I made my pastry today. I use half the weight of fat to flour. I used half a kilo of plain value flour and a quarter of a kilo of fat (half butter/half lard) and a pinch of salt. I make it in the food processor. I handle it less that way and it’s light and crispy. I bake my pies in old fashioned enameled dishes so the pastry cooks through.
To make the pie filling.
Saute one finely chopped onion,
Fry off 375g of braising steak
Finally, cut the kidneys into cubes - I cut round the sinewy core and bin the middle.
Add two stock cubes and top up with water.
Simmer for 2-3 hours. You want the meat in chunks but soft.
Finally, I use gravy granules to thicken the gravy.
Leave to cool for a bit and then fill the pies.
I topped the pies and baked them. They will be frozen and when we want them, we will de-frost them and place them in a medium oven for 30 - 45 minutes to warm all the way through. My food has simple ingredients and although you would only need a small portion of this, it’s pretty wholesome.
I often get asked about baking for children and I like muffins as you can control the portion size. I make 12 deep muffins with 8oz SR flour, 8oz of butter, 2oz caster sugar, 4 eggs and a splash of vanilla extract all creamed together and then I add a punnet of defrosted blueberries. The fruit is expensive and grated chocolate or raisins could be used instead but I’m trying to make a healthy snack. Even with a £1.99 punnet of fruit, 12 blueberry muffins still cost £3.00 and 25p each!
Here’s one of my finished Steak and Kidney pies. I’ll pop the tin into a plastic bag and freeze them both……the S&K will remind me of the filling!
I’ve also made Scotch eggs. Some of you will not know what these are. They are sausage meat, wrapped around a hard boiled egg, covered in bread crumbs and baked. Usually, these are deep fried but they are calorific enough without frying them! I hard boiled five eggs and left them to cool.
I rolled them in beaten egg. I then rolled them in homemade bread crumbs. I took three slices of granary bread and blitzed them in the food processor and then rolled the sausage and egg into the bread crumbs and placed them on a baking tray. I always use greaseproof paper as it makes the pans easier to clean and the baked goods don’t stick.
I also made some spicy koftkas.
I placed 350g of minced beef into a bowl and added:
1 tablespoon of minced ginger,
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of garlic granules,
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes,
1 teaspoon of dried corriander leaf,
and I worked it all together with my hands and formed them into balls.
These are great in wraps with salad and garlic mayo or mint and yoghurt dressing. These are also for our day out tomorrow.
Below are the finished pasties.
Here are the Scotch Eggs with one of the koftkas next to them so you can see the size.
Scotch eggs on the inside. If you’ve never made your own then now is the time! There we go, I think that 1-0 victory to homemade on quality and price. It’s not just about the cost, it’s about knowing what we are feeding to our children and knowing we’re eating good quality food with the shortest food chain possible!
Over to you, what do you make for picnics or days out? Do you take your own or succumb to cafes and take aways? We sometimes buy a coffee for the sake of a sit down somewhere dry and warm but usually take our own food (no we don’t eat it in the cafe!!!!!!!!!!!!) which we’ll eat somewhere sat outside.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mmmmm I am hungry now it all looks delicious. I love scotch eggs but have never tried a homemade one so I think I will be trying this recipe out in the very near future xxx
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Love scotch eggs. If these are as good as your faggots recipe I will be making tomorrow. I must try the pastry as I make pasties but use shop bought puff. Lovely recipes Froogs, you are good.
Much love and thanks
FIB. X
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I make Scotch Eggs, think I prefer homemade! I'm just off to make a cake for my friends birthday tomorrow. Please could you point me in the direction of your Faggot recipe.
Julie xxxxxxxx
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Mmm, now you make me hungry…
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Made your Italian meatballs with chunky veg sauce for supper today - very well received by OH. Today's frugal tip for baking: don't buy caster sugar - it's cheaper to make your own by blitzing granulated in a food processor.
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Tomorrow we are having a C+H pie for lunch. Like you I put initials on the top before freezing - made with leftover chicken and the end bits of a ham joint. Today we had soup made by blitzing the leftover veg&gravy from sunday's lunch, along with extra chicken stock and a sauteed onion.
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Blackberries make a great substitute for blueberries, and when picked in season and frozen, are free.
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After making your sausage and bbq bean pasties this week which were a hit, I am going to try the scotch eggs as have some 20p sausagemeat in the freezer.
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Oh man you are good!!!!! You have got a talent there!
WE love packing picnics (incl all our great second hand picnic ware!).. going into a cafe in a park/playground totally ruins the picnicky atmosphere!
