Friday Night Finger Food and Take Out Style Meals

Friday night is take out night. 

We either get take out or have finger food ...

or what we might classify as junk food... 

keeps the children happy... 

and some of the overgrown kids too!

Cheesy Garlic Crescent Rolls

Pepperoni Pizza-Stuffed Doughnuts

Ham & Cheddar Broccoli Tots

Cheddar Bacon Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders

Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatballs

Cheesy Mexican Rice Balls

Bacon Fried Mozzarella Sticks

Caprese Pizza

Pigs in Sleeping Bags

BBQ Sausage-Stuffed Grilled Jalapenos

Mini Burritos

Mac 'n Cheese Mozzarella Bombs

Brinjal and Courgette Chilli Bites

These chilli bites, also known as Bhajias or Pakoras, are simple to make and simply delicious as a snack or served as a vegetable dish with a curry. The aroma when cooking the vegetables in the oven is enough to draw crowds and it’s hard to wait for the little morsels to be fried in their batter. Golden and crispy, they crunch with every bite and everyone comes back for more.

Ingredients:

500g baby finger brinjals, stems removed and cut lengthways.

500g baby courgettes, topped and tailed and cut in half lengthways

*** If the brinjals or courgettes are longer than 3 inches, cut them into 2-3 inch lengths.

45-60ml olive oil (or sunflower oil)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Hanneica’s Steak and Chops seasoning

Cayenne pepper or red chilli powder

1 packet Chilli Bite Mix

Oil for frying

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

Soak the brinjal in salted water for 20-30 minutes to remove any bitterness. Rinse and dry on absorbent kitchen paper or on a clean tea towel.

Place the brinjal with the prepared courgettes in a large mixing bowl and pour over the oil. Mix them around to ensure all the pieces are covered with oil. Spread the vegetables over a baking tray and season with sea salt and black pepper. Sprinkle over steak and chops seasoning and cayenne pepper or red chilli powder. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes; the vegetables will be just cooked, but not too golden. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile make up your chilli bite mix by adding sufficient water to create a batter of the consistency of pancake batter, whisking to ensure the batter is not lumpy. When the vegetables have cooled, add them to the batter and mix through gently so as not to break up the pieces. With a spoon, select pieces one by one and drop them in hot oil to fry. This will need to be done in batches; don’t be tempted to add to many at once as this will drop the temperature of the oil and the bhajias will sauté, rather than fry crispy. Once the chilli bites are golden and crispy, remove them from the oil to a plate lined with absorbent kitchen paper to drain. Repeat the frying with consecutive batches in the oil until all the vegetable pieces have been made into chilli bites.

Serve hot and crispy as a snack with a dipping sauce or chutney, or as a side dish to a curry.

Filo Cigars with Feta and Herbs

These classic cigar shaped Turkish pastries are popular snack and meze food, good as nibbles with drinks. In this version they are filled with cheese and herbs, but other popular fillings include baked brinjal (aubergine) and cheese, or mashed pumpkin, cheese and dill. The filo pastry can be folded into triangles, but cigars are the most traditional shape. They can be prepared in advance and kept under damp dish towels in the fridge until ready to be fried.

Ingredients:

250g feta

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 small bunch of fresh parsley,

1 small bunch of fresh, finely chopped mint

1 small bunch of fresh, finely chopped dill

4-5 sheets filo pastry

Sunflower oil for deep frying

Method:

In a bowl, mash the feta with a fork. Beat in the egg and fold in the herbs. Working with one sheet at a time, cut the filo into strips about 10-13 cm wide (4-5 inches) and pile the strips on top of each other. Keep the strips covered with a damp dish towel.

Place a heaped teaspoon of the cheese filling along one of the short ends of the strip. Roll the end over the filling quite tightly quite tightly to keep the cheese filling in place, then tuck in the sides to seal in the filling. Continue to roll until you reach the other end. Brush the tip with water to help seal the roll.

Place the filled cigar, join side down, on a plate and cover with a damp dish towel to keep it moist. Continue with the remaining sheets of filo and filling.

Heat enough oil for frying in a wok or other deep sided pan, and deep-fry the cigars in batches for 5-6 minutes until crisp and golden. Lift out of the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

Serve immediately.

Mild Curry Puffs

These delicious curry puffs can be made with 

shop-bought puff pastry, 

as long as you use all-butter pastry. 

If you prefer to make your own pastry, 

then use flaky pastry or puff pastry. 

Ingredients:
500g ready-made puff pastry

Filling:
150g beef or lamb mince
80ml sweetcorn
1 red chilli
1 cm root ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
10ml mild curry powder
a handful of coriander leaves, chopped
2-3 curry leaves, shredded
1 small onion, chopped fine
2.5ml salt
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
10ml sunflower oil

Method:

Add the oil to a frying pan and sauté the onions, garlic and ginger until soft, but not coloured. I add the salt at this stage, which helps them to soften by drawing out their liquid into the pan. This also prevents them caramelising. 

Add the curry powder and mix through the onions. Now add the beef or lamb mince and stir until browned.

Add the sweetcorn and combine with the mince mixture.

