It's pie weather

There are many of us working towards running our homes more economically in these tough times and part of that means using up ingrediants in the fridge and having what my mum used to call "iffits" (iffits in the fridge you can have it, iffits not you can't).

With a basic suet pie crust you can transform the most basic things into something hearty, warming and incredibly filling! With 200g of suet and 200g lightly sifted flour combined with a little water and thrown back in the fridge for ten minutes before rolling the pastry is beyond easy and I've never known it come out as anything other than delicious. Keep it around 5mm thick and it's crispy and a little stodgy all at once.

Tonights filling was leftover cooked chicken (equivalent of two large chicken breasts) which I chopped into bite sized pieces and added to a couple of rashers of smoked bacon after frying off in their own fat for about two minutes. I let it heat through for five minutes on a moderate heat and then added about a teaspoon of dried sage, a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a couple of handfuls of grated cheddar cheese and a small pot of double cream. Slightly decadent but all leftovers in our fridge. Let the filling come to the bubble and simmer for a moment while you roll out the pastry and grease and line a 6" metal pie tin. Pile up the filling and add a lid. Get fancy and add leaves and a rolled pastry rose if you like and milk wash the lot.
Cook at gas 7 for 35 mins, checking after 25 mins to see if you need to lower your heat a little for the last little while.

This kind of pie always going down well with my floaty family but we change it around... sometimes I pop a raw egg in a small well in the filling before I pop the lid on and it's like a hidden treasure lurking under the lid when you cut in to dish it up!

Are you pie fans??!

National pudding day so the cake's NOT my fault!

I was reliably informed that it's national pudding day so I felt morally obliged to provide something nice for Mr LFCC - it would have been for the teenager too but she went out so missed out and I baked something she wouldn't like! How mean?! She'll sulk about that later!!

So I set to work in the kitchen... want the low down on my gorgeous fruity cake?

Ingrediants:

• 150g unsalted butter
• 3 free range eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 150g sifted self raising flour
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
• 400g sultanas (you can soak these in booze first if you want!)
• 50g glace cherries (the natural coloured ones, not the nasty articifical ones!)
• half a teaspoon gravy browning (yes, really!)
• half a teaspoon mixed spice (if you fancy it!)

Method:

1. Grease and line a round 6" deep baking tin and preheat the oven to gas mark 5.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together well in a large bow. Beat them until they get paler in colour and are really soft and smooth. Add the gravey browning and mix in.
3. Add the eggs (crack from the shells into a separate bowl in case there's an iffy one!) and beat them really well until everything is all light and gorgeous and if you trail the beaters over the liquid you can see a ribbon of mix slowly melting into the surface.
4. Gently sieve the flour and baking powder into the bowl having dusted your dried fruit in it first.
5. Fold the flour and fruit in gently.
6. Turn out into the tin and place in the oven for approximately one hour but keep an eye on it for the last fifteen minutes or so... Prod with a piece of dry spaghetti and if it comes out clean your cakes good to be omnommed!

Enjoy national pudding day! xxx