Friday Pie Day: Mini Honey Mustard Turkey Puffs

Yes, the rather long-winded name doesn't quite match the ickleness of these little buggers. The idea was to do sausage rolls - but with turkey mince instead of pork mince/sausagemeat, plus a coating of honey and mustard. Sounds decent enough, right?

Well, maybe I just wasn't explaining them in an appealing way to people, but when I tried to describe what they were all about, I got some funny reactions.

Me: 'Yeh, so I'm gonna make sausage rolls, but with turkey meat...'
Unconvinced person: 'Ok...'
Me: '...and coat them with some honey and mustard...'
Unconvinced person: 'Eh, really?'
Me: 'So they'll kind of like Turkey Sausage Rolls, but without the sausage.'
Unconvinced person: 'Hm..?!'
Me: 'They'll taste good, I swear!'
Unconvinced person: 'If you say so...'

Huh, well, fine then! You see, they can't be called 'Turkey Rolls' to suggest that they are a variation on sausage rolls, because it just sounds like a sarnie. Calling them 'Honey and Mustard Turkey Rolls' makes them sound even more like sandwich rolls!

So it had to be 'puffs' - but to me, 'puffs' implies something a bit bigger, something that is about the size of your hand. These, as you can see, are more bite-sized (sausage roll sized!).

Thus, the name Mini Honey Mustard Turkey Puffs was born.

Thank goodness the recipe is not so complex to deal with!

Mini Honey Mustard Turkey Puffs

Print-friendly recipe

Makes about 24:

425g puff pastry (try my Quick Puff Pastry recipe, using 200g flour and 200g butter)

225g turkey mince
1.5 tbsp honey
1.5 tbsp wholegrain mustard
75g frozen peas
1 lightly beaten egg

1) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2) Put the turkey in a bowl with the honey and peas, mixing well.
3) Cut your pastry into two pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece out into a long thin rectangle.
4) Use a knife to spread half the mustard over the pastry.
5) Spoon half the turkey mixture along the top length of the pastry. Brush the long edge with some beaten egg, then roll the pastry over to seal.
6) Roll out the other pastry half and repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining turkey mixture and mustard.
7) Slice each roll into 12 small rolls, and cut a slit through the top of each. Brush with more egg wash.
8) Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until the meat is browned and pastry is puffed and golden.

Pie out.

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

Restaurant to Try: @thebelleisle #Chichester

It's been an absolute age since I've found a good new restaurant to try. Partly because I don't dine out as much anymore, but also because any new ones I've been to in recent times haven't felt a worthwhile experience to write about.

Earlier this year, I saw via Twitter that there was going to be a new restaurant opening in Chi, called The Belle Isle, a second site for the flagship restaurant in Southsea (Portsmouth). You can probably imagine my excitement at the prospect of a hot new food place.

Always hungry, always looking for something new to eat... ;-)

It's funny, because in the lead-up to the opening last month, there was quite a bit of buzz going around, which I find quite amusing in this sleepy town of Chichester.

In the space of a month, The Belle Isle in Chichester seems to have grown a pretty solid fanbase already, going by the rave comments on Twitter. Due to various reasons (well, me just being slow at getting around to it), I finally tried the place out this week.

Having seen the constant tweets and images uploaded by eager diners, I had pretty high hopes. I arranged to go with my workmate Caitlin for lunch, who'd already been there a few times - and numerous times at the Southsea branch too - so clearly, The Belle Isle already has Caitlin's vote!

On the day we planned to go, it was pouring down with windy buckets of rain (yes, the most annoying type of rain). Staring out the office window at the miserable downpour, I wondered whether it would be really worth the trek into town.

Well, all I have to say is thank goodness Caitlin decided to drag me down there anyway. We battled the wind and sideways rain, turning up at the restaurant with soggy feet and dripping coats, but were instantly met with a warm, relaxed vibe. The place is huge, though it was surprisingly quite empty, considering it was lunchtime.

There's a definite 'surfer' feel to this place, with its sky-blue tones, and driftwood-style furnishings - but don't worry, the service itself is not laid-back. No dishevelled-hair saunterers here.

Our waitress was very friendly and efficient, and seemed knowledgeable about the menu. The food is mostly Mexican - burritos, nachos, fajitas, and general beany things - but there's a batch of other worldly dishes too, like the Alabama Hotpot, Jerk Chicken Curry and and Asian Beef Salad. So a good mix to choose from.

