Beef, Stilton and Onion Pie

This is just one of the amazing pies in Calum Franklin’s The Pie Room which will happily give you projects to work through all winter. He says it’s for ‘wintry days when the roads are blocked and you are snowed in’ but I’d be perfectly happy to have it on a grey November day. However one can’t argue with Calum’s conclusion that it’s ‘rich, decadent and best followed by a nap on the couch’.

Beef, Stilton and Onion Pie

SERVES 4–6

300g rough puff pastry (or shop-bought puff pastry) There is obviously a recipe for rough puff pastry in the book.

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for brushing

For the filling

600g beef chuck steak, cut into 4cm dice

100g plain flour

40ml vegetable oil

4 Spanish onions, peeled and halved but with the roots left on

400g chestnut mushrooms, halved

1 teaspoon table salt

300ml red wine

2 bay leaves

3 thyme sprigs

2 litres beef stock

100g Stilton cheese, broken into 2cm nuggets

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Equipment

pie dish (25cm long and 5cm deep)

Preheat the oven to 220°C fan/240°C/gas mark 9.

To prepare the filling, put the beef in a roasting tray, dust with the flour and toss the beef until all the flour has been absorbed by the meat. Add 20ml of the vegetable oil to the tray and toss well to make sure the meat is evenly coated. Put the tray in to the preheated oven and roast the beef for 20 minutes until browned and any juices released during cooking have evaporated.

While the beef is roasting, cut each onion half into six wedges through the root to leave petals. Put a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the remaining 20ml of vegetable oil and warm for 1 minute. Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until the onions have started to brown. Add the mushrooms to the pan with half the salt and continue to cook for a further 3 minutes until the mushrooms have just softened. Next, add the red wine, bay leaves and thyme and bring to a simmer.

After 20 minutes, remove the beef from the oven and check it is nicely browned. If not, return it to the oven for a further 5 minutes. When the beef is ready, tip the onions, mushrooms, herbs and red wine into the roasting tray over the top of the meat. Put the frying pan back on the heat and pour in the beef stock – half at a time, if necessary – and bring to a simmer. Add to the tray with all the other pie filling ingredients.

At this stage, take the time to make sure the beef is not stuck to the bottom of the roasting tray: using a wooden spoon, dislodge any caramelised chunks of meat. Working carefully as the tray is hot, tightly cover the top of the tray with aluminium foil. Return the tray to the oven and continue to cook at 220°C fan/240°C/gas mark 9 for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160°C fan/180°C/gas mark 4 and set a timer for 1¾ hours.

While the filling is braising, prepare the pastry. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a 5mm thick circle large enough to cover the pie dish. Slide the rolled-out pastry onto the lined tray and chill in the refrigerator for at least 25 minutes. Set aside any pastry trimmings for decoration.

After the beef has been braising for 1¾ hours, remove the tray from the oven and, using a dish towel to protect your hands, carefully peel back a corner of the foil. Spoon out one chunk of beef and check to make sure it is tender. It is okay if the beef has a little bite left in it, but it should not be chewy. If necessary, pop the tray back in the oven for a further 15 minutes and check again.

When the beef is ready, carefully remove all the foil from the roasting tray. Place a colander over a large bowl and tip in the filling. Let the mixture strain for a couple of minutes, then place the contents of the colander back into the tray and spread around to cool down. Transfer the strained liquid from the bowl to a large saucepan, bring to a simmer over a medium heat and cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with the pepper and the remaining salt, adding a little at a time, stirring and tasting until it has the correct level of seasoning. Pour the reduced liquid over the mixture in the tray and set aside to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally to speed up the process. Once the mixture is cool, transfer the filling to the pie dish and level the surface. Nudge the nuggets of Stilton into the filling, distributing them evenly across the surface but avoiding the sides.

Increase the oven temperature to 200°C fan/220°C/gas mark 7.

Brush the rim of the pie dish with the egg wash, brushing about 2.5cm down the sides of the dish. Lay the pastry circle centrally across the top of the dish, allowing it to rest lightly on top of the filling. (The pastry lid should not be taut as it may droop during cooking and tear.) Press firmly down on the pastry against the egg-brushed rim of the dish to seal all the way round. Lightly brush the pie lid with more egg wash and decorate however you prefer using the reserved pastry trimming and then brush that with egg wash. Return the pie to the refrigerator and chill for a further 20 minutes.

Place the dish on a rack in the centre of the preheated oven and bake the pie for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the core temperature of the filling has reached at least 70°C on a digital probe thermometer. Alternatively, poke the tip of a knife through the pie into the middle of the filling and leave it there for a few seconds – it should be hot to the touch. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the dish around in the oven to ensure an even bake. Serve the pie simply with some boiled new potatoes and slow-roasted carrots.

What to drink: This justifies a really good red Bordeaux or other top notch cabernet sauvignon.

