Friday Pie-Day: Quick Puff Pastry

Puff pastry is something that I've only tried to make again recently, after several failed attempts usually resulted in some pretty unpuffed pastry (such as this Chicken Soup Pie I made).

However, it's something that I wanted to get right, as although there's no shame in buying shop-bought pastry every now and again, it's always alot more satisfying to say that you've made pastry from scratch yourself, isn't it? (When it turns out right of course!)

So I was completed surprised then, when I made this block of puff pastry which just rose and rose!

And you know what? It really doesn't take as long as you think.

The 'proper' way of making puff pastry uses both lard/shortening and butter, where you first make a dough with the lard and flour, before then enveloping the block of butter in. Add in various stages of chilling and rolling, and you eventually get your puff pastry - well, that's the gist of it anyway.

This quick version doesn't contain lardy lard, so reduces the number of stages by taking away that initial faff. As you look through the steps below, it might still seem like an arduous process, but if you just try it out once, you'll be surprised at how quick it is. Plus if you stick the dough in the freezer instead of chilling it too inbetween stages as suggested below, you cut down the time even more...

Quick Puff Pastry

Print-friendly recipe

Makes approx 600g:

250g butter, diced, at room temperature
250g plain flour
Pinch of salt
Some cold water



1) Sift the flour into a large bowl with the salt. Rub in the butter to a breadcrumb mixture.


2) Pour in a few tablespoons of cold water and start to bring the mixture together. Add a tablespoon of water at a time as needed as you work the mixture into a soft dough.


3) Wrap and freeze for 10 minutes.


4) Roll the pastry out into a long rectangle.


5) Fold the top third down...


6) ...then fold the bottom third back up over the top.


7) Turn the dough 90 degrees, then repeat steps 4-6. Wrap and freeze again for 10 minutes.
You can then repeat steps 4-6 two or three more times if you want your pastry to puff up really high! I repeated them twice to create the puff pastry shown at the top of the post - I wanted to make sure it looked like puff pastry!

8) You should then take the pastry out 20 minutes before you wish to roll it out to use.

If you want to make the pastry the night before, put the pastry in the fridge at step 7 instead of the freezer, taking out 20 minutes before rolling out. And if you don't have the freezer space, you can chill the pastry instead at double the time stated.

Once made, the unbaked pastry will keep for 3 days in the fridge, and for about 4 weeks in the freezer.

You might want to use this print-friendly recipe for reference.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Hungry Jenny Faux Pas: How NOT to Dress a Salad

Erm...

It's probably a combination of the unfortunate colour of the mint dressing and sloppy arrangement here, but something tells me that this salad probably doesn't look that appetising.

Whenever I make a salad with dressing, I never quite know how to 'dress' it. Do I try to drizzle it around the top of the salad? Or pour it all whilst jiggling the bowl around? Or in this case, just dollop it on randomly, and then try to smooth out with a fork, hoping for the best?

Perhaps next time I should just serve the dressing on the side!

But for now, would it suffice to say that this is actually a fresh, crunchy, cool green salad that tastes a lot better than it looks? I hope so!

Cool Green Salad

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

1 green pepper, chopped
150g cucumber, diced
100g celery, chopped
100g green salad leaves (watercress, spinach and rocket used here)
4 tbsp greek yogurt
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic salt

1) Mix all of the veg together in a large bowl.
2) In a smaller bowl, mix together the yogurt, mint and garlic.
3) Pour into the bowl of veg and toss well before serving.

Some more well-presented Hungry Jenny salad recipes here. Continue reading this post..

Banapple Chocolate Muffins (butter free)

Back in early Jan, I made a few more regular trips than usual to my favourite chocolate store Hotel Chocolat, tempted by the many, many discounted, yet perfectly edible goods on offer.

As my pending jaw operation loomed, I realised that despite my tendancy to munch away on chocolate like popcorn, I wouldn't be able to get through it all in time. The thought of chocolate sitting in my house with me unable to eat it was too much to bear, so I decided to bake up the remains.

