Fig & Blue Cheese Tarts

Figs.

Blue Cheese.

Walnuts.

Honey.

Perfect Combination. And these are so easy to make.

I took 2 sheets of puff pastry from the freezer and while they were defrosting crumbed 150g blue cheese, took out a jar of fig jam (figs are out of season), roughly chopped about 3/4 cup walnuts and drizzled them with 3 tablespoons honey. The oven was turned on to 200ºC. I greased a 12-well muffin tin.

By now the puff pastry was ready. I cut it across into 3, then turned it the other way to cut across into 3 again. This left 9 pieces. I did the same with the other sheet of pastry. I now had 12 pieces for the muffin tin and 6 left over.

Each piece of pastry was now stretched carefully in both directions and fitted into a well of the tin. Into each I placed the crumbled blue cheese sharing it over the 12. On top of this went a good dob of fig jam. The honeyed walnuts were then placed on the top. The tarts went into the oven to cook for about 15 minutes. They were now golden and bubbling.

When they were taken out I left them for about 10 minutes and then carefully lifted them out by the corners that stuck up.

They were richly sweet. Probably with fresh figs they would be less sweet but the sweetness was wonderful with the musky tang of the cheese and the crunchy bitterness of the walnuts. I ate three of them straight off.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Mexican Breakfast Rolls

From Savoury Bites, Hollis Wilder, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2013.

I had some salsa and red kidney bean mix left over from making huevos rancheros. This seemed an ideal way to use them up.

I heated the oven up to 180ºC and took out a sheet of short pastry from the freezer. I also took out two frozen hash browns. These two went into a medium heat pan to fry on one side without turning until the underneath side was turning golden. The hash browns were sprinkled with chilli powder, salt and black pepper. They were turned and cooked until the other side was done. They were left to cool.

Now the sheet of pastry was sprinkled with chopped coriander, leaving a small edge all around. The leftover salsa/kidney bean mix was spread over this. Then I added the two hash browns that turned out to be just the right width placed side by side. Grated cheddar cheese was sprinkled over this and the pastry was rolled up as tightly as I could get it to go.

A six-cup muffin tin was sprayed with oil. The pastry roll was cut into six pieces. These were placed in the muffin tin with the cut sides up. They went into the oven for about 40 minutes. They were left to cool for a few minutes and then carefully taken out of the tin. There was an occasional one that left a little of its filling behind. This was easily scraped up and pressed back into the case.

This book looks as though it is going to prove itself very helpful. The savoury bites are such a good way to use up leftovers and with all of the ideas in the book I think it’s going to be used often.

I enjoyed these. The pastry had some crunch to it and, of course, the taste was all there, especially with the addition of the hash browns. I ate more than I feel I should have, but they were so good.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