worryingly jolly batman

I knew I wasn't crazy:



Also, that one Torchwood Jack/Ianto jossed kidfic that I love is Get Loved, Make More, Try to Stay Alive. Kidfic, a teeny bit of mpreg but not very much all things considered. Highly recommended if you're into that kind of thing.

Okay now I really have to go bake for aimeesworld's party tonight. Um, I'm going to be late.

I made this recipe up a few weeks ago* and it's just been recipe-tested by my flatmate (who did a tremendous job reading my handwriting considering a) my handwriting is awful and b) she speaks English as a second language and c) her first language is Japanese, which obvs doesn't even have the same alphabet.) Anyway, this was a great success and we like it very much. This recipe is vegetarian-friendly, but I don't think it would be too easy to veganise because of the pastry, filling, etc. Gluten-free people: is wheat-free pastry even possible?

*I am not the first person to think of leek and potato pie, obviously. I believe some people also put chicken in, which I think would just be kind of bland unless you used SMOKED chicken in which case it could be delicious. But not vegetarian any more.

Ingredients
A sufficient quantity of flaky or puff pastry, depending on how much time/energy/butter you have, to make a pie bottom and top crust. Or you can just buy sheets. Puff pastry is one of those things that it's not necessarily worth making at home, IMO.
Three large-ish potatoes
Two leeks
50g + 25g butter
Two eggs
Half a cup of milk
Salt
Pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F.

2. Peel potatoes and slice into small pieces - cubes or slices are both fine, but the pieces should be small.

3. Boil potatoes in salted water for 10-15 minutes, or until fork-tender. Drain.

4. Meanwhile, clean and slice the leeks - into rings or julienned are both great. Melt 50g butter in a wide saucepan and saute the leeks in the butter with a little salt (Or not if you use salted butter!) until shiny and soft.

5. Grease your pie dish. Lay out a sheet of pastry over the bottom and press in per usual. (Just as seen on TV, in films, etc!) Scatter drained potatoes over the bottom and top with soft, shiny leeks.

6. Melt 25 g butter in microwave (be careful about this, butter is dairy and dairy goes nuts when heated. Melt slowly on a low temp.) Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper together with the butter and pour over leeks and potatoes. DON'T RINSE THE BOWL OUT.

7. Top the pie with the second sheet of pastry. Use the leftover egg-milk mix in the bottom/on the sides of the bowl to brush the top of the pie. Bake for about 30-40 minutes - sorry, not so sure about that time, but the top of the pie should be all crispy and it should all look, you know... cooked. (Sorry, there are learn-to-cookers on my flist and this isn't very clear! Never mind!)

This is a really truly delicious meal during winter and works really well to get rid of those leeks you bought last week because they were super cheap at the vege market and then realised that you were sick of leek and potato soup. On the other hand, I find that, especially straight out of the oven, it doesn't hold together super-well and is likely to fall all over your plate. (When it's been in the fridge for a night this is not such a big deal.) This doesn't bother me because well, I'm just not that picky/obsessive about plating. But I know it would bother some people.

Also! A request! New Zealanders! Go to UKTV NZ and vote for your favourite Doctor Who episodes? I really want some people to vote for Blink (You can only pick 3, and I picked The Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Partners in Crime, and Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords - but I really really wanted to do Blink too.) Anyway they're doing a marathon over the June long weekend, so! If you go and vote you should come over to my place that weekend and we'll watch Doctor Who and eat baking, it'll be awesome. I'll make pie and everything.

NEW WHO.

( Two very brief things: )