Smoked Gammon & sweetcorn fritters

Makes 20 fritters, easy, 30 minutes

100g leftover cooked gammon, roughly shredded
4 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
200g baby marrows, coarsely grated/ baby marrow spaghetti
2 sweetcorn cobs, , boiled and corn carefully cut of the cob with a sharp knife to get generous chunks
Juice of 1 lime
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Sea salt and freshly crushed black pepper to taste
30ml (2 Tbsp) vegetable oil to pan fry, plus more if needed

 

Method

  1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the vegetable oil, taking care not to break the sweet corn too much for better visual presentation.
  2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium to high heat, add the oil. Spoon, chunks of the mixture onto the pan and flatten with a back of an egg lifter to shape into a rustic round. Fry for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown
Cooks tip – Try and get very long baby marrows to grate. The less mixture you put on the pan, the more defined the ingredients will be – about ½ spoon to a shallow filled spoon.

Lush asparagus, corned tongue & Emmental salad with chia brittle

Serves 4-6, easy, 20 minutes

 

For the chia Brittle

30g chia seeds
100g White sugar
50ml Water

 

For the salad

150g leftover cooked corned tongue, thinly sliced
170g asparagus spear, blanched
100g tender stem Broccoli, blanched
Handful baby spinach
Handful salad leaves of your choice
Small handful edible flowers
40g Emmental cheese shaving
70g Bocconcini, cut in half
Balsamic glaze

 

Method

  1. To make the brittle, heat the sugar and the water together over medium heat in a small saucepan until caramel stage (170°C On a sugar thermometer or see cooks tip). Dip pastry brush into cold water and brush of the insides of the saucepan to prevent the sugar from crystalizing.
  2. Scatter the chia seeds onto a baking tray lines with baking paper. Pour the hot caramel over the seeds (caution the sugar is very hot at this stage) and let it set.
  3. Layer the salad ingredients onto a serving platter/ board. Break the chia brittle into small shards and scatter over the salad. Drizzle with the balsamic glaze.
Cooks tip – Do not stir the sugar while cooking, yet you can swirl the pan a few times. If you do not have a sugar thermometer, take the sugar off the heat once you start seeing a swirl of a straw caramel colour. Swirl the mixture and check the colour as the sugar continues to cook while off the stove. Substitute tongue with left over beef roast.

Pulled Lamb strudel with pomegranate salsa

Serves 6, easy, 30 minutes

300g leftover cooked leg of lamb or shoulder of lamb, pulled with two forks into strips
1 can (400g) whole peel tomatoes
Small handful fresh oregano, finely chopped
5 phyllo pastry sheets, defrosted
50g butter of your choice, melted

 

For the salsa

175g pomegranate rubies
Handful Rosa/cherry tomatoes, quartered
Juice of ½ lemon
10ml (2tsp) pomegranate concentrate (or 5ml lemon juice and 5ml pomegranate juice)
2 – 3 birds eye chili, finely chopped (reduce to one to lower the spicy level)
Small handful fresh mint, roughly chopped and some kept for garnishing
Salt and pepper to taste

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the whole peel tomatoes in a medium saucepan over high heat and use a masher to break the tomatoes into a pulp, 2 minutes. Add the lamb and oregano, stir to combine. Remove from the heat.
  2. Brush the phyllo with melted butter in between the sheets while stacking them on top of each other. Fill the middle of the top phyllo with the lamb mixture. Fold the pastry to enclose the lamb, using melted butter to stick it together. Pull the top phyllo layer to create a ruffled effect. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.
  3. While baking, make the salsa by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper, garnish with extra mint.
Cooks tip – Cover phyllo pastry with cling wrap while working with it to avoid it from drying out.

Corned beef cracker Wantons

Makes 10 wantons, easy, 20 minutes

100g leftover cooked corned beef, cut into cubes
50g Chevre Roue/ any soft goat’s cheese of your choice, roughly chopped/ cut into chunks
½ red onion, peeled and finely chopped
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
20 Wanton sheets
30g butter of your choice, melted

 

Sriracha sauce to serve

 

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Toss together the corned beef, cheese, red onion and coriander in a bowl.
  2. To assemble the wantons, brush two wantons with butter and stick the ends together (about 1cm into each piece). Fill the wanton sheets with a little filling about a spoon full, not too much and roll into a cylindrical shape and twist the ends to form a cracker shape. Place on a lines baking tray and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve with sriracha sauce.