Thank goodness that Caitlin scoffed at my feeble alternative suggestion to eat in our work cafeteria instead - look what I would have missed out on!

Chilli Beef Burrito

Belle Isle Paella

The food itself was gorgeously well-presented, as you can see. I had the Belle Isle Paella which was lovely and fresh, with a decent amount of seafood and chorizo - not a stingy smattering, like you sometimes get in other places.

Can't believe I was contemplating staying inside for lunch to avoid the rain. I know now not to even consider such a thought when it comes to The Belle Isle. Caitlin said she's already tried 'pretty much everything' on their menu, so I've got alot of catching up to do...

The Belle Isle Chichester, 31-32 Chapel Street, off West Street, PO19 1AB

www.thebelleisle.co.uk

Other restaurants I've tried that you might like to read about. Continue reading this post..

Herman - A Guy Worth Waiting For

No lady, however happy, could not honestly admit that they have never made any attempt to change/upgrade the men in their lives, just to try and turn them into something a little more perfect.

Generally, I don't have much patience for men. They are just too much hard work.

Then, along came Herman.

Hallo, Hungry Jenny, I'm what you've been looking for...

Needless to say, I was a little wary of being approached by a small pot of bubbling off-yellow goo. I wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Beside him, there was a note:

"I am a sourdough cake. I’m supposed to sit on your worktop for 10 days without a lid on. You CANNOT put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead."

Well, I thought, this is one prima-donna dude. Can I really be bothered? Ten whole days nurturing some guy called Herman?

Of course, it was the prospect of having a delicious cake at the end of it all that pulled me in, so I just had to give it a go.

Even though 10 days seems like a lot of effort to look after a bowl of goo, you don't physically need to do that much really. You just need to transfer him to a large mixing bowl and give him a stir every day. You have to cover Herman loosely with a tea towel, so even if you do get sick of looking at him, he will be covered up.

On the 4th and 9th day, you add equal volumes of milk, flour and sugar. I've got to admit that by the 9th day, I was getting a little tired of Herman's constant need for attention, and I was glad to divide him up into 4 pieces.

(No, I was not being violent or untowards Herman, this is the point where you pass him onto 3 other Herman-takers.)

With the remaining piece of goo, your Herman is finally ready to bake. There are quite alot of ingredients to add, and so you'll need quite a big tin to put him in.

This is one thing that's not noted in the instructions. Ellie, my workmate who originally passed Herman to me, had baked hers in a 7" tin, and, as you can imagine, resulted in a rather tall cake!

So, to be on the safe side, I put my Herman in the largest tin I had, which is a 9" round one. As you can see, Herman still came out pretty collosal...

Now, I have to warn you that Herman is The Stuff of Stodge. He really is quite heavy - both physically as well as in taste - so this should be served in small slices.

Clearly, this is not an example of a 'bite-sized' piece.

On reflection, Herman would be better off baked in a large square tin, as he would be far easier to cut into bite-sized pieces that way, rather than in tall triangle slithers - he is just a bit more manageable that way.

But, the important question is, is Herman really worth the wait? Well, for the tasty cake you get at the end, definitely - but you won't see me going through all this effort another time around just to sample Herman again...I'll just wait to eat someone else's, thanks!

You can find out more about Herman here.

More Hungry Jenny cake adventures. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Veggie Moussaka Pie

Almost had a disaster with this one. (Which probably would have made me cry, following last week's Friday Pie Day Faux Pas.

Luckily though, this week's pie turned out as planned.

Yes, despite it looking like this. It was er, meant to.

Moussaka is a Greek dish, made up of minced meat (usually lamb), tomatoes, herbs and a layer of aubergines on top. This is then covered with some kind of creamy sauce. It could, I guess, be seen as a sort of lasagne, as you get versions that have alternate layers of the meat and aubergines.

As you can imagine though, this doesn't tend to make the prettiest of dishes. I've had some testing adventures with moussaka, trying to get around this issue.

And clearly, from the above pic, it's safe to assume that this is something I'm still trying to achieve.

Moussake is something that I've wanted to create in pie form for a while, and despite the appearance issue, I felt it was time to give it a go. I figured that if I added cornflour to the filling then this would make it less watery - therefore less inclined to simply ooze out when slicing into the pie.

