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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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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