Happy Birthday

It's my birthday, my blog birthday... It has been one whole year to the day since my first post. Which was an unassuming little Salt and Pepper Squid that started everything, and now here I am a year later. I don't blog everything I cook, just the things I'm proud of, that were delicious, you can find a list of all of them on my Recipe Page.

I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to The Grazer... It has been a very tasty year and has brought about lots of new opportunities like Grazer Markets and my new column in Appetite Magazine, long may it continue to evolve... I thought about making a birthday cake, but instead I made a pie, every occasion deserves a pie... A Pheasant, Bacon and Pig Trotter Pie. Happy Birthday The Grazer...

Shepherd's Pie with Cheesy Potato and Parsnip Mash

Exciting news... I have my very own magazine column, with Appetite magazine, a new North East foodie publication. They featured a lovely piece about this blog and my Autumn Graze market back in October, and I wrote a little piece about Christmas cooking for them in December. This will now be a regular column in every edition!

My first article is about comfort food... What is it, what does it mean to you, what is your favourite comfort food recipe, would you sit in a bath of risotto? I just discovered a new favourite to add to the list this weekend, Cauliflower and Mascarpone Risotto with Chorizo, creamy and delicious with spicy hot chorizo... You can pick up a copy of Appetite in lots of cafés, restaurants and foodie shops all over the North East, including Stewart and Co, Carruthers and Kent, The Broad Chare, Caffe Vivo, Cafe 1901... To name a few...It is full of recipes, interviews with local chefs and suppliers, recommendations, tips and restaurant tales. The latest edition with my little comfort food article is out right now if you want to seek one out...

This Shepherd's Pie formed part of my 'research' it was really hard work getting cosy in front of the tv with a glass of red wine and a bowl of rich meaty, creamy potato delicious Shepherd's Pie. Really hard work I tell you... Apparently it is the nations favourite comfort food, not sure how this is calculated but I enjoyed mine a lot.

I've made quite few Shepherd's pies over the years, I don't have a consistent recipe, but I think this one is perhaps a keeper. My potato topping to mince ratio was a bit out, too much topping, so I've reduced the amount here and yours should turn out perfect...

Simmer a large potato and a large parsnip cut into chunks in salted water until tender. While they are cooking fry a chopped onion and a diced carrot in 3 tablespoons of butter until they are soft and golden. Then add 450g of raw lamb mince to brown, don't stir it too much, just now and again until it has coloured all over, leave it to cook for about 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of tomato purée and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring as it cooks. Then pour in 250ml of chicken stock and add a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme, some salt and pepper and a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. Bring it all to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.

Pre heat the oven to 190°C and mash the potato and parsnip with some butter and a splash of milk, not too much as you need the topping to be firm. Add the lamb to an oven proof dish and top with the potato and parsnip, add it a little at a time from the centre of the dish, so you get an even spread and it doesn’t just sink in a big lump... Fork the potato into rough peaks so you get good crispy bits when it is cooked and top with a scattering of a grated cheese of your choice... Finally bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Leave it to rest for 5 minutes when it is ready, it gets as hot as a volcano in the middle and you just can't appreciate it properly when the first mouthful burns your tongue... Serve with peas or greens, whatever you fancy.

The leftovers the next day are even better I think, if that's possible. I'm currently laid low with a bit of a nasty bug, I think comfort foods like this can cure illness sometimes, or warm you up more than the heating even can, right to the middle... I wish there was some left. I'll have to settle for a new favourite... Haggis and Mash. That should see me right...

Chicken, bacon and caper pie

I went out for martinis last night, to Popolos in Newcastle. We were celebrating the American's engagement; The Little Idiot, the Blonde, Boozer and Greggles were all in attendance and it was a very good night. We started with violet martinis, which taste of parma violets and are pretty much just vodka. They are dangerous, but delicious... We then moved on to apple martinis, which may explain feeling a bit fuzzy this morning. It's a good job we'd had a lovely big bowl of seafood pasta and warm bread at Greggles and the Blonde's before we started on the cocktails.

I am finding sustenance in left over chicken pie after having already had a walk to town, a look at the Sunday market on the Quayside and a wedding fayre at The Baltic this morning. I'm exhausted already but at least there was free cake...

The Little Idiot and I spent Friday evening making chicken pie. The recipe was from Beyond Nose to Tail by Fergus Henderson and Justin Piers Gellatly. Their restaurant St. John is one of my favourite place to go when I'm down in London. The recipe is actually for Chicken and Ox Tongue pie, but ox tongue proved hard to get hold of after work on a Friday, so we adapted it to suit. I'll tell you the version we made.

Poach a whole chicken in a large pot with a chopped leek, a few cloves of garlic, a chopped onion and some peppercorns. Let it simmer for 45 minutes. Keep the stock for other things it's delicious. They often poach meat in this book and it makes for a delicious pie, the meat is really juicy and tasty compared to roasting it.

While the chicken is poaching slice 2 onions into chunky rounds and cook them in a knob of butter 'until totally submissive'. About half an hour we found. Then fry off 5 or so slices of streaky bacon after the onions in the same pan.

Remove the chicken from the bone and cut it all into pie-size chunks. Mingle the chicken, onions and bacon all together in your pie dish.

Now make the white sauce. Melt a knob of butter in a pan and add a handful of plain flour, stir for a few minutes. Don't let it colour but let it cook a little until it smells biscuity. Start to whisk in the whole milk. The recipe asks for 1.2 litres of whole milk but we didn't actually use that much. I'd say about 800/ 900ml. Whisk it in a little at a time as it thickens and add a little of the chicken stock towards the end. You're aiming for a silky creamy sauce.

Add a big handful of capers to the sauce, extra fine ones if you have them. Season the sauce and then pour it over the chicken, bacon and onions.

The recipe is for puff pastry, but I accidentally bought shortcrust, it didn't make any difference, it was still delicious. You can make your own if you want, but the shop bought ready rolled sheets are very good. Place it over the pie and brush it with a beaten egg for a lovely golden pastry crust. Cut a cross in the centre of the pastry for the pie bird to poke through. This is Peter, our pie bird, I've been wanting to introduce him for a while... If you don't have a pie bird just leave a cross in the middle to let the steam out.

Bake it in a hot oven, about 190°C for 30 to 40 minutes. It really feels like you've achieved something with your own pie. A labour of love. This one was delicious.

1 whole free range chicken
1 leek
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
a few peppercorns
2 knobs of butter
a handful of plain flour
800/900ml whole milk
a big handful of capers
1 sheet of puff or shortcrust pastry
1 egg beaten
salt and pepper