Baked

Goats Cheese, Spinach and Bacon Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

/ Claire / Leave a comment

I saw these mini peppers at the market and thought they are just asking to be stuffed with something delicious!

I love goats cheese and knew I had some spinach in the freezer, so decided to make a creamy goats cheese and spinach filling and add in some smoked bacon too. The end result was super delicious and just the thing to eat with drinks as it was SO hot over the weekend.

Stuffed peppers

Ingredients:
1 punnet (around 300g) of mini mixed peppers
1 100g pack of French Chevre, or any other goats cheese
100g of full fat cream cheese
100g of frozen spinach, thawed and all the water squeezed out
200g of smoked streaky bacon
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 200°C/400°F

Place the bacon on a foil lined backing tray and cook in the oven until cooked through and crisp, leave to cool before snipping into small pieces.

While the bacon is cooking, slice the peppers lengthways, remove any seeds and membranes and place in a oven proof dish.

Mix together the cheeses and spinach with a few grinds of black pepper. Stir in the bacon. I don’t add any extra salt as the cheese and bacon both contain salt.

Using a spoon, fill the pepper halves with the cheese mixture and bake for around 20 minutes until the tops are just staring to catch.

These are delicious served at room temperature with drinks on a hot day, but equally as enjoyable, served warm with red wine on a cold day.

Pepper closeup

Roasted Salmon and Broccoli Quiche

/ Claire / Leave a comment

Roasted hot-smoked salmon, fresh green broccoli with cream cheese and studded with little juicy tomberries. This is absolutely delicious, decadent and full of rich flavours. It’s perfect for a summer lunch or supper, but so good to take on a picnic and any leftovers make for extra special packed lunch.

Quiche

Crust:
300g/10.5oz plain/all-purpose flour
1tsp salt
227g/8oz butter cut into cubes and chilled
1 large egg, beaten
1-2tbs iced water

Filling:
5 extra large eggs
½ pint of double/heavy cream
453g/16oz Hot smoked roasted salmon – broken into large bite sized chunks. You can either cook your own, or buy any of the ready-cooked salmon in the chilled section of the supermarket.
One 180g/6.5oz pack of full fat cream cheese
Small bunch of chives, chopped
1 bunch of broccoli, separated into small bite-sized florets
1 pack of tomberries (125g/4 ½oz). If you can’t get these, you can top the quiche with slices of regular sized tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes
Pinch of salt
½ tsp black pepper

Method:
Add the flour, salt and butter to a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse until the butter is the size of small peas and add the egg and pulse once or twice. Add the iced water a little a time until the dough just comes together. You might not need all of the water.

Form the dough into a ball, flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic. Leave to chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry and, without stretching, line the base and sides of a 10inch/25cm tin. Return to the fridge and chill for another 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F

Line the pastry with parchment paper or foil, leaving plenty to come up the sides. Fill with baking beans and place in the oven to blind bake for 15-20 minutes. Take the pastry shell out of the oven, remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for further 5 minutes or until the pastry feels dry. Leave to cool a little before adding the filling.

While the crust is baking, place the broccoli into boiling, salted water for 2 minutes and then plunge into iced water to stop the cooking and set the bright green colour. Drain thoroughly and place onto kitchen paper to absorb any excess water.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the cream, chives, salt and pepper.

Arrange the salmon and broccoli over the crust, ensuring an even distribution and pour the eggs and cream in and around the filling, filling the pastry base. Using a teaspoon, drop little blobs of cream cheese in the quiche and finally scatter over the tomberries

Carefully return to the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the centre has just set. It will carry on cooking a little after you take it out, so you don’t want to overcook and end up with a dry quiche.

quiche close up

You can serve this warm, but the quiche is at its best cold or room temperature and served simply with a salad and some chilled wine.

slice

Cheddar Scones

/ Claire / Leave a comment

So simple to make, these foolproof cheddar scones are buttery, flaky, super cheesy and delicious.

cheese scone

Ingredients:
250g of self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
125g cold butter – cut into small cubes
125g of grated mature/extra sharp cheddar, plus extra for topping with
100-120ml of milk
1 egg beaten and a little milk to make an egg wash

Method:
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl with the paddle attachment fitted, add the butter and mix until the butter is mixed into the flour but still visible – about the size of peas. Add the cheese and milk and mix until just combined. You may not need all of the milk to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a floured board, form a rough circle, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F

When ready, turn out and roll to around 3cm/just over 1 inch thick and use a round cutter (approx 6cm/2 inches). You will get 8-9 scones depending on how thick the dough is.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon mat and brush the tops with a little egg wash and grated cheese.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden and well risen.

Great served hot with salted butter and chutney