These crab balls made with seafood sticks make a great a cheap eat for a snack or starter. They are especially delicious when served with some spicy chilli sauce.
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 dumplungs 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!
My mum made these a few times when I was child – quail egg’s are the perfect size. I’ve been using locally sourced Debbie and Andrew’s Harrogate 97% pork sausages as my sausagemeat, it’s great quality and reasonably priced.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!