Derbyshire Fidgety Pie

This pie has been in the planning for a while. To celebrate British Food Fortnight I knew I wanted to bake a traditional Derbyshire dish, ideally savory and with pasty. Inspiration came from the most random of places - the latest East Midlands National Trust newsletter. In the newsletter it mentioned the traditional Derbyshire Fidgety Pie. Not a pie I had heard of before, but gave me more of a challenge to try it. Another reason for wanting to use pastry was so I could use my Made in England rolling pin. I don't use it as much as my wooden or marble rolling pin as it is quite delicate, but I love it!

Hubby's family originate from South Derbyshire where this pie has its roots. There are various variations of this pie throughout the Midlands, where they are usually called Fidget Pie. Some with cider, some with ham, some with gammon along with some additional ingredients.



This pie is a traditional dish served to people working in the field through harvest. Essentially it is the Midland's version of the Cornish Pasty as it is a portable, filling meal. It is thought to have got its name from the fact it traditionally was fitched (5-sided) in shape. The key vegetables in a fidgety pie is apples and onions which are plentiful during the harvest and of course these vegetables go well with pork. This version should have raisins in it, but I left them out as I don't like them in savory dishes. Given this ingredient not being used it still made a surprisingly hearty & flavoursome dish.

Rather than baking a pie with both pastry on the top and bottom (trying to make it slightly kinder to the hips!) I baked it in aMason Cash pie dish (made in Derbyshire). In keeping with the South Derbyshire theme I also used smoked bacon from the best butchers around - Chantry Farm Shop in Kings Newton near Melbourne. If your ever near I beg you to pop in. Their meat is second to none and well worth the trip. Hubby & I really enjoyed the pie and I was surprised as to how tasty it was. Perfect for these Autumnal evenings.

Now, you can truly say that this pie has been Made in England.

Derbyshire Fidgety Pie
Makes 2 individual pies

225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
110g butter
cold water
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 small/medium potatoes, thinly sliced
1 apple, cored and finely sliced
4 rashers of bacon
400ml beef stock
thyme
seasoning
1 egg

1) First get started on the pastry. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2) Add the chilled water a small amount at a time and mix with a knife until you have a good dough. Roll into a ball, cover in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 min.

3) Preheat oven to 190oc. Fry off the bacon. At the bottom of each individual pie dish line with a layer of half of the sliced potatoes, then all the onions and apple. Sprinkle with black pepper and thyme then layer with the bacon and the rest of the potato. Pour over the beef stock (200ml per pie dish).

4) Roll out the pastry until around 5mm thick. Top the pie with pastry and trim to fit. Make 2 slits in the pastry to allow steam to escape then brush with egg.

5) Bake for 20min until pastry is golden and filling is cooked. Traditionally it is served on its own, but would go well with a side of vegetables.

Beany Bacon Bake

The lovely aforkfulofspaghetti pointed me in the direction of this Nigel Slater recipe. The only alteration I made was to use a mix of haricot and kidney beans. Hubby enjoyed it so much he ate the portion I had put aside for my lunch tomorrow!

This type of food is very much called for at the moment. With the forecast of snow later on this week I need as much carbs as I can to survive the long playground duty on Friday. We take the kids out in all weathers, it's good to let them run off steam. Great if your nice and cozy in the staffroom drinking tea and slowly making your way through the biscuit tin, not so great if your stuck outside in a force 8 gale with little Rosie complaining Jane has stolen her skipping rope for the 5th time that morning...

Chestnuts exploding on an open fire.

The last few days in the run up to Christmas can only be described as chaotic. A last minute change of plans (well my sister managed to get Take That tickets!) meant I was rushing up to Manchester, then back on the Sunday morning leaving 5 hours to sort the house out, cook for the Christmas party later on and construct a Hexenhaus (Gingerbread house).

This years pre-Christmas nibbles we're a bit of an eclectic mix of foods, it was all very much dependant on what I could get my hands on. The evening went down well and everyone commented on the food. Mother-in-Law was convinced I had brought the mini toad in the hole from M&S as she was so impressed! The evening was rounded off with chestnuts and brandy. I'm not a fan of chestnuts, but Hubby likes nothing more than roasting chestnuts over our open fire. We've also recently discovered an old ikea sieve works as the perfect roasting tin, just watch out for the exploding chestnuts! Hubby could have stopped this happening, by piercing the skin of the chestnuts. We also tried a trick we saw on Jamie at Home - Christmas episode by dropping hot, shelled chestnuts into brandy. According to hubby and father-in-law they tasted delicious.

