Perfectly formed snacks to keep you going
3 easy homemade snacks to enjoy while we get through January and are back to work, uni or school.
Check them out
- Crispy Lebanese lamb filo fingers – prep 10 mins, cooking 20 mins.
- Gigantic sausage roll – prep 5 mins, cooking 25 – 30 mins.
- Scotch eggs – a bit more fuss with prep 30 mins, cooking 10 mins, but worth it!
3 easy homemade snacks
1. Crispy Lebanese lamb filo fingers
PREP TIME: 10 mins
COOKING TIME: 20 mins
DIFFICULTY: easy
IDEAL FOR: snacks, casual starter
BUDGET: £
This isn’t hard.
The trickiest part is rolling up your fingers with bought filo pastry.
And that’s not really that tricky.
The recipe does ask for pomegranate molasses (in most supermarkets or you’ll easily find it online).
But it’s worth buying and having for this recipe (and crops in other recipes I’ve come across over time).
Crispy Lebanese lamb filo fingers
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup pinenuts
- 300 g lamb mince
- 3 tsp baharat spice mix
- 1/2 flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped (use dried if you can't find any)
- 100 g firm feta, crumbled
- 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses (buy online)
- 8 sheets fresh filo pastry
- 100 g unsalted, melted butter
- Nigella seeds – for decoration (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large non-stick frypan over medium heat, add the onion and pine nuts, and cook for 5 minutes or until onion is softened. Add the mince and cook for 5 minutes, breaking up with a spoon, or until browned. Add the baharat spice mix, season with salt and pepper, and cook for a further minute until fragrant. Remove from the heat and stir through the parsley, feta and 2 tbs of pomegranate molasses. Set aside to cool completely. Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Grease a baking tray and line with baking paper. Place a sheet of filo pastry, with the long edge facing you, on a clean work surface. Brush with butter and fold in half, widthwise. Spread 2 heaped tbs of the lamb mixture along the short edge closest to you, leaving a 2.5cm border on sides and bottom. Roll the short edge over filling to enclose, then fold in the 2 longer sides and roll up to form a cigar shape. Do not wrap too tight (allow for the mixture to expand).Brush the seam edge with butter to seal and transfer to prepared tray. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling to make 8 rolls.
- Brush the rolls with remaining butter and sprinkle with nigella seeds.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with yoghurt, sour cream or creme fraiche.
2. Gigantic sausage roll
SERVES: 6 – 8
PREP TIME: 5 mins
COOKING TIME: 30 mins
DIFFICULTY: easy
IDEAL FOR: super snack, picnics
BUDGET: £
Who doesn’t love a sausage roll? So why wouldn’t you love a gigantic one!
I love this recipe because it’s so fast and easy and anyone in our family can make one.
Top tip to avoid a soggy bottom
I picked this tip up from Jamie Oliver when he demonstrated making a Beef Wellington.
To avoid a soggy bottom, pop the baking tray over a hob on medium-high to cook the pastry bottom for a few minutes i.e. just before you place it in the oven to cook (be careful not to take your eye off it and burn though)
It’s a great tip 😉
Gigantic sausage roll
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 onion, chopped finely
- 250 g mushrooms, chopped
- bunch of fresh dill (chopped)
- 500 g sausagemeat
- 320 g ready-rolled puff pastry
- 1 free-range egg, beaten
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
- In a frying pan heat a glug of olive oil and fry the fennel seeds for around 60 seconds.
- Add the chopped onion and mushrooms and on high heat, stirring until brown (approx 10mins). Once done, tip into a large bowl with the sausagemeat and chopped dill.Season and mix altogether.
- With your ready-rolled puff pastry, roll onto a board and place your sausagemeat lengthways down the middle of the pastry.Next cut strips into the pastry, coming out from the sausagemeat all the way down.Finally, cross the strips in a lattice over the sausagemeat to cover it.
- Transfer the sauasge roll onto a baking tray lined wih ba aking sheet lined, brush with the beaten egg, then bake for 30-35 minutes.
Notes
3. Scotch eggs
SERVES: 8
PREP TIME: 30 mins
COOKING TIME: 10 mins
DIFFICULTY: not too tricky
IDEAL FOR: snack, picnic
BUDGET: £
Childhood memories wrapped up in pure deliciousness!
And they never get old.
This takes a little more prep but is worth it.
Scotch eggs
Ingredients
- 10 large free-range eggs
- 8 higher-welfare sausages
- 1/2 bunch fresh chives
- 1/2 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 whole nutmeg , for grating
- 1 tbsp English mustard
- plain flour for dusting
- 150 g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 2 lt vegetable oil
Instructions
- Into a pan of cold water, add the 8 eggs and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes.Then transfer to a bowl of cold water. Once cooled, carefully peel them.
- Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and into a bowl.
- Finely chop the fresh herbs and add to the sausgae meat with the mustard, a good pinch of salt and pepper and a good grating of nutmeg.Mix well and then make 8 balls.
- Next, line up 3 plates – 1 with a handful of plain flour, 1 with the 2 eggs (beaten) and the last with the breadcrumbs
- Flour your hands and in the palm of one hand, flatten one of the sausage balls into and oval-shaped pattie.
- Roll a peeled egg in flour, then pop it in the middle of the patty Gently shape the meat evenly around the egg, moulding it with your hands until sealed.Now, roll the meat-wrapped egg in the flour, shake off any excess, then dip into the beaten egg, followed by the breadcrumbs. Roll in the egg and breadcrumbs again for a really good coating.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan (or deep fat fryer) to about 150ºC/300ºF (use a cooking thermometer if you have one). Otherwise, test if the oil is hot enough by adding a piece of raw potato and leaving it for about 1 minute – if it sizzles and browns, it’s ready.
- Carefully lower the eggs into the pan and cook for 4 minutes, or until golden, turning them every so often.Remove with a spoon and drain on kitchen paper (if you’re worried about the meat being under-cooked, deep-fry the scotch eggs until they’re golden and crispy, then pop them in a hot oven for a couple of minutes.)
For more snack ideas, check out my Snacks
