Blueberry Pie

Blueberries are regularly hailed as a super-food, containing many minerals and elements essential to good health. I have to admit that I remember the very first time that I ever tasted blueberries was in a commercially mass-produced blueberry muffin, which was enjoyable to eat but was in no way indicative of all that the blueberry has to offer!

In my early twenties, I briefly lived and worked in the United States and was introduced to many of the culinary possibilities that blueberries had to offer, above and beyond the ubiquitous muffin – cakes, ice-creams, crumbles, cobblers and cookies to name just a few. Essentially the blueberry is an extremely versatile fruit and one that I believe that we should use more often in the kitchen. Blueberries can also be used in savoury recipes, where they can add a fruity tartness that cuts through the richness of other ingredients.

Although I have a sweet tooth and enjoy eating and making desserts and other sweet treats, I much prefer restrained use of sweeteners in recipes that include soft fruits or berries. Too much sugar can result in a “jammy” consistency which swamps the true taste of the fruit.

One great advantage of blueberries is that they can be frozen very successfully and once defrosted can be used as you would fresh blueberries in a range of recipes. I wanted to post a recipe that really celebrated blueberries and one where they were the main focus of the dish and quite simply, I believe that this recipe for blueberry pie is just the thing to do that.

I have made a slightly adapted version of the sweet shortcrust pastry that I use all the time but I have cut back on the sugar used to sweeten the blueberries. I have also used lemon juice in the filling and some finely grated lemon zest in the pastry as I believe that it serves to emphasize the flavour of the blueberries.

I created a lattice top for my pie, which can be a little fiddly to make, but I just think it looks so pretty. I love the way that the blueberry juices bubble up between the lattice strips during baking to give a really home-cooked feel.

Although I like challenging dishes and love precision in the dishes that I make, the reality is that I am a home cook and taste is the most important thing! I am not a chef – I cook because I love it and for me cooking and creating tasty foods/meals for friends and family is a way of my expressing how much they mean to me. So, this pie may not look absolutely perfect, but it tastes really delicious.

I would recommend serving the pie still slightly warm from the oven with a cold scoop of vanilla ice-cream. I have recently been experimenting with making different flavoured ice-creams and the nutmeg ice-cream that I made was also particularly good with this pie!

Ingredients:

Pastry:
185g plain flour

60g icing sugar

125g butter, cubed

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 egg yolk

Filling:

500g blueberries, fresh or frozen

85g caster sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1tsp arrowroot

To glaze:

1 egg white

1-2tsp caster sugar

Method:

Filling:
1. Put the blueberries in a medium sized saucepan with the sugar and half the lemon juice. Heat over a moderate temperature until the mixture starts to bubble and the sugar has dissolved. Allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes and remove from the heat whilst you mix the other half of the lemon juice with the arrowroot in a small bowl. Add this to the saucepan with the blueberries and stir through.

2. Return the pan to the heat and simmer the blueberries for a further 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the blueberries to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the pastry.

Pastry:

3. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter and using your fingertips rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the grated lemon zest and mix through. Add the egg yolk to the flour mixture and using a fork, mix through until a dough starts to form. Tip out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly to form a ball. Cover with cling-film and place in the fridge to chill and relax for about 30 minutes.

To finish:

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/ Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Lightly flour a 20cm round, 4-5 cm deep loose bottomed tart tin.

5. Remove pastry from the fridge and divide in two. Roll out half of it to about 4mm thick and use to line the tart tin. Add the cooled blueberries. Brush around the edges of the pie with some of the egg white.

6. Roll out the other half of the pastry to a similar thickness as before and use to top the pie enclosing the blueberries. (You can fashion a lattice top as I have done or just top it with a plain circle of the pastry). Press the edges together. Brush the top of the pie with a little egg white and gently sprinkle with 1 or 2 teaspoons of caster sugar. Place in the preheated oven to cook for approximately 35 minutes until the pie is cooked through and the pastry is golden brown.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Serve whilst still warm from the oven.

Serves 6.

Cornbread

I have posted this recipe in tandem with the recipe for Chilli con Carne as I think that this bread is the ideal thing to serve with it. This is an incredibly quick bread to make and is surprisingly light to eat. Some cornbreads are extremely crumbly and can disintegrate; leaving crumbs everywhere when you bite into them, but this one holds its shape well. The cornbread is also a wonderful accompaniment to tomato based or minestrone soups.

The cornbread is best eaten on the day that it is made, but it still tastes delicious the following day. Even though there is rarely any left over when I bake it, the cornbread makes great breadcrumbs which can be frozen and used at a later date to make stuffing or combined with suet, herbs, a little self-raising flour and some water to make dumplings to pop into a stew or casserole.

Ingredients:

190g plain flour

225g yellow cornmeal

Large pinch of salt

4tsp of baking powder

75g caster sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
330ml milk
35g butter, melted

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Line a 6cm deep 20cm square cake tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.
2. Place the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients together.