I have a slight confession over the Hexenhaus. The kit was from Lidl - think IKEA self-assembly house. Hubby was Chief Structural Engineer where I was Chief Icing Bag Lady and Decorator. It was a bit fiddly to begin with and it has been years since I've had an icing bag in my hands, but it was good fun. I just haven't a clue how we're going to eat it!

The nibbles menu included:
Cherrapeno's Tomato & Parmesan Whirls
Tinned Tomatoes Red Pepper Hummus
Bacon & Mushroom Quiche (request from Father-in-Law!)
Roast New Potatoes with honey & mustard dressing
DIY Bruschetta
Mini Toad in the Hole with soured cream, garlic & black pepper dip
crudette and dips
plus a few other things.

DIY Bruschetta
Serves 4

Disclaimer: this is by no means authentic bruschetta. It's my express/lazy way of making it as guests put the toppings on themselves.

1 long ciabatta loaf
2 salad tomatoes, diced
2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
ramekin of Parmesan
ramekin of decent olive oil mixed with 1 tbsp mixed herbs or Italian seasoning.

1) Slice the loaf at a slight angle so you get longer lengths of bread. Mix tomatoes, garlic oil, balsamic and a tsp of mixed herbs in a bowl. Serve alongside Parmesan and oil/herb mix.

2) I make my bruschetta by first drizzling some of the herby olive oil on the bread, adding a spoonful of tomato salsa on top, then sprinkling with Parmesan.

Mini Toad in the Hole
Makes 12

12 chipolatas
50g plain flour
1 egg
140ml milk
rapeseed or sunflower oil

1) In a bowl add the egg to the flour, then gradually pour in the milk. Whisk to stop lumps forming. Season with a bit of black pepper and refrigerate batter for about an hour.

2) Preheat oven to 200oc. In a cupcake tray pour in a small amount of oil (enough oil to just over the bottom of each "cupcake"). Put tray in oven for 5 min to heat up oil.

3) Carefully drop a chipolata into each baking tray cup. Pour in batter until each cup is about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 until sausage is cooked and Yorkshire pud is golden.

As I made our toad in the holes with beef sausages I made a garlic & black pepper dip, but they are just as good with ketchup.

Spicy Meatloaf

I find the usual sausage dishes can get a bit boring after a while, so tonight decided to some chilli flecked sausages (called Rudolf's Revenge) from the farm shop and turn them into a meatloaf. The only memories I have of meatloaf aren't particularly pleasant ones, but I'm glad to say tonight's meatloaf was far better than I expected. The recipe is a mix of recipes I've come across. Can't be bad as Hubby has asked if I will cook it again soon.

Spicy sausage meatloaf
Serves 4

Meatloaf
500g spicy sausagemeat
1 onion finely sliced
100g (about 4 small/2 large slices) fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 egg, beaten

Topping
2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut into lardons
25g (1 small slice) fresh white breadcrumbs
30g grated cheese

1) Preheat oven to 160oc. Lightly fry onions until soft. In a bowl mix all meatloaf ingredients (including onion) until well combined. Press into 1lb loaf tin. Bake for 55min.

2) Fry bacon until crispy then fry topping breadcrumbs for 2 min until golden. In bowl mix with cheese and bacon. Sprinkle on the top of the meatloaf and bake for a further 5 min, until cheese has melted. Allow to stand for 10 min before serving and slicing.

Bacon & Mushroom Quiche

Continuing our theme of not-so-healthy dinners, I made a bacon & mushroom quiche for tea tonight. I admit I cheated slightly with the pastry. I can make really short pastry which is great for mince pies, but not so good with quiche so I picked up some ready made pastry in the shops. I've never really "baked blind" before and I forgot that pastry does sometimes shrink, but I managed to fit nearly all of the egg mix in. However I forgot that our oven is on a slight slant and the egg mix tipped out of the back of the pie and into the oven. Oh well!

