Banana, Sultana and Chia Drop Scones

Ever since we watched, well repeatedly watched the trailer for the next Minions movie we seem obsessed with the word bananas, said in a Minion dialect to the point we seem to entirely communicate with Minion language. This should be somewhat embarrassing for two thirty-something's but alas, we do not care! It can surely only get worse when the film does get released... Fortunately we are rather fond of bananas but even at the rate we eat them there are often a few 'deaded' ones come the weekend and as much as I adore making banana bread, it takes time, however these pancakes takes minutes in comparison!

 

For many years I have been making drop scones aka mini pancakes and had fairly stuck rigid to the recipe, after all there is the if its not broke why fix it theory... but then my friend C made me some of her mothers recipe banana pancakes, stupidly I mislaid the recipe but decided to play around and made these Banana ones, with a nutritional boost of chia seeds and a handful of sultanas to make them a little more complete, and satisfying too! I have admitted now to her I mislaid it - after I let her try mine, luckily she enjoyed my version too!

 

We have been enjoying the drop scones with all sorts of different toppings over three weekends of experimenting! B's favourite undoubtingly was to smother them with Nutella! Though I am rather fond of my homemade Spiced Kiwi and Apple Jam, which I really must get around to blogging about!

These jumbo sized ones came about after Bruce spotted some biggish ones in ASDA and wanted to buy them-  I quickly tutted and plotted to surprise him with these frying pan sized ones instead!! Needless to say he was pretty impressed!! Also size is purely optional - the mixture makes about 12 palm sized ones. 

Makes 12 Drop scones
Easy

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 large egg
150g self raising flour
150ml milk
1 tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
25g sultanas
1 heaped tsp sugar
pinch salt

Butter/ spray oil (I like lately the Lurpak spray but its quite pricey!)

Method

Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt and sugar into a bowl. Break the egg into the middle, use a fork to beat together, adding the milk slowly to form a batter.

Stir in the mashed banana, sultanas and chia to form a thick-ish batter.

Heat a thick based frying pan with a good spray of oil/ butter or a knob of butter - if you don't have one just use a general one but be careful with the heat as they can burn quickly!

Use a large spoon to add the batter to the pan, smoothing over lightly if needed. Flip when little bubbles start appearing and cook for a further minute.

Remove to a warm plate, cover with kitchen paper to keep them warm, and repeat with the remaining batter, greasing a little in between batches.

 

-------------------------------------------

Here is one of the batches - these were cooked in my lighter based pan and as you can see they got tanned quicker so be cautious! They were still of course all eaten! I have found turning the heat down after the first batch helps to keep the temperature in range - I do use a hideous ancient electric hob which has questionable thermometer levels at the best of time so cooking is always a challenge!

This was my second favourite topping - mocha spread! I have about 1/4 left in the prized jar which is brilliant as I am the only one who loves it, and I am eeking it out slowly as I doubt I will be able to find it again! As you will also notice my drop scones are not exactly perfectly round - there is really no need to aim for perfection, just enjoy them!

 

 

Overall I adore these drop scones so much! The thicker the better really and don't worry if you have a lumps of banana - they are all the better for it! I think if anything we purposely over buying bananas now to ensure we have deaded ones to make these at the weekend!

 

As my drop scones used up some super manky bananas I am sending them over to this months Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary's No waste Food Challenge - see if you can spot the 2nd banana in the picture!!

 

 

And as they saved money by not throwing away the bananas, plus they made a very tasty and cheap breakfast I have also sent these in to this months Credit Crunch Munch - also held by a very busy Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for February, which was set up by Camilla of Fab Food 4 All and Helen of Fuss Free Flavours to promote making tasty dishes from cheaper cuts, leftovers and more!

 

 

 

 

 

*This post is no endorsement of Minions, we just are huge fans!*

Spicy Mushroom & Bean Sausage rolls

Now calling these ‘sausage’ is a bit misleading as there's no Pork in them and the term parcels implies something much larger and I can’t think of anything smaller than rolls. Plus I was making alongside their meatier counterparts so I decided to keep the ‘sausage’ part…you understand I am sure what I am waffling on about!

