Tag Archives: party food

Irish Soda Bread

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A carton of buttermilk will keep in the fridge, unopened, for at least a month, so I always have one on hand to make Irish soda bread. This bread doesn’t contain yeast, so it’s quick to make. Delicious eaten fresh or toasted next day.

The owner of a bed and breakfast near Cork many moons ago taught me to make soda bread. She used sour milk – something people often ended up with in the days before refrigeration, when the recipe originated. As far as the method goes, our lovely Irish hostess said “just mix it up wit yer two hands”. As it’s a bit sticky, I usually use a spoon. I replace the sour milk with buttermilk, but a mixture of half plain yoghurt and half fresh milk also works well. You can use self-raising flour or plain flour with the addition of baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

This is a very flexible recipe. Use white flour or wholemeal as I have with these rolls, or half and half. Leave out the oats and use more flour. If you like, add a little honey. Grated cheese, herbs, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, dried fruit or nuts also help to ring the changes. Top with oats, sesame seeds or poppy seeds. The options are endless.

The recipe makes one large loaf or about a dozen small rolls. I recently bought a baking mold for 8 tiny loaf shapes and was dying to use it, so I ended up with eight loaves and four round rolls. As you can see in the photo, I sliced some of the loaves and topped them with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onion. Delicious.

Irish Soda Bread3 cups wholemeal self-raising flour, sifted
Or 3 cups plain four + 1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
1 cup porridge oats (see note)
1 Tbs honey (optional)
1 Tbs vegetable oil
600ml buttermilk
Extra oats

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I usually add a dash of water to the buttermilk container, swish it round and add that too. The mixture should be soft and slightly sticky – not as dry as a normal bread dough. Don’t over mix or knead. Place heaped tablespoonfuls onto a tray lined with baking paper. Or spoon into greased muffin tins or mini-loaf tins. Sprinkle with extra oats.

Irish Soda Bread with Smoked SalmonAlternatively, to make one large loaf, tip dough onto a floured surface and use floured hands to form it into a flattened round shape, place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or in a large greased loaf tin and sprinkle with extra oats. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on baking racks. A large loaf will take longer than rolls – around 45 mins.

Makes one large loaf or 12 rolls

Notes: You can use quick cooking oats or ordinary stone-ground ones. If using the latter give them a quick whiz in the food processor, to break them up a bit.

Syrian Pita Bread with Falafel

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I’ve made some lifelong friends through chance encounters – on trains, planes, buses, in doggy parks and supermarket queues. The kids say “Mum talks to everyone”, but I like to think that when two lives cross there’s a reason.

Eva Rishan works as a doctor’s receptionist and we got chatting while I was waiting for my turn. Eva was born in Syria, emigrated to Australia in 1989 and has since been joined by her parents, several siblings and their families.

Eva invited me and my family to join her family for what she called a Syrian all day breakfast. Number one son James and I went early, so that Eva’s mother Renelle could show us how to make pita bread and falafel. Renelle’s English is limited but cooking is an international language and it wasn’t long before we were both busy chopping and mixing.

The large back verandah has been enclosed with a corrugated iron roof and roll-down plastic blinds, in order to accommodate big family gatherings and keep the smokers out of the main house. Smoking – both ordinary cigarettes and flavoured tobacco smoke, inhaled through a hookah pipe – is still very popular among Syrians.

The rest of our family (three) and the rest of Eva’s family (I lost count) arrived in time for lunch. There were over 30 of us altogether, including numerous kids. The mountain of pita bread was soon disappearing, filled with crispy warm falafel, hummus and a selection of pickles and salads. My contribution was an Apple Strudel which went down well for dessert with some strawberries and whipped cream.

It was great fun to be part of a Syrian family for a day.

Syrian Pita Bread with Felafel

Pita bread
3½ tsp dry yeast
¾ cup warm water
6 cups plain flour
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 Tbs olive oil
About 1½ cups warm milk

Mix yeast with warm water and put aside for 10 minutes. Place flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add  yeast mixture, gradually adding enough warm milk to hold the dough together. Knead dough until smooth and elastic but very slightly sticky, then leave in a bowl in a warm place – near a heater for example – covered with plastic wrap for an hour or two to rise, while you make the falafel.

Cut dough into 12 and roll into balls. Preheat oven to it’s highest setting and heat up a pizza stone in the oven if you have one. Roll out each ball to a circle about 20 cm in diameter, then bake for 5-10 mins or until puffed and slightly browned. This will result in pocket-style pita breads which you can fill with falafel and salad. If preferred, stretch the circles out into much thinner pita breads, about 40 cm in diameter, as you can see in the photos. There’s quite a knack to this, but Renelle can do it in her sleep! These are rolled around the fillings like a wrap.

