‘Leftover’ Nut Roast Pasties

Boxing Day was a pretty quiet and relaxed day. These are the two days of the year when I can actually enjoy just lounging around…any other time I would get fidgety and feel the need to be doing something more!

In the morning we went for a walk through the park and the fields for a bit of fresh air, where myself and my brother and sister decided to take to the swings… if you can’t be a kid at Christmas… then when can you?  

The weather was actually quiet warm and sunny, very unusal for this time of year, so it felt a bit 

overkill to be dressed up in scarf and hat (the hat soon came off)!

Once back home I made lunch for everyone….my ‘leftovers’ pasties. 

The recipe is so quick and simple and was briefly mentioned here, but I’ll reiterate it again for quick reference. I just love the simplicity of the recipe and the fact that it could be so easily adapted for any ‘leftover roast’ combo. I haven’t included meat here, but obviously this could be included also if you wished. My family added some of the meat into their pasties.

Recipe: ‘leftover’ Nut Roast Pasties

Makes 6-10 pasties depending on size

Ingredients:

(these measurements are all approximates and easily interchangeable for other similar ingredients)

• 1 ½ cup mixed veggies (I used brussel sprouts, roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots and mashed potato)
• ½  cup nut roast or stuffing
• A few tablespoons of sauce (cranberry sauce, bread sauce, gravy etc)
• Approx. 1 tsp mixed herb seasoning (optional)
• Approx. 30x50cm rolled ready-made or homemade shortcrust pastry (I cheated this time and used ready-made!)

Method:

Cut out approx. 6 large saucer sized rolled ready-made or homemade shortcrust pastry (shop bought shortcrust pastry in the UK is usually vegan anyway but check the label). Or you could cut smaller circles and make mini pasties.

In a medium bowl add all ingredients and mush together a little so well mixed. Spoon approx. ¼ cup of the mixture in to the centre of each pastry round leaving at least 2cm of pastry round the edge. Wet the edges a little and lift up and seal the edges together making a semi-circle with the seam at the top. Crimp the seam with your fingers.

Place the pasties on a greased or lined baking sheet, brush with soy milk and bake at 180C for approx. 25 mins until golden. Serve warm or cold.

Note: the dollop of filling I have shown there is too much in relation to the circle size- after this photo was take I had to reduce it a little to be able to seal the egdes!

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Coconut Tarts With Apple & Raspberry

Things are looking up!

On Sunday, following a few days of re-adjustment once all my kitchen equipment and baking boxes had found new homes, I started to feel more at ease. I began to look forward to baking again and I moreover I needed to cook up some snacks to keep me going throughout the coming week. 

So, I had to go for it. An afternoon of baking in a new environment and with a new perspective…  and it felt good.  I’d even go so far as to say it was a resounding success!

First up I tried a ‘safe’ recipe with few ingredients and minimal mess to test the waters… more on that in a later post (clue- it contained ginger!)

Second up, these apple and raspberry coconut tarts… indeed they are as good as they sound. Since I was feeling adventurous and surprisingly confident by that point I decided to go all out and put together a crazy gluten free pastry base to boot.  Feel free to use your own ‘tried and tested’ pastry recipe if you prefer (GF or not), but I felt this version turned out surprising well- see additional notes below. The ingredients and method might appear long winded- but please do not let this put you off, each step is pretty simple and there is really not too much to it. It will be worth it!

Do I really need say any more or does this picture speak for itself….mmmmm, crisp coconut flakes, sweet moist coconut buttery apple topping and drippy raspberry centres all wrapped up in a crisp pastry shell.

Recipe: Apple and raspberry coconut tarts

Makes 12 tarts

Ingredients

Pastry base:

• 130g GF flour mix
• 30g ground almonds
• ¼ tsp xantham gum
• 80g coconut butter
• 40g banana puree (approx. ½ mashed banana)
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Filling:

• 1tsp sugar free raspberry  jam per tart case
• 1 apple grated
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbs agave
• 50g coconut butter (partially melted)
• 40g unsweetened desiccated coconut
• 1/3 tsp stevia (or to taste)

Topping:

• 1tbs ground flax plus 2 tbs hot water
• Approx. ½ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut

Method

Prepare GF pastry base (as above or use own recipe) but combining all ingredients together and forming a ball of dough. Cover in cling film and let rest whilst you prep the remaining ingredients.