I have never made a veggie version of sausage rolls before, see I am actually rather fond of properly made pork ones when not in veggie phase but some bought outside of home are often rather questionable in their quality and after trying a truly awful, dry and claggy vegetarian sausage roll from a health food shop, it was time to embark on my own.. plus I was making these prior to going to see my wonderful auntie in the west country, who also by chance is a vegetarian so I thought she wouldn’t mind at all being a guinea pig! So I lovingly made these up from scratch, parcelled up and took them for a road trip!

Considering they are my first ever attempt at a veggie friendly sausage roll, I am super happy with them, plus everyone loved them! The spicing was perfect – hints of chilli, cinnamon and more from the Baharat seasoning, which was randomly picked up last year on holiday in Jersey, the filling texture was chunky but still fine enough to munch without pulling half the filling out and the vegetables all complemented each other very well. Wrapped in a loving puff pastry blanket what more you can want?

This will make enough for 13 generous cocktail sized sausage rolls – simply double up the filling to use the whole pastry sheet up!

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry ready rolled sheet, halved down the middle to form two long rectangles (do this whilst still rolled! Mine was bought from Sainsbury's)

200g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ red onion, finely chopped

½ red romano pepper, diced

1 medium carrot, coarsely grated

100g cooked black eyed beans

1.5tsp baharat seasoning

1 egg, beaten

Poppyseeds, to decorate

Method:

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan, gently cook the onion until softened, stir through the mushrooms, carrot and pepper, and cook for about 10 minutes, sweating them down – be careful not to burn them, stir through the garlic, baharat, and the beans and heat through, press down lightly to gently mash the beans, season to taste with salt and pepper – the mixture should be fairly dry looking and well mixed. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.

Pre-heat the oven to I would approximate at about 200o - my oven has been on the blink for some time (and housing company apparently deny) so mine was 240o on the dial..

Open out the pastry sheet, brush the top and bottom halves with the beaten egg. Arrange the cooled mixture down the middle keeping it well together, to form a long sausage, pat down to form a column of sorts. 

Gently pull up the bottom half of the pastry over the mixture, brush the top with more egg and pull up the top side, gently teasing over – you want about a centimetre or so of overlap. Brush all over with egg and sprinkle with poppyseed's. Gently press the knife almost through to the bottom to form slices, on the nice sheet they provide with the pastry.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the pastry has puffed up and cooked through. Allow to cool on the tray for ten minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Serve warm. If they get the chance to cool that far! They can also be reheated in a warm oven for about 10-15 minutes. Oh and they travel well too! 

Perfect for picnics, late brunches..snacks and light lunches too! Pretty much no excuse needed really.

I am sending these over to Treat Petite for November held by Cakeyboi and this months host The Baking Explorer - as mentioned above I made these with my Auntie T in my mind - all through my up's, down's and frankly inside out stages she has been my rock and its lovely to say thank you in the best way I know how - baking something that tastes great!

My veggie rolls are perfect for all the family - and for the great Family Foodies challenge, which has gone Vegetarian for November and so I have sent them over to the lovely hosts Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash

Smoked Aubergine Puree AKA Baba Ganoush - for Random Recipes & Alphabake A

So this months Random Recipe and Alphabake entry was planned earlier in the week, in good time for the deadline - which is er today.. however I had a bit of a flare and spent two days in a zombie state...these new painkillers sure are strong but if they sort out my hip it will be worth it! It was already fun climbing stairs with a pair of dodgy knees but throwing in the hip is just no fun! I think this week I survived mostly on tea and ready to eat cocktail sausages which are kept in the drinks fridge (my weakness!). 

Fortunately this morning with the rain brought a brighter day after and I actually made it out of the house, albeit with my boyfriend driving and it was only to the garden centre but it was still nice to see daylight! Plus it has a great food hall and I picked up something for my dad's birthday which I better not write here just incase he reads this...

So enough of me rambling - I normally ask my boyfriend to choose at random but he was out and being unable to bend at the time I reduced my selection to the shelf at arm level and methodically counted to ten whilst moving my arm back and forth - the neighbours already know I am a bit special so hopefully just carried on by... the book turned out to be 'Just like mother used to make' which my mum actually did buy for me a few years back. Its full of homely recipes but seems to solely be used for drop scones so it was about time a new recipe was tried from its floury pages! I then as per the chosen letter of A for this months theme, then closed my eyes and moved my finger up and down the tiny A section for a further 10 seconds and out came Baba Ganoush - which is technically B but its made with aubergines and listed under A so it became the chosen recipe! For some reason I have always loved the name Baba Ganoush, it sounds so exotic like some foreign dancer or stage presence!