Take off the heat and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes. If the filling is too hot when put into the pastry, the pastry melts, stretches and breaks. When the filling has cooled completely, add the coriander and mix through.

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Roll out your pastry to 3-4mm thick. Cut the pastry into 7-8cm squares.

Place a tablespoon of filling in the middle of each square, being careful not to allow the filling to spill over the edges. Brush the edges with beaten egg. Fold the pastry over to form a triangle and seal along the edges with a fork. Use a sharp knife to make a tiny cross on the top of each puff to allow the steam to vent while cooking before you egg wash the top of each pastry. 

Place the pastries on a baking tray and put in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to take them off the tray. Place the pies on a cooling rack and serve them warm. They are nice warm than piping hot, then you get to taste them, and they are delicious.

Enjoy!

Falafel with Garlic Tahini Sauce

Tahini is a Middle Eastern sesame seed paste you can find
in most grocery stores.
Ingredients: 

For the tahini sauce:225 g tahini 
(seasame seed paste)1/2 a tin of chickpeas, 
drained and rinsedjuice  of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, chopped
5ml sea salt
2.5ml cayenne pepper

For the falafel:
1/2 a tin of chickpeas, drained350g lamb mince
50ml spring onions, white and light-green parts only, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
60 g finely chopped parsley
5ml sea salt
5ml ground coriander
5ml ground cumin
2.5ml ground black pepper
A large pinch cayenne
125 ml olive oil

Method:

To make the sauce, combine ingredients in a food processor.
As you purée, add chickpeas and 170ml of water through feed tube until mixture is smooth.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Sauce should be thinner than hummus.
For the balls, in a large ball, mash chickpeas with a potato masher or fork.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands until well blended.
Form into 2 cm balls.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
Cook balls in batches for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally until golden-brown and just cooked.
Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.
Drizzle with sauce and serve immediately.

Bacon Smashed Potato Poppers

These crisp, tender taters are made even better with the addition of crunchy & smoky bacon!  Smashing the Potatoes makes for super crispy edges that totally grip the Bacon and won’t let go! 

Ingredients:

Streaky bacon
Baby potatoes
Salt and pepper to season


Method:

Preheat the oven to 190 C.

Boil the potatoes in salted water. Drain the through a colander and allow them to cool.

Ever so gently smash them with the back of a spoon.

Wrap each smashed potato with a strip of bacon and place them seam-side down on a baking rack. 

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake them  for about 30 minutes, or until they are browned and crispy.

Enjoy!

   

Blue Cheese Doughnuts

Finger-food is always fun.

Of course if you are posh you might want to call them 'canapés', LOL.

These little dough nuts are always popular at parties.

If you are not a fan of blue cheese, you can use any cheese of choice as long as it is not too soft. Gouda, Cheddar, Emmenthal and Gruyere are good alternatives.

Ingredients:
250g white bread flour
25g sugar
8g yeast
a pinch of salt
4 eggs
125g butter, melted
50g blue cheese (eg. Stilton), cut into small pieces
vegetable oil for deep frying
Parmesan, to garnish

Method:
Mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt together in a large bowl.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and gradually add them to the dry ingredients, bit by bit, mixing until well combined. Beat in the butter and combine well to form a dough. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and set aside in a warm place to rise to double the size.
Knock back the dough, then pinch off pieces and roll into small balls the size of walnuts. Push a piece of cheese into the middle of each dough ball, then roll again into a ball, making sure that the cheese is all covered by the dough.
Place the dough balls on a tray and cover with cling film. Set aside to rise again until doubled in size.
To deep fry the cheese doughnuts, half fill a deep, heavy-based pan with vegetable oil and heat to 150C. Fry the balls in small batches for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper, then roll in finely grated Parmesan before serving.

Cauliflower Fritters

For a snack, party finger food, starter or side dish to a main course,

try these moreish cauliflower fritters.

If served as a snack or finger food,

make small fritters and serve with a falvoured mayonnaise.

Ingredients:
1/2 a cauliflower broken into small florets
275g self-raising flour
100g Parmesan cheese, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed with a little salt
50ml fresh parsley, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
3 eggs, lightly beaten
10ml fennel seeds
60ml olive oil for frying

Method:
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the cauliflower and boil for 5-6 minutes or until tender. Drain well then set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, Parmesan, garlic and parsley. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper then mix in the eggs to make a thick batter, adding a splash of water if it's too dry. Gently stir in the cauliflower and fennel seeds.
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat then drop tablespoonfuls of the cauliflower mixture into the pan, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden, then turn them over and flatten slightly with a fork. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Cheese and Mint Balls

These make a great snack or finger-food party dish.

Serve on their own, with salad or a dip.

Ingredients:
50g breadcrumbs
150g feta cheese, crumbled
50ml fresh mint, chopped
2 egg whites
salt and pepper to season

Method:
Mix together the breadcrumbs, feta and mint.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff anf fold in the cheese mixture and season.
Divide the mixture into 12 and, using wet hands, roll the portions into balls.
Put in the fridge for and hour to firm.
Heat enough vegetable oil inot a pan to just cover the balls and deep fry them for 3-5 minutes until golden brown.
Drain on absorbent kitchen paper and serve warm.