Short-crust Pastry Techniques

Back to basics

Short-crust Pastry Techniques

Welcome back! So previously we touched down on how to make a few variants of a really good quality short-crust pastry. I am now going to share with you a couple of basic techniques that are a MUST.

Let’s begin with Blind Baking. This simple technique is used to make scrumptious tarts & quiches. It’s a way of insuring you get a beautifully crisp golden pastry every time without the worry of a soggy bottom as there is less risk of penetration of the liquid from your filling.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. If you plan on making say, a tart, place your pastry dough onto a clean lightly floured surface and roll out to about 2mm in thickness.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Lift your pasty over the top of your rolling pin and carefully lower over your pie dish, pushing the sides into the sides of the dish.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork, then place a sheet of baking parchment paper over the top of the pastry ensuring you place it into the edges, then pour In your baking beans. TIP! Make sure more weight is added around the edges to prevent the pastry from shrinking.
4. Let bake for approx. 2 minutes; then remove from the oven.
5. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing the baking beans, then return back to the oven for a further 15 minutes OR until the pastry is a lovely golden hue. 

Lattice Pie

I like to make a lattice topped pie, although super simple, it results in a really professional finish, it looks soooo pretty!

Here’s what you do:

1. Cut your pastry disk in half and follow stages 1-2 of the above. Then add your cooked pie filling (if it’s an apple pie, then just add the spiced and sweetened fruit mix in raw with 1 tsp. corn flour).
2. Roll out your second half of pastry into a disk and then with a clean sharp knife, slice into 8 4 cm strips.
3. Brush the edges of the pastry case with non-dairy milk then arrange the first 4 pastry strips vertically a few cm apart from each other.
4. Lift the second and fourth strips back and place another pastry strip across length ways, then fold down the vertical strips. Now, take a sixth strip of pastry, lift the first and third strips back and place over the top. Repeat this process until you end up with a weaved effect.
5. Trim the excess pastry from the edges with a small sharp knife-I like to cut out leaf shapes with the left over pastry pieces and arrange them in a random pattern, ‘waste not want not’ as they say!
6. Brush the pie with non-dairy milk, sprinkle with a little salt and let bake for about 45 minutes OR until the pastry is golden in colour.

The all in one method

If you really want to make a pie but time is of the essence you can of course use the ‘all in one’ method. You will need to make sure that your filling (if cooked) is completely cooled otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy mess that will only stick to your dish and we don’t want that!

1. Simply line your pie dish with half your pastry dough then chill this for about 30 minutes.
2. Take a spatula and scape your filling into the pastry case, brush the edges with a little non-dairy milk and create either a lattice top OR you can roll the reminder of the pastry into a disk the same thickness as your case and place this over the top and trim any overhanging pastry with a sharp knife. 
3. Cut a small cross in the centre of your pie and pull back each corner to form a hole; this will release steam and prevent the filling from leaking around the edges.
4. Let bake for 45 minutes OR until your pastry is golden. If any spillage occurs, don’t worry; it is homemade after all and gives a more rustic look, well that’s my excuse anyway!

As always, I would love to see your results, lets create a collage of pie to share to the world!! Have fun-happy baking!

There you have it, the basics of short crust pastry. Now you have mastered this you will be able to make mountains of pie!

Have a go, feel the ingredients, enjoy it and let me know how you get on, I would love to see your results!

Smoky Shepherds Style Pie With an Awesome Sweet Potato, Pumpkin & Spicy Peach Topping

Smoky Shepherds Style Pie

With an Awesome Sweet Potato, Pumpkin & Spicy Peach Topping

Photography By Ctrlaltdelete Design Solutions

You know when you get to a point where you get bored of having the same old meal time and time again and you end up trawling the net and every recipe book known to man-kind for some inspiration, but still nothing takes your fancy? I feel your pain-I did just that! But then it dawned on me, Shepherds Pie, OF COURSE! I’ll admit that this is a dish I used to despise, until I recreated my own version.

