Quick Filo Apple Pie Turnovers

Here's a nice quick dessert recipe for you, which only takes about 10 minutes to put together and tastes delicious! They are best eaten hot and crispy straight out of the oven with some ice cream, but can also be packed into a picnic as a handheld snack.

You can  also make these with eating apples, but I would reduce the sugar added as they are sweeter. Personally, I would recommend to use cooking apples to get that authentic, proper apple pie flavour.

Ingredients:

2 bramley cooking apples
50g caster sugar + 1 tbsp. for sprinkling
50g raisins
1 tsp. mixed spice
t tbsp. water
3 sheets filo pastry
20g butter, melted
1 tbsp. icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

Peel, core & chop the apples and place in a small saucepan with the sugar, raisins, spice & water. Cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, until soft. Leave to cool.

Set the oven to 200 C. Put one sheet of filo pastry on the counter in front of you and cut it in half, so you have 2 long strips. Brush with some melted butter. Put a about 2 tbsp. of the apple mix at the top of each strip, then fold over and over to form triangular parcels. Place onto a baking sheet, brush with a little more butter and sprinkle with a little caster sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Dust with icing sugar.

You can serve these hot or cold, but I like them hot with ice cream!

 

 

Berbere Roast Chicken

Berbere is an Ethiopian curry spice mix I discovered some years ago... its not one that many people have heard of in the UK and I actually haven't seen it in many shops, which surprises me as its just fantastic.

I use the spice mix for a few recipes - one was for the Chicken Doro Wat (recipe here) which is an Ethiopian curry - my favourite curry in fact. Another recipe was for the Spiced Chicken Meatballs (recipe here) of which is a lovely change, as tastes just so different to anything else.

Then I have this recipe - which is the Berbere Spiced Roast Chicken. I have also included the recipe for the actual Berbere spice mix as it has been asked for by quite a few people now!  Once made, this spice mix can be stored in a sealed tub for months in a dry place.

Ingredients:     (Makes 1/2 cup)

2 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1 tsp. black peppercorns
4 green cardamom pods (seeds only)
4 cloves
4 dried red chillies, broken into bits
3 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground all spice
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. turmeric

Method:
With a dry hot frying pan, toast the seeds - down to and including the cloves and chillies. Shake the pan and ensure it doesn't burn. Tip into a bowl to cool a little. Now using either a hand mixer or a pestle and mortar, blend (or crush) until ground. Add the rest of the spices and stir together. You have your spice mix!

To make the Roast Berbere Chicken, simply mix 2-3 tbsp. of the spice mix with 30g butter. With your fingers, gently lift the chicken skin away from the breast and put 2/3 of the butter mix under the skin. Spread the remaining butter mix over all of the chicken and put into a roasting tin. Cover with kitchen foil and roast for - (25 minutes per kg + 25 minutes) or (20 minutes per lb + 20  minutes).

The flavour of the spices are so, delicious with the chicken. Serve simply with salad and chips.

Authentic Chicken Vindaloo

This version of chicken vindaloo isn't particularly like the one you would be served at an Indian restaurant in London. It is, however, traditional, stripped back to the original Goan vindaloo, where this dish was created.

Its also not 'blow your head' off hot (although it certainly is spicy) because the actual flavours in a vindaloo are to die for and you want to be able to taste them! The vinegar in the marinade, the cinnamon, bay and chillies just all come together in this delicious home made Chicken Vindaloo. You won't want it any other way after trying this version. Although you are more than welcome to make it hotter by adding more dried chillies or even some  more chilli powder.

I actually made this last night, but failed to photograph it, as it proved to be such a hit it was immediately wolfed down as soon as it was served into a bowl! So I am making it again today to show you how delicious it is. I also think a friend of ours will be over the moon when we drop it off to him tomorrow!

