The Great Cornish Pasty

We had such a fabulous sunny day here today! Perfect eating outdoors day. The Missionaries came over and helped Todd to trim the hedge and I thought I would bake them something filling for their lunch. Pasty's are perfect picnic food . . . filling, delicious and great for eating out of hand.







The pasty has been a staple food down South in Cornwall for a very long time. It's been known as many things through the years . .. . tiddy oggy was one name used and hoggen was another name, which was used in particular when they didn't contain potato.







Many things were used as fillings through the years . . . meats, fish, vegetables, eggs and sometimes you would have a savoury filling at one end of the pasty and a fruit filling at the other.







There are pasty shops all over the UK, where you can just about any kind of pasty you could want nowadays . . . steak and stilton, steak and ale, Lamb and mint, cheese and onion, to name but a few. (I confess to having a certain fondness for the steak and stilton ones and the cheese and onion ones. Oh so scrummy!!)







These here today are a traditional, no frills steak, potato, onion and swede pasty. (A swede is a rutabaga, but you could also use turnip.)







Delicious and tender meat and vegetables encased in a delightfully flakey pastry. They're not as hard to make as some would suppose, but are really quite simple to execute. What's not to like!!!







*The Great Cornish Pasty*

Makes 4

Printable Recipe



Buttery Puffed Pastry, all flakey and encasing a delicious filling of beef, potato, onion and swede. Perfect and totally portable!!!



1 3/4 to 2 pounds of puff or shortcrust pastry

1/2 pound of beef skirt or chuck steak, sliced into very thin strips

1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 small swede, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped

1 ounce butter (2 TBS), melted

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 freerange egg, beaten



Roll the pastry out 1/3 inch thick. Cut into rounds approximately 8 inches in diameter. You will need 4. I find a sandwich plate is perfect to use as a template.



Place the potatoes, onions, swede and steak into a large bowl. Season with salt and generously with lots of pepper.. Drizzle the melted butter over all and mix well together.



Divide the filling between the 4 rounds, placing it just slightly off centre. Brush the edges with some beaten egg and fold one half of the pastry round over to cover the filling. Seal shut and then pinch and roll the edges from one edge to the other, giving it a bit of a rope effect. Place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Pierce the tops in a few places and brush with beaten egg. Place into the refrigerator to ill for about 1/2 hour.



Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Place the tray of pasties into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and cook for a further 30 to 35 minutes until well risen and golden brown and the filling is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. You can shield with some foil if you think the pastry is getting too dark.



Serve hot or cold as you like. These are great picnic food!







There is a deliciously Creamy Fish Chowder cooking over in Oak Cottage today. If you are a regular reader of A Year From Oak Cottage, you will want to update your bookmarks, as the url has changed! Thanks!

Courgette and Dolcelatte Picnic Tortilla

This week we are finally having beautiful summery weather . . . hot and sunny . . perfect picnic weather. Not the kind of weather that you really want to heat up the kitchen by cooking a roast dinner or some such.



The quicker and cooler the better. It's also portable food weather . . . you know the kind I mean . . . the kind that can be easily wrapped and transported in to the great outdoors where you can enjoy it surrounded by all that is good about nature and summer!



Tortillas are the perfect summer food. Easy and quick to make, they are equally as delicious served warm or cold. They are very easily cut into wedges and wrapped and fit perfectly into a picnic basket. They're also fairy sturdy and can't be too awfully damaged by a lot of jostling around!




They also very versatile. Basically they are not much more than a baked omelette, filled with your favourite scrummy ingredients . . . tasty things like herbs, olives, tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, chorizo, etc. Even leftover spaghetti and macaroni and cheese make great tortilla fillings.



Beaten eggs with your favourite savoury weaknesses folded in . . . browned in a well oiled skillet until set on the bottom . . . then popped under the grill to brown the top and set the whole thing together.



Cheese is nice. Cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan . . . tuck in your own chosen poison. Today I have chosen simple courgettes and new potatoes from the garden . . . and rich soft lucious dolcelatte cheese. Oh so delicious!



*Courgette and Dolcelatte Picnic Tortilla*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe


Delicious served warm from the pan, or wrapped up and served at room temperature at a picnic. Easy to transport. Goes very well with crusty bread, sliced ripe tomatoes and olives.

9 ounces of new potatoes (You want a waxy potato, a generous half pound), ends trimmed off
and cut into thick slices
2 medium courgettes, ends trimmed and cut into thick slices (zucchini)
5 large free range eggs
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
2 TBS snipped fresh chives
1 TBS olive oil
3 ounces dolcelatte cheese, broken into pieces
Sliced tomatoes, crusty bread and black olives to serve
salt and black pepper

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the potato slices. When the water comes back to the boil, cook the potatoes for 2 minutes. Add the courgettes and cook for two minutes longer and then drain everything well.