Comforting; hearty; warm; sweet; aromatic. Now-I’m a huge lover of aromatic flavours; Beans, Pulses and of course; the humble Sweet Potato, so naturally I had to create something that included all of these ingredients and more! So here it is, my Smoky Sheppard’s Style Pie with an Awesome Sweet Potato & Spicy Peach Chutney.

What Will I Need?

1 x Medium Cooking Pan

1 x large colander

Non-Stick Skillet OR Frying Pan)

Safety Peeler

Sharp vegetable knife

1 x Large Cooking Pan

Wooden Spoon

Measuring spoons

Serving Spoon

Spatula

1 x Large heavy Casserole dish

Pastry Brush

Fork

Ingredients

For the Topping

1 Very large Sweet Potato roughly chopped

½ Very small Pumpkin OR Squash roughly chopped

2 tbsp. Spicy Peach Chutney (Find this at Waitrose £1.59-AMAZING stuff!)

1 tbsp. Dried Basil

1 tsp. Dried Oregano

½ tsp. Mixed Spice

Pinch Himalayan Rock Salt OR Sea Salt

For the Filling

4 Meat-free, Dairy Free Sausages (Linda McCartney OR Tofurky are best)

Olive Oil

1 Large Red Onion

2 Medium Shallots

2 Large Carrots chopped into thick 1.5cm chunks

½ Large Courguette Chopped as above

1/3 Aubergine chopped as above

5 Chestnut Mushrooms roughly chopped (optional)

2 Cloves crushed Garlic

1 ½ tsp. Smoked Paprika

1 tsp Dried Basil

1 tsp. Dried Oregano

1 tbsp Tomato paste

1 x 400g Tin Chopped Plum Tomatoes

½ Tin Good quality Baked Beans (I like to use Branston OR Biona)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C

For the Topping

1. Place your Sweet Potato and pumpkin/Squash, cover with fresh cold water; and then bring to the boil tuning down to a medium heat then cover and cook for 10 minutes OR until cooked through. Drain for a few minutes, then mash.
2. Add 1 tbsp. of the Spicy Peach Chutney along with all your dry ingredients, then mix well and set aside to cool.

 To Make the Filling

1. Heat your skillet OR frying pan over a high heat for a minute OR two, then brown off the sausages (I like mine to be blackened as this gives the most delicious BBQ flavour!), turning frequently until all the outsides are really golden; then turn off the heat and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, add a good glug of Olive oil to a large cooking pan and on a medium heat, sweat off the onions and Shallots until they look transparent (turn occasionally to prevent them from burning).
3. Add all your chopped fresh vegetables and cook for 10 minutes until starting to soften; then add your minced garlic, herbs and spices and cook for a few minutes more, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning.
4. Add your tinned Tomatoes, Tomato Paste and Baked Beans along with a tin of fresh cold Water. Bring to the boil before bringing down to a simmer; season with Salt and Black Pepper to taste. Let cook for about 30 minutes OR until your Vegetables are tender.
5. Next, roughly chop up your Sausages and fold these into the vegetable filling until well combined, then scrape into a large casserole dish and let cool a little- about 15-20 minutes.

 The Last Hurdle

1. With a serving spoon, scoop up the topping mixture and randomly place over the filling, then spread as evenly as you can. Place on the middle shelf of the hot oven and let bake for about 40 minutes OR until the filling starts to bubble over the top and the topping is turning golden.
2. Remove your pie from the oven, then take a spoonful more of the Spicy Peach Chutney and spread evenly with a pastry brush over the topping.
3. Lastly, take a fork and starting from the centre, create a swirl pattern, then place back in the oven for a further 15-20 minutes until the topping has caramelised and is glowing bright orange (alternatively you can pop under the grill until golden and caramelised-seriously, it’s a visual masterpiece!
4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly for about 15 minutes, then serve and enjoy!

 Serving suggestions

It’s a no-brainer really; fresh greens such as Kale, Spinach, Broccoli OR Swiss Chard & seasoned mashed sweed with lashings of veggie gravy.

I have even made this in the summer and served with a fresh mixed salad.

However you like yours, this really is the most delicious meal and I hope you will agree too.

You could even have this as an alternative to a Christmas dinner!

Let's Rescue Animals Together!