We often do fruit kebabs for the kids, bacon and egg pies and some type of shortcake or slice.. Those are our favs. A large round focaccia (homemade) sliced and filled, then cut into wedges or a 'pull apart' bread/bacon/cheese/herbs thing.. Muffins and scones good too, of course!
Happy Days!
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Your recipes have saved me many a night when late home Froogs!!!
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I wasn't hungry until I read this post. I want to come to your place or go on a picnic with you. If I bring some champers and witty conversation, can I share in your home cooked yummies? (While the champers may be questionable - read Australian sparkling wine - the conversation will not. I promise!)
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Some brilliant ideas and recipes there, I think I'll give the Scotch Eggs a go, but using our Bantam eggs so they will be nice and small.
(You'll have John round drooling over his computer screen when he sees home made Scotch Eggs, you know how much he loves them.)
The quality of all your ingredients and finished foods really stands out. Sometimes being frugal in some ways means absolutely luxury in others.
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Oh Yum! Some great ideas I need to try. Haven't had scotch eggs for years.
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Wow, what a great lunch for your day out Froogs, you are an inspiration.
Just wondering, on your blog, is it possible for you to put up a couple of days posts at a time? I love to know if I have missed out on your great tips.
Julie Q
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What a great post, I'm inspired! I agree with you on the pies, I always make my own not just because of the quality and price but also because a supermarket “family size” is nowhere near big enough for my family! I make cakes and sausage rolls every week for school packed lunches but I haven't made a scotch egg since I was at school, I didn't realise they could be oven baked - I'll be trying that this week! Thank you for the inspiration.
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Those koftas look brilliant - I'm going to try and make them with veggy mince. xx
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All looks lovely! My cooking never quite looks like that despite the effort I put in.
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I have attempted to make Scotch Eggs at home as they are not to be found in most grocery stores in Wisconsin. 😉 Can you please post your entire recipe? It almost looked like you had floured the meat before wrapping and I am also curious as to how long and what temp I should bake them. I tried the fry thing and the meat split and then before the inside was done the outside was black. John Grey speaks so eloquently of the marvel of the Scotch Egg that I must have one that is similar to what he can buy in the store. 😉 Thanks and love your recipes.
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buy sausage meat and roll out or pat into a flat shape with floured fingers,
Wrap around the egg as if moulding clay
roll in beaten egg
roll in bread crumbs
bake in medium oven for 20 minutes - the egg is cooked and sausage meat cooks quickly
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Himself HATES Scotch eggs but has only ever tried the flourescent orange ones. Maybe I could convert him wit these.
Can you please send me a pasty. The ones we get in Ireland are DIRE. Also, I can't find beef skirt. Do you know if it might be known by another name?
As always, Froogs….Nom and triple Nom!
Hope you had a nice day out. We went to the beach and it was gorgeous!
Katsie
x
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Hi Poppy - look to the right of the screen and see archives - you can see all of my blog from 2009 to today.
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A frugal way with lemons: Freeze whole (scrub first) then grate from frozen whenever lemon is needed. When they get too small to grate I still keep the bits in the freezer and use them to stuff the cavity of a chicken. I then rub the skin with ras-el-hanout spice mixture and roast as usual for a Middle Eastern flavour. The bits of lemon help to offset any fattiness. After cooking and stripping off the meat, I boil up the carcase with the lemon to make stock. Once the liquid has cooled I remove remaining bits of meat before finally discarding bones and lemon and, voila, the basis of soup.
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Oh, that's made me feel hungry. I frequently cook from scratch and always make to take on picnic. Why? Firstly, because it means a massive cost saving but secondly, my children both have food allergies (DD - wheat, oats, dairy and DS - wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs and soya) and I have no confidence that I will be able to find anything that's 100% safe for my son to eat in particular.
Might have to try some of these - all cunningly adapted to meet our dietary needs of course
Rx
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My best friend was just telling me how to make Scotch eggs and I'm going to try them with my homemade turkey sausage. Thanks for giving the visual to go with her directions.
My family always prefers homemade to purchased. Thanks for reminding me to get the oven going today and bake some muffins for them.
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Thanks! I will try baking them and see how it goes. I think my first attempt I made the sausage layer too thick which could have been part of my problems as well.
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youve inspired me to start batch cooking, i have a young baby and a toddler so the time I have to cook each day is really restricted. Pies and pasties here I come…out of interest what do you normally have with them? veg? I am also on a weight loss mission so very interested
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If I make pasties in Scotland. can I call them Cornish Pasties, bearing in mind I am a Cornish boy through and through?
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