Ingredients (serves 4-6)

For the topping

4-5 large baking potatoes

3 eggs

25ml/1fl oz double or single cream

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1-2 green bird’s-eye chillies, chopped (seeds removed if you like)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted and crushed in a pestle and mortar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the filling

1 tbsp vegetable oil or rapeseed oil

4 bay leaves

8cm/3 1/4in piece cinnamon stick

15g/ 1/2oz butter

500g/1lb 2oz lamb mince

2-3 onions, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp freshly grated root ginger

1 tsp tumeric

2 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp garam masala

2 heaped tbsp tomato puree

2 heaped tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Salt

Method

1. First prepare the topping. If you’re in a hurry, cut the potatoes into chunks, boil them in salted water for 20 minutes, then drain and mash. But for the best results, bake the potatoes: preheat the oven to 200c/400F/gas mark 6, place the potatoes directly on the oven shelf and bake for about 1 hour. Remove the baked potatoes from the oven, and while they are still warm cut them in half and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Push the flesh through a fine sieve or potato ricer into another bowl. (We boiled our potatoes and just mashed them – we don’t do puree mash! So just do whatever you prefer.)

2. Once the potatoes are mashed, mix in the eggs (just use yolks if you prefer), along with some cream to loosen the mix. Season with a pinch or two of ground nutmeg, some finely chopped green chilli, crushed cumin seeds and salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

3. No prepare the filling. Heat a large casserole dish (or pan if you don’t have a hob-proof dish), add the oil, and when it’s hot add the bay leaves and cinnamon, then fry on a medium heat for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat off, add the butter and let it melt.

4. Put all of the remaining filling ingredients except the fresh coriander in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Turn a medium heat back on underneath the casserole dish (or pan) and add the filling mixture, along with 100ml (3 1/2fl oz) water. Stir and cook for 5 to 6 minutes with the lid on.

5. Stir once more and then cook for another 10-15 minutes, then remove the lid and cook until the mixture is nearly dry. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200c/400F/gas mark 6.

6. Stir the chopped coriander into the cooked mixture and pour into a baking dish. Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick and level the surface. Cover the mince with the spiced mash topping and cook on the top shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve with some crusty bread or green veg.

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Our long-time favourite pie is Jamie Oliver’s chicken pie (click here) – it’s brilliant! The main photo on this post is of this pie. I’ve made it so many times now that I can pretty much make it from memory, and it turns out amazing every time. Definitely a winner!

Venison makes a wonderful pie – especially with ale! Click here for the recipe.

Our most recent pie recipe was this amazing Boeuf Bourguignon pie – it takes a while to make but is definitely worth it. Click here for the recipe.

Now, I’m not forgetting my veggie friends – how about this delicious courgette filo pie? Click here for the recipe.

And for dessert (if you have any room left!) – maybe a slice of Mississippi mud pie? Such an indulgent treat! Click here for the recipe.

British pie week runs from 2nd – 8th March. There’s a lot happening on the old tinternet about it so you can’t miss it – but check out the official site for more details. Enjoy!

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This recipe originally comes from Lulu’s notes. If you want to make it extra special then you could also make your own bread too!

Ingredients (serves 2)

Unsalted butter 50g
Olive oil
Fresh white breadcrumbs 100g
A lemon, zested and grated
Fresh thyme leaves chopped to make 2 tsp
Cayenne or peri peri seasoning ½ tsp
Flat-leaf parsley finely chopped to make 2 tbsp (we left this out!)
Sustainable cod, haddock or coley 300g, skinless fillet
3-4 tbsp plain flour
An egg, beaten
Good white bread 4 thick slices
Soft butter
Tartare sauce to serve, if you wish

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas6. Melt the butter with 1 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, thyme and cayenne or peri peri seasoning, and cook over a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until golden, stirring constantly. Tip the breadcrumbs into a bowl, add the parsley and season.

