paper that would be big enough to cover the top of the pot and wet it until it is soft and flexible. Cover the stew with this and then put the lid on top.  This will reduce the cooking time by half and intensify the flavour.

• Check the stew regularly and when the meat is tender remove the pot from the oven.  Reduce the stew a little more if desired on the cooker top.
• Season to taste and serve with steamed or mashed potatoes.