This is a veggie version because I didn't want to have to precook the filling - so that's one nice easy step at least. You can just throw all the filling ingredients together, mix well and tip into the cooked pastry shell.

The challenge then, is slicing it. When it came out the oven, I left it for a while, unsure of how to tackle it. After poking at it timidly with a knife, and seeing bits of cheesy yogurt ooze out, it reminded me of a cheesy pizza fresh out the oven.

Aha - I thought. Pizza is much easier to slice once it's cooled a little, because you don't get those annoying stringy bits coming out and creating a floppy mess.

So I let the pie rest for about 10 minutes, and then sliced into it.

Easy!

I was quite shocked, the filling stayed intact as well, and didn't just slop out from underneath the yogurt top as feared.

Hurrah, success at last!

Veggie Moussaka Pie

Print-friendly recipe

For an 8" pie dish (8 slices):

150g plain flour
75g cold butter
Pinch of salt
Some cold water
OR
250g shortcrust pastry

150g green lentils
100g borlotti beans
150g cherry tomatoes
125g tin of chopped tomatoes, mixed with 1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp oregano
100g aubergine, thinly sliced rounds
100g greek yogurt
50g cheddar cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten

If using premade pastry, go straight to step 2.

1. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt. Rub in the butter to breadcrumb mixture. Add a little cold water and knead into a dough, adding more water if needed. Wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Roll the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface into a circle large enough to line the base and sides of an 8" pie dish.
3. Cover with foil and fill with baking beads. Bake blind for about 10-12 minutes until the pastry is just cooked. Allow to cool.
4. Preheat the oven again to 190 degrees C. In a large bowl, mix together the lentils, beans and cherry tomatoes. Add in the cornfloured tomato paste and oregano, mixing everything together well.
5. Transfer the filling into the cooked pie shell. Lay the aubergine slices on top, overlapping them slightly to cover the entire top.
6. In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, cheese and beaten egg. Carefully spoon this over the aubergines. Cover the pie with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is set and starting to go golden.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

Other veggie recipes that might take your fancy. Continue reading this post..

Speedy Almond Berry Cake Fix (butter and flour free)

When you find yourself in a need-for-cake emergency, all you need is half an hour - and four ingredients.

Of course, I guess you could probably dash out to the corner shop in that time and just buy a cake, but NO, I urge you not to!

This is a butter and flour free cake, and also low in sugar. Which means you can get your cake-fix without feeling too 'guilty' about it. And although it will keep in the fridge for a few days if you need it too, this cake gets soggier over time, so you're best off eating it all at once really ;-)

Speedy to make, speedy to eat - what more do you want from a cake-fix?

Speedy Almond Berry Cake Fix (butter and flour free)

Print-friendly recipe

For a 7" sandwich tin (8 slices):

100g ground almonds
50g white sugar
100g fresh or frozen berries
1 lightly beaten egg

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2) Mix together the almonds and sugar. Fold in the berries.
3) Gently mix in the beaten egg, then transfer to a lined sandwich tin.
4) Bake for about 20 minutes until the top just starts to brown.

Allow this to cool before slicing, as it's still pretty soft straight out the oven.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here.

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

Friday Pie Day Faux: Lemon-not-so Tart

Hmm.

The less I say about this tart, the better.

I fancied trying out a savoury lemon and rosemary tart, but couldn't quite work out how to go about it. To be honest, I didn't plan it out very well at all - I sort of had a vague list of ingredients in my head which I assumed could be brought together to make it tart-worthy.

This is not what actually failed me however.

You know how you have those trustworthy store-cupboard/fridge ingredients? Well, lemons have always been part of this list for me. They always do a cheap deal at t'market, so I tend to buy them in bulk alot.

Of course, when it came to making this lemon tart, I got to the fridge...and there was only one lemon. What?! Ok, so making a lemon tart with only one lemon, when I had planned to use about four? Hm.

Incidentally, I forgot to double-check whether I had cheese, which I planned to use as a sort of binder with double cream and egg for the filling. As luck would have it, there was of course, no cheese in the fridge, so I was left to do without.

I ignored the alarm bells in my head of baking a tart minus two key ingredients, and carried on regardless. Big mistake.

It tasted as bland as I feared. Edible, sure, but it quite literally tasted of nothing. What. A. Waste.