2. Cut the fish into fat fingers. Tip the flour onto a large plate and the beaten egg onto another. Coat the fish pieces first in the flour and shake off any excess, then dip the fish into the egg to coat completely. Finally press into the seasoned breadcrumbs to thoroughly coat on all sides.

3. Arrange the fish fingers on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes until crisp and golden, turning once halfway through the cooking time.

3. Spread the bread with butter and a generous dollop of tartare sauce, pack the fish fingers on two slices and sandwich them together. Enjoy! :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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The original recipe for the steak and ale filling is from the BBC food website (I have adapted here from this pie recipe) and the cobbler originally comes from this recipe.

Ingredients

For the filling

1 kg/2lb 4oz braising steak, cut into matchbox-sized pieces

3 tbsp plain flour

salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

300ml/ 1/2 pint brown ale (I used Guinness)

2 garlic cloves

2 onions

250g/ 9oz carrots

1 fresh or dried bay leaf

handful fresh thyme sprigs

300ml/ 1/2 pint good quality beef stock (I used a Knorr beef stock pot)

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

250g button mushrooms

For the cobbler

200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp mixed herbs
2 tsp oil
150ml plain, unsweetened yoghurt

Method

1. Mix the beef with the flour and some salt and pepper. An easy way to do this without making too much mess is to put everything into a large food bag, seal, then shake well.

2. Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large heatproof casserole up to a medium heat, then add half of the beef, shaking off the excess flour and keeping the chunks well-spaced so they fry rather than sweat. The original recipe says to brown for about 10 minutes, but it didn’t take that long so just cook until golden-brown all over.

3. Transfer the first batch of meat to a bowl, then add a splash of brown ale or water to the pan and scrape up any meaty bits. Tip the liquid into the bowl of meat. Wipe out the pan with some kitchen paper, then add a tablespoon of oil and brown the second batch of beef. When the beef is golden-brown transfer it to the bowl and set aside. Repeat until all the beef is cooked.

4. Chop the garlic, onion, and carrots into chunky pieces. Add the final spoon of oil to the pan and heat gently. Add the vegetables and herbs to the pan and fry to soften for a few minutes.

5. Put the beef back into the pan. Pour in the stock and brown ale, then add the tomato purée and balsamic vinegar. If necessary, add a little more stock or hot water to ensure the meat is covered in liquid (this will prevent the beef from drying out). Bring to the boil then cover and simmer the stew for 1-1½ hours until the beef is almost tender and the sauce has thickened. Chop the mushrooms in half and then add about half an hour in, stirring well.

6. The original recipe then says to set aside to cool, overnight if possible. But we wanted to have this for dinner (and I hadn’t started it early enough) so I just put some of it into an oven proof dish whilst making the cobbler. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6.

7. Make the cobbler dough by sifting plain flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the herbs. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and yoghurt, bringing it all together to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and cut into rounds, and then place them on top of the meat.

8. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cobbler is golden brown. Enjoy!

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If you’re looking for a bit of sweet comfort food, then look no further! This recipe is from the BBC Food website and serves 6, but we just halved the amounts here (and left out the raisins because Tom doesn’t like them!). We had a huge batch of cooking apples from our neighbour, so I made a big pan of stewed apple and froze the rest of it, so there will be plenty of Eve’s pudding (and crumble) for us – yay!

Ingredients

6 large Bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced
200g/7oz unsalted butter, softened
110g/4oz brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
large pinch ground cinnamon
140g/5oz raisins
200g/7oz self raising flour.
4 free-range eggs
vanilla ice cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Grease a large serving dish with 25g/1oz of the butter then scatter in the apple slices. Sprinkle over one or two tablespoons of the brown sugar, the golden syrup, cinnamon and finally the raisins.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat together the remaining butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then use a large metal spoon to gently fold in the flour.

4. Spoon the batter over the apples and gently even out with the back of the spoon.

5. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden-brown and cooked through. Serve warm with ice cream.

