Slow Braised Venison Pie

It has been nearly a month since my last blog for which I am profoundly sorry. In my defense, I have been snowed under with homework and revision for my four -eek! -January exams that are hurtling towards me. Cooking and baking unsurprisingly, has been at a minimum, and what I have made, I've had little time to blog about it.
I am allowing myself a brief half hour break to blog about last night's dinner, which I am way too proud of to not talk about it. It's also my birthday tomorrow so there should be a restaurant review and cake recipe coming up! In the meantime, keep up with me and CoffeeWithCroissants on Twitter and Instagram.

I found this recipe when curled up on the sofa with my Mother watching Kirstie's Vintage Christmas. What with moving house, Mum has got quite into crafts and things, so for the five or six weeks that Kirstie's Vintage was showing on the telly, we've been there and watching. When I saw the slow braised venison pies featured, I knew I just had to try them. We've been buying a lot of game and venison recently, after finding ourselves an excellent new butcher's. So I ear-marked a pack of diced venison and got cooking. I've adjusted the amounts to make it more suitable for our smaller family, and to make use of the ingredients in our fridge. You can find the original recipe here.

Even if you're new to venison, do try this because it is a perfect and rather festive winter warmer.

Slow Braised Venison Pie

• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery, peeled and chopped.
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
•  Olive oil, for frying
• 400g  venison or beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
•  Plain flour, around 3-4tbsp
• 3 tbsp cranberry sauce
• 2 large sundried tomatoes, finely chopped, or 1tbsp tomato puree
• 175ml port
• 250ml good beef stock
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 1 bayleaf
• 1 egg, beaten with a little milk for the eggwash

For the pastry (if making)

• 200g plain flour
• 110g cold salted butter, cubed
• Ice-cold water,around 3-4tbs

 Preheat the oven to gas mark 2, 160'C.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a medium-high temperature. Add in the vegetables and cook for 5-10 minutes until the onion is soft and turning golden. Tip the vegetables into a large casserole pan.

Add a little more oil, and brown the meat. If your pan is a little on the small side, cook in two or three batches, as crowding the pan with too much meat won't let it get hot enough, and all the moisture from the venison or beef will drain into the pan. When the meat is brown, add this to the vegetables. For a vegetarian option, swap the meat for chopped mushrooms with pine nuts or chestnuts and extra celery.

 Cook the  cranberry sauce and tomato over a low heat for one minute. I used our homemade sauce, which I will link the recipe for here. If using store bought, add the zest of an orange to create an extra tang to your dish.

Turn the heat up and add the port to deglaze the pan -use your spoon or spatula to get all the flavour left from browning the meat off the base off the pan. Give that a minute to heat through and tip into the casserole dish, along with the beef stock. Give it all a stir and add in the thyme and bayleaf.

Pop the lid on and cook for an hour and a half. You could eat it just like that, but to turn it into a fabulous pie, get your rolling pin out.

If you don't have time, there is no crime whatsoever in using bought pastry. However, if you're up for a challenge, have a go at making your own. Below is a recipe for a shortcrust. Next time I make puff pastry, I'll take some photos and do a recipe post because it tastes great with this recipe.

Rub the flour and cold butter together, using your fingertips to make breadcrumbs.Make a well and gradually add in the water. Bring together using a fork or spatula if you want to keep your hands clean -phones and doorbells ALWAYS ring whenever you let both of your hands get covered in cooking material!! Once the crumbly mixture can be pressed into a smooth ball, cover in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Roll out the dough. I think these pies look much nicer as individual portions, but make sure that whatever you pie ends up in, to cut the pastry so that is large enough to drape slightly over the sides of your container as it will shrink as it bakes. If using a large pie dish, pop a pie funnel or upturned egg cup to stop the pastry from sinking.

 Take the casserole out of the oven and turn the heat up to gas mark 7, 200'C. Give the oven a few minutes to heat up, then gently spoon the casserole into the pie dish/es. Avoid pouring in too much of the excess liquid; a little brings flavour but too much will create soggy pastry! Glaze the top of the pastry with the egg wash, and pierce it to let steam out. Decorate with any left over pastry if you feel like it.

