Roasted Vegetable Puff Pies

I had my mum round for lunch this week and wanted to make something filling and warm as the weather was horrible and who doesn't love a hearty plate of food in the autumn and winter. This recipe was really easy to make and couple be done in stages if time is an issue. I used a premade puff pastry from Tescos rather than attempting to make my own, most are vegan suitable but please always double check. I am also aware that this recipe contains 2 main ingredients that divide people but these could be swapped out for more of the others. Or give them a try cooked in this way - you might just surprise yourself. I served this very basically for lunch but it would equally be lovely as a dinner or to accompany a roast instead of meat.

Ingredients:


1 large onion
1 bulb garlic
1 courgette
1 aubergine
2 large flat mushrooms
1 sheet puff pastry
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt crystals
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp italian herbs

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200c and grab a large baking tray. Chop the courgette, aubergine and mushrooms into evenly sized pieces around a centimetre. Cut up the onion into similar sized chunks then peel and roughly chop the garlic. Place all of the chopped ingredients then toss in the salt, pepper and herbs; stirring well to give everything an even coating before drizzling with olive oil.

Place in the preheated oven and roast for 25-35 minutes until all of the vegetables are soft and cooked through. Lower the temperature of your oven to 160c.

Take the puff pastry out of the fridge around 10 minutes before you are going to use it for the best pliability. Unroll the puff pastry and cut into quarters, stretching 2 of the pieces slightly.

Spoon the roasted vegetables into the centre of the unstretched pieces, piling it up to create a good sized mound but leaving a centimetre gap around the edge. Carefully lay the stretched pieces over the top and seal using a fork pressed around the edges.

Place on a baking tray and into the oven for 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

I served these with cabbage, green beans and an onion gravy.

When you make these, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Plum-kin Spiced Cake

I was recently gifted a very large bag of plums and while some were perfect for eating just as they were, some had a little damage or were more bitter but ideal for cooking and baking with. I love plums and wanted to make something other than the classic crumble. This cake packs a punch with autumnal spicing inspired by the ever popular pumpkin spice latte. I succeeded with the OH test with this cake too, the smell brought him down 2 flights of stairs demanding to know what was making his mouth water. I was so enthusiastic to try this cake that I totally cut into it while it was still cooling on the rack, 100% worth it!

Ingredients:
400g self raising flour
250g granulated sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 tbsp golden syrup
400ml soy milk
115ml soy milk
10 plums
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar

Method: 
Half and destone the plums and set to one side. Preheat your oven to 160c and line and grease a large rectangular baking tin.

Place all of the ingredients except the plums into a large bowl and mix together until the batter is smooth and resembles thick cream in texture. Pour into the baking tray and level out using a spatula. Gently pop the plums on top of the batter at even spacings then place in the oven for 35-40  minutes until golden brown and baked through - a skewer should come out clean when inserted into the cake. My plums sunk in the cake but I don't mind this, you still get a mouthful of joy and fruit in cakes will always defeat all my attempts to suspend it!

Once the cake is baked, carefully turn it out onto a cooling rack and remove the greaseproof paper. Leave to cool for 15 minutes then dust with icing sugar using a sifter or sieve.

Serve warm with cream or ice cream or just scoff as is at any given point of the day.

When you make this, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Thank you and enjoy! +

Savoury Jackfruit Tart

My brother and his partner came round for dinner this week and I was determined to make something different, With one vegetarian, one vegan and one Coeliac in the family; meals can get complicated. I really didn't want to make our family go to meals of either curry or risotto so I decided to challenge myself to make something new and challenge my brother (the vegetarian) to something he had never tried before - Jackfruit. I have had and made pulled pork type alternatives using jackfruit before but had never had anything else and really wanted to serve something that went with roast potatoes so a tart seemed ideal. This one draws inspiration from loads of recipes I found on line and is a mashup of the parts of each I like best, all encased in my faithful pastry recipe which I have been making for years. The tart was a big hit with my brother who went back for seconds and took half the leftovers home with him -  as he's my harshest critic, I consider this an absolute win! Apologies for the strange colours on the blog, I had a technical glitch and I'm still trying to fix it. 

Ingredients:

For the pastry:
225g plain flour
100g butter - i use dairy free
4-6 tbsp cold water

For the filling: 
1 tin jackfruit in water (drained)
2 cups soy milk 
1 large carrot 
1 onion 
6 cloves garlic 
2 tsp italian herbs
2 tsp salt 
1 stock cube 
1 tsp black pepper 
1 cup frozen peas 
1 tbsp olive oil 
Method:

Place the flour and butter into a large bowl and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add the water while gently kneading with your hands to bring the dough together then tip out onto a piece of cling-film and use to form the dough into a ball. Pop into the fridge for at least 30 minutes while the filling cooks. 

