festive flavoured pastries

These came about as a combination of a hungry toddler and mum; and what was left in the fridge!

Here is what I used,
2 inches at the end of some ready rolled puff pastry, cut into inch squares. This will make 8 pastries.
handful of raisins
2 dried apricots chopped up small
1tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
grated rind of small orange
milk to glaze
● pre heat oven to 180°c
●lay out pastry squares on a baking tray covered in baking paper.
●mix everything else except the milk in a bowl and put a small teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of each pastry square.
● pickup each corner of the pastry and fold into the centre, use wet fingers so the corners (now in the middle) stay stuck down.
●brush over the milk ( or dab with your fingers if you dont have a pastry brush) and dust over some more cinnamon.
● cook in the oven for ten minutes until golden brown.

Lovely with a cup of tea, but this time the little man ate most.
Will have to go get some more pastry!

Lamb steaks, with roasted veg and cous cous

 Birthday treat!

So, it was my birthday yesterday, yeay!
With it being a 'school' night we didnt go out but I got free reign on choice of tea.
This is an old classic in our house that just got forgotten about!

so first things first, get the roasted veg on (click here for recipe)
then you get to chill out for 15 minutes before starting on the cous cous.

Cous cous -
Finely dice a red onion and cook it in saucepan on a medium heat with a glug of olive oil.
Also add 1shake each of paprika, cumin, garlic and two shakes of turmeric. After a minute or so of stirring put the kettle on and tip enough cous cous for two (it doubles in size) stir until all the cous cous is covered in the oil and spices add a handful of raisins or other dried fruit, a handful of sundried tomatoes and  a pinch if cinnamon. Turn the heat off and pour over the boiling water until everything in the pan is covered with 1cm / 1/2 inch extra. Leave for 5 mins for all the water to be absorbed.

Lamb steaks-
Season and oil the lamb steaks and simply fry over a high heat ( if you have any in the fridge add a splash of wine to the pan as you turn them over, helps them keep really soft)

Simply serve with some minty yoghurt drizzle (mix some plain yoghurt with mint sauce)
We also had some cheesy garlic mushrooms!
enjoy xx

Time for tea part 1

So, not a recipe but what I'm going to do is when I have something good for tea I'll take a pick and share with you!

Tonights tea using yesterdays roast chicken and new potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary. With a egg, green olive and sundried tomato salad. A sprinkle of smoked paprika and a tasty homemade balsamic dressing.

I've got a brilliant salad dressing messure/shaker with recipes and the quantities marked on the side, easy to use and cheaper than buying pricey bottles of dressing that sit in the fridge door for weeks on end whilst you deliberate if it's still edible.

Dave's Baked Sea Bass

Today we have a guest recipe from my lovely husband Dave! A much more grown up version of fish fingers and much more tasty. Here's our version, feel free to change it up with different fish, flavours of cream cheese and the herb flavouring in the breadcrunbs.


You will need:

2 Sea bass fillets
Bread (leave 2 slices out so they go dry, or for more flavour, use that hard end of posh/homemade loaf that no-one wants to finish!)
Cream cheese (as light or as 'un-light' as you want we use philly light)
half a handful of fresh parsley.
1/2 a lemons worth of lemon zest.

★ use a stick blender/food processor/ sharp knife to chop the bread and parsley together untill you have green flecked breadcrumbs, then add the lemon zest.
★ put the sea bass fillets skin side down on a tray covered in lightly oiled baking/greaseproof paper. Smooth over a thin layer of cream cheese and then cover the fillet with a layer of breadcrumbs.
★ how long your fish will take to cook will vary, as a guideline I'd recommend 15mins in a pre heated 170°c oven.

Quickly boil, then roast new potatoes with rosemary and garlic on another baking tray. serve alongside the fish with peas, or even try minty smushed peas.

Enjoy!

morrocan inspired sauce

This is a sauce concocted to put a different spin on roast chicken. Served with rice and roasted butternut squash and sweet potato.

In a saucepan heat up:

1 chopped onion, heat until softened then add
1 tin of plum tomatoes.
turn off the heat and allow to cool, then blend (with a stick blender) until smooth.
Put back on the heat and add:

Splash of red wine
splash of balsamic vinegar.
1/2 tsp each of cumin, paprika, ground coriander and mustard seed.
heaped tsp of brown sugar
big pinch of ground cinnamon
big pinch of ground ginger
Then add 65g of dried fruit ( I bought a mixed bag that had raisins, sultanas and dried apricots.)

 This could be used as a tagine sauce for lamb or mixed veg.

Enjoy!