See also The best wine and beer pairings for steak pie

Extract taken from The Pie Room by Calum Franklin (Bloomsbury Absolute, £26)

Photography © John Carey (edited for the web)

Chicken with pineapple and nduja

One of the most exciting cookbooks of recent years is Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage who worked with Yotam Ottolenghi for several years and shares his love of bold flavours. This is actually quite an easy recipe though nobody you cook it for will think that!

Ixta writes: I love the combination of sweet and savoury (as you’ll probably have deduced if you’ve flicked through this book a few times), and there is no greater union than that of pork and pineapple. The pork here comes in the form of ’nduja, a spreadable chilli-spiked sausage from Calabria. Add chicken, pineapple, chipotle and tangerine to the mix and you’ve got yourself a party.

Serves 4

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, at room temperature

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with the side of a knife

1 medium onion, halved and very thinly sliced on a mandolin

1/2 large, extra-ripe pineapple (300g peeled weight)

4 sweet tangerines (or 2 oranges), squeezed to get 100g juice (see notes)

100g chicken bone broth, stock or water

2 tablespoons double cream

5g fresh coriander

1 lime, cut into wedges

’Nduja and chipotle paste

50g ’nduja paste/spread

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons tomato purée/paste

1/2 teaspoon chipotle flakes

1/2 teaspoon paprika

3/4 teaspoon fine salt

about 20 twists of freshly ground black pepper

Get ahead

Marinate the chicken in the ’nduja and chipotle paste up to 2 days ahead, but don’t mix in the onion and garlic until you’re ready to bake.

On the day

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C.

Put all the ingredients for the paste into a large bowl and mix together. Add the chicken, garlic and three-quarters of the sliced onion and mix well so everything is coated evenly. Tip the onions and garlic into a 28cm ovenproof cast-iron skillet or similar-sized baking dish and spread out. Place the chicken thighs on top, skin side up and spaced apart.

Cut the pineapple into 4 rounds, then cut each round into quarters, removing the hard core (you should have about 300g). Add the pineapple to the bowl with the remnants of the paste, mix to coat with whatever’s left there, then arrange the pineapple around the chicken.

Pour the tangerine juice around the chicken (don’t get the skin wet), then bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour the stock or water into the pan around the chicken (again, don’t get the skin wet). Return to the oven for another 20–25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is browned and crispy. If you have a blowtorch, use it to char the pineapple a little.

Drizzle the cream into the sauce. Toss the coriander and the remaining sliced onions together with a tiny bit of oil and salt and arrange on top. Serve from the pan, with the lime wedges alongside. It also goes really well with the brown butter cornbread below

Note

Ixta recommends tangerines over oranges as she says they have a more complex, floral flavour, but feel free to use oranges if that’s easier (use fresh fruit, though, not juice from a bottle or carton). If your tangerines/oranges aren’t particularly sweet, you may want to add some maple syrup or honey – do this when you add the stock or water.

Brown butter curried cornbread

Cornbread is usually a supporting act, but this version is good enough to take centre stage at the dinner table and will probably end up being the dish around which you plan the meal. The corn that bejewels the surface is best just out of the oven when it’s a little crispy from the butter, and a little sticky from the maple syrup. That’s not to say you need to eat it all in one go; it will still be delicious the next day, heated up. To heat, either pan-fry, or place the slices on a tray in a cold oven, turn the temperature up to 150°C fan/170°C and warm for about 10 minutes. Serve with plenty of butter on the side.

Serves 6

140g unsalted butter, plus extra to serve 500g frozen corn kernels, defrosted and patted dry

150g Greek-style yoghurt

2 large eggs

1 Scotch bonnet chilli, finely chopped (optional, see notes)

1 spring onion, finely chopped

5g fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

1½ teaspoons medium curry powder

1½ teaspoons finely grated lime zest

100g quick-cook polenta

80g plain flour

½ teaspoon fine salt

6 tablespoons maple syrup, plus extra to serve

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

flaked salt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium heat for 5–6 minutes, stirring often until the butter foams and then turns a deep golden-brown. Add the corn and bubble away for 4 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

While the corn and butter mixture is cooling, put the yoghurt, eggs, Scotch bonnet, spring onion, ginger, curry powder, lime zest, polenta, flour, salt and 3 tablespoons of maple syrup into a food processor, but don’t blitz yet.

Once cool, set aside 140g of the corn and butter mixture in a small bowl to use later. Add the remaining corn and butter to the food processor, then add the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Pulse about 3–5 times, just until the mixture comes together. Don’t overmix, you want a textured batter with small chunks of corn, not a smooth batter.

Transfer the batter into the prepared tin, then spoon the reserved corn and butter evenly over the surface.

Bake for 20 minutes, then evenly drizzle over the remaining 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and bake for another 15–20 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown on top.

Leave to cool for 15 minutes. If you have a blowtorch, use it to char the corn in places. Drizzle over some more maple syrup (I like a lot!), sprinkle with flaked salt and serve with a slab of butter alongside.

