meat pies

We love meat pies, but try to make our own rather than use frozen pies.

It really is quite easy.

We used kangaroo mince in these and made our own pastry.

To be honest I usually use frozen puff pastry, but I was out, so I simply made pastry using this recipe omitting the sugar. 

They turned out quite well.

 Cook onion and then add your mince and brown it. 

Add seasonings of your choice- I used homemade fruit chutney and Worcestershire sauce and a few other bits and pieces until I got the flavour I wanted. 

I also thickened it with some cornflour, but you could use gravy powder which will add extra flavour.

B4 rolling out the pastry- he always wants to help with pastry.

I used Texas muffin pans as well as normal size as I only had one tin of 6 - not enough for 8 of us 6 of whom are growing boys

(note to self buy another Texas muffin tin before making pies again)

We served them with mashed potato and mushy peas.

I cheated with the peas. 

I used frozen green peas and after cooking with some mint from the garden I put them into the food processor to puree, with a little sour cream and pepper.

Now if I had have been more organised I would have soaked and boiled some blue boiler peas until they were soft and mushy- these are the traditional mushy peas. 

I normally would have also made gravy but on this night we just had tomato sauce.

rosella jam

There are still some rosellas available so I bought some more and thought I would have another go at the jam from my disastrous attempt many years ago.

The Girl helped me to separate them, she was so good.
You need to take the calyxes off the seed pod in the middle and cook them separately, then add them together minus the pod.
It does make your hands red but it seems to wash off pretty easy.
This time I used a sweet thermometer to get the right temperature.

 It is lovely and is now regularly gracing toast and bread at our house.
I think I need to make a batch of scones for morning tea so we can have it on them with some whipped cream.
Find the link for the rosella recipes here.

coriander and macadamia nut pesto

A couple of years ago I was served a lovely bowl of pasta with prawns and a coriander and macadamia nut pesto at a friend's house on my way to Sydney.

It is something that I have wanted to make since.

I made it on Friday night for tea and it was just as delicious as I remembered.

Pasta with Prawns and Creamy Macadamia and Coriander Pesto

Ingredients:

Spaghetti cooked al dente

Prawns peeled

1 1/2 bunch coriander

1 - 1 1/2 C macadamias lightly toasted

2 cloves garlic

Juice of one lime

1/4 C oil - macadamia if you have it

Cream to taste

Method:

Place coriander, macadamias, garlic in food processor and process until smooth, add lime juice. Drizzle in oil while processor is going.

You can use the pesto as is in place of basil pesto 

or to serve it with the prawns mix in 1/4-1/2 C cream to taste, stir through hot pasta. 

Stir through prawns.

For my large family it was easier to just sprinkle the prawns on top once I had put the pasta in each bowl, I also cut them in half as they were fairly large.

rosella chutney

When shopping for fruit and veges I saw that they still had some Rosella's so thought I would buy some and have a go at the chutney.

It is just beautiful, very nice on a cracker with a thin slice of cheese or with meat- hot or cold.

I also got it from this page.

It was supposed to have raisins in it, and I didn't even have any sultanas so I used dates instead.
I also substituted some of the herbs in the bouquet garni, but it still turned out lovely.

toffee apples

We made toffee apples last week as part of our "a" work.

Well actually I did most of it because it was too hot for the little ones to handle.

But they enjoyed sticking the paddle pop sticks in and eating them.

I found the recipe in a cooking magazine while looking for some inspiration for cooler weather meals.

It was relatively easy.

I halved the recipe as I only wanted to do 6 one for each child, but there was actually enough toffee for 9.

Toffee Apples

12 small red apples

paddle pop sticks

3 C sugar

1 1/2 C water

Put sticks into apples and place on a tray with baking paper.

Over low heat stir sugar and water until sugar dissolved- do not let boil.

When sugar is dissolved increase heat to medium high and bring to boil and let boil for 35-45 minutes until it reaches 150C/300F on sweet thermometer- DO NOT STIR!

Turn off heat and wait until bubbles disappear about 30 seconds, dip apples in toffee until coated and put on tray until set.

If you wish to add colouring do so when the sugar dissolves.

These were fun and easy to make- I might consider making them for a birthday party in the future.

apple pie

I am looking at the sound/letter "a" with the littles ones at the moment, so it was logical to make an apple pie.

I have used this recipe for years and have never felt the need to look for another. 

It is easy to make the pastry in the food processor and the apples don't need to be precooked.

But I have recently seen a recipe for a deep dish apple pie and I am keen to try this now.

I am sure my apple pie expert B4 will be there to lend a hand, in fact except for cutting up the apples he made most of this pie, including rolling out the pastry.

 Apple Pie

Pastry:

2 C plain flour

1/4t baking powder

125g butter cubed

1T sugar

1 egg

3-4 T cold water (out of the fridge)

Put flour, baking powder and butter into the food processor and wizz until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add sugar and egg and wizz again.

While processor is still going pour in the water, a little at a time until a soft dough forms.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Divide into two pieces (make one slightly larger for the base)

Roll out larger piece on a lightly floured surface to fit a 23cm pie dish.

Ease into greased dish and refrigerate.

Filling:

6-8 green apples peeled cored and sliced

1/2 C castor sugar

1T cornflour

rind and juice 1 lemon

1/4 t mixed spice

Combine apples and sugar in bowl

Blend cornflour with lemon juice to form a smooth paste. 

Mix in rind and spice.

Pour over apples.

Toss to coat.

Pile mixture into pastry case.

Roll out remaining pastry to cover top.

Brush edge of pie with some milk or beaten egg, place pastry on top and press to seal edges.

Trim and decorate edges of pie.

Cut a slit in the top for an air vent.

Decorate top of pie if desired, we put an "a" and an apple on ours.

Brush with milk or egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 200C for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 180C for a further 25 minutes.

Serve hot or cold with cream or ice cream.

Oops did you notice - I started to cut the pie before taking the photo!