Roast kumara, eggplant and lentil salad with feta and pomegranate

This salad has been a staple for us this summer.  It's never quite the same each time I make it, usually because I forget to add something or find something else that might be a tasty addition.. But here's the basic gist anyway.  If you can't find fresh pomegranate you could soak dried cranberries in water till they've plumped up and use those instead.

1 large orange kumara chopped into 2cm cubes (sweet potato for those of you outside New Zealand!)

1 large eggplant, cubed

1 head garlic

Olive oil spray

Rocket, baby spinach or other salad greens

1/2 telegraph cucumber, cubed

1/2 can brown lentils, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

Large handful mint leaves, roughly chopped

1/4 cup feta, crumbled (I usually just use half a block of reduced fat feta chopped up)

Seeds and juice from 1/2 pomegranate

Juice from 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 220c.  Place kumara and eggplant on a lined baking tray with the garlic and spray everything lightly with olive oil.  Roast veggies for about 30 minutes or until nice and golden.

Build the salad on a large, shallow dish or platter.  Start with greens, parsley and 3/4 of the mint (save the rest to garnish later) and then scatter roasted veggies and cucumber over the top, followed by the lentils.  Crumble your feta over the salad, sprinkle over pomegranate seeds and the rest of the mint.  Squeeze lemon juice over the whole salad and season with some salt and freshly ground pepper.  Yum!

Vaguely Moroccan breakfast eggs

Full disclosure - I'm only calling this Moroccan because I threw in a vast amount of ras al hanout spice mix and make no other claims of its authenticity!!  It made a great rainy day breakfast for Mr B and I today though.

Moroccan Breakfast Eggs (serves 2-3)

Olive oil spray

1 red onion, finely diced

1 red capsicum, diced

1/2 zucchini, grated (I'd have used a whole on if I'd had it in the fridge!)

1 tablespoon Moroccan ras al hanout spice mix, or more to taste (I used Mrs Rogers)

4 household tablespoons full red kidney beans (chickpeas would work well too.  Again, I was just using things up from the fridge).

1 400g can diced tomatoes

Large handful roughly chopped spinach, silverbeet or kale.. I used silverbeet straight from our garden today

1 or 2 cage free eggs per person

Salt and pepper

Spray a large fry pan with olive oil spray and sauté onion, capsicum and zucchini over a medium heat for a few minutes.  Add spice mix and continue to sauté until nice and fragrant.  Throw in  kidney beans followed by tomato.

Once the tomatoes are bubbling away, add greens and allow to wilt.  Then turn the heat slightly lower and make a little hollow for each or your eggs and crack the eggs into it.  Put a lid over the pan if you have one that fits and cook until egg whites have just set, about 7 minutes depending on the heat of your pan.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with hot toasted pita breads or some yummy grainy toast.

Veggie Burgers

These easy tofu and veggie burgers freeze well and are great for getting loads of veggies into your kids whilst letting them believe they're getting "junk" food ;) My two like these burgers with sliced cheese, lettuce and pineapple and homemade kumara chips on the side.  Yum.

Below are the rough weights and types of veggies I use - but I tend to add whatever we have lurking in the bottom of the veggie drawer in the fridge as this is a good way to use them up.

Veggie Burgers

Makes 8 - 10 burger patties

1 tablespoon butter

200gm mushrooms, chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 carrot, grated

100gm steamed broccoli

1/2 red capsicum, chopped

100gm unsalted raw cashews, finely chopped

1 package firm tofu (approx 290gm) - available in the chiller (fresh) at the supermarket or in the Japanese food aisle (long life)

Breadcrumbs from 2-3 slices of whole grain bread 

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

Flour for coating burgers

Olive oil spray for frying

Melt butter over medium heat in frying pan, add chopped mushrooms and sauté for 3-4 minutes until they're just tender.  Allow to cool slightly then transfer to food processor with remaining ingredients and blitz until well combined.  If you don't have a food processor, you can do this by hand but will need to chop all the ingredients very finely before you mix them in a large bowl.

