Happy Cooking

......I've just spent a restful couple of hours making a large shiny loaf of bread and flat Cornish Pasty Pie.

The bread is baking in one of those cheapo big use once kind of foil baking tins and I have to say that after a quick peek the loaf is looking fantastically brown and shiny and is feeling as light as a petal.

The Cornish Pasty Pie izza a mash up of an ordinary Minced Beef Pie and a Cornish Pasty, both, by the way, Mary Berry recipes. And as usual I made too much filling (see below) so being inventive I used a large solid roasting pan in which to cook the thing.


Into the bowl went::
500g minced beef.
a large finely chopped onion
two small diced potatoes
half a cup of chopped swede
a few good shakes of Worcestershire sauce ( in a Cornish pasty pie?) Ssssh.
a crushed beef oxo cube
a few tablespoons of cold water
lots of black pepper and a little salt.

This lot was mixed and put onto the shortcrust pastry base then covered with the pastry lid. Crimped, slashed and glazed with beaten egg.
I'll bake it for a good while probably 45 minutes and serve with mashed potatoes and baked beans. Mum and Mr H will have their usual mustard on the side, I'll go childlike and have tomato ketchup..

For sweet....(love that word and alternate name for 'afters') I've concocted a sponge pudding which will be nuked for a few minutes.
See recipe below.

This is below.

Butter a 1 pint pudding basin and place some brown sugar in it. On top of the sugar put three tinned apricots then top with a very basic pudding mix. Margarine, sugar, egg, milk, flour....to which a teaspoon of ground ginger has been cleverly added.
I'll be able to nuke this on account of now being in possession of an excellent *Panasonic Microwave Oven so generously given to me by my friends, Mr and Mrs Hairy Suit. Thanks guys no more steamed windows...
A jug of Bird's custard is the only accessory required.

So dinner is pie and pudding. A fat affair. But a happy affair.













* My previous oven caught fire.