Salmon Pie

This recipe is based on salmon coulibiac, a pie of Russian origin containing rice, fish, dill, onion and mushroom. In this version I left out the mushroom and because I happened to have some leftover roasted butternut squash I added that. I don't like dill, so I replaced it with tarragon. This makes quite a large pie, enough to serve about 8 people. In Delia Smith's version, she suggests serving it with foaming hollandaise sauce.

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp dried tarragon

1 oz butter

100g basmati rice, soaked for 10 minutes in cold water, rinsed and drained

3 hardboiled eggs, chopped

700g salmon

1 bay leaf

500ml vegetable or fish stock

2 sheets of puff pastry (about 600g)

optional - half a butternut squashed, roasted in oil, seasoned and chopped roughly (I had some left over!)

squeeze of lemon juice

seasonings

1 beaten egg

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan and gently saute the onion with the tarragon until the onion is softened, but not browned.
3. Stir in the basmati rice, add the stock and bring to the boil. 
4. Cook for around 15 minutes, adding more stock if the rice boils dry, until the rice is just cooked and all the liquid absorbed. Leave to cool.
5. Meanwhile, put the salmon on a large sheet of foil, squeeze some lemon juice over and season with salt and pepper. Fold the foil over to form a loose parcel and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
6. When the salmon is just cooked, remove it from the oven, pour any liquid from the salmon into the rice and leave the salmon to cool.
7. Flake the salmon into a large bowl and stir in the chopped egg.
8. When everything is cool, place one sheet of the pastry on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray.
9. Spread half the rice mixture over the pastry, leaving a border of around 2 inches along each long edge.
10. Pile the salmon on top of the rice, pressing it down and shaping it into a brick shape.
11. Spread the other half of the rice over the salmon, pressing down again to shape into a brick.
12. Press the pieces of butternut into the top layer of rice.
13. Brush around the edges of the pastry with beaten egg.
14. Roll the second piece of pastry out so it is slightly larger than the first, and then use it to cover the first piece and the filling.
15. Press down the edges to seal the parcel, crimping them in a decorative manner. Use a knife to decorate the pastry eg with fishes or swirls.
16. At this stage you can cover the pie with cling film and refrigerate overnight until you are ready to bake it.



Layering the rice and salmon

17. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. 

Adding an optional layer of roasted butternut

Crimped and decorated and ready for an egg wash

Lime Coriander Rice

We had this with some vegetarian chili and some Mexican style belly pork carnitas and it was really good. We had tortillas too, so this quantity was fine for six, but without the tortillas you might need to make a bit more. If you really like lime, you could add the zest and juice of another one as it was quite subtle. It would probably also go well with Thai dishes.

Serves 4 - 6

300g basmati rice
1 onion, finely chopped
sunflower oil
bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
salt
chopped red chili (optional)
juice and zest of one lime
2 1/14 cups water

1. Rinse the rice, then soak for about 15 minutes in cold water. Drain and rinse again.
2. Fry the onion (and chili if using) in sunflower oil in a heavy based saucepan until soft and slightly caramelized.
3. Add the rice and finely chopped lime zest to the pan, stir it around for a minute to coat with the onion.
4. Pour in 2 and a quarter cups of cold water. Add 1/2 tsp salt and stir, then cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 15 minutes, by which time the water should all be absorbed and the rice perfectly cooked. Try to avoid lifting the lid and stirring too often - once should be enough if the heat is low.
5. Once the rice is cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice and coriander. Serve immediately.

Summer Pudding

Summer pudding is a deceptively simple traditional British dessert. It's very quick to prepare, but does need a bit of planning as it needs to chill overnight in the fridge. Most recipes I checked called for more sugar than I added, but I like a slight tartness in the fruit. I used cheap white sliced supermarket bread, despite one recipe claiming that it produces a slimy result. We didn't find the pudding at all slimy; in fact it was pretty near perfection. But next time I might just use a fancier loaf, maybe even homemade, to test out whether it is indeed better. The mix of fruit can vary according to your likes and what is available. It can be fresh or frozen. I used frozen packs of summer fruits and Black Forest fruits along with fresh strawberries and cherries plus some frozen blackberries that we picked last Autumn.