Mix the grated apple with the lemon juice and set aside. Mix the partially melted coconut butter with the agave, stevia and desiccated coconut then add the apple mixture.

Either roll the pastry and use a cutter to cut circles to lay in each tart case, or if the pastry is a little too crumbly (as in this case) put of sections of dough and press into each tart case with fingers tips ensuring the pastry is not too thick. Note- it is impotant that the pastry is pretty thin as otherwise it will dominate the tart and be too tough.

Mix the ground flax with hot water and allow to sit for a few minutes until gloopy.

Fill each tart with a tsp of jam and then top this with a ‘disc’ of apple/coconut mixture- I pulled off a piece the size of a walnut and then flattened this in my hands.

Lastly, using a pastry brush, cover the top surface of the tart with the flax mixture and sprinkle over a generous layer of desiccated coconut so that it sticks to the wet flax.

Bake at 180C for approx. 15 minutes until the top begins to turn golden.

First- add 1 tsp of jam per tart

Second- lay the apple/coconut 'pattie' over the jam (note I ran short of topping hence the lonely jam tart!)before adding the coconut sprinkles over the top.

Note: My pastry base was completely experimental, but I felt it worked quite well with a subtle sweetness of banana and coconut. I haven’t created a GF pastry before so have little experience to go on. It wasn’t at all flaking but neither was it too tough the next day (however it got tougher in the following couple of days so maybe still needs torefinement!) It had the characteristic of a more robust pastry shell with a substantial ‘bite’ as opposed to melt-in-your-mouth, so make sure you keep the pastry case very thin. I quite liked the robustness it gave it but I understand some people may prefer a more delicate flakier pastry. Any neutral pastry base would work well here so feel free to mix it up a bit and use your own pastry recipe.

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Easy Roasted Vegetable Tart

One of the winning dishes (other than the sweet potato curry ) served to my colleagues when I cooked them lunch recently was this roasted vegetable tart. Soooo simply and sooooo delicious, this was also a requested recipe that they wanted me to write up for them and so I wanted to share it here also.  Ok, before I start-  I know puff pastry is not typically healthy- BUT- this is topped with loads of healthy veggies and the proportion of pastry to veg is really not too naughty (particularly if you team this up with a quinoa salad or similar as I did when I cooked for my colleagues).

This is another really versatile recipe and you can use whatever veg is in season. Asparagus worked really well here as it looks so pretty laid out across the tart. Strangely enough, the first comments from my colleagues were ‘wow, a pizza’, obvious this is not pizza at all although I guess visually it’s not so far off… and I reckon it tastes so much better!

Note, I was pushed for time when I made this tart (with so many other dishes to create) and I cheated a little and bought ready-made puff pastry which happens to be vegan anyway (check the packet when buying). Feel free to make your own puff pastry (and make me feel guilty in the process!)

Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Tart

Serves 4 (or more if serving with other dishes)

Ingredients:

• 1pack of ready-made puff pastry (I used Jus-Rol available in most UK supermarkets)
• Paste- 1tbs tomato puree, 1tsp lemon juice, handful of tomatoes, small onion, 2 cloves garlic, ½ a pepper, 1tsp oil. (or could simply use 2-3 tbs tomato puree)
• 2 tbs hummous
• Veg for roasting- 1 onion, 1 or 2 peppers, cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, approx. 10 asparagus stalks (or other combinations)
• Olive oil
• Vegan pesto or other herb and garlic seasoning

Method:

Prepare veg topping for roasting- cut all veg into chunks but keep asparagus whole (break off woody ends). Coat in oil and pesto or other seasonings and roast in oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile blend paste ingredients in food processor and set aside (or omit this and use tomato puree). Roll out the puff pastry until thin (approx. 3-5mm thick). Spread hummous in centre leaving a 1” space from the edge of the pastry. Spread tomato paste on top of this.

Pile the roasted veg on top of the paste laying the asparagus across and putting the other vegetable pieces on the gaps. Lightly brush the 1” space around the edge in olive oil. Bake in the oven at 220 C for 10-15 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden.

Serve hot or cold.

Aw, almost too pretty to cut up and eat…. Oh well dig in!

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