Tana Ramsay’s Family Kitchen: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Every Family. Tana Ramsay
Divide into 4 Tupperware containers.
Incredibly easy to put together and a really delicious, healthy and colourful salad. The creamy dressing coats the rice and salami beautifully – deceptively filling!
200g/8oz brown rice, cooked to instructions on packet
drizzle of olive oil
200g/8oz red kidney beans, cooked
2 sticks celery, chopped
6 spring onions, finely chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
340g/12oz tin of sweetcorn
200g/8oz salami cut into chunks
For the dressing
5 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp crème fraîche
Serves: 4 good-sized portions (more if part of a selection)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10–12 minutes (just the rice-cooking time)
1 When the rice is cooked, drain into a sieve and run under the cold tap. Drizzle through the olive oil and stir through.
2 Place in a large mixing bowl with the other ingredients, mix together the dressing and stir through, mixing everything and ensuring an even coating of dressing.
3 Serve in little Tupperware containers as part of a lunch box.
200g/8oz steak mince
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
150g/6oz carrots, diced
100g/4oz parsnips, diced
2 level tbsp plain flour
250ml/9fl oz water with half of a quality beef stock cube
75g/3oz frozen peas
black pepper to taste
500-g/1-lb pack puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Makes: 15
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
1 Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/GM4.
2 Start by frying the mince in the olive oil until browned. Break it down with a wooden spoon to make sure there are no lumps.
3 Add the onion, carrots and parsnips and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
4 Sprinkle over the flour and stir well until completely mixed together. Add the water and stock cube and keep stirring until it comes to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer very gently for about 40 minutes until liquid has reduced and there is only a little thick gravy left.
5 Add the frozen peas and mix in. Remove from the heat.
6 Carefully roll out the puff pastry until it is about 3mm thick.
7 Using a saucer as a template, cut around the outside with a sharp knife until you have as many small circles as you can make.
8 Take a dessertspoon and put one spoonful of the mince mixture in the middle of each pastry disk. Using your fingertip, edge the pastry with a little water and fold the pastry in half over the top of the filling. Push down the edges of the semi-circle with your fingers to seal.
9 Using a pastry brush, carefully brush each pasty with the beaten egg.
10 Place on a baking tray covered with baking parchment and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
11 Allow to cool before wrapping individually and freezing in a plastic box.
I discovered these by chance. I tried them when Gordon and I were in the Maldives and had them as a mezze. I found that the children enjoyed them even when they were cold – if they had a minty yoghurt dip. They are the perfect nutritious addition to any lunchbox!
For the potato outsides
700g/1lb 7oz potatoes, with skins on
1½tbsp plain flour
salt
For the filling
50g/2oz pine nuts
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
25g/1oz butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
3 cloves
200g/7oz minced lamb
1 tbsp tomato purée
handful of spinach
5 dried apricots, finely chopped (or 2tbsp cranberries)
3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce salt and pepper
For the dip
2 tbsp fresh mint
8 tbsp crème fraîche
1 lemon, juice
Makes: 12 cakes
Prep/cooking time: 45 minutes
1 For the dip, simply chop the mint and stir into the crème fraîche with the lemon juice.
2 Boil the potatoes whole and with their skins in lightly salted water until just cooked – be careful not to overcook, they should simmer, not boil furiously, and you should just be able to pierce with the tip of a knife. Drain well, and when cool enough to handle, peel.
3 Mash the potatoes and sprinkle over the flour, mixing in throughout. Add a little salt and mould into a dough. Place this aside now while you make the