Ingredients:

2 inch piece cinnamon stick
1 tsp. cumin seeds
2 dried bay leaves
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp. fenugreek seeds

4 tbsp. red wine vinegar or plain white vinegar
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 inch piece of ginger, chopped finely
1 tbsp. paprika
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp. salt

3 large chicken breasts, cubed

1 onion, chopped finely
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. butter
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
3 pods of green cardamom, seeds only
1-2 tsp. hot chilli powder
3 whole cloves
1 dried bay leaf
1 tsp sugar


Place the first five ingredients (cinnamon, cumin, bay, peppercorns & fenugreek) into a dry frying pan. Toast for a few minutes until fragrant. Then tip into a hand blender and grind to a powder. Put into a bowl and add the next 6 ingredients to the spice mix (vinegar, garlic, ginger, paprika, turmeric & salt). Stir well. Add the chicken pieces, turning them in the marinade until well coated and cover. Marinade in the fridge for no less than 2 hours. Ideally overnight if you can.

Fry the onion in the oil and butter until translucent. add the ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves, chilli powder and bay leaf and cook gently for a further 5 minutes. Add the chicken and any marinade and combine with the onion mix. Pop a lid on the dish and cook on a low/medium heat for about 15 minutes until cooked, stirring occasionally. The juices from the chicken and the water from the steam will mix with the onions and spices to make its own sauce.

Serve with fresh coriander and some steamed white rice for a delicious curry.

Chicken & Avocado Spring Rolls

This recipe is a mix of American egg rolls and Asian spring rolls, but with a slightly British edge with its filling of chicken, creamy avocado and red onion. Again, I love a twist and this one is another of my party nibbles ideas (why does food taste so much better in bite size?)

As is often the case why I try something out - it always seems to be about a day or two later where I think...'ooh I really should have added....' some other ingredient. In this case, why oh why didn't I think to add crispy pieces of bacon? Well next time I will try that and let you know how it goes. In the meantime - these are pretty good fun. And lovely eaten hot with a cool yoghurt & jalapeno dip!

Ingredients:                  (makes 8-10)

2 small chicken breasts, skin removed
2 avocadoes, peeled and seeded
1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped finely
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh coriander, chopped finely
juice of 1 lime
pack of filo pastry
25g butter, melted

Method:

Set the oven to 200 C. Put the chicken breasts in a dish and cover with kitchen foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then chop. Put into a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and season with salt & pepper.

Lay one sheet of filo pastry out in front of you. Paint with a butter and then put about 1-2 tbsp. of the mixture onto the bottom of the sheet in a sausage shape. Roll the pastry over a few turns and then pull in the sides to enclose. Keep rolling forward until you have a spring roll shape. Continue until all the filling is used up. Place on a baking sheet and paint with a little more butter.

Pop in the oven at 200 C for 20 minutes, or until golden. Serve immediately with a dip made with some plain yoghurt with 1 tbsp. fresh coriander and 1 tbsp. chopped jalapenos (from a jar). Delicious!!

Asian Prawn and Sausage Rolls

I made these last week, the same night that I made the crispy prawns. Very much a nibble/party food and very moreish. I wanted a bit of a change so I made Asian sausage rolls and then made spring rolls with chicken and avocado (recipe to come later - they were gorgeous too!)

I used ready-made puff pastry as I find that sausage rolls really are better with puff pastry and its very rare I take the time to make puff pastry these days. Why would you anyway? This is easy. And delicious.

300g pork sausage meat (about 5 fat sausages, skin removed)
150g small prawns, chopped
2 tsp. oil
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 green chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 tsp. cornflour
2 tsp. hoisin sauce
1 pack ready made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Method:

Set the oven to 200 C. In a pan, fry the spring onions, garlic and chilli in the oil for 4-5 minutes on a medium heat until cooked. Remove from heat and let cool before adding to the sausage meat and chopped prawns. Season with a little salt & pepper and add the cornflour and hoisin sauce. Stir well.

Lay the pastry out on a board and cut into 3, so you have 3 long strips. Make a line of filling down the side of each strip and then wet the pastry beside it with a little water. Fold the pastry over, sealing with a fork and then cut into 1.5 inch pieces and place on a baking sheet. Cook for 25 minutes, or until browned and puffed up. Eat hot or cold. Depends on your patience.. I had a couple straight out of the oven as they smelt so good!

Orzo, Melon & Feta Salad with Spicy Chicken

Orzo is a pasta that looks a little like rice. Its perfect for salads and also works particularly well in minestrone and is yet another pasta that I have only tried recently for the first time! The Bloke and I were in a café on a hot day and they were serving an orzo salad with raisins and roasted vegetables and we absolutely loved it. So I bought some the other week and decided to give it a go the other day.

