Buxton Pudding Turnover

I couldn't say farewell to lovely Derbyshire without trying out a local dish. Everyone knows about Bakewell puddings and tarts but the little known Buxton pudding never gets a mention. A Buxton pudding is very similar to it's sibling over at Bakewell except it doesn't use almonds and the filling is mixed with breadcrumbs to make it denser. You will notice I've added 'turnover' to the title, this is due to the fact that my enamel tin was far to big for the quantity of filling I'd made so I just picked the pastry up from one end of the tin and pulled it over to make a pie. Lucky for me it worked and in the process I've accidentally invented a new dish!

Ingredients:

1x Roll of ready made shortcrust pastry
170g Breadcrumbs
3 Eggs, beaten together
100g Soft butter
120g Caster sugar
Raspberry's, 1 punnet


Method:

1. In a pan gently warm your raspberries and 20g of sugar until you have a warm jam.
2. Mix together the remaining sugar with the butter in a bowl then gradually add the eggs followed by the breadcrumbs.
3. Roll out the pastry into an oven dish.
4. Spread your jam onto the pastry.
5. Top with the breadcrumb filling. Now here is where you should stop but as mentioned I didn't have enough filling for my tin so I grabbed one end of the pastry and pulled over the top to make a pie. If you have a small tin you can miss the optional bit out. Don't forget to seal the pie with a bit of water or egg wash. Brush the top of the pie with a bit of egg and sprinkle over with sugar.
6. Bake in the oven on gas mark 4 for about 30 mins.
7. Plate up with a tin of heated custard.

Pot Braised Beef Brisket in Port Gravy

With Christmas done and dusted there was still plenty of wine and port left over in our caravan so I thought lets bung it all in a stew. Slowly roasting a brisket in a pot turns the meat into that lovely stringy melt in your mouth deliciousness, and coupled with a rich sticky port and cranberry gravy Christmas certainly isn't over just yet.

Ingredients:

1kg Beef brisket
1x Large onion, roughly chopped
2x Carrots cut into 1cm slices
2x Sticks of celery
10x Mushrooms, halved
1x Leek, cut into 2cm slices
1x Star anise
1tsp Caraway seeds
1x Bay leaf
1x Sprig of thyme
1x Large glass of port, about 250ml
2x Large glasses of red wine
4x Garlic cloves
1tsp black peppercorn
2tbsp Cranberry sauce
500ml Stock


Method:

1. Cook the onions in a frying pan for 5-10 mins then pour them into a casserole pot.
2. Season the brisket all over then brown in the frying pan then place on top of the onions.
3. Pour the port, wine and stock to the frying pan and bring to the boil.
4. Add the chopped veg and all other ingredients to the casserole pot then pour over the hot porty-wine-stock mixture.
5. Place the pot in the oven on gas mark 2 for about 4 hours or until the meat is falling apart.
6. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
7. Strain the vegetables from the gravy and discard then get the gravy reducing on the hob.
8. Thicken the gravy with a little cornflour mixed with water and season to taste.
9. Plate up! We served ours with some simple roasted veg and some lovely crusty white bread and butter.

Special Fried Rice Burger with Cheesy Leeks, a Fried Egg and Gravy

Sometimes you just fancy some deliciously dirty food and this certainly fits the bill. It sounds wrong but tastes so right and I guarantee you will like it as much as Mrs Larry and I did. After the myriad of proper dinners over Christmas a simple plate of honest grub can't be beat, and this uses up leftover leeks in cheese sauce and gravy - although from now on I'll make sure there are plenty of leftovers so we can have this time and time again.

Ingredients:
(serves 2)

1/2lb Beef mince
2x Eggs
2x Cups of cooked rice (long grain or basmati)
4x Cabbage leaves, finely sliced
1x Onion diced (small onion)
1x Large carrot, peeled and diced
4x Rashers of streaky bacon, chopped up
6x Mushrooms, sliced
Any leftover gravy reheated

For the leeks in cheese sauce please see my Venison Shanks recipe from a couple of days ago.


Method:

1. Grab a handful (1/4lb) of mince, season well with salt and pepper then form into a burger with your hands. Don't forget to add a dimple in the middle to stop it swelling into a ball, see here for more info on making The Burger.
2. Cook the burgers in a large frying pan or wok with a splash of oil for about 4 minutes each side. When done place in a warm oven, gas mark 2 will do, and top with cold leftover leeks in cheese sauce.
3. In the same pan now sweat off the diced onion until translucent then add the carrot for a couple of minutes.
4. Now bung in the bacon, mushrooms and cabbage and cook for about 3 minutes.
5. In goes the cooked rice, keep stirring until well heated through.
6. Plate up the rice then in the same frying pan quickly fry your eggs so the bottoms are crispy but the yolks still runny.
7. Get the cheesy leek topped burgers out of the oven and place them on top of the plated rice. On goes the fried egg then drizzle all over your leftover gravy. Pure filth, but so good.