Form into 8 - 10 burgers around the size of the palm of your hand.  Coat each burger lightly with flour before frying them over a medium heat until both sides are golden brown.

Freeze cooked patties by allowing them to cool and separating with baking paper and sealing in ziploc bags or an airtight container.

Teriyaki Chicken

This is my go-to recipe for an easy win with my boys.  It's so simple and so much better than any of the bottled stuff from the shops, you'll never go back!  In fact, it's such a staple in our house I thought I had already blogged about it years ago.  Oops.  We have teriyaki sauce on chicken most often but it's also fab on salmon - otherwise known as pink chicken around here - or on leftover hamburger patties.

Teriyaki Chicken (serves 4)
400gm chicken thigh fillets, skinless and boneless but if you have bone-in thighs they will still be fine!  
1 tablespoon cooking sake
1 teaspoon salt reduced soy sauce

1/4 cup mirin
1 tablespoon reduced salt soy sauce (Kikkoman is the best for this and available in the supermarkets here)
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Combine sake and first measure of soy sauce in a shallow dish.  Marinate chicken thighs for 20 minutes or so; less time is fine if you're in a rush.  Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.  

For the teriyaki sauce:
Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to almost boiling over a medium heat for 2 - 3 mins.  Let it bubble up then turn it down to a simmer for another couple of minutes.  It should thicken up more the longer you leave it on the heat.  Then just turn off the heat and leave in the pan to cool until you need it.

Heat a non stick fry pan over a medium-high heat and brown the chicken thighs in batches then remove to an ovenproof dish big enough to place the thighs in in one layer.  Spoon a tablespoonful or so of the teriyaki sauce over the chicken thighs and then bake for 45 mins, or until the chicken thighs are cooked through.

When you're ready to serve the chicken, slice about 1cm thick and serve over steamed rice.  Reheat the reserved sauce and pour over the chicken and rice.  My kids love this with edamame and miso soup served on the side!  But a green salad also works well in summer.

PS - this recipe is really easy to scale up if you like more sauce or if you are cooking for a crowd.

Ginger Loaf

Who doesn't love a good ginger loaf?!  This was my go-to morning tea for baby group when Callum was little.  So easy to throw together and it always works!

Ginger Loaf

Preheat oven to 170c.  Grease and line loaf tin.  Mine's a Wiltshire silicon one, it's not huge but if you have a large tin it'll just mean it won't be as high.

50g butter

1 household tablespoon golden syrup

1 large egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup milk

Melt butter and golden syrup together in a medium saucepan.  Remove from heat before it bubbles.  In another bowl, whisk egg and sugar until thick.  Add to the slightly cooled butter mixture.  Stir in flour, baking powder and ginger.  Combine milk and baking soda in another bowl or jug and then gradually stir this into the batter.  It will be quite runny.  Pour into prepared loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly from the middle of the loaf.  Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes in the tin and then on a wire rack.

Perfect with lots of butter and a cuppa.

 

Bacon, tomato and lentil soup

Taste tested by my boys, this is a really easy soup to warm you up on a rainy day.

splash vegetable or olive oil
2 - 4 slices bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 L salt reduced chicken stock
1 cup red lentils
Salt and pepper to taste
Greek yoghurt
Fresh parsley or coriander

Saute the bacon and onions in a large pot over a medium heat until the bacon is just cooked and onions clear.  Add grated carrot and cook until it softens, about 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and stock, increase heat and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat, add the lentils and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or so until the lentils are cooked and the soup has thickened.  Remove from heat and cool slightly before blending with a stick blender.  Return to the stove, season with salt and pepper and reheat when you're ready to serve with dollop of greek yoghurt and some fresh parsley or coriander. 

Weetbix Slice

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 18 x 28cm tin.

