Quiche Lorraine by The Fat Foodie
I’d made plans the other day to meet my friend in town for lunch after I’d finished my morning shift at work, but unfortunately she had to cancel, so I invited her to my house for lunch the next day instead. When I got home I was wracking my brains trying to think of something to make for our lunch and I eventually decided to go with a rich quiche lorraine.
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Pinwheel Sausage Rolls by The Fat Foodie
Sometimes there’s nothing tastier than a hot sausage roll that’s fresh out of the oven, but because they’re really rich they can sometimes sit quite heavy in your tummy. That’s where these pinwheel sausage rolls come in. When I was a kid my Mum used to make these with just sausagemeat and puff pastry and they were absolutely delicious, but my adult palate needs a little bit more excitement so I’ve tweaked the recipe to make them even better.
The pinwheel sausage rolls have dried sage incorporated within their sausagemeat filling which goes really well with the pork sausagemeat and makes them taste beautifully herby. I also added dairy-free soft cheese to the filling which adds a wonderful creamy taste and texture to them and lends a lovely contrast to the crispy puff pastry casing. You don’t need to use soft cheese if you don’t want to, they’ll still be really tasty if you leave it out, but it really is a gorgeous addition to the mix.
The beauty of these pinwheel sausage rolls is that instead of having a thick block of solid sausagemeat running through a solid pastry case, in these pinwheels the sausagemeat and cream cheese is spread between thin rolls of crispy, flaky puff pastry, making them a light and delicate, but still substantial, sage-infused sausage roll. I served mine with a simple dressed salad, but if you want a more filling meal you could serve them with vegetables and gravy. Whatever way you choose, they’ll still blow your socks off.
Ingredients:
500g block of gluten-free puff pastry
A pack of good quality sausages which are gluten-free and have no onion or garlic in their seasoning (around 350g worth)
200g of lactose-free soft cheese (or a dairy-free version)
1 tsp of dried sage (you could go up to 2 tsps if you’re a real sage fiend)
1/2 tsp ground pepper
2 tbsps of chopped chives
1 egg
12 fresh sage leaves (optional decoration)
Method:
Remove the sausages from their casings and place into a mixing bowl. Add the dried sage, ground pepper and chopped chives and mix through the sausagemeat.
Roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle.
Puff Pastry Ready for the Filling
Spread the sausagemeat onto the puff pastry and then spread the cream cheese on top.
The Sausagemeat and Cream Cheese Filling on Top of the Puff Pastry
Brush the farthest away edge of the pastry with beaten egg and roll up the pastry tightly starting from the longest edge closest to you.
The Pinwheel Sausage Rolls Being Rolled Up
Cut the pastry roll into discs around 2cm wide and place them lying down on greaseproofed baking trays.
Glaze with beaten egg and a fresh sage leaf before baking in the oven for 15-20 mins until golden brown.
Pinwheel Sausage Rolls by The Fat Foodie
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Corned Beef and Potato Pie by The Fat Foodie
I’m originally from the North East of England and as a result I was born with a love of pastry in all of its beautiful forms. Northeasterners are extremely skilled at working all types of pastry into divine concoctions. They can make delicious steak pies, mince pies and chicken pies. They can also create outstanding apple turnovers and jam tarts. However, for all that they are great at creating these wonderful delicacies, in my eyes none of these pastries compare to the humble plate pie.
Plate pie is exactly as it sounds – a pie baked on a plate, with the gentle sloping curves of the plate helping to contain the filling within a pastry casing. My Mum and Dad (both of whom are Northeasterners) are masters of the plate pie, just as their own parents were, and frequently make them for family gatherings. They often make plate pies filled with minced beef and onion, which is delicious, but my favourite is their corned beef and potato pie.
Once upon a time, it would have been necessary to peel and boil countless potatoes to make the mash for this pie, but the invention and ease of access to cheap, good quality ready-made mashed potato in our supermarkets has made the creation of this pie a much faster task than it ever was. The same can be said about the convenience of picking up a pack of ready-made (and even ready-rolled) puff or shortcrust pastry instead of having to go through the palaver of making your own. We’re truly living in exciting times, my friends!
For all that it’s now July, on the day I’m writing this the weather is, as the Scots would say, ‘dreich’ (drizzly, overcast and cold) and I’d highly recommend making this plate pie on a day such as this. The lovely warmth of the fan oven is gently circulating around the kitchen and the scent of the pie cooking is reassuring me that a good dinner will warm me up even further very soon. I’m going to serve it with steamed broccoli, thyme-infused carrots and a ‘stick to your ribs as it goes down’ rich beef gravy. And now I think of it, I’m sure there’s some rhubarb and ginger crumble left in the freezer that we can have with warm custard. Shall I set another place at the table for you?