The recipe itself is a doddle to make, apart from that I have the slowest oven in the world so took double the time stated but it was delicious. B had never eaten it before and in all honesty I wasn't sure if I had but I love anything aubergine'y so really it couldn't be bad... its best eaten with loved ones, the garlic breath is entirely worth it!

I scaled the original recipe down slightly - I always find aubergines vary so much in size - my dad actually picked it up for me as he lives near lots of great little ethnic grocers and was coming around for lunch - and assumed mine was a medium to large sized one and I have scaled the recipe accordingly. I also subbed the extra virgin olive oil for extra virgin rapeseed oil, mainly as the EVOO I have is very tasty but also very peppery and I wanted to taste the aubergine and the latter oil is nice and buttery tasting....mmm butter! And the lemon juice was from a bottle shh!

Also whilst it says to use a food processor, I am lacking this one essential piece of technology and used the liquidiser which worked a treat - if using a food processor don't worry about chopping things up before hand. I finished it off with a little smoked paprika as it made the smoosh a bit more attractive and a little more smokier too!

Makes one bowl of lovely dip/ puree/ smoosh

Easy

1 med/ large aubergine

1 clove garlic

2 tsp tahini

1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil

1/4 tsp salt (I used himalayan)

few twists black pepper

2 tsp lemon juice

Smoked paprika to garnish if desired

If you are lucky enough to have a gas hob, sear the aubergine all over until skin is wrinkled. If like me you don't, place the whole aubergine in the oven, on its highest setting until the skin has wrinkled. The book claimed 20 minutes. Mine was more 45 minutes.. and it burst, guessing that was a good sign it was ready.. place in a bowl and cover, leave to cool.

Once cooled, remove the skin and discard the stalk, chop roughly and place in the blender with everything else. Blitz to form a smooth puree. Taste and adjust accordingly - I added a little bit more lemon and salt to mine to taste. It says to leave it 30 minutes to thicken but my cooked aubergine had been left whilst out for a good few hours and I served it up after about 5 minutes and was perfect for us! 

Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and sprinkle over a little smoked paprika if desired.  

I served ours with a little fridge raid feast - toasted pitta breads, olives, rosebud beetroots and carrot sticks. B loved it, he did comment that this meal would be something he would never had considered before meeting me. I guess thats a good compliment! It was clean plates all round after!

Overall verdict? A resounding yes to enjoying it now and yes to having it again! I loved its silky smooth texture and little hum of lemon and garlic, definitely a keeper. 

Many thanks to this months hosts for the inspiration to give some love back to the cookbooks: 

Dom at Belleau Kitchen 

Caroline Makes 

The More Than occasional Baker 

Maple, Date and Pecan Hot Cross Bun's

My secret to better Easter Baking with Stork is giving Hot Cross Buns a modern twist by simply combining three of my favourite ingredients - soft dates - crunchy pecans and sweet maple syrup to create a delicious toasted treat!

Rather amazingly I had never made Hot Cross buns before this batch, however my boyfriend kept asking for them and along with an email dropping in from Stork, it seemed like fate and so over the weekend just gone, I did a little HXB research and after finally choosing a recipe that seemed fairly straight forward I then set about making them my own! I have baked with Stork since I was learning to bake but its normally the tub version, however this used the block version and it worked perfectly, its definitely something I will bake with again!

The recipe I chose as the base was from the River Cottage Handbook no3 simply titled Bread and it was easy enough to follow you just need plenty of time waiting in between the prooving's but it allowed me to crack on with also baking my mums birthday cake so it worked out well in the end! I used wholemeal flour instead of white to try and kid myself they are healthy and also swapped around the spices to what I had in the cupboard. And instead of normal salt I used some gorgeously pink Himalayan salt I bought recently!

Ingredients

250g strong wholemeal bread flour
250g plain flour
125ml warm water
125ml warm milk
5g powdered dried yeast (I used easy bake)
10g salt
1 medium egg
50g + 20g Stork block
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g chopped soft dates
50g pecan nuts
2 tbsp maple syrup

Crosses

50g plain flour
100ml water

Glaze

1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp water

Note that I used my mixer to make these as I can't manage anything that physical nowadays but you can do by hand it might just take a bit longer to knead.