Makes 12

Falafel
375g dry chick peas
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped coriander
1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, extra
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
¼ tsp each ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg
2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs plain flour
Oil for frying (canola, sunflower or rice oil)
Sesame seeds

Place chickpeas in a bowl and cover generously with cold water. Mix in bicarbonate of soda and leave to soak overnight then drain. Using a food processor or a meat mincer, finely chop chick peas, onion, garlic, parsley and coriander. Add flour, salt, pepper, spices, extra bicarbonate of soda and oil. By hand or using a special gadget called a falafel scoop form mixture into small patties, dipping it into cold water between each.

Heat 4-6cm oil in a large deep frying pan or wok. When hot fry falafel on both sides until golden, remove and drain, then roll immediately in sesame seeds. Don’t overcrowd the pan – falafel should cook quite quickly otherwise they will be dry. Serve warm with pita bread, salads and hummus.

Makes about 50

Hummus

This recipe using canned chickpeas is quick to make and easy to halve.

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2/3 cup tahini paste, stirred
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
Garnish: (optional)
Chopped parsley
Toasted pine nuts
Extra olive oil
Paprika

Place chick peas in food processor with remaining ingredients. Process, adding enough water to give the consistency of a dip. Keep in the fridge, covered, until needed. To serve, add a little water if Hummus has become too stiff, then spread onto a shallow dish and decorate with chopped parsley, toasted pine nuts, paprika and a drizzle of olive oil. The garnish is optional, but it looks and tastes great. Serve at room temperature with pita bread.

Makes about 3 cups

Matt Moran’s Pear Tart with Caramel Sauce

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Make this tart when you have a spare couple of hours and you’re feeling creative. It’s a bit more time-consuming than most of the recipes which appear on this blog but not difficult. You may think it has a lot of sugar and it does. But there’s a lot less than the original version of the recipe, because I cut down on the amount of caramel sauce and crumble. The crumble is optional.

Matt Moran's Pear Tart with Caramel Sauce

Caramel sauce:
¾ cup caster sugar
½ cup cream
60g unsalted butter, diced
Tart:
150-175g puff pastry (see note below)
100g marzipan
1 egg white
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp flour
2-3 pears, peeled, quartered and cored
1 Tbs melted butter
1 Tbs caster sugar
Crumble:
½ cup plain flour
3 Tbs sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp ground ginger
To serve:
Vanilla ice cream – home-made or bought

Caramel sauce: place sugar in non-stick heavy pan and heat, swirling pan from time to time, until rich golden brown. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, then cream, until smooth, then cool. If you have a large piece of caramel which refuses to dissolve, put the sauce back on the heat for a minute or two and stir until it dissolves.

Tart: Pre-heat oven to 200ºC. Line a biscuit tray with baking paper and lay the pastry rectangle on top. It should be about 5mm thick and measure about 14-15 cm by 25-26cm. Place marzipan, egg white, vanilla and the ½ tsp flour in food processor and mix till smooth. Spread this evenly over the pastry, then cover with the thinly sliced pears. You may prefer to select only the best and larger slices of pear and eat the rest.

Brush with the 1 Tbs melted butter and sprinkle with the 1 Tbs caster sugar. Bake 15 mins. Remove from oven and drizzle with some of the caramel sauce (see below). Place a piece of baking paper on top, then another biscuit tin and flip the tart, so the pears are on the bottom. Put back in the oven with pears on the bottom for another 15 mins or until pears are nicely caramelised. Remove to a cutting board. If making ahead, leave tart on the paper-lined tray so you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes and serve it warm.

Crumble: While tart is cooking place all ingredients for crumble in food processor and mix until combined and starting to stick together. Tip onto a biscuit tin lined with baking paper and spread out. Bake for about 15 mins or until golden brown. Once or twice during cooking time break up the larger lumps and mix the crumble so it browns evenly.

To serve: Place a zig-zag drizzle of caramel sauce to one side on six serving plates. With a very sharp knife, cut tart vertically into two, then cut each half into three, so you have six slices each measuring about 14 by 4.5cm. Arrange a slice of tart on top of the caramel sauce. On the other side of the plate arrange a heaped tablespoonful of crumble and top with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6

Notes: Carême is the best brand of puff pastry in Australia. More expensive but worth it. Available from some IGA supermarkets. Each packet contains 375g of ready rolled pastry. I cut it in half and used one half – stuck the rest back in the freezer for another time. I ended up with a rectangle about 14x26cm.