 Bake for around 20 minutes until the pastry is cook and golden. Serve immediately with a salad or non-root vegetables.

Little Treats: Salted Millionaire's Shortbread

Millionaire's shortbread has always been one of my favorite treats. In the summer, I had a go at making a batch for a picnic. I used condensed milk for the caramel -you can buy it already caramelized or you can pierce the top of the tin and leave it in a saucepan of simmering water for a couple of hours. That was delicious, but I wanted to have a go at using my own caramel this time around.

In theory, millionaire's shortbread is simple, but each stage requires your judgement as to when it is ready. You need a little time, as you need to allow time for everything to cool and set.

• For the shortbread:
• 150g butter at room temperature.
• 100g caster sugar
• 180g plain flour
• 55g rice flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt (unless using salted butter)

• For the caramel:
• 150g sugar
• 150ml double cream
• 1 tsp course sea salt 

• 120g chocolate, milk or dark

Firstly make the shortbread. Preheat the oven to gas mark 3, 170'C. Grease and line a rectangular baking tin.
Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric beater or mixer until light and fluffy. Sift over the flours baking powder and salt, and combine until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Press the  mix into the tin using the back of a spoon and smooth over. If the butter is too cold, the mix may seem dry and not come together so well.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. You don't want any colour on the shortbread, so keep an eye on it. Mark out and score where you want to cut your shortbread pieces and leave to cool on a wire rack.

As the shortbread cools, make the caramel. Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar onto a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. As the sugar starts to melt, sprinkle over another layer of sugar. Continue to gradually add more sugar. NEVER stir the caramel as it will crystallize a be spoilt. Swirl the sugar a little in the pan instead if needed. After all the sugar has melted, keep heating and swirling until almost coca-cola coloured. Now pour in the cream and salt, being careful as the sugar may spit. Heat until 108'C or until the caramel coats the back of a spoon, and transfer to a bowl to cool.

When the caramel is no longer runny, carefully spoon it over the shortbread (if it is too runny, you will loose most of the caramel and end up with a very sticky biscuit...). Again, leave to cool completely.

Now break up all the chocolate into a bowl. Even if you're not a fan of dark chocolate, try to use a little as the chocolate will set slightly harder, which contrasts really well against the soft, gooey caramel. Heat the bowl of chocolate over a pan of simmering water until melted.

 Immediately remove from the heat, and pour or spoon over the set caramel and shortbread. Leave it to set at room temperature if you can, as the chocolate will look dull and soft if chilled in the fridge. Feel free to use your artistic license with drizzled white chocolate, chopped nuts, salt or whatever you fancy.

 Enjoy x

Making the Mince Pies...

It wouldn't be Christmas without mince pies would it? Every year, we reach for the faded print contained in my Mother's old Cordon Bleu folder, and get a big bowl of mincemeat made. It sits there all through December, lasting us through several batches of mince pies, not to mention numerous stolen spoonfuls of bliss when I think nobody is watching....

The mincemeat will last for weeks, improving and maturing over time.

Mincemeat

•  225g (8 oz) apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• 225g (8 oz) raisins
• 225g (8 oz) currants
• 115g (4 oz) sultanas
• 170g (6 oz) green grapes, peeled and quatered
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 170g (6 oz) brown sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 40g (1.5 oz) butter, melted
• 1 small glass of sherry, brandy or other liqueur

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, and keep covered with clingfilm in a cool place until needed.


Mince Pies (using sweet shortcrust pastry)

• 255g (9 oz) plain flour
• 115g (4 oz) cold butter or lard if you're feeling really traditional
• 1 egg
• 1 dstsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• Mincemeat

Using you fingertips, rub the flour and butter together (You can use a food processor or mixer, but it is really easy to overwork the gluten in the flour, so make sure that you use a pulse setting). Shake the bowl at intervals to bring any lumps of butter to the surface. Keep rubbing until the mixture iresembles breadcrumbs.

 Tip: If you have time beforehand, chill the butter in the freezer and grate it to make rubbing in the butter easier.

