By request
I made a blackboard earlier this autumn specifically for shopping lists, but it’s been turned into a request board. “Make Christmas Pudding” went up in early October (plan ahead Mum, otherwise it won’t get done. It didn’t.) “Mince Pies” has been there for a while now. But when my friend Barbara, exiled to London from Macerata, makes a request for our mincepie recipe she gets quite a different answer.
Mincemeat (for Barbara)
- 225g chopped dried apricots
- finely grated zest of one orange
- 45ml orange juice
- 900g mixed dried fruit (equal quantities of currants, sultanas and seedless raisins)
- 60ml orange marmalade (unavailable here, so we use apricot jam)
- 450g demarara sugar
- 7.5ml ground mixed spice
- 1.25ml ground nutmeg
- 300ml brandy
Mix well and leave in bowl in a cool place for two days, stirring occasionally. Pot in sterilised jars and allow to mature for at least two weeks before using.
Pastry
- 100g plain white flour
- pinch of salt
- 75g butter, chilled and diced
- 5ml sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
Put flour and salt on table, make well, add butter, egg yolks and sugar, use fingertips to rub butter into flour until well blended. Cover and put in fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
This is when things get messy. We cover the kitchen table with flour, roll out the pastry then try different sized glasses as cutters, putting the disks of pastry into patty pans, filling with mince meat and then pressing a slightly smaller disk on top. Brushing milk or beaten egg makes the tops a lovely golden brown. Sealing the edges is best done with a fork.
225g pastry makes 12 6cm diameter mince pies. Bake at 190°C for 20-25mins.
Official Mince Pie Day will be the first day of the holidays, thus preventing large teenagers from following me around nagging for more (they get through one batch of twenty four in about a day and half). To them it seems clear that I’m sitting at my desk because I have nothing better to do, and they find my response that I’m “busy” ungrateful, considering the effort they’ve gone to, coming all the way downstairs to remind me to make more banana chocolate bread or apple crumble.
The photograph of tractors was taken at the Abbey this morning. They’re attending a convention, much like the monks I photographed here a while ago.