Bacon and mushroom quiche
serves 4

pre-cooked pastry base
3 rashers of bacon, cut into pieces
5 mushrooms
3 eggs
100ml double cream
100ml milk
handful of grated mature cheddar
seasoning

1) Preheat oven to 160oc. Fry bacon and mushrooms until cooked. Sprinkle pastry base with cheese then bacon & mushroom

2) Whisk eggs, milk and cream together then season. Pour egg mix in base. Cook on a baking tray in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Cauliflower Cheese & Bacon Pie

I've been wanting to make a pie for a while, but never really got around to it. I fancied a pie that wasn't your usual beef/chicken pie and came across a cauliflower cheese pie on the GFM website. To make it non-veggie for hubby I altered the recipe slightly and added some bacon. I was really tasty, creamy but light at the same time and we'll be certainly be having it again. I did use my alphabet cutters to put our names on top of the pies, but it hasn't shown up well on the photo. I served it with carrot and roast potatoes.

Cauliflower cheese and bacon pie
Serves 2

1/2 small cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 rashers of smoked back bacon, cut into small strips
3 spring onions, chopped
200ml creme fraiche
100g mature cheddar (I used Quickes cheddar)

seasoning

ready-made puff pastry

egg, lightly beaten

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Fry bacon and spring onions until bacon is cooked. In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients together (apart from pastry) then spoon into pie dishes.

2) Roll out puff pastry to size of dishes then place on top. Pinch around the edges and use a knife to put 2 slits into each piece of pastry to stop it getting soggy underneath. Brush with a small amount of egg. Cook for 25-30 min.

Multi Mince

Nearly every week we cook a "double dinner". A meal that will stretch over two nights to 1) save time 2) be more economical. This weeks double meal has been Multi Mince. I daren't call it bolognaise as it is nothing like traditional bolognaise!

My multi mince is different every time I make it depending as to what is in the house and what needs to be eaten. I also keep the veg chunky in it. We usually eat it with pasta one night, then the next night turned into something else with the addition of another ingredient. Be it kidney beans or mash to make a kind of shepherds pie. I also use the same mince recipe to make lasagna.

Multi mince

serves 4

1 onion diced

1 garlic clove

400g beef steak mince

3 rashers of smoked back bacon, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped

handful of mushrooms, chopped

1 red pepper, sliced

1 beef oxo cube

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

125ml red wine
drizzle of balsamic vinegar

splash of Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp mixed herbs

1) Soften the onions and garlic on a medium heat with a bit of oil. Add mince and bacon. Cook until mince is browned. Pour in wine and simmer until wine has reduced by half.

2) Add all the veg (but the chopped toms) and cook for 2 min. Add the chopped toms, balsamic, Worcestershire sauce, herbs and crumble in oxo cube. It is has thickened too much add a splash of water. Simmer for 50 min.

I must admit I'm a bit of a fussy eater so when I find something I enjoy I usually eat it to death. My current fad is Cauldron Falafels. To me they taste like a cross between onion bhaji's and stuffing! My aim is to learn how to do make them myself. In all my holy domestic goddessness I slipped tonight with the evil that is Angel Delight. I swear it used to taste alot better when I was 6. I think what put me off was that when I was trying to whisk it I was reading the ingredient list and though "hmm, so I'm technically making additive laden, rasberry flavoured, whipped potato starch"....nice

I find lunch one of the most boring, uninspiring meals of the day. Since trying to cook most of my meals from scratch, I'm finding usual "work" lunches like tinned soups and ready made sandwiches from the canteen far too salty. I'm a big fan of soups especially minestrone. They are harty, fill you up, low in calories & additives and tasty. My fave has to be this adapted recipe from the Good Food Mag - Feb 2006.

Minestrone Soup
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
100g/oz chopped streaky bacon
2 large carrots, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 can of chopped toms
1L / 1 3/4 pt veg stock
few cabbage leaves shredded
1 can of haricot beans
healthy handful of pasta

1) Heat oil, add onions and bacon. Fry for 5 min until brown. Tip in carrots, celery, potato and garlic. Cook for a few mins.

2) Add toms, stock and bring to the boil. Simmer partially covered for 30 min. Stir in cabbage after 15 min. Also add pasta.

3) Drain and rinse beans. Add to pan. Cook for an additional 3 mins.

It keeps for about 3 days in the fridge.