1.25kg soft fruits (mixture of raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants,blueberry, blackberries, cherries)

about 100g sugar (try adding a bit less, then taste for sweetness and adjust)

About 8 slices white bread, sliced, with crusts removed 

fresh cream (single, double, clotted - your choice) to serve

1. Rinse the fresh fruit, keeping the strawberries separate 

2. Stone and halve the cherries and halve the strawberries 

3. Reserve some nice pieces of fruit to garnish the pudding, then, keeping the strawberries out, put the fruit in a pan with the sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes then add the strawberries and continue to simmer for another 2 or 3 minutes until the fruit is just softening. Leave to cool slightly.

4. Line a 2 pint/1 litre pudding basin with cling film. (You could also make mini puds by lining tea cups).

5. Cut one slice of bread into a rough circle to fit the base of the basin.

6. Strain off about a cup of juice from the fruit.

7. Dip one side of the circle of bread into the juice, then place it juice side down into the basin. Cut the rest of the bread into triangles, then, dipping each one into he juice, place them juice side down around the sides of the basin, alternating them pointy or broad end first, pushing them together to get rid of any gaps. 

8. Using a slotted spoon to avoid getting too much of the juice (some is fine - see picture below), spoon some of the fruit into the bread lined basin, to fill it about halfway up. Next cover the fruit with a layer of bread.

9. Top this layer of bread with more of the fruit, filling the basin almost to the top.

Cut some more pieces of bread, dip them in the juice and arrange juice side up on top of the fruit, being careful to plug any gaps.

Cover with a layer of cling film, put a plate that just rests on the pud on top, then weight it down and leave in the fridge overnight.

When ready to serve, remove the cling film from the top, turn the pudding out onto a plate, pour some of the juice over the top and garnish with the reserved fruit.

Serve with cream.

Beurre Blanc Sauce

A French classic - perfect with fish. It's really easy to prepare. It's similar in flavour to a hollandaise, but thinner and not quite as deliciously rich because it doesn't have eggs. This makes it less temperamental than a hollandaise, which will turn to scrambled egg with a Gallic pout and shrug if you are not very careful with the heat. You can whip it up really quickly if you need a classy sauce to lift a meal.

Yesterday I served it with salmon pie and it was great. I added a bit of tarragon; you could add other herbs according to your fancy.

2 shallots, finely chopped (I ended up using half a small onion because the shallots I thought were left in the fridge had disappeared)
60ml white wine vinegar
60ml white wine
60ml water
125g butter, cubed

Put the shallots, vinegar, wine and water in a small pan and heat until reduced by about half or two thirds. Sieve to remove shallots and return the vinegar reduction to the pan. Over a low heat, gradually whisk in the cubes of butter to form an emulsion.

Bobotie

This is an old favourite from our days in South Africa back in the nineties. Bobotie is a South African dish from the Cape Malay community, said to have originated in Indonesia. It's a baked layered dish of minced meat cooked with spices and topped with a layer of savoury egg custard. It also includes a sweet element from dried fruits, apricot jam and chutney. It is usually served with rice - traditionally yellow rice with turmeric in South Africa, although I cooked coconut rice last time, which complemented it very well.

Ingredients (serves 4 - 6):

sunflower oil

600g minced meat (a mixture of pork and beef is good)

1 large onion finely chopped

large clove garlic, minced

1cm piece of fresh ginger, minced

2 - 3 tsp curry paste (I used Patak's Madras) or more to taste

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1 tbsp chutney ( I used a mixture of onion chutney and some apple, sage and chili jelly)

(if you don't have chutney, use a bit more jam and add a tablespoon of cider or wine vinegar for the acidity)

1 tbsp apricot or apple jam (I used apple and ginger made by my dad)

2oz dried apricots, chopped

2 slices white bread, soaked in about 200ml milk

bay leaves

2 to 3 large eggs (depends how deep you like your custard layer - I like quite a lot!)

