Scones

Ingredients

225 g self raising flour
40 g butter
150 ml milk
1½ tbsp caster sugar
pinch salt
flour, for rolling out

method

  1. Put the flour in a bowl with the butter and rub in the butter to “breadcrumb” texture.
  2. Stir in the sugar and salt, add the milk and mix to a smooth dough.
    Add in more milk if it feels dry.
  3. Turn out onto a floured board and roll to 2cm thick.
  4. Cut into rounds and place on a greased baking sheet.
  5. Bake at 220°C for 12 to 15 minutes.
  • Eat hot with butter or cold with cream, jam and strawberries.

Stew and Dumplings

You need

3 potatoes
2 carrots
½ turnip
1 or 2 onions
500 g beef (stewing steak), cubed
1 tsp herbs
1 beef stock cube
2 tbsp pearl barley (optional)
50 g suet
100 g self-raising flour
pinch salt

Method

  1. Toss the beef in a little flour to coat it.
  2. Chop all the vegetables into bit sized pieces and layer them with the beef.
  3. Mix up a stock cube with boiling water and just cover the veg. and meat with the stock.
  4. Add the herbs (and pearl barley, if desired).
  5. Bring to boiling point, then cover reduce to a simmer for at least an hour.  Check occasionally to ensure that it doesn't burn.
  6. Make up the dumplings by mixing the suet, flour and salt with just enough cold water to clump it all together.
  7. Toss into the liquid and allow to simmer for 15 mins.

Makes loads.  Also, tastes better the next day!

Cheesy Veg. Pie

Very, very easy.  The only thing to remember is to thaw out any frozen or chilled ingredients beforehand.  Although things like frozen peas and corn can be added directly to the boiling water.

Ingredients

1 packet flaky pastry, at room temperature 
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
½ litre milk
lots of grated cheese
assorted veg. defrosted/peeled/chopped into bite sized pieces
(peas, corn, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, potato etc.)

Method

  1. Prepare all the veg. depending on the types chosen.  Peel and chop potato, carrots, etc. into bite sized pieces.  Chop up broccoli or cauliflower and the like into florets.  Defrost frozen peas and sweetcorn and so on.
  2. Simmer the veg. in a pan of salted water until lightly cooked. This can all be done in the same pan if tipped in at different times (e.g. root veg first, then florets, then smaller podded veg). Drain the veg.
  3. Make a cheese sauce, by melting the butter in a pan and cooking the flour in it. Then, add the milk slowly, mixing all the time to avoid lumps. Finally, add in the cheese and stir until smooth.
  4. Pour the drained veg. into the sauce and stir well. Tip into a casserole dish
  5. Roll out the pastry to roughly fit the top of the casserole. Score 2 or 3 short lines through the pastry in the centre to allow the steam out, then place on top of the cheesy veg mixture
  6. Bake for 20 to 25 mins at 200°C