If Maria was a Shepherd's Pie

A while ago I was hunting a new job, and it was a long and painful process of surfing the net, applying to the jobs what I think would suit me better, or would be more me, going to plenty of interviews, waiting for answers, getting some trials, and being disappointed at not getting them all over.

And one of those trials was for a very interesting position at a Mental Healthcare institution. I thought it would give me the opportunity to grow as a chef because I'd be in charge of everything inside of the kitchen, making the menus, ordering the food, managing the stock...And most importantly, through my cooking, I might be able to make some people lives a tiny bit better. That will make one of my professional dreams come true.

The trial consisted on me making dinner, and I got to make a Shepherd's Pie, which screams Comfort Food, because is warm, is tasty, is easy to eat and even though you might try to give it a fancy twist piping the mash on top, it would always look home made.

And as I already made it one day at home and took all the photos, I think that there's no time like the present for sharing the way I do it. I'm aware it is a British classic, so probably I might be messing up with some tradition, so that's exactly why is it called: "If Maria was a Shepherd's Pie".

Mine has a bigger ratio meat and vegs to mash than I've been usually served, because for me mash is there to bind together, to complement the dish, not to be the main character of it. Probably, in origin wasn't like that, mainly because probably potatoes are a lot cheaper than meat, and the actual shepherds had to eat something that would sustain them throughout the day, and lets face it, potatoes are a great source of energy.

But, ladies and gentlemen, we live a sedentary way of life nowadays, and it won't be bad for us to change the chip and, if able to afford it, start cutting down the carbs, specially at night. So, that's my reasoning for coming up with this recipe, that I really hope that its tastiness would make you love it as much as I do.

IF MARIA WAS A SHEPHERD'S PIE

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium onions

4 carrots

250 mL of frozen peas

500 gr of minced beef (you can use any minced meat you like)

4 medium sized waxy potatoes

1 bayleaf

2 garlic cloves

100 mL of grated tomato or chopped tin tomatoes

1 teaspoon of cornflour

1 tablespoon of butter

1 splash of milk

3/4 tablespoons of olive oil (except the recipes that absolutely require butter, or deep frying, in which case I'd use vegetable oil, I always cook with olive oil)

Salt, Thyme and Pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

- Wash thoroughly the potatoes, peel them and in a saucepan, covering them with cold water, boil them until they're cooked. (It would take around 20 minuted after the water starts boiling. Check inserting a sharp knife in the biggest one, if the potato slides off the knife easily, they're done.) Obviously, there's more ways to make mash, and if you'd like to use instant mash, feel absolutely free, but this is the way I like to do it when I have time and good potatoes.

- Mash the garlic with the flat blade of your knife and put the resulting paste in the pan with the oil cold, or, if you're lucky and own one, with a pestle and a mortar. Don't turn on the fire yet.

- Chop finely the onions and set aside.

- Turn on the fire on low, and when the garlic starts smelling, add the tomato puree, and mix quickly with the oil. Adding the tomato will get us to drop the temperature of the oil, preventing our garlic to burn and let us with a horrible, bitter taste.
- Let it cook for a bit, while some of that moisture evaporates, and add the onions. Mix them well with the oil and salt them.
- While the onions are gently poaching, peel the carrots and cut them in small pieces.
- Add them to the onions and let them cook slowly, until the onions are translucent and starting to golden.

- Bit by bit, start adding the meat to the pan, leaving it space to brown and cook, because if you add it all at the same time, the water in it will start to come out and the proteins in the surface of the meat won't be allowed to caramelize, leaving us without that succulent meaty flavour, that will have your mouth salivating.

- While your meat cooks, season with pepper, thyme, the bayleaf, or add the herbs you prefer, like parsley, or maybe rosemary and oregano... and add the frozen peas.
- Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, and sprinkle the flour. Mix it well and transfer it to a medium size casserole.

- Check if your potatoes are cooked, and drain them if so. Add the butter, salt and pepper and let the butter to melt.

- Preheat your oven at 200ºC
- Mash the potatoes until you end up with a creamy, fluffy and soft mash. You can leave some chunks of potato in it. Is not that important.

- Cover your meat mix with the potato and spread it in a regular layer. If you make some peaks with a fork, they'll crunchy up in the oven.

 - Pop in the oven and bake until the mash is golden, with a lovely streaks of brown crunchyness and the meat below bubbles up.
 - Serve piping hot and let yourself be comforted.

