Winter Warmers

If you aren't in the Southern hemisphere it might be hard to picture that we are in the depths of Winter here in Australia. True, Australian winters aren't the harshest but we are creeping a little too close to 0 degrees C for my liking. Brrrrr!
One of the good things about Winter time are the delicious, warming meals I have been inspired to make. Soups, stews and roast dinners have been on the menu at our house.... the kind of food that warms you from the inside.
This season really brings out my British roots and has me visiting old family favourites and winter cooking traditions from my youth. With out fail Sundays were the day for visiting my Grandpa. A remarkable man, born at the start of the Great War he remained sharp and active until well into his 90's and cooked on his old coal-fired Aga for our whole family. He was a well traveled man and took his fist trip to India when he was just 19, selling his Norton motorbike at the docks for his boat travel. He often cooked curries and dahl, all with his own spin, but my all-time fave Sunday evening dish (teatime, as we call it in the North of England)  would have to be the Cornish Pasty.

The Cornish pasty was traditionally cooked by Cornish women for their husbands to eat whilst working in the  mines. They consist of chunks of beef and winter veg all cooked inside a shortcrust shell with a  crimped edge. Perfect for dirty, miners hands to hold onto and then throw away... I can only imagine how comforting a hot pasty would have been down a cramped, arsenic filled tin mine!

Well times have changed but the pasty is still a winner when it comes to comfort food and also makes a fantastic summer picnic food as they are equally delicious served cold.

I use this traditional recipe for the filling but use a flaky, rather than shortcrust pastry.

You will need:

• 1 swede, (I didn't have any so used turnip) finely chopped
• 1 potato potato, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 100g/3½oz rib-eye steak, cut into small pieces
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Puff or shortcrust pastry

Boil up the chopped swede and potato and cook for 4-5 minutes, until tender.
Pop a sheet of ready made filo pastry onto a floured surface and cut around a dinner plate to form a circle. For a mini pasty you can use a smaller plate.
Place the onions in a line down the middle of the pastry disc. Spoon the chopped steak on top, then spoon the cooked potato and swede over it. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. I like my pasty pretty peppery for a yummy kick.
Brush the edge of the pastry disc with some beaten egg. Draw the edges of the pastry together and crimp them with your fingers to seal. Using a knife, make a small hole in the top of the pasty and brush all over with the remaining beaten egg.
Place the pasty onto a baking tray and bake in the oven at 180C/350F for 25-30 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Yummo!

X Steph

Delicious Dumplings

It's a well known fact that I LOVE dumplings! A couple of my best lady friends and I have 'dumpling dates' where we take the hour or so drive to Melbourne and indulge in a dumpling feast, catch up on each others lives and soak up the city at night.
I wish we could get good dumplings closer to home but instead I decided to whip up some of my own and get good at it myself.
I was inspired by Cakies dumpling dinner party, after checking out a number of recipes and a peek in the pantry I improvised my own recipe and it was a HIT!

What you will need:
A pack of pork mince (about 500-600gms)
A nice big handful of prawns, chopped finely
A finely chopped spring onion
A teaspoon of sesame oil
A teaspoon of black pepper
A teaspoon of dry sherry
A teaspoon of grated ginger
A teaspoon of finely chopped garlic
A tablespoon soy sauce
Dumpling wrappers - I cheat and get mine ready made from the supermarket. Round wrappers seem to work the best.

Mix all the ingredients together in a pretty bowl or Pyrex dish and dollop a teaspoon of the mixture in the center of each dumpling wrapper. Have a small bowl of water handy to dip your finger in and moisten the edges of the wrapper, fold the edges in and kinda pleat them with your fingers.

Line a steamer with baking paper, pop the dumplings in there and steam for 5ish mins. Remove and let them cool off a little, then lightly fry them in some sesame oil. Yum! The cooling period lets them get nicely browned and prevents them sticking to the frying pan.

These quantities made about 25 dumplings.

I also made some easy sweet soy sauce and I gotta say this stuff is AMAZING!

Here's how:
Heat 2/3 of a cup of brown, granulated sugar, 2 cups of soy sauce, a tablespoon of water, a teaspoon of ginger, a teaspoon of garlic and half a star anise in a pot until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 10 mins until the liquid gets a bit goopy.
Fish out the star anise and pour into a bottle and refrigerate. The sauce thickens even more when cold to form a delicious dipping sauce.

Oh goodness, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! The best bit about making dumplings is that you can freeze them after the steaming stage to thaw and fry when you are feeling peckish... like now. Excuse me, I'm heading to the freezer!

X Steph