Little Rustic Peach Pies

 











Quick and tasty, peaches and cinnamon

Ingredients

• 1 sheet puff pastry (if you make your own try adding a tsp of ground cinnamon)
• 3 -4 Ripe peaches
• 1 tablespoon of sugar (depending on the sweetness of the peaches)
• 1 heaped teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
• A little sugar for sprinkling on pastry

Preheat oven at 200C / 400F / Gas Mark 6

Prepare your baking tray I used a Yorkshire pudding tray but a flat baking tray works just as well.
Remove stones from the peaches and cut into slices add to a bowl. Add the cinnamon, sugar and cornflour stir together to coat the peaches and set aside.

Un-roll if bought or roll our if home made the pastry and cut into 4 squares. Add a square of pastry to the baking tray and add a 1/4 of the peaches, wet the edges of the pastry with water and fold starting at a corner work your way around leaving a centre hole.





 

Repeat for the other 3 squares

 

Brush the pastry with milk and sprinkle lightly with sugar 

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.



Good eaten hot or cold, I served mine hot with cream. For a stylish look dust lightly with icing sugar before serving

Chicken and Mushroom Rounds

Tasty chicken and mushroom rounds in a light puff pastry. You can make or buy your puff pastry, I made rough puff pastry and added a handful of dried herbs for extra flavour.
The rounds can be eaten hot or cold and are prefect for picnics in the summer or for adding to a lunch pack.
The ingredients are all cooked before baking the pastry, I find by doing it this way I don't have to worry about under cooked chicken (yuk) or having to overcook my pastry to make sure all the ingrdients are cooked. When the pastry is risen and brown the rounds are cooked  and ready to eat :)

Preheat oven 180 C / 375 F / Gas mark 5

Ingredients

• 2 sheets puff pastry (or homemade puff or rough puff rolled out)
• 1 Large chicken breast (or 2 - 3 chicken thighs)
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 1 packet Mushrooms (chopped)
• Chicken stock cube
• 1 tablespoon Plain flour
• 1 Tablespoon milk ( you can use water)
• A handful of fresh herbs of choice (I used basil)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a frying pan, add the oil and chicken (I chopped the pieces into large chunks), brown the chicken and continue to cook until just cooked. Remove the chicken do not clean the pan. 

Add the onions and mushrooms to the same frying pan and cook slowly until the liquid comes out of the mushrooms (you are not browning them). Add the milk, stock cube and flour and cook stirring well for a couple of minutes.

Break up the chicken into pieces and add to the frying pan and stir. Set aside until cooled.

Cut rounds out of the puff pastry and place half  onto a prepared baking tray/ s, brush the edges with water. Add a dessert spoonful of the chicken/ mushroom mixture to your rounds. Don't over fill (also don't under fill)

Add the top piece and using a fork go all around the edge to seal. using the fork pick the tops of the rounds a couple of time (this lets the hot steam out as they are cooking). You can brush the tops with milk or beaten egg to graze for an shiny brown top.

 

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until pastry is puffed up and brown. Serve 1 or 2 with a salad hot or cold.

Enjoy :)

Veggie Sausage & Onion Rolls

I made these veggie sausage rolls with Quorn sausages but you can use any sausages you like (even meat). I cook the sausages and onions first as I think it adds flavour. You can make your own puff pastry or buy it.

Ingredients makes approximately 6 rolls

• 1 sheet puff pastry (or make own puff or quick puff)
• 2 medium onions
• 6 Sausages of choice (I used Quorn sausages)
• Approximately 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for browning/ cooking sausages and onions

Lightly cook sausages with a little oil if needed until browned leave to cool
Slice onions and cook with a little oil until soft (don't crisp or burn) season and leave to cool

Slice the pastry sheet into 6 rectangles (depending on the size of your pastry sheet you may get more or less) you want the pastry to be just better than the sausage on the short size and able to roll around the whole sausage with a little to over lap on the larger size of your rectangle.
Brush around the edge of the pastry rectangle with water. Add 1/6th of the softened onion to the left hand size edge and add a sausage, roll the pastry careful overlapping the pastry.



Transfer to a baking tray putting the overlapped edge underneath. Slash the rolls a few times with a sharp knife. You can brush the sausage rolls with milk or egg if you want extra browning and shine.






Halfway through cooking turn the sausage rolls over so the underside also cooks.
The rolls are cooked when your pasty is golden brown and well risen.
Best eaten warm with a little mustard

Plum & Almond Tarts

 

Plum and Almond Tarts 

Plums are beginning to reappear in the shops, I love cooking foods that are in season, different tastes to experiment with each month.

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry purchased or made

For the frangipane 

• 4oz/ 100grams Butter
• 4oz/ 100grams Caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 4oz/ 100grams Ground Almonds 

For the filling

• Approximately 3 plums (you may need more or less plums depending on size and type used) 

Oven temperature 200C/400F/Gas Mark6

Roll out (or unwrap) and cut your pastry into squares (removing the corners) I wanted a rustic look, you can use purchased pastry or make your own (shortcrust is very easy to make, I used the same recipe as the rhubarb and strawberry pie) 

Bake blind = Cook for 8 minutes I used a Yorkshire pudding tray with another on top to keep the pastry flat you do not want to brown the pastry as you will be returning it to the oven later.

 

While pastry is cooking make your frangipane 

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the egg and continue beating until combined

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the ground almonds and mix well.

 

   

 

 

  

Add mixture to blind baked pastry  

 

 

 

 

 

Remove the stones from approximately 3 plums and cut each one in half. Cut the halves into slices and divide between the tarts pushing into the frangipane mixture.      

 Bake until golden and frangipane is springy with touched.

Serve warm with cream or creme fraiche

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Red Onion and Feta Tart

 

Red Onion and Feta Tart

This tart tastes both sweet from the onions combined with salty from the cheese 

Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas mark 6, Fan oven 180C

Ingredients

• 25g / 1oz butter
• 1/2 tbsp oil
• 2 large red onions finely sliced
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Sheet puff pastry (thawed if bought frozen)
• 100g / 4oz feta crumbled

Finely slice the 2 large red onions

Heat the butter and butter in a pan and add the onions. Cook for a 2-3 minutes (you are not browning the onions you are softening them)
Add a pinch of salt, the sugar and balsamic vinegar, continues cooking for approx. 8-10 minutes until soft and caramelised.

The onion should be sticky not to wet, cook for a few minutes more if they are wet. Take off heat.

Un-roll the pastry and use to line a prepared baking tray (I use non-stick sheet)

Score (to score make a shallow cut, don't go all the way through the pastry) about 2.5cm/ 1inch all around the pastry, this will make walls of the tart.

Wet the corners of the pastry and fold each one together.

Add the onion mixture evenly onto the pastry inside the lines you scored.

Crumble feta cheese and sprinkle over onion mix.

Bake for 15 minutes until the pastry has risen and is golden brown and the base is crisp. (Mine is a little over cooked, baking and talking on the phone is not a good idea!)

Cut into 4 and serve with a green salad.