Brown Sugar Doo Dahs from Pastry Scraps

~  Menu  ~

Pastry!

Glass of Red

Clotted Cream Ice Cream and a Doo Dah

I made my real man a steak and kidney pie the other day, as one does, using bought in puff pastry (because it's only worth making your own in exceptional circumstances - if at all).  I bunged the rest of the packet and the trimmings in the fridge so was not that surprised to find them in there today.

I recently bought some Cornish Gouda to try - I do like a bit of cheese, me. There were several to choose from and I selected the Semi-Mature and the Italian herb varieties.  Both delish.  In fact I played a little with the herby cheese yesterday and find it to be not only a good nibble but also toasts very well.  I had it on toast but it would make a fine Dutch Pizza.

Today I made two little Cornish Gouda and Leek Pasties, 2 styles of pinwheels with the same filling and some Brown Sugar Pastry Doo Dahs.

I then ate almost all of them for lunch!!!

I have written more about the Gouda and the pasties recipe here ... 'Say Cheese! on Cornwall Community News.

For the pinwheels I wanted to compare the results of either slicing before cooking or cooking in the roll and then slicing.  I find I prefer the second method.

It is, however, the Brown Sugar Doo Dahs which pleased me most.  

All I did was ...

~   Collect all the scraps from the above items and munged them into a lump.

~   Flattened the lump and added a demi-handful of soft dark brown sugar.

~   Re-munged everything together to distribute the sugar.

~   Rolled into a ball, elongated it a bit and sliced it.
~   I baked the result with the pasties and pinwheels.

I ate one for lunch pudding with a modicum of homemade Clotted Cream Ice Cream the recipe for which is a doddle but I'm not going to tell you how to make it here!  

I'm not just being mean, I made it using my very easy no churn, no ice cream maker method which I have written about in my book Luscious Ice Creams without a Machine.  

It is a very easy method and can be varied to make all sorts of ices (100+ recipes in the book) but there is lots of useful ice-cream making info in it too which will help with making the above Clotted Cream Ice Cream

For more ideas for leftover pastry see 10 Interesting Ways to Use Leftover Pastry Scraps plus a Boring One

In other news ...

As you may know I went Up London last week for a publicity meeting about my forthcoming book, The Leftovers Handbook.  Now all sorts of things are starting to happen which explains, I hope, the slight hiatus in my blogging.  Sorry about that.

News from the Future ...

My book was published in March, 2013. A second edition is now available and is called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  In it I give all the information, ideas and recipes I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers. 

Read more here!

Sautéed Blueberry Scones and a Sudden Tomato Tart

~  Menu  ~

Tomato & Boursin Tart with Fresh Thyme

Glass of Secret Red

Sautéed Blueberry Scones and Clotted Cream

I perused the contents of the fridge today and found some pastry scraps, 7 cherry tomatoes, about a quarter of a pack of Boursin a bit dried up round the edges and some blueberries that I remember shoving to the back in disgust because they were too sharp.  Lunch!

I rolled out the pastry scraps (which I had had the forethought to store correctly (see here for how to store pastry scraps, although it is by no means complicated, together with lots of ideas for pastry leftovers) into a rough rectangle, trimmed the edges and scored a 1cm edge round it.  The plan is to leave the border empty so that being puff pastry it will rise around the filling when baked and form a crust.   I spread the Boursin on the base, topped with sliced tomatoes, a little bit of finely chopped red onion and a few sprigs of fresh thyme, glazed the edges with egg, sprinkled with sea salt and baked in a hot oven 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6 till risen and golden – et wulla, as the Americans say!  

As behoves a sudden luncher I had no idea this was what I was going to eat today but it all came together rather well.

The blueberries gave me pause for thought for a moment; obviously they needing cooking with some sugar but equally obviously there weren't enough to make much once cooked.  I decided to sauté them (!) in a little butter and sugar till they started to burst and then have another think.  What I thunk was that when my real man got home from work he may well appreciate some scones for his tea so I made some using the squishy blueberry goo to replace most of the liquid in the recipe.  The resulting scones were a great colour with a light fruity taste and, as it happens, he was quite pleased to see them.

Basic Scone Recipe

This makes about six normal scones or four embarrassingly large ones.

