Bacon And Egg Muffins

Another Recipe Here, now I will admit that these are a bit of an acquired taste, as they do taste like bacon and egg locked away inside a soft muffin. Great with breakfasts, but they have an unusual texture due to the Polenta. But if you don't mind a certain texture, then these should be perfect. They should keep for a few days, and are great whether you want to eat them with dinner or not! Dead easy to make, if you're a fan of these savoury treats then this should be one to add to the recipe books!

Ingredients (Makes 12 Muffins);

• 125g Bacon, Diced
• 150g Polenta
• 150g Plain Flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 2 Large Eggs, slightly beaten
• 230ml Milk
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 tsp Maple Syrup
• 1 tbsp Chopped Fresh Herbs, e.g Basil

First put the bacon in a large Frying pan, and fry until crisp and golden. Remove bacon, and put onto a separate plate. If there is any oil in the pan, keep it. Add the vegetable oil to the pan. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7 / 220'C / 425'F. Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and add the crispy bacon, eggs, milk, bacon fat or oil, syrup and herbs. Mix quickly to make a course streaky Batter. Don't beat the mixture or overmix it. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden or just firm to the touch. After full cooling, they can be frozen for up to a month. As always, Enjoy!

Make sure the pieces of bacon are nice and small, and you can use the bacon fat into the pan as well, so don't discard it

It is easy to burn the bacon, so be careful when heating it up, and keep moving it around the pan

All The dry ingredients go into a bowl to be roughly mixed together with a wooden spoon

Now add the other ingredients, and mix it quickly for the batter to form correctly

The batter will be streaky, and is slightly gritty in texture due to the polenta, this is what you want

Fill the muffin cases about 2 thirds full and bake in the oven....

Enjoy warm immediately, or within 24 hours. Or freeze them for up to a month

Comfort Food Cassoulet

Now, if you're in search of a healthy, hearty meal, that is rich and juicy then this is just the thing. Comprising everything that one could want in a dish, I will admit that I was a little sceptical, as this isn't the sort of thing that I usually go for. However, I adapted it slightly to fit a palette and when I tasted it, I would happily have paid a tenner for this in a restaurant, and still wanted seconds. It a great feast for friends and family coming over, and is sure to put smiles on faces, and a warm feeling in everyone's tum. 

Ingredients (Serves 6-8); 

• 5 x 220g Tins of Butterbeans in water
• 2 Gammon Steaks
• 4 tbsp Olive Oil
• 8-Pack of Thick Pork Sausages
• 2 Onions, Chopped
• 1 Large Carrot, Chopped
• 4-6 Garlic Cloves, Crushed
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 2 tsp Dried Thyme
• 2 Whole Cloves
• 3 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 12 Sun-dried Tomatoes in Oil, Drained and coarsely chopped
• 75g White Breadcrumbs
• 50g Butter
• Freshly Ground Salt and Pepper

Use a large, Deep Casserole Dish

Preheat the Oven to Gas Mark 4 / 350'F / 180'C. Drain all the tins of Beans in a cullender and leave to drain while you prepare the other ingredients. Remove the Rind of the Gammon Steaks (I chucked mine out for the birds, very good for them ;) ) and cut the flesh into large pieces straight into a large saucepan. Add 2 tbsp of the Olive Oil to the pan and brown all the pieces. Then place them on a separate plate. Leave the Oil in the pan and add the last tablespoons.  Cut the sausages into quarters and add to the pan. Brown these in he same way, and add to the plate with the gammon. Next, add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, tomato puree, carrot, dried thyme and cloves to the pan and stir together. Then add the Sun-dried tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes until everything starts to soften. Remove the bay leaves and cloves, so no one gets a nasty surprise in their dinner.

Now Assemble the dish. Put half the beans in the base of the casserole dish, followed by an even layer of all the meats. Season this well to taste with salt and pepper, and cover with the remaining beans. Then add enough hot water to the dish so that the beans are almost covered. Sprinkle evenly with the breadcrumbs and chop the butter into pieces and scatter evenly over the top. Leave the lid off and bake in the oven for about 1 hour, until the top is crispy and golden. And as always, Enjoy!

 Drain the beans well, and hake a few times if necessary to remove the excess liquid

Only Just brown the meat, as you don't want it to burn, and gammon doesn't brown that well so down;t be tempted to overcook it

Do the same with the sausages, which can be painful, and I had to avoid many spitting attempts. Just brown them again, as they will cook later and remove to the same plate as the gammon

Mix all the ingredients together to make a beautiful tomatoey mixture. Don't over-mix, just make sure they are all combined, and cook until the carrot just starts to soften

First half the beans base the dish..

Next, all the meats make the next layer...

Followed by all the onion and vegetable mixture. By now you can tell this is gonna be good...

And finally the last of the beans...

Now fill mostly up with hot water, until only a few beans are exposed

Add the breadcrumbs and dot with the butter

Awwwww Yeah!!! The top should be crispy and irresistible... Serve warm with anything of your choice!

