The other night I opened the fridge door with a heavy heart, wondering what I could rustle up for the old man’s supper….There were the left overs from making the kids’ pizza and half a sheet of jus-rol puff pastry. So I went for Cheat’s Pizza or as I sold it to Husband ‘Savoury Tart’.
Take a sheet (whatever size!) of puff pastry and score the edges about 1cm in. Spread passata over the middle section then scatter grated mozzarella over the top. Adorn with whichever topping you please – I chose black olives and fresh basil leaves (oil them first so they don’t burn). Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and pop onto a preheated baking sheet and into a hot oven for about 20 mins.
It is basically pizza on puff pastry but tastes lighter and just as yummy. If you pimp it up with a little salad it makes a nice supper or make little circles of it as a starter/kids’ food! Best thing is you can eat it cold too!
I have decided to make it a regular thing and join up on At Home with Mrs M‘s weekly linky of Meal Planning Monday.
It is the last week at school for Husband and kids so, as always during term time, I allow for the fact they have a cooked meal and pudding at lunchtime and so supper is a lighter meal.
Monday
Baked Potatoes
Tuesday
Spaghetti (or biscetti as my son calls it) and meatballs
Wednesday
‘Hot Dogs’ ie sausages in a finger roll with cucumber & carrot sticks
Thursday
Gnocchi with tomato/basil sauce and mozzarella
Friday
Home-made pizza with garlic doughballs (a Friday night ritual!)
Saturday
Daddy’s chicken (kids)
Nigella’s Linguine with lemon, garlic & thyme mushrooms (us)
Sunday
We will be stuffing ourselves The Glynde Food Festival (look out for my interview with some of the chefs!)
My children exasperate me daily with their refusal to eat anything remotely diverse. Try as I might, getting anything that could be even loosely termed ‘vegetation’ into my son is a mission I have yet to complete. My youngest daughter is two and fluctuates between trying random stuff to only accepting weetabix. My hope lies with my eldest daughter who does, at least, give my cooking a try. Today I concocted some mini chicken pies for them. I know, not exactly spice fusion, but anything beyond plain pasta is an adventure for them. My tag line was ‘They’re like roast dinner – with a lid!”. Surprisingly both my daughters scoffed the lot. Son ate the pastry and after bemoaning the fact I had dared to put peas in it sat for 45 minutes until I forced him to eat three chunks of chicken. I won the fight, but lost the battle. And then the little monkey expected pudding!
Anyway, here’s what I gave them…
Mini Chicken Pies
Heat 1 tsp oil and a small knob of butter in a pan and fry 2 large chicken breasts cut into chunks, until they are turning golden. Sprinkle 1tbsp of plain flour over the chicken and stir so it is all coated. Transfer to a small casserole dish and add 1/2 pintchicken stock, a generous pinch of dried oregano and 30g ham batons/chunks. With the lid on, bake in the oven for 30 mins at 180C. Then stir and cook for a further 15 mins with the lid off. Stir in 2 tbsps frozen peas and divide the mixture between 5/6 ramekins.
Using a sheet of puff pastry, cut circles to fit the dishes and egg wash the rim of the ramekins to stick the pastry circles down. Place the pastry on top and egg wash liberally for a nice shine! Poke the middle with a knife to let the steam out and then either:
a) Freeze for use another day
b) Pop in the fridge for later
c) Bake in the oven for 20 mins until the top is risen and golden
Because they are for kids, I tend to decant the contents on a plate so they don’t burn their fingers. A shame as they look lovely in their little pots, but I’ll leave that one up to you and how savvy your kids are!
This works well as a vegetarian recipe by swapping the chicken for quorn, using veg stock and leaving out the ham. I usually stick a bit of ‘shroom or onion in to pep it up a bit.
A while ago I was given a Herman friendship cake. I had never heard of this phenomenon before (much to the surprise of my erstwhile friend) and she explained to me that Herman was a German ‘living’ cake that you nurture and then share/pass to/inflict upon some other friends whilst you bake up a bit of yours into a nice cake for tea.
I duly followed the instructions and rather enjoyed the smell of yeast that filled the kitchen and the bubbling ectoplasm they lay beneath the tea towel…(do try not to get it ON the tea towel cos it’s a bugger to get off). Come the end of my 10 days I looked at the mixture and could think of not one soul in the vicinity who I could pass the ‘honour’ on to. So I donated Herman to the bin. Forgetting to save the bit that I was supposed to bake.
Since then, Herman has come back to haunt me….people have actually exclaimed ‘You killed Herman?’. Erm…yes. If throwing some gloop in the bin constitutes the murder of some cake mix then, yes. I killed Herman.
To make up for this, and perhaps because I’m bored, I feel the need to resurrect Herman the German and at the very least bake him up and scoff him. It is his destiny to be eaten and passed on and not to line my wheelie bin. Fear not, I am not resurrecting him as such…more reincarnating him….from some ingredients in my cupboard.
It’s not a pretty sight…
Herman Cake Recipe
To make a Herman cake from scratch you will need to dissolve one packet of active dry yeast (or 2¼tsp) in half a pint of warm water for 10 mins then stir. In a large bowl carefully mix together with 140g plain flour and 225g caster sugar. Gently stir in 50ml of warm milk and cover the bowl with a clean tea towel. Leave in a cool place (but NOT the fridge else you’ll kill him) for 24hrs.
