Turkey Burgers...

This is currently on our mid-week meal repertoire. It's so simple, quick, cheap and really tasty; all you need in the week really. We sometimes have a pack of rolls in the freezer to put them in, but they're just as good open with chips on the side.

This is a bit of a 'bodge it' type recipe idea, but here's the rough basis of what I use.
• 350g pack Turkey Mince
• 1 Egg
• 1 slice bread, breadcrumbed
• quarter Onion, finely chopped
• Sprinkling of chopped something* for extra flavour
• Salt & Pepper

* the 'chopped something' is either some parsley/chives if there's any in, some finely chopped spring onion green tops (keep this in the freezer to add to all sorts of things), chilli, even a spoonful of mustard if none of them are available; it's completely up to you.

Method:
• Place all in bowl together and mix into a smooth paste (with hands is easiest).
• Shape in to small burger shaped patties.
• Fry in a little oil gently for about 4 or 5 minutes each side until golden brown and cooked through.

(Makes about 6)

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Bacon Gratin Pie...

Sometimes you need to branch out at dinner time and try something different. In this case, dream up something different. It was far from perfect and needs some development to make it really work but a general success and pretty tasty. Anyway, it's something you can work with as an idea. It's just a puff pastry sheet with a tasty filling topped with sliced potato and cheese. In this one I fried up onions, garlic, leeks and smoked bacon to make a filling, topped it with sliced boiled potatoes and cheese and carefully poured over a little beaten egg and milk mixture then baked it for about 30 minutes at 200°C.

The result is something of a cross between a pie, a gratin and a fritata. A welcome break from the norm.

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Mini Cheese & Leek Quiches...

When you make the quiche from a few posts back you might have some pastry left over. I did, so I popped it in the fridge and a couple of days later we had these mini cheese & leek quiches for lunch. We had cheese and leek because that's what was in the fridge needing to be eaten up. I reckon cheese is a quiche essential, along with a little onion, but you should be able to add just about anything else and end up with a tasty egg tart of sorts.

• Veg fried lightly for a few minutes whilst pastry cases had 5 minutes in the oven
• Egg beaten with a dash of milk, poured into cases filled with a little cheese and vegetables
• Baked for 10-15 minutes in oven at 200°C

(made 9)

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Quiche...

I'd been wanting to make a quiche for quite a long time, but just never got around to it. Well, finally did it and the result was really tasty. Obviously you can add whatever you fancy to the basic mixture, I added chunks of feta cheese, peppers and tomatoes which proved a very tasty combination of sweet and salty.

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
150ml Single Cream
200g Plain Flour
100g Butter
Cold Water
100g Cheese

• To make the pastry, blend the flour and butter together then combine to a soft dough with a little cold water. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out to 3-4mm thick and use to line a 20cm tart tray.
• Blind bake the pastry case for 10-15 minutes at 180°C (weighed down with pulses or similar)
• Whilst the pastry is baking, fry seom chopped onions and any other vegetables you want in the filling for a few minutes until softened.
• Remove the pastry from the oven and sprinkle a little grated cheese in the base along with the vegetables and fillings.
• Beat the eggs and cream together, season, then pour into the pastry case.
• Top with the remaining grated cheese then bake for 30 minutes at 180°C until golden on top and egg is set.

(serves 6)

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Chicken & Leek Pasties...

I was looking for something different to make for lunch and came across a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe for these pasties. I didn't follow the recipe as such, but went along with the idea of it and was pleased with the results.

Pastry:
• Blend the flour and butter until they resemble breadcrumbs and bind together with cold water to form a dough.
• Roll the dough out to 5mm thick, fold back into a square, re-roll and repeat for or 5 times. This gives you a slightly flaky pastry.
• Chill the dough for an hour or so and meanwhile make the filling.

Filling:
• Chop the leek and onion and fry gently in some oil.
• Meanwhile, trim and chop the chicken into fairly small pieces that will cook relatively qucikly (1cm cubes); add to the frying pan and cook until beginning to brown.
• Whilst this is going on dice the potatoes and boil separately, until quite soft.
• When both are ready combine in the pan and mix together quite roughly to break up the potatoes and combine all the flavours. Season with salt & pepper.
• Set aside to cool.

Assembly:
• Rollout the pastry to 3-4mm thick and cut out 20-22cm diameter rounds
• Place a heap of the filling on one half of each. Brush some milk or egg around the edge of the circle then fold over and crimp together with your fingers.
• Place on a baking tray, brush with beaten egg and cook at 190°C for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Notes:
• Add some chopped smoked bacon to improve flavours.

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Gratin Dauphinoise...

You don't need to say much regarding this dish, it's simplicity and flavour speak for themselves. Thinly sliced potato, baked in cream with onions and garlic... it's probably my favourite way for potatoes.

• Finely slice the onion and crush the garlic.
• Slowly sweat down in a pan with a little butter/oil. Do not burn.
• Meanwhile, finely slice the potatoes and begin to arrange in a dish.
• Every so often add some of the onion/garlic mixture and seasoning before continuing to layer potatoes.
• Thin the creme fraiche with some milk to a consistency like double cream and combine with the double cream.
• Pour the creams over the potatoes and cover with foil.
• Bake in a preheated oven (170°C) for around 2 hours.
• The last 20 minutes should be uncovered to crisp the top up.

