Lay The Table » Snacks

Chicken, cabbage and spring onion gyoza

Becs — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:22:17 +0000

I’ve been completely inspired this week to make my own gyoza dumplings after spending the weekend with my Can-asian friend Kim, who taught me how to put them together. She told me how her mum likes to make chicken dumplings but it’s hard to find chicken mince over here. I decided I’d have a go at chopping up a couple of chicken breasts really finely, it seems the results paid off!

{Makes about 20 gyoza}

Ingredients

A pack of gyoza wrappers
2 free range chicken breasts
3 spring onions
2 savoy cabbage leaves
1/2tsp mirin
1/2tsp oyster sauce
1tsp dark soy sauce
Pinch of pepper

Instructions

Using a large knife, chop the chicken finely, so it becomes mince-like.
Top and tail the spring onions, then remove the outer layers. Chop finely.
Rinse the cabbage leaves well, then remove hard stalky bits. Also chop finely.
Mix the chicken, spring onions, cabbage, mirin, soy sauce and pepper together in a bowl, making sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Make the gyoza, I used this tutorial to show me how to do it: How to make gyoza
In a wok, heat 2tsp oil on a medium heat, and put about half of the gyoza in the pan to fry gently on each side for a couple of minutes. Watch they don’t burn!
Add boiling water up to about halfway up the gyoza, and put a lid on the wok. Leave until the water has just about evaporated.
Serve with soy sauce, sweet chilli dipping sauce, or more traditionally ponzu sauce. You can store these in the freezer for up to a month once you’ve made them – perfect for emergency asian snacking!

Wholemeal quails egg scotch eggs

Becs — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:13:30 +0000

I loathe looking at the sorry excuses for scotch eggs or picnic eggs in the supermarket, with their tired, grey looking pork and similarly bad looking eggs. My mum made these a few times when I was child – quail egg’s are the perfect size for scotch eggs! I’ve been using locally sourced Debbie and Andrew’s Harrogate 97% pork sausages as my sausagemeat, it’s great quality and reasonably priced – and best of all available in Morrison’s.

{Makes 9}

Ingredients

9 quail’s eggs
400g sausagemeat
4 slices wholemeal bread
1 medium-sized egg
2tbsp mixed herbs
1tbsp vinegar
1/2tsp onion salt
1tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 200°C, then slice bread into small squares and drizzle with the olive oil. Place in oven for 8 minutes, until crunchy. Finely blend in a food processor to make breadcrumbs.
Boil eggs in boiling water plus the vinegar for 2-3 minutes for medium/hard boiled and 4 minutes for hard-boiled. Then place them in a bowl of cold water.
Mix the sausagemeat with the mixed herbs, onion salt and add a dash of salt and pepper.
Take some of the sausagemeat, make into a ball shape, then squash out flatly, placing a quail egg in the middle and wrapping the sausagemeat around it. Add more sausage meat to close the any gaps around the egg. Repeat with the other quail’s eggs.
Whisk the egg in a bowl, then line the quail’s eggs up on one side, and a plate of breadcrumbs on the other. Keeping one hand for egg and one for breadcrumbs, dip the sausagemeat eggs in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs.
Fry the scotch eggs for about 10-12 minutes, moving all the time to ensure they’re evenly cooked. Alternatively, you could try baking them for about 15-20 minutes at 180°C.

Chicken satay

Becs — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:55:15 +0000

These make a great party snack or even a tasty supper when served with rice! Good quality chicken is a must, and don’t forget, the longer you marinate these the better they’ll taste! So if you have time to prepare these the day before, even better.

Tip: Add 1tbsp curry powder when adding the peanut butter and brown sugar to the pan for a spiced up version

{Serves 3 people when served with rice as a dinner}

Ingredients

For the marinade

3 chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fresh coriander
2 tbsp oil

For the satay sauce

200ml coconut milk
2 heaped tbsp peanut butter (I find smooth works better but if you prefer crunchy, go ahead)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp oil
Dash of pepper

Instructions

Crush the garlic, roughly chop and coriander and mix with the oil in a large bowl/tray.
Using a meat tenderiser, gently bash the chicken between cling film. This stops it moving about and ensures even tenderising! Then cut into small 2cm wide slices.
Mix the chicken with the marinade, cover and place in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably overnight.
Soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes in a bowl of water, this stops them burning. Then gently push the chicken onto the skewers. We used approximately 10 skewers, using about ⅔ of each skewer.
Cook the chicken for around 12-15 minutes, turning halfway to ensure even cooking.
To make the sauce: Put the oil in the pan and warm slightly over a medium heat before adding the peanut butter and brown sugar. Allow the sugar to dissolve and the peanut butter to become runnier before mixing in the coconut milk bit my bit. Bring to the boil then leave to simmer gently for 5 minutes.

