Mushroom Pie

This is a very simple mushroom dish which can be served with salad, steamed vegetable or with soup.

A quantity of puff pastry

5oz butter

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1lb mixed fresh mushrooms (I use shitake, portobello, oyster and chestnut) chopped

Melt half the butter in a large saute pan and begin to cook the onions and garlic. Do not allow to brown, just soften.

Add the rest of the butter and the mushrooms. 

Cook over a low to medium heat to allow the mushrooms to cook thoroughly without cooking to quickly. About 25 minutes works for me. Once cooked set side to cool.

Roll out the pastry and use a small dinner plate s a template to make two circles.

Place on circle on a baking tray. Take your mushrooms and using a sieve gently squeeze out any excess liquid. Place mushrooms in the centre of the pastry circle. Brush around the edge with beaten egg and place the second pastry circle on top. Press the edges together and fold the bottom edge around the top one to form a decorating crust.

Pre-heat to 220C.

Using any spare pastry to make leaves and maybe a mushroom to stick on the top using beaten egg as glue. Brush the whole top with beaten egg and place in the oven for 45 minutes.

Fen Celery with Walnuts and Avocado

1 bunch of fresh Fen celery, thinly sliced
3 spring onions, very thinly sliced
2oz chopped walnuts
2 large ripe avocado, peeled and sliced length ways
Lemon juice
Soured Cream or Cottage Cheese to serve
Fresh herbs to garnish

Mix the celery, spring onions and walnuts on a serving plate. Place the avocado slices in a decorative pattern on top. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice. 

Place a good dollop of the soured cream of cottage cheese in the centre.

Garnish with your favourite fresh herbs and serve.

Hot Baked Brie with Autumn Relish and Bread

This is a great snack for two people to share.

1 whole 4 inch Brie or Camembert

1 Fresh, crusty French Loaf

A quantity of Autumn Relish to serve

Pre-heat your oven to 200C

Take any packaging from the brie and place in a ceramic oven to table dish. 

Slice a cross in the top of the brie and place into the oven. It should take between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on the efficiency of your oven. Keep checking the Brie and when its melted in the centre it is done. 

You need to serve this immediately as it will start to harden as soon as it cools.

Take the cheese from the oven. Place a good scoop of relish in the centre of the round and serve with torn up bread for dipping.

Mini Mince Pies with Frangipane Tops

I tend to make mini mince pies as feel a pile of minis looks somehow more attractive than half a dozen regular ones. It also allows you to have several different variations in the toppings and the possibilities of including ones with apple pie fillings for those that don't like mincemeat.

For this recipe you will need a quantity of Christmas Pastry or plain shortcrust if you prefer.

You will also need a jar of Mincemeat. 

For the Frangipane you will need:

2oz butter, softened

2oz golden caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 oz ground almonds

3 - 4 drops of almond extract (or to taste - I like a lot!)

1 pear

Begin with making your frangipane. Place your butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together. Slowly add the beaten eggs and continue to mix. 

A little at a time mix in the ground almonds and then flavour with the almond extract; make sure it is all thoroughly combined. Set this aside while you line the tins. 

Roll out your pastry on a floured board and cut circles to fit a mini cake tray. Make the pastry as thin as you can without it breaking as it will cook easier. Also with mini pies you will need more room for filling and don't want your pie too full of pastry!

In the bottom of each pie case place a small teaspoon of mincemeat. Now take your frangipane and place a small teaspoon on top. It doesn't have to be too neat as it will puff up under cooking and should sort itself out. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.While the oven is pre-heating you can finish off the pies. Take your pear and slice it up into slivers about 1 cm across and maybe 2 mm thick. If possible leave a bit of skin on the outside edge. Push two pieces of pear into the frangipane on each pie. 

Pop into the oven for about half an hour. Timings vary considerably depending on how efficient your oven is, so check the pies often and if necessary turn the trays around half way through. 

Sweet Pickled Onions

Although this recipe is for a quantity of pickled onions, but is equally good for pickled eggs and gherkins! Due to soaking time this needs to be made over two days.

2lb small pickling onions

3 dessert spoons of rock salt (I use Himalayan Pink Salt for everything)

Large bottle of Malt Vinegar (doesn't need to be an expensive or 'pickling' vinegar)

1 tsp dried chilli

1 tsp whole cloves

1 large or 2 small cinnamon sticks

1 inch chunk fresh ginger

2 tsp whole black peppercorns

3 heaped dessertspoons of dark brown sugar

Day One

Place unpeeled onions into a large saucepan or cauldron. Bring a kettle of water to the boil and pour over the onions. Allow to stand in the boiling water for two or three minutes, but no longer. (You don't want the onions to actually start cooking.)

Fill another large bowl with cold water and after the onions have soaked in the hot water for their three minutes use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the cold water. This is to allow them to cool a bit before you peel them.  You will notice that the boiled water has turned yellow and this used to be used as a natural dye! 

In another clean bowl place the salt and fill with fresh water. The water will dissolve as much of the salt as it needs, so don't worry if you still have salt crystals at the bottom of the bowl. Take the onions one at a time to peel, top and tail them. They can be put into the salt water and left at least 12 hours if not overnight.

Day Two

Put the vinegar into a saucepan with the sugar and spices. Bring to the boil, take of the heat and leave to cool some. 

Take your jars (sterilized with hot water or a sterilizing solution accordingly) and place near the sink. Place your salted onions into a sieve and rinse thoroughly under the tap. Drop straight into the jars, leaving a gap of about an inch from the top.

By now your vinegar should have cooled sufficiently not to crack the glass, but still take care with the hot liquid. I also advise you not to be tempted to sniff it as it an be quite potent! Using a ladle, scoop up the spiced vinegar and some of the pickling spices, then poor over the onions in their jars. I don't usually add all the spices as things like the cinnamon sticks can take up quite a lot of room, but certainly a few spoonfuls of the smaller ones and the odd slice of ginger make the finished piece look very appetizing and will continue to add flavour for a little while after. Once the last onion is covered you can seal the lid and leave on a shelf to mature. They are edible immediately, but left for a week they will be richer in taste.