Welsh Dragon Pie

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"I" - Italy - Baked Fusilli

Our little “Around the World for £4 or less” experiment took us to Italy this evening. What else would you cook on a budget from Italy? It had to be pasta really....

The Pasta should really have been Ziti which is a tubular pasta and would have held the sauce better. But we're tight, it's bitterly cold out and the local supermarket don't be a Gluten Free version anyway. Enough excuses, Fusilli did the job fine!

This is a recipe Sue created from two traditional recipes combined to keep it within of £4 budget. It's as traditional as possible.

Ingredients:-

Pasta of your choice ( We're not shapist here.....)

Oil (Olive if you have it. We didn't and used Vegetable Oil)

2 Onion chopped – 1 large, 1 small

3 cloves of Garlic minced

500g Minced Beef (Or Pork and Beef if you prefer)

2 tbsp Tomato Purée

1 tbsp dried Origano

1 tsp Dried Rosemary

½ tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tin chopped Tomatoes

5 tbsp Butter or Margarine

200g Cream Cheese (Philadelphia or shop own brand)

2 tbsp Basil, part to garnish

50 g Grated Italian style Cheese

100g Grated Mozzarella

1 Egg

Salt to season

Method:-

Making the Mariana Sauce

(1) Heat the tin of chopped Tomatoes and add the Butter, ½ tsp of Salt and an Onion sliced in half.

(2) Stir then let simmer for 15 minutes.

(3) Remove the Onion and set the sauce aside.

Meat Sauce:-

(1) In a large frying pan add chopped Onion and Garlic to the Oil and fry until translucent.

(2) Add the Chilli flakes and Herbs and simmer.

(3) Add the mince and cook through until browned.

Pasta:-

(1) In a separate pan boil salted water, ad the Pasta and cook until Al Dente.

(2) Drain the Pasta.

(3) Add the mince mixture to the Mariana Sauce, add the Tomato Puree and a few spoonfulls of the Pasta water.

(4) Simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Cheese Sauce:-

(1) Mix the Cream Cheese and half of the grated Italian style Cheese, 1 Egg and a pinch of Salt.

Bringing it all together:-

(1) Drain the Pasta and add to the mince and sauce mixture. Stir and make sure the Pasta is well coated.

(2) In an ovenproof dish layer the Pasta mix then the Cream Cheese mix and repeat.

(3) Top off with Mozzarella and the remaining half of the Italian style grated Cheese.

(4) Bake at 180c until the topping is slightly browned and the whole disk is piping hot.

We served ours with a little dress salad and home-made Garlic bread.

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Details: Written by Tony Carson; Category: Recipes; Created: 14 October 2022

Welsh Dragon Pie recipe, eat well on universal credit

Wild baby Dragons are available in most larger Chinese supermarkets. When choosing your Dragon, the ones with the Blue Tongues are the males….. OK, OK, we didn’t really kill a baby Dragon for this gig!!!!

Ingredients - For the filling:-

500g Pork mince, budget mince works well as the additional fat makes the pie filling hold its moisture
500g Leeks, washed and sliced
50g Margarine (Dairy free for us)
2 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to season

Ingredients - For the Hot Water Crust Pastry:-

450g Plain Flour (Gluten free for us)
170g Lard
200ml Water
Salt to season

Ingredients - For the Jelly:-

500ml Chicken Stock
1 Sachet of Gelatine

Other Ingredients:-

2 Eggs, for Egg Wash

Method:-

(1) In a saucepan melt the Margarine and sweat the leeks without browning for five minutes on a medium heat until softened.

(2) Add the Cumin Seeds and Cayenne Pepper and cook for a further five minutes. Set aside to cool.

(3) In a bowl add the Pork mince, Leeks and season. Mix well and then divide into two portions. Cover and put into the fridge until needed.

(4) To make the Pastry, mix the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Bring the Water and Lard to the boil in a saucepan then stir it into the Flour with a wooden spoon to form a smooth dough. Divide into two portions and leave the Pastry for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

(5) Lightly Grease two Pie Tins. Place on a baking tray covered in Greaseproof Paper.

(6) Take two thirds of each portion of Pastry and press into the Pie Tins, forcing it up the sides with the fingers. Roll the remaining Pastry into a rough circle for the lid. Repeat this process with the remaining portion of dough.

(7) Fill each Pie Tin with the pork filling. Brush the pie edges with Egg Wash and place the lid on top. Pinch the lid edge and the top of the Pastry edges together with your thumb to crimp the pie and create a seal. Trim the edge with a knife so no pastry is hanging over the edge.

(8) Pre-heat an oven to 180°C. Brush the top of each Pie all over with beaten egg yolk, make a hole in the middle of the Pastry lid and cook for one hour.

(9) Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Once the pie is cold, refrigerate for two to three hours.

(10) Follow the instructions for the gelatine and add to the stock to make a firm jelly in a pan over a low heat. Pour the stock into the round hole in the top of the pastry until the pie is full. Cool in the fridge until the jelly is set.

We actually had one Pie hot without the Jelly for dinner the other evening. The second I cooled and added the Jelly, as in the photo. This one will made the foundations of a great cold supper.

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