Pigs in Blankets Sausage Rolls

I made Pigs in Blankets Swirls a few weeks ago, but thought I'd try making more traditionally shaped sausage rolls for an extended family gathering the day after Boxing Day

Makes 8/16

320g pack ready rolled puff pastry
8 slices of streaky bacon
8 sausages or 500g sausage meat 

If using sausages, remove the casings by cutting them off with scissors. 

Lay the pastry out on the greaseproof paper it comes with, with one of the longest sides towards you.  With a rolling pin, roll the pastry out towards and away from you to make it a little wider.  

Cut the pastry in half lengthways from left to right to make two long strips.

Lay short lengths of bacon along the middle of the pastry strips.  After cutting the first few slices of bacon in half, I worked out I needed to cut them in three to cover the middle of the pastry.

Divide the sausagemeat in half and spread each half evenly over the bacon, along the middle of each pastry strip, right up to the edges.  If using sausages, just lay four skinned sausages along the bacon on each pastry strip.

Fold the longside of the pastry over to the over and crimp it closed with a fork.  Lightly score each pastry roll into 4, or 8 if you want mini sausage rolls. 

Once scored, cut with sharp scissors.  Drag the greaseproof paper onto a baking tray and arrange the cut sausage rolls with a bit of space between them.

Bake at 180C for 40 minutes until golden brown, turning half way though the cooking time.  Best eaten hot.  Can be reheated at 180C for 7 minutes in an air fryer.

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Camembert or Brie Tarts

I've had two failed attempts at making Camembert (or Brie Tarts, Tartlets, Bites, or Pies), first with wraps as the casing and the second time with shop bought puff pastry.  The wrap casings went soft, and the puff pastry heat sealed itself to the muffin tray and had to be chiselled out.  So I returned to my old faithful homemade food processor all butter pastry (from a 20+ year old Good Housekeeping magazine cutting), which I make Chicken & Ham Pies, Mince Pies, and Quiche with, to make Camembert Tartlets (or Pies, or Bites) 

Makes 20-24

175g plain flour

100g cold salted butter, cubed

250g Camembert or Brie

Thinly sliced garlic, rosemary sprig, or Cranberry Sauce (optional)

Place the flour and cubed butter into a food processor with 2 tablespoons cold water.  Pulse a few times, add another tablespoon of cold water and pulse a few times again.  Keep adding a tablespoon of water and pulsing a few times until the flour and butter begins to look like breadcrumbs.  I find the Aldi flour I use takes about 4 tablespoons of water to get to this texture.  After 4 tablespoons of water, run the food processor for a few seconds continuously to make the pastry clump together into a rough ball, adding a little more water if it doesn't.

When formed into a ball, tip out onto a floured surface, shape into a block and place in a plastic bag in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

After the pastry has rested (it apparently should rest to allow the gluten to relax so it doesn't shrink as much, and making the butter harden and make the dough easier to work with - but it is not essential if you really don't have time to let it rest),  roll it out on a lightly floured surface and cut out disks with a pastry cutter.  I used my largest round cutter and made 20 disks.  Had I gone a cutter smaller, I might have been able to cut 24 disks.

Lightly grease the mince pie tin with a little vegetable oil and place a disk over each hole.  Don't worry about pushing them down into the hole as they will fall back into them once into the hot oven.

Cut the camembert into as many disks as you have cut.  Place the cheese in the centre of each disk.  I cut my Camembert into small wedges, which I cut in half again to get a rough square in the centre.  

Sandwich the garlic and a few rosemary leaves between the slices of cheese, if using.  If using cranberry sauce, place 1/2 a teaspoon on top.

Bake at 180C for 18 minutes, turning half way through the cooking time, until lightly golden.

Leave to cool for a few minutes so the cheese is not molten, but serve warm.

We warmed these up at 180C for 2 minutes in an air fryer at a family gathering yesterday.

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Sesame Prawn Toast

I resisted the urge to buy some half price raw prawns in Aldi last week, and then saw a recipe online for Sesame Prawn Toasts. So when Aldi had some more half price prawns yesterday (and three tuna steaks - straight in the freezer), I grabbed them for my protein obsessed 17 year old son.

Makes 12

3 slices of bread

175g raw prawns

1 medium free range egg

1cm root ginger, finely gated

1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 spring onion, chopped into 1cm rounds

Sesame seeds

Sesame oil

Light olive or vegetable oil for frying

Whizz the prawns, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and spring onion together in a mini food processor.

Drizzle sesame oil on each side of the slices of bread.

Divide the prawn paste between the slices of bread and spread smoothly right to the edges.  The two recipes I looked at said to cut the crusts off, and to use white bread, but I left the crusts off and used light wholemeal bread.  Sprinkle the prawn paste with sesame seeds.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.  If you have a larger non-stick frying pan that will fit more than one slice of bread, add 1 tsp oil per slice.

Fry topping side up for 1.5-2 minutes until the bottom is golden brown.  Lift the slice of bread up with a fish slice and pour in another 1 tsp of oil, then carefully flip it prawn paste side down into the hot oil.  Cover the pan with a lid or plate and fry for 1-5-2 minutes until prawn paste is golden brown.

