Ice cream Mint choc chip

250 ml double cream

250 ml full fat milk

100 g sugar

2 cups of fresh mint leaves

Some chocolate or chocolate chips.

Warm the cream in a pan and submerge the mint leaves in it. Leave to steep for at least an hour. 

Meanwhile put the milk and sugar in a pan and warm, stirring, just enough for the sugar to dissolve. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

After an hour or more has passed, whizz up the minty mixture with a handheld liquidiser (this is optional). 

Strain the mint mixture, discard the mint leaves and pour the minty cream into the milk mixture. Chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Put mixture in pre-prepared ice cream maker and let it start churning. When it starts thickening, add in chocolate chips or chocolate chopped into teeny chunks.

Ice cream Fior di Latte

250 ml double cream

250 ml full fat milk

100 g sugar

A few drops of vanilla essence

A generous pinch of salt

Put all ingredients in pan and heat gently until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool in fridge for at least a few hours. 

Put into prepared ice cream maker and let it do its thing.

Vegetable pie

First, make either shortcrust pastry, or puff pastry:

Shortcrust pastry:

• 8 oz / 200g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 4 oz / 100 g margarine
• 2-3 tbsp cold water

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Chop the margarine up into small pieces, add them to the bowl and rub in carefully using your fingertips, until you obtain breadcrumb consistency.
2.  Make a well in the mixture and pour in 2 tbsp cold water. Mix with a knife and then your hands, to form a firm dough. Add more water if needed. 
3. Cover in cling film and place in fridge until ready to roll out.

Easy puff pastry (enough for 2 pies!):

• 250g strong plain flour
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft
• about 150ml cold water

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Break the butter up into fairly small pieces, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely and briefly using your fingertips. Stop while you can still see bits of butter.
2. Make a well in the mixture and pour two-thirds of the cold water, then mix until you have a firm dough, adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 20 mins.
3. Turn out onto a floured surface, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll *in one direction only*, keeping the edges straight, until 3 times the width, so about 20 x 50cm. You should still see the butter in streaks.
4. Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again in the same way, to three times the length. Fold again as before, cover with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.

Next, once you have the pastry, make a white sauce:

1. melt 1 1/2 oz / 40 g butter or margarine over a low heat, then add the same quantity of plain flour and stir for a couple of minutes. 
2. Next, very gradually add not-quite-a-pint / 500 ml milk, stirring continually. Keep stirring until the sauce boils and thickens. Simmer gently for 2 minutes and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Next, in a reasonably deep pie dish, place chopped vegetables (examples: carrot, celeriac, broccoli, leek, celery, parsnip, peppers...)

Cover the vegetables with the white sauce. Add herbs or other seasoning if you like.

Roll out the pastry thinly (5 mm / 1/4 in) and form a round slightly bigger than your pie dish. Trim the edges off it, and stick the bits you have cut off onto the edge of your pie dish, which you have dampeed with a little water. Brush the strip with water, and cover the pie with the remaining pastry. Pressthe edges together, knock up (bash the edges with the back of a knife) and flute (make the edges pretty by pinching with your fingertips). Brush the pie top with beaten egg and decorate with any scraps of pastry that are left, made into a nice shape.

Bake at 190 ºC for 40-50 minutes.

Winnie the Pooh's chocolate pudding (=blancmange)

(For chocolate sauce for puddings, reduce the amount of cornflour to one tbsp per half pint. You may prefer that proportion for the blancmange too.)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 rounded tablespoons of cornflour (One tbsp = 1/2 oz)
2 rounded tbsp cocoa powder (One tbsp = 1/2 oz)
3 rounded tbsp granulated sugar (One tbsp = 1/2 oz)
1 pt (or half a litre) of milk
A few drops of real vanilla essence (or use vanilla sugar)
Chopped walnuts etc for decoration (optional)

Method:

1. Put the cornflour and cocoa in the bottom of a measuring jug.
2. Add a little of the milk and create a thick paste. Stir till the dry ingredients are smooth and thick, with no dry bits.
3. Add a bit more of the milk and stir again till there are no lumps.
4. Add about half the milk, so that you have a good wet mixture to pour.
5. Pour the mixture into a 2 pt non-stick saucepan. 
6. Add the rest of the milk.
7. Put over a low to moderate heat and start heating it up.
8. Add all the sugar.
9. Stir carefully to keep it from sticking on the bottom. If it's sticking or turning too quickly for you to keep up, turn down the heat. If it's doing nothing turn up the heat.
10. It will thicken and then boil. Allow it to boil for about three minutes or so.
11. Draw the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla essence.
12. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, or small glass dishes, or a lightly oiled jelly mould.
13. If serving in dishes, decorate the top with walnuts or other sprinkles.
14. If using a jelly mould, allow to cool until it is firm. Then gently pull the edges away from the mould with your fingers at the top surface; place a large plate upside down over the mould; invert the whole thing, without dropping either the plate or the pudding. Put the plate down on a table. If the pudding doesn't drop out of the mould, lift the mould a bit and coax the pudding out with your fingers, by letting the air in at one side till it flops out.