After throwing in some apple and banana, the result was these wonderfully moist Banapple Chocolate Muffins. The chocolate chips I used had caramel in them as well, which added a bit of gooey gorgeousness. These are best served proudly on a plate with a fork, as they are pretty sticky muffins! Unless you have no shame in licking cake off your fingers of course.

Banapple Chocolate Muffins (butter free)

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 12:

3 bananas, mashed (300g)
2 apples, deskinned and diced (200g)
100g chocolate chips
1 egg, beaten
125ml grapeseed oil
75g sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
250g plain flour
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder

1) Gently beat the bananas with the egg, oil, sugar, lemon juice and zest.
2) In another bowl, sift in the flour, soda and baking powder. Gently mix in the apples.
3) Add in the wet mixture, part mix, then fold in the chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
4) Spoon into a lined muffin tin, then bake at 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes.

You might also be interested to see my Hotel Chocolat based Lemon Chocolate Biscuit Tart too!

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Easy Fish Puffs

Within the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to post up a workable recipe for puff pastry. Yes, workable as in, a version that I can make and share with you without a guilty feeling that it might not turn out right.

I'd love to say that I made the pastry for these fish puffs...perfect shape, perfect height...

But of course I didn't in this case!

I'm not quite there yet with homemade puff pastry as you might have guessed, so for now, I'm back to good old shop-bought puff pastry, and the easiest fish filling ever to bake up for a quick lunch.

You can either used tinned fish, or poach a couple of fillets to flake up yourself for this.

And although best served warm, they taste great straight from the fridge as well, and can be eaten like a pasty - so would be great for lunch-on-the-go, or alongside a mixed salad.

Easy Fish Puffs

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 4 (serves 2):

175g cooked flaked fish of your choice (I went for cod and salmon)
1 spring onion, chopped
2 tbsp greek yogurt
1 tbsp tarragon
200g puff pastry
1 beaten egg

1) Roll the pastry to about 5mm thickness and cut into 8 rectangles (4 x 3" approx). Chill for 30 minutes.
2) Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl.
3) Spoon the mixture onto the centre of 4 rectangles, leaving a cm border.
4) Brush the border with some egg, then top each with the remaining rectangles. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Brush the top of the puffs with more egg and prick with a fork.
5) Bake at 200 degrees C for 20 minutes until puffed and golden.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Berry Crunch Cupcakes

Lately, I've been experimenting quite a bit with my baking recipes and, as you can imagine, they don't always turn out quite as planned. Thankfully, in some cases, they are still perfectly edible.

So what went 'wrong' with these?

Well, I had planned for them to be muffins for a start! But I have never been able to create the abundant looking muffins that you see in bakery windows - mine either rise, then fall, or they just sink, or when they do decide to rise, they just don't rise enough. So in short, I never get my raising agents right.

In any case, I had a sneaky feeling that these berry muffins would make no such effort to rise, so spooned the mixture into a cupcake tray instead. And thank goodness I did, because they rose just the right amount!

I proudly took them into work, explaining that they were berry flavour.

"Ooh, what's it supposed to be? Sort of a muffiny, cakey..?" I was asked.

"Umm, well, I don't know...they've got almonds in as well." I replied.

"Mm, yum, like a Bakewell Tart?"

"Um, well, no, not really, they're just crunchy berry cake things."

"Oh, ok then, yum, thanks!"

And thus that is how the Berry Crunch Cupcake was born...

Berry Crunch Cupcakes

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 12:

150g frozen mixed berries
50g ground almonds
100g brown sugar
125g plain flour
150ml grapeseed oil
1 egg
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1) Sift the flour into a large bowl, then mix in the almonds, sugar, baking powder and bicarb of soda. Fold in the berries.
2) In another bowl, beat the egg with the oil and lemon juice.
3) Tip into the dry mixture and fold well.
4) Spoon into a lined cupcake tray, then bake at 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here.

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy. Continue reading this post..

Stylish Love for Hungry Jenny

Who needs a Valentine when someone out there thinks you're Stylish?

The lovely Daniel of Harris and Herring passed me this Stylish Blogger Award - go and check out his blog for interesting recipes and stories surrounding his family and friends (it's great stuff) - after reading this post of course ;-)

These blog awards are great - it's just a nice feeling to realise that there are people out there listening to what you've got to say. It's also a great opportunity to point to your own favourite bloggers to encourage others to look them up. In this case, there are 4 steps to pass on the blog award love.

