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.
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.
9) Carefully
tip the sealed pie onto a greased baking tray, and put it in the oven at 180c for roughly 20 minutes.
10) Serve the pies
when golden brown and thoroughly puffed. Delicious creamy garlic potatoes:
optional.