In a separate jug, whisk the egg and add in sugar and water. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and gradually pour in the egg mix and mix using a palette knife. Chill the pastry in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Grease a 12 hole bun tin and flour a surface and rolling pin. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5, 190'C.
Roll out the pastry, turning it a quarter to stop it from sticking to the surface. Use two different sized pastry cutters for the pastry and cut out enough to make cases and lids for each pie. Fill each with a teaspoon of mincemeat and top with one of the smaller pastry disks. Glaze with a little milk and pierce the top of each pie.

Bake for around 12-15 minutes, until golden and puffy. Allow to cool for 10 minutes on a rack, and dust with icing sugar before storing or serving.

Festive Zesty Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

Last week we bought  a loaf of panettone which we didn't have time to eat before it started to go a little stale. Good news for me, as it gave me an excuse to make my favorite bread and butter pudding, which is the ultimate comfort dessert.
What makes it stand out from other bread and butter puddings is the rich fruitiness that the sweet Italian Christmas bread brings -the one we picked tasted as if the fruits had been doused in brandy, which was really, gorgeously decadent.

What is good about bread and butter puddings is that you can adapt the recipe to what ingredients you have, and the pudding never tastes second rate. I often just use semi-skimmed milk to replace the whole milk and double cream. Another nice flavour combination would be brioche with white chocolate melted into the sauce.

I first got the idea for this recipe from Delia Smith, and have been adapting it ever since. The addition of marmalade is lovely and Christmassy, especially when using a pot of my Father's homemade marmalade!

Ingredients:

• Marmalade
• 1 medium panettone loaf or 8 thick slices of good, farmhouse white bread
• 50g butter, softened
• 275ml milk (ideally whole)
• 60ml double cream
• 3 large eggs
• 75g light brown sugar
• Zest of an orange

Preheat the oven to 180'C, gas mark 4.
Slice the panettone into thick slices. Butter each of the slices and spread marmalade onto half of these. Sandwich the slices with marmalade together with the buttered slices.

Spread another layer of butter onto the top of each pair and arrange in a greased oven dish.Whisk together the milk, cream, eggs and sugar together and pour over the bread.

 Sprinkle over the zest and sugar right before placing in the oven for 35-40 minutes until golden and puffy.

Serve with evaporated milk, cream, or creme fraiche, and get ready to fight for seconds!

Christmas Cake Time!

Last weekend I decided it was time to get the Christmas cake made. The high moisture content from the boozy fruits stops the cake from going stale, and consequently it benefits from a month or two worth of maturing, fed with regular doses of brandy.

We tend to make two small cakes, or one cut in half, as our family is divided by who likes icing or not (me: love almond paste and icing; my parents, not so much). Below, I have used the photos from my un-iced, fruit glazed cake, using half the quantities listed, with a slightly shorter cooking time.

I used Delia Smith's classic recipe; it is virtually fool-proof (proved by my first attempt at this recipe, where I misread the recipe, mixed everything together at once and consequently curdled the eggs. I've written the correct recipe below, of course).

This recipe is such a classic; it doesn't need altering, although I switched the mixed peel for fresh lemon and orange zest, purely because I am not a massive fan of bought peel. To bring the overall weight back up, I added extra glace cherries, which I love.

Tip: Read through before starting -this recipe takes up a lot of time!

Delia's Classic Christmas Cake

• 450g currants
• 175g sultanas
• 175g raisins
• 50g glace cherries, rinsed and finely chopped.
• 50g mixed peel
• 3 tbsp brandy

• 225g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
• 1/4 grated nutmeg
• 1/2 mixed spice (includes cloves and cinnamon)
• 225g butter
• 225g soft brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 50g almonds
• 1 dessertspoon black treacle
• grated zest of one orange and one lemon

 

• If glazing: Around 110g of fruit and nuts, such as glace cherries, chopped almonds and walnuts.

Mix all the dried fruit (currants, sultanas, raisins, cherries, peel/zest) together and stir in the brandy. Cover with a tea-towel, and  leave for 12 hours.