Then start from day 1 of the official Herman Instructions below (these are what you give to your friends with a portion of Herman and a wry smile). Then run before they ask questions.
Official Herman Cake Instructions
Hello, my name is Herman.
I am a sourdough cake. I’m supposed to sit on your worktop for 10 days without a lid on.
You CANNOT put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead.
Day1: Put me in a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel.
Day 2: Stir well
Day 3: Stir well
Day 4: Herman is hungry. Add 1 cup each of plain flour, sugar and milk. Stir well.
Day 5: Stir well
Day 6: Stir well
Day 7: Stir well
Day 8: Stir well
Day 9: Add the same as day 4 and stir well. Divide into 4 equal portions and give away to friends with a copy of these instructions. Keep the fourth portion.
Day 10: Now you are ready to make the cake. Stir well and add the following:
225g sugar
225g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
160ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cooking apples peeled, cored & cut into chunks
200g raisins
100g walnuts/almonds (optional)
2 heaped tsp cinnamon
2 heaped tsp baking powder
Mix everything together and put into a large greased baking tin.
Sprinkle with 50g brown sugar and 50ml melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes at 180°C.
Then cover in foil and bake for a further 25 minutes to make sure Herman is cooked in the middle.
Cut up when cold. The cake freezes well if you’re keen….
Serve as is or with ice cream!
UPDATE
I have successfully completed my Herman cycle and made the cake (minus the raisins). I had to cook it for longer than expected and have altered the recipe accordingly. It wasn’t very cakey – more of a pudding and had I any ice-cream to go with it (I love Haagen-Dazs vanilla) it would have been even better. As it was, it was nice tasting but not, perhaps, something I’d rush to do again….
It was fun doing it though and over on For Bella and Will there are some great alternate recipes!
I know, I know… it’s Tuesday but I’m getting there.
I have seen a linky called Meal Planning Monday and always mean to have a look and finally I got my act together! I found it on At Home with Mrs M.
I always plan the week’s meals; partly because in times of recession, it allows you to budget and not overspend or waste stuff. Also, it is such a manic rush at the end of the day that knowing what I have to prepare/cook saves a lot of time and energy (and arguments!). It also allows me to get my Waitrose order in for the week. In fact I am waiting for this week’s delivery as I type. Having the shopping delivered saves a lot of money. Less opportunity to browse and impulse buy, Waitrose deliver for free and it saves on my petrol and you get all the offers you would normally get in store. Plus the delivery man is always cheerful. Even on a rainy day.
This is a recipe from Simon Rimmer’s book More from The Accidental Vegetarian. I find tarts quite tricky to get right, especially when making the pastry from scratch, but this recipe looked very do-able and I am a sucker for caramelised onions so I had to give it a try.
There is also a quirk – lavender on the pastry! Whilst I have seen this on Masterchef, Great British Bake Off etc. I never dreamed little ol’ me might actually venture down that route, or as it was, down the front path to the lavender bush. Anyway, you may scorn my naivety but for me, using lavender for something other than sniffing is very exciting! I know, I don’t get out much….
To make the pastry, pulse 225g plain flour and 100g diced butter in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then mix in 1 tbsp chopped fresh lavender and bind together with 1 large egg and about 1 tbsp of milk.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge for half an hour to man-up.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and roll out the pastry to line a greased 20cm tart tin (i.e. deep edges to hold all that yummy filling). Prick base with fork and chill again for 20 mins.
Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and weigh down with baking beans. Bake blind for 15 mins then remove paper and beans and bake again for 5 mins. Reduce the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
Whilst you are waiting for it to bake you can prepare the filling. In a large pan melt 50g butter and 1 tbsp oil and add 4 thinly sliced large onions, one crushed garlic clove, 2 tsp caster sugar and some seasoning. Saute for about 20 mins or until golden in colour. In a seperate large bowl whisk together 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and 150ml double cream. Add the onion mix and carefully pour into the cooked tart case. Crumble 100g goats’ cheese over the top and bake for about 20/30 minutes until filling is set and gorgeously golden brown.
If you don’t like marmite, then shame on you and go no further…
These are completely stolen from a recipe by my best friend’s Auntie Jean and I take no credit at all in their yumminess, but feel they should be shared with the world! As indeed they were at said friend’s wedding recently. I think my daughter and I ate the lion’s share….
If you like Marmite, cheese and carbs then these are the babies for you! Utterly Moorish and not a calorie in them*
You will need: A sheet of jus-rol puff pastry slathered liberally in Marmite. Then cover with grated mature cheddar cheese and roll up lengthways. I tend to use the plastic wrap to get it going and (not wanting to sound too Mary Berry Chocolate Roulade) you need a tight roll! *giggles*
Then, take my advice and stick it in the fridge for half an hour to firm up. Makes it SO much easier to cut up and gives you ample opportunity to pour a glass of wine or two and convince yourself that the carbs are now needed to soak up the alcohol.
Cut into slices (about the width of your little finger) and lay on a baking sheet. Or if, like me, you got persuaded that your kitchen is not complete without a pampered chef pizza stone, then that will do just fine! Preheated of course. You don’t want a soggy bottom!
Anyway, bake for about 12 mins at 200ºC and let them cool slightly before setting a few aside in a secret place then offering them around to the hungry hordes.
I bet you eat the lot in one go! And it’s worth cooking them for the smell of marmite wafting around the house while they cook….
