Walnut, Three-Cheese and Apricot Strudel

Pretty pleased with this one: a savoury version of strudel that is easy to make and lovely with it. Though I say so myself!

The quantities given will serve four with large appetites or otherwise six as a hot main, or would make eight to twelve nice slices served cold - it's easier to slice more thinly then. The whole process from start to serving takes me about 70mins, including 35m cooking time. The ingredients can be prepared in advance, making the method itself very quick. The oven needs to be at 190C fan oven (200C otherwise) before the dish goes in. 

A large baking sheet is needed, lined with baking parchment, and a medium bowl.

Walnut, Three-Cheese and Apricot Strudel
Ingredients
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed in the fridge for a few hours
90g walnut pieces (or halves), chopped fairly small
70g soft goats' cheese
50g blue cheese, crumbled
40g cheddar, coarsely grated
70g dried apricots (about 10), soaked for an hour, then drained well & coarsely chopped
3 tbsp snipped fresh herbs (basil, thyme leaves, sage, coriander all OK) 
2 tbsp milk

Method
1  Unroll the pastry on its covering paper, then roll out a little to thin it slightly. It will be 
       the right shape (rectangular).

2  Put all the other ingredients except milk into a bowl and mix them very well.

3  Spread the mixture evenly over the pastry, leaving a 2cm space at each short end 
       and the farther long side. Dampen all these edge spaces with water.

4  Starting with a short end, roll the pastry up quite firmly, pressing down at the end, then
       place the strudel on the lined baking tray and brush with milk. Use a sharp knife to
       make slashes straight across the top: for 4 people, slash the middle, then three
       evenly-spaced slashes each side of the middle (for 8 slices) or for 6 people, up to 
       5 slashes each side of the middle (for 12 slices). Brush lightly with the milk.

Half-size version, oven-ready, with Sunday cocktail

 5  Bake towards the top of the oven for around 35 minutes, until well browned. Use a
       very sharp knife to slice the strudel.

And ... carve!

Alternatives
As usual, substitutions are fine. A different nut, or selection of them, will work just as well; pecans or brazils especially, and could include a few pine nuts. Instead of apricots, dried cranberries would work, no chopping required, and a festive feel. I've not tried this with capers, but that might be nice. As long as there's a mix of nuts, cheese and a little fruit, it would be hard to go wrong.

Serving
For info, I like to serve with buttered baby potatoes and a vegetable such as broccoli, cauli or tenderstem in a parsley sauce (lazily made from granules in a drum, just add boiling water or, better still, the boiling water from the veg when they're done). Red or dry white wine both go well; as it's nuts and cheese, quite strong flavours, I'd choose red. A dry cider would match, too, or apple juice.

Nice Savoury Tart for the Family - Leek, Mushroom & Walnut

Usually my recipes serve 2 or 4, but since I made this tart for 6 of us, here are the recipe and the quantities used. It's at its finest straight out of the oven - and is most easily divided by cutting with scissors! Can be eaten at room temperature, or - if there is any left - reheated in a moderate oven for about ten minutes.

Ready-rolled pastry is a little more expensive than block, but saves so much time. Here I used a single sheet of Sainsbury's puff pastry; it weighs 375g, which is a little more than most other brands, and just right for six.

Leek, Mushroom and Walnut Tart
Ingredients

READY

375g sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry
3 tbsp decent oil
4 fat leeks, trimmed & sliced to about 15mm
200g mushrooms, trimmed & thinly sliced
50g walnut pieces, chopped coarsely
2 eggs
150ml creme fraiche or double cream
90g blue cheese - preferably vegetarian Stilton
2 tbsp snipped sage leaves (or other herb)

Method 
1  Line a large rectangular baking sheet with parchment. Unroll the pastry and place 
    on the sheet, then use fingers to pinch up the sides all round to about 15mm.

STEADY

2  Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large pan and saute 
    the leeks for about 10 mins; stir occasionally.
    Move them from the pan into a large bowl.

3  Add the rest of the oil to the pan and saute the
    mushrooms and walnuts for 3-4 mins. Add to 
    the leeks.

4  Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl with the creme 
    fraiche or cream, then crumble in the cheese, 
    add the sage and mix well.

5  Spread the leeks and mushrooms evenly across the pastry, then pour the egg/creme
    mixture over them and smooth out.

6  Bake for 30-35 mins until the filling is set and the pastry browning nicely.

GO!

Adjustments, Anyone?
If the family likes tomatoes, halved baby cherry or plum tomatoes could be dotted around the tart before baking, cut side upwards. If there's no sage, thyme leaves or coriander would be good. Hazel nuts could be substituted for walnuts, and you could add peas or sweetcorn!

