Recipes from Puglia

Italianish Mincemeat for Italianish Mince pies

While guacamole and chicken biryani have been firmly rejected by Italian friends, the one thing they have all unquestionably adored is a handmade Christmas mince pie. Candied peel, dried fruit and nuts are flavours they relish and understand. So, here is my recipe for a quickly made mincemeat that can be used straight away or matured for a few weeks.

Beppino Occelli butter or Lurpack are good options for this recipe. As currants are hard to come by in my local shops I replace them with dried cranberries or blueberries (mirtilli rossi or mirtilli neri secchi).

The recipe comes from my book ‘A Curious Absence of Chickens’ (Headline Home, 2021).

Makes 780g (enough for around 30/40 small mince pies or boccanotti)

100g raisins

100g sultanas

100g currants or dried sour cherries/cranberries/blueberries

60g toasted pine nuts or roughly chopped walnuts

100g melted unsalted butter

60g chopped candied peel

finely grated zest 1 orange

juice 1/2 orange

3 tablespoons orange liqueur (e.g. Rosolio di Arance, Grand Marnier or Cointreau) or Strega

80g light muscovado sugar

80g freshly grated tart eating apple

Soak the raisins, sultanas and currants in the orange juice and Grand Marnier for an hour or so until the liquid is all soaked up.   Now mix in all the remaining ingredients.   Spoon into sterilised jars, seal tightly and store in the fridge until ready to use.