On my website I have added a new recipe of the week which is now a Mini Macaroni Cheese Tart recipe. I made these tarts yesterday and by bedtime last night they were all gone. My family had them for tea with salad and homemade wedges. Nothing ever lasts for very long in my house. I made macaroni cheese filled tarts as they were something a little bit different for my family to eat and I haven’t made them for quite a while. A welcome change from the norm.
When I wrote the corned beef slice recipe down for the first time it took me ages to think about the amounts and I had to make one just to measure the ingredients out. Normally I just guess from memory and sight when I add the ingredients and I manage to make it the same every time. Sharing the corned beef pie recipe has taken a lot of time and effort and a strange feeling of losing a piece of me that I only knew but then I got to thinking that it means now the recipe is there for my own children to use when they are older and actually eat corned beef.
For some pies when I make the recipe I use the pan that has the filling in it such as cooked pasta or vegetables and add the sauce ingredients to the pan. For example, I add the butter followed by the flour, milk, mustard powder and cheese. Keeping it on the heat this allows the sauce to cook and the filling to be completed in one pan. it saves on washing up too. This is what I did for my macaroni cheese tarts and they turned out really well. It is a bit of a cheat but as it works why change it.
[lt_recipe name=”Mini Macaroni Cheese Tarts” servings=”10″ prep_time=”20M” cook_time=”20M” total_time=”40M” difficulty=”Intermediate” print=”yes” summary=”Nutritionally, one tart contains 260 calories, 13.9g total fat (18% daily total fat), 27.4 g total carbohydrate (10% daily total carbohydrate), 1g fibre (4% daily fibre) (based on a 2000 calorie diet).” image=”https://www.love-to-bake.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/minimaccheese.jpg” ingredients=”For the pastry:-;8oz plain flour;2oz butter;2oz trex;pinch of salt;water to mix;For the filling:-;4oz macaroni;0.5oz butter;0.5oz flour;75ml milk;2oz cheese;0.5 tsp mustard powder;;” ]Preheat the oven to gas 6.;Oil muffin tins.;For the pastry:-;Weigh out the flour, salt, butter and trex into a bowl.;Rub in the fats.;Add water to mix to a dough.;Roll out the dough and cut out the bases.;For the filling:-;Boil the macaroni till it is cooked.;Whilst still on the hob.;Drain and add the butter to the pan.;Next add the flour and keep mixing.;Add the milk, mustard powder and cheese and turn off the heat.;Spoon into pastry cases.;Sprinkle with cheese.;Bake for 20 minutes till golden brown.;;;[/lt_recipe]
I like to eat pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables for a weekday dinner in those cold winter evenings. With lashings of gravy it can’t be beaten. When I make the pies if there is too much it never goes to waste as I slice it up and freeze the extra pieces and then I cook them from frozen, wrapped in foil, next time I want to have pie on the menu.
My shortcrust pastry recipe includes Trex, a vegetable shortening, rather than lard but this is my personal choice. I am a vegetarian unlike the rest of my family so I try to include meat and fish in their diet but make alternative meals for myself. It means my family have the best of both worlds and my husband often eats what I am making for myself as he prefers the veggie option. My children have all different tastes ranging from spicy and exotic to plain and bland. I make my pies with them in mind and what they will eat and enjoy. Getting them to try new flavours and ideas is getting easier as they become older but I don’t force them to eat things.
I have started to use tags on my blog posts so I will see if it makes any difference to finding my posts on the search engines. My husband insists that I have a good ranking on some search engines but as of yet I haven’t seen any proof. I am sure that with time it will be easier but in the meantime I am still trying to increase the readership and views of my blog and website by using other sites to get my recipes seen. There has been a increase in the numbers and all in the positive direction so fingers crossed I start to see some changes soon.
Back to the tagging I must go and maybe a little time in the kitchen later to make a Tarte Tatin for tea.