300 ml milk

salt and pepper

handful of cashew and/or almonds, roughly chopped

handful of slivered or flaked almonds to top

1. Roughly tear up and soak the bread in the milk and set aside for about 15 minutes or so for the milk to have time to absorb.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 C
3. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and spices in sunflower oil gently until the onion is soft and slightly brown.
4.  Add the meat and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the chutney, jam, a bayleaf and apricots.
5. Gently squeeze the bread and tip the excess milk out, reserving it to add to the custard, then mash the bread and stir it into the meat mixture.
6. Continue to cook until the meat is just about done - not too much, as it will be baked in the oven. 
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Tip into an ovenproof dish (I used a 28cm square dish) and spread evenly, pressing it down slightly. The meat layer should be a 3- 4 cm deep.
9. Beat together the eggs and milk with a little seasoning (a bit of turmeric is good too)
10. Pour the egg mixture over the meat and stick a few bay leaves into it (lemon leaves are more authentic, but they don't grow here).
11. Sprinkle some slivered almonds over the top.
12. Bake for around 45 minutes until the custard is set and slightly browned.
13. Serve with rice and steamed veggies.

Sausage Rolls

Warning  -  these are very moreish and you cannot eat just one....

1 pack of sausage meat (about 500g)

1 pack fresh or frozen puff pastry (in sheet form rather than brick form - it's quicker)

1 tsp Pataks madras spice paste 

1 small finely chopped onion

Fry the onion gently in some sunflower oil, adding the Pataks towards the end. The onion should be soft and slightly caramelized. Leave aside to cool.

Put the sausage meat in a bowl and add the cooled onion mixture, giving it a good mix to distribute it evenly through the sausage.

Unroll the sheet of pastry and cut it in half lengthwise to make two rectangles about 25 by 15 cm

Place a roughly log shaped piece of sausage meat all the way along the rectangle, just slightly off centre (it will probably not want to form a nice neat log, but it doesn't really matter). Try to get it as evenly spread as possible.

Brush the pastry edge with  a little water.Fold the pastry over to make a long roll, sealing the long edge by pinching it all along the edge. Crimp with a knife handle to make it look fancier if you want.

Brush the roll with beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like, then cut the roll into 2cm pieces.

Place them well apart on a baking tray and bake them for about 20 minutes in a hot oven (190 - 200C) until golden brown.

Try not to burn your mouth when you can't wait to try the first one as soon as it comes out the oven.

Tom's Pork Belly Fajitas

Tom is back from university for the Easter holidays and offered to cook. He wanted to try to recreate a Mexican dish he'd eaten in Toronto at La Carnita; a pork dish with flavours of chili and some sweetness.  Not ever having eaten in La Carnita (but wishing I had) I can't confirm if it is like its inspiration, but it was utterly delicious and I could have eaten the whole lot by myself.

slices of pork belly (about 150g per person), salted and peppered and seared in a large pan.
Add chopped onions, jalapeno peppers and some garlic to the pan.
Then add dried oregano, cumin, smoked paprika and a bay leaf and pour Corona beer over the top until the pork is submerged. Add a dollop of honey and a splash of cider vinegar.
Cover and simmer for two hours by which time the pork will be tender and falling apart. Uncover towards the end of cooking to reduce the sauce.
Remove the pork from the sauce and pull/chop the pork into pieces. spoon the fat off the sauce and boil to reduce it to a thick consistency then pour over the pork.
Serve with warmed soft tortillas or crispy tacos, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, fried green and red peppers, grated cheese, refried beans and fresh coriander - diners assemble their own according to taste.