Sides
We had a salad of baby spinach leaves, rocket, celery, cucumber, chopped dates and chopped pears. For a more substantial meal, buttered baby potatoes would be nice, and parsnips roasted in a lower shelf as the tart cooks instead of salad.

And to Drink?
Either a dry white wine or a light red (e.g. beaujolais) might go well, otherwise perhaps apple juice or just a sparkling mineral water.

Cauliflower, Stilton & Tomato Tart, a pub favourite

While thinking of dropping into a chain pub/restaurant, I checked their menu online, probably like countless other skeptical vegetarians. Only two choices appeared, a simple pasta dish, or - cauliflower, cheese and tomato tart. That'd be good. But then again, it sounded so simple that I decided to make it at home. Cauliflower, cheese, tomato, pastry?

The freezer already contains portions of various tarts, but since I enjoy making them to eat straight from the oven, we forget to forage for them. Accordingly, I make this dish for just two portions, especially as there was half a rolled sheet of puff pastry in the freezer just asking for it. Hence the picture which looks as though the tart is topped with giant tomatoes. 

The quantities here would make four to six helpings. Once the pastry is thawed in the fridge, the tart takes about an hour from start to serving and there are no complicated manoeuvres. The step of brushing the pastry with egg and baking an initial five minutes before filling isn't vital, but it helps to form a barrier to prevent the base from becoming soggy.

Cauliflower, Stilton and Tomato Tart
The oven will need to be at 175C, middle shelf. A baking sheet ready lined with parchment will make sure the pastry doesn't stick while cooking. The pastry should be thawed, preferably overnight or for a few hours in the fridge. If you like pastry to be thin, the sheet can be rolled out to a slightly larger area.

Ingredients
1 sheet of frozen rolled puff pastry
1 medium cauliflower trimmed into small florets (leaves can be saved to use later)
1 tbsp oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium), peeled and coarsely chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100ml double cream
100g Stilton, crumbled (or another blue cheese or Cheddar)
Half tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

Method
1  Unroll the pastry and place centrally on the lined baking sheet. Turn up about 15mm
         all around the edge, pinching the corners to help keep the turn-up in place. Prick
         the base a number of times with a fork to help prevent it rising in the oven.
2  Put the oven on about now!
3  Boil a good amount of water in a large pan. Add the cauliflower and simmer 6-7 mins
         then drain well and leave to cool a little.
4  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small pan, then saute the onions gently for 5 mins.
5  Brush the pastry case very thinly with a little of the beaten egg; put it in the oven
         for 5 mins to help seal the base, then remove from oven.
6  Add the cream to the eggs and mix well. Stir in the crumbled cheese and the salt &
         pepper.
7  When the tart is out, press the base down gently if it has risen. Spread the onions 
         over the base and arrange the cauliflower florets over them. Pour the egg mixture
         carefully on top, then arrange the tomato slices over the tart.
8  Bake for about 25 mins until the pastry is golden and the filling looks set.

We served this with only a heap of buttered Jersey Royals sprinkled with chopped fresh coriander. And a dry white wine.

A chopped herb of choice could be sprinkled over the tart before cooking, or sliced mushrooms added just before baking. 

An alternative presentation is to make individual tarts, either on a baking sheet using the 'turn-up' way, or using a tray of individual Yorkshire pudding tins. In this case, slightly less filling would be needed. The tart is nice at room temperature, but if there are leftovers, I think they're nicest given about 5 mins in the oven to crisp up the pastry. Shortcrust pastry would be OK and perhaps more traditional, but I'm seduced by the golden flakiness of puff pastry and always have it in the freezer. 

I keep two files of recipe cuttings and scribblings. One has ideas which sound great but are yet to be tried, but the other is the tried-and-tested collection, separated into lots of categores in a really nerdy way, e.g.starters not soup, soup, mains with pastry, mains with pasta, veg sides, biscuits/cakes.This recipe has gone straight into the latter.

Easy Tortelloni with Blue Cheese & Walnut Sauce

You say tortellini, I say tortelloni ... Let's call the whole thing pasta! Actually these are very similar, the only difference being size - tortelloni is the larger. Easy to remember which way round - the 'o' is fatter than the 'i'. I used a chilled, stuffed tortelloni here as that's all I could find, but either works well, and the plain dried version would be fine, too.

We recently spent a week in Bologna, and I'd been going wheat-free as much as possible - fun in Italy, to be sure. But for the last evening I gave up and had a really great tortelloni dish, more or less replicated here.

Once the ingredients are assembled, the dish should take no more than about 20 minutes and it's cooked on the hob using two pans. This quantity serves two - which is a whole chilled pack of the stuffed variety. If using dried plain tortellini, a suitable quantity for two might be about 40 pieces, cooked according to packet instructions. In this case some shredded spinach could be added to the sauce.

