Cottage Pie

Cottage pie.
As I have said before I don't always measure I use guess work. With this cottage pie the amount of mince I used was over 1 kg. to that I added
1 large onion. about half a pack home brand mix veggies. gravy mix. oyster sauce about teaspoon.
couple of shakes of worster sauce.
hot water to cover.
bring to the boil keep stirring to prevent the gravy mix from sticking on the bottom of pan.
steady boil for about 10 mins.
pop into DP.
I made this late afternoon and took it out of DP in
just before going to bed. leaving Hubby a note to pop it in the fridge when he got home from work.
I had hoped to do the potatoes in the smaller pot when at the same time but I had too much in the big pan that I could not fit the small pan on top.
The following day I put potatoes in the large pot and a creamy rice pud in the small pan.
once potatoes where cooked I mashed them with milk butter and grated cheese.
placed mince mix into dish top with mash. then pop under the grill to brown.

English Bread Pudding

This is a recipe from the Jamie Oliver cookbook.
Spotted dick.
I followed the recipe exactly but when it was cooked it was not like the Spotted Dick I remember as a kid but it is a perfect Bread Pudding, not to be mixed up with The Bread And Butter Pudding...nooo not that one but a Real English Bread pud, But this was much easier to make then the traditional way I used to make bread pud.
recipe.

My Mums Spottier Dick by Jamie Oliver.........(really English Bread Pudding).

This is a proper 'blokes' pudding ? loads of custard, a little warmed syrup over the top, and even some cream. Superb!

4 ounces (115 grams) suet
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) dried apricots, chopped
8 ounces (240 grams) raisins or sultanas
1 orange, zested
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) plain flour
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) sugar
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated ginger (or to taste)
Pinch grated nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 egg, beaten
1 pint (140 millilitres) milk

Grease a 3-pint (1 liter) pudding basin. Mix all the ingredients together, except the egg and milk. Add the beaten egg and milk and mix well. (I do this in a mixer but you can do it by hand, no problem).

Put the mixture in the basin, cover with tin foil or a cloth, and put the basin in a pan with water half-way up the sides of the basin. Bring the water to a boil, put on a tight-fitting lid, and simmer for 3 hours, remembering to top up with (add more) boiling water now and then.

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy

Ok so that's the recipe now again I had to adapt it to be suitable for the Dream pot I didn't have a bowl or tin suitable so What I done was...

I used the cake tin I used for the Banana Bread only this time I put it inside an oven bag so the water would not leak through the base...whooo hooo it worked.

boil pud for 10 mins keep a steady boil for about another 5 mins and pop into the Dream Pot.

Hmmm yum I love Bread pud. I am very pleased with this result.

for cakes and pudding in the Dream Pot you need a trivet. it is suggested that you use empty tuna tins but i realized the Trivel from my presure cooker would fit...it done a perfect job.

veggie soup from silverside juice

I made a veg soup using meat juices from the silverside I cook a few days before in the DP when I cook silverside I don't add vinegar brown sugar ect to it just tap water meat and veg. so I used this water/juice for the base to my veg soup all fresh veggies added to it boil 10 mins and into the DP. in small pot again veggies. spuds, carrots, broccoli boil 10 mins and into the DP that was about 230pm. about 430pm I sliced the silverside, made the gravy put the silverside in the gravy to warm up. opened the DP took out the small pot of veggies put them on the plates. left the soup in the DP till later. Mum and Hubby said the meal was lovely the carrots were the best they have ever tasted.I'm not a great cook just your basic.
My Family prefer soups, stews, cakes and puds. I don't eat stews soups or veggies. but if they didn't taste right I would be told.LOL.

Banana bread

I tried Banana bread. it stated use a loaf pan in the big pot. No Way...LOL I have 4 diff sized loaf pans and not one would fit it. then I found a deep round cake tin with a loose bottom a bit like a springform pan only with out the hinge thing. I covered it with bakewell paper and hoped it would not let the water in.. DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol.
it did...cake looks good on the top but the bottom is soggy.
I cut off the soggy bit and the cake looks and tastes nice.

I now have to look at what other pans and bowls I have that will fit.
I won't let the soggy cake put me off. I will try more things. and keep you all posted.
still loving the Dream Pot.
2 pics
one as you can see still in cake tin...looking good.
2nd out of cake tin...see how soggy it is,..LOL..NEXT one WILL BE PERFECT...

Silverside and veggies

more info on my experiments. I cooked silver side and root veggies (spuds carrots ect)in the big pot.
problem is I did not boil it for long enough 1st.with silverside cover with hot water bring to boil. keep boiling for 10 mins then add whole veggies boil 10 mins I don't think I did it for that long.
I checked the DP after 5 hours but I wasn't happy with the meat. not as tender as I like it from the pressure cooker, so I took the pot out of the DP and boiled it up again then put it back in the DP and went to bed.
Next morning I took it out of the pot, photoed it... cooled it a bit and popped it in the fridge while I went to work.
For the evening meal I chopped the potato and shallow fried it. sliced the silverside bur I was a bit disappointed with it.
I don't know if it was the cut of meat or the cooking. the meat was a little tough with a lot of gristle I always buy it from IGA and it is always nice but not this time, it is always hard to see into the plastic wrap to pick a nice piece. Mum and Hubby said the whole meal was beautiful the parsnips were lovely too and the gravy. (made from water meat and veg had cooked in).
because this time the silver side was not as good as I like it, it will not put me off I will try again hopefully with a better cut of meat.

roast beef

The next day I tried Rice in the larger pot. (best rice I have ever cooked/boiled)

And spicy beef in the smaller pot.

Rice was cooked in 1hour but I left it there so the spicy beef would be thoughtly cooked.

It was a very easy recipe from the web site.

Next I bought a BBQ chick for dinner.

I took all the meat off the carcass put the carcass in the large pot covered with water brought to the boil ..boiled for 10mins and into the DP it went.

For the smaller pot I tried an egg custard but this didn’t turn out, I need to experiment some more.

After cooked time I left the pot out of the DP to cool enough before going in the fridge.

Next day I took all bones out of stock and put in veggies ect to make a chicken soup.

The egg custard that did not turn out I added rice to it and brought to the boil.

Placed in DP on top of larger pot.. both turned out great.

Then for the challenge of roasting a piece of beef..hmm I thought this should be interesting.

I didn’t have any oven bags so I had to buy some.

Flour bag place in mixed herbs I used soy sauce to help give it a brown look as I didn’t know how it would turn out. Hubby complained as the juices from it to make the gravy was too “hot” for him.

I tasted the meat it was nice and tender.

Place the tied up bag in large pot. Cover with hot water. I then placed some large potatoes, carrots and an onion in the water. Then again a creamy rice pud in the top pot. ( love that pud)

Friday I got some beef bones so again in the big pot. Boil 10 mins and into DP close lid.

After cooked cool pan place in fridge till next day.

Saturday I took the meat off the bones then added veggies, oxo’s ect brought to the boil 10 mins and into the DP.

this is the veggie soup.
my 1st attempted. very pleased with the result.