Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Puff Pastry

3 Quick Cheese Snacks for the Good Food Channel

Today is officially the last day of National Vegetarian Week 2014. In case you’ve taken the challenge and are in search of some simple and tasty recipes to round off the weekend, I thought I’d highlight three recent quick cheese snacks, created for the Good Food Channel. Really though, who needs an excuse to indulge in a little melted cheese?! Of course, you can also use any of your favourite vegetarian alternative cheeses in these recipes…

Three Cheese Snacks
3 Quick Cheese Snacks created for the Good Food Channel

Firstly, a super-quick Mexican inspired snack – my Cheese Quesadillas with tinned black beans, tomatoes, spring onions and grated cheese. Use a chilli cheese if you fancy, and any beans – black, pinto or fava beans – drained and washed.

Cheese Quesadillas

Cheese Quesadillas {Recipe Here} for the Good Food Channel

Next, one of our favourites for a quick cheese snack, are my Three Cheese Toasties, with leek, garlic and thyme on sourdough. They take around ten minutes to make, and I simply used a griddle pan to make mine, weighed down a little with a heavy lid. If you have a panini machine or a toastie maker, you can use that instead. I usually like to use a combination of cheddar, mozzarella and Gruyère or Comte – but really, use any cheese that you like or have in the fridge to use up – or a vegetarian alternative.

Three Cheese Toasties

 Three Cheese Toasties {Recipe Here} for the Good Food Channel

Finally, if you have hungry kids, you can’t go wrong with these Cheese and Marmite Swirls. Simply keep a packet of ready rolled/ready to use puff pastry in the fridge or freezer, then unroll, spread with Marmite, sprinkle over the granted cheese and roll up. Once sliced, place them on a baking tray lined with paper, brush with a little beaten egg and bake for fifteen minutes. Serve when warm, but not too hot for little fingers!

Cheese and Marmite Swirls

Cheese and Marmite Swirls {Recipe Here} for the Good Food Channel

I hope that’s given you a little inspiration for the Bank Holiday weekend, or perhaps, for an after school snack or quick lunch.

How did you get on with the challenge to “go green” for National Vegetarian Week?

Recipes commissioned by the Good Food Channel – recipes, styling and photography by Ren Behan. 

Easy Summer Fruit Tartlets

I don’t very often have packets of puff pastry sitting in the fridge, which is a good thing. However, I had been meaning to try a recipe from Nigella Express for some time called ‘Nectarine and Blueberry Galette’ and so a packet was bought and earmarked. The disappointment was that my nectarines were not yet at their best and so were quite tart. Too tart for a tart, even. They would have required so much sugar that they would have made the pastry look much less calorific in comparison. But, I did have some British strawberries that were slightly better, so I used those instead with strawberry jam in place of apricot conserve. I also wanted to make mini versions, suitable for an afternoon tea. And so, these tasty Summer Fruit Tartlets were born. They were easy to make, too.

Here’s how to make them…

First, pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Then take a packet of ready-rolled puff pastry. Lay the pastry out on a cutting board sprinkled with icing sugar. Cut the pastry into smaller rectangles. I got eight out of one packet. Then carefully transfer the tartlets onto a flat baking tray lined with baking paper. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a smaller rectangle about one cm from the edge, making it look like a picture frame. Don’t push the knife all the way through the pastry. Heat up a few tablespoons of strawberry jam in the microwave or in a pan for a few seconds to soften it and using a pastry brush, paint the inside of the rectangle.

Carefully pile some fruit in the middle of the tartlets. I used strawberries sliced in half and a few blueberries for each. You could use nectarines and blueberries, as Nigella does, or any combination of fruit that you like.

 Sprinkle over some brown Demerara sugar.

Place the baking tray into your pre-heated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. Take them out when the pastry has browned in colour and risen.

Pile them up onto a pretty plate or cake stand and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Pour over lots of cream and enjoy!

I’m sending these tasty treats to three blog events, if I’m still in time!

Firstly, to Fleur over at Homemade by Fleur who is hosting Sarah’s Forever Nigella this month with a theme of Afternoon Tea.

Secondly, to Nazima at Working London Mummy who is hosting the One Ingredient Challenge jointly with Laura from How to Cook Good Food with a theme of Strawberries.

Thirdly, to Kate at What Kate Baked who is hosting Tea Time Treats  (co-hosted with Karen of Lavender and Lovage) with a theme of Summer Fruits!

Have you got any puff pastry, fruit and cream in your fridge?! Go on, you know you want to make these!