FAIL.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

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

Fearless Rhubarb Turkey Burgers

I don't know about you, but rhubarb has always scared the bejesus outta me.

Um, yes, please excuse the shoddy photo, I was part of the early morning crowd at t'market and didn't want to hold the queue up.

I have two distinct memories of rhubarb, both of which have put me off trying it for years.

Memory one - Rhubarb crumble and custard, school-dinner style.
I was quite a fussy eater as a child, there were a few things that I stubbornly decided that I did not like.

Rhubarb crumble was one of them. Yes, I'm pretty sure I've never actually tried it..! But the image of it there, with its weird pink ooze slopping out, topped with lumpy yellow custard just did not appeal to me.

Memory two - Overgrown rhubarb monster in the back garden
Gardens are a place of joy for most children, sure, but in every garden, there is always one bit that you're scared of. Maybe the edge of the pond, a big old tree with a menacing face, or a dark cobwebbed corner of a shed.

For me, it was right at the back of the garden by our greenhouse. To the side of it was a narrow path leading even further back. But no, it was not this that I feared. It was the monstrosity of rhubarb that stretched out over this path, their giant toxic leaves threatening to cloud anyone who dared to walk through.

Ok, so that's an exaggeration of course, but that's what went through my mind as a child. The rhubarb was there when we moved in, and since my parents were not really into rhubarb, it was just left to its own devices.

*shudders*

Anyway. Now that I'm a bit more grown up, I figured it was time I just got over it. But I've had to do it in baby steps. Which, as a first step, means chopping it up small and hiding it in something else.

In this case, these Fearless Rhubarb Turkey Burgers! Mushing rhubarb up into mince and stuff is perhaps a bit of a cop-out, sure. But I didn't want to just start chomping on it raw like a stick of celery!

Rhubarb Turkey Burgers

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 4:

250g lean turkey mince
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp honey
50g rhubarb, finely diced
75g breadcrumbs
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp olive oil

1) Mix the turkey with the soy sauce and honey in a large bowl. Leave to marinade for 15 minutes.
2) Add in the rhubarb, breadcrumbs and onions, followed by the egg, mixing together carefully.
3) Shape the mixture into 4 burgers. Add the oil to a medium-hot pan, then cook the burgers for about 4-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through.
4) Serve in burger buns and fresh salad, or with some boiled potatoes and veg.

Mm! Now that I've conquered this, the next step is to try a rhubarb crumble...
Continue reading this post..

Secret Cherry Chocolate Cake Bites

This cake almost didn't see the light of day.

Sometimes, depending on what I bake, I like to try and cut into a portion to show what's inside. It's a bit of pot luck, cutting into something with the hope of revealing a beautiful photogenic bite, but that's just not always the case.

Of course, it can be quite easy to get carried away with this, cutting and hacking away at a cake until you find a piece that it just right for the photo. Leaving little much else by way of cake sharing. Oops.

Now, this particular cake has a sort of light flapjack (oat-style) texture. I filled it with dark cherry halves and dark chocolate chunks to add some juicy crunch (yes, that's a real texture, you'll know what I mean what you bite into it).

So naturally, I wanted to capture a photo showing both the chocolate and cherry oozing out. But I kept cutting into just the chocolate chunks. No cherries to be seen! The funny thing was that there are more cherries than chocolate in this, so they are definitely in there, let me tell you that.

After cutting into 4 or 5 separate squares, I decided to give up. Let the cherries be a surprise to you then, my friend!

Cherry Chocolate Cake Bites (butter free)

Print-friendly recipe

For an 8" square tin (16-20 bites):

250g self-raising flour
250g rolled oats
125g white sugar
1.5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
200g fresh or frozen cherries, halved
100g dark chocolate, broken into small chunks
1 egg, lightly beaten
150ml olive oil

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl with the oats, sugar, cocoa and baking powder. Fold in the cherries and chocolate chunks.
2) In another bowl, beat the egg with the oil, before pouring into the dry mix. Fold until there are no traces of dry flour left to be seen.
3) Transfer to a lined square tin, and level over with a knife. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the top starts to golden and you can pull a fork out clean.
4) Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into 16-20 bite-sized squares.

Other chocolate recipesyou might enjoy. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Hearty Beef and Rosemary Pie

I was going to do the Easter thing with today's Friday Pie Day - no, not a chocolate egg pie (man, should have gone with that!), but a lamb and rosemary style one.

