Saturday 9 March 2013

Perfect Pie

I haven't posted for a while as uni work has managed to get on top of me a little! This is a super chicken and bacon pie that my housemate and I made tonight.

Pastry first as it needs 15 minutes to chill in the fridge. Put 100g of flour and 55g of cold, cubed butter in a bowl with a pinch of salt and rub to make the texture and feel of breadcrumbs. Add ice cold water a tablespoon at a time and mix with a knife until combined. Wrap in clingfilm and pop in the fridge whilst you make the flling.

For the filling: Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and add chopped onion and garlic. Then add chopped bacon and chicken breast and fry a little longer. Add about half a litre of stock and let it bubble away for a couple of minutes. Add a large potato that has been diced into 1cm cubes. In a separate little bowl, miz 2 teaspoons of cornflour with a little water and add to the mixture to thicken. Season with black pepper (you won't need any salt as the stock and bacon will be salty enough). Turn it down to a simmer while the pastry cooks in the oven.

Roll out the pastry to about the thickness of a pound coin. We baked the pastry on a baking sheet but if you want to pour the mixture into an ovenproof dish and cover with the pastry - you can! The oastry takes around 20 minutes in a 180deg pre-heated oven.

Serve! We had peas and roasted parsnips with ours. 




Delicious!

Friday 1 March 2013

Spicy Rice Salad

Okay so I'm aware that having been bashed around in my bag all day, this one doesn't look particularly appetising - but what it lacks in looks it definitely makes up for in flavour, and beats a soggy cheese sarnie any day.




It was so simple to whip up last night too - I fried a little chopped chilli and spring onion in a dash of olive oil, just for a minute of two. I then added a teaspoon of tomato purée and twice the volume of vegetable stock to brown rice, giving it all a big stir. I then turned it down to a really low simmer and then forgot about it for twenty minutes or so. When the rice was cooked, I tipped it onto some frozen peas and chopped orange pepper (any colour will do!) before leaving to cool. This defrosted the peas so they weren't frozen when I came to eat it but weren't overcooked. Once cool, I gave it all another tir (adding a few twists of black pepper) and chucked it in the fridge overnight. Lunch was worth looking forward to!