I was bored and decided to pipe the mash in rosettes, but there's no need whatsoever.

Hope you guys like it and give it a go!!!

And all started with a bread...

It’s been awhile since we’re making at Chez Darlings our own bread. I decided to give it a chance after being hooked up by Paul Hollywood’s Bread, TV-show that we watched religiously for 6 Mondays.

Mr. Paul Hollywood

Bread making is all about practice, I won’t lie and say it’s easy to get it right the first time, nor the second, or even the third. It is important to be consistent and keep making bread, even though you’re not getting the results you’d like. As I’ve said before, bad bread happens to good people, don’t take it personal.

Doughs, and specially bread doughs are something you have to learn how to feel them; each one has its own perks, and qualities. A dough depends on so many things, that even though you get one measured recipe, it won’t work the same every time you make it.

The factors that you need to keep in mind are countless: the flour (as it comes from different harvests of wheat, every single package is slightly different), the water (depending in your region could be harder), the yeast you’re using, the room temperature, the room humidity, the salt, the oil, the temperature of your hands, the oven...

But, there’s no need to fret up. I had several someones who guided me every step of the way (Lorraine Pascale, Paul Hollywood, and most important, MªCarmen, my baking professor at the Culinary Arts academy), so I’ll do the same thing.

Sadly, with my moving to the UK, I don’t have my fancy cooking toys anymore, so I have to endure the task of bread making the hard way. That’s it, by hand.

It's around 40 years old and works wonders. I miss you, Kennie!

But there’s two good things about it: first, I get to show you a way that everyone can do it, and second, it is an incredible workout. If you don’t break a sweat while kneading...you’re doing something wrong.

So let’s get down to business, and make sure you have a lot of time ahead. Bread is something that cannot be rushed.

WHITE BLOOMER LOAF

INGREDIENTS:

500 gr of strong flour

320 gr of tepid water (warm to the touch, around the body temperature. Not higher, or you’ll kill the yeast)

40 gr of olive oil

10 gr of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

7 gr of dried yeast (if you use it fresh, use around 25 gr)

PROCEDURE:

- Weight the water and divide it in two. Keep one aside.

- Stir in the yeast and the sugar and dissolve well in one of the water halves. Leave it to rest aside, until is quite frothy. It will take around 10 to 15 minutes, depending in the temperature of the water and the room.

- Mix together the flour and the salt.

- Once the yeast has been activated, pour in the mix onto the flour, and add the oil.

- Make a whisk with your hand, like a claw, and mix well the ingredients, trying to get everything incorporated.

- Add more water, a tiny bit at a time, because you can’t never know if you’re going to need it all.

“Important”

The proportions you have to respect are flour to yeast, so, if you dump all your water and it’s more than the flour needs, you’ll end up with a very sticky dough, impossible to work with, but, if you try to solve it adding more flour, you’ll mess up with the proportions, and your dough won’t rise properly, nor will achieve the desired texture upon baking it.

- Once your dough is a bit sticky, but gets away easily from the bowl, pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in your working surface (must be spotlessly clean) and spread it.

- Dump your dough on the oiled surface, and start kneading. Basically, form a ball, and holding it up with one hand, stretch it away from you with the heel of your other hand. Then, roll it back together, turn it 90º and do the same thing. Don’t worry if it tears up, is very forgiving, as long as you put it back together, it’ll be ok. 

Take your chance now to steam out some stress, you don’t have to be gentle. Bang it against the bench, punch it, stretch it as far as you can. The more you work it, the more you’re activating the gluten contained in the flour. This gluten (a protein), is what would build the structures in our bread, so you must work it quite thoroughly for our bread to be light and spongy, not dense and rubbery.

-Keep kneading for about 20 minutes, your triceps should be starting to protest by then. It might be ready, but most likely not, so we have to test it.

Some people test it getting one finger well floured and press it into the dough, when the finger is out, if the dough is ready, the dimple should bounce back almost all the way. But the way MªCarmen show me how to do it is with the “handkerchief test”. I know it sounds like a gipsy wedding thing, but no, has nothing to do with that.

- Take out a small chunk of the dough and roll it up between your hands, carefully, with your fingers, start stretching it, to make a disc, as much as you can before it tears. If you can see your hand through the sheet of dough, like you would on a handkerchief, hence the name, it’s done. If not, keep kneading for five more minutes and try again. And so on.

