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Mince pies

14 December 2022 By Charlotte Pike Leave a Comment

Mince pies really are a favourite festive treat, and miles apart from any thing shop bought. If you are worried about making pastry from scratch, fear not. I urge you to give it a go. I often make my own mincemeat filling, but this template recipe will work well with shop bought or homemade. As always, try and fine the best quality ingredients to make these with.

 

Mince pies

Makes 12-15 pies

 

Ingredients

200g plain flour

110g butter, cubed

1 egg yolk

Pinch of salt

3-4 tablespoons cold water

400g mince meat

You’ll also need one beaten egg as your egg wash.

 

Method 

Place the flour and butter into a food processor and whizz until the mixture resembles fine sand. Add the egg yolk and salt, and 2 tablespoons of water. Whizz again until it forms a stiff, firm mixture. Add the remaining water as needed – remember that too much water will make the pastry too sticky.

Cover the pastry with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 15 minutes or better still 30 minutes.

Once the pastry is made and chilled, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/ Gas Mark 3

Roll out the pastry between two sheets of greaseproof paper. It needs to be about 3-4 mm thick, no more. It will puff up during the cooking process.

Cut out discs to form the base of your pies and carefully put into the tins. Add a teaspoon of mincemeat to each pastry base. Take care not to overfill. Either brush the rim of the pastry base with beaten egg and add a disc to firm a lid, or alternatively place a cut out shape on top of the mincemeat. Egg wash your top or pastry shape and bake for around 18-22 minutes until the pastry is lightly browned and firm.

Remove to cool on a wire tray, although they are delicious eaten warm.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Apple and Blackberry Oat Crumble

22 November 2022 By Charlotte Pike Leave a Comment

This is one of my most-requested recipes. It works well with many other fruits – just use a similar weight of prepared fruit when assembling the crumble to achieve a nice balance of fruit and topping.

I particularly like the filling made from either apples, apples with some sort of berry (blackberry, raspberry or elderberry are especially good) and plums. Flavour-wise, it at its very best when eaten warm, so the fruit isn’t too molten, and the topping is buttery and crisp. I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do.

 

Apple and Blackberry Oat Crumble

 

Serves 6

 

Ingredients

For the filling

900g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 2cm cubes

50g caster sugar

100g blackberries

For the topping

100g plain flour

100g chilled butter

50g light brown soft sugar

50g rolled oats

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4

Place the apples, sugar and blackberries in a baking dish and stir together to combine.

In a mixing bowl, add the flour and butter and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar and oats and then sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit in the baking dish

Bake for 30-40 minutes until the crumble topping is golden brown and the fruit is tender and bubbling. Serve hot, warm or cold with cream, custard or ice cream.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Za’atar Spiced Squash and Chickpea Traybake with Garlic, Tahini and Mint

28 October 2022 By Charlotte Pike Leave a Comment

Za’atar Spiced Squash and Chickpea Traybake with Garlic, Tahini and Mint

This is such an easy and flavoursome supper dish. I like to make it with Crown Prince squash, which has a wonderfully creamy and nutty flavour and is so much less sweet than other varieties.

Serves 4

Ingredients

One medium size squash, washed, deseeded and cut into 1-2cm wedges

3 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt

2 tbsp za’atar

2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, drained

1 lemon

75g tahini

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

100ml cold water

20g fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

2 tsp sumac, ground

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Put the squash and onion wedges onto a baking tray or two, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and za’atar and put in the oven to roast for 20 minutes.

After 10 minutes in the oven, remove from the oven and add the chickpeas. Turn the vegetables if needed. Return to the oven for 15-20 minutes to bake the chickpeas.

Meanwhile, make the dressing. Blend the lemon juice, tahini, garlic and water together using a small blender. Taste and season with salt if you need to. Set aside.

When the timer goes off for the vegetables, check the chickpeas are lightly firm and crisp and the squash is tender. Pour or drizzle the dressing over the veg. Serve on plates, topped with mint and sumac. A dollop of yoghurt, extra olive oil and za’atar can be nice accompaniments. A flatbread on the side to mop up the juices is a lovely addition.

Filed Under: Dinner, Recipes

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About Charlotte

Charlotte Pike is a food and drink expert with over a decade of experience.

Her work includes writing, teaching, broadcasting and consulting.

Charlotte has written award-winning cookery books, is a professionally trained chef, experienced Executive Chef Tutor and broadcaster. She is a member (and former Chair) of the Guild of Food Writers and is a member of the Slow Food Chef Alliance.

Charlotte lives in the English countryside and is passionate about great food and drink made using the best seasonal ingredients.

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