Cooking ?

What I have been doing today is

 

 Well, apart from mending my larger outdoor model aircraft (which I managed to plant in the farmer's field fairly close to our runway!!) and building my new plane of course, I have been cooking. I haven't always liked cooking, I think it probably started at the same time as my vegetable garden got under way. I tend to do most of the cooking in our house now. My wife, being a music teacher, is normally gainfully employed and it makes sense to us that it's me that makes the cakes and the dinners. Actually I quite enjoy it, as long as I have the time to do it properly. I'm not a put something together quickly kind of cook.  I tend to decide what's for dinner every morning, and if I can do some of it when I have some spare time during the day, then all the better.

I AM A PIE MAN !!  I love making and eating pies, chicken and leek, steak and kidney, mince and onion, cheese and onion, you name it I make and eat it. I quite enjoy making cakes too, in fact I'll cook anything that will be appreciated by the family. A couple of years ago, I did indulge myself and bought "Perfect Pies", a cookbook written by a couple of guys, who like me have a penchant for pies, they call themselves "The Hairy Bikers", and they are hairy and ride motorbikes, makes sense doesn't it ?

 

Well, true to form, tonight was chicken and leek pie,  you have to understand it's not always pies, but we just happened to have some leftover chicken, so I made one. I also made some Eccles cakes which are a traditional type of small cake originating from a town in England called Eccles.

 

 

 

That's them, They may not look to pretty, but the taste is sublime.

If you want to have a go, here is the recipe. 

 

 

Pastry. make by hand NOT machine.

8oz plain flour.

6oz butter.

Place butter in FREEZER for an hour or so and grate into flour, don't grate it all at once, gently stir in the grated butter a little at a time so that each individual piece is covered in flour ( I use a knife to move the butter through the flour) add sufficient enough cold water to bring the dough together and place in fridge to rest.

 

Filling. (should be enough for about 18 cakes)

 

3oz butter

3oz soft brown sugar

2oz chopped mixed peel

5oz mixed dried fruit (currants, raisins etc.)

1tsp powdered cinnamon

Half teaspoon grated nutmeg

grated rind of an orange or lemon

 

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add and stir all the other ingredients in, leave to cool completely.

Roll out the pastry to about the thickness of an english pound coin (sorry, haven't a clue what that would be in American money) and cut out circles about 4 inches in diameter. Place some of the filling in the centre of each circle, and after brushing some milk around the edge, bring up the pastry and seal it, to form a round ball. I then place the ball on a floured surface (joint side down) and lightly pat it into a flat round shape about 3 inches in diameter. ( don't worry if the dried fruit shows through a bit) Place these on a baking tray (I use grease proof paper cos they always leak) and slash the tops of each one three times, brush with milk, sprinkle with brown sugar (not too much) and bake in the oven at about 220 deg.C for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

  A taste of old England.

Let cool and I hope you enjoy.