Turkey and Leek Filo Pie - How to make

Ingredients:
Cooked Turkey, Sausage Meat, Stuffing (500 grams) chunks leftovers from a roast dinner
2 Carrots
2 Leeks
1 Celery Stick
Double Cream (200millileters)
Turkey Stock (250millileters)
Flour (2 heaped tablespoons)
Olive Oil (2 tablespoons)
1 Bay Leaf
1 Clove of Garlic
Butter (75 grams)
Filo Pastry - shop bought 10-12 sheets depending on size

Method:-
Peel and dice the Carrots.
Wash and dice the Celery.
Half the Leeks and wash thoroughly as there sometimes tends to be dirt in the inner leaves.
Then cut the Leeks in to pieces about as wide as your thumbnail.
In 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, sauté the Leeks, Carrots and Celery in a large frying pan until softened. Don't use Extra Virgin Olive Oil as frying with Extra Virgin is a waste of your money. Use the Olive Oil from the second or third pressing.
Sprinkle a heaped tablespoon of Flour or two over the vegetables and cook out in the vegetables to make a thick paste. Then add 250 millilitres of Turkey stock and 200millilitres of Double Cream to the vegetables and add a Bay Leaf and a crushed clove of Garlic.
The Flour will now have dissolved and made the cream sauce thicker.
Add 150 grams of sliced Mushrooms and season with Salt and Pepper. (The video showing the roux of sauce was because I forgot to do this part and had to make the roux to thicken the cream)
Season to taste with the Salt and Pepper.
Remove from the hob, and leave to cool.
Add to a Pyrex dish with the cooked Turkey chunks and stir to mix.
Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Taking one sheet of Filo Pastry at a time, lay it out and brush with melted Butter.
Gently scrunch it up so that the pastry looks like a scrunched tissue. Add this to the top of the pie and continue until the the meat and vegetables are covered.
Filo Pastry tends to dry out very quickly so cover with a damp cloth.
Put into a pre heated fan oven at 200 degrees centigrade and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the Filo Pastry is crispy and golden in colour.

Serve with Winter Greens and boiled potatoes.

Enjoy. Paul & Vikki.

Braised Ox Cheeks

Braised Ox Cheeks are a cheep cut of meat that when slow cooked over a long period allows the meat to break down and become very tender. Serve this with a creamy mash and winter greens or with suet dumplings.

Braised Ox Cheeks Ingredients:-
1KG Beef or Ox Cheeks trimmed of skin and fat and cut into large chunks
2 Celery sticks diced
1 Onion – medium – sliced
1 Leek, quartered and cut into chunks
3 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
2 Carrots - large halved and cut into chunks
4/5 tablespoons of plain Flour to dust the Ox cheeks
Salt & Pepper
½ bottle red Wine – use Wine that you would drink
1 ltr Chicken Stock or you can use a stock cube with water
Thyme
300gm sliced or Button Mushrooms

Method:-
Trim the Ox cheeks and cut into cubes. Use a sharp knife as the Ox Cheeks will be quite tough to cut.
Take 4/5 tablespoons of plain Flour and season with salt and pepper and then add 1/2 a teaspoon of dried Thyme( if you can’t get fresh Thyme). Dip the Ox cheeks into the flour and pat off excess flour.
Save any excess flour.
Fry the Ox Cheeks until brown sealing in any juices. Do this in several batches so as not to fill the frying pan. Filling the Frying pan will cause a broiling effect and not a frying effect that we want.
Place the meat into a large oven proof Casserole dish.
In the same frying pan, fry off the Onion, Leek, Carrot, Celery and Garlic until they soften. Add in the saved excess flour and fry a little more before adding the vegetables to the Casserole dish. The cooked out flour will thicken the casserole. Poor the Wine into the frying pan and deglaze the pan. Bring the Wine to a boil and reduce by half then add to the Casserole dish. Add in two sprigs of fresh Thyme. Top the Casserole dish up with the Litre of chicken Stock and put into a pre heated oven and cook for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 150 degrees centigrade.
In the last half an hour remove the lid to allow sauce to thicken and toss in 300 grams of sliced or Button Mushrooms.
If you want a really thick sauce use a few tablespoons of cornflour and add a little water to make a paste. Add to the casserole and allow to cook and thicken the stock. Serve with a creamy mashed potato and steamed winter greens.

How to make a Lemon Posset

How to make a Lemon Posset.
Lemon Posset is one of those ancient desserts that seems to have fallen out of favour. Originally an alcoholic beverage for wedding nuptials made of sugar, spices and eggs, similar to a boozy custard. Over time the eggs and the booze were taken out leaving one of the simplest desserts you could ever make.

Ingredients
3 Lemons juice and zest
1 pint Double Cream
150g Caster Sugar
Bring Sugar and Cream to boil, add lemons and zest simmer for three minutes.
Sieve the mixture and pour into ramekins or tea cups.
Leave at least three hours in fridge to set, but a longer time will set the cream thicker.
Decorate with lemon zest or slices of Lemon
Serve with Shortbread biscuits.

