East Meets West... and Begets ‘Mozzarella in Samosa’ with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

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A few months ago, I saw an appeal from a fellow food blogger for a decent Mozzarella in Carrozza recipe. Doesn’t it sound delicious – Moz-za-relllllllla in Carrr-rro-zza! What a great name for what is essentially a fried mozzarella sandwich.

Naughty? No, just really, really nice!    

For me, the original version - sealed in squishy bread and fried - has never quite lived up to its promise. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong. It just seemed too much: too much bread; too much oozing mozzarella; too much fat from frying. Too much!

There was a horrible storm a few nights ago and I couldn’t sleep.  Embarking on a samosa recipe at 3am seemed like a sensible thing to my sleep-deprived brain. I fell into the soothing rhythm – fill, fold, fold, fold and seal. Repeat 24 more times.  It was like Strictly Come Dancing for hands. While my hands were busy with the samosa production line, my head was busy thinking... can this work for Mozarella in Carrozza, (errr... Mozzarella in Samosa?) As samosa aficionado, Barack Obama, might say... Yes! It! Can!



Mozzarella in Samosa at the start of its career...  

These little pastries stuffed with mozzarella, Parma ham, and pesto are a delight. Not too much of anything and just enough of everything.

I’ve given two methods for cooking: oven baked for the low(er) fat option that doesn’t taste ‘low fat’, or deep fried for the “I might as well be hung for a sheep, as a lamb” option.

If you’ve never folded a samosa before, I suggest you print out the diagram and practice with that first!

For approximately 10 you will need...

Dough

250g strong white flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

Approximately 150mls cold water

Spicy Tomato Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

500mls pasata

½ teaspoon mild chilli powder

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Filling

1 ball mozzarella, patted with kitchen paper to absorb excess moisture, then finely chopped

1 tablespoon pesto

3 slices Parma ham, shredded

1.       First make the dough: Mix together the flour, salt and sunflower oil. Mix in the water, a little at a time, using just enough to bring the mixture together in a ball, leaving the bowl clean. Refrigerate for an hour.

2.       Make the tomato sauce: Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes until the onion has softened without colouring. Add the rest of the ingredients and allow to bubble gently over a medium heat until the sauce has thickened (about 20 minutes). This can be served hot or cold and keeps for a few days in the fridge.

3.       Now make the filling: Mix together all the ingredients for the filling.

4.       Divide the dough into two pieces. Lightly sprinkle a clean work surface with flour and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle about 2mm thick. Cut the dough into strips approximately 8cm x 20cm. A pizza wheel is perfect for this job.

5.        Place a teaspoon of the mozzarella mixture about 1cm from the narrow edge nearest you. Moisten the first 5cm of the right edge. Then take the left corner (corner 1), and fold it diagonally over the mixture (to corner 2), pressing to seal the edge you’ve just moistened. Fold diagonally twice more as in the diagram – folding corner 3 to corner 4, then corner 5 to corner 6. (You’re allowed curse while making the first one but you’ll soon get the hang of it). When you have made the third fold, cut away the dough strip, leaving a 1cm border (7 in the diagram). Moisten this flap and fold over the triangular parcel you’ve just made.

6.       Place on a lightly floured surface, while you make the rest (or place them directly on a non-stick baking sheet if you are going to bake them).

Practice makes perfect... (ignore the one on the right!)  

To bake pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)

Place the triangles on a non-stick baking sheet, brush lightly with a little beaten egg, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot with the tomato sauce.

To deep fry, pre-heat your deep fat fryer to 190°C (375°F)

Gently lower one of the parcels into the hot fat followed closely, one-by-one, by as many as will comfortably fit in the fryer without overcrowding. You may have to do this in batches. Keep the temperature at 190°C (375°C), turning the parcels after 4 minutes.  When they have had 6 – 8 minutes and are golden brown, remove from the fat and drain on kitchen paper.

Caution: however tempted you are, do not stuff the hot pastry into your mouth – the filling is like molten lava! Serve with that warning, and the spicy tomato sauce.

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Mini Mango and Ginger Cheesecakes – the best things come in small packages, cupcake!

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Perhaps because I am snack-sized myself, I have a weakness for mini-food of all types. If there are canapés on offer, I’m there. Too often, by the time I’ve polished off a proper dinner, I have barely enough room left to read the dessert menu, never mind actually tackle the average confectionery... unless of course it’s a cupcake.

When this winter rolls over into January 2011, trendy foodies will be saying “Cupcakes are so last year!”  Tsk! What a shame, because many people – me included – love the endless variation of form and flavour (and mini-ness) that cupcakes represent.

What lies beneath?  

What is going to replace the cupcake in my affections?

I know! The mini cheesecake! It is petite perfection, with about half the calories of a regular old-fashioned slice (unless you devour two). Just like the cup cake, the mini cheesecake can take on endless form and flavour. 

Say "Cheese!"



For approximately 15 mini Mango and Ginger cheesecakes you will need:

Ginger biscuit base

150g Ginger Nut biscuits, crushed

75g butter, melted

1.   First, line a muffin pan with paper muffin liners. Mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter and divide between the muffin cups, packing the mixture down lightly with the back of a spoon.

Mango cheesecake mix

1 x 568ml (1 pint) packet orange jelly (Jell-O) – I use the 135g Chivers brand

125mls boiling water

350g full-fat soft cheese (low-cal won’t set properly)

110g caster sugar

125mls double cream

1 x 397g tin sliced mango in light syrup

25mls fresh lemon/lime juice or 25mls Maguary Passion Fruit concentrate if you can get it

2.   In a measuring jug, dissolve the orange jelly in the boiling water. A few zaps of the microwave can speed this up a little.

3.   In a food processor, purée the sliced mango with enough of its syrup to make a thick liquid and add enough of this to bring the melted jelly mixture to bring it up to 275mls on the measuring jug (you’ll have plenty left over – I drizzle this over the finished cakes). Stir in the lemon/lime juice or Passion Fruit concentrate. Leave to cool, checking every five minutes or so for the gelling process to start – this is where it begins to thicken ever so slightly.

4.   Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

5.   When the jelly mixture has reached the gelling stage, add it to the cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Finally, add the double cream and beat until just combined.

6.   Divide the mixture between the muffin cups – careful to leave about  ½cm at the top. Refrigerate for about 3 hours or until set. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

To decorate as shown:

Spoon a little of the mango purée over the surface of the set cakes. This gives them the beautiful sunny yellow in the picture.  Draw shapes on baking parchment and fill them in with melted dark chocolate, or drizzle random shapes, remembering to count one for each cheesecake and a few extra for the cook. Leave for about 5 – 10 minutes in a cool room then peel away the paper and decorate the cheesecakes with the chocolate shapes.

Variations:

Choose another flavour of in place of the orange jelly and add a complementary puréed fruit in place of the mango.

Add a little chopped crystallised ginger to spice up the base, or choose another biscuit entirely – try Oreos, Digestive, Choc Chip...  So many mini cheesecakes, so little time...

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