Ingredients:
A 500g block of gluten-free puff pastry
A 340g tin of corned beef
A 500g carton of good quality mashed potato
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 beaten egg (for sealing the edges and glazing the top of the pie)
Method:
Get a large, deep dinner plate or a pie plate
Put the corned beef, mashed potato, asafoetida and ground pepper into a large bowl and mash together.
Cut your puff pastry in half and keep one half aside.
Roll one piece out on a floured surface until it is the right size to fit comfortably on top of the plate with a little hanging over the edges.
Put the beef and mash mix in it and smooth it out, leaving 1 cm around the edges bare so you can seal the pie edges later on.
Roll the other piece of puff pastry out until it’s the right size to fit on top of the pie.
Spread beaten egg along the edge of the pie and fit the lid on top. Use a fork to gently seal the pastry together and then trim off the excess with a knife and make two small knife cuts in the centre of the pie. (This helps steam escape.)
Bake in the oven for 30 – 35 mins until the pastry is risen and golden brown.
Corned Beef and Potato Pie by The Fat Foodie
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Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche by The Fat Foodie
My friend and I had made a date to have lunch the other day, but for a number of reasons I couldn’t make it into town so she kindly came to my house instead. In return I promised I’d make us a tasty Mediterranean vegetable quiche for lunch and as she’s a vegetarian I figured I’d make use of some of the baby summer vegetables that were ready to be picked from my garden.
This year I’ve tried growing tomatoes (utter failure), courgettes (pretty successful, but very small), cucumbers (I managed to harvest a small one, but it was really nice), and aubergines (a simple ‘nope’ would cover the aubergine fiasco). Although the courgette plant was my favourite because it was the plant which yielded the most produce, my favourite part of the courgette plant was the flowers it produced. The spreading plant exploded with big, blousy blossoms that made me wish I owned a deep fat fryer so I could make crisp cheese-stuffed courgette flowers, but instead I had to settle for adding them to salads. I know you can bake stuffed courgette flowers in the oven, but sadly it doesn’t produce the same effect as that of a brief dunking in a bath of hot oil.
Courgette Flowers
I had three small, sweet courgettes at hand that I’d picked that morning and I thought they’d work well in a vegetable quiche. This Mediterranean vegetable quiche uses the Hairy Bikers’
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
180g gluten-free flour (plus extra for dusting) (I use Dove’s Farm G/F flour
100g cold non-dairy butter
2 tsp chopped fresh lemon thyme
50g Parmesan (finely grated) or non-dairy version
1 egg yolk
1 tsp ice-cold water
For the quiche filling:
3 medium eggs & the egg white left over from making the pastry
30g of sundried tomatoes (finely chopped)
1 tsp of mild American mustard
30g green spring onion tips (chopped)
1 tbsp chives (finely chopped)
40g parmesan, Grana Padano (finely grated) or non-dairy version
3 baby courgettes or 1 small normal one (cut into thin discs) – no more than 240g of prepared courgette in total
200g red bell peppers (diced)
8 pitted green olives (sliced)
100g cheddar cheese (grated) or non-dairy version
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Method:
To make the pastry:
Put all of the pastry ingredients into a large bowl and then rub the butter in until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolk and cold water and mix until it forms a ball. (If you feel it’s too dry, add a little bit more water until it comes together).
Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and put it into the fridge for at least half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.
Line a quiche tin
Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface and roll out the pastry until it’s the right size for the quiche tin
Place the pastry into the tin, leaving the sides to slightly overhang the edges of the quiche tin.
Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork a few times (this releases any air that might get trapped underneath).
If you have them, fill the tin with baking beans, if not don’t worry about it.
Bake in the oven for about 15-20 mins, or until it’s golden brown. (Baking the pie crust first will ensure your quiche won’t have a soggy bottom.)
To make the quiche filling:
Put aside 50g of the grated cheddar and a small quantity of sliced courgettes and red pepper for decorating the quiche.
Mix all of the remaining ingredients together.
Pour the filling into the pastry case and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top before decorating with the slices of courgette and red pepper.
Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the egg mixture no longer wobbles when shaken.
Trim off any excess pastry from the side of the quiche and serve with a nice fresh green salad.
Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche by The Fat Foodie
A fresh, crisp garden salad by The Fat Foodie
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