Step 1: Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award.
Step 2: Share 7 random things about yourself.
Step 3: Award 15 recently discovered bloggers with this award.
Step 4: Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won the award.

Fifteen? By golly, that's alot. I've just listed 5 (in no particular order) because I can't honestly say that I've 'recently discovered' fifteen! And hopefully it shows the ones that I have passed the award on to that I do think they are rather special :-)

1. Nick aka Peanut Butter Boy
I can't remember how I came across Nick's blog now, but it was his colourful bio page that pulled me in and has kept me reading. Go to his 'About' page and you'll see what I mean!

2. Danny of Food Bloggers Unite
I recently came across Danny's food photography/blogging tips site whilst looking around for some photography lighting techniques, and have been bookmarking loads of his posts since! It's a really well-written and clear site with some awesome photos too.

3. Tricia of Saving Room For Dessert
When I heard a whispering that 2011 was going to be the year of the pie, I googled it and stumbled across Tricia's blog - she has vowed to make a pie each weekend, an adventure which immediately caught my attention! And I'm forever jealous of Tricia's ability to produce beautiful lattice-topped pies :-P

4. Hannah of Honey & Jam
A young and really talented photographer with stunning photos of not just her yummy baking, but other gorgeous settings as well, like this 'Teatime' photo - I was trying to remember a blog I used to follow that had 'Wordless Wednesdays', but came across Hannah's website instead!

5. Aaron John Cabuang of AJ's Cooking Secrets
I came across Aaron's blog during the Project Food Blog competition on Foodbuzz. The rap that he made up for the third round made me laugh out loud! I also love that he has an ongoing list of goals and wishlist on his site.

And now for seven random things about me...

1. I sporadically practise headstands on my bedroom floor.
2. I love any excuse to get fancy-dressed up.
3. I plan to see and own every dance film there is.
4. One of my ears is higher than the other - so when I wear glasses, they always look lopsided.
5. The thought of trying to make a full Sunday roast scares me.
6. I have a weakness for tacky (and often neon) jewellery.
7. In school plays, I was given the best parts - a Dutch puppet in Pinocchio, a Jitterbug in the Wizard of Oz, a seagull in James and the Giant Peach - and half a broomstick in The Sorceror's Apprentice.

Were they random enough for you? Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Lamb Patty Pie

When I was younger, I remember going to the indoor market in town with my mum every now and again, and as a treat, we would get a Jamaican patty from one of the stalls. I always felt like a grown-up eating these - I was 'big' enough to handle the 'spiciness' of these patties, after all.

Of course, my mum never bought me the spicy option at all! Even so, now that I am a grown-up (of sorts), I still can't handle the spicy option anyway, haha.

I decided to make a big Patty Pie, a mild version of course. But mild in the level of spice, not the level of taste by the way!

The pastry made encases the whole pie and it is not that much different at all to shortcrust pastry - all you need is a bit of turmeric! (This was also the pastry I used to make my Sunshine Pies.)

I mixed ginger and cumin with cinnamon to give the filling a bit of a sweeter taste to it, and used lamb instead of beef for a more interesting flavour. And instead of just pressing the pastry edges together in a haphazard way like I usually do, I crimped it with a fork to give it that special Patty look. Yum!

Lamb Patty Pie

Print-friendly recipe

For an 8" pie dish (6 slices):

250g lean lamb mince
100g carrot, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
100g babycorn, chopped
2 tbsp red onion, chopped
1 large spring onion, chopped
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cumin
4 tsp cinammon
1 tbsp olive oil

250g plain flour
125g cold butter, diced
1.5 tsp turmeric
Some ice cold water

1) Mix the ginger, cumin, cinammon and oil with the lamb in a bowl and leave to marinade whilst you prepare the pastry.
2) Sift the flour into a large bowl with the turmeric. Rub the butter to a breadcrumb mixture. Gradually add in ice water to knead into a dough. Wrap and chill for half an hour.
3) Gently boil the carrot and parsnip for 10-15 minutes to soften. Drain.
4) Fry the marinated lamb in a pan with the onion. Add the babycorn, followed by the spring onion, carrot and parsnip. Allow to cool if possible.
5) Roll out 2/3 of the pastry onto a floured surface to line the bottom of your pie dish.
6) Add the cooled filling, then roll out the remaining pastry to top your pie. Crimp the edges together with a fork and prick in the middle. Bake at 200 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Post-Op Hungry Jenny

I'm back!

