Day Goes Pie

INGREDIENTS

For the pastry

225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

65g/2½oz vegetable suet

65g/2½oz unsalted butter

pinch salt

splash cold water

For the filling

2 tbsp butter
1 onion, finely sliced
2 leeks, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
200g/7oz smoked Cumbrian farmhouse cheese (or other smoked cheese), grated
150g/5oz cooked new potatoes, cut into cubes
1 free-range egg, beaten


To serve
Pickles, hard-boiled eggs, fresh dill, walnuts, cooked beetroot and watercress


DIRECTIONS
For the pastry, rub the flour, suet, butter and salt together in a bowl. Bring the mixture together to form a dough, adding a little cold water if necessary.
Cover the bowl with cling film and place into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface. Cut out 4 x 15cm/6in circles and 4 x 8cm/3in circles.
For the filling, heat the butter in a pan and fry the onion, leeks and garlic until softened. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and drain off any excess liquid.

In a bowl, combine the onion mixture with the mustard, cheese and potatoes. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

To make the pies, place a quarter of the filling mixture in the middle of one of the larger circles. Place one of the smaller circles on top of the mixture, then bring the sides up and pinch around the top to help it stand.

Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling to make three more pies. Brush the pies all over with beaten egg.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown and crisp.

Serve warm or cold with the selection of pickles, hard-boiled eggs, dill, walnuts, cooked beetroot and some peppery watercress.

Mothers Day Breakfast – Dos and Don'ts

There aren't many things better than a lazy breakfast in bed at the weekend. Especially if you're not the one that's had to dash to the kitchen and bring the haul back up to the bedroom for all to share.

But there's an art to putting together exactly the right sort of breakfast in bed. And there are pitfalls which frankly, it's better to avoid. So welcome to our brekkie in bed do's and don'ts – based on exhaustive research (it was hellish, frankly, but someone had to do it). They're perfect for Mothers Day, or in fact for any day that you want to treat someone.

DO stick to one theme – either a lush continental or a cooked breakfast, not both
DO think about the best things to eat in bed – soft croissants are good, hard crunchy toast ( and the millions of crumbs it creates) not so good
DO prepare it for the person who's being treated – you may like a full English complete with black pudding – she may prefer softly scrambled eggs and muffins
DO upgrade a little – swap your bog standard orange juice for freshly squeezed; make fresh coffee not instant
DO add a hotel-like touch – a small blossom or bunch of snowdrops in a vase, a folded napkin, butter in a tiny pot only take minutes but will get a great response
DO include reading material to extend the lazing experience – a newspaper or favourite magazine
DO prepare more than you think – this is an indulgent occasion
And on this note, DO consider a small bottle of fizz if you think it will be appreciated!

DON'T make too much noise while preparing the breakfast – the person you're cooking for should be woken with the breakfast, not lying upstairs listening to you crashing pans and swearing
DON'T try anything new or complicated – this is not the time to grapple with Hollandaise sauce
DON'T burn anything – being woken by the smell of burnt toast or bacon will probably drive the person you're cooking for out of bed to flung open windows and doors
DON'T just plonk the food on the plate – this is a sensuous feast for the eyes, too
DON'T think you have to have separate plates – how about a large sharing platter of mini favourites?
DON'T forget the card/pressie if this is a special occasion
DON'T forget about timings – a Mothers' Day lie in and a huge, late brunch in bed is brilliant – but not if you've got a restaurant booked for a slap-up lunch an hour or so later.

And lastly, here are some of our most memorable breakfasts in bed – we'd love to hear yours, too:

• Lightly scrambled eggs, and baby plum tomatoes served with spelt toast and fresh orange juice
• Strawberry and banana smoothie served with freshly baked apple and cinnamon muffins
• Cheese, tarragon and mushroom omelet
• A sharing platter of mini pastries and different types of toast and warm rolls
• Bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese
• A ditch-all-rules, hang-the-healthy-eating-plan box of cupcakes, served with a demi sec champagne!

Watch this space for more details of our ultimate pamper me breakfast!

Best Pamper Day

When I was at University I was very lucky to make life long friends, with whom I still spend as much time as I can now.  One of my closest friends was (and still is) Shara, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. Brilliant fun, but a terrible cook. (Sorry love!) However, that said, she did have one very special dish up her sleeve that she could make really well. Best Pamper Day... for those special breakfast in bed days, hence the name Best Pamper Day. It is the only thing that I would have as my breakfast in bed treat. Forget scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a glass of ready made Bucks Fizz.... This is the real deal if you want to really show someone (especially me) that you love them.

Click on the Love Heart for the recipe....

