How to turn cheese ends into a comforting root vegetable pie – recipe | Waste not
Today’s comforting pie is super-adaptable and brilliant for using up any leftover bits of cheese.The classic homity pie filling of potatoes, onions and cream works beautifully with a jumble of cheese ends – cheddar, stilton, taleggio or whatever pungent blocks and rinds are lurking in your fridge drawer; it’s also a fantastic base for using up other root vegetables besides potatoes – celeriac, for example, bring earthiness, beetroot turns the entire filling a vibrant purple, while salsify adds a nutty note.Use whatever you have to hand, and waste nothing.This is a long-time family favourite.Mum used to make it for me as a kid and now I make it for my own children.
This is an updated version of a recipe from my first book, The Natural Cook, specifically designed both to use up cheese ends and to be more flexible.Whether you’re using a mixture of potatoes and celeriac or experimenting with beetroot for a striking purple pie, this makes a a very sating, rich and flavourful meal that would also work as a centrepiece.Serve warm with a crisp green salad, dressed with a sharp dressing to cut through all that rich cheese.Serves 6For the pastry case 200g wholemeal flour (spelt for preference), plus extra for dustingA pinch of sea salt 100g cold diced butter 1 egg, lightly beaten For the filling500g new potatoes, or other root vegetables (carrots, celeriac, parsnips, beetroot, say), scrubbed clean, if need be1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly choppedA few thyme leaves (optional)2 leeks, dark green tops only, thinly sliced, or 1 whole leek, thinly sliced2 tbsp olive oil 4 sprigs parsley, roughly chopped from stem to leaf150ml double cream200g mixed cheese ends (cheddar, stilton, taleggio), grated or choppedSea salt and cracked black pepper Olive oilMix the flour and salt in a blender or large bowl, add the butter and work the mix until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.Mix in the egg and just enough cold water (you’ll probably need between three and five tablespoons) to bring everything together into a firm dough, then cover and chill for half an hour.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a high-sided tart tin or pie dish, gently pressing the pastry into the corners and letting it overhang all around the edge.Prick the base all over with a fork, chill for another 10 minutes, then blind bake on a tray at 210C (190C fan)/410F/gas 6½, until the tart case starts to turn golden.Take out of the oven and trim the edges neatly with a bread knife (the trimmings make an excellent snack, incidentally).Meanwhile, chop the root veg into chunks, then boil them in salted water until tender.Drain and leave to steam dry.
While the roots are cooking, gently saute the onion, garlic, thyme and leeks in the olive oil until soft and caramelised.Stir in the drained roots, parsley and cream, season generously, then pile into the pastry case.Scatter over the grated cheese and nestle any chunks of soft cheese in and around the vegetables – the filling should be heaped and rustic-looking.Return to the oven and bake until the top is bubbling and golden, with the odd charred patch here and there.Remove and leave to rest and set for 10 minutes, then slice and serve warm, at room temperature or even straight from the fridge, where it will keep for up to five days.
Disability benefit cuts impossible to support, 42 Labour MPs tell Starmer
More than 40 Labour MPs have warned the prime minister that planned disability cuts are “impossible to support” and have called for a pause and change in direction.The letter from parliamentarians spanning the new intake and veterans, and from the left and right of the party, sets Keir Starmer up for the biggest rebellion of his premiership when the House of Commons votes on the measures next month.There has already been widespread concern among Labour MPs about proposed changes including a significant tightening of eligibility for personal independent payments (Pips), saving about £5bn annually.They would also involve cuts or freezes to incapacity benefits for people who apply for universal credit but are judged unfit to work. According to internal Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forecasts, the planned disability benefit cuts would affect 700,000 families who are already in poverty
New UK-US trade deal is a relief for Starmer but doubts, and tariffs, remain
Thursday’s trade agreement between the US and the UK fell far short of the superlatives heaped on it in Donald Trump’s excruciating televised phone call with Keir Starmer. But it is worth having, nevertheless.As Starmer made clear by appearing in front of an audience of Jaguar Land Rover workers in Solihull, reducing the 27.5% tariff on 100,000 car exports will come as a mighty relief for that industry.Steel and aluminium tariffs will also go completely, according to the UK side – though the fact sheet from the White House stopped short of saying that explicitly, instead saying a “new trading union” would be created in these two sectors
UK politics: Tariffs cut on UK cars, steel and aluminium in US trade deal, says Starmer – as it happened
Keir Starmer is at a Jaguar Land Rover factory. Summing up the deal, he says:This is a deal that will protect British businesses and save thousands of jobs In Britain, really important, skilled, well paid jobs. It will remove tariffs on British steel and aluminium, reducing them to zero. It will provide vital assurances for our life sciences sector, so important to our economy, and grant unprecedented market access for British farmers without compromising our high standards.And he says the deal means US tariffs on cars from the UK will be cut from 27
Cars, steel, beef and films: the key points of the US-UK trade deal
The UK and US have announced a new trade deal, or at least some elements of it, following a slightly chaotic transatlantic speaker phone call between Keir Starmer and Donald Trump.So what does it involve – and what was left out? Here is what we know and don’t know.With Starmer heading to the Jaguar Land Rover plant in the Midlands to herald the announcement, this was expected to be a major part of the deal, and it is.Tariffs for UK cars imported into the US will be cut from 27.5% to 10%, up to a maximum of 100,000 cars a year, close to total exports last year
Reform’s success shows how little Labour has offered voters | Letters
Polly Toynbee is right that there will be far worse to come for Labour if it carries on down its road of making the poorest yet poorer (The lesson for Labour? Until it can improve local lives and stop fearing Farage, more losses are coming, 6 May). She says: “They will be challenged by Reform UK in towns such as Barnsley.” Barnsley is the 38th most deprived local authority in England. Almost a quarter of its children live in poverty. Reform is a party with no poverty-alleviation policies and a “contract” with voters that states: “All job seekers and those fit to work must find employment within 4 months or accept a job after 2 offers
Tell us: how will Labour’s planned disability welfare cuts affect you?
The Labour government has proposed £4.8bn in cuts to disability welfare payments, with a House of Commons vote expected in June.The move would impact about 3 million households and plans, among other things, to tighten eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip) and change universal credit’s health element – such as halving it for new claimants, freezing it for existing recipients, and consulting on raising the minimum age to 22 from 18.We want to hear from you. How will your household be affected by Labour’s planned cuts to disability welfare payments? How would this impact your situation? What are your views on Labour’s proposals?You can tell us how Labour's proposed welfare cuts might affect you by filling in the form below
UK woman who took pills during lockdown cleared of illegal abortion
At least 216 children died in first high severity US flu season in seven years, CDC says
‘Utterly traumatised’: anger at ordeal of UK woman accused of illegal abortion
Gangs hold such influence over jails ‘it keeps me awake at night’, says Timpson
‘It makes no sense’: Macmillan hiring for senior roles after axing 26% of staff
Cringe! How millennials became uncool