Little pies

What I would really like is a pasta making machine, I have tried the 'roll~it~out~with~a~rolling~pin'  method but it's a killer on the arms, so I decided to use my dream pasta filling in little pies instead, and they worked out well. 

Shamefully, nothing this time, is home grown or fairly traded with a vegetable growing neighbour. Everything is bought from the supermarket, the local supermarket mind you. 

This recipe makes 4 but I would recommend doubling up and making 8  ~ just for yourself!

This is what you'll need:

2 Artichoke hearts    56p

50g Fresh spinach    50p

10g Cottage cheese   5p

125g Puff pastry      25p

1 Egg                     17p

10g Sesame seeds     8p

Salt & pepper            4p

Total    ~     £1.65

Wash and wilt the spinach. If you bought a big 200g bag put the whole lot in a big frying pan on a low heat for a few minutes turning it over constantly, as soon as it has changed to wilted spinach transfer it to a sieve and run under a cold tap, divide into 4 and squeeze out the water. 

Just use 1 of these spinach balls and put the other 3 in the fridge or freezer for something else,  I just think spinach keeps better this way and takes up less fridge space. Alternatively - buy frozen spinach!

Take 2 artichokes from a tin, rinse under the tap and gently squeezed dry, keep the rest in their juices in a bowl in the fridge. They usually last at least a week.

Pre heat the oven to  180c  gas 4 (or 5 in our slightly rubbish oven)

If you've got a 500g pack of puff pastry then cut off a 1/4 square and roll out on a floured surface until about 2 mm thick,  i.e. as thin as you can.

Then cut 8 circles out, about 9 cm diameter.  Use a pastry cutter if you have one, or a big glass will do. I used a little frying ring which I once bought once to make crumpets with.

Place 4 circles on a baking tray and divide your fillings between them. Leave a 1 cm space around the edge. Season with salt & lots of black pepper!

Beat the egg,  and brush around the edge. Then gently place the other circles over the fillings, you may need to stretch them out a bit to make them fit. Press down around the edge to stick to layers together.

Brush the tops with egg yolk and sprinkle with the sesame seeds, I used my frying ring again for this, to help the seeds stick only to the pie and not go everywhere! 

Make a little hole in the top with a pointy knife,  and bake for 20 ~ 25 minutes or until golden!

  

Cool on a cooking rack.

Cool!

I found these pies incredibly delicious, but they are just a snack or a starter, so I used the rest of the ingredients, plus about 6 thinly sliced par boiled new potatoes, and some chopped dill, and a packet of Mozarella cheese to make this for our dinner.

  

Halloumi, mung bean & slow roast tomato salad

I really love salads! 

And I love Lancasters Wednesday Street Market where I can buy 2 punnets (500g) of little plum tomatoes for £1.20. I bought the leek there too and the mung beans were from the Chinese supermarket, so all cheap except the Halloumi ~ (sorry about that) but very healthy!

Serves 6

Ingredients:

100g Mung beans                   24p 

500g little tomatoes             £1.20

2 x cloves garlic                      10p

1 x leek                                 50p

a few sprigs of thyme              FREE from my garden (which I bought from Wilkos)

1/2 lemon                              30p

1  packet of halloumi           £2.35

some olive oil                         20p

TOTAL                              £4.89

Soak the mung beans in water for half a day or so.

Half the tomatoes and put them in a roasting dish, along with 1/2 tsp salt and some pepper and 1/2 tsp of sugar and the garlic (which I forgot to do!) Roast in the oven, gas 3 / 160c for an hour then leave in the oven to cool.

Slice the leeks and gently fry in olive oil, until soft, avoid burning them!
Rinse the mung beans then bring to the boil in a pan of water and simmer for  20 ~ 25 minutes until soft but not soggy.

 Gently mix the beans, leek and tomatoes together, avoiding mushing the tomatoes along the way. Add the juice of half a lemon and sprinkle with the chopped thyme.

Slice and fry the Halloumi cheese in a large pan with a spoon of oil.  At first water appears to ooze out of the cheese, but this soon disappears and the cheese starts to get it's deliciously salty, crisp crust. You could try marinating it in a bit of lemon juice first - it's can improve to flavour.

Either tear or chop the Halloumi then mix in to the salad or plate up, and arrange fashionable on top before drizzling with olive oil.

And if you make too much salad, and get fed up with having it for lunch every day, you can do this to it!
Fry up 2 veggie sausages, slice and put to one side. Then in the same pan heat up the salad with a few Kalamata olives and 1/4 tin of tomatoes ~ whizzed or sliced. Add the sausages and stir over the heat till hot. Serve with toast and a spoon of Wild Garlic Tapenade!

Rhubarb & Almond Tart

This week I managed to secure myself a Kilo of rhubarb ~ for a bag of wild garlic from my garden!  Our lovely neighbour Alison, co-owns the Lancaster Soup Dragon  (purveyors of the finest vegetarian soup) AND she is brilliant at growing vegetables on her allotment, just up the road ~ I love it round here!

This recipe takes a while as there are 3 components:

Rhubarb compote

Pastry

Frangipane

 :but its worth the effort!

Rhubarb compote (stewed rhubarb!)

400g rhubarb    FREE!

110g sugar    9p

Gently stew for 1/2 an hour or so, or until thickish.

Sweet short pastry

175g Butter       £1.13

1tsp sugar            1p

pinch of salt         1p

1 egg yolk            23p

3 tbsp milk           2p

250g plain flour    15p

Preheat oven ~ gas mark 4 ~ 180c

Mix together the butter and sugar, add the egg yolk, salt & milk. 

In my 'French Brasserie Cookbook' it says mix together by hand ~ I did this although I'm not sure what the point of it is ~ maybe it's just for the pleasure of squishing butter between your fingers.

Then slowly add the flour until just combined, making sure not to overwork it. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.  

Blind bake for 10 minutes.

Almond Frangipane

110g butter                                                                                                        80p

110g light brown sugar                                                                                        30p

2 eggs & the egg white left over from the pastry                                                    46p

110g ground almonds                                                                                      £1.10

25g plain flour                                                                                                      2p

1 tsp baking powder                                                                                              1p

zest of 1 lemon                                                                                                   25p

pinch of salt (which I forgot to add!)                                                                       1p

25g flaked toasted almonds ~ to be added 5 minutes before the end of baking.         29p

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, beat in the eggs, then fold in the rest of the ingredients to make the frangipane.

Assemble ~ I used 250g of the rhubarb compote and spread it over the pastry base. Then carefully spooned the frangipane over the top, making sure the to cover all the rhubarb evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes, remember to sprinkle the toasted almonds on top after about 20 minutes of baking.

When the tart is cool trim the excess pastry.

Unlike the finest tarts on Master Chef, this one did end up with a soggy base, maybe if you used a loose~base tin you could cool it on a wire rack ~ which may help. 

Total  £4.88 ~ not cheap but you do end up with a delicious cake that could feed 12! 

Or 6 people who like huge slices!