Inspiration from the Mother Tuckers – Pt 1

A few weeks ago, we did a guest spot on the excellent Mums Rock site (if you haven't been there, go –but not until you've finished up here, of course…) Our name for the day was Mother Tuckers, a name that we really quite liked – and which seemed apt for our 'getting ready for Mothers Day' posts this week.

So, before we proceed to actual cooking later this week, let's deal with the gifts. As two mums who are not exactly rolling in the pretty green stuff (we didn't marry hedge funders, we work in publishing and teaching, you do the math), we like a gift as much as the next gal. But let's face it, it's Mothering Sunday this weekend, not some landmark birthday – so really, there's no need to roll out the diamonds, caviar and Chanel handbags (although if you insist…)

Nope, we're delighted to get any well thought out, small token of appreciation – and especially pleased if it's a food or drink that we love. But if it's foodie, it has to be quality, and it has to be chosen with love and thought. For us, this means small suppliers who do what they do exquisitely well.

So we've put together a small list of options – we'd be happy with any of these on Mothering Sunday, and they all cost under £8

shop bought:
1. A small box of chocolates from Booja Booja, Rococo or Lindt. Or swap your choc for a Fair Trade variety.
2. A beautiful box of cupcakes
3. A bottle of pink prosecco (on offer this week at Co-op for £4.99)
4. A selection of our favourite cheeses, with a bottle of red and some crackers

Homemade:
1. A homemade cake (lemon drizzle is easy for kids to make)
2. Homemade fudge
3. Homemade muffins served with a fresh pot of coffee and the Sunday papers

See you later in the week for recipe ideas to cook on the day!

Trash, Treasure n' Tarts

It's very empowering to witness a group of women get behind something they believe in, and feel such empathy for someone they don't even know. Last night we hosted a Trash and Treasure night as a fundraiser to support a beautiful little girl called Bobbie, who was diagnosed with leukemia on her 6th birthday on Christmas Eve. Everyone brought 10 items, clothes, home ware, unused makeup, candles, jewelery... and we set up a pop up shop in the lounge from which we could browse, try on in the changing room (office) (although as the night progressed there was random strippage in the lounge and kitchen!) and 'buy' with their £10 donation. A few people who had never met before ended up swapping phone numbers, everyone went home with lovely new to them pieces that they were very pleased with, the food of course was fabulous and the house now looks like a bomb site!

We have devised a rolling programme of these nights, next one will be on the 27th of March, with everyone instructed to bring a friend. My friend Jeanine, a beautiful South African woman who I met modelling at a fashion show a couple of years ago, has arranged to talk to the Manager of one of  the more chi chi shopping arcades in the area to do a fundraising event, and Donna, who I met only a few weeks ago, has offered to get her Brownie pack to do some sponsored events too. The best news of the night was not however counting the money we raised, but that at midnight we received an e-mail from Bobbie's mum to say she was in remission. It had been a thought provoking evening despite the semi nakedness of some of the guests, and what I was really touched by was how much everyone wanted to help. My diary seems to be getting rather full, but if you can have some fun and create something positive so much the better. Maybe I'll do a Pop Up Restaurant next time!

Not that this seems at all relevant really but we ate Crab Croustades, Spinach and Hollandaise Croustades, Tiny Stuffed Peppers with Cream Cheese, miniature Jam Tarts with Home made Blackcurrant and Apple Jam, Mini Lemon Tarts, miniature Chocolate Muffins, and in honour of Bobbie Belleve's love of pink, Pink Champagne.

Curry Night

There is nothing better than a big old get together with good friends, good food and good wine....

So... on Saturday night 25 of us sat down to eat curry, chat breeze and enjoy a glass or two of vino. The highest compliment was paid by Lee, who remarked that the food tasted 'proper Indian.' You can't do better than that! The hideous drive to London in high winds and lashing rain with 2 kids in the back, together with discovering a rear tyre pressure of 5 psi on arriving, paled into insignificance once the first cork was popped! We were celebrating a 3rd birthday and the completion of a friend's hard graft to achieve a 2:1 in their second degree, as well as a not insignificant  nod  of  gratitude to truly great mates.

We ate a huge and very delicious Madras Shoulder of Lamb (from Dove and Son on Northcote Road) with Black Salsify and Carrot, an experimental Chicken and Coca Cola Curry, plus another huge Vegan Vegetable Madras with again Black Salsify (thank you Abel and Cole!) and Charlotte Potatoes. This was served with Mango Chutney, Mint Raita, a selection of Rotis, Chapatis & Naan Bread, and perfectly cooked Cardamom Rice.   

We drank Pink Champagne on arrival, and a gorgeous and very large vintage bottle of Chateau Chasse Spleen with our food. 

On asking the now 3 year old the next morning, if she had enjoyed her party (which finished way after she had gone to bed) she remarked that 'It was my best party ever.' I know it's only a couple of days later, but already we are all looking forward to her 4th!