Megan Cruickshank has been working as a chef for 14 years, the last seven at Federal Delicatessen and seven months ago took the reins of head chef there. Even after all this time, she says the job is always changing and no two days are the same. When it comes to her Sunday ritual, Megan’s all about comfort food, shared with friends and family. Here she shares a classic mince pie, reserved for nights when her household is all able to be at the dinner table together.
What do Sundays look like in your kitchen?
Sundays are family and friend time. If we aren’t going over to someone’s house to catch up we are at home relaxing, catching up with someone on Skype. Sometimes this leads to making dinner while chatting over the laptop and making a mess. There are normally three in the house, or more when people are over. We stick to cheaper comfort foods when we can but we have friends who are keto and vegan/vegetarian so that can add some fun challenges to make new dishes.
Why have you chosen this dish?
I find with this dish we all fight over the leftovers. I also love that I can make other dishes with the mix if we make extra or freeze for later. We can also sub out the ingredients for our vegan and keto friends. I have chosen the classic mince pie (cheese optional) as nothing beats a homemade filling. With winter approaching this will be frequent in my kitchen to fill cold bellies. We all join in prepping the filling and try to do this a day in advance if we have time, as it can taste so much better if left overnight. We only have two nights when everyone is normally at home at the same time for dinner and this pie is saved for these occasions.
