Gluten free aduki and parsnip pie

It's time to clean my fridge and freezer so instead of going grocery shopping I am using up tag ends of foods. Today I found three slightly tired parsnips and a tub of aduki beans.  I had soaked and cooked a whole bag of beans a while ago and frozen them in tubs.  With a beautiful crisp and chilly day outside I thought a pie would be nice .  I used garlic, ginger and chilli in the vegetable mixture but also put half a teaspoon of madras curry paste in the pastry to give it a bit of zip.

These amounts serve three.  I made double the pastry needed and rolled and froze one portion (oh no, the freezer filling up again!).   You could make a double pastry pie rather than just a topping or halve the ingredients.

I served this with steamed savoy cabbage and pineapple cooked with cumin, chilli and soy.  Pineapple is another thing I usually have in my freezer.  When I buy a fresh pineapple I can't eat the whole thing in one go so freeze it in tubs.  In this dish it added a sweet/sour note which worked well with the spicy earthy flavour of the beans.  Pineapple can be chopped with a large knife while it is still frozen.

Ingredients
3 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 cup cooked aduki beans (1.5 cups/one can)
1 tbsp chopped ginger
3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp oil
1 tsp madras curry paste is wanted
1/4 tsp chilli

Fry parsnip and spices briefly then add water to cover and cook until beginning to soften.  Add beans and continue to cook, stirring regularly.  Once the beans are in the pot there is an increased tendency to catch and burn so I don't put them in at the beginning.  When cooked use a slotted spoon to fill your pie dish.  Keep the cooking liquor to make a gravy if you want.  I left some of the vegetables in the give a thick sauce and added a dash of soy to lift the flavour a little. Leave to cool while you make the pastry.

Pastry (use half quantities if you just want single layer of pastry on top and no leftovers)
100g flour (40% urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
50g butter
approx 1-2  tbsp of cold water
1/2 tsp curry paste

Rub butter into flour.  Rub in the curry paste (or stir in curry powder if you prefer)
Add water and mix until you get a soft dough.  Don't leave it too dry or it will crack when you roll it.  Form a ball and leave the pastry to rest at room temperature for the flours to absorb the water. If you put it in the fridge it will be too hard to roll.

Roll pastry, cut around pie dish shape (I have two the same which makes this easy) and place on top of the bean mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes at 180C until crisp and just browning around the edges.

Cabbage side dish
Shred savoy cabbage and cook in very little water with the lid on.  Add 1/4 tsp cumin seed, dash of soy (make sure gf), pinch chilli and some pineapple if wanted to the pan at the start of the cooking so that the flavour permeates the cabbage.

Make a gravy with the cooking liquor by mashing a few of the vegetables into the stock and adjust seasoning if wanted.

Venison and mushroom pie

I had a bit of venison left over so made it into a pie with mushrooms.  This is a double crust pie; if you want to make life easier or the meal less calorific just put a top crust on.

Make the filling ahead of time so that it has time to cool - though you can speed this up by putting it in a metal bowl in cold water.  The pastry needs at least fifteen minutes to absorb the water, but unless you want to make it the day before don't put it in the fridge.  If you try to roll this pastry when it is chilled it is very hard to work.

Filling
125g venison (this was already cooked, but raw would be fine)
250g mushrooms
1/2 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp umami paste or other flavouring like tamari
1 tsp ketchup (I thought it needed a bit of brightening)
pepper
water
oil

Finely chop the onion and cook until translucent in oil.  (If the venison is raw remove onion from pan and brown venison before continuing with other stages). Add the chopped garlic and the chopped mushrooms and cook until beginning to brown.  Add the venison, cut into bite sized pieces.  Add water and flavourings and cook until the mushrooms are soft.  Add some cornflour mixed with water to thicken the sauce, or, as I did, use a small lump of the pastry mixed into the sauce.  Don't make this as thick as you would like the gravy to be in the pie as it will reduce and thicken more in the baking.

Check flavouring and adjust as needed.  Put aside to cool.


Pastry
250g flour (40% urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
125 g chilled butter
water to mix to dough

Cut and rub the butter into the flour until it is evenly dispersed.  You can do this in a food mixer or by hand - which is harder, getting out the machine and washing up or rubbing gently for a couple of minutes?

Add water a little at a time and mix with finger tips until you get a slightly damp dough that holds together well.  Wrap in plastic and leave to rest at room temperature for at least fifteen minutes.


Put the oven on to heat - 170C fan, before you start assembling pie.

When the pastry has rested, roll out 2/3 of the pastry on floured board or just press into place in pie dish.  Place cooled filling into pie dish and top with the rest of the pastry.  Make a hole in the middle for the steam, brush with egg wash if you want a shiny top.

Bake at 170C, for about half an hour.  If you have kept the filling in the fridge allow a little extra time for the filling to get piping hot and the lower pastry to be cooked.  You may also need a little extra time if you use a ceramic dish rather than a metal pie dish.  The filling is already cooked so it just needs to be hot and the pastry crisp.

