Autumn baits 🍁 🍃 🍂

There is a chill in the air and nights are drawing in, only one thing for it, hearty meals.

I have emptied a drawer of the freezer and ready to fill it with warming food. Autumn makes me want broth and stews. A trip to the local butcher with a gammon joint and full chicken and veg, sorted us out for a cook off. Chicken cooked for Sunday lunch, leftover chicken for stew and bones boiled for stock, gammon joint provided a couple of ham, egg and chips yummy meals and the rest for broth. While I was chopping the veg I decided to make hash too.

Corned beef hash, ham broth and chicken stew sorted for a few autumn baits!

Corned Beef Hash

This is one of my favourite dishes in cold weather. I call it Corned Beef Hash, however, in the north east there is the age old argument of what it’s called, some call it Panackelty.

Whatever it’s called, it tastes great and is ideal to make a pan full and portion up for bait at work. I’ve never really seen a recipe for it just copied what my dad did. He didn’t make many meals but when he did, they were great!

I use a handful of potatoes, cut into cubes in a large pan of boiling water, add sliced carrots,celery, chopped onion, a beef Oxo cube and a tin of corned beef sliced into cubes. Let it simmer away until the potatoes are cooked, add a splodge of the secret ingredient – brown sauce and give it a good stir. If it looks pale, add a few gravy granules and there you go, corned beef hash!

Cheap and cheerful, you can add anything else you have lying around, I often add leeks too.

A Piece of Pie

Who doesn’t like a nice pie, I would much rather make my own pie than buy one, it’s so easy to do and really cheap. I have made a couple recently using the Be-Ro shortcrust pastry recipe. My mam had visitors coming and was unsure what to feed them. She asked me to pick one up at the local shop to which I refused. I made a corned beef and onion pie for her and her guests to enjoy and took them to her with a bag of salad. Her guests had already eaten and declined the pie, so apart from a quarter of the pie that Mr Hyde got and smothered with Gravy for his bait, my mam ate the whole lot. It may not be surprising to most people but my mam is 8 stone wet through and eats child size portions. The pie must have been nice! I always over estimate the amount of pastry and there was a bit left, luckily there was a put of spare filling so I made a pasty. This was devoured on our walk the next day.
The other I made was based on a Hairy Biker recipe but using my old faithful Be-Ro shortcrust pastry recipe. I’d bought a ham and we had a few slices with egg and chips (Classy, I know!) some went in to a broth I made for bait and there were a couple of slices left. I noticed a couple leeks left over from our Sunday lunch (or winner winner chicken dinner as Mr Hyde Calls it) and a bit of chicken so I made a ham leek and chicken pie. Such a comfort food!
Ingredients:
Shortcrust pastry recipe (Make two of this recipe,  one for the base and one for the lid)
300g cooked chicken
75g butter
2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
50g plain flour
200ml milk
250ml chicken stock
150ml double cream
150g chunks of cooked ham

Heat the oven to 200c
Melt 25g of the butter in a large pan over a low heat. Stir in the leeks and fry for two minutes, stirring occasionally until just softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the rest of the butter and stir in the flour once the butter has melted. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
Slowly add the milk into the pan, a little at a time, stirring well. Gradually add the stock stirring until the sauce is smooth and thickened slightly. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream. Stir in the chicken, ham and leeks. Line the greased dish with pastry and pour in the mixture. Brush the rim of the dish with beaten egg. Roll out the rest of the pastry for the lid.
Cover the pie with the pastry lid and press the edges together firmly to seal. Trim any excess pastry.
Make a small hole in the centre of the pie with the tip of a knife. Glaze the top of the pie with beaten egg. Bake on the preheated tray in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the pie is golden-brown all over and the filling is piping hot.