Ed is pie fan in chief in the Fuss Free household, so when the review copy of Pieminister a pie for all seasons arrived, I handed it over to him for testing and review.

As Thomas Edward Brown might, or possibly even should have said, “a pie is a lovesome thing, God wot!” There really is no greater example of winter comfort food, and now Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon, the originators of the Pieminister shops have decided to spread the word beyond their retail outlets and publish a book of pie recipes.

The layout is straightforward – a guide to the various types of pastry used, essential pie making skills, and then onto the pie recipes, divided seasonally. Unsurprisingly, the format has savoury pies at the start of each chapter, and sweet at the end. The layout and the design is clear, which a single large photo of each pie, and the usual ingredient list alongside the cooking instructions; the vital information you need isn’t lost in overworked design, but there is an underlying blokeyness to the typeface and layout.

After starting with more usual offerings, its not long before the suggestions veer off piste (off pie-ste?) so, for example, in the Spring chapter, we move from a chicken, cider and leek pie to a red pepper and butter bean ‘bada boom’.

As with all cook books, there are recipes that leap off the page the moment you see the name. The smoked aubergine and olive strudel looks enticing, as does the fig tarte tatin with pistachios, a pulled pork, cider and sage pie, and a ‘plumble’, a mulled wine and plum crumble. We cooked a chicken pie from the book, finding the recipe easy to follow and the results to be excellent. There really, really is nothing quite like a home made pie.

Obviously, a book just about pies does restrict the authors somewhat, and therefore the authors do stretch the definition of what is a pie somewhat, but it’s no worse for that. As a source of reference recipes for beef, chicken and fish pie recipes, the book is certainly useful, and the more esoteric offerings definitely start me thinking about pie possibilities.

Fuss Free Star Rating ***

Recipe: Lucky Ducky Pies from Pieminister

Serves 4

50g butter
3 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ small red cabbage (about 150g), shredded
2 tbsp cider vinegar
150ml dry cider
2 tbsp demerara sugar
2 star anise
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 Williams pears, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
2 confit duck legs (available in delis and some supermarkets), shredded
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

500g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
50g butter
100ml double cream

Melt the butter in a pan, add the shallots and cook gently for 4–5 minutes, until lightly coloured. Stir in the garlic and red cabbage, then add the vinegar, cider, sugar, star anise and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and cook over a medium heat for 20–25 minutes, until the butter and sugar start to caramelise the cabbage and the liquid reduces to a glaze. Season with salt and pepper, add the pears and cook for about 5 minutes, until they are just tender but still holding their shape.

Remove the skin from the confit duck legs but don’t throw it away! If you put it in the oven to crisp up while the pie is baking, it makes a delicious nibble. Shred the duck meat into the cabbage and then transfer the mixture to 4 individual pie dishes. Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

For the topping, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, then drain well. Mash with the butter and cream and season to taste. Top the pies with the mashed potato, place in the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, until golden. Delicious served with peas and carrots.

Recipe reproduced with permission from Pieminister.

See more content from the book here.

Pieminister is published by Bantam Press, £17.99. Available from Amazon and all bookshops.

Thank you for my review copy.

I was recently sent a selection of products from the Discovery range who have recently launched a preservative free wrap.

A few weeks ago I had a friend over, and with a batch of meringues in the oven for the Prepped launch party the next day I needed something quick and easy for supper, that I could make without using the oven, so it was the perfect occasion to test the range.

As with all these products, I use the serving suggestions as a guide and enhance and embellish according to my mood and contents of cupboard, fridge and freezer.  Fajitas are perfect for an informal supper and can be as simple, enhanced or healthy as you like.  They are also good for eeking out the more expensive ingredients, I fed 3 of us with one chicken breast.

I made chicken and refried bean fajitas.   Firstly I fried an onion, added a handful of pinto and flageolet beans (which I cook and then freeze), a sachet of the Discovery fajita seasoning paste, a good squeeze of lemon and some chopped up coriander stalks.

My sole, and rather small breast of chicken was chopped into strips, and tossed in olive oil, along with slices of red pepper, shredded spring onion and a generous sprinkling of seasoning mix, then stir fried on the griddle.

Served with the wraps and Discovery fajita table sauce, salsa and jalapeños it made a tasty supper, perfect for the occasion, ingredients and time available.

Summary

I like the wraps and will buy again.   Preservative free is a huge bonus.   They freeze well and I will be keeping some to hand.  £1.59 for 8.

Both the fajita paste and seasoning mix are useful cupboard standbys and are available in differing heats.  £1.09 and £0.79 respectively.   I’ll probably buy them if I see them in the supermarket.

Jalapeños were good – hot and crunchy, £1.39.  I’ll probably stick to supermarket own brand if it is cheaper.

Tangy Fajita table sauce, £1.79, was a tamarindy molassy ketchup. Our opinions were mixed.   Ed liked it, I was not so sure.    I will use it up, but will not buy again.

None of us liked the salsa, £1.79, which we found over processed and too sweet.  But better than no salsa as I did not have tomatoes to make it fresh.

All items in the range containing chilli are available in a variety of heats which is an excellent idea.

Also available are sour cream and guacamole, neither of which I tried.   See the whole range here which is available from all supermarkets.