Getting ready for the "handkerchief" test

As you can see, my fingers are visible behind the thin sheet of dough

- Once your dough is properly kneaded, make a ball, and put it in a well oiled bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and leave it to prove. It would take around two hours, or until has doubled in size.

- Remove the cling film (save it, for later), and gently but firmly knock the air off the dough. You might be asking yourself why, why don’t we leave it like that and have an airy loaf?. Because the first rising is to develop the flavour, to let the yeast digest the flour and transform it.

- Dump the dough in your clean and dry surface and give it the shape of your choice; you can make a round loaf, or divide it in two and give them a baguette shape, or as I usually do at home, roll it to the size of my loaf tin and dump it in (it should be oiled and floured in advance, to avoid the dough sticking to the tin). If not using a tin, oil and flour a baking sheet and put your bread on top.

- Cover your loaf with the cling film and leave it, yes, once again, to prove. Again, until it has at least, doubled in size (I’d like to give you a more accurate time, but it depends in the room temperature, so it would be different in winter or summer, in a sunny or a rainy day, here in London or in Spain...)

- Preheat your oven to 200ºC and prepare a tray with water and leave it at the bottom of the oven. This will create a very wet environment, with all the steam, that will help our loaf to rise to the moon.

- Once your loaf has doubled in size, remove the film and, if not using the loaf tin, or making individual rolls, make some cuts, with a very sharp knife, to help direct the rising of your bread.

- Bake it for around 45 minutes, but after the 25 first minutes, retire the tray with water and watch it like a hawk, as the surface might brown quickly. If that’s the case, turn your oven so it just receives heat from the bottom. If you’re unlucky, like me, and your oven doesn't let you, put a baking sheet on top of your loaf, so it’d reduce the amount of heat is receiving.

- At 40 minutes of baking, take it out from the oven, turn it over and knock on the bottom. If it sounds hollow, is done. If not, back in the oven and check again in five minutes.

- Leave it to cool on a wire rack for around 30 minutes before eating. Fresh from the oven bread is scrumptious, but a bit hard to digest. As a stomach ache is never desirable, we must be patient.

Round loaf 

Individual rolls

Tin loaf, amazing for toast!

                                           
Hope you give it a try and let me know if I did explain myself properly or not really.

Enjoy it, there's nothing like homemade bread!

"The chicken will cook on its own" roast.

This recipe goes specially to my best friend and greatest fan, Darkmoona, because she always reads, comments, has tried many of the recipes, is a great beta taster, and chicken is her favourite meat, almost as much as finding something that's as easy and fast to cook as it is tasty. So, hope you like it!

You can make almost everything with chicken: rice, pasta, roasted, boiled, fried, grilled, battered... So let's start with the basics. My easy as pie "Chicken will cook on its own".

Why the name? Well, a few years ago The Yummie Things Brigade (that's my friends and I) were celebrating New Year's Eve in a house in the middle of the mountain, and as per usual, I was in charge of the special dinner. Bad thing that I had been fed martinis, and endless glasses of cava all evening, and was plastered as they come.

The Yummie Things Brigade

I left the chicken alone in the stove and went to the dining room, were the rest of my friends were, and some time later, one of them, Captain Buchannan, came over me and asked, very carefully.

"Mallowie, the chicken?"

I looked at him and answered

"The chicken cooks on its own!"

Surprisingly, it did, and was delicious, so it's become a bit of a joke between us.

This recipe is not the one I made for that time, because it's more complicated and has lots of ingredients. I'll make it again, sober this time, and tell you all about it.

I got the idea from a friend, while we were in Derry during our work experience. A bunch of spanish people gathered on Sundays, to make a more traditional lunch, becoming the family we were missing so far from home, and he made a chicken cooked in a plastic bag and seasoned with the contents of a packet.

Spanish family in Derry

It was easy, and not bad, but I'm always going on and on about how important is to eat fresh things, and how I like the caramelization of proteins in meat... So cook something in a bag wasn't for me.

But it was so easy to season it... The chicken was flavoured all around, and not just the outside, and was tender, and juicy. Had to think of a way to achieve the same thing without depending on a packet and cooking something inside of a bag.