In a small frying pan melt the 20g of Stork, crush the pecans in a pestle and mortar and add to the butter along with the maple syrup. Stir well and bubble away for 2 minutes or until it turns sticky, cool for at least 10 minutes before making the dough. Mix with the dates, cinnamon and ginger.

Fit the dough hook onto your mixer and in the bowl place the flours, salt, water, milk, yeast and sugar and combine. Add the egg and butter and mix to form a sticky dough on a low speed. Add in the prepared pecan mix and carrying on kneading - I used speed 1 on my old Kenwood Chef for about 8 or so minutes or until its all nicely combined and you have a soft silky dough. Cover with cling film or a cloth and place somewhere warm until doubled in size. Mine took about an hour and fifteen minutes in the airing cupboard.

Knock back the dough and divide into 8 large or 15-16 smaller pieces and shape into rounds, place on a floured board and cover, allow to proove for a further 30 minutes or until doubled again. Mine are all slightly peculiar shaped!

Whisk together the plain flour and water to make a smooth paste ( mine was quite runny?!) Transfer to a piping bag (I buy disposable ones so much easier!)

Preheat the oven to 200o/ gas 6

Place the buns on a lined baking tray (I have a reusable non stick sheet its brilliant) and pipe over crosses.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and golden in colour.

Meanwhile warm the maple syrup and water together, then brush the buns when they come out of the oven and allow to cool before weilding the bread knife and the butter!! 

Enjoy halved and toasted with lots of lovely butter on!

These are best eaten freshly made but will keep a couple of days in an air-tight container. I have frozen a few to test later on and will let you know if successful!


With thanks to Sophie at Blue Rubicon and Stork for providing some of the basic ingredients.

Salted Caramel Sauce.. for Scones..for cake..or on a spoon..

This sauce was born during one of those ‘you know you are a food blogger moments’ as it was nearly bedtime, and my mind was pondering at the sad thought of pouring away the last of the double cream that I was quite sure was to have been used by the previous day and then thought turned to twitter…and a little googling and both came up with the glorious suggestion I made Salted caramel sauce! 

I’ve made caramel sauce before in the form of Rachel Allen’s heavenly toffee apple crumble and I have become extremely fond (read that as addicted) to salted caramel and decided to go ahead with making salted caramel sauce, and after telling B I was a little crazy as no I was not coming to bed, I was in fact making caramel sauce he just nodded and off I went downstairs in my pyjamas and set about dragging baskets out of the cupboards and making a lovely late night mess in the kitchen. During the process of stirring it, I managed to locate an empty jar under the sink for the sauce (that only faintly smelled of the sundried tomato chutney it previously held) and managed to successfully fill it perfectly to the top! Pure lucky coincidence!

I did have thoughts of melting it back down to make a cake filling but then some heavenly Rodda's clotted cream arrived…we made some scones…and ya know the cake can wait – for salted caramel and clotted cream scones came to me in a dream and turned into sweet reality! Obviously do not open it late at night under the cover of darkness with a spoon for you shall have sugary filled dreams but heck, better than a nightmare right?

The recipe is based on this one for a coffee version (to definitely be tried at a later date!) and we love it! Its unsurprisingly sweet with a subtle hint of salt that just works so amazingly well together. As the recipe is in cups I stuck mostly to it, the only odd measurement for me was tablespoons of butter - I just sort of gauged out the chilled butter!

Salt wise, I had a few different salts in the cupboard and initially thought I had picked up the tiny pot that remained of Maldon sea salt flakes but it turned out actually to be the salt crystals for refilling the grinder... Obviously I realised this after it went it but in all fairness it worked perfectly so just go with whatver you have! Saying that I bought some pretty rose pink tinted Himalayan salt this week so will try that next time!

5 tbsp unsalted butter

2/3 cup Double cream

1/2 cup Light brown soft sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt 

 2tsp vanilla extract

In a small heavy saucepan melt the butter, add sugar, salt and cream, bring to the boil whisking constantly, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in the vanilla, and pour into a sterlised jar.

Apparently it will keep in the fridge up to a month, if of course it lasts that long......

..And so to make amazing scones - I used Rodda's recipe which works perfectly - its just our oven takes a little bit longer so they don't get as large but they still taste great! I noticed on their website the eggwash bit is missing - beat an egg with a little sugar to glaze them prior to baking. 