(Sort of.)

Ok, so I had my jaw operation last Tuesday and one slow week on, am gradually coming back to life. I'm still swollen, sore and exhausted, but am at the stage now where I can do things for myself now, like eat, hurrah! (Well, a little bit)

The operation itself went fine, and I had a check up yesterday and they said it's all looking good. I've had my picture taken every day since the op to track progress and it's quite strange to see it over the course of just this past week.

Don't worry, I'm not going to post them all up like some weird flick book! That would surely scare you all away forever. But I wanted to show you one, taken a few hours after the op, to compare with the eventual result once the swelling has finally gone down...

Ready? (You might want to cover your children's eyes)

Yes, it hurt alot, and still does, but nowhere near as painful near as it was just a couple of days ago!

I'm not the most patient patient - I don't like not being able to do things for myself so it was very frustrating at first not to be able to do simple things. I have elastics keeping my jaw aligned and accidentally snapped one of themyesterday because I opened my mouth too wide trying to spoon some food in! Oops, my Hungriness always gets the better of me.

What I'm finding most weird is dealing with the lack of energy - I get super-tired doing anything, get out of breath really quickly, and have to shuffle around slowly on my feet, otherwise I get dizzy. Now I understand why I'm not allowed to do any physical activity for 6 weeks! Ok, Doctor, I get it now.

I'm also not able to look at a screen for too long, as it quickly makes my head ache and my eyes sore. So I won't be able to tweet or keep up with other foodie's happenings as regularly as I'd like to just yet. But there are still plenty of recipes and mishaps adventures lined up for the next few weeks for you, don't you worry! Continue reading this post..

Dangerously Moreish Chocolate Coconut Squares

I've got better with sharing food. Actually, that's a lie - what I mean is that I'm fine with sharing out my baked goods, but not main meals. (That's a different story altogether.)

When I bake, I taste a small piece (or um, a whole one if it's a muffin) to test for any adverse effects. If it gets the Hungry Jenny nod, then the cake is all set to go, and I find mouths to feed, in the form of the Hungry Aikido guys, my friends and work colleagues.

This dangerously moreish chocolate cake was an exception...

The tester piece I ate, as planned (and er, a little ahead of schedule, as you can see above). Then the second, third, fourth...until whoops, only 4 or 5 pieces were left.

I justify my Hungry actions with the following:

1. I used chocolate from Hotel Chocolat, the store that I'm currently choc-obsessed with, resulting in the extra lure.
2. These are especially light in texture, with the use of egg whites. Add to that the fact that there is no butter or flour, leading to the feeling that it'd be fine to just have 'one more'.
3. This was made during my bout of marathon baking over January, so I already had other cakes to feed people with.

The good news for you? You'll be able to make these without me looking over your shoulder and whipping them from your oven as soon as they're done ;-)

Light Chocolate Coconut Squares

Print-friendly recipe

Made in an 8" square tin (12 squares):

125g dark chocolate
50g dessicated coconut
25g ground almonds
50g sugar
3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1 tsp instant coffee

1) Gently melt 100g of the chocolate and set aside.
2) Beat the yolks with the sugar, then stir in the almonds, coconut and coffee.
3) Whisk the whites to stiff peaks, then gradually fold into the chocolate mixture.
4) Break up the remaining 25g chocolate into small pieces, then carefully mix in.
5) Pour in a lined tin, then bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes until springy to the touch.

If you liked this, you might like these butter free and flour free baking recipes too! Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day Faux Pas: The Not-so Elegant Mini Quiches

Well, these didn't turn out as expected.

I've got this 'mini morsel' baking set right, for making cute little quiches and tarts for posh dinner parties and the like. It comes with a little pusher-inner thing (yes, that's my made-up technical term), which looks like a teeny wooden dumb bell. You use it to push the pastry into the mini holes to create the case.

