Going Bananas

Many months ago I had the biggest bag crush on the Charlotte Olympia Banana Clutch. I trawled the internet for a long while but did not find a place to buy that scrummy clutch-it was completely sold out. Anyway, I thought of it again today, only to chance upon this Banana Shoe. I've even found a place where you could buy it, if you have around £850 to spare. If you are not as poor as moi, try www.luisaviaroma.com. Yum yum, sniff sniff.

Beef Puffs

A school friend posted a photo of her homemade chicken puffs a few days ago and that started me on a massive craving for this old favourite. I scoured the Internet for recipes but most of them were based on minced chicken which I struggled to get hold of. Anyway, I was sure the old bakeries back home did a beef version of the puffs and so I changed the recipe to use minced beef. I was well pleased by how they turned out although they lacked the right amount of spice kick. Lesson: If you use minced lamb and beef  in this recipe, make sure you do a spice check. A bit more chili and garam maslaa may be called for. The recipe below has been tweaked to cater to this.

Ingredients:

500 g puff pastry

Some all-purpose flour for dusting

1 egg, whisked for brushing over the pastry for that lovely browned look

250g minced beef

100g green peas

2 onions, diced

2 potatoes, cubed and lightly mashed

1 carrot

2 tsp chili powder

3 tsp garam masala

1 tsp amchoor

1 tbsp garlic paste

2 tbsp ginger paste

Pinch of turmeric

Method:

Ligthly fry the onions and then add minced beef, spices and continue to fry. When the beef is half cooked, add the veg and continue to fry. Use a masher to bring it to a 'soft'ish consistency. Cool for about 30 mins.

Set the oven to 200C. Divide the pastry (I use Jus-Rol) into 4 cubes and then roll out. Each cube makes 2 rectangles so enough pastry for 8 puffs. Fill half the rectangles with the mince beef and close used a bit of water to seal the edges. Brush with the whisked egg. Bake the puffs for about 20 mins or till they are  browned and sizzling. Enjoy! Ann x

Quail Egg Salad for Big Kids

 

I found quail eggs at Lidl's last weekend and thought it would make an interesting  addition to a canape or starter. We had a girls night in a few days ago and I found the perfect excuse to use these. I looked around for recipes and found one on an Estonian food blog. Rather interesting as my first encounter with quail eggs was at a restaurant in Talinn. I pretty much stuck to the recipe but with minor tweaks. I loved the cuteness of this salad and it  seemed quite simple to make. Peeling the tiny boiled quail eggs was a bit challenging but otherwise it was easy peasy.

Recipe: Boil a dozen quail eggs and cool. Peel the eggs and take a tiny bit of the top and bottom. Halve a dozen Pimlico tomatoes and use the top bits for the toadstool effect. I used cress for the meadow effect and as it complements the egg and tomato flavours. A bit of mayo on top for the dotted toadstool effect, a drizzling of olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper and presto!

Note: Do check if you friends like egg as its not for everyone as I found out to my peril! I got a bit carried away trying to make a pretty salad that I forgot about checking with my mates!

More Homemade Chocolate

Hot Spiced Cider

This is another favourite winter drink. Nice and easy and very warming and a little less potent than mulled wine.

Ingredients:

1 litre dry cider

50-100g caster sugar

2 Cinnamon sticks

1 tbsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg powder or a whole nutmeg

4-6 cloves

Half an orange with peel.

Method:

In a saucepan, heat the cider and add all ingredients. Simmer for about 5-10 mins and leave it to soak in the spices. Serve hot.

The traditional recipes include rum and orange peel (rather than whole orange) but I like the extra fruitiness the whole orange brings and like to limit the alcohol content.