225g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

a pinch or two of salt

 50g cold butter or margarine

80ml milk or other wet thing such as sautéed blueberries!

~   Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6.

~   Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. 

~   Add the butter or margarine and “rub in” with your fingers until a breadcrumb texture is achieved

~   Stir in the sugar.

~   Add the milk and/or other liquid and mix in, by hand is easiest, till you have a soft dough. 

~   Add a little more milk if too dry or a little more flour if too wet – you need a soft but not sticky dough. 

~   Lightly knead just a few times to bring the dough together.

~   On a floured surface press or roll the dough out to about 2 cm thick and using a cookie cutter cut into rounds.  Or you could cut into squares or wedges which are easier and more economical on time: no re-rolling.  Rounds are traditional in the UK, wedges seem to be the norm in the US. 

~   Transfer the scones to a greased baking sheet, brush their tops with a little milk and bake in the oven till risen and golden – about 20 minutes.

~   Transfer to a cooling rack for a few minutes.

Serve slightly warm with clotted cream and jam for a traditional cream tea or, of course, with whatever you fancy.  They’re your scones.

Great Preview Here!

This is one of what I have come to call my "genius" recipes, i.e. recipes that can be varied considerably to create all sorts of delicious things. This one is so flexible I wrote a book about it; The Secret Life of Scones.

The same recipe can be used to make lots of different scones both sweet and savoury plus griddle cakes, dumplings, doughnuts, crisp biscuits, cheese straws, pie crusts and quite a lot more, for instance ...

10 Interesting Ways to Use Leftover Pastry Scraps plus a Boring One!

Firstly collect all the pastry scraps and trimmings and knead together very lightly, then …

1.      Palmiers/Pinwheels

Roll the assembled pastry into a rough rectangle, it can be a raggedy one.  Scatter something delicious over the surface – good combinations would be Cheddar and Chilli, Pecans & Maple Sugar, Ham and Cheese, Dried Fruit & Brown Sugar, whatever you’ve got.  Roll up the pastry from one long edge, moisten the far edge and seal the roll. EITHER place sealed side down on a greased baking sheet, glaze and sprinkle the top as appropriate, bake till crisp and golden and then slice into pinwheels OR slice before baking, lay cut side up on the baking tray and cook like that.  The second option is good when using cheese as it goes all melty and yum.

2.      Marmite Nibbles

Spread the rolled out pastry with a little Marmite (it spreads easier if you warmer it a little), fold in half and reroll to enclose the Marmite. Cut into little shapes and bake till crisp and golden.  These are not only delicious but, as a bonus,  you can scare Americans with them!

3.      Turnovers

Roll the pastry out thinly, cut into circles and put a spoonful of something delicious on half the pastry disks. Brush the edges water, milk, cream or beaten egg and fold in half enclosing the filling, press the edges together. Place on a lightly greased baking tray, brush the top with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar or salt. Using the tip of a sharp knife prod a little hole in the top of each turnover to allow steam to escape.  Bake in a medium hot oven (say 190ºC/375ºF/170ºC fan/gas 5) till crisp and golden. Turnovers can be fried too as with these fake samosas!

4.      Anchovy Bites 

These are much the same as above but using anchovy paste (either Patum Peperium aka Gentleman's Relish or mash an anchovy or two into some soft butter).  Continue as above. These are particularly beguiling cut into fishy shapes.

5.      Rustic Tarts

If you don't have tart cases just cut out rounds or squares of pastry, top with chosen filling leaving about 1cm naked edge and then fold the edge up and over the filling to frame it which gives and attractive a rustic effect. Brush with beaten egg and bake till crisp and golden. 

6.      Sausage Rolls or similar

See here for "similar" rolls made with rhubarb!

7.      Mini Napoleons

Cut the rolled out pastry into equal squares or rectangles and lay a little apart on the greased baking sheet.  Bake till risen, cool, split and fill with something wonderful.

8.      Baby Tarte Tatins

Use a little muffin tray for these. Put a spoonful of your chosen filling (which then becomes a topping) into each of the muffin um … hollows?  Top each with a circle of pastry tucking it in at the edges and bake till crisp. Cool a little and then turn out carefully.  Apple is the traditional Tatin topping but roasted tomatoes, caramelised shallots etc. are good too.  Nothing too wet or runny.