Stilton, bacon and red onion tartlets

Becs — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:24:34 +0000

We’ve packed away the decorations and laid the Christmas songs to rest for another year, but what’s left in your fridge? Admittedly, I didn’t have the stilton left in the fridge, it was on the clearance shelf at the supermarket and I do so love blue cheese!

27mins – Prep time: 15mins – Cooking time: 12mins

{Makes: 12}

Ingredients

1 pack ready rolled puff pastry (375g)
180g bacon lardons
60g stilton
1/2 red onion

Instructions

Oven temp: 140°C/390°F

Grease 12 hole bun tin and cut out circles just larger than the holes in the tin. Gently push the circles into the holes using your knuckles.
Gently fry off the bacon and onions in a pan over a medium heat. The onions will cook in the lardon fat and will soften. Don’t overcook the bacon, the oven will finish the job!
Divide the bacon and onions evenly between the 12 holes.
Crumble the stilton over the tops of the tartlets.
Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, until the pastry starts to brown a little and the stilton has melted down.

Sausage rolls

Becs — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:29:39 +0000

Using onion salt instead of onion in the sausage meat stops the pastry going soggy. The expert who taught me the recipe for these sausage rolls (my very talented mother) showed me that adding a little water to the tray makes the puff pastry a little bit puffier. I find the supermarkets often sell low quality sausagemeat so I tend to buy their finest sausages, which have a higher meat content.

Ingredients

4 good quality thick pork sausages
2tsp finely chopped fresh sage
1tsp mixed herbs
Pinch onion salt
Pinch garlic granules
Salt and pepper to season
1 ready rolled pack puff pastry
Egg yolk
Splash of milk

Instructions

Cut the sausages open and mix together with the sage, mixed herbs, onion salt and garlic granules then season the mixture with salt and pepper.
Lay out the puff pastry on a floured pastry mat.Leave room at the bottom of the mat to roll the sausagemeat.
Divide the sausagemeat out into thirds. Roll out one of the thirds into a long sausage on the floured mat, making it the same length as the pastry’s longest side.
Gently lift the sausagemeat roll onto the pastry and gently fold the pastry over tightly and seal the edges together with a little water.
Take a knife and slice close to the join, but not too close or the roll will fall open! Gently roll the sausage roll over so the join is at the top and again fold and smooth the edge down with a little water. Roll around again so the the join is at the bottom and push down.
Take a paring knife and slice 4cm wide slices down the roll, ensuring the knife is clean between slices.
Lay them out on two well greased baking trays and tidy up the sausage rolls by making them more rounded and tucking all the sausagemeat and pastry back onto the ends. Then take a pair of scissors and snip two triangles in the tops of each of the sausage rolls.
Mix the egg yolk and the milk together and wash over the tops of the sausage rolls with a pastry brush.
Drip about 1/2 tsp water onto the baking trays and run around the edges of the tin.
Put them in the oven at 220C then turn down to 200C after puff pastry starts to puff (about 3 minutes), and cook for a further 8 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from the baking tray, using a table knife to gently lift any that have stuck, and cool on a wire rack.
Beware of stray fingers as they taste delicious warm!

Mmmince pies

Becs — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:14:39 +0000

Spending time on mince pies is always worth the effort! Impress your friends by using the snowflake shaped cutter for the cutout. I based this on Nigella’s recipe but added a few ingredients of my own. The addition of spices to the pastry adds some extra flavour.

