Showing posts with label #FridayPieDay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #FridayPieDay. Show all posts

Friday, June 24, 2016

Staffordshire Yeomanry Pudding #FridayPieDay

Staffordshire Yeomanry Pudding is a classic British dessert. It’s essentially a pie with two flakey sweet crusts, top and bottom, baked with an almond custard filling. 

Join me down the rabbit hole, where one book leads to another book, leads to another book.

Five years ago today, I wrote my first post on this blog, created initially to give me a place to join my two loves, cooking and writing. Over the years, as readership grew, it also became a place to connect with the world at large and make friends both in and outside the blogging community. My interest in food, culture and the history of recipes was fueled by my travels and the many countries I’ve called home. Also, I’m a sucker for any memoir that includes food or cooking as a focus.

Last year I came across the memoir, Brian Turner – A Yorkshire Lad, my life with recipes at a used book sale. I had never heard of Turner, apparently a world famous chef with his own restaurant and a successful career on television, but that didn’t stop me from buying the book. His early years were the best part of the story. I love reading about how others grew up and the poor Yorkshire lad who went off to London with just £20 in his pocket did not disappoint.

In the reading of that book, I came across another that seemed worth owning. Farmhouse Kitchen is based on the independent television series of the same name, presented by Dorothy Sleightholme on Yorkshire Television, starting in the early '70s. I found Farmhouse Kitchen online in a used book store and had it mailed to an address in the United States, knowing I wouldn’t get it till I went home in May.

Now I’m back in Dubai again and am finally having a chance to read it. It’s short on descriptions but long on recipes, one after another after another, for classic – read: old-fashioned, down home – British fare. Many use ingredients that were possibly common at the time but harder to come by now, like wood pigeon and lambs’ hearts. On the other hand, a lot of the recipes can be made with store cupboard ingredients. The Staffordshire Yeomanry Pudding is one example.

I always keep ground almonds in my freezer because they are an excellent addition to many baked cakes or cookies. (Why the freezer? The cold keeps nuts from turning rancid in a warm kitchen.) The other ingredients, flour, eggs, butter, sugar, jam, everyone will have. But where did the recipe originate and why the unusual name? Mrs. Sleightholme offers no information whatsoever, nor does the contributor of the recipe, one Miss P. M. Cherry of Penkridge.

As an initially all-volunteer unit in the queen’s own army, Staffordshire Yeomanry has a long and illustrious history of defending the crown’s interests, dating back from 1794. The Wikipedia page is full of information about its roles over the years but not once does it mention the pudding that bears the same name.

Clearly more research was necessary which led me to this post on Book Cottages where I learned that the Staffordshire Yeomanry Pudding recipe was possibly first developed "during the height of the Boer War, when wives would bake for their returning husbands a luxurious welcome home spread, comprising of the best cakes and sweetmeats they could possibly afford."

But still no mention of why the pudding was named such. Curiouser and curiouser. I had to keep digging. I must confess that I’m still none the wiser, but deep into the rabbit hole of recipe research and book buying, I’ve just ordered Good Things in England: A Practical Cookery Book for Everyday Use first published in 1932, with 853 recipes, some dating back to the 14th century. Once it arrives, I’ll be sure to report back if any light is shed on the origins of Staffordshire Yeomanry Pudding. If you happen to know more about it, please leave me a comment.

Meanwhile, if you’ve followed me down the rabbit hole thus far, you deserve some sweet pie! If you've been reading my blog since the beginning five years ago, I owe you much more, but pie and a great big Thank You will have to do.

Ingredients
For the sweet shortcrust pastry:
1 3/4 cup or 220g plain flour
1/2 cup or 113g butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon cold water

For the filling:
 1/2 cup or 113g butter
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1/4 cup or 28g ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 egg white
2 tablespoons jam

Method
Add the flour and the cold butter, cut into pieces, into your food processor. Pulse several times, until the flour and butter are combined and look like big crumbs.



Add in the sugar and salt and pulse again.



 Add in the egg yolk and water.

Pulse again, scraping down the sides of the food processor in between pulses, until the dough just comes together.

Turn it out of the processor and wrap tightly with cling film. Pop the wrapped dough in the refrigerator to chill.

Start your oven preheating to 350°F or 180°C and make the filling.

In the bowl of your processor or with electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar together until they turn pale yellow.

Mix in the extract, salt and ground almonds. Add in the whole egg and one egg yolk and process until the mixture is well combined, scraping down the side of the processor occasionally.





Roll out 2/3 of the dough and fit it into your pie plate. Spoon in the jam and spread it around evenly on the bottom.





Pour the custard filling on top of the jam and smooth it out.



Roll the other piece of the dough out in a circle and top the filling with it. Push down around the edges to seal the two crusts together. Trim the crusts to end about one inch or 2 centimeters above the filling.

Fold the two crusts over together to seal the pie and form an edge and cut three slits in the top crust.



