Festive Food for Family and Friends.

Firstly, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year!
I hope my recipes have been useful in your own kitchens, and I will continue to bring you more in the new year.
During the Christmas season it's so nice to get together, but the last thing we want to do , is to end up in the kitchen all night , making food for everyone , while they all are having fun without you. So what I usually do is a good ham from a shop, maybe some cheese and pate too, and set up a self-service table with a few things I make myself. Easy way to claim all the credit with almost no effort made!
Here's a few ideas

• Cheese and Fig Muffins with Pumpkin seeds and Rosemary
• Pita Bread Parcels with grilled Haloumi and Tzatziki
• Beetroot Salad with Horseradish Dressing
• Mini "Toad in The Hole" bites       

Cheese and Fig Muffins:

250gr plain flour

3tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

50 gr butter (softened)

1 egg 

250ml milk

50 gr grated parmesan cheese

100 gr soft goat cheese

2 tbsp chopped rosemary

4 figs (halved and sliced)

a small handful of pumpkin seeds

12 muffin cases

Preheat oven gas mark 4/180C.

Keep goat cheese, figs and seeds on the side for later.

Mix all the dry ingredients with butter.Whisk milk with the egg and stir in together with the dry ingredients. Spoon into the muffing cases (it's easier with the ice-cream spoon) and put a bit of goat cheese and figs and pumpkin seeds on top. Bake for 25-35 min., or until the skewer comes out clean.

Pita Parcels with Grilled Haloumi.

6 pita breads

500 gr haloumi

1 red pepper

1 tab of tzatziki

Wrap pita bread in foil and heat it up in the oven while the muffins are baking.

Grill haloumi cheese, chop a sweet pepper.

Cut the pita bread in two, open the parcels, fill up with haloumi, peppers and tzatziki.

Beetroot Salad with Horseradish Dressing.

This recipe is a slight deviation from something we used to make in Russia for holidays. The original recipe is full of garlic and mayonnaise, not that this one is any healthier , but the flavours are less offensive.

4 medium, cooked beetroot

3 dried apricots

a handful of toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds

100 gr crumbled feta cheese (or blue cheese)

1 tbsp horseradish sauce

1 tbsp mayonnaise

Dice the beetroot, chop the apricots.

Mix all ingredients well.

Mini "Toad in the Hole"

2 large eggs

200 ml milk

a pinch of salt

150 gr plain flour 

4 good quality sausages, skin removed, chopped 

2 medium potatoes cooked, diced

Heat the oven gas mark 7/220C, use the baking tin for muffins, pour some oil in every hole and pop it in the oven to heat up.

Make the batter with eggs, milk, salt and flour.

Be careful taking the tin out of the oven, place some sausage and potato in every hole and top up with the batter.

Bake for 25 min.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!