There is a tiny room in the basement with walls of whitewashed brick and stone shelves as thick as a bible. I have never known its original use, but it is where I keep cake tins and baking sheets, casseroles and bun tins. As you open the creaking door, you are greeted by a teetering pile of tart tins.: A cheap enamelled dish with a wide rim, a thin blue line running around its chipped edge; a deep fluted tin with a loose base for tarts of frangipane and stone fruits; and a wide, shallow, cast-iron tart tin, which I use for chicken or mushroom pies, open-faced treacle tarts and, today, a pie for the coldest of days, thick with potatoes, crème fraîche, rosemary and mustard.
Such double-carb suppers – let us not pretend this is anything but comfort food – are welcome on a freezing night, when you have been blown home by an icy wind. The pastry and potatoes offer sustenance, the cream solace and the mustard will warm cold bones. If a pie seems too much trouble, then I will bake a potato or two and slather them not with butter, but with a ragu of butter beans, tomato and chillies. Either will send me into a blissful, end of winter’s day slumber.
Baked potatoes, beans and chilli
Double carbs. A cheap and filling dinner.
Serves 2. Ready in about 1 hour
baking potatoes 4, medium to large
olive oil 2 tbsp, plus a little extra
onion 1, large
rosemary 2 bushy sprigs
tomatoes 350g
chilli paste 2 tsp (or to taste)
butter beans 1 x 400g tin
Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Wash and dry the potatoes, then pierce 4 or 5 times with a metal skewer. This will prevent them from exploding in the oven. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, rub with a little oil and dust lightly with salt. Bake for 45-60 minutes, testing regularly. Cooking times will depend on their size.
Peel and roughly chop the onion. Warm 2 tbsp of olive oil in a medium saucepan and stir in the chopped onions. Leave them to soften for 15-20 minutes, stirring from time to time, until they are pale golden and almost translucent. Strip the rosemary leaves from their stems and chop finely, then stir into the onions.
Roughly chop the tomatoes, add to the onions and let them cook for 10 minutes or until soft and fragrant. Stir in the chilli paste – more if you like – then pour in 200ml of water. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, then drain and add the butter beans, season with black pepper and salt and leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes. Set aside. until the potatoes are done.
When the potatoes are cooked, transfer to plates, open them up (I like to cut a cross on top and squeeze the sides to let the steam out and open up the fluffy insides), then spoon over the beans and their brick-red sauce.
Potato, cheddar and rosemary pie
I make rough puff for this, but puff pastry, shop-bought and thawed, will be fine, too, if less crumbly. Serves 6. Ready in 2 hours
For the pastry:
plain flour 200g
butter 150g
salt ½ tsp
ice-cold water 50ml
parmesan 3 heaped tbsp, finely grated
egg 1
For the filling:
potatoes 2, medium
mature cheddar 200g
rosemary leaves 1 tbsp
garlic cloves 3
crème fraîche 200ml
Dijon mustard 1 tbsp
You will need a shallow tart tin with a wide rim, the base measuring 20cm, (25cm including rim).
Make the pastry: put the flour into the bowl of a food mixer. Roughly chop the butter and add a good pinch of salt, then mix for a minute or two until you have crumbs of differing sizes. It is crucial you don’t make to fine crumb and instead leave small flakes of butter in the flour.
Mix in the water and bring the dough into a ball with your hand. It may feel dry at first, but will soften as you go. Place the dough on a floured board, shape into a thick square, wrap in kitchen film or greaseproof paper and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Roll the dough into a rectangle, roughly 15 x 40cm. Scatter a third of the parmesan over the pastry, then fold the bottom third up to the middle and the top third down, as if you were making an envelope, then turn the dough one quarter turn to the left. Roll out to the same rectangle again, scatter with more of the parmesan and repeat the folding. Do this once more, scattering the remaining cheese before the final fold. If you have time, rest the dough for one more hour. (It won’t be a disaster if you don’t, but I feel the extra resting does give a flakier finish.)
To make the filling scrub the potatoes (no need to peel them), then bring to the boil in a deep pan of lightly salted water. Turn the heat down a little and let the potatoes cook for about 10 minutes or until tender to the point of a skewer, (make sure they are tender through to the centre. Drain and slice them thinly, the thickness of a £1 coin, then put into a mixing bowl.
Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Place a baking sheet in the oven to get hot. Grate the cheddar, finely chop the rosemary, and peel and finely slice the garlic. In a large bowl mix the cheddar, rosemary, garlic and mustard into the crème fraîche and season with salt and black pepper. Stir in the potatoes.
Cut the pastry in half. Roll out one half to a circle large enough to fit the bottom of your tin, then lift it carefully into the tin and over the rim. Press gently into place. Spoon the potatoes into the tart case.
Roll the remaining pastry into a disc large enough to cover the pie. Break the egg into a small bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Brush the pastry rim with the beaten egg, lower the second piece of pastry over the top of the filling and press the edges firmly to seal.
Brush the pie with beaten egg, pierce a small hole in the centre, then trim the edges with a sharp knife. Place the pie in the oven on the hot baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Let the pie settle for about 15 minutes before cutting.
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