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)

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. 

Cavatelli with sausage, mint and tomato

This is one of the deceptively simple recipes in Rachel Roddy’s wonderful A-Z of Pasta.

Although, like many of the recipes, it looks - and is - straightforward it’s prefaced by a fascinating essay on how to make cavatelli and the origins of the shape which comes from southern Italy and is also known as cavateddi and cavasuneddi.

“What is clear though is that these small pasta sculptures are domestic works of art that came about through ingenuity and the need to make something to eat. We should approach cavatelli as people have for hundreds of years, finding a way to cave a nub of dough .... the aim of all [methods] is to create both a cave and a sauce-catching surface. Because at the end of the day, catching the sauce, that is the aim.”

I imagined that Rachel used Italian sausages (which you can buy from most good Italian delis) for the sausagemeat rather than the English style you might use for stuffing but while she says yes, for preference, any good sausagemeat will do.

There is also a wonderful footnote (below) on how to get the best out of garlic which is well worth reading.

Cavatelli with sausage, mint and tomato

Cavasuneddi or cavatelli con salsiccia, menta e pomodoro

Serves 4

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

4 tablespoons olive oil

400g sausage meat, crumbled

150ml white wine

400g ripe tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

a sprig of fresh mint

salt

450g fresh or 400g dried cavatelli, orecchiette, fusilli or casarecce

grated pecorino and red chilli flakes, to serve

In a capacious pot over a medium-low heat, fry the crushed garlic in the olive oil. Add the crumbled sausage and stir until all pinkness has gone.

Pour in the wine and raise the heat. When the wine has evaporated, add the diced tomatoes and cook for another 5–10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Finally, add the mint leaves and salt to taste.

Cook and drain the cavatelli, put them into the pot with the sauce and let them simmer for a few minutes, stirring and adding some of the cooking water if needed. Serve, passing round grated pecorino and red chilli flakes for those who want them.

A note about garlic

While some would have us believe garlic is a fixed star, it varies massively in strength and pungency. This is to do with variety, but more so with age. Garlic is a spring vegetable – young bulbs have white skin and tender cloves with a sweet, sunny fragrance, with which you can be careless with quantity. As garlic gets older its skin turns translucent and flaky and the cloves take on a greater pungency and power. Which is great, but you need to take care, also pull out any green shoot that has developed inside. Too old and garlic can be acrid and a bit of a bully. Be reassured, garlic is no good at hiding, the smell as you open a clove tells you everything. Then prepare accordingly, also to your personal taste. It is all about surface area. Peel and gently crush with the back of a knife or the heel of your hand so the clove is broken but still whole, for a gentle fragrance (whole means it can be pulled out if you wish). Peel and slice thinly for a stronger flavour. Peel and mince for the strongest. In all three cases always put the garlic into a cold pan with cold oil (fat) and then on a gentle heat. To start, warm rather than fry garlic, to encourage and coax out the flavour, then progress to a gentle sizzle but not much more; too hot and the garlic will burn and, regardless of how young or carefully prepared, it will turn into a bitter bully. Store garlic out of the fridge.

Extracted from An A-Z of Pasta by Rachel Roddy, published by Penguin Fig Tree at £25. Photograph by Jonathan Lovekin.

What to drink: As the sauce includes white wine I’d be inclined to drink a white wine with it though given it’s meat-based a red would also do. If you want to keep it local you could chose a Sicilian or Southern Italian white though I often find the wines we get here are too fruity. You really just want a simple carafe wine of the kind you get in a trattoria so I’d personally go for something like a verdicchio or vernaccia. A simple Sicilian red like a young nero d’avola would work too but as Rachel told me when I interviewed her for my piece on wine with pasta in the Guardian you don’t drink anything from outside your immediate area and the house wine is just fine.

Tomato and tapenade tart

The most perfect Provençal-style summer tart from Alex Jackson's evocative book Sardine, named after his former London restaurant

Alex writees: This tart is extremely simple. Given the right tomatoes, it’s a highlight of the summer table. At Sardine, we wait until the heavy, deep-coloured Amalfi bull’s heart tomatoes are in season and throw over some datterini or small plum tomatoes to fill in the gaps. A sprinkling of fragrant basil at the end is essential, as well as a drizzle of your best olive oil. Nyons olives make amazing tapenade, but any soft black olives will do nicely.

Tomato & Tapenade Tart

Makes 1 large tart (enough for 4 people for lunch or lots of small squares for a party)

For the tart:

4 bull’s heart tomatoes

1 x 500-g/1lb 2-oz block of pre-rolled puff pastry

A handful of small Italian plum tomatoes, red and yellow if possible

Olive oil

1 bunch of basil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the tapenade:

100g/3 1⁄2oz black olives, drained of any brine or oil and pitted

1⁄8 garlic clove, peeled and crushed to a fine paste

1⁄2 tsp picked thyme leaves

1 salted anchovy fillet, washed and patted dry

1 tsp salted capers, soaked well, washed and drained

1 tsp brandy

4 tsp olive oil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

First, slice the bull’s heart tomatoes into thick 1-cm/1⁄2-inch rounds. Transfer to a sieve (strainer) suspended over a bowl and season well with salt. Leave the tomatoes for a good half hour to allow the juices to drip into the bowl. This will prevent your pastry becoming soggy if the tomatoes hold a lot of juice.

To make the tapenade, put all the dry ingredients in a blender. Blitz well.

Add the wet ingredients and blitz further until everything is fully incorporated.

The tapenade should be very smooth.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Next, roll out – or simply unfurl, if pre-rolled – the pastry to a rectangle to fit your largest, flat, heavy-based baking tray. Cut a rectangle of parchment paper to the same size, then place the pastry on top. Score a 2-cm/3⁄4-inch border all around the edges of the pastry. This pastry border will puff up around the filling.

Put the baking tray (without the pastry) in the oven to pre-heat for 10 minutes.

To assemble the tart, top the pastry inside the scored border with a generous smearing of tapenade. Arrange the sliced tomatoes in a single layer over the tapenade. Halve the small tomatoes, season with salt, and use them to fill any gaps. Drizzle the tart filling with olive oil and grind over some black pepper.

Remove the hot tray from the oven, slide in the tart on the parchment paper and return the tray to the oven. Bake the tart for 30 minutes, or until the pastry borders are puffed and crisp, the base is a light golden brown (lift the tart tentatively with a spatula to check) and the tomatoes are soft, squidgy and just started to take on a little colour.

Remove the tart from the oven, season lightly with a little flaky sea salt and black pepper, and scatter over the torn basil leaves. Allow the tart to cool on its tray, then slice into squares while still just warm. Drizzle with your best olive oil before serving.

What to drink: a Provençal rosé would be the obvious match with this summery tart but you could also enjoy a crisp white like a Vermentino or a Picpoul de Pinet.

Extracted from Sardine: Simple seasonal Provençal cooking by Alex Jackson, published by Pavilion Books. Photograph © Matt Russell