125gm butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 weetbix, crushed
1 cup dessicated or shredded coconut
1/2 cup dried fruit, chopped (raisins, dates, dried apricots, cranberries.. whatever is in your pantry will do!)
1/2 cup dark chocolate bits

Combine butter, syrup and sugar in a pot and stir over a medium heat until the butter melts.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before adding vanilla and egg.

Mix in flours and baking powder.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until evenly combined.

Press mixture into lined tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the centre is as firm as the edges.  Remover from oven and cool for 5 - 10 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.  Allow to cool completely before cutting into slices else it will fall apart!

You can drizzle melted chocolate over the top before slicing if you're feeling fancy too!

Spiced Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Oh man, I love autumn!  It's been pouring down for the past couple of days and my boys are on school holidays so it's been the perfect time to get in the kitchen and get a few things done.  Mr B bought a massive butternut squash a few days ago so I have a freezer full of pumpkin puree for Baby B and 30 muffins just about to come out of the oven..

Spiced Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes about 24 muffins

1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup rice bran oil
4 eggs
2 cups mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks (as always, be generous)

Preheat oven to 200C.  Grease and line 24 muffin tins 

Mix sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl.  Add pumpkin and milk and combine thoroughly.

In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients.  Add to wet mixture and stir through chocolate chips.  Do not over mix!

Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes or until muffins spring back when you press lightly on the tops.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy cookies

Super easy.  Super lemony.  This recipe scales up easily as well, if you're baking for a crowd (or if you want to give them away at Christmas time)

125gm butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
grated rind of one lemon 
1 egg
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Line cookie sheets with baking paper.  Preheat oven to 190C.

Cream butter, sugar and lemon until light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat well until it's incorporated fully.  Add flour and baking powder and continue to beat into creamed mixture.  Roll teaspoonsful of mixture into balls and place on oven trays.  Flatten with the back of a fork or your thumb.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until cookies are just starting to brown.

Gingerbread Cookie Dough Truffles

These. Are. Awesome.

They taste like Christmas... but I'll be they're great any time of the year.

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon ginger
pinch salt
Dark chocolate for coating (I just used chocolate melts, but better quality chocolate wouldn't go amiss here.  The dough is pretty rich)

Beat butter, syrup and sugar with an electric beater until it's light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla and then flour, spices and salt.  Beat on a slow speed until everything is incorporated.  Chill dough for 30 minutes or until it's firm enough to handle.  Meanwhile, line 2 or 3 cookie sheets with baking paper and make some space in your freezer.

Form dough into teaspoon sized balls.  Don't be tempted to make them too big as the dough/chocolate ration will too sickly!  Arrange on lined cookie sheets and place in freezer for at least 15 minutes.  Melt chocolate in the microwave, being careful not to overheat.  Using a skewer, dip truffles in chocolate and tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate.  Quickly return to the cookie sheet and repeat for the rest of the truffles.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge once they're set.  They keep well for a few days.. possibly longer if you don't eat them before that!

Perfect Match

Is there anything better than marmite and cheese???  (Except, maybe, gin and tonic!)

I forgot to buy bread at the supermarket today so I had to think up something else for the boys' lunch boxes tomorrow.  Oh for a kombini just downstairs huh ;)

This marmite and cheese scroll recipe is so simple and you'll almost definitely have all the ingredients already.  Perfect!

Marmite & Cheese Scrolls

Makes 8

8gm instant dry yeast (1 sachet) 

1 teaspoon honey

1 cup lukewarm water

2 1/2 cups high grade flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Marmite

Approx 1 cup grated Colby cheese

Preheat oven to 200c

Combine water and honey in a small bowl and stir until honey is dissolved.  Add yeast and put aside for a few minutes or until it's nice and frothy.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.  When yeast mixture is ready, pour it into the flour along with the olive oil.  With an electric mixer, beat with dough hook on a medium speed until ingredients are combined.  Increase speed to high and knead for 1 minute.  Leave dough to rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.

You can knead the dough by hand if you don't have a mixer, it'll just take longer (and you might need that G&T).

Roll rested dough into a rectangle, approximately 1cm thick.