Variation: use apples instead of pears. If you don’t like marzipan just omit that layer.

Chocolate Puddings with Ginger Pears

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This decadent recipe appeared in the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller. I’ve increased the quantities to serve six, left the sugar out of the the chocolate puddings because I think they’re sweet enough without and made a couple of other slight adjustments. The recipe said to serve the puddings at room temperature, but we preferred them chilled.

Chocolate Puddings with Ginger Pears

Pears:
6 ripe but not over-ripe pears
1 cup Stone’s Green Ginger Wine (see note below)
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
Puddings:
250g dark (70%) chocolate, broken into squares
180g unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 eggs
2/3 cup cream
2 Tbs crystallised ginger, finely chopped
To serve:
Whipped cream, pouring cream or crème fraîche (see note below)

Place ginger wine, water and sugar in a medium-sized frying pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Peel and halve pears, leaving stems on one half and removing cores with a melon-baller. Place pears in frying pan, cover with a lid and simmer for about an hour, turning them over from time to time. Drain pears and refrigerate, covered until serving time. Keep the poaching liquid.

Preheat oven to 170°C. Place butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Zap in the microwave for 1-2 mins or until melted, stopping to stir halfway. With a balloon whisk, thoroughly mix in the eggs and then the cream. Lastly mix in the ginger. Divide mixture between six 1 cup ramekins and bake for 6-8 minutes. Cool and refrigerate for up to 36 hours, covered.

Drain pears and dry on paper towels. Place cut side down in a medium sized non-stick frying pan. Turn on the heat and cook until pears are slightly glazed just on the one side, then remove carefully from pan. Add any accumulated juices from pears to the poaching liquid. It should have cooled to quite a thick caramel sauce, but if it’s still a bit thin pour it into the pan after removing the pears and cook until reduced and thickened a bit. Cool to room temperature.

Top each chocolate pudding with two pear halves, glazed side up, drizzle with a little caramel sauce and serve with whipped cream, pouring cream or crème fraîche.

Serves 6

Notes: If you can’t find ginger wine, heat 1 cup of white wine with 2 Tbs finely chopped fresh ginger in a saucepan. Simmer for 5 mins then strain.

Make your own crème fraîche by mixing half thick Greek yoghurt with half thickened cream. If liked mix in a teaspoon of icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence.

Raspberry Trifle

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When I was growing up in England a trifle was always served for special occasions – birthdays, high days and holidays and if we were entertaining special guests. If someone served trifle you knew you were getting the right royal treatment. The basic combination was always sponge fingers, a splash of sherry, fruit, raspberry jelly made from a packet, custard – the instant Bird’s Eye variety – and whipped cream.

Many years ago my friend Daphne served a real raspberry jelly and I was blown away. Made from sieved raspberries, sugar and gelatine, it was nothing like the packet variety. So when I make a trifle these days I make real raspberry jelly and crème anglaise, instead of the fake custard of my youth. If you’re in a hurry use a couple of packet of bought raspberry jelly – see the notes.

You can use fresh or frozen raspberries to make the jelly.  I usually use frozen berries as they’re cheaper and available all year round. You just need a few fresh ones to garnish – which in this photo came from our garden – and I added a few strawberries to add a touch of green. I prefer not to add sherry, as my mother always did, as I don’t want anything to detract from the intense raspberry flavour of the jelly.

Funny how the French call custard crème anglaise, when many Brits grew up on the packet variety as I did. British housewives got used to using Bird’s Eye custard powder during WW2, when eggs were rationed and hard to come by. In my recipe for crème anglaise I use whole eggs rather than just the yolks, so I add some cornflour because you want the custard to be nice and thick.

The end result is even more delicious than my childhood memories. Suffice it to say that Matthew, who was put off British desserts such as custard, rice pudding and tapioca as a result of spending several years at boarding school in England, comes back for second helpings.

Raspberry and Peach Trifle

Base:
8 lady finger (Savoiardi) sponges
1 large can peach halves or slices in natural juice
or 4 large fresh peaches or nectarines, peeled and halved
Jelly:
1 kg raspberries, fresh or frozen
3-4 Tbs sugar, or to taste
2 Tbs powdered gelatine
Crème Anglaise:
1 cup cream (250 ml)
2 cups milk (500 ml)
2 to 4 Tbs sugar, to taste (I use 1 Tbs)
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
3 Tbs cornflour
To finish:
250 ml whipping cream
Fresh raspberries to garnish (+ a few strawberries if liked)

Start the trifle the day before serving.