Armed with one of my best friends, Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, went to the meats chapter and began to read. And after some fumbling came across with this recipe. I first made it for my parents, and loved it. Even though I don't live with them anymore, I know for a fact that they're still doing it!

So, sleeves rolled up, and let's get working (but not much, I promise)

THE CHICKEN THAT COOKS ON ITS OWN

INGREDIENTS:

4 pieces of chicken (I like the tighs)
3 medium sized potatoes
1 lemon
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt, pepper, and the herbs you like for season it.

For one person: 3 small drumsticks, medium potato and around 3 tablespoons of seasoning

PROCEDURE:

- Wash the potatoes thoroughly and cut them lengthwise in half, then in half again, and each half in bite size chunks (around three each one?)

- Place them in a plastic bag, any clean one without holes is ok.
- Put the chicken pieces inside of the bag.

- Crush the garlic clove and place the resulting pulp in the bag.
- Squeeze the lemon inside of the bag, I usually leave the casks of the lemon in as well.
- Season to taste and add the olive oil.

- Tie the bag and rub all the contents together, until the chicken and potatoes are well covered.
- Leave it to rest as long as you can. I often put the chicken frozen and leave it overnight in the fridge.
- Preheat your oven to 200ºC
- Place the contents of the bag in a baking tray.

- Roast for about 30 minutes, keeping an eye on the chicken and potatoes and turning them around if you think is needed.
- Take out from the oven, serve and tuck in!

Hope you enjoy it!

Egg in a mushroom basket, how Easter is that?

Living in London is a challenge. There's no way to go around that fact; the rush, the weather, the transport, the prices... Everything seems to look hostile and not for weaks, and believe me, it is being hard, in a day to day basis. I'm loving it to bits!

I know it doesn't sound like it, but it is the truth. Every difficult moment that gets overcome brings a sense of pride, joy and selfconfidence that has no price, at least not for me. And things are getting brighter by the day. Now I live in a lovely house, that's been nicknamed by us as "Chez Darlings", with my lovely friends, wich is amazing.

So here I am, siting in my room, enjoying a mug of lovely Fireside (rooibos yummie blend from La Petite Planethé, in Valencia), while outside the weather is downright miserable, and writing about what's going to be our dinner tonight.

One of the things you have to learn about living in London is that everything is expensive. Very expensive. But if you buy sensibly, you can have quite good ingredients on your hands for less than 10 pounds. There's just needed a bit of imagination of what to do with them.

I always go to the "Reduce to Clear" sections in the supermarkets, where they have the products that are almost out of shelf life, but still in good condition to eat, so they lower the prices, a lot. The trick is cooking or freezing stuff inmediatly, so you can enjoy meet, fish or vegetables for a lot less than usually.

So, I found myself with some jumbo mushrooms and some beef sausages, and decided to go the fancy way, because sometimes, and just sometimes, I let the epicurean in me resurface and get to do some gourmet stuff.

Monday night is always for me an egg night. Don't ask me why, but in the Fos-Hernandiz household, we have omelette for dinner. So I keep on with the tradition, but in a different form. Since I re-read Rachel Khoo's Croque Madame muffins, I'm looking for the chance to make them at home, but buttered bread and bechamel for dinner is a step too far into the carb side for me, so, when my eyes landed on the big mushrooms, I just had it clear on my mind.

Once again, let's get our hands dirty!

EGGS IN A PORTOBELLO BASKET

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium sized free range eggs (they do make a difference, so I'd spend the extra pennies in that)

2 portobello mushrooms

2 sausages (I used beef, but really, whatever is handy, or a sad and lonely burger, or a handful of minced meat)

Half onion

2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

Half a mug of milk (I use skimmed, because is what I have at home, but whole makes it richer and tastier. For lactose intolerants, you can use broth)

Salt, pepper, nutmeg (if you have) and thyme (one again, if you have at hand)

PROCEDURE:

- Turn on your oven at 200ºC

- Over a hot pan, empty the sausages and let the meat brown.

- While the meat cooks, chop finely the onion, keeping an eye all the time in the pan, or you'll burn the meat.

- Take out the meat from the pan, trying to drain it from the fat it exuded and juices as much as you can. Turn down the fire.

- Add the onions to the pan, stir well, to get them covered in the fat (if you think you might need more, add some olive oil) and let them sweat gently until they are translucent.

- While the onion is on the stove, empty carefully with a spoon the insides of the mushrooms, leaving about half a centimetre at least of flesh.

