Gluten Free Beef brisket, carrot and celery pie - with a delicious pastry top

I recently cooked a small brisket of beef in the slow cooker and this pie is using some of the left over meat from the joint, I actually managed to stretch the meat to 3 separate meals, along with this pie I also served the meat simply with gravy like a roast dinner and in a pan haggerty (that's a post for another day).

Brisket isn't the cheap cut it used to be but its reliable easy to cook especially if you use a slow cooker like I do and it produces delicious gravy too. I just cooked the brisket for 6 hours on high after smothering the join in a mix of Dijon mustard, BBQ spice rub, tomato ketchup and maple syrup. I didn't add an extra liquid.

This is frugal dish as it used a fairly small quantity of meat, the leftover gravy and carrots and celery to bulk up the pie filling. I then created a gluten free pastry top and if I do say so myself it tasted pretty amazing.

Fresh out of the oven 

If you don't have left over brisket or roast beef then this pie could be made with minced beef or lamb and any suitable vegetables you have to hand. The gluten free pastry was very well behaved, the secret being allowing it to rest in the fridge for about half an hour before rolling out and a liberally brushing with an egg glaze before baking so you achieve a beautiful golden top.

What you need 

For the pie filling

• Quantity of left over beef -chopped into bite sized pieces
• Carrots and celery - parboiled until just tender
• Gravy - I used thickened cooking juices

For the pastry

• 225g Gluten free flour (I mix my own)
• 110g Butter
• 20g Parmesan cheese - finely grated
• 1 free range egg - beaten (reserve a little for glazing the pie)
• A little cold water
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1/4 tsp xanthum gum

What you do

• Preheat the oven to 180c
• Mix your pie filling and place in your pie dish
• Sieve the flour, xanthum gum, salt into a bowl, add the Parmesan cheese
• Rub the fat into the flour mixture until its resembles fine breadcrumbs
• Add the egg and enough water to to form a soft dough
• Once you have formed your dough, Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
• Once rested roll out on a well floured surface and top your selected pie dish, crimp and trim and then glaze with a little beaten egg. 
• Make a couple of cuts in the pastry top to allow steam to escape. With some of your spare pastry why not form some creative pastry shapes.
• Bake for 35-45 minutes or so until golden and cooked through
• Serve immediately

The pastry is deliciously savoury,short yet flaky and undetectable as gluten free. The pastry does require slightly more gentle rolling out for its well worth the effort.

With an eye to Valentine's day I decorated my pie with hearts, as its made with love. 

Lamb and Butter bean casserole

The season of stews and casseroles is now well established and more and more I am craving comfort food , you can't beat that smug satisfied feeling of walking through the door after a busy day at work to be greeted by the aroma of a wholesome stew or casserole ready in the slow cooker. Lamb is one of my favourite meats as it reared so well locally , the butter beans are  to provide a lovely nutritious plumper to the casserole.

If you don't have a slow cooker don't despair this casserole also cooks beautifully in the oven too in about 2 1/2 hours, so its just a case of planning ahead a bit.

Ingredients

• Diced casserole lamb - ask your butcher for whats best value
• Butter beans - either a drained tin, or  dried and soak your own overnight until plump
• 1/2 a can or bottle of beer - I used Murphy's stout but  a mild is nice too, or even a local brown ale, just watch the sweetness of the resulting sauce
• Stock - lamb or vegetable, I used E cuisines - vegetable - 150mls approx
• 2 sticks of celery - chopped
• Tin of chopped tomatoes
• Onion - peeled , sliced and roughly chopped
• Garlic - couple of cloves- crushed
• Parsley - fresh or dried
• Thyme - fresh or dried
• Bay leaf
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sunflower oil

Method

• Heat a little oil in a large frying pan
• Fry off the diced lamb until it is well coloured, drain and remove from pan to your waiting slow cooker. If you are using a slow cooker your  ovenproof casserole dish.
• In the same pan, now add the celery, onion and garlic and cook until softened, again add to your slow cooker or dish.
• Now de-glaze the pan with your beer, tomatoes and stock , bring this to a gentle simmer and add all the other ingredients to the pan, except for the butter beans.
• Pour this into your slow cooker or oven proof dish, add the butter beans and stir to mix together.
• Cook on high in to your slow cooker for approx 6 hours ( could be longer) or if using a conventional oven for approximately 2 1/2 hours on 150C fan
• Your casserole is ready when the lamb is melting tender and the beans soft and yielding.
• If using a regular oven you may need to add more stock if the casserole becomes a little dry
• Serve accompanied by some great bread and green vegetables.

Celery, apple and Lancashire Cheese salad

Celery is a pretty underrated vegetable. Most the recipes you see it in are for some form of waldorf salad , well my hubby doesn't like nuts so that crosses most of them of the list straight away, most also feature mayonniase too. I like the combination of celery and apple so I thought I would combine this with a good Lancashire cheese and see what I got.

Fenland Celery is a hierloom variety , that has a beautiful nutty mellow flavour and is crunchy and not at all stringy, so special that protective geographical indication status has been applied for.

The resulting salad was delicious and crunchy, dressed with rapeseed and balsamic vinegar.

Celery cake

As I love all things baking and having been kindly sent a sample of Fenland Celery to experiment with, its an heirloom variety grown in a traditional way, so special that PGI status has been applied for. I thought I would have a go at a celery cake. Yuck, I hear you all cry, after a little searching on the internet I discovered a few recipes which use celery as a baking ingredient, all are from the USA where people experiment a little more than here. The recipe uses mayonnaise as its fat / oil content, but don't let that put you off, I have done other mayonnaise recipes before and they have always turned out fine, the chocolate one being the best (of course). But that's a post for another day. I am using american cups so the recipe is a doddle to follow.

Ingredients

• 3 cups plain flour - sifted
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs free range
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup mayonnaise ( low fat is fine)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups apples, peeled, cored and  diced
• 1/2 cup celery - finely diced

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C, oil and flour a 9 inch round cake tin.

Beat your eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy, now add the mayonnaise and beat until well incorporated. Now add your flour and milk in thirds, beating after each addition. Fold in your apple and celery and pour in your prepared tin, bake in for approximately 1 hour to 1 hour 15 until well rise, golden and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool initially in the tin, carefully remove after 15 mins and finish cooling on a wire rack.

If you want to ice, mix apple juice with icing sugar and drizzle on top. 


The resulting is delicious and moist  !!!