Salmon, Beetroot and Orange Pate

I love making canapes- they can look beautiful and be a talking point at a party. This particular party at the weekend had a circus theme (we also watched the film "Butterfly Circus") and I wanted food that was colourful and witty.

One of the canapes I made was smoked salmon based- a lovely pink tinged pate  on a  bagel slice  topped with a piece of smoked  salmon and a dab of pistachio-green wasabi.

To make the pate:
240 g smoked salmon trimmings
one box cream cheese
one small beetroot + beetroot juice (you can also get a food colouring made entirely from concentrate beetroot juice)
zest of 1/8 orange (a tiny bit)
black pepper (freshly ground and to taste).

I marinaded the smoked salmon trimming overnight with the beetroot juice and the crushed beetroot, before blending it with all of the other ingredients. This would also be great without the wasabi but mixed with fresh dill and plenty of lemon zest.

To make the canape:
I cut multi seed bagels into 1/3 cm slices- this is more economic than crackers as, after all, it is just a mount for the yummy stuff! Slather the slice generously with pate, top with a piece of smoked salmon, half the size of the slice of bagel and add a dab of wasabi which will counteract the sweetness of the pate.

YUM YUM : )

Quick and tasty sausage penne

This is so simple- other than the sausages it used things in my store cupboard or that needed using up : )

This feeds four

I used:
400g Penne (any shaped pasta would be good)
6 normal sized sausages
2 onions
grated cheese
Fresh tomatos and/ or tinned tomatos (one or two tins)
pinch of sage
pinch of pimenton
1/4 chicken stock cube
two cloves garlic, crushed
Good handful of spinach or rocket
Glass of red wine.

To make:
Dice and saute the onion. Add the sage and pimenton. Chop the sausage into bite sized pieces (this meal should be able to be eaten with a fork) and brown with the onions.

Boil the water for the pasta.

When the sausage is browned, add any fresh, chopped tomatoes, the tinned tomatoes, garlic, red wine (I had a half bottle left over from another evening) and the stock cube. Obviously, you can use all fresh or all tinned tomatoes, the wine and stock cube are optional extras. If you are not using the stock cube, add some salt. If you don't have any wine, just add a glass of water. Stir in the spinach/ rocket.

Simmer until your sauce until nicely thickened and whilst your pasta is cooking (about ten minutes). Drain the pasta, mix into your sauce and serve immediately. Sprinkle cheese to taste!

Clonakilty Black Pudding & Spinach

Irish Black Pudding is something I discovered whilst in Cork and a favourite of mine. Just to note, this is not like Bury Black Pudding- it has an amazing texture (it's full of oats) and is incredibly flavoursome- no lumps of fat here!
Luckily, there is a shop near here that sells it. But how to eat it? As part of an Irish "fry" it is hardly healthy, and I would wonder if it is shown in all its glory.
 
Like this you reap the flavour, but there is no need for guilt : )
 
You need:
 
Onions (two medium for 280g black pudding)
Black Pudding
Baby spinach (as much as you like!)
Tomato (one finely chopped)
 
Saute the onions and chop the black pudding into bite sized pieces. When it is half cooked, add the spinach and tomato on top. When it starts to wilt, stir the mixture, until it is all cooked.
 
Serve with freshly baked bread, mashed potato or stirred into pasta

Red Pork Casserole

This casserole was a lifesaver! My eyes were bigger than my brain when I went into the supermarket after Christmas- I bought lots of pork on special offer, and lots of peppers. We had also had a party, and ended up with three bottles of red wine. For some reason, a glass full had gone from each, and there was a limit to how much wine we could reasonably drink during the week!

I used:
Pork- I used 6 loin chops (chicken would also work- 6 thighs)
Peppers (4- red and yellow)
Pimenton (smoke paprika)
Garlic (4 cloves)
Wine (I used 3/4 bottle)
one stock cube (chicken)
Two medium onions
Couple of bay leaves

Would also be great : )
Tomatoes (tinned or fresh, chopped)
Chick Peas
Potatoes

To make:
Saute onions and peppers with a generous heaped teaspoon of pimenton. Add pork when they are transparent, and brown. de-glaze pan with the wine. Add stock to cover everything. Add garlic. At this stage, you could also add chick peas and/ or potato, and any tomatoes. Adding chick peas would mean that you could feed more people with less meat!

