Cook this. Meat Pies with Beer and Vegemite.

Football, meatpies, Kangaroos and ..... beer ... and Vegemite.
Actually I'm happy to leave the footy and Kangaroos to themselves.  Aussies watching football - you need these. Get baking.

Meat pies

2 tablespoons olive oil 1 brown onion, finely chopped

 2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour

 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) chuck steak, cut into 1.5 cm (5/8 inch) dice

 10 g (1/4 oz) butter

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) beer

375 ml (13 fl oz/11/2 cups) beef stock

 1 small carrot, finely diced

 1 celery stalk, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons Vegemite, or other yeast extract such as Marmite or Promite

11/2 tablespoons tomato paste (concentrated purée)

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

3 sheets of ready-made shortcrust (pie) pastry

3 sheets of ready-made puff pastry

 1 egg, lightly beaten

makes 6 individual pies

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 10 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Season the flour with salt and black pepper and use it to lightly coat the beef cubes all over. Add the remaining oil and the butter to the pan. Sauté the beef in three batches until lightly browned all over, adding more oil if needed. Set aside.

Add the beer and stock to the pan, scraping up any cooked-on bits. Return the beef and onion to the pan with the carrot, celery, garlic, Vegemite, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 11/4 hours, or until the beef is very tender and the sauce is thick and rich. Discard the bay leaf and season to taste. Allow to cool slightly, then cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, or until cold.

Put two baking trays in the oven and preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Cut six 14.5 cm (53/4 inch) diameter circles from the shortcrust pastry and six 12.5 cm (43/4 inch) circles from the puff pastry. Line the bases of six pie tins measuring 12.5 cm (43/4 inches) across the top, 7.5 cm (3 inches) across the base and 3.5 cm (11/3 inches) deep with the shortcrust pastry circles — the pastry should come just a little way above the edge of the tins. Brush the edges lightly with the beaten egg.

Divide the chilled beef mixture between the lined pie tins. Lay a puff pastry circle over the top of each pie and press down around the edges of the shortcrust pastry, pinching together if you like to help the edges adhere.

Pierce a little air vent in the top of each pie using the tip of a small, sharp knife. Brush the top of the pies with the egg, avoiding the vent, and place directly onto the trays in the hot oven. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and lightly golden, then lower the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4) and cook for a further 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling hot.

VARIATION: Make little pot pies by filling individual ramekins with the beef and topping with a puff pastry lid. Cook for 10 minutes at 200°C (400°F/Gas 6), then 8 minutes at 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).

Recipes from Grub - Favourite Food Memories by Jane Lawson
Photographer Steve Brown. 

Zenbu Zen

Pssst! I'm a little bit excited to share this with you.  Its the cover of my new book - shortly I will finally see the finished product!

Zenbu Zen is due for release on 01 October 2012 - it seems so far away but not so long to wait in the scheme of things! Its been a long time in the making and its so wonderful to know that I will soon hold a hard copy in my hands for the very first time. 

Being in Japan for the last 8 months I have been working on digital files only  - so I haven't had a chance to feel real pages...  there is something so lovely about flicking through the pages of a hard copy book... That might make me sound a little old fashioned (and I get that a bunch of novels are easier to carry to your holiday destination on an electronic device than drag around in your luggage) but to me, there are few things more enjoyable than sitting quietly in your favourite corner of the sofa or perhaps under a shady tree with a cuppa or a glass of wine and pouring over the pages of a beautifully designed and well considered book.  Getting lost in a book's text or images and, in the case of a great cookbook, plotting and tagging all the recipes you want to sample and who you will share them with, is one of life's simple pleasures. 

The team who worked on the book have done such a great job to ensure my text stayed true, my recipes were beautifully photographed and that my own images of Japan were used in such an empathetic and stunning way.  I was so lucky to have Uber designer Reuben Crossman working his magic on this title as he did with Snowflakes and Schnapps. I can't thank him enough. The recipe images are as gorgeous as they are thanks to photographer Cath Muscat and the food itself was lovingly and so perfectly cooked for the shoot by the very lovely Olivia Andrews from Have you Eaten and Firetruck.. Keep an eye out for this one she is a very clever young miss! 

I am a lucky girl to have had such talented peeps working on my book. My words, although trimmed to fit, could not have been more respectfully edited by the gorgeous women who are Carla Grossetti and Katri Hilden. Thank you also to Laura from Murdoch Books for keeping it all ticking along. 

I will be updating my blog occasionally in the lead up to the release but in the meantime...

Here is the jacket blurb just to give you a taste:

"When bestselling author Jane Lawson finds herself burnt out professionally and personally, and anything but healthy, she retreats to Kyoto to find more balance in all aspects of her life. Through an immersion in Japanese culture and especially in its food, she slowly regains that equilibrium - the zen of the title. "Zenbu Zen" is her very personal journey of discovery, interspersed with well-explained and beautifully photographed recipes."

Key points: stunning food photography; detailed explanation of Japanese food and ingredients with more than 60 recipes; provides a unique insight into Japanese people and culture."

And here is a link to my facebook page where I will also be adding regular info on my Japanese life and the book  - please do hop over and "like" my page - that way I am sure to keep you in the loop. 

Cheers, Jane x

Yoshoku - Its BAAAAAAAAaaaaaaack..... ようしょく

My first born has been on sabbatical but has now returned with a colourful new frock! 

You can meet her from 01 February in Australia then she'll be flitting about in the UK from 01 March so keep an eye out will you? If you see her leaning on a shelf in a bookstore somewhere please carry her home and make sure she puts herself to good use in the kitchen??  

If you are new to Japanese cuisine and find it all a bit daunting this is a friendly way to jump on in.  The book shows you how to utilise traditional, often healthy, Japanese ingredients in more familiar "western" style recipes, using simple techniques.

The origins of Yoshoku cuisine stem from the opening of trading ports within Japan and consequently an  influx in available international foods in the 70's. The clever Japanese adapted these strange foreign foods to suit their own tastes, shaking it all up with ingredients and flavours both familiar and comforting to them - and doozo! a newly blended cuisine was born.  The cooking style went out of fashion for a while but is now making a comeback - becoming "cool" again with the young folk. 

Popular and old fashioned Yoshoku recipes include Omu-raisu (a thin omelette wrapped around seasoned rice), Katsu-Kare (pork cutlet curry) and Hambaagaa (hamburger) and while you will find a nod to this standard Yoshoku fare within the pages of the book  -it is really more about contemporary ideas and flavour combinations  - all easy to prepare and 'totemo oishii!!' (if I do say so myself...). If you missed out last time around - please look out for the re-release of 'Yoshoku' on February 01 2011. 

For those of you who already own a copy and have cooked from it I would love to hear your feedback.

My next book, on sale next year, will delve a little deeper into traditional cuisine and food culture - but more on that later. 

Yoshoku by Jane Lawson

Published by Murdoch Books 

Photography by Mikkel Vang

Styling by (the rather gorgeous and talented) Christine Rudolph

Chilled tofu and tomato salad

Pork with Nashi

Umeshu (plum wine) granita

and yes! sake cocktails! of course...

Itadakimasu!!!