Turn the grill on to high. Beat together the eggs, garlic, chives and season very well with salt and black pepper. Stir in the vegetables.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet, with an oven proof handle. Pour in the egg mixture. Smooth it all out. Tuck in the dolcelatte cheese here and there. Cook, undisturbed for about 5 minutes, until nicely browned on the bottom. Place under the grill for an additional 5 to 8 minutes, until the top is set and golden brown. (If you pan doesn't have an oven proof handle, cover it with foil.)

Serve warm or cold, cut into wedges along with sliced crusty bread, sliced ripe tomatoes and ripe olives. Delicious!

Little Ginger Cakes

A week or so ago the Find Me A Gift.Com people sent me a lovely set of Joseph Joseph Nesting bowls to try out. I was finally able to put them to good use today!!



I have to say at the outset I was quite impressed with the way everything all fits together. There is a large mixing bowl, 4.5L Colander, 3L Sieve 1.65L Small mixing bowl with measurements, 0.5L 4x Measuring cups 1 Cup (250ml) ½ Cup (125ml) 1/3 Cup (85ml) ¼ Cup (60ml).




This multi-purpose food preparation set will save you space and bring bright colour to your kitchen. Each piece nests neatly inside the other so there's no unstable stacking! They take up much less space than other comparable sets of the same things. That is a big plus in my kitchen as I have very little storage space to work with.



We were going on a picnic today so I decided to bake some little ginger cakes to take along. Todd does love his gingerbread anything, and I confess so do I!! This Joseph Joseph set came in very handy I do have to say as it contained everything I needed to put the batter together!



You could of course bake these in muffin tins if you wanted to, or even in a large bundt pan, but I have this cute little mini bundt pan set that I hadn't ever used and so today I thought I would bake my cakes in that.



I think they turned out really cute. They sure are moist and tasty too!



With just enough spice and snap. I think gingerbread should have a bit of a spicy bite to it, don't you?



Just enough spice to go perfectly with a sweet and tangy Lemon Icing Drizzle topping!



Deliciously moreishly perfect for a July Picnic I think!



*Little Ginger Cakes*
Makes 12 mini bundt cakes
Printable Recipe

Spicy and moist, these please on many levels. The tangy lemon glaze is wonderfully perfect!

9 ounces plain flour (2 1/4 cups)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 cup)
1 3/4 ounces of dark light brown sugar (1/4 cup packed)
4 fluid ounces of dark treacle
4 fluid ounces of golden syrup
(In North America substitute with 1 cup mild molasses)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large free range egg
8 fluid ounces hot water

For the glaze:
1/2 pound of sifted icing sugar (2 cups)
enough lemon juice to make the right consistency for drizzling
chopped candied ginger pieces, chopped

Preheat the oven to 10*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Grease two six hole mini bundt pans. Set aside.

Wish together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves in a large bowl.

Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in the treacle and golden syrup until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrap down the bowl occasionally. Fold in the flour mixture, alternating with the hot water, beating on low, beginning and ending with flour, and stopping to scrape the bowl occasionally.

Divide the batter amongst the prepared cups.

Bake for 20 minutes until the cakes are well risen and spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Whisk together the icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over top of the cakes. Sprinkle with some chopped candied ginger to decorate.

Note: This can also be baked in an 8 cup Bundt pan, well buttered and floured. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before turning out to finish cooling.

Many thanks go Jo and the People at Find Me a Gift, and also to Joseph Joseph for such a great set of nesting bowls!

Black Currant Drizzle Cake

I think I baked my absolute most favourite cake of the year today! And, YES, that IS saying a lot!!

I picked up the August issue of Good Food Magazine yesterday on the strength of the picture on the cover alone . . . a lovely looking loaf cake covered with a sugared mixture of summer fruits, and studded throughout with the same. Oh my but it looked some scrummy.



I could not wait to make it. This week I discovered a Black Currant bush in our back garden. I had seen this bush with the berries on it a few weeks back but had no idea of what they were until this week . . . one taste confirmed it . . . Black Currants! Nom Nom!! I hadn't noticed them last year, probably because we were in Canada when they ripened. Our loss was the bird's gain!



We love Black Currants in this house. We really do. I even buy my cough sweets in Black Currant flavour! When I saw this lovely recipe I knew exactly what fruit I wanted to use for the topping. You guessed it! Black Currants!



Oh my . . . it is the most delicious cake. All buttery and moist, and studded with sweet yet tart black currants . . . and that sugared topping . . . double oh my . . . it is heavenly, pure bliss, sooooo scrumdiddlyumptiously moreish.



This cake is soooo good in fact . . . that I skipped supper tonight and had two slices of it instead . . . I know . . . I am a bad puddy tat! =^..^=



One taste and you'll know why . . . it is totally impossible to resist the scruminess of this delicious treat. I can only imagine how good it would be with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.



