Pete's Food Blog

Pickled onions, Pete's miso butter roasted onions, Pete's "ultimate" Apple pie, My "Go to" pastry recipe for sweet or savoury (not in web pages), Ramen soup.

20th August, 2021

Method:

Wash and sterilize the jar for 30 mins. at 140⁰C

Fill the jar with topped and tailed pickling onions.

Let the 290 ml vinegar, together with the sugar and spices/herbs, simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the pickling liquor has cooled, pour it over the onions and top up with what's needed of the remaining malt vinegar to fill the jar to the brim.

Store in the dark, at room temperature for a minimum of three weeks.

26th August, 2021 Vegan option

Here's my version:

Pre-heat the oven to 240⁰C.

You will need approximately 5 medium sized onions, skinned and cut vertically into halves, enough to fit in your baking dish without touching each other.

Whisk together 500ml warm water,

70g melted butter (vegan butter substitute works well) and

40g miso paste (light or dark).

Place the onion halves cut surface down in the baking dish.

Pour in enough of the miso butter broth to come two-thirds of the way up the onions. Seal with foil and bake for 35 mins.

Remove the foil, using a spoon, carefully turn the onions cut side up and continue baking for at least 30 mins. basting every 10 mins. After the 30 mins. have elapsed, continue basting every 5 mins. until the sauce has thickened and the vegetables are golden brown.

Be careful!... in the latter stages the sauce dries out and burns very easily.

28th August, 2021

My "ultimate" Apple pie

And "Go to" pastry recipe - savoury or sweet

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

280 g plain white flour

1 tsp salt

175g cold butter/margarine or vegan substitute - cut into 1 cm cubes

5 tbl cold water

For the filling:

2 tbl flour

900g of sharp apples cores removed and cut into wedges

100g sugar

1½ tsp cinnamon

1 whole nutmeg freshly grated (1½ tsp of ready ground)

5 tbl Orange marmalade

30g cold butter (or vegan substitute), cut into 10 cubes

20 ml of milk or milk substitute

(Optional - one egg)

Method:

In a bowl, coat the apple wedges with  the spices and sugar. Set aside.

Blitz the flour, salt and  fat to form a crumb. With the food processor blades still turning, add the water 15 ml at a time until the dough forms into a ball. Place in the fridge for at least an hour in a plastic bag (overnight's good too).

Pre-heat the oven to 230°C

Divide the pastry dough into two parts, one slightly bigger than the other - the larger one for the base of your 28cm pie dish, the smaller for the top of the pie.

Roll out the base - large enough to come up and slightly over the edges of the pie dish. Grease the pie dish with oil and sprinkle with flour or preferably semolina.

Transfer the pastry base to the pie dish and cut off the excess around the upper rim.  (Conserve the off-cuts)

Sprinkle the 2 tbl spoons of flour over the base. Pour the spiced apples into the pie dish and spread them out evenly over the pastry base. Using a teaspoon, daub the apples with blobs of marmalade and the (30g) cubes of butter/margarine/butter substitute.

Roll out the second piece of pastry dough and cover the pie, again cutting off any excess.

Ball together the pastry off-cuts, roll them to about 4 mm thick and cut out shapes to decorate your pie topping (An apple, apple tree whatever takes your fancy!). Dip them in milk (or milk substitute) and arrange on the pastry topping.

Bake for 15 mins.

Then reduce the temperature to 190°C for 25 mins.

Take the pie out of the oven, brush the top with a beaten egg (or milk substitute) and sprinkle with sugar. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Serve cold

28th August, 2021

Method:

Fry the garlic in the fat til golden, gently whisk in the flour to form a smooth rue. Little by little incorporate the milk to form a creamy sauce. Sprinkle in the herbs, bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese. (If you wish the sauce to have an extra strong flavour of garlic, add two more crushed cloves at the end).

29th August, 2021

This was recommended to me by a very good friend - Kristiina. The ingredients I have taken from a finnish post - with some adaptation ( link)

Ingredients:

For the broth

4 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped

1½ tbl finely grated ginger

2 tbl miso paste ( white or brown)

1/2 dl low salt soya sauce

1/2 dl soft brown sugar

1/2 dl ricewine vinegar

2 tbl chilli paste (eg. Gochujang, sriracha/sambal oelek)

2 tbl tahini

2 tbl sesame oil

1 litre water + 2 vegetable stock cubes (I used low salt ones)

For the soup

50 g dry weight wholewheat noodles. Cooked and strained.

6 leaves of pak choi or any other cabbage ripped into 10 cm pieces

300 g of mushrooms

1 tbl sesame oil

1 packet of small, pre-cooked meatballs or vegan alternative (In Finland - nyhtökaura pallot)

2 dl edamame beans or cooked soyabeans (In desperation to make the soup before going to the shops I washed the tomato sauce off a tin of baked beans 🙂!)

Fresh coriander to serve

1 tbl toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of the serving.