Specials Board: Apple Turnovers

Apple Turnover and Vegan Mofo Day 23

Today, is an easy recipe after yesterday's fiddly one! A while back, if you remember I managed to pick some apples form the community orchard where my parents live. I had two varieties; Ribston Pippin and Lord Derby. The Ribston Pippin I ate as they were or in my Creamy Apple Smoothie or Apple and Ginger Revitiliser, but I was left with 5 Lord Derby's, which are a cooking apple.

I needed to do something with them fast as they had just been sitting in my fruit bowl for a couple of weeks (or longer) and I had not got round to cooking with them. As I was short on time I thought I'd make up a recipe as I went along. Nothing new there then!

Before I knew it I had peeled all 5 apples and I was mixing them with sugar, flour and cinnamon, in the hope that an apple pie filing would be made if I cooked it! I didn't yet know how, as I really couldn't be bothered to make pastry. Then I remembered I already had some puff pastry in my fridge that was fast approaching its use by date, so Apple Turnovers it was. One problem, I had far too much apple mixture left over. Watch this space to see what I did with it!

Ingredients (makes 6 Turnovers)

300g Apple, peeled & cored weight
(about 5 apples), chopped
75g  and 1 Tsp Sugar
15g Plain flour
½ Tsp Cinnamon
1 Ready rolled puff pastry sheet
(Jus Roll is vegan)
A little soy milk

Method

Mix the peeled, cored and chopped apple with the 75g of sugar, flour and cinnamon, so that all the apple is coated with the mixture.

Cut the puff pastry sheet into 6 squares and brush a little soy milk round the edges of each square.

Place a teaspoon of the apple mixture into the middle of each square and fold one corner over to the diagonally opposite corner to encase the filling.

Seal the edges by using a fork along the two edges that meet. Pierce the top of the triangle with the fork to make steam holes.

Brush soy milk over the top of each triangle and sprinkle with the remaining teaspoon of sugar.

Bake in in a moderate oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Place the remaining mixture in a saucepan with 100ml cold water and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples are cooked. You should have a syrupy mixture that the apples are sitting in. If this gets too thick add a little more water. Leave to cool and transfer to a container and put in the fridge. I'll post my leftover apple recipe soon, or alternatively bag and pop in the freezer ready to make more turnovers.

Mushroom and Kale Pie

Last bank holiday weekend we had some friends visit us which we hadn't seen for a while, since their wedding last August. We decided to stay in and catch up as it was the first time our dog, Marco had met their dog, Milly. We had nothing to worry about, they got on famously and Marco was even a little love sick after they left! Bless him.

We had a fabulous weekend full of fun and laughter, it was great to catch up and hopefully we won't leave it as long next time!

Earlier in the day my sister and I visited Stone Farmers Market and picked up some goodies for lunch and tea. I headed straight to the mushroom man and bought a large tray of assorted mushrooms to make for dinner. 

Ingredients  

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Leek, sliced
400g assorted mushrooms, wiped and sliced
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
100g Curly kale, shredded
2 Tsp Porcini powder
2 Sprigs fresh rosemary, finely diced
2 Sprigs fresh tyhme, leaves only
1 Tbsp Flour (heaped)
300ml Unsweetened almond milk
320g Ready rolled puff pastry



Method

Saute the leek in the olive oil until tender around 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes, add the soy sauce.

Add the kale and continue to saute for another 5 minutes before adding the fresh herbs, stir to combine.

Add the flour and stir through, cooking for another minute to loose the flour taste.

Slowly add the almond milk and keep over a low heat stirring until the sauce has thickened.

Transfer to an oven proof dish and top with the ready rolled puff pastry. Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with home made chips and peas.

Retro Saturday - Bean & Mushroom Wellington

Retro Saturday, what dishes does that conjure up for you? For me its the old favourites, the nostalgic culinary classics, a throwback dish from the 1970's! 

During vegan mofo I have made green bean risotto, green bean & mushroom pasta and bean stroganoff, to me all classic dishes but tonight I'm going all out there with a green bean & mushroom wellington, a real throwback from the 1970's! As you will notice my love affair with partnering green beans and mushrooms has not petered out! I'm still in the honeymoon stage!

This dish is so simple to make and only has 7 ingredients, yes only 7 ingredients (if you don't count the salt & pepper).

It is extremely easy to make too, and very tasty. With this dish you won't be in the kitchen for a long period of time you just throw the ingredients together and voila!

Ingredients
2 Onions, chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
300g Mushrooms, chopped
1 Tbsp Mushroom ketchup
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
30-40 Green beans, top and tailed
200g Ready made puff pastry

Method
First fry the onions in a little olive oil until soft and starting to brown.

Add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes. Next add the mushrooms and the mushroom ketchup and fry until all the liquid has reduced. Add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine.

Whilst the mushrooms are cooking, fry the green beans in a little olive oil until starting to brown. 