- Chop finely the stems and the flesh removed from the mushrooms and add to the pan.

- Let cook until it's been reduced to a third of its size.

- Add the flour and remove well, to combine it with the mix of onions and mushrooms. Cook the flour a bit, to make it lose that raw flavour.

- Off the fire, add the milk or the broth bit by bit, mix well in between to avoid the appearence of lumps. Season it to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

- Once all added, put back on a medium-low fire, removing constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid the sauce to stick to it, until it thickens.

- Remove from the fire, and you're ready to ensemble your baskets.

- Place the mushrooms in an oven tray, and bake for about 12 minutes, or a bit longer if you prefer your eggs  more cooked. Ours were with the white just set and the yolk runny.

- Serve in a plate and tuck in!

Hope you like them!

"Autumn in London" Apple Pie

I’m in London for almost four months now. It is the longest I’ve been abroad so far, and with almost all the good friends I made over the summer back in their countries, I was feeling a tiny winy bit lonely. I was working in a place I didn’t like at all, I got sick... a bit under the weather would have been a huge understatement for my feelings at the moment.  

A friend asked me to make him an apple pie, and you know that for me, any excuse is a good excuse to bake, and with my two co-queens of the world coming to London the next day, I thought it would be great to have something warm and homey to offer them after their tiresome day other than soup from a packet. (Aye, I do have soup in packets, shame on me, I just don’t have space in the fridge to keep my own broths)

Well, what can I say? I was alone in the house for the first time in days, enjoying a nice cup of tea and rolled up my sleeves and got my hands dirty, took out the spices frm the cupboard, put some lovely folk music and I let my muses unfold.

Celtic Autumn song

Looked out from the window and saw the leaves of the trees nearby turning from deep green into different shades of orange, and yellow, and felt the autumny feeling inside of me that made me fancy a mug of hot mulled cider. Or wine. Or whisky. I do wonder if I actually have some celt blood in me, as I do keep feeling seasonal and craving spiced alcoholic concoctions... It could be, we spanish were pagans before romans came over the Iberic Peninsula... Just wishful thinking.

I had the apples, and I had the spices, so I went down to business.

Ingredients:

Mise en place

- About 10 medium sized apples (Fuji, Granny Smith, or any apple that holds its shape after cooking)
- 2 sheets of shortcrust pastry (you can make your own, and I’ll post my recipe at some point, but let’s face it, even if its not as wholesome and tasty, shopbought is easier, quicker and a lot less messier)
- Brown sugar to taste (it would depend on your apples, the more tart they are, the more sugar you might have to add)
- 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence or half a vanilla pod
- 1 pinch of nutmeg fresh grounded
- The zest of one orange
- 1 tablespoon of plain flour- 1 egg

Procedure:

- Preheat your oven at 200ºC and place your rack in the middle but more towards the bottom.
- Peel and core the apples, quarter them and smear the quarters with lemon juice, to stop the apples from browning.
- Slice each quarter into bite size chunks, as evenly as posible, but don’t be too OCD about it, it doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Sprinkle the sugar, the spices, the vanilla, the orange zest and the flour over the apples and toss them until they’re evenly covered by the mixture. Leave it aside
- Line a 20 or 23 cm of diameter pie dish with one of the pastry sheets.
- Toss over the apple chunks and shake a bit the pie dish, to help the chunks to distribute naturally.
- Beat a bit the egg, just to break the yolk and mix it a bit with the white and combine with a splash of milk to make the egg wash.
- Brush a bit of the egg wash over the border of the pie and cover with the other sheet of pastry.
- Seal both sheets of pastry pressing it down over the edge and cut the extra with a sharp knife.- Crimp the edges for a nicer finish.

Not my hands nor my pie, but crimping process

- Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and make some cuts to help the steam escape.
- You can carve some decorations with the leftover pastry, like an apple, or some leaves...
- Bake for about 30 minutes or til the pastry is golden brown and when you open the oven your kitchen is filled with baked apples smell and you’re filled with housekeeping joy.
- Let it cool for at least 30 minutes or so before you dive in, because even though is delightful warm, it would be piping hot inside and burning your mouth is not worth it.
- Serve with ice cream or créme fraîche.

Finished pie! It has a kind of apple on the centre...

I hope you like it, try it and tell me about it!