Finely mince the onions and garlic. Place a pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent and there garlic has a touch of colour. Chop the jackfruit into small pieces, making sure to cut through the core. Add the jackfruit to the pan along with the stock cube, herbs, salt and pepper and gently fry for 2-3 minutes. Chop the carrot into small rounds and add in along with the soy milk. Simmer on a low heat until the carrot is soft then add in the peas. Reduce the liquid in the pan until the mixture is thick and coats the vegetables. I'm not going to lie, at one point I thought the milk had separated and I had totally messed up but bare with it and it all comes together in the end. 

Preheat your oven to 160c. Take the dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to around a 30cm circle. Take a loose bottomed tart tin and carefully drape the pastry over. Take a small piece of excess pastry and use this to push the pastry into the tin, getting into all the corners. Trim the pastry to the top of the dish.  Line the pastry with baking foil and blind bake for 10 minutes until golden brown and slightly crisp looking. 

Fill the pastry with the jackfruit mixture, smoothing it carefully to the sides then return the tart to the oven to bake for a further 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling is lightly coloured and has settled into the casing. 

I served this with roast potatoes, green vegetables and gravy for dinner then had the leftovers cold  with salad for lunch the next day and each were equally lovely. 

When you make this please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife 

Enjoy! 

Apple and Cinnamon Scones

I've been having fun experimenting with different scone flavours this week and this one was a winner for me. They smelt so good fresh out the oven my OH came running down from two stories up in our house to grab one off the cooling rack and devour it in a couple of bites. I used a combination of a basic vegan scone recipe, inspiration from my Granny's apple scone recipe I posted before and (oddly enough) dumplings, stuffing these scones with a golden nugget of marzipan for additional texture and flavour. I took some of these to my work and they went down an absolute treat.

Ingredients:

1 large cooking apple
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 block of marzipan
475g self raising flour plus extra for dusting
50g caster sugar
85g vegan butter
240ml dairy-free milk  - I use soy
1 tsp cider vinegar
granulated sugar for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200c fan and flour 2 baking trays. Peel, core and dice the apple and set to one side. Grab a big bowl and place in the flour, caster sugar, cinnamon and butter and rub together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Mix the milk with the vinegar then pour into the bowl. Knead until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough then add in the apple and knead through.

Take a lump of the dough around the size of a ping-pong ball and use your fingers to shape into a circle. Grab a lump of the marzipan around the 1cm in diameter and place in the centre of the dough then bring the dough up around the marzipan to encase it, rolling the dough between your hands to form a rough ball. I would recommend flouring your hands to stop the dough sticking.  Place on the floured baking sheet and repeat until all of the dough and marzipan has been used, creating around 20 scones.

Sprinkle with a generous helping of granulated sugar, gently pressing it into the top of the scones to stop it falling everywhere. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the scones are golden brown and the sugar has melted a little. The marzipan may split the scones and flow out the middle, while not necessarily the prettiest, it tastes amazing so don't worry!

Place the scones on a cooling rack for a little while as they will be incredibly hot. Scoff them with a cuppa when you can no longer resist how amazing they smell without a care for how hot they are!

When you make these, take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Sausage Bake

This bake is seriously easy to make and tastes fantastic - perfect for those where dinner needs to be a hug! I imagine it would make a lovely breakfast as well, served with hash browns and a bucket of tea. I used the red pepper sausages from Aldi as I'm not keen on faux-meat sausages but this would work equally well with whatever your favourite is. This made enough for 2 for dinner with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
12 sausages
1 can butter beans
1 can cannellini beans
1 can kidney beans
2 cans tinned tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 jar sundried tomatoes
2 tsp paprika
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Grab your biggest pan and place over a low heat with around 2 tbsp of the oil from the sundried tomatoes. Dice the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Drain the liquid from the  the beans and add to the pan and fry gently for a couple of minutes. Roughly chop the sundried tomatoes and pop into the pan along with the tinned tomatoes and puree, stirring everything together. Add in a can of water along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, the paprika, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar then bring to a simmer.

Leave to simmer until the sauce has reduced by around half and starts to cling to the beans, around 30 minutes.  Season with more salt and pepper if needed.

Preheat your oven to 180c fan. Fry the sausages in a separate pan until nearly cooked then layer the bean and tomato mixture into an oven dish and top with the sausages, pressing them down into the mixture below. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper and a little drizzle oil from the tomatoes over the exposed sausage. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the sausages are cooked.

I served this with finely shredded cabbage and leeks steamed together, a favourite of my other half.

Please make this as I know you will love it. When you do, take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Thank you