Spicy Sausage & Broccoli Tartlets with Roast Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe comes from Books for Cooks, volume 4, a collection of recipes put together by the bookshop of the same name. For more information about what is, in my opinion, one of the best shops in world, have a look at their website here.

I've tried various puff pastry tarts in the past but these ones sounded a bit different. No sauce as such to bind the filling together, just an interesting mix of sausage, tomato, broccoli and spices. I was worried at first that there was too much filling for the pastry but with a bit of gentle stretching and a couple of minor patch-ups I got them into the oven pretty much intact. And, as you can see above, they came out in one piece aswell.

The result was lovely - hearty flavours from the sausage and broccoli, a little bit of warmth from the chilli and a hint of aniseed coming through now and again thanks to the fennel seeds. I'll be making these again.

Spicy Sausage & Broccoli Tartletts with Roast Cherry Tomatoes

(adapted from Books For Cooks Volume 4 - various authors)

375g/12 oz puff pastry

300g/10oz sprouting broccoli, broccoli di rapa or broccoli

3 tbsp olive oil

350g/12oz best meaty pork sausages, skinned

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 tsp crushed chilli flakes

12 (about 200g/7oz) ripe cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt & black pepper

4 tbsp freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan

125g/4oz mozarella, diced

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 handful fresh basil, torn

Extra olive oil to serve

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Have ready 2 floured baking sheets

2) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a square about 30 by 30 cm (12 by 12 inches). Cut out four equal sized squares from the rolled out pastry. (If you have a box of ready rolled pastry I'd recommend rolling it out a bit further to the size mentioned above, otherwise you might struggle to fit all the filling on)

3) Cut up the broccoli into 2 1/2cm/1 inch pieces and cook in a pan of boiling salted water until just tender, from 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and straightaway refresh the broccoli pieces in plenty of cold water to preserve their nice fresh green colour, then drain well.

4) Warm the oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Stir in the sausage meat, garlic, fennel and chilli. Fry quite briskly, stirring and squashing with a wooden spoon to break up the sausage meat into pieces, until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the broccoli pieces and cherry tomatoes halves and cook for another minute to flavour with the herby, spicy oil. Add salt and pepper and any extra chilli to taste (the 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes don't give a huge amount of heat so if you like a bit of extra kick then I would recommend you add some more).

5) Divide the sausage mixture among the pastry squares, leaving a 2cm/3/4 inch border, aiming to have a few of the tomato halves on top for the best colour, then sprinkle over the grated cheese. Fold over the pastry border onto the filling, pleating as you go.

6) Bake the tarts until the pastry is crisp and golden, about 20-25 minutes, swapping the baking sheets over half way through baking. Transfer each pie to a warmed plate, sprinkle with mozarella dice, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, grind over a little pepper and scatter with basil. Serve at once.

Serves 4

Unloved Cookbooks Part 3 - Everyday by Bill Granger

So I'm home again with a fully functional, fabulous kitchen and I'm raring to go. Normal service has not quite resumed mind you - cupboards have to be filled, appliance manuals need to be read - but nevertheless I am VERY happy to be home.

During the recent disruption I have managed to do a little work on my unloved cookbooks project and this time I turned my attention to Everyday by Bill Granger.

This one was a definite success as I had no trouble choosing recipes and have many remaining on my to-do list. Why did I not make more use of this book before??

I suppose it's mainly due to the fact that you could say that this is quite a "healthy" book - lots of fresh ingredients, fish, salads etc whereas alot of my favourites (Nigella et al) have more of a tendency towards the "comfort food" end of the spectrum with lots of receipes for pasta bakes, chocolatey puddings and pies which always appeal to my inner piggy. I was more than happy with the three recipes I chose though and would make all of them again.

All of the recipes below are adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger.

This first recipe was an unexpected success. I didn't expect to have the flavour that it did but it was surprisingly tasty and a big hit with all the family.

Baked Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 small carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

45g small black olives, pitted (or omit if, like me, you think these are the pinnacle of food evilry)

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

300g cooked short pasta (such as fusilli or penne)

75g fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into pieces

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and cook the onion, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrot and celery and cook, stirring for 5 minutes more.

2) Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, the reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the olives (if you really must), season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

3) Stir the tomato sauce through the cooked pasta and spoon into a casserole dish. Dot with mozzarella and bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is bubbling (I cooked mine for a shorter time, maybe 15-20 minutes, as the pasta seemed to be drying out a bit).

Serves 4

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The next recipe was definitely my favourite of the three. This is a wonderfully simple recipe but bursting with flavour. Limes are one of my favourite ingredients and roasting them in the oven filled the kitchen with a mouth-watering aroma.

Lime, paprika and honey glazed chicken

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 teaspoons paprika

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8 chicken legs (or a mix of legs and thighs)

2 red onions, cut into wedges

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons honey

125ml/4 fl oz chicken stock

1 lime, cut into thin wedges

1) Preheat the oven to 220c/425f/gas 7. Mix the flour and paprika and season with salt and pepper. Dust the chicken pieces in the flour and then put in a large roasting tin with the onions. Drizzle with the olive oil and roast for 20 minutes, turning the chicken once during this time.

2) Mix together the ginger, garlic, honey and chicken stock. Pour over the chicken and add the lime wedges to the tin. Roast for another 10 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and glazed.

Serve with steamed rice and green. Serves 4.

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Finally, a fresh and healthy pasta dish but delicious with it. Ideal if you fancy pasta but want to avoid anything too heavy.

Spaghetti with fish, chilli and parsley

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 garlice cloves, thinly sliced

1 long red chilli, thinly sliced (I substituted with a good pinch of chilli flakes)

250ml/9 floz dry white wine

1 tablespoon butter

250g firm white fish fillets cut into small chunks

Sea salt

200g spaghetti

Small handful finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

1) Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium-low heat. Add the garlic and chilli and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until light golden. Add the wine and butter, increase the heat to high and boil for 5 minutes (it does seem like an awful lot of wine but believe it does reduce down considerably - in fact I think I left mine a bit too long and ended up with very little liquid).

2) Add the fish and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes until just cooked. Season with salt and remove from the heat. Cook the pasta and drain well.

3) Add the pasta to the pan with the fish and return to medium heat. Stir gently to coat the spaghetti with sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with black pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 2.