Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Pasties

This recipe has been enjoyed by vegans and omnis alike, I used vegetarian haggis for mine but a meat one would work equally well I would imagine. I made the filling from scratch but this would also be a brilliant way of using leftovers from Burn's Night. Great as a lunch by itself, this could also be paired with green veg as the main part of your evening meal. Most vegetarian haggis is vegan but it is always worth double checking the ingredients. The buttery shortcrust pastry perfectly complements the soft and flavoursome filling. I am aware that this differs from a classic pasty recipe but sometimes its fun to mix things up a little.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
450g plain flour  - plus extra for dusting
200g butter
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp water  - you may not need all of it
For the filling:
1 standard sized haggis
1 large carrot
1 medium neep
2 baking potatoes
4 tsp onion gravy powder
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Take a large bowl and pop in the flour, salt and butter and rub together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Carefully add the water a spoonful at a time to bring the mixture together into a dough. Stop adding water as soon as the dough comes together, it should be soft but slightly crumbly. Once the dough has come together, wrap it in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least an hour.

While the dough chills, cook the haggis according to the instructions on the packet. Chop the vegetables into bite sized cubes and boil gently until soft. Drain the vegetables then add the haggis in along eith a tbsp of butter and salt and pepper to taste. Fill a mug 3/4 with hot water then stir in the gravy granules to create a thick gravy then pour over the filling. Mix everything together, dont worry if the vegetables mash a little into the haggis. Add a little more salt and pepper if needed then place to the side to cool.

Once the filling has cooled, preheat your oven to 160 fan. Flour your work surface and two baking sheets. Grab the pastry out of the fridge and diving into 6 balls. Roll each ball out into an oval roughly 20cm by 15cm. Place 2- 3 tbsp of the filling onto half of each oval until there is around 1 cm pastry clear around the edge and a generous mound in the middle. Carefully fold over the remaining pastry and crimp the edges to seal. I folded the corners in then crimped round, meeting in the middle to prevent leakage. My crimping skills aren't the most aesthetically pleasing but it worked and tasted good so thats what matters!

Once all of the pasties have been made, place on the oven trays and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown all over. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes on a cooling rack before serving as these are incredibly hot to bite into.

When you make these, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Apple and Almond Desert Cake

In my family, life revolves around food. My fondest childhood memories are all interlinked with different dishes and bakes. This cake is my version of one of my granny's recipes and instantly transports me to their living-room where at 11am every day they could be found with a cup of coffee and a large slab of cake. My granny helped teach me to bake and we still email each-other and swap recipes regularly. This cake is pretty easy to make, looks great and tastes divine. The layer of fruit through the middle keeps the cake moist while the crunchy topping adds another dimension.

Ingredients:
8oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
8oz caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond essence
5oz butter - I use dairy free
1 apple peeled and sliced
75g dried cranberries
1oz flaked almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160degrees centigrade for a conventional oven or 140 degrees centigrade fan. Line a 20cm round baking tin with greaseproof paper in the base and butter the sides.

Place the flour and baking powder in a bowl with the sugar. Beat in the eggs and almond essence, together with the butter and mix well to create as stiff batter.  Spread half the mixture in the prepared tin. Sprinkle the batter with cherries and then lay the apple slices over the top to create a neat covering. Sprinkle with the cinnamon before spooning the rest of the mixture over the apples. I accidentally layered the apple and cranberries the wrong way round this time and it made it way harder to spread the batter over the top. Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds.

Bake in the oven for one and a half hour until golden brown and shrinking away from the edges of the tin. Leave to cool for 15 minutes then remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar.

When you make this please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Create Your Own Pizza

In my family, pizza is an all time favourite and we probably spend way more than we should on ones from the take-away so I decided to create my own from scratch. I really enjoyed making the pizzas and love how home-made allows them to be tailored to everyones needs, having 'cheese' on mine made the effort totally worth it and everyone else really enjoyed theirs too. I made 6 large pizzas (roughly 10in) with this recipe but it can easily be used to make more or less of varying sizes. I haven't really included instructions for toppings as I know everyone has their favourite, be it veggie or meaty, or even just loads of cheese but the basics of this recipe will carry you through and beat a takeaway any time. I did try and learn how to spin and stretch pizzas by hand from YouTube but I have to admit, my trusty rolling pin won this time.

Ingredients:
1kg strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 x 7g packets of fast action yeast
1 tbsp caster sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
650ml lukewarm water
1kg cherry tomatoes
6 cloves garlic
1/2 tube tomato puree
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
your choice of toppings and cheese

Method:
Combine the salt and flour in a bowl and set to one side. In a jug add the olive oil, sugar and yeast to the warm water and leave to stand for a few minutes until it starts to look like something out of an alien movie. Add the water mix to the flour mix and slowly bring together to create a soft dough. Tip this onto a floured surface and kneed until the dough is stretchy, smooth and pings back when compressed. Place in a bowl with a damp tea towel over the top in warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

While the dough is proving, take a large frying pan and heat the olive oil over a medium heat then add in the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes start to soften, roughly chop and add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes are easily mashed with a spoon and releasing juice.

Blend the sauce until its sauce until its smooth then add in the tomato puree and salt and pepper to taste. I used a stick blender but a food processor would work equally well. Pop the sauce back into the pan and cook over a low heat until its thick and starts to stay in place when a spoon is pulled through it. Place to one side ready for spreading on the pizzas.

Preheat your oven as hot as it goes, the quicker the pizzas cook the better the texture. Prep all of your desired toppings and make sure you have grated at least double the cheese you think you'll need.

Take the dough and knock out the air before turning onto a well floured surface. Shape the dough into a long sausage and divide into 6 using a sharp knife. Shape each piece into a ball then roll out to around the thickness of a pound coin, making sure there is plenty of flour as the dough is sticky.

Once a pizza base is rolled out, place on a baking tray or pizza tray - I picked some up at the supermarket.  Spread the base liberally with the tomato sauce then scatter with your toppings and layer on the cheese. Pop in the oven and bake for 4- 5 minutes until the crusts are crispy and the cheese is melted. Repeat the process until all of the dough is used and everyone has their desired pizza.

When you make these, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife