Scribbly: Brian & Aoife's Misadventures: The Diablo

A little while ago, Brian and I went to a food festival and picked up a little device that we’ve since become a bit obsessed with. We were first introduced to the Diablo by a crafty salesman who more or less performed a live infomercial, and even cooked us up some mini calzones as a taster – I was immediately hooked, much to B’s disapproval.

The Diablo is essentially a stove top sandwich toaster that will seal any filling between two slices of bread, leaving you with neatly toasted little sandwich-pies. To my bitter disappointment, my new friend the salesman had lied about one thing: there are no recipes or serving suggestions to be found online whatsoever. But I was still pretty impressed, and after a week or so of delicious poached egg and cheddar toasties, B and I started to get a little adventurous. After a couple of hit-and-misses (including a melting, under-cooked monstrosity consisting of baked beans, eggs and cheese) we were finally struck by inspiration.

~~Dedicated readers~~ Obligated friends and family, I present for your reading pleasure my first ever recipe blog post.

Diablo Winter Pies

1) Soften carrots, peas and onions in a bit of butter and garlic.

2) In a separate pot, take some minced beef (tossed in flour and salt), throw in some chopped streaky bacon and brown together with a little vegetable oil.

3) Add rosemary, salt, pepper and more flour to the browned meat.

4) Add the softened veg to the mix.

5) Add some thick beef stock to the filling, and crumble one dry beef OXO cube into the pot. Stir well to avoid eye-watering pockets of flavour.

6) Cut two squares of pre-rolled puff pastry (or homemade if you’re feeling fancy) to cover each side of the Diablo, and press the pastry gently into the plates.

7) Spoon a heap of pie filling into one side of the Diablo. Close the plates together and trim away the excess dough.

8) To seal the pie, place the Diablo over a medium heat for one minute on each side. The pastry may begin to expand alarmingly and spill over the edges – which is fine. Just make sure to trim away the excess once again when you’ve removed it from the stove top.