9.      Cook's Treat

Just toss the trimmings with a little sugar and powdered cinnamon and bake till crisp.  Make a cup of coffee and have yourself a sit down. You could add a little leftover ice cream (which you are sure to have if you’ve got a copy of my genius recipe no-churn ice cream book!)

10.  Crunchy Topping

Using the same principal as above but more sophisticatedly (is that a word?) roll the scraps out and cut into random or not random (ie. leaves) shapes, toss with sugar and cinnamon and scatter over the top of a dish of cooked apples (or whatever).  Bake till hot and crisp.

11.  BORING – just save all your bits of pastry in the freezer till you have enough to make something big.  See here for how to store puff pastry plus how to make Cheese Straws out of scraps.

A little more pastry scrap information …

~   Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt on savoury pastries.

~   Where appropriate sprinkle the pastry with grated cheese before cooking.

~   Sprinkle sweet pastries with sugar – caster or light brown are my favourites.

~   Only used ready cooked or quick cooking fillings for these little nibbles as the pastry doesn't take long to bake.

~    Cook these pastries in a medium hot oven 375˚F / 190˚C / Gas 5 / Fan 170˚C would be good but if the oven’s on a different temperature you can, within reason, use that!

PS. ~ I've had some more ideas!  See Brown Sugar Doo Dahs here.

If these are just some of the suggestions I can think of for pastry don't you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers in my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers?

It was originally published as The Leftovers Handbook so don't go buying a second copy unless you really want to!

A Couple of Reviews ...

 “Really useful!

I love this book. In addition to being clearly set out in alphabetical order and having good ideas for using up a huge range of food, it has tips for cooking and for each ingredient a list of things that go well with it. I have used it a lot since I got it.”

oOo

“Leftover Heaven

If you feel the same about using leftovers as I do, then I can truly recommend Suzy Bowler's wondrous book The Leftovers Handbook. Suzy and I have conversed for a while on social media, discussing recipes and the use of flavours and a few days ago we were very lucky to receive a copy of Suzy's book. At just under 300 pages this fabulous book guides us through what we can do with a plethora of ingredients all categorised alphabetically from Aubergines to zest. There are tips and handy hints to get you in the mood and if you are looking for leftovers inspiration then this is the book for you.

Interspersed with the ingredients are wonderful recipes, recipes without pictures, a feature I totally agree with. The addition of pictures in cookbooks only serves to increase pressure on the modern-day home cook and experimenting with the flavours and ingredients is far more important than stacking your vegetables or smearing a coulis across your plate. One of the great things about this book is the ease in which each ingredient is showcased and the recipes follow on so naturally.”

Easy Cheese Straws from Pastry Scraps

~  Menu  ~

Roasted Tomato Soup

Hot Cheese Straws

Glass of Red

I made a chicken pie for my real men yesterday using the standard cheat – bought in puff pastry.  Obviously I kept the trimmings and today, whilst they were out and I could eat them all myself, I made some cheese straws. 

Handy Hint for Storing Puff Pastry Scraps

As I may have said before the best way to store puff pastry trimmings is to stack rather than munge them so as to retain the layers in the dough …

Cheese Straws

~   Roll out puff pastry scraps on a very lightly floured but rather heavily cheesed board – scattered in this case with a mixture of grated Cornish Crackler and Gran Padano,
~   Roll the pastry to “quite thin” (technical term),

~   Sprinkle more cheese on top,
~   Fold into three and re-roll,
~   Cut the dough into long strips, twist them into spirals and put onto a greased baking tray.
~   Chill till needed.
~   Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/180C fan/gas 6.                ~   Brush the straws with milk and sprinkle with crunchy sea salt  and a little more cheese,

~   Bake till risen and golden and melty and crisp and gorgeous.

I ate the straws with a modicum of Roasted Tomato Soup I made from some sad tomatoes I found lurking in the fridge.

See here for 10 More Interesting Ideas for Pastry Scraps.

We've had loads of rain recently but did manage to sup a few beers (well, cider in my case) a couple of days ago in our favourite pub garden at the St. Kew Inn at … St. Kew coincidentally.