Sausagemeat and Chicken Pie

Sausagemeat and Chicken Pie

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1-2 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
400-500g sausagemeat (US: 1lb)
grated zest of a lemon
90-100g fresh breadcrumbs (US: 3-4 ounces)
85-100g chopped dried apricots (US: 3-4 ounces)
50-75g canned or pacakaged chestnuts (US: 2-3 ounces)
100g fresh or frozen cranberries (US: 4 ounces)
1 tsp dried thyme
500g boneless skinless chicken breasts (US: 1lb), 
      OR 300g leftover turkey breast (US: 3/4 lb)

500g pack of ready-made shortcrust pastry (US: 1lb)
      OR home-made pastry using 350g flour
beaten egg to glaze

Note that you will need a deep round cake tin for this pie, with diameter 20-21cm (8 inches) and a removable base, ideally a spring-form tin.

Method:
If not using ready-made pastry, prepare your pastry and leave it to rest for at least fifteen minutes or so. 

Heat your oven to 190C (375F).

Fry the onion gently in a tablespoon of oil until soft. Cool slightly, then put the onion pieces into a bowl with the sausagemeat, lemon zest, breadcrumbs, apricots, chestnuts, cranberries and thyme. Mix it roughly, using a large spoon (or your hands). You can season with a little pepper and salt if you wish. 

If using raw chicken breast, cut each of them lengthwise into two or three then pieces. Heat the rest of the oil, and fry the chicken quickly, turning, for about five minutes until lightly browned on the outside.

Roll out about two-thirds of the pastry on a floured surface making a large circle, and use it to line the deep cake tin. You should not have to grease it unless it is old and likely to stick. 

Press about half of the sausagemeat mixture into the tin, and spread it out roughly so it's level. Then add the chicken or turkey pieces in a layer on top, and cover this with the rest of the sausagemeat. Press it down lightly.

Roll out the rest of the pastry to fit the top. Brush the edges with the beaten egg, and cover the pie with the pastry lid. Pinch the edges to seal. Brush the top of the pie liberally with the egg, then if you wish, roll out the trimmings to make patterns or shapes appropriate to the season or celebration. 

Bake for about  50-60 minutes, then leave in the tin for 15 mins before placing on a large plate and carefully removing the cake tin side. Cut carefully into wedges.


Delicious served hot with a variety of vegetables, and perhaps some baked potatoes, or cold with a large salad. 

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We were introduced to this kind of raised meat pie by a friend some years ago. She told me that it was based on a BBC recipe known as Christmas pie - and, indeed, the recipe above is still quite similar to the original, although we realised that the quantities of ingredients are quite flexible and can be adjusted to suit what you happen to have available.

We usually get too much sausagemeat at Christmas, and keep one 450g pack in the freezer for a suitable occasion; I also freeze some cranberries and chestnuts. If you don't happen to like chestnuts, apricots or cranberries, just leave them out and use rather more of ingredients you do like.

For the first few times I made this, I used packaged short-crust pastry, and it worked well. However, I decided to risk my own pastry when I made it recently; I used 3/4 white flour and 1/4 wholemeal flour, to make it a little more nutritious, and it worked extremely well. This photo shows how it looked before I rolled out the lid.

Do take note of the instruction to cool the pie in the tin for at least fifteen minutes. So allow yourself time for this - it's very important. I neglected it once, trying to serve the pie about five minutes after it came out of the oven, and the pastry sides sagged, making the whole thing collapse. It tasted all right but looked a terrible mess. The pastry really does need time to firm up - and if it's a bit longer than 15 minutes, that's fine.

Make sure, too, that when you pinch the edges of the lid, you don't make them stick out over the edge of the tin. This is a mistake I have made at least twice. You can probably see it in this photo of my most recent effort.

It looked good... but even with a springform tin at its widest, the side piece could not be lifted over the top of the pie without breaking it. In the end, we had to sit the base on a mug and slide the side downwards, then carefully move the cake on the base to a plate for serving.

We find that there is sufficient carbohydrate in the pastry and the breadcrumbs that we just serve a variety of vegetables with it to make a filling meal for about six to eight people; however if you have hungry teenagers, you might like to bake some potatoes to go with it.

This recipe is dairy-free so long as you use dairy-free spread in your pastry. 

Mincemeat cake

Mincemeat cake
Makes about 16 pieces

Ingredients:
90g wholemeal flour (US: 3 ounces, or 3/4 cup)
90g white flour (US: 3 ounces, or 3/4 cup)
1 tsp baking powder
60g butter or spread (US: 2 ounces)
90g soft brown sugar (US: 3 ounces, or 1/2 cup)
90g regular sugar (US: 3 ounces, or a little over 1/2 cup)
1 egg
4-6 tblsp mincemeat

Method:
Heat oven to 160C (320F). Grease and line a fairly deep 20cm [8 inches] round, or 18cm [7 inches] square deep cake tin.