Base: Arrange lady fingers in the bottom of a glass dish – see note below. They might fit better in your dish if you cut them in halves. Arrange the peaches over the sponge. I used peach halves and arranged them around the edge of the dish standing up, with the cut faces against the glass. If using fresh peaches they need to be very ripe and peeled.

Jelly: Thaw raspberries if frozen. Push them through a sieve, discarding any pulp which won’t go through. Add enough water to the raspberry juice/puree to make up to 800 ml and sweeten to taste. Sprinkle gelatine over half a cup of water then zap in the microwave to dissolve. Mix gelatine mixture into raspberry mixture, then pour gently over the peaches and sponge fingers. The sponge fingers will float to the top, but keep pushing them under so they soak up the jelly. Refrigerate until set.

Crème anglaise: In a non-stick saucepan heat cream, milk, sugar and vanilla essence until almost boiling. Beat eggs and cornflour with a balloon whisk in a bowl, then pour in the hot cream mixture and whisk to combine. Pour back into the saucepan and continue to cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spatular which has a flat base, until the custard has thickened and will coat the back of the spatular. Be careful as you don’t want scrambled eggs. Cool a bit then carefully pour over the raspberry jelly. Cover and chill overnight.

To finish: Whip cream until thick – it should double in volume – then carefully dollop over the top of the trifle. Decorate with fresh berries.

Serves 8-10

Variations: use strawberries instead of raspberries in the jelly.

Instead of making the raspberry jelly you could place the fruit on top of the sponge layer (300g raspberries will be enough) then make up 2 packets of bought raspberry jelly and pour that over. Use fresh or frozen raspberries or strawberries and some canned or fresh peach halves, or leave out the peaches altogether and just use berries.

Note: the dish I used in the photo was a bit small. A larger one with a wider mouth would have made the trifle less deep and easier to serve. It was a bit difficult to get to the bottom layer, but we managed!

 

Toblerone Ice Cream Parfait with Chocolate Sauce

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Woolworths was selling 400g Toblerones for half price so I bought a couple and put them in the pantry (trying to forget they were there) until I came up with inspiration for a new dessert.

By using good quality bought vanilla ice cream you can make this parfait in a jiffy. If you have time to make your own ice cream so much the better. While you could make this in an ordinary loaf shape, using a triangular tin looks snazzier, especially as Toblerones are that shape. You can buy them online.

If preferred, leave out the chocolate coating. This chocolate sauce recipe is an old family favourite. Great to have in the fridge to serve with ice cream or waffles, though one batch doesn’t last long if you have kids around, or even grown up kids!

Toblerone Ice Cream Parfait with Chocolate Sauce

2 litres good quality vanilla ice cream
1 x 400g Toblerone chocolate bar
Chocolate Coating:
200g dark or milk chocolate
2 Tbs vegetable oil
Chocolate Sauce:
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
4 Tbs cocoa
2 Tbs golden syrup
Large knob of butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

Remove ice cream from freezer and spoon into a large bowl. Leave to stand for a few minutes while you chop the Toblerone into small chunks. Not too long as you don’t want the ice cream to melt. Thoroughly mix Toblerone into ice cream. Line loaf tin (triangular or rectangular) with plastic wrap, leaving the excess hanging over the sides. Fill with ice cream mixture, pushing down and smoothing the top. Cover with the plastic wrap then freeze several hours or overnight.

Chocolate Coating: Remove parfait from freezer, tip out (you may need to hold a hot towel over the base to loosen it), peel off the plastic wrap and place on serving dish. Meanwhile melt chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and mix in the oil. Working quickly cover the parfait with melted chocolate. Put back in the freezer to set.

Chocolate Sauce: Choose a large pan because this sauce has a tendency to boil over. Place all ingredients, except butter and vanilla essence, in pan. Mix with a whisk to remove lumps, then boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Cool for 10 minutes. Stir in butter and vanilla.  Reheat before serving and serve warm not hot.

To serve: Remove parfait from freezer for about 10 minutes before serving. Slice with a large sharp knife dipped into very hot water. Serve with the chocolate sauce.

Serves 12

Note: if you can’t buy golden syrup substitute corn/glucose syrup or honey.

