Ooooh I haven't posted for a wee while! Mostly because I haven't had anything to post about, but here is my own recipe for a pie I'm sure tasted yummy, because it all got eaten before I got any :(

As it's my own recipe, measurements are really just down to judgement/preference. This recipe makes a pie that fits a standard-looking pie dish (28cm ish?)

Ham and Mushroom Pie

Filling:

3 handfuls gammon/ham, cooked and diced (cured/smoked gammon gives more flavour)

10 medium sized mushrooms

couple of handfuls of peas

2-3 diced carrots

1 large/2 small onions, diced

knob of butter

1 tbsp plain flour

200-300ml milk

bay leaf

nutmeg

Worcestershire sauce

Pastry:

150g cold butter, cubed

300g plain flour

water

Method:

Sweat onions and carrots in a bit of oil or butter until soft. Add ham, mushrooms and peas and heat through. Melt knob of butter in a large saucepan and stir in tbsp flour to make a roux, then add milk slowly and stir until there are no lumps. Pop in the bay leaf, grated nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning and bring to the boil to thicken (i.e. bechamel sauce). Stir in the ham and mushroom mixture and make sure everything is cooked. Add more cornflour (dissolved in a bit of water) if it's not thick enough. Transfer to pie dish and cool.

To make the pastry, put the butter and flour int a food processor. Whizz until breadcrumb-like txture is acheived then add water slowly until mixture comes together. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for min. 20 mins.

Preheat the oven to Gas 6-7ish, roll out the pastry and whack it on top of the pie. Then do pretty things with the pastry and give it an egg wash. I think it took about 40 mins in the oven, and it's a good idea to put the pie dish on a baking tray to catch any leaks!

Weekend creations

Hummingbird Bakery Peaches and Cream Cupcakes...

And the boy's Hummingbird Carrot Cake for Mother's Day (he's getting good at this, do I have competition on my hands?!)

Then on Tesday ight the girls came round so I put my game face on and made chicken liver pate (Leith's cookery bible) with "French rustic" bread (au breadmaker, of course) and roast pork belly with rosemary, thyme and cider with moonblush tomatoes and red onion gratin. You can just see the bread and gratin nestling under the daffodils...

Wasabi peas

Currently addicted to these. They have nothing to do with the wasabi plant, and aren't even flavoured with wasabi (apparently not much that says it is, actually is, due to it being rather expensive) but mustard and horseradish powder, but they're rather tasty.