Steak and Blue Cheese Sandwich

Super-indulgent, super-fast Sunday lunch!

Ingredients

• a medium porterhouse or rump steak
• a large bunch of spinach
• a medium wedge of blue cheese
• fresh granary bread

Season the steak on both sides, then pan fry in a smudge of oil until rare (90 seconds per side). Set aside to rest. Meanwhile, wash the spinach thoroughly and remove any tough stalks. Place in a large saucepan, still wet; cover with a lid and steam in its own juices for 2-3 minutes, until wilted. Remove and put in a colander; squeeze out the water with a spatula, or, when cool enough, your hands; finely chop. Cut the warm steak against the grain into thin slices.

Reheat the steak pan and, using the oil still in the pan, lightly toast each slice of bread on one side. Onto one toasted side, slice pieces of blue cheese, then top with spinach and steak; close with another toasted side facing in. Repeat for another sandwich, or two. Slice diagonally and serve immediately!

Cornish Pasties

Recently I was back in the UK, and the first thing I bought as I stepped out of the airport was a Cornish pasty. My mum used to make them for us when we were little and they were such a treat! Any spare pastry would be spread with jam and popped in the oven to make tiny bonus tarts. When I went to uni in Bristol I fell in love with all the different pasty bakeries - over the years I tried all the varieties at all the little shops until I knew where to get my favourites anywhere in town. Sadly in Cambridge, the only pasty shop was a 'Cornish Pasty Co.' chain franchise, whose pasties are always a bit sad, flat, salty and missing those beautiful generous pieces of meat that make pasties such a treat.On my return to pasty-less Perth, I resolved to make my own, for the very first time in my life!

I'm a big fan of well-cooked stewing beef; I can't stand underdone chewiness. So I simmered a very plain and warming beef stew last night, then left it covered overnight. In the morning the meat had reabsorbed much of the juices and the remaining gravy had thickened into a pasty-perfect consistency. The pasty pastry was simple: 600g plain flour, 130g butter, 130g cooking margerine, and a pinch of salt, all whizzed together in a blender to make breadcrumbs, then folded together with just enough water to combine. I cut it in half, flattened each piece into rough discs, then chilled it for twenty minutes while I prepared a nice clean dry worksurface, dusting it and a rolling pin with plain flour. I also greased a couple of baking trays and found a plate of roughly the right size to serve as a guide for cutting circles of pastry. Then I carefully rolled out each disc of pastry until it was around 4mm thick, and cut out discs, stacking them on a plate ready for use. I combined all the offcut pastry together and was able to get a couple more discs out, ending up with eight 12cm discs from that quantity of pastry.

To fill the pasties, I placed a disc on the edge of a baking tray, and filled the center, lengthwise. Then I brushed the edges with beaten egg, and brought the edges up together, pressing them together with my fingers and forming that awesome ripply pattern. According to Wikipedia, you can make pasties in this upright fashion or in the crescent fashion; both forms have been practiced in Cornwall for generations. Personally I like this shape as it's the same one my mum uses, and the filling is less likely to ooze out if you mess up the pastry join! That said, make sure to pay special attention to the tips of the pasties: squash them together very well to prevent ooze and create those wonderful decadent flaky-pastry-only moments at the beginning and end of eating a pasty.

I kept filling until I ran out of pastry - I missed running out of stew by a few spoonfuls - then brushed them lightly with beaten egg and baked for 35 minutes in a preheated 200C oven. With great restraint I managed to cool them on a rack for a couple of minutes before chowing down on a couple for dinner! I'm sure they'd be great for lunch but they didn't last long in our house :) We only managed to keep another pair of pairs for dinner the next night by sealing them in a plastic box and hiding it from ourselves. Pastry is so GOOD.

Savoury Pumpkin Pie

Another crafty use of pumpkin! Still munching our way through the Crown Prince: this recipe used about half of the 4kg monster. Once again, delicious sweet flesh with body and flavour: it really works well here as it's meltingly soft against the crisp buttery pastry. The only sad thing about this pumpkin is that the seeds are so enormous, they don't roast well in the oven to give a good snack.

Anyway, this recipe works well for six people as the carbohydrate portion of a main meal, or as lunch on its own. It would be brilliant to make a few as part of a large buffet. In my opinion it should always be served warm. It keeps well, but the pastry may become soggy if reheated in the microwave, so be prepared to use the oven if you want to recover the freshly-cooked crispness. Also bear in mind this takes 1.5-2 hours from start to finish, as there is a lot of cooking time.

Ingredients:

• 1.3-1.5kg of peeled and deseeded pumpkin (budget 1.8-2kg of raw pumpkin)
• vegetable oil
• cinnamon
• 375g puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, for brushing

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Cut the pumpkin into small cubes and steam for 15 minutes, until tender. Tip the pieces into a roasting tin, add a generous pinch of cinnamon and a few tbsp of vegetable oil, season well and toss to coat. Roast for 45 minutes without turning: the edges will crisp and go lightly golden. When cooked, crush the pumpkin into a coarse mash.

Cut the pastry in half, and roll each piece out to fit a baking sheet. Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on the tray, then a layer of pastry, and spread out the filling over the top. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg, lay the other layer over the top and crimp the edges together. Using a sharp knife, make two or three slits on the top, so that the steam can escape as the pie cooks. Brush the pastry over with the remainder of the egg and bake for 25 minutes. Nigel Slater's original recipe calls for you to wait for 5-10 minutes for the pie to settle before cutting, but you will find that very difficult :)

Pumpkin Scone

I've been eating this for lunch for a couple of days, and every time my colleagues see it they ask what it is, and how I make it! It's a great replacement for bread if you're bored of sandwiches, and serves well alongside a few slices of sharp cheddar or soft goat's cheese. You could also slice it into small pieces, top with goats cheese and a few snippets of chive, and use as a vegetarian starter.

Again it's an adaptation of a Nigel Slater recipe; this time I've changed the cooking method as I don't own a shallow oven-proof pan. We're still working our way through the Crown Prince and it's the perfect ingredient here. However I think you could comfortably substitute sweet potato; perhaps use a little less milk to adjust for its higher water content.

Ingredients:

• 300g peeled and de-seeded pumpkin
• 140g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 70g butter
• 1 egg
• 90 ml warm milk
• 2 tsp thyme leaves

Cut the pumpkin into ~3cm chunks and steam for 20 minutes, or until tender enough to mash. Whiz the flour, baking soda, salt and butter together in a food processor. Drain the pumpkin and mash with a fork or potato masher, and beat in the egg, milk and thyme leaves. Season with black pepper. Combine the pumpkin and flour mixtures gently, stirring until no more flour is visible, but no further.

Warm a non-stick frying pan with a little vegetable oil to a low to medium heat. When the oil is warm, tip the dough in, scraping out the bowl and flattening the top. It takes patience at this point, as the cool dough will reduce the temperature of the pan, but don't be tempted to turn the heat up. Instead, cook for about ten minutes, and in the meantime preheat the grill to medium. You'll see the edges of the scone start to vent steam; at this point lift the edge of the scone gently and check the underside; it should be golden-brown.

Put the whole pan a few inches underneath the grill to finish off; the top should have a thin, golden-brown crust. If you know your grill well, you can grill it on medium for five minutes, then switch it off and leave it took cook in the residual heat. Serve warm, especially with cheese. It keeps for a few days, covered, in a cool place rather than the fridge.