Pies and Pickles | Five Go Off to Camp

They all sat down to dinner. There was a big meat-pie, a cold ham, salad, potatoes in their jackets, and home-made pickles. It really was difficult to know what to choose.
Five Go Off to Camp
Enid Blyton

I don't think there's much I can say about Enid Blyton that hasn't already been said. Basically every book of hers was my entire childhood and even now I have a vast collection of vintage Enid Blyton books that is growing worryingly large.Famous Five was probably my key story of choice out of all her works. Something about a group of children ruining plots and spending their summers camping by themselves was incredibly appealing to myself (and any young child I'm sure). I have memories of diligently going around and tapping the walls of my aunts old house, positive that there must be a secret passage way hidden somewhere.

Of course, the thing that stands out the most from any Famous Five story is, and will always be, the food. How did Blyton make something as simple as fresh bread and butter sound so delectable? I remember vividly wanting to snack on sardines and apricots from tins - because that was the five's meal of choice when picnicking by the beach.

I've gone with something a little less ration like for this particular recipe, and a little more towards the feast they would get at every farmhouse they came across. A large meat pie with some homemade pickles to go with it (I say meat pie - a more plant based version, as usual, is what I actually made).

*Note: I used vegan stewed beef chunks for this recipe - you can find them at most Asian stores. If you want to use actual beef - this recipe will work perfectly fine with that as well. Just make sure to check the meat is properly cooked before you take it off the stove.

Pie and Pickles
Makes 5 pies and 2 jars of pickles
Ingredients
Pickles
1 cucumber, sliced anyway you like
1 cup vinegar (you can use apple cider, white, red wine, rice wine - it all works. I used a combination of apple cider and rice wine)
1 1/2 cups of water
2 tbsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Pies
Pastry
450g plain flour
220g butter
1 tsp salt
110ml ice water
Filling
500g beef chunks *see note
2 carrots, diced
1 brown onion, diced
200g button mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
3 tbsp plain flour
400ml beef stock
1 tbsp soy sauce / tamari
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 sprigs fresh or dried rosemary, finely chopped
Black pepper
Sea salt

1. To make the pickles, combine the salt, sugar, water and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. While that is heating get two jars ready - make sure they're well cleaned - I can't really say what size they should be considering I just used leftover jars from sauces. Figure out beforehand how much space you need for the cucumber and decide that way.

3. Divide the sliced garlic and peppercorns between the two jars, layering in your slices of cucumber along the way.

4. Using a funnel or a jug, carefully pour the hot liquid into the jars, submerging all the cucumber pieces. Cover them with a clean tea towel and leave them to cool - once done you can place into the fridge. They will take about 12 hours to start to taste good, but will get better the longer they sit. These last around two - three weeks usually in the fridge.

Pie Pastry

1. Combine the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, break the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles wet sand.

2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the ice water, mixing the pastry until it comes together with no lumps. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

Pie Filling

1. In a large saucepan heat the oil, adding in beef chunks and cooking them until they're lightly browned. Remove the beef from the pan and put to the side.

2. Add the butter into the saucepan and add in the diced carrots, diced mushrooms and diced onion, cooking until softened. Add the beef chunks back into the pot with the vegetables along with the plain flour.

3. Mix until everything is covered and there are no lumps and then add in the beef stock, along with the rosemary. Add a general amount of freshly cracked black pepper as a good pinch of salt. You can allow it to come to the boil slowly but reduce the heat and cover the saucepan as it does - leaving it on a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes. Place into the fridge to cool properly.

4. Preheat oven to 180C.

5. By now your pastry should have had enough time to chill - divide the dough into 5 even amounts (or if you want to make one giant pie leave as is!).

6. Leaving enough dough for the lid of each pie, roll out each part into a circle - you don't want the pastry to be thicker than a few centimetres otherwise it will end up uncooked in parts.

7. Lightly oil your pie tins, gently pressing the rolled out dough into them, using any scrap parts to press over any holes that may tear in them.

8. Once all the pie shells are pressed into the tins, you can spoon the filling evenly into each. When placing the lids on top, brush the underside of each with a bit of water. Use a fork to poke a few holes into the top of each pie and then place on a tray and into the oven for around 40 minutes.

9. Enjoy fresh from the oven with a side of homemade pickles!