Thinly spread marmite over all but the top 3cm of the rectangle.  Make sure you go all the way to the other three edges!  Next, generously sprinkle grated cheese over marmite.

Starting at the bottom edge, roll dough into a long sausage.  Use your fingertips to wet the top edge with water and seal the roll.  Cut into even sections.  I like to cut in half, then each half again, and again to get 8 even scrolls.

Place rolls snugly into a lined cake tin.  I used a square tin tonight, but a round one will do fine!  Bake for 30 minutes at 200C.  If you love cheese (you know you do!) sprinkle a bit more over the top of the scrolls about 5 minutes before they're due out of the oven.  Yum!!

Awesome in a Pie

I've been saving this one up for this week as Mr B didn't seem too keen (maybe because of the leeks?!) when he was home.  We had roast chicken for lunch on Saturday so this was a perfect opportunity to use up the leftovers!  You need about 1/2 a cooked chicken, or you can use two chicken breasts baked in the oven and then roughly shredded.

Julia's Chicken & Leek Pie
(serves 4-6)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large leek, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons dijon mustard (or more, if you like.  Pretty sure the amount I threw in was more!)
Dash white wine (Selaks sauvignon blanc tonight)
1 household tablespoon flour
1 small can whole kernel corn, drained
Approx 1 cup salt-reduced chicken stock
400gm creme fraiche - Tatua creme fraiche is on special at Countdown this week.  You could substitute Philadelphia Cooking Cream but it will alter the flavour slightly
1 T fresh thyme, if you have it
1/2 cooked chicken, roughly shredded
1 block frozen puff pastry, thawed, divided

Preheat oven to 200C (190C fan forced).  Spray pie dish with cooking spray.

Heat a large frypan over a medium heat.  Saute leeks in olive oil until soft.  Reduce heat slightly then add mustard and flour.  Stir through and then add wine and keep stirring till the flour has thickened the liquid.  Slowly add chicken stock, a little bit at a time.  Stir and allow the stock to be absorbed into the leeks before adding more.  You need to keep the mixture quite thick.  

Add fresh thyme now if you're using it.  Turn off the heat and add the corn, then the creme fraiche and stir until well combined.  Add lots of cracked pepper now (or not, if you don't like it) and the shredded chicken.

Divide pastry (2/3 - 1/3) and roll the larger piece to line your pie dish with a bit hanging over the sides.  Pour chicken and leek mixture into pie dish and top with the rolled smaller piece of pastry.  Fold edges over to seal and brush with egg wash.  Pierce the top of the pie with your knife a couple of times to allow the steam to escape too.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until pastry is golden.  Allow to rest for about 10 minutes before cutting into it - this will allow the cream to thicken up again!

Here's hoping the boys enjoy it tomorrow else I'll be eating pie for the rest of the week! ;)

Easy Peasy Fish Cakes (or Post-Rugby madness)

So easy Ms Comer's cat Basil could do it!

I made these solely to use up some leftover mash and veggies from Sunday night, but they were so good I had to share! 

Fish cakes (makes 6)

2 185gm tins flaked tuna, drained

Approx 1 cup mashed potato

1/2 broccoli, chopped roughly and steamed

1/4 cup edamame (soy beans, get them in the frozen section at Countdown)

Parsley, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Flour

2 tablespoons olive oil 

Blend steamed veggies in a food processor or blender till you have a chunky purée.  Combine in a bowl with drained tuna, mash and chopped parsley.  Season now if you want to.

Form palm-sized fish cakes, about 2 cm thick.  Coat lightly with flour and set aside.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  I cooked 4 fish cakes at a time, for about 5 mins on each side.  You want them to be crispy and golden brown.

The boys had theirs with baked beans, peas and sweet corn after rugby practice tonight and wolfed them down!  Mr B and I had ours with a big salad, garlic aioli and chilli sauce.  Yum yum.

Ps - you can easily substitute any steamed veggies for the broccoli and edamame: peas, courgette, carrot...