Bake in your preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden and the custard inside is set.



Cool on a wire rack for at least 20-25 minutes before cutting and serving.



Enjoy!


My friend and creator of Friday Pie Day, Heather, over at All Roads Lead to the Kitchen has made another classic dessert with a funny name, but from the United States, shoofly pie! Head on over and pay her a visit.


I am pleased to join her on the last Friday of each month for pie and crust recipes, techniques, tools of the trade, and other inspiration.

For more information and recipes, please check out her #FridayPieDay page!


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Friday, May 27, 2016

Pear and Preserves Tart #FridayPieDay


Freshly sliced pears and your favorite fruit preserves, mingle with browned butter in a puff pastry crust to create this tasty, easy pear and preserves tart. 

It’s Friday Pie Day once again! We celebrate on the last Friday of every month by baking. This week I’m doing my annual doctors' visits and trying to work from home. It’s been crazy busy so I sent my daughter out to the grocery store and said, “Check out the fruit and bring me something I can bake into a pie, please.” She returned with four beautiful fat pears, not quite enough for a full size pie but plenty for a puff pastry tart, and then some.

Ingredients
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry - Mine weighed 8.6 oz or 245g.
2 large pears, sliced thinly1/4 cup or 60g unsalted butter
About 1/4 cup or 120g preserves of your choice (I used my cherry lemon preserves.)

Method
Thaw your puff pastry if it’s frozen and then lay it out flat on a piece of baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C.

Score your puff pastry with the tip of a sharp knife about 1 inch or 2.5 centimeters from the edge.

Slice the pears into thin wedges and then remove the seeds.



Start laying the pear slices inside the scored line on your pastry, overlapping as you go. Depending on the size of your puff pastry sheet (and pears) you might not need all of the slices. I used about 1 1/2 pears.

Heat the butter in a small pan until it starts to bubble and foam rises to the top. Skim the foam off as it forms. Continue to heat the butter until it starts to brown and then remove it immediately from the stove. We want browned butter, not burned butter and it will continue to darken from the heat of the pot.

N.B. It was too dark in my kitchen to take decent photos but I wasn't at all worried because whenever I use browned butter in a recipe, I like to send folks over to my friend, Kayle, the Cooking Actress. She's got a great how-to for browning butter.  She puts browned butter in All The Things, both sweet and savory.

Use a spoon to drizzle the browned butter all over the pear slices.



Spoon the sweet preserves of your choice over the pears.



Bake in your preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until the pastry is puffy and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 20 minutes before serving, to allow the sweet runny juices to thicken up. My puff pastry somehow sprung a leak and some of the sticky juice ran out onto the silicone mat, which is why we use those things or parchment. They make clean up so much easier!


Enjoy!



My friend and creator of Friday Pie Day, Heather, over at All Roads Lead to the Kitchen has made a gorgeous blushing apricot pie with fresh apricots and strawberries to share today. You need to go and see that beauty!


I am pleased to join her on the last Friday of each month for pie and crust recipes, techniques, tools of the trade, and other inspiration.

For more information and recipes, please check out her #FridayPieDay page!



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Friday, April 29, 2016

Mushroom Feta Tart with Feta Thyme Crust #FridayPieDay


 This lovely mushroom feta tart is filled with mixed mushrooms, seasoned with thyme and white wine and sharp feta, baked in a yeast dough crust.  

Here’s a little news for those of you who think mushrooms can only grow in humid, dark places. The mushrooms I used in today’s tart were all grown here in the sunny United Arab Emirates.  Yeah, I know, I know, they are farmed and not wild, but still. The farms here are a testament to the persistence and dedication of many dreamers who have worked hard to see their dreams fulfilled. Emirates Mushrooms is fully organic and, according to their website, they have a growing capacity of 8000kg of mushrooms per week! Which I find incredible. And, no, this is not a sponsored post – I just thought I’d share a little of my world with you.

It’s Friday Pie Day again so let’s get on with the pie.

Ingredients
For the crust:
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup or 180ml warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 2 1/4 cups or 280g all-purpose flour
1 3/4 oz or 50g feta, crumbled
Thyme leaves off a few fresh sprigs, maybe two teaspoons
Olive oil for bowl

For the filling:
3-4 cloves garlic
1 medium onion (Mine was 90g.)2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves plus a sprig or two for garnish, if desired
2lbs + or 950g mixed mushrooms
1/2 cup or 120ml dry white wine
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2 oz or 100g feta, crumbled

Method
First we’ll make the dough for the crust. Put the warm water in a bowl with the yeast and sugar and leave to prove. The yeast should turn foamy if it’s active. If not, go buy some more yeast and start again.

Assuming you’ve got foam in your bowl, add in 2 cups or 250g of the flour along with the thyme and salt. Mix well until you have a nice wet dough. You can knead by hand but this will be easier with a dough hook if you have a stand mixer.



