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.

Tapas

Tapas - herby lamb meatballs, patatas bravas, courgette and feta fritters and tomato salad

Ingredients and method (serves 2, add bread and a green salad and it would probably serve 4):

Tomato sauce:

glass of red wine

3 fresh tomatoes, chopped

tub of chopped tomatoes

dessert spoon of tomato puree

1/2 red onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

4 mushrooms, sliced

olive oil

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
• Fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms in olive oil until soft
• Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes
• Add the red wine and turn up the heat to allow the alcohol to cook off for 5 minutes or so
• Turn the heat back down, add the chopped tomtaoes and puree and let the sauce simmer for 45 minutes

Lamb meatballs:

approx 200g lamb mince

approx 200g lamb mince

1/2 red onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

a handful of fresh herbs (basil, pasrley, thyme, rosemary) roughly chopped

salt and pepper

• Combine the lamb mince, onion, garlic and herbs and season
• Form into meatball shapes and refridgerate until needed
• Brown meatballs in a frying pan before placing them on top of the prepared tomato sauce. Be careful not to stir them in to the sauce too vigorously as they can break up
• Cook meatballs and sauce in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes

Patatas bravas:

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped

1/2 red pepper, diced

pinch of red chilli flakes

1 small clove of garlic, diced

olive oil

• Par boil the potatoes before putting them in an oven proof dish with a splash of olive oil and placing them in the oven
• After 15 minutes or so fry the garlic and red pepper in olive oil until soft
• Add the tomatoes and chilli flakes to the garlic and red pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes
• Add the garlic/pepper/tomato mixture to the potatoes and stir through
• Return potatoes to the oven for approx 20 minutes

Courgette and Feta fritters:

1 egg

1 table spoon of plain flour

1 courgette, grated

approx 25g of feta, cut into small chunks

3 spring onions, chopped

salt and pepper

olive oil

• Salt the grated courgette and place in a sieve over another bowl. Leave for 15 minutes and then press the courgette mixture to remove the exess water
• Mix together the egg, flour, feta, spring onions and grated courgette and refridgerate for an hour or so until needed
• Heat some oil in a non-stick pan
• Placed 4 heaped spoonfuls of the batter mixture in the pan and press each one down lightly. Turn each one over after 3-4 minutes to cook the other side

Tomato salad:

2 tomatoes, cut into chunks

1/4 cucumber, diced

handful of olives

approx 25g of feta, cut into chunks

olive oil

pepper

• Mix together the tomatoes, olives, cucumber and feta
• Dress with olive oil an black pepper
• Refridgerate or cover until needed

Tomato and feta salad

This is almost a Greek salad, but as I don't like olives I prefer to serve them separately so Ross can add his own!

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 large tomatoes
1/3 cucumber

1 red onion

2/3 pack of feta

good olive oil

pepper

basil or parsley (if you like)

1. Roughly chop the tomatoes, red onion, cucumber and feta.


2. Dress with olive oil and season with black pepper. Leave to marinade for about an hour before you want to eat it. The raw onion should be much milder in taste after an hour of marinading.


3. Sprinkle with herbs (if using) just before serving.


4. Best served at room temperature.