To serve:

I've been eating this from a bowl- could with some fresh bread, or re-heated in the microwave with a generous handful of baby spinach which can be stirred in. It would also be great with rice.

After Party Turkey/ 2

Following on from this delicious version, and having also stocked up on Turkey steaks at Morrisons, I made another version of my After Party Turkey.

I marinaded the turkey steaks (4 thin slices) in the leftover wine (in this case, red, about 1/3 of a bottle or two small glasses) with two peeled garlic cloves, about 8 squished tomatoes (they had mysteriously frozen in our amazing fridge and had thawed to a pulpy splat) and half a teaspoon of pimenton (smoked paprika).

The next evening I browned the turkey and also sauteed a medium sized onion. When done, I added the wine, tomatoes and garlic and simmered until the wine was well reduced, created a lovely sauce.

Great meal from two ingredients that would so easily have ended up in the bin- the tomatoes and wine : )

Moro-ish meatballs with pepper sauce

Recently I got carried away in Morrisons where they had great deals on beef mince. An enormous bolognese sauce later, there was still 1.5 kilos left. I decided to be brave and make something that I've never made before- meatballs. This was further complicated by the fact that I don't eat bread so would need a bread-crumb free version. My friend wanted "something with a winter flavour" so I opted for "vaguely Moro", dependent upon what was in the cupboard. I had pimenton (smoked paprika) from a previous recipe and apricots thanks to canapes that I had made for a party the night before. These combined with other ingredients to makes something rich, warming and satisfying.

You need:
3/4 kg lean beef mince
8 dried apricots
1 teaspoon pimenton
two spring onions
two medium sized onions
four peppers (red & yellow, not green)
two tins of tomatoes
500g fresh tomatoes
1/4 tea spoon allspice
three cloves garlic
two heaped tablespoons hemp flour
1 egg
one tea spoon butter


For the meatballs:
Mix the beef with the finely chopped spring onion and one diced onion. Add four finely chopped dried apricots, two minced cloves of garlic, half the pimenton, the hemp flour and the allspice. Mix them very well and then mix in the beaten egg. Form the mince into balls about 4 cm diameter and brown in a hot frying pan.

For the sauce
Saute the other onion, diced with some olive oil and the spoonful of butter. Add the remaining pimenton and a whoel clove of garlice. Add the peppers, diced and saute also. When they have softened, add the fresh tomatoes, chopped, and five minutes later the tinned tomatoes, with an additional canful of water, bring to the boil and simmer. If the sauce is bitter after about 20 minutes of cooking, and a couple of apricots. Blitz the sauce until smooth with a hand mixer.

To serve:
The great thing of this recipe is that you can make it in advance and then just heat the meatballs up in the sauce. Great served over rice or pasta.

Tips:
Obviously, the meatballs could be made with very different flavours, and the sauce could also be made with different vegetables and spices.

I'll convert you to sprouts!

Sprouts have an incredibly bad press. And it's true- an over boiled sprout is neither beautiful to behold, has a whiff of its own and tastes, well, like the proverbial sprout.

This dish- a spicy, crunchy, colourful meal- is none of those things!

For one (increase quantities for more people) (can be served with rice or noodles)

Ten fresh sprouts, quartered
A medium sized onion (or a couple of banana shallots), diced
Curry Powder (medium)
Toasted Sesame Oil
Olive Oil
half cupful of red-skin peanuts/ cashews (raw) or a mixture

Add a generous splash of toasted sesame oil to a wok, and a liberal amount of olive oil. Put on a high heat.

Add the nuts, and the chopped vegetables.

Add a generous sprinking of the curry powder.

Stir! The heat needs to be high to toast the nuts. However, the vegetables will burn if you do not pay attention!

This will take you twenty minutes to make (absolute maximum!) and is cheap, nutritious and delicious!

tip: I bought the sprouts on a tree, which should keep them fresher for longer : )