Poster and Illustration By Ctrlaltdelete Design Solutions (Copyright 2016)

Hello and welcome back! This is a very important, and quite emotional post for me as it’s very close to my heart.

Like many of you, I have a very strong passion for animals, their livelihood and wellbeing and so I have decided to set up Rainbow chef so that 10% of a donation given on each of my recipes posted, no matter how small, will go to a chosen animal charity each month.

This month I have chosen The Farm Animal Sanctuary; a wonderful charity who's focus is on rescuing animals and birds from abuse, neglect, slaughter and abandonment.

With your help, we can share a little love, and help to rescue many animals being mistreated in every way possible. To find out more about the charity and their goals as well as success stories and more, please visit http://www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Thank you for your kind support <3

THE Best Banana Bread

Back to basics

THE Best Banana Bread

Photography By Ctrlaltdelete Deign Solutions (copyright 2016)

Moist, moreish, light, sticky-Who doesn’t like a good old fashioned Banana Bread? One of my faves for sure! This is such a simple recipe; I kinda pinched it out of the Viva cook book and added some spices and extra bits and bobs to it (as one likes to do!). This is certainly a recipe you’ll want to use over and over again, I know I certainly never tire of it, so here it is, banana Bread at its best!

What Will I need?

Measuring scales

2 x large mixing bowls

Potato Masher OR Fork

Sift

Measuring spoons

Wooden spoon

Spatula

Baking parchment paper (NOT greaseproof)

11b Loaf tin

Ingredients

3 very ripe, very large Bananas plus one for the top

60g Non-dairy butter (Soya OR Sunflower spread are best)

Light OR dark soft brown Sugar OR granulated golden Caster Sugar.

Vanilla Extract (NOT Essence)

125g Wholemeal Flour 

125g Organic Plain Flour

3  ½ tsp. baking Powder

1tsp. mixed Spice

1 tsp. Ground Ginger

1tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch Himalayan Rock Salt OR Sea Salt

50g Pitted dried dates, Sultanas OR Dark Chocolate finely chopped  (optional)

30g Crystallised Ginger finely chopped (optional)

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees if fan assisted).

In a large mixing bowl, mash 2 of your Bananas, then with a wooden beat the non-dairy butter and sugar into the mixture until well combined; don’t worry if there are small lumps of the butter at this stage, just get it as smooth as possible. Set aside.

In another large mixing bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together then mix well with a wooden spoon.

Carefully scrape your banana mixture in with the dry ingredients and mix until with a wooden spoon until just combined.

If adding dried fruit, Chocolate and/or Crystallised ginger, carefully fold in with a large metal spoon, this will help to keep your bread nice and light.

Pour your bananary cake batter into your prepared loaf tin.

Take your last Banana and slice down the centre lengthways, then lay them on top of your cake mixture.

Let bake for 1 hour. I recommend you check at 50 minutes by sticking a skewer in the centre, if it comes out clean, the jobs a good’n! 

Let cool for about 10 minutes, then brush with a little Agave Nectar OR Maple Syrup; then leave to completely cool before turning out of the tin.

Make a Chocolate Marble Version!

Yup that's right, this fabulous recipe can be made even more decadent and delicious (If it wasn't already!). here's what you do:

1. Simply dollop half the original mixture about the loaf tin, then add 3 tbsp. Raw Cacao Powder along with 2 tbsp. Almond Milk to the remainder of the banana cake mixture; stir until just combined, then spoon this about the tin too then with a knife, swirl both mixtures together.
2. Take the fourth banana and slice it length ways down the centre; place both halves of banana on top of the raw mixture. Place in the oven and let bake at 160 degrees C (180 degrees if you have a gas oven) for about 50 mins. At the end of the stated baking time, stick a skewer into the centre of the laof, if it comes out clean it's ready. Lave for a few more minutes if not.
3. Once the cake is cooked, allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out of the tin; then leave to cool completely. Slice and enjoy!

Photography By Ctrlaltdelete Design Solutions

Your Banana bread will keep for up to 5 days! If kept in an air tight tin (that’s if it even lasts the day, let alone 5 of them!!).

Serving suggestions

With a cup of your favourite brew of course!