For more idea for using wraps see

Not Your Packet Tortilla Chips
Banana & Peanut Butter Breakfast Wrap
Black Bean and Squash Quesadillas

Thanks to Discovery for my samples

I recently received an e-mail inviting me to a bloggers’ Philly lunch where celebrity chef, Ed Baines would be cooking some recipes from the Philadelphia Local Heroes campaign.     Philadelphia is a very useful fridge staple that I use in a number of dishes, both savoury and sweet, cooked and uncooked.    I had not seen the competition or I would have certainly have submitted my Philly, pesto, chicken pasta (recipe below) which is easy to make, and very child friendly.

We assembled in the rather lovely kitchen above, and were put to work cooking our lunch, with lots of helpful tips from Ed and Natalie, the  London local food hero and creator of the Philly leek risotto pictured above.

This was followed by Philly chicken.  Pudding was a mini Pavlova, topped with a Philly and icing sugar mix, which tastes delicious, and contains few calories than cream.

For another sweet Philly idea of the perfect cream cheese frosting, check out Ruth’s post here.

My Philly pesto chicken pasta is my favourite thing to cook when looking after small children, it seems that all parents of small children always have chicken fillets, cream cheese and pesto in the fridge.    It is quick and easy and children (and most adults) love it.   Add some frozen peas and corn to the pasta water when it is nearly cooked.

Obviously, vary the amounts below according to the age of your children.  For adults and less fussy children add some garlic.  Also works well with ham or bacon.

Recipe: Philly Pesto Pasta

(serves 2 children)

2 handfuls of pasta shapes
1 small chicken breast diced
Small glug olive oil
1 heaped tbs Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 heaped tsp pesto
Handful frozen peas & corn
Sprinkling of grated cheese

Put the pasta on to boil.  Gently fry the chicken pieces in the olive oil for 5 mins, until cooked and just starting to brown.  Add the Philadelphia & pesto and stir until the cheese is melted.   Add enough of the pasta water to loosen the mix so it is at a coating consistency.

When the pasta is nearly done add the frozen peas and corn and bring back to the boil.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, serving with a sprinkle of cheese.

I am sending this to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Cassie the Kitchen Alchemist (together with an apology for sending a non vegetarian dish)

A tired me, and stern looking Ed Baines

Thank you to Philadelphia for a lovely lunch and for all the product samples.

A while ago I was sent a bag of Total Greek Yogurt to try, and one of the dishes I made was some coronation chicken made with leftovers from the previous nights roast.   When buying my chicken I was amazed that my small local Sainsbury’s had two breeds of free range chicken for sale, I am sure that this is largely down to the work of the Chicken Out Campaign, annoyingly I made this so long ago I cannot remember which chicken I bought.

There are dozens of coronation chicken recipes out there, many are laden with fat and calories, I wanted to make something lighter with a lower fat base to the sauce, I know that lots of low fat versions of regular foods are stuffed full of sugary carbs so I try to avoid them.     Here I used 1/3 regular mayonnaise* with 2/3 total 0% Greek yogurt to make a creamy base for the sauce, it tastes almost exactly the same as pure mayonnaise but has about a third of the fat and the healthy probiotic cultures.      I used Steenberg’s Organic Curry Powder to flavour the sauce, I do usually make my curry by mixing my own spices, but a blend does give the perfect Anglo-Indian flavour for this dish, and is perfect if you are in a hurry.   Steenbergs also have an extensive range of regional curry powder blends.   You can leave the chicken out and use the sauce as a dip.

Coronation Chicken (Serves 2)

Left over roasted chicken (chopped)
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs 0% Greek yogurt
1 heaped tsp curry powder (more or less to taste)
Splash boiling water
1 tbs chutney
6 dried apricots chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the mayonnaise, yogurt and curry powder together, if needed add a splash of boiling water to thin the sauce.    Stir in the chutney, apricots (if using) and chicken.   Season to taste with salt and pepper.   I served with green leaves and tomato.

* I do make mayonnaise, but my standard to go fridge staple is Hellmanns.   I think it is the best tasting of the ready made mayonnaises and is made with free range eggs.

We rarely eat meat and animal products these days, my body seems to work better on a near vegan diet, on the occasions that we do eat meat and diary I prefer to eat organic, free range products and know exactly where they have come from.    Consequently I was somewhat taken aback by an odd craving that took me a while to identify as being for chicken livers.

Like much offal chicken livers are relatively cheap, full of flavour and vitamins and minerals, the bad news is that they are high in cholesterol, but I reckon that we had about 50g each of liver, and our diets are cholesterol free for the majority of the time.

I slowly cooked the livers in a tomato sauce with mushrooms, balsamic vinegar adds some depth and the knob of butter makes the sauce far smoother, it does need a long cook, after half an hour the flavours suddenly gel and work together   This is my submission for Ruth’s Presto Pasta Nights hosted this week by Graziana of Erbe in Cucina.

Pasta with Chicken Liver, Tomato & Mushroom Sauce (Serves 4)

2 small onions  – finely chopped
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
8oz / 200g Chicken livers (please buy free range) – roughly chopped
4oz / 100g mushrooms (sliced)
1x 12oz  tin plum tomatos
1 Espresso cup white wine or white vermouth
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs fresh oregano  – roughly chopped
1/2 oz butter
Salt & pepper to taste

Finely chop the onions and fry in the olive oil with a pinch of salt until translucent and turning golden.   Add the garlic, chicken livers (I cut them into 1 – 2 cm pieces using scissors) and mushrooms, fry for several minutes.   Add all the other ingredients, stir and allow to simmer with the lid ajar for at least 40 minutes.

Serve with the pasta of your choice.

Notes: The longer this cooks the better it will be, next time I make it I am going to use passata rather than the tinned tomatos and cook it for several hours in the slow cooker.