Notes

Ixta uses a whole Scotch bonnet, and its flavour and heat is quite dominant. I love that, but you can of course add less, removing the pith and seeds, or just add a pinch of regular chilli flakes for milder heat.

Recipes extracted from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage published by Ebury Press at £26. Photography by Yuki Sugiura

Puttanesca-style salmon bake

A super-tasty, easy recipe from Ottolenghi’s fabulous new book Ottolenghi Comfort (which you can also find on his YouTube channel if you want to see it being made.

If you make the tomato anchovy oil a day ahead, you can then delight in the fact that a midweek supper can be on the table within 20 minutes. (Although if you’ve got a little longer prep time it won’t take that long for the anchovy oil to cool FB)

The fuss-free cooking method – all hail the traybake! – plus the dialled-up flavours – all hail puttanesca! – makes such a winning combination.

Serves 4-6

200g fine green beans, trimmed

6 spring onions, cut widthways into thirds (75g)

200g mixed cherry tomatoes, halved

6 skin-on salmon fillets (about 720g)

salt and black pepper

Tomato anchovy oil

85ml olive oil

8 anchovies, finely chopped (25g)

2½ tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp chilli flakes

2 tsp coriander seeds, lightly bashed in a mortar

8 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced

2 preserved lemons, flesh and pips discarded, skin finely chopped (20g)

2 tsp maple syrup

Salsa

60g pitted Kalamata olives, halved

60g capers, roughly chopped

1 preserved lemon, flesh and pips discarded, skin thinly sliced (10g)

10g basil leaves, roughly chopped

10g parsley leaves, roughly chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

First make the tomato anchovy oil. Put the oil, anchovies and tomato paste into a small sauté pan and place on a medium heat. Once the mixture starts to simmer, cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the chilli flakes and coriander seeds and cook for another minute, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and add the garlic, preserved lemon and maple syrup. Stir to combine, then set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 220°C fan.

Place the beans, spring onions and tomatoes on a large, parchment-lined baking tray. Drizzle over 3 tablespoons of the tomato anchovy oil, along with ¼ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Toss to combine and place in the oven for 12–13 minutes, until the beans and tomatoes are starting to soften and taking on a little colour. Meanwhile, arrange the salmon fillets on a plate and, using a spoon, drizzle the remaining tomato anchovy oil (as well as all the solids) evenly over the fillets. Once the beans and tomatoes have had their time in the oven, nestle the salmon fillets among them and bake for a further 8 minutes. Set aside for 5 minutes, out of the oven, to rest.

While the salmon is baking, mix all the ingredients for the salsa in a small bowl and season with a good grind of pepper. Spoon half the salsa over the salmon and serve the fish warm (or at room temperature, which works just as well), with the rest of the salsa in a bowl on the side.

What to drink: You could drink a punchy white like a sauvignon blanc with this but I’m liking the thought of a bright juicy red - such as a basic Sicilian or Portuguese red. 

Extracted from Comfort by Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley. published by Ebury Press. 

Romy Gill’s Paneer Burji (Scrambled Paneer Curry)

A wonderfully comforting recipe from celebrity chef Romy Gill’s India, her most accessible book yet, which is full of the simple, homely recipes she makes for her family and friends. 

Paneer Burji (Scrambled Paneer Curry)

Romy writes: This is the easiest and most delicious paneer dish to make. If you’re going to try paneer for the first time, then this is the perfect recipe.

It’s a great choice for packed lunches or picnics, too. My daughters like to cut a pitta in half, turn each half into a pocket and fill them with the paneer, then enjoy them with pickled onions and salad on the side. You could also eat this paneer in a wrap, along with sliced onions and the chutney of your choice.

Serves 4

5 tsp sunflower oil or any other oil of your choice

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

3 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated (shredded)

20 g (3/4 oz) ginger root, peeled and grated (shredded)

2–3 green chillies, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

salt, to taste

1 tsp ground turmeric

75 g (2 1/2 oz) frozen peas, soaked in water and drain just before adding to the masala

225 g (8 oz) paneer, grated (shredded) – if using homemade paneer then simply crumble it

1 tsp garam masala 

small handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

Heat the oil in a saucepan over a high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds. As soon as they start to sizzle, add the shallots and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further minute. Add the green chillies and tomatoes and cook for 2–3 minutes. Season with the salt, add the turmeric and mix, then add the frozen peas and cook for 2–3 minutes more.

When the peas are well coated, add the grated paneer and mix. Lower the heat, cover the pan with a lid and cook for a further 5 minutes. Just before the end of the cooking time, sprinkle with the garam masala and chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) and mix well.

Remove from the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving with the side dish of your choice.

What to drink: As this could easily be a breakfast dish you might want to have a fresh fruit juice with this or, if you’re having it for lunch or supper, a light or alcohol-free lager.

Credit: Romy Gill’s India by Romy Gill (Hardie Grant, £28), Photography © Sam A. Harris