From rich butter puff to crumbly shortcrust and crisp layered fillo, there’s a world of dishes to be made with delicious pastry. Here are some of my favourite recipes to make your own pastry and to make easy dishes using ready-made pastry sheets.
Savoury Künefe I love the flavours in the pastirma börek in our Month of Turkish and am impressed by how deliciously easy the sweet kunefe is. So I wondered what would happen if we combined them. Here’s the answer: a simple, crunchy, messy, delicious savoury kunefe! Be inspired to vary the filling – as long […]
Shortcrust Cookies I hate wasting pastry offcuts, so when I make a tart or pie I use the remaining pastry for these tasty little shortcrust cookies (see the video below for another of my favourite pastry tricks). Unlike puff pastry, shortcrust can be rerolled without ill effect, so all of it can be used. If […]
Date & Almond Ladies Fingers The inspiration for these delicious date & almond ladies fingers comes from my friend Janni Kyritsis, who uses the same technique to make simple savoury snacks filled with anchovy, feta or olives. I don’t have a very sweet tooth and I love the contrast of the salted butter and subtle […]
Shallot Pancakes Shallot pancakes are northern Chinese snacks that are irresistibly moreish and a great way to use up the green onion tops that so often end up in the bin. The method is a simple process of rolling the dough several times to create layers that puff up slightly when cooked. The most important […]
Open Fillo Sandwich with Anchovy Sauce This simple dish is inspired by one of my favourite MG Garage starters. I love the idea of sandwiching chopped olives between 2 sheets of fillo and wonder what else might work in this way. Janni used to make a triple stack of the olive-studded fillo sheets with the […]
Olive, Feta or Anchovy Fillo Fingers Just about everything I’ve ever cooked has been inspired by something I’ve eaten before and these fillo fingers are no exception – my friend Janni usually whips these up to serve with drinks when friends gather at his place. They’re so simple they hardly need a recipe, and everyone’s […]
Potato, Smoked Eel & Fontina Tart This deliciously versatile potato & fontina tart can be vegetarian, but potatoes and smoked fish are such natural partners that I sometimes add smoked eel. Hot-smoked rainbow trout also works; either way use about 300g flesh if using seafood. If Fontina’s not available, use any mild washed rind cheese, […]
Guinea Fowl Bisteeya Variously written as bisteeya, bastilla, bestela, bastila, pastilla or pastila, this Moroccan pie has many variations but is traditionally an elaborately spiced preparation of pigeon, egg, almonds and warqa pastry, which is similar to Greek fillo pastry. It works well with almost any birds, including quail, chicken and guinea fowl, and is […]
Tarte Tatin Tarte Tatin is one of those classics that I didn’t attempt for a long time for fear it would be too tricky. Turns out it’s super quick and easy, especially if you use a good ready-made shortcrust pastry like Carême. It’s named after the Tatin sisters, Caroline and Stéphanie, who served it at […]
Simple Party Sausage Rolls When I was a kid, Mum often had homemade sausage rolls waiting for us as an after school snack. She’d pop them in the oven when she left to pick us up from school and they’d be hot and golden brown ready for us to devour when we arrived home. This […]
