Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

debtmuncher

spendaholic wrote: »

Makes 4 pasties
preparation time 20 minutes
cooking time 30 minutes

300g braised beef, cooked, cooled and shredded in your fingers, with any fatty bits taken out and discarded (but juices retained)
40g butter
1/4 swede (about 200g), peeled and cut into 1cm dice
2 - 3 carrots (200g), peeled and cut into 1cm dice
150g waxy potatoes, washed and cut into 1cm dice
1 tsp allspice (do they mean mixed spice or aftershave? ) (Oh, sorry, that's OLD spice ... :rotfl: )
10 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
100g peas, defrosted or fresh
salt & pepper
flour, for dusting
500g shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp water

(There's a load of waffle, so here are the highlights)

Heat the oven to 200 deg C (180 deg C fan/Gas 6) and preheat a baking tray.

Melt the butter in a wide bottomed saucepan and very gently fry the 3 kinds of diced veg with the allspice and thyme for 15 minutes, keeping the lid on but stirring regularly. Remove from heat when veg is cooked but still retains some bite. Stir in the peas with plenty of salt & pepper. Add the cold meat and meat liquid to the veg mixture, mix thoroughly and chill while you work the pastry.

Flour your surface and roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 5mm, adding more flour if it looks like it's sticking. Use a plate or a bowl to cut out 4 x 20cm circles of pastry.

Brush each of the circles with beaten egg, divide the filling into 4 and pile into the middle of each pastry circle, similar in shape to the finished pasty, leaving a margin of about an inch (ooh, did we just jump from metric to imperial?) around the edges. Bring the pastry up and around, using a baker's pinch to crimp the seam, securing firmly to make sure no steam can escape. Give them another egg wash, sprinkle a little flour on the preheated baking tray, and gently position the pasties on it.

Cook for around 30 minutes and keep for 24 hours if not eating them piping hot.

fantastic!! thankyou!
how did they braise their beef by the way?

thriftlady_2

debtmuncher wrote: »

yip go for it using brambles. stewed apples would be another good base idea as well, i am sure most fruits would be possible

I'm going to try it with my latest batch of blackcurrant jam.

There is a fantastic looking chicken recipe in the Friends for dinner chapter. It is chicken breasts, noodles and veg Chinese style but the presentation is stunning. each serving is wrapped in a foil parcel which is shaped like a chicken. They look wonderful. Personally this is something I'd impress my kids with, or better still get them to make rather than save it for friends.

thriftlady_2

debtmuncher wrote: »

fantastic!! thankyou!
how did they braise their beef by the way?

The braised beef recipe is the 'daube' recipe linked to earlier in the thread. Personally I think beef stock, wine and tinned beef consomme is a bit too much. I'd leave out the consomme and add more wine/stock or even water. The flavour will come from the long cooking.

Butterfly_Brain

Allspice is the dried fruit of the pimenta dioica plant. It is a small shrubby tree grown in the tropics.The plant is dioicious - meaning plants are either male or female and hence male and female plants must be kept in proximity in order to allow fruits to develop.

rosieben

just checked on theRadio Times website - the next prog is scheduled for Weds 26 August

Gigervamp

thriftlady wrote: »

My copy of the book has just arrived:D
I must say that although I already practise what the book preaches I think the book looks like a fab addition to my collection. Each recipe has a colour picture.


I'm glad I bought it;)

Drat! I'm trying to save for a chicken coop. I'll never get the money together if I keep spending it on cookery books!

(Adds book to Amazon wishlist)

redmel1621

Oooooh Nooooooo!....I just found my self on Amazon:o:D

The book will be despatched Monday:D

Thank You for posting the recipes, I have found them really interesting.

Mel x

MrsE_2

redmel1621 wrote: »

Oooooh Nooooooo!....I just found my self on Amazon:o:D

The book will be despatched Monday:D

Thank You for posting the recipes, I have found them really interesting.

Mel x

I have just printed off so many EG recipes I don't know if I need the book:rotfl:

Between BBC food, the Guardian & the Mirror (all from links on this thread:money:) I have loads:D

purpleivy

I did the Quesadillas at lunchtime for my dd to take to a party this afternoon. They're really yummy. Used some subs though. Kidney beans instead of Black beans as the black beans are still hard in the pack, don't use cans! No peppers, none in and in any case dd can't eat them. Added some reduced price chive soft cheese inside that we aren't getting through very quickly. Omitted pumpkinseeds as none available, nor coriander. It was a last minute requirement for me to do a party dish! I cut each into 8 wedges and arranged on a rectangular sandwich tray, points in and then garnished with slices of tomato and avocado.

Very yummy!

thriftlady_2

purpleivy wrote: »

I did the Quesadillas at lunchtime for my dd to take to a party this afternoon. They're really yummy. Used some subs though. Kidney beans instead of Black beans as the black beans are still hard in the pack, don't use cans! No peppers, none in and in any case dd can't eat them. Added some reduced price chive soft cheese inside that we aren't getting through very quickly. Omitted pumpkinseeds as none available, nor coriander. It was a last minute requirement for me to do a party dish! I cut each into 8 wedges and arranged on a rectangular sandwich tray, points in and then garnished with slices of tomato and avocado.

Very yummy!

That's real cooking -knowing how to use what you have;) I doubt I shall follow any of the recipes exactly, particularly the bedrock recipes as i have my own way of doing things. But the book is worth it for the inspiration.

By the way the chapter on bedrock recipes takes up half the book.