Sunday is usually the day that I bake and do various other food preparations for the forthcoming week, but today my kitchen has been taken over by engines and gear-boxes and various oil-stained rags, so I'm steering well clear. My partner and I are currently living in a one-bedroom flat which is lovely, though slightly small and it lacks one key thing - a garage. The lad likes to restore classic vehicles in his spare time (well, I say enjoy - and I suppose he must because surely he wouldn't persist if he didn't - but the number of profanities and general mutterings and aggressive crashes of metal on metal would seem to anyone else to be a sign that he didn't really enjoy it. I've learnt to just ignore it and consider it all par for the course - if he was really as miserable as he often sounds to me then he wouldn't keep at it. And it all tends to turn out ok in the end. But I digress...) and as we currently don't have a garage, and it isn't warm enough outdoors to work out there, we are sort of sharing the kitchen. I'm vaguely used to this, since on more than one occasion (in flats where we did have a garage) I've come home to find bearings in my freezer and engine or gear box casings in my oven...some would find that odd, I'm sure, but I'm a fairly flexible sort. Anyway, today seems to be a big day of gear-box reconstruction, so, as I said, I'm not spending any time in the kitchen. But I thought I'd post a recipe that I'm using for dinner tonight. It's a super handy recipe that the original* calls a 'cobbler' topping. To me a cobbler is sweet and often made with peaches, and this is its savoury counterpart I suppose. It's a bit of a cross between pastry and bread that you can use to put on top of any stew/casserole you like. Tonight I'm putting it on top of the left-over beef and ale casserole that is in the fridge, but it goes wonderfully on chicken casserole, chilli mixtures and I'm sure it would be great on any sort of tomatoey, vege stew too (if you're vegetarian). You can change the herbs to suit the filling, or leave it completely plain if you prefer. It's infinitely simpler than pastry, more filling, lower in fat and will (oddly, I think, given its simplicity) bring you the same praise that making home-made pastry tends to. Give it a go next time you have left-overs you're not sure what to do with.
Cobblerish Topping
1 1/4 cups flour
1 rounded tsp baking powder
75g butter
pinch of herbs or 1/2 cup grated cheese
cold water, to mix
Sift dry ingredients together. Rub in butter (you could grate it in if you didn't fancy rubbing it). Add herbs/cheese and enough cold water to form a soft dough (rather like scone dough). Roll it out to fit the dish your casserole mixture is in. Place over filling and score a couple of times in the top. Bake at 200deg (C) for 15-20 mins or until topping is risen and lightly golden, and the filling is piping hot.
NB. The raw dough freezes well, if you're super organised and fancy having pre-made pies in the freezer.
*thanks to Destitute Gourmet from whom I have appropriated the recipe.
Mmm, sounds so simple and yet delicious, definitely a great way to pep up an otherwise ordinary dish. Perfect for our current wintery weather too. And I love that it freezes well. We are going to buy a new fridge soon, and the freezer part is going to be a priority so I can be more organised in the ways you suggest. Our current fridge has a tiny section and doesn't work well, so I'm always suspicious of using things that have been in there a while.
ReplyDeleteI’m a freezer nut…dreadful for ferreting away small portions of leftovers that never get used later. But I do use it for useful things too – and I’d hate to be without one! Did you read that article on the NYTimes food blog the other day about freezing stuff? Super useful info. The only thing I do in addition to what he suggested is freezing 1-2 person sized portions (the size of a takeaway rice container from the local Indian shop in fact). That way when you want rice it’s only 2 mins in the microwave away. So much cheaper and nicer than buying those pouches of microwave rice at the supermarket. (Gosh I’m a real geek aren’t I? Ah well…) This is the link to the article if you haven’t already read it: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/dining/06mini.html?_r=1
ReplyDeleteHe’s also got a fabulous photo essay on the sandwich on there….
Thanks for this link. BTW, do you know if there is anyway I can get alerts after I've left a comment so I know when you have replied or if someone else leaves a comment after me? I often forget to check back.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry - I just found how to do that! ("Subscribe by email").
ReplyDelete