Perfect Meringues Every Time

Do you like to eat dessert? Who doesn't. But do you feel guilty about it? Well you don't have to with this one. Meringues are easy to make if you are careful; impossible to make if you are not. Meringues are light, delicious, healthy and nutritious. Here is how to make them:

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar

Preparation

• Separate the eggs very carefully, taking care to keep any traces of yolk out of the whites. Set the yolks to one side
• Whisk the egg whites, adding the sugar slowly. The whites are stiff enough when you can turn the mixing bowl upside down without the contents falling out.
• Lightly grease a baking tray and put spoonfuls of the whisked egg whites onto the tray then place the tray in a preheated oven at 200F.
• Bake for 45 minutes, turn off the heat and allow to cool in the oven for about an hour.
  

John's Notes
This recipe can be very easy or it can be frustratingly impossible. Eggs whites will stiffen well if prepared well. Make a mistake and you can whisk all day without getting them to stiffen. The secret is to use clean, grease-free bowls and to make sure that no yolk gets into the egg whites.

So what can you do with the yolks? Egg yolks are high in cholesterol so you could just discard them, but assuming that you don't want to do that, you can whisk them with an equal amount to milk and cook in a double boiler while stirring continuously. As soon as the custard starts to thicken remove from the heat and continue to stir until the custard is smooth.

I served my super-light, melt-in-the mouth meringues on a bed of scratch custard. Excellent flavour, light and guilt-free.

Cheese Pancakes - A light, delicious meal

In the UK it is common to eat the largest meal in the middle of day; they call it "dinner". The evening meal is referred to as "tea". Tea or "high tea" as it is sometimes known is not always a meal of fresh cream, strawberry jam and scones. Tea is usually a light, cooked meal.

So, digging deep into my grandmother's cookery book from the 1950s, I found a nice easy recipe for "tea" that would make a great lunch or light evening meal here in Canada. The recipe is for cheese pancakes. Here is how I made them:

Ingredients

• 1 cup of plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup grated cheese

Preparation

• Mix the flour, cayenne and salt in a bowl
• Whisk the eggs and stir into the flour until you have a smooth, stiff dough
• Stir in the milk very slowly making sure the batter is smooth and lump-free
• Leave the batter to stand in a warm place for about 30 minutes
• Grate the cheese and stir it into the batter along with the baking powder
• Lightly grease a crepe pan and cook the batter until the top surface is just solid
• Flip the pancake and cook lightly on the other side
• Serve immediately with your choice of garnish
  

John's Notes
My cheese pancakes turned out light and delicious. As you can see from the picture, I served them with some sliced ham, tomato and more grated cheese. I melted the cheese on top of the pancake by putting the plate under a grill.

I have eaten pancakes flat on the plate since I was a child. Some like to roll them, others like to fold them in half with a filling inside. You serve them any way you like; they will still taste just as good.

It really is worth making the pancakes from scratch because the flavour is markedly different to what you get from a package of pancake mix. Of course, this blog is for those who like to cook. Instant pancake mix users would be chased out of any decent kitchen by the ghosts of the 1000 chefs wielding 2-man Henckels that we mentioned last week.

How to Make Cheese & Onion Pasties

The first ingredient in any recipe is a kitchen in which to cook. This week's recipe is a little late in publication because I was missing that essential ingredient for a few days. I have cooked so many recipes that I had worn my kitchen floor out and had to have it replaced. Well that is my excuse anyway.

Last week we made Corned Beef Pasties; this week we are staying with the pastie theme but the filling has changed to cheese and onion. And very tasty they are too.

Ingredients

• High-rise puff pastry
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 125g cheese

Preparation

The filling:

• Peel, cook and mash the potatoes. You could use instant mashed potato but the ghosts of a thousand chefs wielding 2-man Henckels (kitchen knives) would chase you out of any decent kitchen.
• Dice the onion and fry it in butter until soft but not browned.
• Grate the cheese. I used cheddar but you could substitute your favourite if you wish.
  
• Mix the mashed potato, onion and cheese thoroughly and set to one side to cool

The pastry:

• If you know how to make good high-rise pastry and you have the patience to do it you don't need any help here. I used professionally made frozen pastry from a commercial bakery.
• Roll the pastry out into squares big enough for the size of pasties you wish to make
• Place a generous helping of filling on one side of each square of pastry
• Fold and seal the edges
• Bake at 350C until the pastry has risen and turned a rich golden colour

John's Notes
As I write this recipe in the blog I am still savouring the fabulous flavour of these pasties. High-rise pastry swells quite a lot during baking and makes the pasties look like a formidable portion on your plate. But don't be discouraged; even though the pastie looks like a lot to digest, the pastry is very light, flaky and delicious.

You might be surprised that the recipe includes potato but that is the way that cheese and onion pasties are traditionally made. If these pasties contained only cheese and onion, the cheese would melt and leave the inside of the pastie hollow and unsatisfying; the potato maintains the consistency of the filling.

Recipe for Corned Beef Pasties

The traditional Cornish pastie is made with ground beef and a few veggies inside a pastry shell. I recently tried a pastie made with corned beef instead of ground beef and really enjoyed it. Give this one a try, I think you'll like it.

Whether you choose to try this recipe or not, you can join the debate over where the crust should be in a true Cornish pastie. See my notes at the end of this post.

Ingredients
For the filling:
1 can Corned Beef
Miscellaneous vegetables (onion, potato, carrots)

For the pastry:
2 cups flour
1 cup Atora Vegetable Suet
Cold water

Preparation
To make the filling:

• Empty the corned beef into a pan and warm gently until the beef has a nice warm colour and all the fat has melted.
  
• Stir in some cooked vegetables. You can choose which vegetables but only a small quantity is needed
• Cook on very low heat for a few minutes to blend the flavours then remove from heat and allow to cool

To make the pastry:

• Mix 2 cups of flour with one cup of Atora vegetable suet. Atora suet is pelletized so you must rub the flour into the suet very thoroughly until smooth
• Mix in cold water very slowly, taking care not to make the dough wet. The dough should be just moist enough to bind together but it should not stick to the mixing bowl
• Roll out the dough into oblong shapes a little larger than the size of the pasties you wish to make

The Finish:

• Put a generous helping of filling into the centre of each piece of dough, then fold the dough over the filling.
• Press, fold and seal the edges of the dough then place each pastie onto a baking tray
• Preheat an oven to 350C, then bake for about a half hour
• A few minutes before the bake is finished pull the tray out of the oven and brush some beaten egg over the pastry; this gives the pasties a nice golden glaze.
  

John's Notes
I first sampled pasties made with corned beef at the "Somewhere Else" English tea Room in Orangeville, Ontario. I didn't ask for their recipe so this isn't a copy of the one I ate at the tearoom. Instead, this recipe is an original, tried and tested in my own kitchen.

A Crusty Conundrum
By the way, there seems to be a difference of opinion on whether the crust of a Cornish style pastie should be across the top of the pastie or along the edge. My memories from Jolly Old England support the crust on the edge, but commercially made pasties here in Canada have the crust in a ridge across the top.

Tradition has it that Cornish tin miners would hold the pastie by the crust with unwashed hands. The crust would then be discarded. I would be interested to hear readers opinions on why some pasties are made one way and some the other. Is there a correct way to form the crust on a Cornish pastie? If you have an opinion or can offer some expertise please leave me a comment.