Top with clotted cream and a layer of the salted caramel sauce in whichever order you prefer!

Spring Onion Pancakes

Historically Pancakes and I, were not close friends. Growing up when Pancake Day came around I was always eating something else, not being quite able to bear eating them. This is despite quite happily making their thicker cousins the drop scone and enjoying them too. This saga carried on till at least around aged 25. Then I got a bit older, learned to cook, felt brave one evening in early 2010 and then nearly abandoned it all after my first disastrous attempt!

Time passed..

And passed..

Then I plucked up courage in the summer of 2011, and with friend L's help we successfully made Tuna and Olive filled pancakes. I have since made them several times, though replacing the tuna with ham makes a wonderful substitution! However this is a once in a blue moon dish, not sure why but it just doesn't make a regular appearance. Though I did buy some tuna earlier so perhaps this week...

Nowadays I am feeling more confident with batter, and a couple of weeks back made a delicious king prawn stir-fry, and the marinade needs only egg white, leaving an egg yolk going spare...

By chance a few nights prior to Friday, my dad was over and we were discussing something he had seen about about how people tend to think the Chinese don't eat potatoes, which made me rummage through the cookery books until according to one called 'World Food - China' and yes in fact they do. Maybe not a huge amount but there are indeed recipes! Apparently the humble potato we English worship was introduced to China by the French. And according to wiki China is the worlds largest Potato producing coutnry. Blimey. That was unexpected!

Anyway, back to the recipe. Whilst going through said book, I spotted these spring onion pancakes, and by sheer luck the recipe uses 1 egg yolk! And so they were made, very succesfully. They produce a softish pancake, I added black pepper as thought needed a little boost. The recipe suggests them as a snack or to fill with crispy meats. We just dipped ours in sweet chilli sauce.

N.b. I have adjusted the original recipe quantities to suit us.

Makes 8

Ingredients

2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 heaped tbsp finely sliced spring onion
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 twists black pepper
200ml milk
100ml water

1) Soften the spring onion in 1/2 tbsp of from oil total until lightly cooked - it will only take 2-3 minutes, using a flat non-stick frying pan

2) Clean the pan using kitchen paper. Make the batter by sifting the flour and salt together and gently combine in the eggs. Slowly stir in the milk and water, and remaining oil to form a creamy smooth batter.

3) Heat the pan to a moderate heat, add enough batter working fast to tilt the mixture to form a thin pancake. When the batter has set, and its lightly browned underneath, gently using a fork and serving spatula (or similar!) gently fold up and place on kitchen paper. Repeat with remaining mixture. If you are using as wrappers - don't fold them, use greaseproof paper or similar to seperate.

Chocolate and Cheese...

When I first saw ‘Philadelphia with Cadbury’s chocolate’ advertised I must admit I was a rather intrigued by the whole chocolate and cheese combination, and wanted to try it mainly out of curiosity! Then by fate an email popped in my inbox a few days later offering the chance to try it! Obviously I quite happily took them up on the offer and within a couple of days er the tub was empty!

On its own, I found my tastebuds initially a little confused by the milky chocolate and cream cheese flavours together, I think you will either really get it or not at all! I am a closet Cadbury’s fan (shh) but would love to see a darker chocolate version!

However when made up into a pudding of toasted sweet waffles and sliced strawberries it worked a treat! The slight tartness of the fruit offset the sweet chocolate/ cream cheese flavour perfectly and made for a winning combination. Better still dad seemed quite satisfied that this was his pudding!

Whilst it did make a quick 'assembly job' style pudding, I am at heart a snack fiend and this is why I ran out of it so quickly! I adore biscuits and have to apply self control around them, in particular my weakness is dark chocolate digestives! However delicious as they are, they also figure at around 87 calories each! With my rough workings, you can swap:

One of these:

For two plain rice cakes (I have fallen in love with Tesco's organic brown ones!), topped with ' choccyphilly ' and topped with a sliced up strawberry for barely a few more calories! Win win I say! A perfect snack for that long time between lunch and dinnertime!  

For two of these!

Its available now to buy nationwide.

