Naughty naughty

[idun]

As they say a little of what you fancy does you good, and I certainly feel good now, but naughty treats, are not really 'good', so I had small portions and I enjoyed every last bite.

We had anglo franco meal tonight. Beef pie, with a rich gravy and veg,  followed by Tarte Tatin and cream, absolutely delicious.  

[audio]

Hi Idun,

Care to share your recipe for your Beef pie, with a rich gravy and veg, followed by Tarte Tatin and cream? It sounds good and I need a change from the usual boring stuff

[idun]

Nothing special really. Some good lean stewing beef. I am a terrible cheat in the kitchen and do lots of things by eye.

 I boil up a small  bottle of stout and the same amount of water with a pinch of salt and pepper. Then I roughly chop a few onions and peel and slice some carrots then throw them into the boiling liquid. Then when that is boiling I throw the stewing beef that is chopped into cubes in. About a tablespoon of basil and then make sure that there is enough liquid to well cover the meat and veg and leave to mijote for three or four hours, checking for liquid.

When cooked I drain off some of the stock for gravy and thicken the remaining meat/veg andstock, can do it with gravy granules or beurre manié. Check for seasoning. Leave to cool.

Pastry.

 

Well I always make it like this for this pie.

Plain flour with a level teaspoon of baking powder or SR Flour.

A very good pinch of salt.

 

Then however much flour I use I use two thirds fat to the flour.

So maybe for a pie I would use 10oz of flour and just over 6 ozs of fat, whatever I have in, often a mix, usually half of it margarine and the rest can be solid vegetable, or lard, or butter.

Rub in.  Then add water or milk until it pulls together with little effort, but isn't claggy at all.

Roll out, as much as you need to line a tin base. Dab round the edges with milk. Put the cold meat pie mix into it and then cover, I often make the top a little thicker than the base. You may have some pastry left. 

 

Bake in preheated oven at 200°c for about 30-40 mins depending on the oven. If it browns too quickly say within ten minutes, turn the oven down a little.

Then we have whatever veg are in season or fancy.

 

Tarte Tatin. Well I would use the above pastry for this. So if you are making this too make more pastry.

 

Core, peel and slice apples, lots of them say about 8 for an 8" diameter tin, this always takes more than I initially think and I don't like mean cooking.

Then I roll out the pastry measuring it to big a little bigger than my baking tin and leave it.

I then either use a frying pan or the baking tin I am going to cook in and melt about a good tablespoon of butter with a good tablespoon of brown sugar. As it is melting I throw the apples in and get the buttery mess all over the apples and then leave to cook, turning regularly until they are golden.

Oven 200°C again. Then I put the pastry on top and bang it in the oven, takes about 20 minutes usually or until the pastry is golden.

This apple mix is great base for the following.

When it is just cooked and golden add a couple of tables spoons of maple syrup. Mix and turn the heat off and leave to cool. This can be a lovely base either under a crumble or a cake mix on top and you can have a toffee apple cake when it is turned out. When making a crumble I often put walnuts in the mix when I add the maple syrup.

 

If I have forgotten anything OR you don't understand please ask.

 

 

 

 

[woolybanana]

Would it work in a slow cooker?

[idun]

The beef and veg. Yes, if you like a slow cooker. Personally I would do the first bit of boiling up everything  and then putting it in the slow cooker. The reason being that I now have an oven on my wood burner and found that I get better results if I 'start' things before they go in. The oven usually stays at about 100° or less so I leave the stew or whatever in for about 8-10 hours and it is wonderful. The advantage is that I don't have to keep checking the liquid levels as it doesn't boil  the liquid off as it does when on a stove top, I take it that a slow cooker would be the same.

My woodburner is a Handol 26T with oven. 

[audio]

Thanks Idun,

I will give it a go next week and let you know the result.

[audio]

Idun, you’re a star. We had the beef pie tonight, excellent and very tasty as you said. Bit short of meat so added some lamb’s kidneys to keep the Brits happy and some garlic for the French.

Many thanks for your recipe, will try the tarte tartin over the weekend.

[idun]

Pleased it was good[:)]

[debbie]

Audio: I'd like to hear how your tarte tatin turns out. I did not have success. The apples burned and the whole thing stuck to the pan.

[audio]

Hi Debbie, that’s a shame. After all the work you not can’t enjoy the tart and have the aggro of scrubbing a burnt pan.

Perhaps 200 was too high if you have a fan oven, mine is and will probably need a setting of 170 but I’m no expert.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

[idun]

And that Debbie is exactly how the very first one I was served with was. Only they had unstuck the apple bit by bit and put in on the pastry. My it was chewy, but I knew that it had promise.

 

Sounds like your oven is ferocious, so turn it down. I am really sorry about this happening as it is actually a lot of work to get the apples ready. So try it on 170°. Incidentally at what temperature do you normally  bake pastry? you need the same temperature that you use for short crust or even puff pastry.Also don't let the apples get too golden when cooking in the butter and sugar.

 

 I'm sorry that happened and I hope that the next one turns out beautifully. Bon chance[:)]

[debbie]

Thanks for the advice Idun. I also used a cruset type tarte pan and have been told I should have used a non-stick one. Do you cook you apples on top of the stove first or let them cook strictly in the oven?

[idun]

I cook the apple mix  in the baking tin I'm going to use, usually tefal non stick or in a frying pan whichever, I cook tham on the stove top first, I know that some recipes say to pop the butter sugar and apples into the oven and let them do their stuff in there first then cover with the pastry and bake. Personally I prefer to see what is happening when they cook on the stove top.

Been thinking about your oven getting so hot, I bet it is good for pizzas, hard to get a normal oven that gets so hot.

[debbie]

Idun: The recipe I tried called for a 400 degrees farenheit oven which, if the conversion is right, would be 204.44 degrees celsius. Is this very hot? What oven temperature do you use? I certainly think I used the wrong pan (not a non-stick and heavy ceramic),

[idun]

Over 200°c is too hot, try between 180 and 200, I'd probably heat the oven to 200°c and then when I put it in reduce the heat to 180°. As it burned last time, then it was certainly far too hot.

I use, ceramic, I use non stick tefal and I use enamel, which ever is the size I want. If using ceramic or enamel I fry the apples with sugar and butter in a frying pan first.

 

Good luck.

[Gemonimo]

Whenever I make a Tatin like Idun I fry the apples, butter and sugar first. I then put them in a baking pan which has a circle of papier sulfurise on the bottom. After baking when the Tatin is tipped onto a serving plate, the papier sulfurise can be peeled off without anything sticking to the pan.

[debbie]

Hello Idun: I just reviewed the previous posts and found this one with your details about the tarte tatin. Thank you again for your assistance. I am going to try it again with your advice. Since I don't have a non-stick oven pan, I'll cook the apples in one on the stove top first, and reduce the oven temperature when baking.

[idun]

You would not believe how anxious this is making me now. I realised that I had my fingers crossed for you as I opened this thread.

Remember that pastry still needs a hot oven and basically that is the only thing you are cooking when you put it in, so as soon as that pastry looks cooked, slightly golden? get it out and turn it out straight away.

Best of luck and pleeeeaaaasssseee let me know how it turns out.

 

 

[debbie]

Thank you so much idun. I now have a much better understanding of the process. I absolutely will let you know.