Be still my heart! ♥♥♥ This was love at first bite! (Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine, August 2011) If you only bake one cake this season . . . let this be the one!!



*Black Currant Drizzle Cake*
Makes one 2 pound loaf
Printable Recipe

A delicious cake that is just right for taking on a picnic, or for a garden party or for just because!!

6 ounces of very soft butter (3/4 cup)
6 ounces golden caster sugar (3/4 cup)
9 ounces self raising flour (1 1/2 cups) sifted
2 large free range eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla
6 ounces of black currants (about 2 cups)
5 ounces granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
2 TBS of fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 2 pound loaf tin and line with baking parchment, allowing the ends to drape over for easy removal.

Put the butter, caster sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla into a large bowl. Beat together with an electric whisk until pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. Spread one third of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the black currants.. Dot another 1/3 of the batter over top of the currants. Spread over carefully. Sprinkle another 1/3 of the black currants over top. Finaly spread with the remaining batter, reserving the remainder of the currants for after.

Place into the heated oven and bake for about one hour, until risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven.

Place the remainder of the currants in a bowl along with the granulated sugar. Add the lemon juice and stir in with a fork, lightly mashing the fruit just a bit.

Take a skewer and poke holes all into the top of the cake. Spoon the fruit,sugar and juice mixture over top evenly. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. The top should be set and crisp. Cut into slices to serve. Eat within a few days. (So NOT a problem!!)

PS - You can use any summer fruit. Some suggestions are

• diced apricots
• blackberries
• blueberries
• diced nectarines
• diced peaches
• diced plums
• raspberries
• red or black currants
• strawberries, diced if large
• any mixture of the above fruits
  

Springtime Frittata

Nothing speaks spring time to me more than the fresh flavours of tender young fresh asparagus and sweet young freshly podded peas, and here in the UK we have the best asparagus and peas in the world! I don't think anyone could argue with that fact!



Nothing beats the taste of fresh peas from the pod. As a child, I loved being given the job of podding the peas and I think I probably ate half of what I podded, much to my mother's chagrin! Am I alone in thinking that peas taste beautiful raw and fresh from the pod?? I didn't think so!!



The herbs in my garden are taking off like wild fire right now. The thyme and chives are covered with little blooms . . . the sage too has beautiful flower buds just waiting to burst out into colour. This has to be my favourite thyme of year! (every pun intended!)



Here in the UK, we like to make hay while the sun shines and we have been taking full advantage of this recent spate of sunny days, having days out together and taking in all the gorgeous springtime scenery that we can. We often take a bit of a picnic with us to share together in the sunshine.



Oftimes it is just a couple of sandwiches and some fruit, but sometimes it's a delicious frittata like this beautiful springtime offering I have thrown together here.



Tender young spears of asparagus, tasty new potatoes, sweet young English Peas, fresh thyme, chives, farm fresh free range eggs and some crumbled Stilton cheese turn this into a truly British picnic offering.



Colourful and delicious it went down a real treat on our latest sunny day outing!




*Springtime Frittata*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A beautiful frittata, filled with all the lovely tastes of spring . . . tender young asparagus, sweet peas fresh from the pod, baby new potatoes, along with a smattering of thyme, chives and crumbled Stilton. This is British picnic food!

2 to 3 TBS olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh young thyme leaves
150g of podded spring peas, blanched for about 4 minutes and cooled (about 1 cup)
250g of baby new potatoes, peeled and sliced (about 3/4 pound)
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
a knob of butter
6 large free range eggs, beaten
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a handful of fresh chives, snipped finely with some kitchen scissors
2 ounces of good stilton cheese, crumbled

Heat 2 TBS of the olive oil in a 10 inch nonstick heavy bottomed frying pan. Add the onions, turn the heat down to low and season with a sprinkling of sea salt. Cover and allow to sweat, stirring occasionally until the onions are meltingly soft, about 15 minutes. Add the new potatoes and thyme. Cook for a further 10 to 12 minutes, covered, until the potatoes are just tender, stirring from time to time and adding the additional TBS of oil if needed. Season with some black pepper and turn up the heat. cooking and stirring the potatoes until they begin to colour. Toss in the aspagarus. Continue to cook and stir until the asparagus is crispy tender. Stir in the well drained peas. Stir about 3/4 of the chives into the eggs, season and pour this over top of the vegetables.

Preheat the grill.

Cook the frittata over mediium heat, drawing in the edges with a spatula until the base is set. When it is nicely browned on the bottom scatter the stilton cheese over top and then bang it under the grill for 2 to 3 minuttes until the frittata is set on top and starting to lightly brown. Remove from the grill and scatter the remaining chives on top. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.

Please Note: If you arfe not fond of Stilton Cheese you may substitute a good Parmesan. Gruyere is also very good.