Batrum Cornish Pasties

Mike's Gran's recipe mixed in with Heather's family pastry:

"I don't have the specific pastry Big Mom used, so will give you the
Nicolson one which came from my Gran, its lovely and light, without all
the effort of traditional flaky pastry. Heather."

Soda water pastry:
1lb flour (2.5 cups)
1/2lb butter
Pinch salt
1 small bottle chilled soda water(about a cup)

Grate chilled butter into flour with coarse grater
Use 2 forks to mix slightly, pour the iced water over and mix again.
Roll out once only, wrap in greased paper and refrigerate until required

Filling:
Rump steak cut into small cubes
Potatoes, cut into cubes
Chopped onion
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt

Fill pastry rounds, close by wetting the edges with wet fingertips,
bring edges together pastie style and seal, brush with egg & bake at
200?C (400?F) for about 40 minutes

Ben's Salmon en Croute

Ben is famous for his Banoffi Pie and is a must for every party/bbq, I will try and dig out the recipe. But here is his salmon dish:

1 Small filleted Salmon
1lb. Asparagus
2 Tablespoons Double Cream
1/2 level teaspoon of chopped Dill
Salt and Black Pepper
3 thin Gammon Rashers
8oz. Puff Pastry
1 Egg Yolk
1 Tablespoon of Milk


Wash and trim the Asparagus and cook tied in a bundle upright in a saucepan of boiling water for 20 minutes or until the tips are soft to touch. Drain well and cut the top third and rub through a course sieve or liquidise. Blend the cream and dill into this asparagus puree and season with ground black pepper.

Spread the asparagus over one half of the salmon and put the halves together (any remaining puree can be spread on the top). Wrap the gammon slices around the salmon and put aside.

Roll out the puff pastry to a rectangle, which is large enough to wrap around the salmon. Place the fish in the center and wrap the pastry around it. Beat the egg yolk lightly with the milk and brush the edges of the pastry. Seal the long join firmly with more egg. Tuck in the short ends neatly and seal with egg.

Place the salmon on a wet baking tray with the seam down. Cut a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape and decorate the top with the pastry trimmings cut into leaves.
Brush with the remaining egg and milk.

Bake in the center of an oven pre-heated to 210C/425F for 20 minutes then lower the heat to 190C/375F and bake for a further 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot or cold cut into thick slices

Oma's Apple Crumble

If you are like Mike & I the best bit of a crumble is the crumble. Oma's crumble here is great - very thick and crunchy.

I always remember that if my Grandad George had upset my Nan then she would always make him a crumble rather than a pie.

1 tin of apples
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter/marg
1 egg
10ml vanilla essence

Put apples in a dish, mix all ingredients and put on top.

30 minutes on 350F / 180C
15 minutes at 100F

So quick - thanks Oma

Frozen Puff Pastry - yipee

Just this week Mike has found out how quick it is to use ready made Puff Pastry. He now loves to make sausage rolls. He buys sausages from Woolworths, squeezes the meat out of the sausage skins onto his piece of pastry then rolls them up and pops them in the oven. I'm interested to see his next puff pastry experiments.

One recipe that is a savior when needing to impress, but having no time to prepare is the following taken from the Perk Bartrum Family Cookbook. (We also sometimes swap the tomatoes for slices of salami).

Nancy's Tomato & Pesto Tarts:


(makes 2 tarts)
150g (5oz) defrosted puff pastry
2 tablespoons of pesto
4 medium ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
approx. 8 basil leaves

Set the oven to 240 C/ 450 F. Put in a large baking sheet in the oven to get hot. Divide the pastry in two. On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry large enough to make about an 18cm/8 inch round from it. Use a plate as a template. Prick each circle of pastry 4/5 times in the middle. Put a tablespoon of pesto in the middle of each piece of pastry and spread it out to about 2.5cm/1 inch from the edge.

Slice the tomatoes thinly, but not too thin and place about 4 slices on each pastry in the center overlapping slightly. Brush the tomatoes and the bare edge of the pastry with olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper and salt.

Lift the hot baking sheet from the oven and place the tarts onto it using a large flat fish slice.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until dark, golden brown. Drop the Basil leaves and a little extra olive oil onto the tarts and eat while still warm.


These are really delicious with a crisp garlic and iceberg lettuce salad.