3. Add the eggs, milk and melted butter and stir together quickly but lightly to make a relatively smooth batter. Do not over mix… it doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes approximately until the cornbread is well risen, golden brown in colour and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

5. Cut into square chunks to serve.

Cuts in 16 squares.

Chilli Con Carne

I really love this recipe for Chilli con Carne. I am not claiming that it is in any way an authentic recipe, but it is spicy, warming with chilli heat, comforting to eat and most important of all it is delicious. It’s the type of dish to revive but not assault your taste buds and it is relatively inexpensive to make. As such, it is the perfect food to eat at this time of the year when the January blues have really set in.

The recipe that I give here is based on an Alistair Hendy recipe which I first came across in his book Home Cook. I have cooked many things from this book which contains many familiar recipes, presented in a no-nonsense, practical way. Alistair presents his recipes in a very reassuring way and it is a book that I would definitely recommend for anyone who wants to cook tasty dishes but lacks confidence in the kitchen. Not all food and recipe writers have this ability, and whilst I like to try something new and challenging and I am confident in adapting and inventing recipes, what most people want are recipes that they can rely on! Whilst Alistair may not be as well-known as Delia Smith, I think that he shares many of the same qualities that she does in the way he writes and how he encourages the reader to get out there and cook with confidence.

This really is tasty and although it does make a large pot of chilli, any left-overs are easily frozen and can be used again.

I like to serve this with plain boiled rice with a simple green salad on the side. I also like to eat it atop a baked potato for a warming lunch or supper dish. It is also great heated, spooned on a large mound of tortilla chips with some added sliced jalapeno peppers. I then top this with some mature cheddar and stick it under a hot grill so the cheese can melt – a lovely dish for sharing or nibbling on when watching the telly on a cold January evening. Whatever way I serve it, I always have some sour cream and some homemade guacamole and cornbread on hand to accompany it.

I am also going to separately post a recipe for the cornbread that I make and I do urge you to try making some. It is so quick and easy to make and if you make it whilst the chilli is simmering away on the hob, it will be ready and still slightly warm from the oven when you are ready to serve the chilli.

Ingredients:

2 large onions, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Vegetable oil for frying

2 tsp ground cumin
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tblsp dried oregano
1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 bay leaves

1kg good quality minced beef

2 tblsp paprika

3 tsp cayenne pepper

100ml malt vinegar

6 tblsp tomato purée

3 cans of chopped tomatoes

1 tin red kidney beans

250ml red wine

Method:

1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a heavy saucepan and gently sweat the chopped onions and garlic until they have softened, but do not let them turn brown. Add the cumin, the dried oregano, thyme and the bay leaves and season generously with the salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fry for a minute or so.
2. Add the minced beef, breaking it up with a wooden spoon so that there are no large lumps. Continue cooking until the meat is browned all over (you may need to add a little more vegetable oil).
3. In a small bowl, mix the paprika, cayenne pepper, vinegar and tomato purée. Add this to the pan with the browned meat and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time, so that the meat gets coated.

4. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir well. Leave on the hob to cook gently, merely blipping away gently for 2 hours approximately.

Serves 8-10 generously.

Lemon Bougatsa

2014 has arrived and we have welcomed in the New Year. After all the rich and heavy foods consumed over the festive season, I now yearn for something a little lighter and zingier on the palate. This seemed like just the recipe to kick-start my taste buds during the long and cold month of January, made as it is with light and crispy filo pastry and tangy, refreshing lemons.

I love the taste of lemon and think that it is an invaluable ingredient in the kitchen; a few drops of lemon juice, used almost as if it were a seasoning refreshes all manner of savoury foods, intensifying their flavours and creating balance. For this reason, I always have lemons to hand in my kitchen.

I go weak at the knees when lemon is used in baking and in desserts…lemon meringue pie, tarte au citron, lemon drizzle cake, lemon mousse, lemon surprise pudding… I love anything that includes lemon! It is therefore unsurprising that I was drawn to this recipe.

Filo pastry can be a little tricky to work with because it does dry out very easily, but so long as you keep the sheets you are not immediately using wrapped in a damp tea-towel and are generous in your use of melted butter when brushing the individual sheets prior to layering up, you should have no problems. Believe me, if you like the flavour of lemons and are also partial to custard-based dishes, this is a recipe you must try out! There is nothing particularly complicated in making this dish and it keeps surprisingly well covered in the fridge.

Bougatsa is a Greek breakfast pastry which may be sweet or savoury but which always uses filo pastry. Savoury versions use minced meats or cheese, but sweet versions usually consist of a sweet semolina custard. Whilst I would love to be greeted by this bougatsa for breakfast, I also think that it would make a fabulous dessert, served with a few fresh raspberries during the Summer or some poached figs in early Autumn - and with a dollop of crème fraîche or softly whipped cream on the side! This version of bougatsa is based on a recipe that I came across in Food and Travel Magazine.