This recipe is all about the salad - it is served here with a spicy chicken of which you can use any marinade you like. I have used my own chipotle sauce as a marinade (recipe here) and simply baked it in the oven for 25 minutes. But to me - this is all about the orzo salad with pine nuts, raw courgette and creamy feta cheese. Simple and delicious, you can serve the salad as a side with any meat. Or just enjoy by itself.

Ingredients:

120g orzo
1 courgette, chopped
1/2 cantaloupe melon, peeled and chopped
25g basil, leaves torn
50g feta cheese
30g pine nuts
2 tbsp. olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp. runny honey

Method:

Cook the orzo to packet instructions (takes about 10 minutes to boil) drain and refresh under a cold tap. Drain again and put into a large bowl. Add the courgette, melon, basil and pine nuts and crumble in the feta cheese.

Whisk together the oil, honey and lemon juice, season with salt & pepper and pour over the salad. Stir well to combine and serve as a dish by itself, or with a meat of choice. Simple and delicious.

Chocolate Ganache Hearts with Sour Cherries

Its mine and The Blokes anniversary today. We are having a meal out tonight, so in my efforts at romance, last night I made these chocolate ganache hearts. They can be a bit tricky, but if they don't look perfect - that's absolutely fine. They taste divine and are adorable! And the oozing filling is a lovely surprise.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

50g cocoa powder

6 tbsp. boiling water

175g self raising flour

300g caster sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

3 eggs

100g butter

4 tbsp. milk

 

Prepare a large baking tray (mine was 16x12 inches) by greasing and then lining with greaseproof paper. Set the oven to 180 C.

 

In a bowl, stir the boiling water into the cocoa powder to make a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together. Pile the mixture into the prepared tray, smooth out flat with a spatula and bake for about 20-25 mins. until cooked through. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

 

For the milk chocolate ganache filling:

 

Break up 100g milk chocolate into a bowl. Heat 60ml double cream in a saucepan and just when it begins to boil, pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and leave to cool. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes until its quite solid. Then remove from the fridge and whisk with an electric whisk until smooth and creamy. Put into a piping bag (or a plastic bag with the corner cut off - I had to as have temporarily lost my piping bag!) Set to one side.

 

Using a heart shaped cutter, cut hearts out of the sponge and place onto a board. Pipe the ganache onto half of the hearts, leaving a hole in the middle. Fill the hole with a teaspoon of cherry preserve or jam (jelly to the US readers). Top with the un-piped sponge hearts. Use leftover milk chocolate ganache to fill in any gaps in the sides. Don't worry if it looks messy as it will be covered with the dark chocolate ganache.

 

For the dark chocolate ganache coating:

 

Break 200g dark chocolate into a bowl and heat up 200ml double cream. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted. Leave to cool for about 4-5 minutes. Place the filled hearts onto a wire rack placed over some greaseproof paper. Pour the dark ganache over the cakes, covering all sides. If you have let the ganache get too cold, to pour, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. Then to finish, shave some milk chocolate over the tops and pop in the fridge for an hour to set.

 

Now you can serve!

 

 

 

 

Crunchy Coconut Prawns with a Dip

I am always looking for different ways to cook prawns, particularly for 'finger food'. This one I made on Friday night. We were watching a movie and didn't want to have a sit down meal, so I made finger food (more recipes to come later!) so we could nibble as we watched the movie.

These were the prawns. Dipped in a coconut mix and lightly fried until crunchy with a soy & sweet chilli dip. We ate the lot - they were delicious!

Ingredients:

150g raw king prawns
50g dried breadcrumbs
3 tbsp. desiccated coconut
2 tbsp. flour
pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
1 egg
2 tbsp. oil
3 tbsp. sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp. dark soy sauce
juice of 1 lime

Method:

For the sauce, mix the sweet chilli sauce with the soy and lime. Combine well in a bowl, cover and leave to chill in the fridge while you make the prawns.

Mix the breadcrumbs, coconut & flour in a bowl (add the chilli flakes if liked). Beat the egg in a separate bowl. Dip each prawn firstly in the beaten egg, and then in the crumb mix. Put each one gently onto a plate until all are completed.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook each prawn on both sides for about 2 minutes; you will need to do in 2 or 3 batches (don't put too many in the pan together). Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in a low oven.