Roll out the puff pastry (you will need about two thirds of a pre-rolled packet. Top with the green beans, then the mushroom mixture, leaving about a 2cm edge.

Fold over the pastry to in-case the filling. Use a little almond milk to dampen the edges to help the two edges stick together. Press a fork around the edges to make a pattern and add some steam holes to the top of the pastry. 

Cook in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden. See I told you it was easy and quick. Now for the taste test..............................delicious!

Oh, one last thing HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sis!

Mushroom Tart

Yesterday I made a summer vegetable pie and I didn't quite use all the puff pastry. I thought I'd used half in the pie but it appears that I'd used most of it as there was only a quarter of the pastry left. I still had some mushrooms and a jar of vegan pesto that needed using up so tonight dinner was an easy decision. Mushroom tart. This is a very simple recipe that relies on a good quality vegan pesto, in this instance I used zest.

Ingredients
80g Puff pastry
2 Tsp Zest pesto
200g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
1 onion, finely sliced
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Method
I rolled the pastry out a little thinner to make the base for the tart and scored about a centimetre in from the edge all around. The inside rectangle I brushed on the vegan pesto and popped it in the oven to start cooking. After about 5 minutes remove from the oven and rest whilst you make the mushroom topping.

To make the mushroom topping saute the onion in a little olive oil over a low heat, you don't want to brown the onion, just soften it. When the onion is translucent add the mushrooms and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add the pesto and stir to combine, add the salt and pepper to taste and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the middle rectangle of the pastry and put back in the oven to bake for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

As I slid mine of the baking sheet it broke in half! It was still delicious though.

Summer Vegetable Pie

This is becoming a regular feature of my blog, no not vegetable pie, but the fact that I haven't shopped! I really need to get more organised. In fact in a conversation with my sister yesterday I was saying just that. I used to be the most organised person I knew, but this has lapsed a little. 

I need to start with going shopping and buy some fresh fruit and vegetables of all colours and then I will be in heaven cooking up some vegan magic!

Anyhow, enough waffle, back to what I managed to magic up for tea. I'd told Hubby to pick something up for his dinner on the way home, so at least I hadn't got to magic up two dinners. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw in his shopping bag was a small bag of frozen peas and some mushrooms! 

After a quick check of my cupboards and fridge this is what I had.

As you can see the courgette and red pepper were a little worse for wear and needed eating up! The pastry suggested that tonight's dinner would either be a tart, a puff or a pie. I went with the pie. First I chopped up all the vegetables and measured out half the bag of frozen peas, after all I needed to leave some for Hubby!

Next, saute the vegetables in a little olive oil, onions first, then peppers, mushrooms and courgettes. I added a clove of minced garlic too. I also added 4 shredded sage leaves, a rosemary sprig finely chopped and some thyme from my garden.

Whilst the vegetables were cooking, I quickly made up a sauce. In a pan add soy milk, plain flour and vitalite (sorry didn't measure, just threw it in). As it thickens add 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, a teaspoon of herbamare (a herbal seasoning salt), half a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon powder, freshly ground black pepper and about 10 chive stalks finely chopped. Add the sauce to the vegetables and stir through.

Next, pour this mixture into an oven proof dish and top with the pastry. I only used half of the pastry so there's some more left for another day. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

This made three good sized portions, if you were serving it with potato or chips you could easily make four servings. I ate my portion as it is, on its own.

Med Veg Medley Puff

Tonight is another Mediterranean Vegetable dish. I'm craving Mediterranean vegetables at the moment, it must be because the weather has warmed up a little and we are enjoying a little sunshine. I can't wait until I can eat al fresco! 

Tonight I made hubby a salmon parcel which uses puff pastry, and as regular readers of my blog know, Jus Roll puff pastry is vegan so whenever I make hubby something with pastry I can enjoy a slice of pastry too. 

Ingredients
½ Sheet of Jus Roll Puff Pastry
2 Tbsp Vegan or Homemade pesto
1 Red Pepper
1 Onion
½ Aubergine
½ Courgette
4 Mushrooms
1 Tbsp Black olive tapenade
Handful of spinach leaves
Salt and pepper

To finish
Lemon & basil olive oil
Chilli olive oil


Method
Turn oven on to 180°C and while you wait for the oven to heat up chop all the vegetables to a similar size. Score a border in the puff pastry about ½ inch from the edge. Spread the pesto over the pastry excluding the border. Bake in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, this allows the base of the 'puff' to cook a little before we load the vegetables on! Whilst the pastry is baking saute the vegetables in a little olive oil until soft. Add the tapenade, salt ans pepper and stir to combine. Take off the heat. Remove the pastry from the oven and pile on the vegetable medley, keeping the border free. Bake in the oven until the pastry is golden brown, about 5-10 minutes. Remove form the oven and pile on the spinach leaves. Drizzle over the two oils and serve straight away.