Ingredients:

600ml double cream

500ml full cream milk
125g caster sugar
100g semolina
150ml fresh lemon juice (about 4 juicy lemons)

Rind of 4 lemons, pared into wide strips.

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 x 270g filo pastry

75g butter, melted

Syrup:

100g caster sugar

50ml fresh lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Base line a 24cm x 17cm x 6cm deep tin with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Put the cream, milk and caster sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a moderate hear.

3. Slowly pour in the semolina, stirring continuously as you add it. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to bubble again and then remove from the heat and set aside to cool for about quarter of an hour.
4. Add the lemon juice to the semolina mixture, followed by the eggs and stir well to fully incorporate.
5. Place four sheets of filo pastry in the lined tin, using a pastry brush to brush each sheet individually with meleted butter before placing another on top. Leave some of the pastry overhanging the top edges of the tin.
6. Pour in the lemon semolina filling and fold the overhanging pastry on top of it.

7. Leave two of the remaining filo pastry sheets to the side and layer the others on top of the filling, brushing with melted butter between each layer as before. Ruffle up the two remaining sheets of pastry and place on top of the bougatsa. Brush  with the remaining butter and bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes until the pastry is crisp and a rich golden colour. Remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack and allow the bougatsa to cool completely.

Make syrup:

8. Put the caster sugar and lemon juice into a small saucepan and gently heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for about three minutes until the syrup thickens slightly. Add the strips of reserved  lemon rind and set aside to cool.

To finish:

9. When the bougatsa and syrup have cooled, spoon over the syrup and lemon rind and cut into squares.

Cuts into 20 squares.

Cinnamon & Raisin Bagels

These bagels are really tasty and keep very well. The crumb is light but with that slight chewiness that you should get with bagels. The cinnamon and raisin combination is a classic marriage of two flavours that are just made for each other.

Often when I cook or bake, the challenge that I privately set myself is to produce something that is tastier and well…just better than that which you could purchase in the supermarket or local shop. These bagels definitely achieve this and I will be making them again and again. They are perfect breakfast fare, split in half and smeared with good Irish butter and preserves or my favourite – toasted and then slathered… and I mean SLATHERED in butter which begins to melt seductively into the spicy sweetness of the hot bagel.

Homemade yeasted breads tend to go stale quicker than their mass-produced, processed counterparts which are packed full of preservatives to extend shelf-life. However, the keeping qualities of these bagels are great. They are lovely eaten shortly after being baked, but were every bit as tasty a couple of days later when I toasted them. To be honest, I had to hide the bagels because the rest of my gang kept eating them. If I had given them free-reign, how quickly they did or did not go stale would not have been an issue, because there would have been none left!

 

I was nervous about poaching the bagels, thinking that they would deflate on being scooped out of the water and set aside whilst I got on with poaching the others, but they didn’t. These are really far easier to make than I imagined and I am so thrilled with the results. I now feel enthused and excited about developing new flavour combinations and already have a few ideas of some that I would like to try out. I shall of course keep you updated!

Bagels are ring shaped yeasted breads about the size of a ring doughnut, which are boiled for a short time before being baked in the oven. The boiling of the bagels produces the chewy crumb characteristic of the bagel. Bagels gained widespread popularity in the United States and they are now commonly eaten in many countries. Bagels may be savoury, topped with seeds and/or flavoured with onions or spices or may be sweet like the recipe that I give here.

 

Ingredients:

500g strong white flour, plus a little extra for kneading

2 heaped tblsp caster sugar
1tsp salt
2 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

1 x 7g sachet of fast action yeast

125g raisins

300ml warm water

1tblsp bicarbonate of soda

A little beaten egg for glazing
 

Method:

1. Put the flour, sugar, salt , cinnamon, yeast and raisins into a large bowl. Add the warm water and mix to a rough dough using your hands or a wooden spoon.

2. Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough for about ten minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
3. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.
4. Place the dough on a lightly oiled bowl and cover with some cling film. Leave in a warm place for about an hour to prove by which time it should have doubled in size.

5. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and shape into ten evenly sized balls.  Place on the prepared baking trays and cover again with lightly oiled cling film. Allow to rise again for about 30 minutes. Remove the cling film and using your forefinger or the handle of a wooden spoon make a hole in the centre of each bagel. I swirl the dough around my finger to create a hole about 4cms in diameter.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.

7. Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. When it is bubbling away, add the bicarbonate of soda. Carefully pop a couple of bagels at a time into the water and allow to bubble away for about 90 seconds – they will puff up! Turn them over in the water after about 45 seconds.

8. Carefully remove and drain well on some absorbent kitchen roll and then place bake onto the lined baking trays. Repeat this process for the remaining bagels.
9. Brush the boiled bagels with a little beaten egg. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes by which time they should be a rich golden brown colour. 

  

Makes 10.