Cream the fat and sugar with a wooden spoon or electric mixter until light, then beat in the egg, and fold in the rest of the ingredients. Add a little milk, almond milk or coconut milk if necessary to give a soft consistency, then put in the pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Cool for ten minutes or so before turning out onto a wire rack, and cut into wedges or squares while still warm.


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This recipe - or one approximating to it - is sometimes known as 'mincemeat brownies', but I find that rather misleading. Brownies, in my view, contain chocolate. However, this is a soft and very pleasant cake with a slighty fudgy consistency, ideal for using up leftover mincemeat after Christmas.

You can use all white flour, and all white sugar, but we prefer at least half wholemeal flour and brown sugar. If you prefer all wholemeal flour, that would produce a denser cake but it would probably still work just fine. If you have access to good quality self-raising flour, either white or wholemeal, you could use that and omit the baking powder.

If your mincemeat uses veggie suet (or no suet at all) then this cake would be suitable for vegetarians. If you use spread rather than butter and non-dairy milk, then it would be dairy-free. 

Dairy-free Chocolate Fudge

½ cup soya milk
1¼ cups sugar
60g dairy-free margarine
½ cup plain chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the soya milk and sugar in a large pan over a medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent curdling. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 7 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan at all times and stir frequently.

Remove from the heat; immediately add the margarine, chocolate, and vanilla. Stir until the margarine and chocolate chips have melted, then beat for a couple of minutes until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour into an oiled 20cm x 20cm dish (or a a smaller dish for thicker pieces). Refrigerate overnight, then cut into squares.

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I would never have believed that fudge could be dairy free - I thought it had to use real butter in order to set properly. I also thought that all the ingredients had to be taken to very high temperature in order for the chemistry to work. In this, it's only the soya milk and sugar which are boiled to high temperature - but of course it's the sugar which is significant, as its structure changes when heated in this way.

My (adult) son is mostly dairy-free, since he gets glue ear if he has any cow's milk products, and he loves fudge. So I tried this recipe, not expecting very much. I was impressed that it did set to give the consistency of fudge, and it's delicious! Next time we will add the grated rind of an orange, to make chocolate-orange dairy-free fudge.

Note: as someone mentioned in the comments, it's important to check ingredients in anything you buy. If you are allergic to dairy products (as opposed to simply cutting down) then obviously it's important to make sure there is no trace of dairy in the margarine and the chocolate chips. Using plain (semi-sweet) chips should be all right, but apparently some brands do contain some milk products. If so, perhaps carob chips would work instead; I haven't tried them but many people use them regularly as substitutes for chocolate.

Incidentally, the measurements in the ingredients are a slightly odd mixture. The cups are American cups (8 fluid ounces). But I can't measure margarine in cups; it's too messy. So I translated the original - which was probably 2 ounces, or half a stick - to 60g, as that's what my kitchen scales measure. However I left everything else in cups as it's simple to do and I have a full set of American measuring cups.

(I found this recipe online, when searching for dairy-free recipes. I made a note of it so I could try it - but, alas, have lost the reference. If it's your recipe, please let me know in the comments, and I'll link to the site where I found it)

Christmas Pudding

Christmas Pudding
Serves 4-6 per pudding

Ingredients:
120g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch salt
150g shredded suet (regular or vegetarian)
120g breadcrumbs
60g ground almonds
120g demerara sugar
120g raisins
120g sultanas
120g currants
90g chopped mixed peel
1 lemon, grated rind and juice
4 eggs, beaten
330ml brown ale or beer

Method:
Grease two 600-ml overnproof basins (or pyrex bowls), or three 400ml ones. Place the flour, spices and salt into a bowl, then stir in everything else, to make a soft dropping consistency. Put into the basins evenly, leaving a gap at top of about 2cm. Cover each with a double layer of greasefree paper with pleats in it, to allow the pudding to rise, then cover with a similar piece of foil.

Secure with string round the rim, or ensure that the foil is tightly against the edge of the basin. Place each one in a pan with water to come half way up the sides, or a steamer, and simmer for about six hours, checking the water frequently to ensure it does not dry out.

Either serve immediately, or cool and refrigerate, then simmer a further 2 hours before eating. Turn out carefully onto a plate. Traditionally served with sweet cornflour sauce or brandy butter. 