Back into it

Mike has recently gone back to work (shocked?!?!  We were!) which currently involves traveling to India for several weeks at a time.  Hence the radio silence at this end: eggs and beans on toast for tea don't make particularly interesting blog posts!

Well, he's back this week so we've been having more interesting meals again... And baking too!

We've also been blessed with some amazing weather over the past couple of weeks, very different to the crazy storms we had last month.  Callum is adamant Spring is here already and I've even been able to hang washing on the line again - hooray!  Our lemon tree is heaving with juicy lemons so today's job was using a few of them up:

Lemon & Rosemary Chicken

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon good olive oil

1-2 tablespoons pine nuts

Juice of one large lemon, plus one lemon thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Roughly combine everything except the chicken in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle (you want it to stay chunky).  Place lemon slices in the bottom of a baking dish, put the chicken on top and then spoon lemon and garlic mixture on top of breasts.

Bake chicken until cooked through, about 25 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts.

Tonight I'm serving this up with couscous, sautéed silverbeet and lots of green beans.

Rainy Day Bunny Cake

With a cold, wet Wellington winter's day ahead, I suggested baking a cake to the boys this morning.  Mike got in first and requested a carrot cake (I think Daniel wanted another race car!) so after checking we had enough carrots, the two boys and I got busy baking.

Callum came up with the name Bunny Cake, presumably because rabbits eat carrots :)

175gm brown sugar

2 large eggs (I used free range size 7 egs)

150ml rice bran oil

200gm wholemeal flour

2t baking powder

1t baking soda

3t mixed spice

Grated zest of one lemon

200gm carrots, peeled and grated

110gm sultanas

50gm desiccated coconut

50gm chopped walnuts 

Grease and line 2 round cake tins.  Preheat oven to 170 C (160 fan forced).

Whisk sugar, eggs and oil for 2-3 minutes until sugar has dissolved.  Combine flour, spice baking powder an soda in a bowl and then stir gently into egg mixture, followed by remaining ingredients.

Divide batter equally into prepared tins and bake in middle of the oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until skewer inserted into centre of the cake comes out cleanly.

Cool in tins for 10 minutes or so, then turn out onto a wire rack.  Once cakes have cooled completely, sandwich together with a layer of cream cheese icing, then top with the rest of the icing and some crushed walnuts.

Cream cheese icing

2 tablespoons butter, softened 

1/2 package (125gm) Philadelphia cream cheese 

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Juice and zest of one lemon

Cream butter and cream cheese till smooth.  Add sifted icing sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time.  Add juice and zest and continue to beat until soft and fluffy.

No Butter Cookies

Not getting much done in the kitchen (or around the house!) this week as Mr B is working hard on getting the new bathroom finished.

Here's a great store cupboard recipe for spice cookies though - good for keeping hungry tradies happy at morning tea time AND dairy free.

1/2 cup oil (I use rice bran oil, but any vegetable oil is fine)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 200 C and line a couple of baking trays.

Mix ingredients in the order listed.  Roll into walnut sized balls and press lightly with your thumb to flatten if you like.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.  Cool on tray for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Makes around 30 cookies.

Penne al Salmone

I don't think I'll ever get this tasting quite as good as the version Mr B ordered in Tuscany.  But it's good enough to take us back to that wonderful day of shopping and eating!

Penne al Salmone

Serves 2

Approx 1 cup of dry penne pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
100g smoked salmon slices

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup milk

Cook pasta until al dente in a pot of salted, boiling water.  DO NOT add olive oil to the pasta water, unless you want your sauce to slide right off!

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the garlic.  When the garlic is fragrant, add the salmon.  You can turn the heat off fairly quickly, leave the salmon in the pan to take on the garlic flavour.

Mix the milk and cream well.  Then, in another saucepan, melt the butter until frothy and then add the flour.  Slowly add the combined milk and cream, stirring constantly, to make a white sauce.  Once all the cream has been added, remove the garlic from the salmon pan and then tip the salmon into the cream sauce and mix together.