Serve the prawns with the dip and let people help themselves. Delicious!

Georgian Chicken Stew with Garlic Green Beans

This dish is a version of a stew called Kharcho and comes from Georgia. They have some amazing recipes over in that part of the world and I have been intending on making one for months. The sauce that the stew is cooked in is predominantly walnuts, with a tablespoon of dried marigold flowers. These are not as hard to get hold of as I thought (internet) and were surprisingly cheap (a few pounds for a huge bag).

Even before tasting the dish I knew it would taste good - the smell was beautiful. I served this with saffron rice and having picked some green beans from the garden, I sautéed them in freshly chopped garlic. Absolutely delicious!

 

Ingredients:     (Serves 4)

3-4 chicken breasts (skin removed & chopped)
1 tbsp. oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp. tomato paste
2 bay leaves
250ml water (1 cup)
250g walnuts (2 cups)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp ground fenugreek
1/4 cup dried marigold flowers
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
salt & pepper

Method:

Heat the oil in a pan and cook the chicken on a high heat until beginning to brown a little. Add the onion and fry for 2 minutes. Cover and leave to cook 2 minutes on a low/medium heat. Then add the bay leaves, tomato puree and water and cook on a medium heat, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.

In a food processor, blend the walnuts, garlic, spices, vinegar and marigold. Then add about 60ml water to make a paste. Process a little more. Add this paste to the chicken and stir well. Add the sugar with good helping of salt & pepper and cook for 20 minutes on a low heat, covered. Then you can eat.

I served this with some saffron rice and garlic beans. For the green beans, I simply chopped 3 cloves garlic and added them to a hot pan with 1 tbsp. oil and 1 tsp. butter. Then I stir fried the beans for a few minutes. Then added a couple of tablespoons of water and cooked until the water evaporated. Plate up the rice and stew and top with the hot garlic beans. Delicious!

 

 

Baked Conchiglioni Stuffed With Green Pepper Pork Ragu & Ricotta

As many pasta shapes as I have eaten, including when I was touring around Italy, it seems that are still plenty that I haven't tried yet. Yes, they are all pasta, but take on different guises depending on how they are cooked, and indeed what with they are cooked. I have always said spaghetti is my favourite, but we have found a contender!

Whilst looking for some Farfalle pasta two days ago in the shops, I found it sitting beside this conchiglioni. Like the normal pasta shells I have eaten before, but huge. Stuffable in fact. I grabbed a pack with no idea what I was going to do with them but I was excited to see. And for dinner last night this is what I made. Pasta shells stuffed with a green pepper flavoured pork ragu, a little ricotta and baked with a smooth tomato sauce. Alongside a crisp salad, it was delicious. Like bites of heaven.

For the pork ragu:

250g pork mince
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dried sage
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 green pepper, seeds removed and halved
2 cloves garlic
100ml white wine
salt & pepper

Heat the oil and add the pork on a medium heat to start cooking. Finely chop one half of the onion and one half of the pepper and add to the pork along with the sage. Put the other halves into a hand blender with the garlic and blitz until you have a paste. Add to the pork. Cook on fairly high for about 4 minutes until the onion and peppers are cooked and then add the wine. Stay on a high heat to reduce most of the wine. Season with salt and pepper and set to one side.

For the tomato sauce:

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a small saucepan. Add 3 chopped cloves garlic and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add one 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, a handful of fresh chopped basil, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. salt & 1/4 tsp. of sugar. Cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and blend, using a stick blender until smooth. Set to one side.

Remaining ingredients & assembling the dish

Approx. 20 jumbo pasta shells
60g ricotta cheese

Set the oven to 180 C. Boil the pasta in a large pan of water for about 8 minutes, until they are nearly, but not completely, cooked. Drain well on kitchen paper and let cool for a moment. Using a dish about 10 x 10 inches, pour half of the tomato sauce into the base of the dish. With a pasta shell in your palm, fill the shell with the pork mix. Top with a teaspoon of ricotta and place into the dish, on top of the sauce. Continue until the dish is full, or you have run out of shells  (its a good idea to place the pasta into the dish before cooking to get an idea of how many you will need - plus a couple of extras for breakages).

Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the stuffed pasta, season with a little salt and black pepper and cover with kitchen foil. Bake covered, for 30 minutes.

Serve with a crisp salad and enjoy!

 

Baked to creamy perfection!

Honey Chicken Bites

This is a dish for those out there who love chicken nuggets. Home made in about 15 minutes, they are juicy and crispy and coated in honey and a rich dressing of honey, mustard and soy sauce.

Its no great cooking feat either. you just make the batter around the chicken in the same bowl - mixed with your fingers,quickly pan fried and drizzled with a quick sauce. Eat them straight away, nice and hot. Its one of those perfect dishes for when you have friends around to watch a movie. They'll love them.. Honey Chicken Bites.

Ingredients:     (Makes about 12-16)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large cubes
2 eggs
flour to coat
1 tsp. paprika
4 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 tbsp. runny honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. soy sauce
Method
Whisk together the honey, soy and mustard. Set to one side.
Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk. Add the chicken cubes to the eggs.  In another bowl mix the flour with the paprika. Add enough of the flour to the chicken and egg mixture to make a thick batter which is just short of dripping.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and take a few pieces of chicken from the batter and fry both sides for about 10 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Repeat with remaining chicken. Drain on kitchen paper and place into serving bowl. Drizzle the crispy chicken with the honey mustard mix and serve immediately. Now that was just too easy wasn't it?!

Baked Salmon Tikka with Spinach & Lentil Daal

I had a huge piece of salmon waiting to be cooked for dinner yesterday and was due to be out all day. So in the morning I needed to get that fish into a marinade. I decided on Indian Spiced so make an Indian Tikka style paste (which took 5 minutes). A spoonful of the paste went into some natural yoghurt and was popped in the fridge to chill as a creamy accompaniment. The rest was added to more yoghurt and was used as a marinade for the salmon which I cut into large slices, ready for later. I decided I wanted healthy, so the fish was to be baked - not fried.

I also wanted a good healthy side dish, so instead of my usual Tarka Daal (lentils), I added some spinach to it.. and it was the best tasting daal I have had yet!

For the Tikka paste:

In a small food processor, pop in the following - one red chilli (heat of your choice), 1 inch piece peeled ginger, the seeds from 5 cardamom pods, 2 tsp. ground cumin, 2 tsp. ground coriander, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. turmeric powder and 1 tsp. garum masala. Add 1 tbsp. water and process to a paste.

For the salmon:

Add 1 tsp. of the paste to 1/4 cup natural low fat yoghurt, cover and chill for later. The remaining paste, add to 1/4 cup yoghurt and marinade the salmon. (Alternatively you could use chicken - just as delicious). Marinade for up to an hour and bake at 180 C for 20-25 mins. Healthy, low fat and ALL the flavour.

For the Spinach & Lentil Daal:

180g toor daal
1 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
3 whole green chillies, left whole but pricked with a knife
1 inch piece ginger, chopped
2 large tomatoes (or 5-6 cherry tomatoes)
5 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tbsp. garum masala
1 tbsp. ground coriander
400g frozen spinach
salt & pepper
handful fresh coriander, chopped

Firstly, wash and the toor daar in a colander, then put into a pan and add water to cover by about an inch. Bring to the boil, cover and then leave on a medium heat as they cook. They will take about 1/2 hour to become tender, so top up the water as needed. You don't want them to be dry. Add the spinach and cook until spinach wilted and mix well. Remove from heat and set to one side.

Heat the oil and fry the cumin seeds until fragrant and add the onion, chillies and ginger and cook on a medium heat until tender and the onion beginning to brown. Blitz the tomatoes and garlic together in a hand blender and add to the onion mix. Stir well and then add the ground spices along with 100ml of water.

Season with salt and leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes. Then add the onion mix to the lentils,  putting them back on a low heat. Season with a 1/4 tsp. salt and ground black pepper. Stir in chopped coriander and serve.

Sauteed Brussells and Bacon with Farfalle

The humble brussel sprout is never given much credit. Its one of those loved and hated vegetables, of which I am firmly placed in the 'love' team. They are like little baby cabbages that were grown possibly as early as the 13th century in what is now Belgium. They also contain sulforaphane, a phytochemical under basic research for its potential anticancer properties - although has less sulforaphane than its brassica brother, broccoli.

