Venison and Haggis Mini Pies

These are a real winter warmer. Miniature pies, perfect to take on your travels or to have at home for lunch. I travelled to Scotland in November and fell in love with the earthy spiciness of haggis. It's sold in most big supermarkets in the UK and works beautifully with wild venison and mushrooms. The pastry is fun to make - hot water crust pastry is very simple to make and gives a very sturdy, but melt in the mouth pastry (think the pastry in a pork pie).

These are really delicious pies, so if you can get a hold of venison and haggis, try them out :)

Makes 12 individual pies

Ingredients:

For the filling:

• 200g finely diced venison (around 1cm cubes)
• 150g haggis (cook the haggis whole per the packet instructions, then weigh out)
• 75g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
• 3-4 dried wild mushrooms
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp oil (or spray oil), for greasing the pan
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary

For the pastry:

• 300g plain flour
• 60g strong white bread flour
• 75g butter, chopped
• 90g lard, chopped
• 150ml hot water
• 1 & 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg yolk, for brushing

Method:

1. Prepare the filling by placing the dried wild mushrooms in a bowl and covering with hot water. Leave to steep for 5 minutes, then drain (keep the liquid) and finely chop.

2. Dust the venison in the flour. Heat the oil in saucepan and fry the venison for 1-2 minutes, until browned on all sides. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

3. Fry the chopped shallots in the pan for 5-10 minutes, until really soft. If the shallots start to stick, pour a splash of the liquid from the rehydrated mushrooms into the pan.

4. Tip in the garlic and the chestnut mushrooms. Cook for a further 5 minutes until softened.

5. Crumble in the cooked haggis and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the haggis has started to colour. Pour into a large mixing bowl.

6. Add the venison to the haggis/onion/mushroom mixture and mix well. Add the chopped rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool fully.

7. Preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 6. Grease the base and sides of a 12 hole muffin tray or, as I used, a 12-hole individual cake tin (from Lakeland).

7. To make the pastry, place the butter, lard, water and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil.

8. Meanwhile, sift together the plain and strong white bread flour. Once the butter and lard have melted and the mixture is bubbling, make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid.

9. Use a spoon (and then when cool enough, your hands) to bring the dough together. It will cool down to be touchable/malleable within a minute.  Once all of the flour has been incorporated, you are ready to roll out the dough.

10. Dust your surface lightly with flour (either plain or strong white bread flour would be fine). Place 2/3 of the dough onto the surface and roll out until it is 2-3mm thick. Use a round cutter (mine was 10cm) to cut out 12 circles. This dough can be re-rolled numerous times - just try to work as quick as you can so that the dough doesn't cool down too much (it becomes harder to handle when it is cold).

11. Lightly press the circles into the muffin/cake tins - try to get the pastry to reach the top of each mould. If you get any rips, don't stress. Simply take some of the dough scraps and use this to fill the rip.

12. Fill the pies with the filling, leaving a few mm at the top for the lid to sit.

13. Roll out the remaining dough to 2-3mm thickness, and then cut into 3mm thick ribbons. Per pie, make nine of these ribbons, each around 5cm. Make a weave pattern (with three going horizontal and three vertical), and press lightly to secure. 

14. If you are using the individual loose-bottomed sandwich tin like me, use a spare base as a template to cut around the weaved design. If you are using a muffin tray, make a 5cm cardboard template and use this. Transfer the trimmed weaved top to each pie.

15. Use any remaining strips to neatly surround the top of the pie (acting like a border). Press down lightly to seal. Brush the top of each pie with a little of the beaten egg yolk.

16. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the pies are golden. Leave to cool for around 5-10 minutes before taking out of their moulds and serving. 

17. Enjoy!

Sloe Gin

We made our first batch of sloe gin last September and left it to mature until early January (yesterday in fact!). Sloe gin sounds fancy, but it really was simple to make. I live in an area where sloe berries are easy to find, but if you don't, come Autumn, go looking at farmer's markets/online. Some supermarkets even seem to be stocking them! If you are foraging, the best sloes to use are ones picked after the first frosty night of the year. 

This gin takes around three months to make, but requires very little day-to-day effort. If you decant the finished product into small bottles, it's also an excellent gift at Christmas time.

Sloe berries

This recipe makes around 1 litre of sloe gin. It tastes delicious without tonic, but remember, it's very potent!

Makes 1 litre

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of quality gin
• 450g sloe berries
• 225g caster sugar
• 1 x 1 litre sterilized bottle

Method:

1. Rinse the sloe berries really well, then prick each berry multiple times with a needle/fork. This is time consuming but worth the effort.

2. Place the berries in the bottle and top with the gin and the sugar. Close the bottle and shake to start dissolving the sugar.

3. Place in a dark, cool room/cupboard, and shake every day for around a week. Then shake the bottle once a week for at least two months.

4. When you're ready to drink the sloe gin, filter the gin through a sieve lined with a clean tea towel. Pour into a clean bottle, or multiple smaller bottles and seal.

5. Enjoy!

Smoked Chorizo Jam

Happy New Year everyone!! 2018 is going to rock! :) I made this jam to add to our cheese board at Christmas, and let me tell you, it's amazing! Spicy and smoky from the chorizo sausage, with a little maple syrup for a sweet kick. It's delicious alongside cheese, or just on toast/as a sandwich, and makes a wonderful addition to any hamper. This recipe makes around 300g of jam, which is enough to fill one 450g jam jar.

Ingredients:

• 250g (one sausage/9 oz) smoked chorizo, chopped into 1-2cm cubes
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped (or crushed)
• 40g (3 tbsp) light soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 50ml (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) strong black coffee (I used instant, but you could use espresso coffee)

Method:

1. Place a saucepan over a medium heat, and fry the chorizo for 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly, until it has crisped in the corners and is beginning to golden in the corners.

2. Move the chorizo from of the pan into a bowl, leaving as much of the chorizo oil in the pan as possible. Fry the onion in this oil for 10-15 minutes on a low heat, until the onion has become very soft.

3. Add the garlic clove, brown sugar, maple syrup, vinegar and coffee and stir through. Leave to simmer for 25-30 minutes (stirring every 5 minutes or so to prevent sticking) until the mixture has become very thick and syrupy.

4. Leave to cool for 10 minutes. Pour into a food processor/high powered blender and pulse briefly. I kept mine fairly chunky, but you could make it finer if you like (I wouldn't recommend pureeing it, however).

5. Leave to cool then pour into the sterilized jam jar. This will keep for up to a month in the fridge.

6. Enjoy!