Spicy Lentil and Chick Pea Salad

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Some friends are on my culinary wave length, so I know when they give me a recipe and say this is great I will like it. This lentil salad recipe came from my friend Lynne. I just added the chick peas which provide a nice flavour and texture contrast. Leave them out if you prefer. Spicy Lentil and Chick Pea Salad

1¼ cups (250g) green lentils
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1 red capsicum (pepper) seeded and diced
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup sweet chilli sauce
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ cup fresh coriander, chopped
2 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs toasted sesame seeds
Pinch salt
1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained

Place lentils in a saucepan and cover with plenty of water.  Bring to the boil and cook gently for 5 mins. Remove from heat and stand for 5 mins or until lentils are al dente. Time will vary according to the lentils you use, but don’t overcook or you won’t get a nice crisp salad. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Add remaining ingredients, then cool. Can be made a couple of days in advance and kept in the fridge, which only improves the flavour.

Serves 6

Mango Cheesecake

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I was looking for a dessert to serve on New Year’s Eve that could be made ahead, didn’t involve turning on the oven, used seasonal fruit, could be transported from Canberra to Sydney with ease and didn’t include raw eggs, making it suitable for a pregnant lady.

This recipe which meets all the criteria appeared in a recent advertisement for Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese.The only change I made was to increase the lemon rind from one teaspoon to one tablespoonful.

Mangoes are at their cheapest in Australia at this time of year. Choose ones which are not over-ripe as they’re easier to slice thinly and curve for the decoration. I made the cheesecake the day before and took it to Sydney in an Esky (Australian name for a cold box, for those who don’t know) on New Year’s Eve. All I had to do was arrange the mango slices on top and it was ready to serve.

The original recipe didn’t include passionfruit, but we ate the leftovers on New Year’s day with some pulp spooned over. It was a definite plus, enhancing the flavour of the mango and providing colour contrast.

Mango Cheesecake

200g fresh mango, puréed in food processor
¼ cup glucose syrup (also known as Corn Syrup)
1¼ cups sweet biscuit crumbs (e.g. Digestives, crushed in food processor)
75g butter, melted
500g cream cheese at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 Tbs grated lemon rind
2 tsp gelatine dissolved in
¼ cup boiling water, cooled
220g white chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup cream, softly whipped
2 mangoes extra, thinly sliced
Pulp from 2 passionfruit (optional)
Thick cream to serve

Place mango purée in a saucepan with glucose syrup. Cook, stirring over a medium heat for 15 minutes or until thickened and reduced by half. Set aside to cool.

Combine biscuits and butter and press evenly over the base of a 20-22 cm springform pan. In food processor or by hand beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon rind until smooth. Mix in gelatine mixture and melted chocolate, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour filling over biscuit base. Spoon over mango mixture and swirl through the white mixture using the tip of a knife, smoothing the top. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Serve decorated with fresh mango slices and, if liked, some passionfruit pulp. Serve thick pouring cream separately.

Serves 12

Variations: use peaches, apricots or strawberries instead of the mangoes – pulp in the filling and sliced fruit to decorate. For a Ginger Mango Cheesecake use ginger nut biscuits for the crust and mix 2-3 Tbs finely chopped crystallised ginger into the filling.

Note: if preferred, omit the white chocolate and use one and a half cups of cream, whipped. When whipped the cream will more than double in volume.

Mini Leek Quiches

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As an Ambassador’s wife – an unpaid job I enjoyed for many years – I made food for more cocktail parties than I can remember.

Working on 10 per person, I used to reckon that a two hour cocktail party for 300 guests needed 3000 canapes. Some people eat less, but others definitely eat more and it’s always preferable to have a few left over than to run out. The trick is to start a week or two before the event and freeze anything which freezes well, which covers pretty much anything using pastry, such as mini quiches and empanadas. That just leaves the things that don’t freeze well – prawns, smoked salmon and so on – to be made on the day of the party. A chest freezer is essential in order to do this on a grand scale. I used to keep a running tally of how many items we had made so far – 200 of this, 300 of that – until the grand total came to however many we needed.

Nowadays our parties are much more normal in size, but I still like to plan ahead. These little quiches can be frozen and baked when needed so they are perfect. You can use various fillings, but leek or onion, spinach and feta and quiches lorraine are always popular.

Mini Leek Quiches

I’ve just made a few trays to have on hand over  the Christmas-New Year period and you can see them in the photo, all ready to go into the freezer. Having collected them from second hand shops over the years, I have enough patty tins to make about 200 mini quiches. I also have some smaller tins, which produce a one bite, elegant little morsel, but they’re very fiddly to make so I usually make these bigger ones, especially now that I have officially retired from diplomacy!