History Lesson
This pasta is a speciality of Bologna. Local legend says that the chap who invented it was looking for inspiration for a new pasta shape. When he caught sight of his new lover's navel - well, that was it. Almost enough to put you off the pasta, but hopefully not quite.

Tortelloni with Blue Cheese and Walnut Sauce
Ingredients

100ml double cream
50ml milk
60g vegetarian blue cheese, crumbled (e.g. Danish or Dolcelatte if suitable)
300g pack stuffed fresh tortelloni (e.g. spinach/ricotta, or about 40 pieces plain dried)
30g walnut pieces roughly chopped
Half tsp ground black pepper
Optional - sprig of fresh herb to garnish

Method
1  Heat the cream, milk and cheese gently in a small pan, stirring sometimes, until the
          cheese is melting, but don't let the mixture boil. Keep it just under the boil.
2  Meanwhile, boil a good amount of water in a large pan, add the tortelloni and cook as
          instructions. The fresh pasta will need about 5 mins at a gentle simmer and very
          careful handling to avoid the pieces opening up. Dried pasta will need a little longer.
3  When the pasta is almost ready, add the walnuts and pepper to the cream mixture.
4  Drain the pasta, divide between hot dishes or bowls and pour the sauce over them
5  Garnish with the herb if used.

And that's it. I realise it's not exactly an aid to slimming, but just look at the Italians - very few of them seem overweight, and almost none of the young people, despite their tucking into pizza and pasta more often than do most of us.

As an afterthought, of course the sauce would go with almost any pasta. Even the very nice wheat-free penne in my cupboard.

13 Time-Saving Thoughts for Cooks

Thirteen is my luckiest number, so here are that many ways of saving a little time in the kitchen. If, like me, you're often prepping food in a rush, there might be something here which is worth a go.

 1  Salad dressing: put all ingredients into a small jam jar, seal and shake vigorously (the 
         jar that is). Will keep well in the fridge for a while.

 2  Grate cheese onto a piece of kitchen paper or greaseproof (rather than a chopping 
         board), then fold and pour.

Strawberry huller

 3  Prep strawberries just before they're needed: use a huller (cheap like the one above, or
         slightly smarter, e.g. from Lakeland), then wash.

 4  If spreading Marmite in baking, for example onto puff pastry, put the required amount
         into a small microwaveable bowl and microwave for 10 seconds. It'll be runnier
         and easier to spread, and will go further - usually needs to be used sparingly anyway.

 5  Use scissors to top & tail gooseberries. If they have that mildew thing, soak in water
         for a while then just rub the skins clear. Scissors are also quickest for 'chopping'
         herbs or dried chillies.

 6  To skin tomatoes quickly, slash the skins a couple of times then put into a bowl of
         just-boiled water for a couple of minutes. The flesh expands and, hopefully, bursts
         out of the skins.

 7  When a cooked dish needs reheating in the oven (e.g. pastry based which would go
         soggy in the microwave), it's still worth microwaving for a couple of minutes while
         the oven heats up - saves quite a useful amount of time.

 8  Freeze freshly washed (and patted dry) mint, thyme, sage or parsley leaves whole.
        When needed, take the amount out and just crumble it straight away.

 9  If freezing a large quantity of fresh veg, prepare the approx number of freezer bags first.
         Put the portion size you want in a bag and weigh it, then duplicate the weight for
         other bags until all the veg is packed. Saves time judging the portion each time.

10 I've mentioned this one before: when a recipe says to rub butter into flour, I find it still
         works if you use melted butter from the microwave and just mix it into the flour. If
         you try this, it might be best to experiment first! It can same time, effort and mess.

11 An oldie but worth a mention: when cooking on the hob, use a lid. Boils more quickly
         and needs slightly lower heat to maintain cooking, saving time and fuel.

12 Use a potato peeler to make ribbons from courgettes, then marinade them in dressing -
         no need to cook. Same for raw, peeled carrots.

13 To make biscuit crumbs, for example for a cheesecake or banoffee pie, put the whole
         biscuits into a large polythene bag and use a rolling pin to crush. Quicker than
         getting out the blender then washing and putting it away.

So that's my thirteen. If you carry out each one just once, you should save enough time to make a lemon drizzle cake. That's what I'd do.

Easy Baked Pasta with Cauliflower and Mushrooms

Keen cooks probably knock up a pasta dish without needing a recipe. However, on this blog I like to include some recipes that don't need any special skill, and to give details of preparation and 'do one thing while another is being done'. The ingredients are inexpensive, too.

