Smoked salmon, parsley and cream cheese omelette

This made a really nice Sunday brunch dish. A glass of champagne would finish it off nicely!

Ingredients: (makes 2 omelettes)

3 large eggs

a handful of parsley, chopped

a slice of smoked salmon, cut into small pieces

a tbl spoon of cream cheese

black pepper

butter

2 English muffins

• In a jug or bowl mix the omelette ingredients together: eggs, salmon, cream cheese and parsley. Season with black pepper and stir well.
• Heat a knob of butter in a non stick pan and pour in half of the egg mixture. Cook the omelette for a minute or two (according to how you like it) and fold in half towards the end of cooking.
• Meanwhile, toast an English muffin to serve alongside.

Venison pie

We bought the venison from Alternative Meats (see website below). It was as good as all the other meat we've tried from there. This was very filling so we just served it with extra veg and a little extra gravy. It smelled and tasted fantastic!

Ingredients:

500g diced venison

white onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

pack of mushrooms, sliced

1 carrot, diced,

2 sticks of celery, diced

tea spoon of dried thyme

tbl spoon of redcurrant jelly

tbl spoon of plain flour

200ml red wine

200ml beef stock

100ml port

olive oil

salt and pepper

• Marinade the venison in the wine and port overnight
• Remove the meat from the marinade and pat it dry with a paper towel. Add the flour to the meat and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.
• Brown the venison in a little oil in a large non-stick saucepan, in stages if necessary.
• Remove the browned meat from the pan and set aside. Fry the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and mushrooms for 5 minutes or so.
• Add the venison back into the pan, followed by the herbs, marinade liquid and stock.
• Leave to simmer on a low heat for about 1.5 hrs. Add the redcurrant jelly and cook for another 30 minutes.
• Pre-heat the oven to about 200 degrees. Line a pie dish with shortcrust pastry so that it covers the bottom and the sides.
• Spoon the venison filling into the pie dish before placing another piece of pastry on top and pinching the edges to seal it. Egg wash the top of the pie before putting it in the pre-heated oven for around 30 minutes.

Samosas

We had these with a big leafy salad and a dollop of tomato salsa. We made about 12 samosas and the leftovers were good re-heated for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

filo pastry (we used about 2/3rds of a pack)

butternut squash

2 tomatoes, diced

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted

1/2 a pack of feta, or you could probably use paneer, cut into chunks

tea spoon dried thyme

tea spoon ground coriander

tea spoon curry powder

olive oil
salt and pepper

• Peel the squash and cut the flesh into small chunks. Roast them in a hot oven for about 30 minutes with the peeled cloves of garlic and a drizzle of olive oil.
• Once the squash is cooked, let it cool a little and put the squash and the roast garlic in a large bowl.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Add a little olive oil if it looks too dry.
• Prepare the pastry by slicing each sheet into 3 strips. Keep any unused sheets from drying out by covering with a clean, damp tea towel.
• To assemble each samosa put a spoonful of the mixture about 5cm from one end of a strip. Turn one of the nearest corners over the mixture. Continue to fold the filling and filo pastry until you reach the end of the strip, and you will be left with a triangular parcel.
• Brush each samosa with a little olive oil and cook in a medium oven for about 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through.

Moroccan lamb meatballs

This is the second thing we've made using the speciality sausages we bought from Alternative Meats. These sausages are called Algerian Merguez style and are a very tasty slightly spicy lamb sausage.

Ingredients:

6 lamb sausages (skins removed)

white onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

green pepper, diced

a handful of mushrooms, sliced

tin of chopped tomatoes

1 handful of chopped mint

1 handful of chopped coriander

200ml veg stock

a pinch of cinammon

tea sp of honey

tea sp of ground cumin

olive oil

salt and pepper

• Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees.
• Mould the sausage meat into meatball shapes and brown them in olive oil, then set aside in an ovenproof dish (or tagine).
• In the same frying pan, fry the onion, garlic and pepper for 5 minutes or so. Then add the sliced mushrooms.
• Add the remaining ingredients (chopped tomatoes, stock, herbs, honey, cumin and cinammon) and allow to simmer for 5 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper.
• Pour the sauce over the lamb meatballs and place the dish in the oven.
• Allow to simmer in the oven for around 30 minutes or so before serving with cous cous.

Creole smoky sausage pasta

We recently bought a selection of meat and sausages from the Alternative Meats company http://www.alternativemeats.co.uk/. This was the first thing we made. It was very easy and had loads of flavour.

Ingredients:

4 creole smoky sausages (skins removed)

1 red onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

a handful of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 bag of spinach

5 tomatoes, diced

olive oil

salt and pepper

pasta, we used tagliatelli

• Mould the sausage meat into meatballs before browing them in a non-stick frying pan in a little olive oil
• Once browned remove the sausage meatballs from the frying pan and set aside
• Fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms in the same frying pan until soft, and then add the diced tomatoes and put the sausage meatballs back into the pan
• Cook the pasta according to packet instructions
• Leave the sausage meatballs to cook in the tomato sauce for 10 minutes or so, then add the spinach and season with salt and pepper
• Serve the meatballs and sauce over cooked pasta