How to make Leek & Potato soup

For those cold winter days, try making some Leek and Potato Soup to warm yourself up.
Here is a great recipe for you to try.

How to make Leek & Potato soup. Follow our video recipe for a very tasty soup for those cold winter days.
Leek and Potato Soup
Ingredients
1lb Leeks (3 medium sized leeks quartered, washed and diced)
2 Carrots (peeled, washed, quartered and diced)
2 Celery Sticks (washed and diced)
1 small Onion (peeled and diced)
2 large Potatoes (peeled washed and diced)
2 pints of Chicken Stock (or water and Chicken Stock cube)
Salt
Pepper
250ml / 1/4 pint of Milk or Cream (plus additional cream to garnish)
Parsley or Chives to garnish

Method
Quarter the Leeks checking for dirt and wash thoroughly, then dice.
Peel, wash and quarter the Carrots, and then dice.
Wash and dice the Celery
Peel, split in half  and dice all the Onion.
Peel, wash and dice the Potato.
In a large saucepan, sauté, over a low heat, the Carrot Onion and Celery. We want to soften, not add colour. When soft, add in the Leek and sauté for a few minutes before adding the Potatoes. After a few minutes on the hob,, add in 2 pints of Chicken Stock and bring to a boil and then leave to simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
Add in the milk or cream, and season with salt and pepper. Return to the heat for a further 5 minutes.
Use a stick blender or a blender and blend the soup to the texture you wish.
Pour into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of cream and parsley or chives to decorate.
Serve hot with crusty bread.

Simple Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Think you have to par boil your spuds and carrots before roasting them, then think again.
Peel and wash your carrots and potatoes. If you are feeling a little lazy then don't bother peeling them. Just give them a thorough wash under the tap. Leaving the skin on is adding more nutrients and goodness to your meal.

Slice the carrots in half length ways and quarter your potatoes. Place in a roasting pan and then drizzle over some olive oil (not the extra virgin oil but the second or third pressed oils). Season with salt and pepper and add a clove of garlic. Next throw on the top of the vegetables a tablespoon of dried Thyme and toss the vegetables well in the oil and seasoning. Place in the oven for 45-55 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1raSNlP4lM

The Cock Inn - Hatfield Broad Oak

 
The Cock Inn - Hatfield Broad Oak
 
http://www.thecockinn-hatfieldbroadoak.co.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTT0D9Ns138
 
The Cock Inn is a recently refurnished pub in the small village of Hatfield Broad Oak close to Hatfield Forrest on the way to Bishops Stortford.

You would be right to be confused about the address of the pub. The address is Bishops Stortford however Hatfield Broad Oak is in the county of Essex.
 
The Pub has been mentioned in the Camera Good Beer guide for the last several years. Serving ale such as Woodfords Wherry as well as Korev Cornish lager which I really I haven't seen served out side of Cornwall. Well that put us all off to a good start, supping the excellent kept beer.

For the lager drinkers there are several types such as Peroni and  Estrella.

From the outside, you would have thought the menu would reflect a traditional English village pub with old fire places adding to the ambience of the place, as the pub dates from the 15th century. But you would be in for a surprise as much as I was when you see the menu.
 
The menu is a little slice of BBQ heaven with smoked meat and fish from the smoker out the back.

There are slow cooked ribs and slow cooked brisket on the menu at this pub.
Starters of Smoked Salmon and Piri Piri Chicken skewers and crab cakes have to be recommended. 

The Burgers are hand made from meat sourced on farms locally, as is the steaks served by the ounce so you can order Sirloin and Ribeye as big or as little as you wish. Steak is approx. £2.00 per ounce. The Smokehouse and the BBQ burgers are £13 for 8 ounce burgers plus brisket or pulled pork on  brioche buns, with fries and salad.
 
Look out for the specials board.

A friend of ours spied a T bone steak and we all wanted it when it was served to him. It was beautifully cooked, medium rare.

The Jam Roly Poly and Sponge puddings are excellent as are their sundaes. Deserts are prices at £5-£6.
 
We have visited a couple of times over the Christmas period and have never been disappointed with what we have eaten. The Chefs are excellent and the waiters and waitresses were always attentive, and the bar staff friendly and cheerful. 

I would recommend you book a table if you fancy a visit on a Sunday, as the place fills up very quickly.
 
You can find the Cock Inn here:

The Cock Inn                                          Highstreet, Hatfield Broadoak Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM22 7HF  Tel01279 718306

OPENING TIMES

Monday 12am - 11pm
Tuesday 12am - 11pm
Wednesday 12am - 11pm
Thursday 12am - 11pm

Friday 12am - 12pm
Saturday 12am - 12pm
Sunday 12am - 10.30pm