Drain the cooked pasta, reserving the water.  Add pasta to the sauce and mix well over a low heat.  Add 1/4 cup of pasta water if the sauce has thickened too much.  Your pasta should now be just coated with beautiful, creamy salmon sauce.

My boys LOVE this dish, if Mr B will actually let them share ;)

Kitchen Nightmares

We've all had them!  In fact, my Dad (and my sister AND my brother) just love telling the story of my "first" kitchen disaster: serving up cold scrambled eggs and beans on toast because I was too inexperienced to have everything ready at the same time.  Apparently that's one story that just never gets old.

We had an old friend visiting from out of town last night.  A good friend, but someone we hadn't seen in 5 years so I was looking forward to cooking something different.  An old stand by by from our Singapore "menu" but something I hadn't cooked in a while (or at all since we arrived back in New Zealand), thai red curry with prawns.

I spent most of Wednesday morning combing the shelves at Countdown and Yan's Supermarket and then of course had to make another "quick" visit to Countdown again on Thursday for a few more vital ingredients.  Another hour of chopping and prepping and then I got down to business, grinding up a thai red curry paste in my mortar and pestle.

Lesson #1: You will nearly always regret buying kitchen tools from the Warehouse.

My curry paste was *almost* ready and smelling amazing when disaster struck: the mortar splintered into a thousand pieces rendering my curry paste inedible.  Fortunately I managed to rustle up a quick salmon pasta instead, so poor old Mr B and our friend weren't going to be left to fade away.  But I am still disappointed that I didn't manage to make the curry.  Oh well, another day perhaps!

What are some of your kitchen disasters?  And where can I find a decent mortar and pestle around here?!?!

Happy Birthday Mr B!

Absolutely knackered today after cooking up a birthday storm for Mr B.  So I'll just post a few pics of all the party food!

Race car cake (requested by Callum)

Birthday lunch

Racing teddies

And a change of pace for dinner: gyoza followed by tonkatsu.  Yum yum yum!

Nana Rosie's Apple Pie

Whenever my family get together it's usually around a table full of food: Uncle Mark's curry, Aunty Dolly's desserts, Aunty Shirl's corned beef pie and mushy peas.. And Nana Rosie's apple pie.

A couple of weeks ago, John-the-Electrician came to do a few more jobs in the almost-finished kitchen.  He also brought round a bag full of apples from his garden!  So the first thing I did was call Nana Rosie for a quick lesson in making pie.

I've changed her measurements to grams, and used all butter rather than butter and lard (sorry, Nan!) but here it is for posterity :)  

4-5 cooking apples, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tin blackberries (optional)

2 household tablespoons caster sugar

240gm self raising flour

2 flat household tablespoons sugar

115gm cold butter, chopped 

(or 60gm butter and 60gm lard)

Approx 100ml cold water

Place apples and 1 tablespoon sugar in a microwave proof dish and heat, covered, on high for 3-4 mins.  Remove and allow to cool.  Drain blackberries and set aside.

Rub fat into flour till it resembles breadcrumbs.  Add cold water slowly and mix with a knife until dough just comes together.  You might not need the full measure of water, or you may need a little extra.  Turn pastry onto floured surface and knead a couple of times.  Divide roughly 2/3 for base and 1/3 for pie lid.

Roll out base and line a lightly greased pie dish.  Refrigerate while you prepare the lid and filling.

Combine apple, blackberries and remaining 2 T sugar.  Put apple and blackberries into lined dish, put lid on top and seal.  Brush lightly with milk and pierce top with sharp knife to allow steam to escape.  Sprinkle with a wee bit of caster sugar.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes in a moderate (180 deg) oven or until pie is golden and pastry is cooked through.

You could add cinnamon and vanilla to the apple filling, but if you're lucky enough to have home grown apples, leave it out and enjoy the apples and berries as they are :)  Serve with cream or (my favourite) vanilla ice cream.