Many thanks To Karen at Golin Harris and Philadelphia

Sweet Potato bites

I am posting this as Merlotti asked so very nicely on the back of my post on Beetroot Salad, however these may well taste fantastic and make wonderful little tasty nibbles - but are very messy, I am not accountable for hands sticking together and your clothes resembling half the mixture :-) Apron advisable!

At a later date, this recipe hopefully will have more finesse but if you fancy getting messy this weekend, this is one for you!

Ingredients

450g apx sweet potato (This mix made far more than needed, I made 12 bites from approx 1/3 mix, however the leftovers makes fantastic mash!)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
¼ tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp Fresh coriander chopped
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 lemon
S&p

Fine dry breadcrumbs – I used Paxo natural
1 egg – note: only does about 12 bites
Flour for dusting
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour

Vegetable oil for cooking

Peel the sweet potato, cube and place into cold water with a squeeze of fresh lemon, bring to boil, cook for 10-12 minutes until just softening, drain immediately and re-fresh in cold water, drain well and mash in the pan, add to a bowl with seasoning and spring onion, a squeeze of lemon and allow to cool, refrigerate until needed

Place egg in 1 bowl, mix flours in another and breadcrumbs in final bowl, dust hands with flour, roll the sweet potato into small balls and flatten slightly, dust in flour, dip in egg and breadcrumb and place on a tray / board, when all ready to go heat 1 cm vegetable oil in a suitable pan, test heat by dropping a cube of bread, when it takes 30 seconds to brown, add the bites in batches and cook for 1-2 minutes or until crispy, be careful as the oil gets very hot. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately

Its A Wrap!

Now don't get me wrong, I know they are popular but I just really don't 'do' sandwiches, especially the ready made variety, two slices of white cheap bread with an indifferent filling smothered in cheap mayo, no thankyou! However this week we had some wraps that needing using up and not wanting to waste decided to have for my lunches.

Here are two easy, quick and tasty ideas for lunchtimes:

Wrap 1 - take half a tin of mixed salad beans and drain well, smother a (herby) tortilla wrap with low fat soft cheese (I like sainsburys BGTY one!), place the drained beans on one half and roll up carefully from that end snugly, until rolled up, slice in half and eat! Surprisingly tasty for something very simple. The leftover beans can be kept for up to 2 days in the fridge.

Wrap 2 - Thinly slice 4 closed cup mushrooms, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a frying pan, add a bashed clove of garlic and when browning discard, now fry the mushrooms for no more than 2-3 mins until a nice golden colour, drain on kitchen paper until cooled, season with black pepper and a pinch of chives if you have them, smother the wrap with low fat soft cheese and place mushrooms on half of it then roll from that end, slice as before and serve.

Mini Minty Meatballs

These go great with picnicky foods and best served cold (that is of course providing you do not eat them all first!) Have made these twice and each time gone down extremely well!

Approx quantities - Makes 30 roughly...

250g Really good seasoned pork sausagement - I always use one from the Butchers and is superb - skip all the supermarket ones!
8-10 Fresh mint leaves
1 egg*
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Plain flour for dusting

1) Firstly lay out 1-2 trays and cover with foil and prepare a bowl of hot soapy water

2) Finely shred the mint leaves and mix everything in a bowl (exc flour) *note: you may not need all the egg, just enough to bind

3) Flour your hands and using a teaspoon take about 2/3 tsp of the mix and roll into a ball, dust in flour and place on tray, repeat with remainder, does take quite a while but is worth it!

4) When they are all ready you can either chill / freeze until needed or cook straightaway

5) To cook, take a large saute pan / lidded frying pan and heat 2 tbsp veg oil, add the meatballs carefully keeping apart, will take about 15 mins to cook, keep turning so that they brown all over, then drain on kitchen paper

Serve with other mixed dishes for a casual evening meal or picnic

Garlic Ciabattas 2 - The Daddy!

Wow what can I say, made garlic bread on sunday and was best have ever made and had which I am very proud of!!

Ingredients

1 nice ciabatta
150g good butter (I like Kerrygold)
1 small handful fresh parsley chopped roughly
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1) Pre heat oven to 180o
2) In a bowl blend the above ingredients
3) Slice the ciabatta through the middle to form two halves
4) Spread generously with the butter mix
5) Place in oven on a tray and bake for 6 minutes, if you want a crispier finish switch to grill mode for a further two mins

6) Serve immediately!