Keema Patties/ Puff Pastry with Minced Meat filling

As I promised in my last post, here's one very easy recipe using keema(minced meat)....Keema Patties as we use to call it in India or I should say Savoury Puff Pastries with minced meat filling. It can be served as snack or as we like to have it as holiday brunch item also. Usually I cook keema a day before for this & then it's his responsibility to get these patties/puff pastries into final shape & to the table. You can use any left over keema or make fresh batch, only thing important here is, it should be totally dry & at room temperature. In case of any water in the cooked keema cook it on the high flame without any cover & keep stirring it till all the water evaporates & keema is pretty dry. Let it cool completely before using in the recipe. Following recipe will yield 4 patties.

What U need :

• 3/4 cup cooked keema(recipe here) for filling
• 1 ready-to-bake puff pastry sheet(each pack has two) thawed acc. to package direction

Note : Fish out the bay leaves & whole red chillies from the filling.

What U do :

• Open up the pastry sheet. Cut the puff pastry sheet into 4 equal squares.
• Divide keema filling into 4 equal parts. Put each portion of filling into the centre of each square.
• Wet one of your finger and run it over the inside edge of pastry sheet square.
• Fold it into triangles & press gently onto the sides to seal the edges. Repeat with all the squares.
• Put it on a lightly greased baking sheet. Using a fork pierce the triangles at 3-4 places. Bake as per the package directions or at 400 degree F till the patties turn lightly golden brown.
• Serve with your choice of sauce/ ketchup/ chutney and please be careful, meat inside will be really hot & did I told U they are addictive and I really mean it.

Onion, Tomato & Feta cheese Tart

While I'm writing this post another year is slipping through our hands and the year 2010 has already put it's footprints in many places of the world. Many people have already celebrated the arrival of the year 2010 in other part of the world & slowly it's coming our way & the moment it'll be here..... I know what's gonna be the statement....OMG! it's already 2010 I don't believe, happens every year, when the year is at the end, how we feel that year passed so quickly but when we are going thru some time it feels that it's never gonna end. No resolutions for me, as I have never done that kind of thing in my life, but like always.....'ll try to make better of whatever life brings. On that note I wish everyone in the blog sphere "A Very Happy New Year - Twenty Ten". I've already started calling this year Twenty Ten I kinda like that term.

Now coming on to the recipe, I thought of putting some cupcake/muffins made yesterday but then I thought let's put little bit more fancy stuff & that would also clear one entry from the draft before this year ends. This recipe is inspired from Barefoot Contessa(food network) show, I made it I guess in the beg. of this year, long before I discovered the world of blogging. But it came out so good that I took the picture, yes the pic is from that time only. I did changed the original recipe according to our taste and spices I had on hand. Here's how I made this :

Ingredients :

• 1 sheet ready to bake puff pastry sheet, thawed as per package directions.
• 8 tomato slices
• around half a cup feta cheese
• handful of grated Parmesan
• 2 Tblsp. of chopped cilantro
• 2 medium size red onion, thinly sliced
• spice mix (salt + black pepper +red chilli flakes in equal portions)
• evoo

Method :

1. Using little evoo saute the onions till they become caramelized(brownish in color). Let them cool.
2. Cut the pastry sheet into 4 squares. Now using a sharp paring knife score around 1 inch border on the sides of each square. Only score the border, don't cut through it, you don't want to separate it.
3. Now using a fork pierce the inside square at few places may be 6-7 times, that will restrict the puffing of inside square. Do not peirce the outside square(border).
4. On the inside square spread some caramelized onions, sprinkle spice mix. Sprinkle some feta cheese another sprinkle of spices. Time for 2 slices of tomatoes on each tart followed by some chopped cilantro, spices mix & finally parmesan cheese on top.
5. Bake around 20-22 minutes at 425 degree F oven, until pastry is golden brown( Check your package directions for baking the pastry).

Let it cool little bit before you dig into it. Perfect for snack, weekend breakfast or anytime of the day. Before I say bye to this year I wanted to say thanks to Malar and Ashkuku for passing me an award, I'm really sorry that I'm not able to display it(some problem with picture upload). Hoping to post it with my next post, thanks once again. This is my last post of the year 2009, wish you all safe and happy New Year.

Cheesy Spinach Rolls

Ah! my favourite, I can eat these anytime of the day. These are easy to make also, as we are using ready to bake phyllo sheets. In fact base recipe for this is from the pepperidge form ready-to-bake puff-pastry sheet box. Here's my twist on it.

Ingredient:

• 1 ready-to-bake puff pastry sheet(each pack has two) thawed acc. to package direction
• 1 box frozen spinach thawed
• 1 small onion chopped finely
• 2-3 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 spoon oil
• salt as per taste
• black pepper as per taste
• 2 green chillis finely chopped(optional)
• 1/2 to 1 cup of cheese of your choice(I used mixture of mozzarella & cheddar)

Method :

1) Thaw the pastry sheet, in the meanwhile heat oil in a pan & saute garlic & onion till they turn little soft add thawed spinach (first squeeze extra water out of it). Add salt, pepper & chillies mix everything together. Cook for a minute or two, turn of the gas. Let the mixture get cool.

2) Open the thawed pastry sheet on parchment paper(makes it little easy to shift). Leaving approximately half inch margin on all sides. Spread the spinach mixture on it then spread cheese.

3) Now make a roll as tight as you can(like a log), but taking care that pastry sheet doesn't break.

4) Press the ends & turn the seam side down. Cut the log into approximately 8-10 small rolls. Place flat on the greased cookie sheet.

5) Bake at 400 degree F oven for around 15 min.( check the pastry sheet pack for directions).

6) Enjoy them.