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As many of you know, I’m always on the look-out for new recipes to try – especially if they are healthy and low-cost! We went to Edinburgh for my birthday earlier in the month and I spotted this recipe in the Observer Food Monthly magazine (click the link for the online version). Tom made it for dinner one night last week and it was so easy and really delicious! When he got home he realised that he had forgotten to buy yoghurt for the cobbler, so we improvised by using a splash of semi-skimmed milk and some grated cheddar cheese and they tasted really good. As I’m not a huge fan of mustard, we grated a little nutmeg into the cobbler mix.

The author of this recipe, Miss South, used leftover cooked chicken for this recipe – we just used 3 chicken breasts as we didn’t have any pre-cooked chicken. This recipe is so easy that it can be made on a weeknight, which is always a bonus! We had some leftover too so that was boxed up and packed away in the freezer for another day.

Ingredients

1 leek, chopped
1/2 brown onion, chopped
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
25g butter (plus 10g for sweating the vegetables)
25g plain flour
285ml milk
285ml stock
2 tsp oil
Cooked chicken (or 3-4 chicken breasts, cut into medium sized pieces)
Worcestershire sauce (or our alternative, Henderson’s Relish)
Salt and pepper
Tarragon (we used mixed herbs because the supermarket was all out of tarragon!)

For the cobbler

200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp oil
150ml plain, unsweetened yoghurt

Method

1. Sweat the chopped vegetables in about 10g of the butter until softened (this takes around 10 minutes).

2. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. While the vegetables are sweating, make your white sauce. Melt the butter in a pan, add in the flour and combine, cooking for 1-2 minutes until the roux looks glossy. Remove from the heat, whisking in the liquid gently to make sure there are no lumps. Return to the heat and bring just to the boil to help it thicken. Cook out on a low heat for about 8-10 minutes.

3. Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the chicken (if using pre-cooked chicken, flake and toss in the pan with the vegetables). Once browned, add the chicken and juices to the vegetables, adding Worcestershire sauce and seasoning. Add the white sauce and herbs, stir well and leave to simmer.

4. Make the cobbler dough by sifting plain flour, baking powder and mustard powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and yoghurt, bringing it all together to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and cut into rounds.

5. Put the chicken and vegetables into an oven-proof dish and place the cobbler rounds on top. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with some steamed green vegetables and enjoy!

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Ingredients

4 Bramley Apples (with caster sugar to sweeten and a squeeze of lemon juice)

Cold water (enough to just cover one layer of apples in a pan)

200g plain flour

100g butter

100g dark muscovado sugar (or soft brown sugar)

100g oats (optional)

1-2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Method

1. Peel the apples and chop into fairly small pieces. Place in a medium/large sized pan and add a squeeze of lemon juice – this stops the apple from going brown. There have been many occasions when I haven’t had a lemon, so I discovered that using golden caster sugar hides the slight browning.

2. Then add just enough cold water to cover the apple. Always be sparing with water – it is much better to add more later if needed, as you can’t take it out once it is in!

3. Cover the apples with caster sugar. I don’t usually measure this out, I just do it by eye. As with the water, you can always add more later if you prefer your apple sweeter.

4. Leave to simmer on a low heat. Whilst the apples are cooking you can start to make the crumble mix – and also pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.

5. Rub the butter and flour together until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add in the sugar (if you’re using the dark muscovado you might need to bash any bigger sugar lumps with a wooden spoon) and any optional ingredients such as oats and cinnamon.

6. The apple is cooked when you can squash it with the back of a wooden spoon. I like my apple quite chunky, but if you prefer it a little smoother then you can just give it a good stir. Put the apple into an oven-proof dish and pour over the crumble mixture (remember to box up some apple and crumble mix in separate boxes if you’re freezing some).

7. Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy with custard and a cuppa (or ice-cream and a coffee if you prefer!).

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