Simple, huh? Well, I'm not the most patient person when it comes to pastry and so my first Error was not rolling the pastry out thin enough. And of course only realised this after creating the cases and seeing that the tiniest little hole was left for adding the filling.

I then 'blind-baked' it a little too long, so by the time the pastry had gone through the blind-baked round, plus the baking-with-the-filling round, the resulting pastry was rather quite dry. I probably didn't need to worry about blind baking it to be honest since they were so small. And because I'd used a fluted cutter, the edges of the pastry came out looking a bit sinister, looking like evil little bubbles suffocating the minute bit of filling that was in them.

Never mind.

Fancy a laugh at my other Hungry-Jenny-Faux-Pas? Continue reading this post..

4 Ways to Get Fruity With Salad

Fruit on its own is nice enough. A banana here, a bunch of grapes there. You might even mix it up every once in a while for a bit of a fruit salad. But that can get boring.

So why not shake things up a bit and try these four ways to get fruity with salad instead?

It'll be a bright change to your bog standard salad - surely it's a bit more exciting to get a refreshingly bite of some fresh fruit amongst the salad leaves? It's a nice way to get some contrasting textures into the dish too, with alot of the veg ingredients being rather crunchy, which fits in well with the soft bite you'll get with the juicy fruit.

Mustard Dressed Peach Salad

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:
1 peach, sliced into 10 chunks
4 cooked back bacon rashers, chopped
100g celery, chopped
100g cheddar cheese, cubed
Large handful of spinach leaves
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp mustard

1) Mix the lemon, honey and mustard in a small bowl and set aside.
2) Add the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
3) Pour in the dressing and toss well.
4) Best served after chilling for an hour, then can be eaten straight away if not!

Citrus-grilled Salmon with Mango Mint Salad

Mango and mint is something I might have put together before but I happened to have some to hand when grilling up this salmon dish. To keep the whole fruit theme going, I squeezed fresh orange over the salmon too to give it a nice citrus sizzle under the grill.

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:
2 salmon fillets
150g mango, chopped
Juice of 1 small orange
150g green beans
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp red onion, chopped
Handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
Some garlic salt

1) Squeeze the orange juice over the fillets and stick them under a hot grill for about 8 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, toss the beans, tomatoes, onion, mint and garlic together and divide onto two plates.
3) Add the mango, then place the salmon on top to serve!

Honey Turkey Salad with Avocado Berry Dressing

The berry dressing here is a little messy to mix into the salad, but is a good way to dress up avocado, which can be quite plain on its onw. I personally don't like a lot of dressing on my salads so you may wish to double the dressing ingredients here if you find it's not enough.

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:
200g turkey steaks
2 tbsp honey
Handful of coriander, roughly chopped
Large handful of spinach
Large handful of watercress

Dressing:
1 avocado, diced
1 tbsp blueberries
1 tbsp raspberries
Juice of 1 lemon
Some extra raspberries and blueberries to garnish if desired

1) Squeeze half of the lemon juice into bowl with the honey and sit the turkey in it for 15 minutes.
2) Mash the avocado with the berries and mix in the remaining lemon.
3) Toss the dressing with the coriander, spinach and watercress, then divide onto two plates.
4) Pan fry the turkey in a little oil for a few minutes on each side until cooked through.
5) Take off the heat then slice and place atop the salad. Garnish with some extra berries.

Fruity Asparagus Salad

This is a lighter dish for those inbetween periods where you're not quite hungry for a big meal yet, but need something 'to keep you going'.

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:
1 orange
10-12 asparagus tips
1 celery stick, chopped
100g fresh blueberries

1) Gently boil the asparagus tips in some salted water. Drain and set aside.
2) Peel and deskin the orange. Cut into 10 segments.
3) Arrange the asparagus tips, celery and orange segments in a fan shape on two plates. Scatter the blueberries on top.

These are great dishes too for those who take fruit into work with the good intention of eating it...but who then leave it to sit on their desk for days. All of these fruity salads are super quick to make and pack well to take into the office. So you've got no excuse now, eh?

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in Continue reading this post..