Game Pie with Red Cabbage

This recipe has also been adapted for Gluten Free.
Ingredients

For the hot and sour cabbage

2 tbsp butter
1 red cabbage, core removed, finely sliced
50ml/2fl oz sherry wine vinegar
2 pinches salt
2 apples, peeled, core removed, chopped
2 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp chopped root ginger
2 pinches sugar
½ tsp white pepper

For the pie

300g/11oz Mixed Game such as pheasant breast and chicken livers, chopped (I used Chicken and Venison)
150g/5oz pork sausage meat
150g/5oz streaky bacon
1 tbsp brandy
1 shallot
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp salt
500g/1lb 2oz Gluten Free pastry or Puffy pastry if you are able to find a good recipe (I haven't found one yet)
2 free-range eggs, beaten
 
For the sauce


150ml/5fl oz meat stock
150ml/5fl oz double cream
2 tbsp whiskey or cognac
1 tbsp green peppercorns, lightly crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
preparation time 1 to 2 hours
cooking time
Serves 6
1. For the hot and sour cabbage, melt the butter in a lidded saucepan and add the cabbage, vinegar and salt. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for one hour.
2. Stir in the apples, raisins, ginger and sugar, and cook for a further 30 mins
3. Stir in the white pepper and season to taste with sugar and salt.

4. Meanwhile, for the pie, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
5. Tip all of the pie ingredients, except the pastry and eggs, into a food processor and blend until well combined and finely chopped. Tip the filling into a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to chill in the fridge.
6. Cut the pastry into two pieces and roll each piece out on a floured surface to a thickness of 5mm/¼in.
7. Place each piece of pastry onto a baking tray and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
8. Cut a 24cm/9½in circle from one of the pieces of dough and brush with the beaten egg. Place the filling mixture into the middle of the pastry and pat into a dome shape, leaving a border of 5cm/2in
around the edge.
9. Brush the edge with egg wash and top with the other piece of pastry. Use your hands to pat the pastry around the filling and seal the edges. Trim the edge and brush with the remaining beaten egg.

10. Pierce a small hole in the centre of the top and use the tines of a fork or a toothpick to decorate the top of the pie. Leave to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
11. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked and golden-brown.
12. Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat the stock and cream in a saucepan until boiling and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Add the whiskey (or cognac) and green peppercorns, reduce the heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
13. Serve the pie on a large plate with a bowl of cabbage and a jug of the sauce alongside.

I hope you enjoyed this dish as much as my family.

Gluten Free Pancakes

This recipe has been adapted to cope with gluten free and dairy requests.

2 large eggs


175ml  Soya milk or regular Milk

25g Vegetable spread, or butter plus an extra 25g for greasing pan

150g Gluten-free plain white flour blend

15g Caster Sugar plus some for sprinkling
 
1 Lemon or another topping
 
Method:
 
1.Place eggs, soya milk, half the vegetable spread in a blender. Add the flour and sugar ( if using) and blend until a smooth batter is formed.


2.Place the remaining vegetable spread on a saucer. Scrunch up the greaseproof paper, dab it in the sunflower spread and lightly grease the frying pan with it.

3.Place the pan over a medium heat. Add a few spoonfuls of batter and tilt the pan to evenly coat it with a thin layer of batter. Cook gently until the batter is set firm. Turn the pancake and cook the other side.

4.Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all the batter is used. Stack the pancakes and keep warm until required.

5.Sprinkle each pancake with caster sugar and lemon juice, roll up and serve hot.

For my topping I also added mixed berries (defrosted). You could also add some ice-cream or plain greek yogurt.

So Busy Cooking!

Christmas had been so busy with family, that I spent all my time cooking. I had decided that in 2011 I would work through each of my cook books! Selecting only one weeks worth of recipes from one recipe book. So each week I am cooking a selection of foods from and new recipe book.

I have found some wonderful recipes and the ones I am sharing are the ones that turned out without too much going wrong ;)

Apple and Rasberry Mouse for Easter

I had a great time this Easter. Family and friends come over for lunch and stayed until the evening. We had  the usual conversations about politics, newspaper headlines, weather and things were different when we were younger! Then finally on to talking about the summer holidays! Alhtough we have some great ideas for holiday destinations, it looks like most of us wont be going away due to lack of money!
So we will have more get together events instead. I like to look on the bright side!

Although some of our conversations were on serious topics and  I had a lot of cooking to do, we still had time to laugh and joke and that's what I love about getting together.
This Easter we had a split menu - Rice with Fish (for the Armenians) and Chicken, Roast potatoes, carrots and peas (for the English). I placed serving dishes down the center of the table so everyone could share all the dishes. Then on to lovely rich flavoured coffee and a new recipe for dessert.
I am sharing this lovely sharp and sweet dessert, I had made double the ingredients and it was still prefect!

Apple and Raspberry Mousse


900g (2lb) cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
4 tbsp orange juice
grated zest of 1 lemon
225g (8oz) raspberries
6 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 large egg white
mint sprigs to decorate

1 Put the apples and orange juice into a pan and cook over a low heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes
until soft. Add the lemon zest, then use a fork to mash to a puree. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

2 Gently heat the raspberries and 2 tbsp sugar in a pan until the juices start to run.

3 Whisk the egg white in a bowl until stiff, add the remaining sugar gradually until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Fold into the apple puree.

4 Divide the raspberries and any juice among six serving glasses, spoon the apple mixture on top
and decorate with mint sprigs.

Preparation Time Cooking Time
10 Mins, plus chilling 1 hour15 Mins

Lovely chocolate Florentines

I love cake and sweetie things and the one thing I am still trying to find, is pastry! I have made my own to my disappointment. Recently I found Tesco’s frozen Free From pastry, it didn’t work out the first time – If I have the patience - I have a busy weekend coming up! I will have another go next week.


However here is one of my recent try outs:
Florentines
Preparation Time: Cooking Time: Oven Temperature:
20 Min. 8 - 10 Min. 180C,350F,Gas 4

Ingredients:
75g/3oz butter
75g/3oz golden syrup
25g/1oz gram flour
75g/3oz flaked almonds, coarsely chopped
25g/1oz mixed peel
50g/2oz glace cherries, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Recipe Instructions:
Melt the butter and syrup in a small pan, then stir in the flour, almonds, mixed peel, cherries and lemon juice.
Place teaspoons of the mixture well apart on baking trays lined with baking parchment. Flatten with a fork and bake in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water, then spread over the flat underside of each Florentine.
Place the biscuits chocolate side up on a wire rack and mark the chocolate into wavy lines with a fork.
Leave until set.
Tip: Use the best quality chocolate if possible. Take care not to let the chocolate get to hot as this will make it lose its glossy finish.

Enjoy!