Peach Pie with Lattice Crust

Alright, looking back at my previous posts, it would seem to me that the layout is rather difficult to understand, therefore to try and make things simpler and therefore less time consuming and effortless, I will put the ingredients and recipes first, and thendo the step-by-step of the more confusing parts :) Hope you enjoy this rather delicious and sumptuous dish. I certainly did! The filling is rich and creamy with the soft and beautiful peaches :D

First The Delicious Flaky Crust;

• 2-4 tbsp Ice Water
• 260g Plain Flour
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 113g Cold Unsalted Butter
• 100g Vegetable Shortening
• Egg Wash made using 1 egg yolk mixed with a tbsp of water

In a Bowl, mix together the sugar and salt and half the flour. Cut the cold butter into small pieces so that it can be easily incorporated. Using a wooden spoon, mash the butter into the mixture so that it is flattened and eventually becomes crumbly. Do this by adding just a piece at a time into the mixture until you've used all the butter. Next, do the same with the shortening, by cutting and mashing it into the mixture until it is all incorporated. You'll probably find that no matter how hard you try to crush all the mixture, there will be lumps. Just crush as many of these with your fingers as you can so that the mixture is as smooth as possible. 

Now add the rest of the flour and sprinkle with half the water. Use your hands to create the large doughball and squeeze it against the sides of the bowl so you have all the mixture. The dryer it is the better and its good to see crumbs in the bottom of the bowl. However, if the mixture is not forming the dough then add water, but just a drop a time as over-watering it is not good!

Refrigerate for about 30 mins. Afterwards, take out of the fridge and either place on a non-stick mat or a well floured surface. Cut the mixture in half and put in the fridge. Roll out the remaining piece into an oval shape, then flip over and roll the other way to create a circle. Keep flouring the mixture so it doesn't stick. Then is the tricky bit, after greasing the pie dish, flip it over into the dish. Make up any cracks or rips with other pieces of spare dough, and make it as even as possible. Remove excess from the edge of the dish and refrigerate again, while you make the filling. 

Cut the Butter into pieces about this large so that they can be easily mashed into the mixture










Using your spoon, crush the butter into the mixture. It time consuming, but well worth the effort as it will ensure the perfect flaky crust

The will make the mixture rather crumbly. The colder all the ingredients are, the better the crust quality will be

Roll it into a ball so the dough can be easily refrigerated

Roll the dough out, first into an oval, and then flip it over and do the same to make a circle

After flipping it into the dish, remove the excess on the edges and use it to patch up any problems, ready so that you can put the filling in

Okay, now for the Good bit, the creamy and delicious filling. I have to say that it was very difficult for me to stop tasting this. It is Awesome!!!

Peach Pie Filling;

• 3 tins of Tinned Sliced Peaches either in syrup or in juice
• 270g Sugar
• 5 tbsp Plain Flour
• 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 3 tbsp Butter

First, drain the peaches well so that there is as little juice as possible left. Then cut the already Sliced peaches again lengthways and then again about 4 times to make small cubes of peaches. Into a large Saucepan put the peaches, sugar, flour and nutmeg and stir together gently. Let it rest for about 25 minutes in which time you should get a slightly peachy syrup. Then using a slotted spoon, move the peaches into another bowl and bring the liquid in the pan to a boil. Very quickly the mixture will thicken dramatically into a sugary glob. This is what you want. Stir in the peaches and cook on a lower temperature for about 2 minutes. 

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla until the butter melts, then let it cool slightly. 

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7 / 425'F / 220'C and take the cooled crust out of the fridge. Then pour the mixture, (which is Very difficult not just to eat on its own) into the pie crust. Take the remaining piece of pastry and roll out on a well floured surface. Roll out to about 4mm thick so it won't tear or break and place over the pie with 5 strips going one way, and 4 going the other. Then use the egg glaze from earlier to brush over the pie so when it cooks it will go a gorgeous golden brown. Pinch the edges of the strips to the base to seal the pastry. Bake at Gas Mark 7 / 425'F / 220'C for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to Gas Mark 4 / 350'F / 180'C and bake for another 25-35 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling is starting to bubble. Wait for it to cool for 2 hours and Enjoy with Ice Cream or Cream!

Idea; With any leftover pastry, you can make 'cup-pies' with a little of the leftover filling if you like with small lattice crusts in a muffin tin

Drain the Peaches in a cullender and shake a few times to remove excess juice

Chop up the peaches so that they become small cubes of fruity gorgeousness

Put the ingredients into a large saucepan and mix together, as seen below

This will create a creamy sauce that is really really delicious

Using a slotted spoon, put the peaches into another bowl while you boil the liquid

Very Quickly, the sugar with form this peachy glaze which is very thick and very tempting

Add the butter and mix until it's all melted, this will liquify the mixture slightly

Pour the mixture into the pastry dish  and save some for later if you wish to make cup-pies

Use a sharp knife to cut the strips from the other half of the pastry, and use a palette knife to lift them from the surface, arranging the pieces over the pie. Remember that some pieces need to be longer than others

 ENJOY!

Here are some of the Cup-pies I made, they were very crumbly, but very good