Shortcrust Pastry (make twice):
250g plain flour
125g butter
good pinch salt
3-4 Tbs cold water
Filling:
6 leeks, washed trimmed and chopped
50g butter
4 eggs
300 ml cream
150 ml milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
2 cups grated cheese (gruyere is best, but cheddar will do)

Pastry: Place flour, salt and butter in food processor and process until it looks like breadcrumbs. With the motor running gradually add about 3 Tbs cold water, stopping the motor as soon as the mixture starts to form a ball. Tip out, form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. Can be refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for a month or two. For this recipe you will need to make this recipe twice.

Filling: in a large frying pan melt butter and add leeks. Fry gently for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, or until soft. Do not allow to brown. Cool. In a large bowl beat eggs with cream, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add cooked leeks and grated cheese and mix well.

Roll out pastry thinly using a little plain flour to prevent sticking and cut circles to fit patty tins. Very lightly grease the tins, then line with pastry circles. Fill with leek mixture, level with the top of the pastry. Freeze tins uncovered until frozen, then cover each tin with a supermarket bag. Once frozen the plastic bags won’t stick to the quiches, so you can store them stacked one on top of the other.

To serve, remove plastic bag and bake from frozen for 30-40 mins at 180°C. If not frozen they will take 20-30 mins. Cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove from tins with a knife and serve warm.

Variation: for Mini Onion Quiches use 6 large onions instead of leeks

Makes 65-70 mini quiches

Moroccan Carrot Salad with Olives & Feta

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When we lived in Chile in the 1990s I was President of Santiago Stage, an amateur theatre group which produced 3 or 4 plays a year in English. We raised money for a hospital which treated burnt children called Coaniquem and over two years we completely transformed a children’s home for 130 orphans called Los Girasoles. It was very satisfying and we had a lot of fun doing it. Our sitting room became the set for rehearsals for weeks on end. Fortunately I have a very tolerant husband.

While I was in Santiago recently my dear friend Elaine hosted a lunch to reunite our thespian friends. Elaine and I met in 1992 when we both had parts in a play called Home by David Storey. It’s about a home for people who are not quite right in the head, so we were definitely type cast. Elaine’s paternal uncle was the famous British actor Quentin Crisp and she has inherited his ability to tell a good story and make people laugh. When we took the play on tour to Concepcion (yes, we were very proud telling everyone that!) Elaine and I spent several hours in the dining car of the overnight train, drinking pisco sours and telling each other stories. We laughed so much I had a pain in my side. How we managed to get back to our carriage and into our narrow bunks I will never know. Elaine says I made her climb the ladder and sleep in the top bunk, but I honestly can’t remember.

When we arrived in Concepcion we were met by the head of the British Council. He had undertaken to book the theatre and sell tickets and we were staying at his house. As Elaine and I unpacked we could hear him making frantic phone calls. He had completely forgotten we were coming and hadn’t sold any tickets. We performed to an audience of about 20, but fortunately they all clapped loudly.

The day of the Santiago Stage reunion lunch was warm and sunny so we were able to sit outside. Elaine decided to do a buffet, consisting of quiches and lots of different salads and I helped. This carrot salad has been in my repertoire for many years and it’s always a good addition to a buffet, being both unusual and filling. Elaine had a lovely orange plate which was perfect to serve it on. Using whole baby carrots, if you can get them, makes it look even snazzier.

Moroccan Carrot Salad with Olives and Feta

1 kg carrots peeled and cut into fat sticks
2 large onions, chopped
2-3 bay leaves
2 Tbs fresh thyme or 4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cumin powder
4 Tbs olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs sherry vinegar (or substitute another vinegar)
100g stoned green olives (I use pimento stuffed ones, cut in halves)
100g feta cheese (or substitute soft goat’s cheese)
Juice of one lemon or lime
Chopped fresh coriander
2 Tbs finely chopped preserved lemon, skin only (optional)

Heat oil in a large frying pan and cook the onions gently until soft – 5 minutes or so. Add the carrots and cook, stirring for 5 minutes more. Add thyme, sugar, cumin, salt and pepper, cover and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add vinegar and cook for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add olives, cover again and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Carrots should still have a bit of bite left in them. Place in a serving dish. Add the feta cubes and squeeze over the lemon or lime juice at the last minute. Garnish with the coriander and preserved lemon, if using. If preferred, keep the olives till the end and sprinkle them over with the coriander as a garnish as I did in this photo. Serve at room temperature.

Serves 8-12 as part of a buffet