And, well I pretty much went all the way with this - apart from the lamb.

I rarely buy red meat this days - not because I'm going off it or anything (Are you crazy? Do you know who I am?), but just because poultry and the like is more economical. So on those rare occasions that I do go for red meat, I want to make it justified.

Now, when I got to the supermarket, I hunted down the lamb, was all ready to buy it - but then a pack of stewing beef caught my eye. It was on offer and I felt it'd be rude to let that one go. I considered changing the recipe I had in mind for the lamb, but, since I had a batch of fresh rosemary waiting for me at home, I figured I should just give it a shot anyway.

What with this being a hearty stew kind of pie, it's best to precook and simmer the meat filling first and allow it to cool completely if possible. This will stop you from getting a soggy pie crust when you dish it into the pie shell. And you don't want that now, do you?

And be warned, this is called a Hearty pie for a good reason - it is very filling! I didn't bother making potatoes or chips to sit alongside this, just a few extra roasted veggies instead, which I parboiled first before chucking into the oven to roast along with the pie. Perfect.

Hearty Beef and Rosemary Pie

Print-friendly recipe

For an 8" pie dish:

200g plain flour
100g cold butter, diced
Pinch of salt
Some ice cold water
OR
300g shortcrust pastry
Plus a little milk or beaten egg to glaze

450g stewing steak, cubed
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
3 garlic cloves, grated
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
175g celery, chopped
50g red onion, chopped
1.5 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
200ml hot beef stock + 1.5 tbsp cornflour

If using pre-made pastry, go to step 2.

1. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt. Rub in the butter to breadcrumb mixture. Add a little cold water and knead into a dough, adding more water if needed. Wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the balsamic vinegar, oil, honey and garlic. Add the steak cubes, mixing well.
3. Put on a pan on medium heat. Add the saucy steak cubes to brown, for about 4-5 minutes.
4. Add the cherry toms, celery and red onion, mixing everything together well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour in the cornfloured beef stock. Bring to the boil, then turn down to the lowest heat. Cover and leave to bubble for about 35-40 minutes. If you can, allow the filling to cool completely.
6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut a third off the pastry and set aside. Roll out the larger piece onto a floured surface, into a large circle to line the base and sides of an 8" pie dish.
7. Spoon the beef filling into the pie dish. Roll out the remaining third of pastry into a circle and transfer to top your pie, pinching the sides together to join. Stick a fork through the top, then brush over with some milk or beaten egg. Bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

More beefy recipes Continue reading this post..

Say NO to Takeaway: Try a Thai Prawn Potato Salad Instead!

Ok, so this isn't exactly what you'd expect to find on a takeaway menu.

But there's a solid bit of for this Thai Prawn Potato Salad being here, I swear.

Much of what you see on a takeaway menu is not particularly traditional to its cuisine at all. Things like chop suey, tikka masala, korma, chow mein...they're all westernised dishes. Not saying there's anything wrong with that really - in fact, looking at it that way gives you ideas to blend elements of different dishes together.

In this case, I fancied a Thai-flavoured seafood dish, but didn't really fancy making noodles or rice with it (my two usual go-to carb choices). So I thought I'd swing in some sliced potatoes to see if that would work instead. You've got a light sauce of ginger, lemon, white wine vinegar, fish sauce, and sesame oil - which soaks through the potatoes quite nicely - and a good handful of coriander to boot, making this a really fresh-tasting salad.

So you can see how easy it can be to just make up your own recipe ideas, blending two different cuisines. And why not? Just make sure you do it the healthier way, yeh?

Thai Prawn Potato Salad

Print-friendly recipe

Serves 2:

200g new potatoes, sliced
1 tbsp grated ginger
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp groundnut oil
200g king prawns
75g courgette, diced
50g babycorn, diced
50g mangetout, chopped
Handful of fresh coriander

1) Gently bring the potatoes to boil, then leave to simmer for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Drain and keep warm.
2) Mix the ginger, lemon, vinegar, fish sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
3) Add the oil to a hot wok. Fry the prawns for a couple of minutes, followed by the courgette, babycorn and mangetout. Pour in the ginger mixture, stir frying together for a few minutes.
4) Finally, carefully mix in the cooked potato slices, then leave to simmer for about 5 minutes. Throw in the fresh coriander before dishing up to serve.

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too. Continue reading this post..