Notes:
• You can top with grated cheese (Gruyere/Cheddar) for a lovely cheesy top (see picture).
• My recipe roughly follows that of Leith's Cookery Bible.

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Tomato, Olive & Feta Salad...

This is incredibly simple to put together, but makes a lovely side salad with meats, especially BBQ but great with a buffet too. The basics come together tastily enough, but you can also add basil, finely chopped onion, chopped pepper etc, also leave out the olives if you don't like them.

Ingredients:
These are the rough proportions...
• 500g small/cherry tomatoes
• 100g feta
• 100g olives

if you want to add them...
• about 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onion
• half a red pepper, finely chopped

Chop all the ingredients, crumble the feta into rough cubes, place in a large bowl and mix together gently with a litle olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt & pepper.
(quantities above will serve 4-6 as a side portion)

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Meatballs & Spaghetti...

I’ve been making this for a while now. I can’t quite remember where the idea came from at first, I think I was just looking for something new to do with minced beef.
Anyway, this is what came about. It’s a bit time consuming, but all that time simmering leads to fantastic flavour. I couldn’t believe I’d been living without these in my repertoire for so long.

• Mix the beef, bread (make into breadcrumbs first), herbs, salt & pepper together in a bowl until well combined.
• Fry each one gently to brown the outside.
• Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and garlic, place in a large saucepan and sweat over a low heat in a little oil. Set aside.
• When the onion has softened, add the chopped tomatoes to the pan, bring to the boil, season with fresh herbs, salt and pepper then simmer to reduce the liquid slightly.
• When the mixture has thickened, place the meatballs in the mixture, cover and continue to simmer for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the meatballs.
• Serve hot spooned over spaghetti with a sprinkling of cheese.

Notes:
• Don’t be tempted to over mix the meat or use a food processor. Smooth textured meatballs are not pleasant.
• You can also add an egg to the meatball mixture, I didn't on this occasion but it can help it bind together.
• This forms the basic recipe, nothing stopping you experimenting with other additions… chilli, pepper, mushrooms etc.
• You can simplify the process by not frying the meatballs first, they’ll still cook through, just without a smoother, paler outside.

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Roasted lamb Chops with Mint & Potatoes...

This is one of those incredibly simple throw it all in one tray kind of dinners. I kept the flavours fairly simple in this instance and seasoned the meat well.

Prepare the meat a little in advance...
• Place the chops in a bag/bowl with a couple of crushed garlic cloves, chopped mint, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil.
• Shake it up a little and leave for at least an hour

Later...
• Heat the oven to 200-220°C.
• Chop the potatoes and an onion into roughly inch-sized chunks, coat in oil in a roasting tin and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, brown the lamb chops on both sides in a little oil in a frying pan.
• Add to the roasting dish, arranging the potates and onions around the chops. Include any juices/seasoning and the garlic from the bag.
• Roast for around 20 minutes or until the lamb is crisping up on the edges.
• Serve with fresh vegetables.

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Cabbage Soup...

We rarely buy soup, it seems there’s always some vegetables that have passed their best to create one from for a tasty Saturday lunch. I came up with this purely to use up a very limp cabbage and was pleasantly surprised at its tastiness! I also threw in the green top of a leek which was lying around, and attribute this to lifting the cabbage’s flavour.

Like most soup, there’s not really a definitive way of making it, it’s a bit of an art and you style it to your own tastes/preferences. What is essential is that you serve it with some crusty fresh bread’n’butter.

Ingredients:
Half a Savoy cabbage
Green end of a leek
1 clove of garlic
1 onion
Veg stock cube
Salt & pepper

• Slice the onion and garlic then sweat in butter/olive oil until softened, not browned, in a large saucepan.
• Add chopped leek and cabbage and briefly fry for a couple of minutes.
• Dissolve a stock cube in about 1-1½ litres of water and add to pan.
• Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Not too long though, or the cabbage will not be tasty; the liquid should have slightly reduced.
• Lightly blitz with hand blender to break up cabbage, but leave plenty of chunky bits for the bottom of the bowl.
• Season to taste before serving.

Notes:
• Makes 2-3 portions. Just increase quantities for a larger amount.

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Simple Salsa...

This is so simple to make, but perfect with a BBQ or Nachos.
The key to success is the freshest, ripest ingredients you can get.

• Chop the tomatoes, onion, garlic and coriander. Depends how coarse you want your salsa, but I usually chop as fine as possible. You could always use a hand blender if you want a smoother texture.
• Add a small splash of olive oil and season to taste.
• Ideally rest for an hour before serving to allow the flavours to mingle.

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Cheese & Onion Twists

Knocked these up as a quick snack when we had guests coming over.

• Roll out the pastry
• Sprinkle over grated cheese, fold into 4 and re-roll
• Sprinkle over other fillings (onion, seasoning etc), fold again and re-roll to around 3-5mm thick
• Cut into ribbons (approx 2cm x 15cm)
• Twist each ribbon and place on a greased/papered baking sheet
• Brush a little milk or egg wash over the surface and top with some freshly ground salt & pepper
• Bake at around 200-220°C for about 10 minutes (or until golden brown)
• Cool on a rack, or eat warm
(makes about 25)

Notes:
• I happened to have a pack of ready-made pastry available, but would be just as good with a homemade pastry (puff or shortcrust) I’m sure.
• They’re great for using up leftover bits and bobs in the fridge too as you can add all sorts of things. Also made some with a couple of slices of left over chorizo thrown in which tasted great.

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