55mins – Prep time: 40mins – Cooking time: 15mins

{Makes: 12}

Ingredients

8oz plain flour
2oz lard, diced into small squares
2oz cold butter, diced into small squares
130ml orange juice
1oz icing sugar
1/2 grated nutmeg
1tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground almond
2tbsp demerera sugar for sprinkling
1 jar mincemeat (admittedly I cheated and used shop-bought one, Duerr’s Luxury Mincemeat)
Splash of amaretto

Instructions

Oven temp: 180°C/320°F

Grease and flour a 12 hole bun tin.
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and mix in the nutmeg, cinnamon and almond. Then bit by bit, add the lard and butter, shaking the to cover them in flour. Add Place in fridge for 20 mins.
Blitz the mixture in a blender until it goes into breadcrumb form, then add the juice until it just starts to form dough.
Knead the mixture of a floured surface, then wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Once removed, quarter, then roll out 2 quarters into thin layers with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Cut out circles with a cutter, just larger than the bun tin’s holes.
Gently push down the pastry circles into the bun tin with the end of your thumb.
Add the splash of amaretto to your jar of mincemeat and shake to mix. Then taking a tablespoonful at a time, put the mincemeat into the pies cases.
Roll out the other two quarters into thin layers on a floured surface and use the large snowflake cutter from this PME 3 Pce Snowflake Cutter Set to create snowflakes for the top.
Tip: Be very gentle with the snowflakes , they’re fragile! We found that pushing out the design right on top of the mince pies worked really well as we didn’t need to move them too much, otherwise they can break.
You can brush the tops with a little milk and dust with the demerera sugar for a caramel crunch top.
Place in the oven for about 12 minutes.
Ensure the mince pies cool down thoroughly as the pastry is quite short and prone to breaking if not left to hard a little before moving.

Tangy sesame coated sausages

Becs — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:06:02 +0000

Served warm and sticky, these make a delicious Bonfire Night treat, or winter snack. The addition of ketchup gives the honey mustard glaze a little oomph.

15mins – Prep time: 5mins – Cooking time: 10mins

Ingredients

2tbsp runny honey
1tbsp tomato ketchup
2tsp English mustard
1tsp wasabi
A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
4tbsp sesame seeds
1tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Mix ketchup, wasabi and mustard together in a small bowl.
Warm the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.
Put the sausages in the pan and fry until gently browned, about 3-4 minutes.
Spoon the ketchup/wasabi/mustard mix over the sausages and stir to mix it in. Add the Worcestershire sauce.
Allow to cook for 1 more minute, then spoon over the honey mixture. Let the mixture bubble and reduce, so that it goes nice and sticky.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little before sprinkling the sesame seeds over.
Serve warm or allow to cool and store them in the fridge.

Brown sugar & cinnamon cashews and pecans

Becs — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:17:27 +0000

These make a perfect bonfire treat, especially when served still warm. My mother always brings me these back from Belgium when she visits as she knows I love them so much. You should eat a handful of nuts and seeds every day, so this is just a tasty way of doing it. I’ll be making some more of these for my Christmas food hampers, wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon.

15mins – Prep time: 5mins – Cooking time: 10mins

Ingredients

150g pecan halves
150g cashews, unsalted
100g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Line a large frying pan with foil (this saves on washing up!)
Put the cinammon and the sugar in the pan and heat until it just starts to melt.
Add the pecans and cashews and stir to ensure even distribution. Cook until nuts have browned a little.
Remove foil with nuts from the pan and allow to cool a little. Then tip onto a plate to prevent the nuts sticking to the foil

Crispy pork and prawn wantons

Becs — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:58:06 +0000

These make great snacks or starters, serve with sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce for dipping. These take a while to make, but it’s well worth the effort!

40mins – Prep time: 35 mins – Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients

250g pork mince
200g prawns
1 pack wanton wrappers for deep frying (about 30)
3 spring onions
4 water chestnuts
2cm fresh ginger
1/4tsp five spice
1tsp light soy sauce

Instructions

Put wanton wrappers on a plate and cover with a damp cloth to keep them moist.
Finely chop the spring onion and water chestnuts.
Peel the ginger and chop finely too
In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the wanton wrappers.
Peel a wanton wrapper from the block and brush a little water over it to moisten.
Using a teaspoon, spoon about 1 rounded spoonful onto the middle of the wanton wrapper.
Fold wrapper in half diagonally and seal edges.
To cook, heat a saucepan with about 4cm of oil in. Cook wantons in batches for about 3-4mins or until the wantons are golden.