Hogget & Mint Pasties

I first tasted hogget back in February at River Cottage when it was served as part of the Valentines Feast. It's such a delicious meat, stronger tasting than lamb, but not as gristly as mutton. To explain: lamb is a sheep from birth to 1 year, hogget is from 1-2 years and Mutton is from 2 years or older.

I've been trying to get hold of hogget ever since and a smallholding friend came to the rescue. So with half a hogget in the freezer we've begun to work our way slowly through it.

One of the best way we've found for cooking lamb/hogget is to slow roast it so the meat is full of taste and falls apart. By doing this you don't have to worry about the fattiness you sometimes get with lamb as it just renders off. Dinner Diary's Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb recipe is divine, so easy and also works perfectly with hogget.

With leftovers from Sunday's slow roasted shoulder of hogget I decided to have a go at making Hogget & Mint Pasties. Now this is why I love roast dinners as it makes the next few days of meals easy. I made 4 pasties with this recipe. I could have frozen 2 of the pasties in their uncooked state, but Hubby requested if we could have them for Lunch today. They worked far better than I expected and will certainly be making them again even if they are a tad rustic looking. I think they would also work really well as mini pasties. Hubby helped quite a bit with the prep for these (spot the perfectly diced veg that could not have been done by me!) as I managed to slice my finger quite spectacularly a few days ago while making my lunch. Who knew a bread knife could hurt so much and cause the amount of blood it did. I've been banned from going near the Microplane, I'm too much of a risk.



This recipe is partially inspired by a recipe I had cut out of the newspaper and I imagine would work with a multitude of different meats and Sunday leftovers. The surprising ingredient in the pasties is a small amount of ketchup. This helps to thicken and sweeten the gravy. There is also a bit of a debate as to what type of pastry a pastie should be made with. I prefer puff pastry so have made it with that.

Hogget & Mint Pasties
Makes 4 large pasties

250g potato, 1cm cubes
1 carrot, 1cm cubes
6 shallots, finely sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
leftover roasted hogget, shredded (I used about 200g)
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
250ml lamb stock
seasoning
500g block of ready made puff pasty
1 egg, beaten

1) In a saute pan gently fry the potato, carrot and shallots in the olive oil until softened.

2) Stir in the mint, hogget, ketchup and stock then simmer until the sauce has thickened and you are left with only a small amount of liquid. If the sauce is too thin it'll make the pasties soggy. Put the filling to one side while you sort out the pastry.

3) Preheat the oven to 200oc. Roll out the pastry until it is 3mm - 5mm thick square. You can either cut around something like a plate or do what I did: Cut the pastry into quarters and freehand a kind of circle (or a rounded squircle if you want to be technical) in each quarter, by doing this I waste less pastry.

4) Brush the edges of the pastry circle with beaten egg then place 1/4 of the filling in the middle of the pastry. Bring up the edges and pinch them to make a pastie shape. Place on a lined baking tray and brush with beaten egg. Put 2 small cuts on each side of the pastry to help stop it going soggy. Bake for 20 min until the pastry is crisp and golden. Best served hot.

Snow Day Soup & Frolics.

Since Sunday afternoon it's been snowing and snowing...and snowing. Not the usual grey mushy stuff we have here in the UK but bona fide snowy powder, perfect for snowman making. Much excitement ensues when you work in Education as there is a possibility school will be closed and it will be officially declared a Snow Day. To be honest by 4am on Monday morning while watching Hubby slide up the drive for a days work in Brum (& consequently being stopped by the police and being told he was mad to drive to Brum) I decided I wasn't going to work. The idea of sliding down the lanes filled me with fear. Instead I settled down to a day in the house. Not only Monday but today, Tuesday, was also declared Snow Day.

As I've mentioned before, the residents of this little row of cottages come out in force when something is cracking off. Be it floods, powercuts or being snowed in we come together and sort the problem out then recover with a cup of tea...even if it is made on the BBQ during powercuts. Most of us were up and about today and yesterday clearing the snow along the private road we all live off. As it is a private road and doesn't belong to any of us in the row (ah good old ancient boundary issues) it isn't gritted, so after having to push each others cars up the road while sliding all over the place we decided some sandbags had to be sacrificed.



The novelty of being stuck in the house soon wears off and with the snow outside I was itching to don the crampons and get out onto the hills. Not the cleverest idea considering I would be on my own so instead pulled on my funky wellies and a multitude of layers and headed up and out of the village. I really enjoyed my walk. The land looked so beautiful and peaceful blanketed in snow.



Mr Robin, the crazy thing, has been entertaining me (come on, he's far better than Loose Women!) and kept dancing behind the suet feeder as I tried to get his photo. This is the same robin who sometimes likes to hop/dance back and forth across the garden step while singing at the top of his voice. I usually hear him before I see him. He does have a lady friend, but I haven't seen her in a while.

Today we have no milk, but main thing is I still have cream for my coffee and a few Raspberry Brownies to keep me company. It's a bit of a hike to the nearest shop and it's down country lanes. Hubby only got out of the drive this morning by me and the other neighbors pushing him. In my little car, there isn't a chance of me getting out. I've taken the advantage to being snowed in by doing quite a bit of cooking.



A week ago I received my signed copy of River Cottage Handbook: Bread. Since starting to make bread last year I've become more interested in the science behind bread and what makes it work. I'm really impressed with the book and is full of great advice, without being patronising like some books can be. I'll be meeting Daniel Stevens himself on a bread making course in a few weeks time. I made focaccia a few summers ago and it was dire, however by following Daniel's recipe and advice I think I have just produced the best piece of bread I have ever baked. The bread was so good I had to go back for more. I've decided Dan is my new hero!

To accompany the bread I made some Snow Day Soup using the veg I could find languishing in the fridge. I don't really have a recipe for this but essentially gather all the veg you can find (in my case carrots, leeks and a small potato), gently fry off the leeks. Throw in a clove of garlic, the rest of the veg, a bay leaf and 800ml of veg stock. Simmer for 30 min then blitz in the blender.

Carrot & Lentil Soup

After a busy week in work and with Hubby being out today doing blokey things I've decided to dedicate today as "bake and watch great girly stuff" day. So far I've watched an sung along to Hairspray while making soup and then BBC's wonderful romp Casanova is now the soundtrack to the tart (no pun intended) I'm baking this afternoon.

The soup was an ideal way of using up a few vegetables that were about to go past their best. Next time to give it more of a warming kick I'm going to add a pinch of chilli powder. The soup and tart I'm baking will be perfect for a picnic at the beautiful Kedleston Hall tomorrow. Last time we were there they were filming The Duchess so didn't get to see inside of most of the hall.

Carrot & Lentil Soup
Serves 3-4

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp paprika
1 onion, sliced
4 small carrots, sliced
70g split red lentils
200ml orange juice
500ml vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper
2 tbsp plain yogurt

1) Crush the whole spices in a pestle & mortar and dry fry for a few minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (apart from the yogurt) and simmer for 30 min.

2) Blitz the soup until smooth then stir in yogurt. Serve.