peppered mushroom and blue cheese pie

I've already made this recipe by Simon Rimmer a couple of times, and it's been a hit every time. Hearty wintery warmth for cold winter days. Also nice to serve as individual pastry puffs for an appetizer.

Ingredients:

• millefeuille pastry (I like to use readymade, I'm lazy - nay, I have a full time job)
• 500g mushrooms
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp green peppercorns in brine, drained
• 250ml vegetable stock
• freshly ground black pepper (don't overpepper like I always do... the peppercorns are spicy already)
• 100g blue cheese

Fry the onion and the mushrooms in the olive oil until soft. Add the tomato puree and cook for 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce, the stock and the peppercorns, and let boil on moderate heat until the liquid has reduced by half. Season to taste (don't overseason, stock and soy sauce are salty and the peppercorn is spicy!).

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C (if you have a fan oven - for a regular oven, heat to 200°C). Spread a little bit of olive oil in an oven dish, and roll out the pastry to an appropriate size for making an evelope of more or less 20x25cm. Put the pastry in the oven dish, pour in the mushrooms and sprinkle with the crumbled blue cheese. Fold the pastry into an envelope and put in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Simon Rimmer suggests to serve this pie with mashed potatoes and green beans, but every time I've found just the pie more than enough by itself.

summer salad idea

I know, I know, it's January, and hardly the time of year to be thinking up summer salads. I stumbled across this salad in the ready-made aisle in the supermarket close to work while looking for a quick lunch, and I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was (for a ready made salad, you know). This seems like a nice combination to serve at a summer barbecue, with a piece of grilled salmon or tuna.

Ingredients:

• spirelli (or whatever other pasta shape takes your fancy)
• mayonnaise
• yoghurt
• cucumber
• dill
• pink peppercorn
• strips of smoked salmon (optional if serving with grilled salmon)

Boil the spirelli. Make a creamy but ligher sauce by mixing the mayonnaise and the yoghurt and toss with the strained and cooled spirelli. Toss in cubes of cucumber, chopped dill and a tablespoon of pink peppercorn, and the strips of smoked salmon.