 This dish takes about 20-25 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to bake. The recipe serves four, and of course the fusilli can be substituted by another bitty pasta. I don't see it with spaghetti or tagliatelle, but papardelle (wide flat strips) might be OK. If the cook is in a hurry, the dish can be put under the grill for 5 minutes instead of baking, but all ingredients except the cheese would need to be hot already. Or, the dish could be made in advance, then microwaved until piping hot and put under the grill.

For speed, I like packet cheese sauces. Asda's own has the advantage of being made up with boiling water; Sainsbury's own is very tasty but needs milk - though I usually use two-thirds milk and one-third water from cooking the cauli. (In this case the powder goes in a pan and the liquid is stirred in before bringing the sauce to the boil.)

by Liz West
via flickr.com

Pasta with Cauliflower and Mushrooms

The oven, set at 160C, should be switched on about 10 minutes into the prep time.
A large oven-proof dish is needed, lightly brushed with oil.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil

1 medium onion

10 small mushrooms

1 small cauliflower, coarser stalks discarded and the rest cut into large chunks
175g fusilli pasta (spirals)

2 packets of cheese sauce 

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs (e.g. sage, parsley) or 1 tbsp of dried
Handful of raw fresh peanuts (optional but lovely)
1 tsp ground black pepper

Matchbox-sized piece of vegetarian cheddar, coarsely grated

by zimpenfish
via flickr.com

Method

1  Put plenty of water on to boil for the cauliflower, and heat the oil in a small pan.
2  Peel and coarsely chop the onion, then add it to the oil and fry gently for 5 mins. 
          Trim the mushrooms, add to the onion, and fry a further 3 minutes.
3  Meanwhile, boil the cauliflower for 6-7 minutes, then lift out and place in the 
          oven-proof dish. 
4  Return the cauli water to the boil and add the pasta. Make up the cheese sauce
          while letting the pasta simmer for 8-9 mins until nearly soft, stirring often.
          Drain and add to the oven dish with the onion mixture.
5  Add the made-up cheese sauce, the herbs, peanuts (if using) and pepper and mix 
          thoroughly.
6  Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over, and bake for about 25 mins until bubbling
          well and the cheese is melted and golden.

Likely veg to serve with this include whole green beans, peas, sweetcorn, grilled halved tomatoes, or roasted red peppers. A chilled cider might go well as an alternative to an Italian white or red wine.

Beetroot and Blue Cheese Tart

There's a lot of noise about beetroot at the moment, with suggestions that it has significant health benefits. That apart, although some can't abide it, beetroot can be excellent in a cake mix or salad or - as here - for the star ingredient in a vegetarian dish.

Of course it's noble to buy raw beets and boil them for half an hour or more, but I rarely do this as they are easily available ready-cooked and vacuum packed. If they're served in a salad or otherwise not cooked further, maybe the 'in vinegar' version is good, but I prefer plain.

by Annie Mole
via flickr.com

This recipe serves four, and once the pastry is thawed, should take no more than an hour from start to serving. It's fine at room temperature, but best straight from the oven.

As well as the ingredients listed, a lightly-greased flan dish with diameter around 22cm is needed. A floured board and rolling pin are required if you go along with making the pastry a little thinner than it comes. The oven needs to be at 190C (or 175C for fan type).

Beetroot and Blue Cheese Tart

Ingredients

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry (Jus-Roll now do a 'lighter' version)

1 tbsp oil

1 large onion (about 200g), peeled and coarsely chopped

1 vacuum-pack of ready-cooked beetroot (500g), drained

1 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, basil, thyme)

90g blue cheese, crumbled

Method

1  Unless you like the pastry thick, roll it out more thinly on the floured board. Lift and

    place it carefully over the flan dish and, without stretching, ease the sides down so 
    that it sits fully in the angle between base and side. Run a sharp knife around the top 
    of the dish to remove surplus pastry. (This can be used for jam tarts, pasty, tartlet etc.)
    Keep the dish in the fridge while preparing the filling.

2  Heat the oil in a medium pan and fry the onion gently for 8 mins, stirring occasionally.

3  Cut each beetroot into 8 pieces and pat dry with kitchen paper. Add to the pan with
    the sugar and herbs. Fry for a further 6 mins, occasionally stirring gently.

4  Using a slotted spoon (to avoid making the pastry soggy), lift the beetroot mixture out
    of the pan and spread evenly over the pastry base. Sprinkle the cheese over it.

5  Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 20 mins or so, until the cheese is bubbling
    and the pastry is browned.

Serving Suggestions 
Boiled and buttered baby or new potatoes, baked potato, stir-fried mange touts, broccoli. (A red or orange vegetable might clash, and we can't be doing with that.) Another idea is button mushrooms sauteed in butter then mixed with a little double cream and dill seeds.

Thanks for looking at this post, anyway. And if you felt like following and don't already, then that would be most excellent!