A portable Sunday lunch for late September

Sunday lunch, it's such a treat to go out for one, whether it's to a restaurant or pub, or (much nicer) to your Mum's for a roast and post consumption snooze. Trouble is, it's quite a lot of work and an even huger amount of washing up. So, for my last visit to my Mum's, I decided to bring lunch with me, a portable meal or indoor 'picnic' so we could all relax. Planning a menu is something I love and I happily spent the evenings of the week before knee deep in cookery books (my family will laugh at this description, as I am literally 'knee deep' in cookery books, having a rather large collection). There is nothing nicer than retreating early to bed with the cat, a glass of wine and several well thumbed publications with perhaps a recently discovered recommendation thrown in. After many revisions (trying to consider the balance of the meal, the seasonality of ingredients, cost and portability) I decided on the following menu.

Gorgonzola, toasted hazelnuts and seasonal greens

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Chicken, pancetta & porcini pie with green beans, broccoli and new potatoes

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Roast figs with vanilla and ginger, pistachio gelato and Greek yoghurt

Chicken, pancetta and porcini pie (with a spelt shortcrust pastry) - serves 4

I made the pie the day before, allowing a little time for flavours to develop and packed it uncooked, ready to bake at our destination. It is simple to cook and with the radio on, it's rather relaxing to potter away making the several stages to get it all together. I prefer to use spelt pastry as I think it is easier to digest (from my own experience) but feel free to use plain flour (you may need slightly less liquid).

For the pastry

500g plain spelt flour

pinch of salt

250g unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

2-3 tbsp cold water

23cm pie tin 

For the filling

2 free range chicken breasts

2 free range chicken thighs

1 large onion

4 sticks of celery

6 carrots

large bunch of thyme

large bunch of parsley

2 bay leaves

5-10 black peppercorns

100g pancetta, diced

30g dried porcini

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp plain spelt flour

150ml crème fraȋche

Start by making the pastry first as this needs time to chill before rolling out. Cut the butter into small cubes and make sure it is well chilled. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the chilled butter cubes. Using your fingers, lightly rub both together until the contents of the bowl look like breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and the cold water a spoonful at a time, mixing with your hands until you have a smooth pliable pastry. Don't work it or knead it for too long. Divide the pastry into two portions, one small one and one about twice the size. Wrap up both in cling film and return to the fridge to rest for about an hour.

Place the chicken portions into a large pan with 2 sticks of celery, half of the onion and 4 carrots (all roughly chopped), the bay leaves, the thyme and the peppercorns. Chop the stems off the bunch of parsley and add those to the pan too. Cover with cold water and a lid and cook on a very low flame for about an hour. You want a very gentle simmer so the meat doesn't get tough. Don't boil it. When the chicken is cooked, allow it to cool in the stock.

Roughly chop up the dried porcini and soak in about 150ml of boiling water for 20-30 minutes. Don't drain the liquid away, you will need this for the sauce.

Fry the pancetta in a hot pan until nicely browned. You won't need any additional oil, the fat from the pancetta will be enough. Finely dice the remaining onion, celery and carrots and add to the pancetta and cook until the vegetables have softened (about 10 minutes). Place the cooked mixture into a bowl to cool. Add the chopped and soaked porcini, keeping the liquid aside for the sauce. Drain the chicken from the stock (keeping the liquid but discarding the stock vegetables and herbs) and tear the meat into chunky pieces before combining with the pancetta mixture. 

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a sauce pan and add 2 tbsp spelt flour. Beat together with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth paste and cook for about a minute or two. Gently pour in the reserved mushroom stock a little at a time and keep stirring, then add about 100-150ml of the reserved chicken stock. You want a thick and smooth sauce. Turn the heat off and add the crème fraȋche and finally the remaining parsley, finely chopped. Season well and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180℃. Take the smaller of the two pastry portions out of the fridge and allow to warm a little. Roll it out to a size that will fit the pie dish and is about 3-4 mm thick. Using a rolling pin, lay it in the dish and press into the fluted edges. Don't worry too much about cracks, there is plenty of excess pastry to do a little repair work. Cut away the excess, prick the base with a fork several times and cover with baking parchment and baking beans (mine are some very old dried chickpeas, now so baked they are rock hard). Put it back into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes then blind bake for about 15 minutes with the beans and a further 5 without. Allow to cool.

Remove the second pastry portion from the fridge to warm a little. Mix together the chicken and pancetta with the sauce and pile onto the cooled pie bottom. It should form a nice chunky dome. Roll out the pastry to a large circle to cover the pie, again about 3-4 mm thick. If you are using spelt, it's quite fragile but don't worry, use the excess for some pastry decoration to hide any cracks. Using a rolling pin to lift, cover the pie with the pastry and press the edges into the tin. Make a small cross in the centre to allow steam to escape. Use the leftover egg white as 'glue' to stick down any decorations make with the excess pastry. If you are going to cook straight away, brush over some beaten egg before cooking. If not, leave this until just before you place in the oven. Uncooked, it will sit happily in the fridge for a night. To cook, place in a hot oven at 180℃ for 35-40 minutes or until brown and bubbling. I bet it's also nice cold but I can't vouch for that as there was none left!

Gorgonzola, toasted hazelnuts and seasonal greens - serves 4

200g Gorgonzola or other creamy blue cheese

50g blanched hazelnuts

120g mixed salad leaves such as watercress, rocket or chard

100g mixed radishes, finely sliced

2 tbsp hazelnut oil

squeeze of lemon juice

small bunch of chives

1 tsp of Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan (watch as they burn easily) and allow to cool. Mix together the mustard, oil, lemon juice and seasoning in an old jam jar. Add the chopped chives and shake well then dress the salad leaves and radishes. Divide the salad between four plates, dot with cubes of cheese and sprinkle over the hazelnuts.

Roast figs with vanilla and ginger

I'm all for saving a little effort and also wanted to take advantage of the fact I had been using the oven. So between pie making, I roasted 8 fresh figs, cut in half, with a little brown sugar, a slosh of ginger liquor and a split vanilla pod for about 10-15 minutes at 180℃. These were served cold with some bought gelato and a spoonful of Greek yoghurt with an indulgent drizzle of fragrant Greek honey. Nice and simple!

All of the above fitted nicely and easily into one cooler bag and provided an ample lunch for 4.