Although in the UK, they are mostly boiled (probably why people don't like them much), the best ways to cook them is to either roast them or shred them and stir fry, which brings out a lovely flavour. They pair beautifully with bacon and parmesan so here we have a lovely pasta meal with those delicious flavours.

Ingredients:             (Serves 3-4)

130g streaky bacon
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
200g brussel sprouts, shredded
1 tbsp. olive oil
180g farfalle pasta
50g pine nuts
parmesan, to finish

Method:

Grill the bacon until crisp. The best way to do this is to dab at any fat with kitchen paper every few minutes while it is cooking. Remove and set to one side on some more kitchen paper.

Put the pasta on to boil in a large pan of boiling water.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes and then add the sprouts. Stir fry for about 4 minutes and then add 3 tablespoons of the water from the pasta. Cover and let steam for 2 minutes. (alternatively, you could add a few tablespoons of white wine).

Drain the pasta and add to the sprouts, along with the pine nuts. Stir well. Just before serving, crumble in the bacon and combine.

Serve with a generous shaving of parmesan (use a potato peeler to get nice shavings) and serve hot. Delicious!

Nutty, Chewy, Choc Chip Flapjacks

Flapjacks are an old childhood favourite of mine and I can recall the smell of the house while my mother baked them. Known as flapjacks in the UK, they would likely be called granola bars, or cereal bars in some other countries.

They can vary quite a bit in terms of healthiness, this recipe is for the sweet toothed among us! Every bite is a mix of textures and flavours; of chocolate, crunchy nuts and chewy oats with raisins. I used a 9 x 9" tray to bake these in, but in all honesty I should have used one about 12 x 12 as they came out rather large! Not that I'm complaining....

Ingredients:

300g butter
4 tbsp golden syrup
340g golden caster sugar
200ml condensed milk
400g porridge oats
200g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
150g raisins (or currants)
100g white chocolate chips

Method:

Grease and then line a 12 x 12 inch tray (or close to). Set the oven to 170 C.

In a heavy based saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar and syrup on a low heat. When melted, take off the heat and stir in the condensed milk. Add the remaining ingredients and stir through well.

Tip mixture into the prepared tray and smooth out the top with a spatula. Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes, until starting to go golden brown. Leave to cool to room temperature and then cut into squares.

Serve with tea or coffee.. or grab one as you are running out the door to work! Either way, enjoy!

An English Bread Soup

Bread Soup is a dish that consists of stale bread cooked in a broth, and there are many variations from many countries. I have had quite a few and love it, as the bread in the middle soaks down into almost a velvety texture of softness as it cooks and absorbs the soup base and the bread at the top soufflés right up with a crunchy cheese topping.

This dish is entirely made from leftovers. After having had tapas on Friday night, I had sliced too much baguette and it was in a bag with no where to go. I had a small amount of cabbage, 2 leftover frozen sausages (I defrosted them) and a piece of cheese. This surely would make a fantastic bread soup. And you know what? It did.

Ingredients:     (Serves2)

2 sausages
1/4 savoy cabbage, shredded
80-100g grated cheese
2 cloves garlic, 1 chopped, 1 left whole
1 small baguette, sliced into 1" rounds 

Method:

Set the oven to 180 C. Cook the cabbage in plenty of boiling water for about 8 minutes, or until cooked and then drain, reserving the cabbage water. Take the skin off the sausages and crumble the meat into a frying pan with the chopped garlic until browned. Set aside. Lightly toast the bread (not too brown) and rub the whole garlic clove over one side of all of the pieces of toasted bread.

To assemble: in an ovenproof saucepan layer the ingredients. First put in half of the sausage meat, half of the drained cabbage, then half of the bread pieces, topped with a handful of the grated cheese. Then repeat with a second layer, ending with the cheese. Pour the cabbage water over the top (just enough to cover the bread) and finally add a little more cheese over the top.

Put the pan into the oven for 30 minutes; the top will be souffled up and golden. Serve into two serving bowls and enjoy!

Simple leftover ingredients
 

Filling and delicious!