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This is a traditional Christmas pudding, usually served as dessert in the UK and elsewhere on Christmas day. It used to be known as 'plum pudding', and some recipes contain dried plums or prunes, but this is closest to the variation I grew up with. For some reason it is not appreciated, generally by those from the USA, and shredded suet is not easily available there; so I have not included imperial measurements.

Note that the quantities of dried fruit included can be adjusted so long as the total remains the same. If you do not like dried peel, for instance, leave it out and include an extra 90g of other dried fruit. If you have bags of 'mixed dried fruit', often available in supermarkets in December, you can simply use 450g mixed dried fruit in place of the raisins, sultanas, currants and peel.

Do not worry that the mixture looks pale, gloopy and decidedly unappetising - something like this photo - when you have poured in all the ingredients and mixed them together. I was quite worried about it the first time I made Christmas puddings, and wondered if my recipe had somehow missed out some black treacle, or something else to give the dark colour I expected.

I then learned that the steaming process makes the pudding go dark brown as well as making it set. This is why it takes so long to cook; if you use pyrex bowls, you can check to see if it's done, although if you plan to re-steam it later, you can get away with about four hours the first time, so long as you give it a lot longer on the day you plan to eat it.

If you are going to steam the puddings individually in large saucepans, it's a good idea to use string around the sides, and to loop extra string over the top so as to make it easier to remove them, particularly when you want to serve them, as they will be hot. It's also vital to be in the house and to check regularly - water needs to come about half-way up the sides of the pan - no higher, or there will not be sufficient steam to cook them properly - but it must not be allowed to dry out, so you will need to keep topping it up with boiling water.

This is why I use my three-tier steamer, which switches itself off after an hour if nobody turns it on again, so it will not run out of water if it is forgotten. It has the advantage that you can see the colour of the puddings as they steam, so you should see when they start to go darker.

Some people like to set the puddings briefly on fire before serving; we have never managed to do this (and don't even try, usually) but apparently the secret is to pour a little hot brandy on the top, and then set a match to it. However, this is entirely unnecessary!

These puddings look rather small for six people, but they are quite rich, and if served after a large turkey meal nobody is likely to want a huge amount.

Christmas pudding can easily be re-heated, either by re-steaming, or in the microwave. If you use the latter method, note that the dried fruit can get VERY hot.

Mincemeat

To make about 2kg (4lb)

500g cooking apples (about 1lb, or four medium apples)
350g raisins (about 12oz)
225g currants (about 8oz)
225g sultanas (US: golden raisins)
225g shredded suet - real or veggie
225g mixed peel
225g soft brown sugar
2 lemons (or 1 orange and 1 lemon)
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
150ml brandy or whisky

Peel, core and grate or finely chop the apples, then place in a large bowl with the dried fruit (can vary dried fruit quantities so long as the total is a little over 1kg/2lb). Add the suet, sugar, grated rind and juice of lemons, and spices. Stir well. Add half the brandy or whisky and stir again. Pack loosely into jars or plastic tubs, pour over the remaining whisky or brandy, then seal. Keeps for at least two weeks, but may need to be refrigerated if kept longer in a warm climate.

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This is so easy to make, I've no idea why anybody ever buys ready-made mincemeat! You can adjust it to suit your family's preferences, and avoid unpleasant additives. If you can't find dried currants or sultanas, just use more raisins. If you prefer to use bags of ready-mixed dried fruit, do so. If you want to cut down on sugar, use less. If you want extra fruit or moister mincement, add extra grated apple. If you can't find cooking apples, use crisp eating apples such as Granny Smith. If you don't have any brandy or whisky, or prefer not to use them, just leave them out and add extra orange or lemon juice - but note that it won't keep so long, so you should definitely keep non-alcoholic mincemeat in the fridge.

Oh, and the suet... when we lived in the USA we couldn't find packets of dried suet, so we had to buy the stuff from the meat market, cook it, strain it, and chop it. What a palaver. I expect it could have been left out altogether, although the consistency wouldn't have been so soft when cooked. These days dried veggie suet is widely available in supermarkets - at least in Europe - and as it has less fat content than meat suet, and so many people are vegetarians these days, that's what I always use. This is what you should look for:


As for what you do with mincemeat, the most popular recipe is mince pies. Shortcrust pastry rolled thinly and cut to fit patty pans or cake tins, filled with a teaspoon of mincemeat, covered with another round of pastry, cooked for about 15-20 minutes. Again there are many variations: you can make the pastry with half wholewheat flour, you can glaze the tops with egg or milk, you can add extra ingredients to the mincemeat such as dessicated coconut or chopped glacé cherries...