Cut each slice of bread into quarters.  If the prawn paste looks slightly undercooked (grey rather than pale pink) when you cut up the toast, just fry again for another minute or microwave all four quarters for 1 minute.

Sesame Prawn Toasts can be cooked in an air fryer.  Drizzle the bread with sesame oil as above then toast  in the air-fryer for 3 minutes at 200°C until one side is golden. Spread the prawn paste on the untoasted side of the bread followed by the sesame seeds.  Cut into quarters and arrange as many as you can in the air fryer basket. Cook for 12 minutes at 180°C until golden brown.

Serve warm with sweet chilli sauce and/or soy sauce for dipping.

Can be reheated in the air fryer - 5 minutes at 180C. And can be frozen and reheated in the air fryer from frozen - 10 minutes at 180C.

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Pigs in Blankets Swirls

I started off thinking I was going to make Pigs in Blankets Sausage Rolls.  There are so many recipes out there, with red onion chutney, with cranberry sauce, with Camembert or Brie, with Camembert & Brie and Red Onion Chutney or Cranberry Sauce. But I thought I'd keep mine traditional with just sausagemeat and bacon, and opted for a swirl as I thought it less fiddly.

As ready rolled puff pastry is often vegan, it should be possible to make a vegan/vegetarian version of these with vegetarian sausages and vegetarian bacon.

Makes 18

320g pack ready rolled puff pastry

300g pack streaky bacon

6 sausages

Remove the sausages from their casing by squeezing or cutting off and mash together.  I bought Co-op Irresistible Cumberland Sausages and found the casing incredibly soft so just squished them together with my fingers.

Roll the pastry out on it's greaseproof paper on a chopping board.

Spread the sausagemeat evenly all over the pastry, right up to the edges.

Cover the sausagemeat with strips of streaky bacon in the direction you are going to roll (this makes slicing easier), spacing them out evenly and again right up to what will be the ends of your roll.  I rolled the long side to make smaller swirls, so made sure I had a slice of bacon right up to the left and right hand side.

Carefully roll up the pastry like an Artic Roll.

Slice into 2cm rounds with a sharp knife.  If the greaseproof paper the pastry came on has not been too damaged/cut in the process, arrange the swirls on this on a large flat baking tray or on new piece if needed with a bit of space between them.

Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Best eaten warm, but my son was very happy to eat cold swirls for breakfast on his way into college.

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Pumpkin Muffins

We regularly have a coeliac trick or treater visiting us the last few years, so I always make a gluten free treat.  This year I have made Pumpkin Muffins, using gluten free self raising flour rather than self raising flour, and the scrapings from inside a couple of pumpkins we've carved.

Any leftover muffins will be used for grab & go breakfasts, in lunchboxes, or snacks next week.

Makes 12

125ml vegetable or light olive oil

2 large free range eggs

250g pumpkin puree 

100-150g sugar

100g mixed dried fruit

2 tsp pumpkin spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon + 1 tsp ginger)

250g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

Make pumpkin purée by simmering 250g of pumpkin in water for 15 minutes.  Drain and liquidise.  

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs into the oil, followed by the cooled pumpkin purée, sugar, dried fruit, spices and baking powder.  Mix well then stir in the self raising flour.  This is a quite a wet mixture, so unlike other muffin recipes don't be afraid to mix the flour in thoroughly, as the muffins still rise well having done this.

Divide into 12 muffin cases. Bake at 200C for 15 minutes, until a metal sewer comes out of the central muffins clean.

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Feta & Walnut Dip

Needing last minute nibbles for a get together with the girls, I was inspired to add some walnuts to whipped feta to serve on homemade sourdough crostini.  It went down well so I'd better write up the recipe before I forget

Makes a small 150g pot

100g feta

25g walnuts

1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Zest of half a lemon (optional)

1-2 tbsp whole milk or greek yoghurt

Whizz all the ingredients together in a mini food processor, adding milk or greek yoghurt to get your preferred texture (stiffer for spreading on crostini, looser for a dip).

This was made with half a block of feta as the other half had been eaten in a salad at lunch.  A whole 200g block would serve a small gathering better. Just double the ingredients.

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Chorizo & Manchego Pinwheels

Pretty pleased with my first attempt to make seasonal nibbles.  The possibilities with these cheesy pinwheels is endless - ham & cheddar, pesto & parmesan, spinach & feta, tapenade & feta.

Makes 18

1 pack ready rolled puff pastry

30 pack sliced chorizo

170g Manchego, grated

Roll out the pastry a little on a floured surface so you can fit all the chorizo slices on.

Evenly sprinkle with grated Manchego right up to the edges.

With one of the widest sides facing you, roll the pastry and filling carefully and fairly tightly.  

With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 1cm slices.  I started from one end, and ended up with 17 pinwheels. Next time I would probably cut the roll in half, and keep cutting each section in half to end up with an even number of pinwheels.

Bake on a baking tray, on the paper the puff pastry came in, for 10-15 minutes at 220C/Fan 200C until lightly golden

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