Serves two hungry people or four with modest appetites.

Venison, Ale and Mushroom pie

I based this recipe on one from  UKTV Food.  This pie has a crisp golden pastry and succulent rich filling.  Pureed beans and onion thicken the sauce.  If you don't want to puree them just add them to the rest of the ingredients at the start of the slow cooking stage.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
1 pack diced venison (c340g)
1 pack mushrooms (c 200g)  I used chestnut
1 bottle beer - I used Nick Stafford's Hambleton Ales GFA Gluten and Wheat Free Ale
2 onions - chopped
2 carrots- diced
3 cloves garlic - squashed
vegetable oil
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 tsp dried
stock / water - I used chicken as I always have that available in the freezer.
1 small can beans -  cannellini / borlotti or gf baked beans
1 tbsp tomato paste
pepper


Pastry
500 g gf flour (40%urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
250 butter
water to bind
egg wash for pastry top if wanted (an egg beaten with a little water, brushed on to pastry before cooking).


Trim any cartilage from the venison pieces. Dry with paper towel.  This will make it spit less when you fry it.

Cover the bottom of your pan with a thin layer of oil.  Place individual pieces of meat in this oil when hot and allow to brown.  Don't over-crowd the pan; you may need to do it in two batches.  When the meat is brown set aside in another dish.

Put the onion and whole squashed garlic cloves in the pan and cook slowly until translucent.  Add extra oil if needed. Remove from the pan.

Cook the carrots and mushrooms for two or three minutes then add the meat back to the pan.  Add the stock, ale, thyme, tomato paste and pepper, and also salt if you want to.  The liquid should cover the meat. Put the lid on and simmer gently for 1.5 hours, checking the levels of the liquid every half hour or so.  If it is getting dry add some water.

Meanwhile, put the cooked onions, garlic and the can of undrained beans in a blender and puree. This will form the thickened gravy for the pie. You can leave the onions and beans unpureed if you prefer.

When the meat and vegetables have cooked for the hour and a half, add the bean and onion puree.    Check for seasoning.  Cook for a few minutes, stirring, until the gravy is the texture you like.  This stew is now ready to be eaten by itself, frozen for another occasion, or used as the pie filling.  Leave to cool before making the pie.

To make the pastry: cut the butter into the flour either by hand or in the food processor.  Add water a little at a time until the dough coheres in a slightly claggy ball.  Wrap in cling film and set aside for at least fifteen minutes for the flours to absorb the water.  If you make it ahead of time, keep it in the fridge but allow it to come to room temperature before rolling out or it will be too stiff to work.

Roll pastry out on a floured board to fit your pie dish or dishes.  This recipe is enough for two 1 pint /  half litre pie dishes.  If you aren't sure of the fit of your dishes, measure how much stew you have and see how that much water fits into your dish.  Place a layer of pastry in the bottom of the dish and put the cooled filling in.  Dampen the top edge of the pastry and place on the top layer of pastry.  Crimp or fork the edges together.  Brush egg wash on if you want a deeper golden and shiny pastry.  Bake for 35 minutes at 170C until pastry is golden brown.

Left over pastry can be made into jam tarts, or rolled out and frozen between greaseproof paper sheets until wanted.

Perfect pastry pies

Using week-old gluten-free pastry from the fridge:

mini butternut squash pie

A while ago I posted about making mince pies.  I had meant to make a large batch and freeze half of the composed but not baked pies, so I could pull a few out whenever I wanted.  Two large patties of pastry sat in the fridge for a week...

Today I wondered if it was still good to use.  I have frozen pastry and used it before but never just kept made-up pastry in the fridge for more than a couple of days before. I took a little bit and baked it - it was still light and crisp and hadn't any strange flavour.

I had some chilli beef in the freezer, and a portion of the steak in gravy I use for steak pies, a good dollop of the butternut squash and chilli mix I used as a ravioli filling yesterday, and some apple sauce left over from breakfast, and blackberries in the freezer.  I didn't mix them all together, for any of you who have started feeling panicky.

By slicing the pastry I could roll it without having to wait for it to warm up.  I made one steak pie, mini chilli beef pies, butternut squash pies, apple and blackberry pies and a strawberry jam tart with the last bits of leftover pastry.  I hate to throw pastry away, and often use the last trimmings for a single mis-shapen jam tart - I love the way the jam goes chewy.  The jam is some made by with the grandchildren - a trip to the fruit farm is one of our standard summer holiday activities.

The pastry is a mixture of urid lentil flour, tapioca and polenta.  The full recipe was posted a few days ago: http://blissglutenfree.blogspot.com/2010/12/finally-gluten-free-mincepies.html

mini chilli-beef pie

Some of the pies were eaten for lunch, the rest are in the freezer for easy meals some other day.

 I couldn't resist adding this picture - the sunlight shining through the pastry is so warm and inviting.  The weather here has been freezing for a couple of weeks and the last two days have been freezing fog.  This shaft of sunlight was the first I'd seen this week.