The next day, preheat the oven to just gas mark 1/140 C. Sift the flour, salt and spices together at least once, lifting the sieve high to aerate the flour. This is a cake that can become pretty heavy, so getting as much air into the mix as possible will bring a lighter texture to the cake.
In a separate clean, large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar together until pale, light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in a smaller bowl or jug, and add slowly to the butter and sugar a spoonful at a time. If added too fast, the eggs may curdle, creating a heavier, but no less delicious, cake.
When the egg has been beaten in, gently fold in the flour, using a spatula or pallet knife NOT a wooden spoon, which is too thick and will crush out any trapped air.
Now fold in the dried fruit, which should have absorbed all the brandy, chopped almonds, treacle and zest. Carefully spoon out the mix into a greased and lined square or round tin, smoothing over with the back of a spoon or spatula.

If decorating with fruit and nuts, decorating in any pattern you like. Cover the cake in a double-layer of grease proof paper, with a small slit in the middle to let steam out. This protects the top of the cake from the long cooking period.

Bake on the lowest shelf, checking after 4 1/2 hours, although it may take up to an hour longer. The cake should feel firm, and an inserted skewer should come out clean. Leave to cool fon a rack or 30 minutes before removing from the tin and allowing to cool completely. Finish by poking with a skewer and 'feeding' with a tablespoon of brandy.

Wrap in greaseproof paper and foil and store in a cool place, feeding occasionally.

Singleton's Sweet Potato Soup

Due to a training afternoon or a parents evening, school finished at one to day *happy face* so I got to go home early. I spent half an hour walking around town handing out C.V's with cover letter specific to the shop/cafe because it seems pretty much impossible at the moment to get a part time job. Just recently, I read that on average, every basic-skilled, part time job has about 64 people fighting over it with glossy resumes and glowing references.

When I got back around at about 2:45, I was absolutely starving, but I had pre-planned my lunch, so I got going:

Singleton's Sweet Potato Soup -Serves 1

• Butter 
• 1 small onion or shallot
• 1 small/medium sweet potato
• 2-3 baby potatoes
• 1/2 tsp dried coriander
• 500ml of vegetable stock
• 100ml milk
• Salt and pepper
• To serve: sour cream/ natural yogurt

 Chop up the onion. Melt a little butter in a saucepan over a medium-high heat, and pop in one piece of onion. When it starts to sizzle, the butter is hot enough, so bung in the rest of the onion, cover, and saute gently until soft.
Chop the sweet and baby potatoes in to small chunks, and pour 300ml of the stock over the onions. I use Boullion as the powder means you don't have to waste a whole stock cube when making meals for one.

Add the chopped sweet and baby potatoes and coriander and bring to the boil. Add the extra stock if it looks like the soup will be thick. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. I was really hungry, so I chopped everything really fine so it all cooked quicker!

Once the potatoes are tender, remove from heat, and blitz with a food processor until smooth (don't worry about the odd chunk of potato as this adds flavour. If it seems thick, add a little more of the stock again. Season, and stir in the milk. Decant into a bowl and drizzle the cream or yogurt over the top.

Restaurant Review: Florio's Pizzeria

Although we are celebrating my Father's birthday with lunch out in York tomorrow, it felt wrong not to do something on the day itself, so we traveled to Florio's Pizzeria and Restaurant in Malton for a relaxed dinner. The Italian restaurant, recommended to me by an old friend, is decorated in the style of a fantastic Art Deco diner, full of chrome and mirrors, with the interesting feature of an open kitchen. We arrived fairly early, at 6:30, but as a family friendly restaurant, there were already several diners eating, with a good flow of people entering and leaving the whole evening.

We all opted for pasta; I ordered a classic carbonara (spaghetti served in a cream and egg sauce with bacon), my father, maccheroni all'Arrabbiata (pepperoni and ham in a spicy tomato sauce) while my mother made the best choice with an Americana, a simple spaghetti dish smothered in tomato sauce with white wine and bacon, that was perfectly balanced in flavour. The staff offered parmesan and pepper and were very friendly and efficient; and a quick glance over at the pizzas served on the next table looked very promising.

The food was amazingly well cooked for the price -similar, or even a little less than your average meal at Pizza Express -and also offers a pizza takeaway service. This isn't fine dining -but is perfect, comfort food for a relaxing meal out, and I'll certainly be taking friends here in the future.