For Your Pies Only



I'm going to be a bit quiet on the blogging front this week as I've a couple of days of hospital tests. I'll be back on Friday though with my last 5 themed Mofo posts. The clue is in the title of this post. Yes, Friday is the opening day of the new bond film and we'll be off to see it after work as Matt's been on the opening day of every one since The Spy Who loved me in 1977. Here he is sat on the roof of the original car from that film.


My theme is going to be dessert inspired Martinis. But before that here's a pie I made yesterday that manages to have booze in both the filling and the pastry!


I used this recipe for a vegan flaky pastry that uses ice cold vodka as one of the ingredients. Apparently the alcohol does something to the gluten in the flour allowing you to create a more tender crust. It cooks off in the oven and you can't taste it. It's the first time I've made a savoury pastry from scratch and I was surprised how easy it was and would definitely recommend this recipe.


I used a filling recipe that I've used a few times before with a puff pastry top. I cooked it down until most of the liquid had gone and it worked well with the shortcrust pastry on the top and bottom.


It was the first pie to be made in this new purchase - a Le Creuset pie dish from TK Maxx at a third of the normal price. I've got a few pieces of Le Creuset ceramic cookware and it's great stuff and really easy to clean!


Comments

  1. Amanda23 October 2012 at 21:50

    I hope your hospital tests go smoothly.

    I love Le Creuset and that pie looks delish. I love anything with chestnuts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. vegan.in.brighton23 October 2012 at 22:10

    I hope everything goes well at the hospital. i have that pie dish, I got it cheap too! Sadly mine doesn't have pie in it today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. omgoshimvegan24 October 2012 at 00:01

    Hope all of the tests go well. I've never had pie with chestnuts. Sounds pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joey24 October 2012 at 07:52

    Good luck with the tests. Hope Bond makes up for it - looking forward to the martini desserts!

    ReplyDelete
  5. x24 October 2012 at 09:35

    Yum, what a delish looking pie and I hope all your tests go well :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous24 October 2012 at 19:33

    That pie filling is the delicious! We make it every few weeks in the winter months. Love the Le Creuset dish, everything tastes better with Le Creuset.

    Good luck with the tests. I shall look forward to the Martini's with intrigue.

    Cat

    ReplyDelete
  7. Matt Hill25 October 2012 at 23:37

    I can confirm that the pie was indeed as delicious as it looked.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cola de Mono

Image
Colo de Mono (Tail of the Monkey) is a Chilean concoction traditionally drunk ice cold at Christmastime. Obviously their winters are a lot warmer than ours so in the UK it's more suited to this time of year. The Chileans use aguadiente an overproof cane spirit. I use Cachaca 51 which I have in for Mojitos and Caipirinhas. Traditionally made with cows milk, here is my vegan version. Colo De Mono Makes 1 pint Serves 4 2 cups of vanilla soy milk 1/3 cup of caster sugar 1/3 teaspoon of cinammon 3 teaspoons of instant coffee 1/2 cup of spirit* Bring the milk, sugar and cinnamon to a low boil in a pan stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and stir in the coffee. Leave to cool. Once cool add the spirit and chill in the fridge. It will keep for 2 weeks. Serve over ice or straight up but make it cold. * Spirit - I use Cachaca but have heard that people use tequila too.
Read more

Interview With Lisa Goddard of Lily and Dilly

Image
If you've eaten vegan cake in Manchester City Centre in the last few years then chances are you'll have eaten cake baked by Lisa Goddard of bakery Lily and Dilly . We caught up with Lisa to find out what set her on the vegan baking path! So, Lily and Dilly? What made you set up as an independent bakery and where does the name come from? Having worked as a stop frame animator for 12 years, I was getting rather fed up with short term contracts, so the last time I was made redundant, I decided not to chase work round the country, and if that meant a career change, then so be it. A friend of mine had just set up The Cocoa Emporium as an independent Chocolatier, so I gave her a hand whilst navigating through the benefits system, mostly to get me out of bed on a morning! Doing baking for her farmers market was fun, as it was one of my main hobbies, so when she asked if I fancied getting a little shop  with her, it seemed a nice chance to start something new. We got the shop...
Read more

Growing your own, bargains and a breakfast recipe

Image
I've started sprouting again! In my old flat I used to do sprouting all the time. The flat was in an old 1930's building and had radiators run from a central boiler room and it was always nice and warm. The constant warm temp made sprouting pretty fail safe. Now I'm in a Derbyshire stone house where it's not as warm the results haven't been as great and I gave up trying  but with this very hot summer we are having I thought I would give it another go and I'm glad I have done. As I already have the seeds it kind of feels like free food too! I'm using these sprouts  from A Vogel. This week I've grown alfalfa but pictured is my first attempt from the week before which was a mix of radish, lentil and rocket which grew into lovely peppery tasting sprouts that we used to garnish our bowl meals for the week. These took 4 days to grow and I nearly gave up on day 2 because I could see mold. Luckily I googled and found out that it wasn't mold at all but r...
Read more