Add in the crumbled feta and about one more tablespoon of flour and keep kneading with the dough hook until it’s incorporated.



Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for a few good turns by hand, adding just a little more of the flour if necessary. Form the dough into a ball.

Oil your mixing bowl and put the ball of dough in. Turn it over to coat with oil. Set aside in warm place until doubled in size.



To make the filling, clean your mushrooms, making sure to remove any dirt that clings to them.

Slice the garlic and onion finely and pull the thyme leaves off of the stems.



Melt the butter in a very large pan and sauté the garlic, onion and thyme over a low heat, until they are very soft. Stir occasionally.



Meanwhile, cut your mushrooms in two if they are small and in quarters if they are larger.



Add the mushrooms to the onion pan. Raise the flame under the pan and cook the mushrooms, stirring often, until the water comes out of them.



Continue cooking until the water all evaporates and they are dry. Cook over a high flame until the mushrooms start to brown. Keep stirring.

Add in the white wine and keep cooking until it has all evaporated and the mushrooms are almost completely dry again.



Remove the pan from the stove. Set aside a few crumbles of feta to add to the top before baking then add the rest to the pan.  Give it a few good grinds of black pepper and then stir.

Season to taste with salt. I added just a couple of pinches since the feta is quite salty. Leave the filling to cool.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line a baking pan with parchment or a silicone liner.

Punch down the dough and tip it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll it out into a circle about 13 1/2 in or 34cm wide.



Carefully transfer the circle to your prepared baking pan.

Heap the mushroom filling in the middle then spread it around until it’s about 2 in or 5cm from the edge.



Fold the sides in to contain the filling. Top the mushrooms with your few reserved feta crumbles and a couple of small thyme sprigs, if desired.





Bake in your preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 15-20 minutes before cutting.



Enjoy!


My friend and creator of Friday Pie Day, Heather, over at All Roads Lead to the Kitchen was thinking outside the box this month. She's sharing a cherry pie milkshake today!


I am pleased to join her on the last Friday of each month for pie and crust recipes, techniques, tools of the trade, and other inspiration.

For more information and recipes, please check out her #FridayPieDay page!

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Friday, March 25, 2016

Creamy Leek and Chicken Hand Pies #FridayPieDay

Leeks sautéed in butter are the perfect start to a creamy béchamel sauce which is folded around tender chicken then baked in puff pastry till flakey and crunchy. These handy chicken pies are perfect for lunch boxes or a special brunch or dinner at home. 

Leeks are the milder cousin of the onion, not so sharp but still with a lovely oniony flavor. They soften beautifully when sautéed in butter and almost melt into a white sauce. They are a beautiful match for chicken in a pot pie or really, any dish but today, for Friday Pie Day, I created these hand pies with my favorite chicken pot pie in mind.

Ingredients
2 cooked chicken breasts, bones removed  - about 9 1/2 oz or 270g total
1 long leek - about 6 oz or 172g whole, 4 oz or 113g after the hard green bit is trimmed
1 red chili pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup or 120ml whole milk
11 2/3 oz or 330g puff pastry
1 egg

Method
Cut the hard green part off of your leeks and trim the roots. Split the white part in half. Wash well, making sure to clean any dirt that might be hiding in the root end. Slice the clean leek into small pieces and cube the cooked chicken.



Mince the red chili pepper then sauté it with the leek in the butter until softened, add a healthy pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper.



Sprinkle on the flour and stir to combine it with the softened leeks and butter. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.



Remove the pan from the heat briefly and add in the milk.

Stir vigorously until you have a thin sauce. Put the pan back on the stove over a medium heat and cook until the sauce begins to thicken and a spoon dragged through leaves a gap that fills up again slowly.



Add in the chicken and stir to coat. Cook for a few minutes more, until the sauce is very thick. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.



Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with baking parchment or a silicone mat.

Cut your puff pastry dough into four equal pieces and roll one out until it is about 7in or 28cm square.

Whisk your egg with a fork and brush a little bit all around the pastry square with a pastry brush.



Divide the cooled chicken leek mixture into four equal portions and put one on the pastry square.



Fold the pastry over to form a triangle and press the air out as you seal the sides by pressing down all around the edges. Brush more egg around the edges of the pastry triangle.





Start folding the pastry over again, to double seal the edges.



Place the triangle on your lined cookie sheet and repeat the process until you have four hand pies ready to bake. Brush them all with the beaten egg.





Bake in your preheated oven about 20-25 minutes or until the hand pies are puffed and golden.



Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least a few minutes before serving. You do not want to burn your mouth with the hot filling.



Enjoy!

Now after you have these for your main course, may I suggest finishing off the meal with Triple Cherry Pie  from my friend and creator of Friday Pie Day, Heather, over at All Roads Lead to the Kitchen?


I am pleased to join her on the last Friday of each month for pie and crust recipes, techniques, tools of the trade, and other inspiration.

For more information and recipes, please check out her #FridayPieDay page!


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