Sausage and leek pie

Sometimes you just need pastry.

As I was moaning to my culinary compatriots at Nigella.com earlier, I was struck by a bubble of PhD blues today, a chronic condition suffered by masochistic folks who put themselves through an extra 4 years of university than is entirely necessary... In my experience there are 3 successful ways to pull yourself out of this malaise: prayer (probably most effective!), long walks (the healthy option), and cooking (not always the healthy option). I went for cooking today, prayer will come tomorrow morning...

Ingredients

• 240g plain flour
• 120g butter
• 3-5 tablespoons iced water
• 6 good beef sausages, skins removed and broken into small lumps
• 3-4 small leeks, rinsed well and finely sliced
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• Zest 1/2 lemon
• Good bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Method

• Cut the butter into small lumps, mix through the flour and freeze them together for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes tip the whole lot into a food processor and blitz to rubble, then add tablespoonfuls of icy water, pulsing, until the pastry comes together.
• Turn out and knead briefly, then divide into 2 disks, wrap them in cling and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/390F.
• Cook the onion, leek and sausage together in a large frying pan until the veg are softened and the meat cooked and getting slightly crispy. Pepper well and set aside.
• Mix the egg with the parsley, lemon zest and Parmesan.
• Using one disk of pastry, line a 20cm pie plate or low sided cake tin, leaving a little overhang of pastry.
• Tumble in the leek and sausage mixture, spreading it evenly in the pasty base, then pour over the egg mix.
• Roll out the second pastry disk to form a lid, and attach it to the overhang of the base using a little cold water. Cut off the excess pastry and crimp all round the edges to seal the lid. Made a hole in the centre of the pie with a fork to release trapped steam.
• Sit the pie plate or cake tin on a baking tray and cook in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes until golden.
• Let sit for 10 minutes before eating.

Weeknight pasta to fill a hole

Weeknight food really needs to be quick to prepare and satisfying to eat. Particularly with the advance of the chilly season now upon us, I need after-work suppers that will calm and console me, and that can be flexible enough to serve to friends at the table followed by a nice pudding, or guzzled unceremoniously from a bowl in front of the box.



This pasta supper was made in honour of Dr K's passion for garlic. Faint-hearted? Do not attempt!








Ingredients (to feed 2):

• 3 good quality butcher's sausages (I used beef, but pork or lamb would also be fine)


• 1 bulb of garlic, cloves separated and peeled


• Good pinch (or to taste) dried chili, crumbled or flakes


• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme


• 1/2 glass medium white wine


• Good splash double cream


• Salt and black pepper


• 2 tablespoons pine nuts


• 1/4 cup (lightly packed) chopped flat leaf parsley


• Penne or other short pasta to serve (about 80g per person)

Method

• Gently heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan with a lid (or use tin foil to cover). Don't let the oil get too hot.


• Add the whole garlic cloves, stir briefly and cover the pan.


• Cook the garlic very gently for around 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and checking the heat level. You want soft, sweet cloves without any singeing that might cause bitterness. A little colour is fine though.


• Whilst the garlic is cooking, put the pine nuts in a dry pan over a medium heat and gently toast them - stop when you can smell warm nuttyness, and their cheeks are turning golden. Remove from the heat to prevent them cooking further.


• Put on the water for your pasta.


• Once the garlic is soft, turn up the heat in the pan and add the sausages, skin removed and meat crumbled up, like tiny broken meatballs.


• Brown the meat, and sprinkle in the chili and thyme.


• While this is cooking, add your pasta to the boiling water.


• After a couple of minutes, when the meat is browned and you can smell the herbs, pour in the white wine and let it bubble away for a few minutes, scraping any lovely crispy bits of sausage off the pan with your wooden spoon, until reduced by about half.


• Stir in some double cream to make a calming pale sauce, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Do not let the cream boil.


• Once the pasta is ready, drain it and add to the pan of creamy sausage sauce. Stir together well, taste again, and then sprinkle over the pine nuts and parsley. Dive in!